SA has to have a democratic alternative if it is to prosper
Given our current situation, the statement “In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve” may well give South Africans pause for reflection.
In post-1994 SA, the ANC, very much a self-interest group, has been looting the public purse of untold billions on a wide front. Public servants have become plunderers of the public purse every step of the way.
The ANC has inflicted serious damage on the factors critical to the health of the economy, with devastating consequences for many millions of our people. Poverty and crime are everywhere, businesses are failing, joblessness statistics are through the roof. Despite enormous ongoing spending on public education and health, standards and service levels continue downwards.
We have fallen ignominiously from our position of economic standard-bearer of Africa. We have moved from economic growth to being in a technical recession. Given our present landscape, hopes for a better future look bleak indeed.
The astounding thing is that, had we been able to get it together as a nation of one people (South Africans first and foremost), the country was destined to be a trailblazer. Many in the international community, after observing the “miracle” of 1994, expected great things of SA.
Nelson Mandela placed us firmly on the road to being a nation of special peoples, who would combine to “show the way forward”, to be the living template and powerful example to a disparate, divided and very confused world. Mandela’s dream was (temporarily?) derailed by the bankruptcy of character and venality of those who came after him in the ANC.
The state of our nation begs the question: “Where are our luminaries, our erudite notables, in business, commerce, academia, economics and jurisprudence?”
We know that across the broad spectrum of our rainbow nation are people of passion and, above all, patriotism, as well as those who have the material resources to get behind the essential and pressing initiative. It will take a brains trust or think-tank to come up with a solution.
Our country needs a democratic alternative in place before the next general election because, as things stand, beyond that, a socioeconomic-political abyss awaits us with glaring certainty.
Sandy Johnston, Nelson Mandela Bay
Pretoria’s e-toll attitude is: pay up!
Finance minister Tito Mboweni’s mediumterm budget policy statement maiden speech has finally provided clarity on the government’s attitude towards the e-tolls issue, which has for months now been in limbo. The government attitude is: pay up!
Despite the overwhelming number of motorists opposing this unfair additional tax, the public’s voice continues to be ignored. Mboweni and his government appear to not understand that part of improving our economy is dealing with issues such as e-tolls. The Ramaphosa administration doesn’t seem to see the link between this project and the growing of our economy and even the creation of jobs.
The taxpayer is being squeezed financially more and more, which will increase the financial pressure people in the street are already under.
Manny de Freitas MP, DA transport spokesperson
DA shows it’s not ready to govern
The events in the City of Cape Town regarding the Patricia de Lille matter have shown us that the DA is failing to deal with its internal matters. The party has lost the Nelson Mandela Bay metro, and where it is heading now there are no guarantees that it will survive.
In Cape Town, it has also just lost five more councillors, one of whom was chief whip. There might be more to follow. Where the DA is running municipalities through coalitions, there are no guarantees these will survive the next few years.
These people are not ready to govern because they can’t even resolve internal matters in the best interests of the organisation. Whatever decision they take always leads to disaster.
Now the DA has another job to do and that is to lobby the communities of the five councillors who resigned, because these former DA members have vowed to campaign against the party in their respective wards.
The wind of change is coming to the Cape Town metro.
Tom Mhlanga, Braamfontein
Ducking and dodging
How about if Chris Barron one of these Sundays puts together an amalgam of the obfuscating, sidelining, devious, incomprehensible, unintelligent “answers” that proliferate in (almost) every Q&A column. His subjects rarely answer the question asked.
An alternative might be to keep repeating the same question until they give a decent answer … it might be quite rewarding.
Polly Saul, Simon’s Town
Asylum-seekers aren’t lawbreakers
The Trump administration seems to confuse asylum-seekers with undocumented immigrants. People seeking asylum are nearly always fleeing serious danger after having suffered deep personal tragedy and persecution.
It is not a crime to seek safe haven.
The asylum system functions according to US treaty obligations under international law.
Sovereign nations have a right to protect their borders from illegal entry, but they have a legal duty to provide shelter to refugees, including asylum-seekers.
Asylum-seekers are not lawbreakers. They deserve a chance to prove their case without being punished for it.
E Peek, Durban
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