Telkom technicians’ strike is choking business in already distressed economy
Politics
How many times have we read “waiting for Zuma to take disciplinary action”? End result… nothing happens. Guptas are gone. Zuma must follow. Daloo. Theron rape comments offend, front page of The Independent on Saturday, August 3. When someone outside of the ANC makes statements such as Charlize Theron did, it becomes offensive. When the ANC or someone linked to them makes similar statements, they respond by saying “it was taken out of context”. Why this double standard?
Zuma/Gordhan. Pravin must not duck and dive, he must face the Hawks, like every other citizen. As for President Zuma, please do the right thing and step down. Why is it only in Africa presidents want to rule for life, yet their people suffer? Zuma is a wrecking ball. Lawrence.
Luthuli House. Watch carefully, folks – we are watching the selfdestruction of the ANC before our eyes. Buffoons. Iain.
Kill for the Guptas. Malema used to say he would kill for Zuma, but that phrase has been taken by the Zuma loyalists who are prepared to kill for the Guptas. Listening to the so-called minerals minister lying about the commission to investigate the banks, all in the name of protecting this family, who are ripping this country apart. Democrat.
All of the ANC hierarchy should resign. The people have spoken. Why don’t you all just go? You have failed your people and yourselves. Do you all not know when you are not welcome? JP.
Just asking: why is the ANC allowed to have its own private army i.e. MKMVA poncing around in camouflage uniforms? Some of them don’t look old enough to have been involved in the “struggle” to end apartheid.
Zwane, being a confirmed member of the Gupta club, should pack his bags and go with them as soon as he is fired. Joe Soap.
Another outstanding payment which has gone very quiet is the millions of rands of import duty the ANC did not pay on the huge consignment of T-shirts they imported from China. NG, Durban North.
Why do all “meetings”, ANC, Parliament, etc drink bottled water? Are they afraid of the water that is produced by the municipalities under ANC rule? Must cost a fortune.
Arrogant ANCWL, ANCYL and MK are chasing voters away from ANC. ANC must wake up and smell the coffee. BRM.
Burning. All who protest and burn for service delivery yet voted ANC in KZN, now go ask Cogta why they dumped R272m at the last minute and still underspent R63m for the year instead of giving you service delivery with that money. Please let me know their answer. Bring on 2019. Editor’s note: Cogta has replied in depth to that report on page 8 today.
I understand all political parties must remove banners, placards, etc within three weeks of elections. If so, why have the ANC still got enormous adverts on the southern freeway? Have they been fined? (joke) amp.
Haneef Hoosen counting his chickens before being hatched. What a joke. Took the gullible Indian voters hook, line and sinker with him. He promised the people of Chatsworth he would kick the drug lords and gangsters out of Chatsworth and gave notice to the ANC he would kick them out of city hall after election. The DA took Haneef Hoosen for a good ride and dumped him for Zwakele Mncwango as a mayoral candidate. What a joke to the Indian community. Dharam, Lotus Park.
Condoms
Condoms in Parliament? Our forefathers would not have been amused. New depths have been plumbed. Kevin Ritchie, in The Independent on Saturday, bemoans that while two organisations – one national, the other international – have declared their intention to stop lending money to state-owned enterprises, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa took time, in Parliament, to promote the new Max Condoms. The old state-issued condoms, he explained, smelt bad and squeaked. The new Max Condoms, however, come in fruity flavours and are silent. “Members,” he said, “help yourself.” The question, Richie asks, is who is going to get screwed and by whom? “At least with the old condoms,” he says, “you could hear them coming.” Observer.
Sport
The Sharks still do not play as a team, they still look at themselves as prima donnas. They must get a better backline coach, because the one they have is still using backline moves that the opposition read like a book. Every backline move we made, they were ready for us. Also, as usual with the Sharks, too many handling errors and they gave away too many penalties. Jacobitz.
The referee for the game between South Africa and Mauritania was so pathetic in his decision-making it left me wondering how he got Fifa accreditation. Prem.
Education
University protests. I have read drivel and I have read c***. This bunch of morons should be arrested and charged. Understand this: no education, no job. Destroying the institutions that provide that is totally beyond your comprehension. Yet again there must be huge openings for tyre burnings, protest actions, and coat hanger sellers at defunct robots. What an inspiration to the kids that really want to achieve something in life. What great strides we have made in this country. Obviously apartheid is to blame. Bob Curtis, Waterfall.
It’s really quite simple why students want free education and others want free housing etc... For too many years the ANC won support by telling people that whites got it all for free – which was a lie.The apartheid laws giving us privileges were so wrong, yet it still wasn’t free. Now they are reaping what they sowed.
Hair
A bunch of spoilt schoolgirls cause a storm about blacks and their hair. Now all whites are closet racists. I am so not interested in what hairdo a woman has or whether a woman wants to cover herself from head to toe. Just please leave us alone. Enough now... find peace. VT.
I found Christene Emmet’s article (August 31) very disturbing. She says she was targeted as a delinquent, but she does not mention her transgression. How does one run a school without rules and regulations? Would Emmet be where she is now without discipline? If she were the principal, would she allow the pupil with the huge hairstyle? All that crying by pupils is just a big act to get attention. School is about discipline and conformity. N Naidoo, educating for 38 years.
Wow, the fuss these damsels in distress made about the hair fiasco. Now it’s racist to reprimand black girls not conforming to school rules. I’m so certain that their hairstyles are higher up than their grades. Confused. Julian.
On the subject of hair. Need to say how nice it was to see our Durban mayor with her natural neat hair. Please stay that way. Very elegant. Smarter than plastic/nylon hair.
Crime
Dear Editor, thank you for providing the crime stats on September 2. As a citizen, let’s just say I am not surprised. May I recommend a suggestion? Can you provide the cases solved against the numbers your reporters quoted. For example, home robberies 20 820. How many home robberies were solved with arrest? MR.
The crime statistics ignored the fact that road carnage costs as many lives as murder and most road deaths are because of criminal negligence by the government which refuses to implement life-saving road safety measures. This amounts to culpable homicide costing thousands of lives and should be a major crime statistic. Richard Benson, Road Safety Action Campaign, Cape Town.
Umbilo is sometimes in the news, but until crime stats were published the situation was not appreciated. 240% increase in crime is equal to Umbilo being at full-scale war with criminals. The entire police force and commander must be deployed elsewhere and completely new personnel must run the station. It’s nothing short of incompetence and madness to allow crime to escalate at this rate. SAM.
Odds and ends
Telkom technicians on strike. Areas between eManzimtoti and Winklespruit have been without landlines and ADSL for more than three weeks, choking business in an already distressed economy. What is Telkom doing to resolve this situation?
Why do eThekwini Municipality not come clean and give a clear answer? Why must we pay what is billed? Regarding water not being on the bill, this can only mean that when it is finally included, we will be billed for total used at a much higher rate than what is used monthly. Come on and let’s have a truthful answer. Pensioner Peter.
DJ Phat Joe. Accent so irritating and false. As soon as I hear his voice in the afternoon, I change stations.