An illiterate society doesn’t need books
Can anyone think of one single promise that’s come to fruition since 2018? “Fighting corruption”? “Social compacts”? “Reducing state administrative prices”? “Increasing investment”? “Reducing unemployment”? “Fighting crime”? “Reducing GBV”?
Jacobus Marais
I visited the fence dividing East and
West Germany before the fall of the Soviet Union. One side was lush farmlands and bustling factories while on the other side we had barren fields that had been mined to prevent human movement, with surly guards on patrol. I live in the DA-controlled Midvaal adjoining the ANC’s Emfuleni. Reminds me of that visit.
Lloyd Maklin
[FM] leaders would do well to reflect on what Ramaphosa has achieved, directly or indirectly. The likes of Ace Magashule and the “premier league” have been sidelined and largely neutralised, as have people like Zandile Gumede and even Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma. A good chief justice has been appointed, and the precedent of an open and transparent appointment process of the national director of public prosecutions has been set, though not required by the constitution. Many of the most corrupt have been removed from the police. Parliament is increasingly operating as it should too.
We cannot take any of that for granted, as we saw under Jacob Zuma. Yes, there
Or we could all accept that the ANC is “weighed down by narrow self-interest and decrepit comrades” and kick the entire party into touch (or ideally into prison!).
Andrew Fourie
When the headline says “What Thabo Bester can learn from Nelson Mandela” you don’t click on the link.
The ANC has an advantage. It is also the referee and rule-maker. But somehow still cannot win.
Michael Mouse Joburg City Library: quiet, please, we’re closed
Staff were redeployed to other, also shutdown libraries. Staff are happy, full pay, no burdensome stuff such as having to stamp books out or return books to shelves. So wearying. And not to mention library users asking for information so annoying! The current situation is super. Anyway, everyone can read books on Kindle now, can’t they?
What can the government do to help our farmers?
South African farmers used to get significant government support, including from a well-functioning Land Bank, an agricultural extension service to provide practical on-the-ground advice by agronomists and other experts, veterinary interventions, price underpins, police protection and so forth. All of which has been destroyed in the past 30 years by an ANC government that goes out of its way to jeopardise food security, undermine property rights rendering farmers unable to use their property as collateral ruin rural municipalities and infrastructure, and facilitate rampant crime because there is no longer policing to speak of.
With an overtly hostile ANC, farmers are probably better off remaining selfsufficient.
Mark Ingham Mani None James Kantor
With reference to “Quiet, Please, We’re Closed” (Fox, November 2-8), I would like to make this comment.
In a normal society, the closure of the central library in the biggest city in a country would be considered an outrage. That it could be closed for four years seems absurd.
However, this is not a normal society; illiteracy, reading without understanding and widespread ignorance are the norm. A hopeless and dysfunctional education system has much to do with this sad state of affairs, with most people not even knowing that libraries exist.