THE VERY DEFINITION OF ENCYCLOPEDIC IGNORANCE

Our worldly International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane has put her dainty feet in it once again! This time in response to a question at a briefing in Pretoria, she said: "Brexit? We don't know about it" We saw it on television. We heard it will impact negatively on trade and relations, but we haven't seen any evidence of that". At the very least she could have avoided the "we" reference when prefacing her remarks. There are presumably many South Africans who take exception to be included in the ignoramus category reserved for the likes of Nkoana-Mashabane. The minister's obliviousness to world events raises fundamental questions as to what she does to fill her day. Not much, if anything it would seem, as her remarks are demonstrative of a degree of ignorance that has a shelf life in perpetuity.