Mbalula’s remarks about facilities shortages another election ploy

MINISTER of Sport, Fikile April Mbalula’s article “Transformation of sport needs collective effort” (DD, March 31) is a dismal admission that his government’s performance in providing sporting facilities over the past 20 years has simply been too little, too late.

Frankly, it is yet another admission of service delivery failure, this time in the field of sport. It is not a good story to tell. He cries about the shortage of facilities for Africans.

Question: how many school sports fields could have been built for R246-million instead of building a swimming pool for the president which he selfishly won’t even open for swimming lessons for local children?

Yet, even when government does install a sports field as it did a few years ago in Nxarhuni, it fails to maintain it. So this field, erected by the Buffalo City Metro without permission on land owned by a church, now lies unattended, except for the cattle grazing on it.

Clearly the timing of the minister’s whining about the need for sports facilities must be seen as yet another ANC election distraction.

Put with its traditional vote-buying ploy of handing out food parcels, it is clear that the ANC’s election strategy is no more than to provide bread and circuses for all. — Bill Gould, Southernwood

High-flyers costing us

THE issue of parliamentarians voting themselves free flights refers. I'm just wondering which employer can look after their former employees for 10 years after retirement, especially in the manner in which our parliamentarians are expecting?

Clearly, the ANC has no respect for the public purse. They are now literally showing us the finger. They are telling us we can all go to hell if we want to and they will do as they please with our money.

So much for “a better life for all”. — Name supplied, via e-mail

Our own Versailles

AN INTERESTING analogy exists between what happened in the reign of Louis XVI of France, way back in the 1700s, and what is happening in the present “reign” of President Jacob Zuma.

The residence of the royal family of France was known as the palace of Versailles. History tells us that Versailles underwent major transformation during the reign of Louis XV.

Louis XVI, the grandson of Louis XV, ordered the completion of the unfinished projects, but had certain further expansion made to Versailles.

At this time the French economy was in a very poor state with the national government virtually bankrupt. An inadequate transportation system fuelled the ever rising food prices. Nevertheless, the lifestyle of the aristocracy demanded insatiable sources of income which called for a tax system that impoverished the working class further and further. Meanwhile, the royal court at Versailles was indifferent to the escalating crisis.

Nkandla has been much in the news lately and you cannot deny that there is some similarity between the days of Louis XVI and those of our President Zuma.

The taxes raised by SARS no longer meet the spending demands of Treasury – we resort to taxing the most productive sector of the population to the hilt; to introducing the e-Toll system with a highly cost-inefficient administrative system; allowing exorbitant electricity costs; and ignore the maintenance of the country’s infrastructure.

By 1789 the over-taxed sector of the population had had enough. They made their discontent known by marching on Versailles and stormed the Bastille. Thus a bloody revolution commenced that ended with Versailles being taken, Louis XVI being arrested and all the possessions of the royal family declared abandoned.

Let us not revert to revolutionary methods to return sanity to those who perceive themselves as “reigning” over us, but voice our sentiments about unscrupulous leaders who act as if they are an absolute monarchy. — Pierre Lötz, Fort Beaufort

WSU on new course

THE Walter Sisulu University SRC believes the administrator (Professor Lourens van Staden) is not perfect, but has never claimed to be. Also the unions are not perfect but have never claimed to be either. The student leadership also never claimed to be perfect but the undeniable achievement is that the university has been resuscitated through the working together of all the stakeholders mentioned above.

We strongly believe that the new groundbreaking statute of the university, gazetted on January 17, will make it possible for WSU to commence with the implementation of the divisional governance and management model appropriate for a university of this kind.

We hope the new council will take over the responsibility of ensuring the health and well-being of this national assert.

We also hope that student governance will stabilise with the new SRC constitution agreed upon with the divisional system.

We acknowledge that, as the minister also made clear, he is aware that the NSFAS budget for WSU is not enough. We hope a plan to meet this challenge halfway will be put in place to ensure that most of our students will not be excluded financially as from next year. We all know this university administers mostly students from poor working class families who cannot in any manner afford to pay for their fees. This is a university of hope, a university of poor people, but it is rich in mind. I do believe the continued success of this university depends on us, the student leadership, staff, students, labour unions, communities and all who have an interest in the ongoing development of our people to ensure a better life for all. — Buhle Noah, ISRC secretary general, WSU

April Fool indeed

YOU really caught me with your April Fool’s article, but many a true word is said in jest. I really laughed when I read the comment from a taxi man. My personal experience is that taxis race through the robot regardless of its colour.

It must be a “silly system” but whatever a system is employed, some taxi drivers make up their own rules of the road. — Mark Yazbek, East London