Cyril’s compromise cabinet may come at a cost

Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet was a compromise. He kept some Zumarites so as not to be seen to be purging those who openly opposed his rise to power. Mosebenzi Zwane, Des van Rooyen, Faith Muthambi and Lynne Brown were simply too toxic to be kept in the cabinet.

He certainly catered for party interests ahead of those of the country by retaining people who will probably be implicated in state capture.

If they are tainted and are removed, he could face a serious backlash for appointing compromised individuals to safeguard his political survival.

I guess he was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t, and he chose the former.

De Lille treatment sends a message

As a coloured person living on the Cape Flats, I believe I would be doing my community a great disservice by failing to speak out about the treatment being meted out to Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille.

By using her face on its posters in not one but two election campaigns, the DA convinced voters that De Lille was the best candidate to lead this city.

My understanding is that De Lille is being investigated by the DA’s federal legal commission. There appears to be a process in place and I would urge the DA to respect its own internal processes in dealing with the mayor and stop humiliating her in public. If she is found guilty of wrongdoing she must do the honourable thing and step aside.

We need to encourage our young people, especially those on the Cape Flats, to enter the political arena. Our children should know that they have the right to differ with party leaderships without fear of being sidelined, demoted or subjected to kangaroo courts.

Rozario Brown, Cape Town

Incentivise us to sponsor varsity

Many business owners would be happy to sponsor committed university students whose families cannot afford their tuition.

Naturally we would like to choose people in a field required in our businesses and would expect them to work off their debt in our companies, but hopefully it would lead to them having careers with the businesses that sponsor them.

If, instead of stifling legislation, the government had engaged with businesses from the beginning, transformation would have been a reality by now.

The government needs to incentivise us to sponsor education and the employment of interns.

This needs to be done through tax breaks or relaxed labour laws that will encourage companies to employ rather than resist in the face of legislation.

Bruce Beswick, Johannesburg

We made running history

In 1975, the sport apartheid policy of South Africa was relaxed to allow participation but no social interaction. This created a gap for eight coloured athletes to become the first black South Africans to participate in the Two Oceans ultramarathon.

They were John Korasie, Dolf Dampies, Jan Erasmus, Johannes Johannes, Manie Smith, Jakob Rooi, Jannie Carolissen and myself, Chris Davids.

From an anti-apartheid point of view we were considered sellouts, but none of us understood why we should not participate.

We just wanted to run and test our stamina against white athletes.

Those days the racism was so bad that we could not run with a white group. Only University of Cape Town students and the Celtic Harriers let us run alongside them.

Carolissen, then 14 years old, was paced to a world record by Korasie. Dampies was helped in the race by Professor Tim Noakes. The others went through hell, running with no assistance.

Some of these athletes have passed away. Smith lives in Matjiesfontein. Carolissen is out in Riebeek West. The rest of us are in the Paarl Wellington area. It is 43 years since we participated in the Two Oceans and we have never been invited back to this great sporting event.

Chris Davids, Wellington

No Zapiro, no subscription

The sacking of Zapiro is the last straw for me. After many, many years of subscription I will no longer be renewing. Here are my reasons:

1) The new Sunday Times format is rubbish; a futile attempt to “modernise” that has alienated a lot of people.

2) The contract I had with the Sunday Times to deliver a daily copy of the Times was summarily and abruptly cancelled.

3) Digital news media negates the need for print. It’s also an insult to ask me to pay for the Sunday Times version when most of the really good digital versions are free. 4) The final straw: the sacking of Zapiro. Goodbye, Sunday Times. You were an old friend I looked forward to on a Sunday. I will donate R100 to the charity of your choice if you publish this letter.

Eddie Hart, Knysna

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