Bring referendums to voters to fix this country

WITH regards to (Jacob) Zuma not being allowed to run for president, what a joke. He, like Nelson Mandela – who was considered a god/saint – were convicted criminals, whether right or wrong, and both had sentences longer than 12 months. Yet both of them were allowed to run for the presidency and became president. Now all of a sudden, Zuma’s jail sentence disqualifies him. Since 1994, being previously sentenced was a prerequisite for becoming president. I am no Zuma supporter but this is nonsense. This is a democracy. Let the people decide. The moment you decide who they can vote for or not, it’s no longer a democracy. Then it becomes a dictatorship. | GERHARD DU TOIT

Our current president must bring referendums to us as voters in order to fix this country, because in a few years this country will be like Zimbabwe. There’s a loophole in our Constitution and we need to fix it urgently. | MADIRE MM

Former president Zuma remains the people’s President. I therefore believe whether in office or not he can run the country. Any political party has its own policies developed from their conference and that is how the country is run. Come election day, South Africa will have a president who will serve the needs and the aspirations of its people. | NWAMANDWANDWENI

Jacob Zuma must just leave other presidents to lead in peace. I think he is power hungry and is finished. He wants to rule with an autocracy kind of mentality and this is a democratic country. If he is not a president, then it must be his son or ex-wife. As old as he is, I pray that he sits at home and enjoys his remaining years. | GOD IS MY PROVIDER

COMMUNITY

RE: “War in the Suburbs: ‘DA Front’ claim”. As a resident in ethekwini ward 63, I am not surprised. In 2023, we held what were supposed to be “community meetings in the Queensburgh community hall. This is something all councillors are supposed to do to keep the community informed of decisions and also to ascertain any issues etc. Our meeting was a mudslinging political campaign where there were some “leaders” of the DA party present and they were pushing the “join the Westville

Ratepayers Association” cause. Our follow up community meeting had another member of the DA, the Cogta shadow minister, “take centre stage as he pompously strutted his stuff on how effective DA politics is”. These meetings are supposed to be apolitical. Whenever I speak out against the false narrative and lies and try to educate the community on how a ward is supposed to be effectively run, or how things work in relation to reporting of issues etc, I get attacked on social media groups. The moral of the story is when one tries to highlight the truth about the narratives certain councillors “spew out”, one is attacked. | LLOYD PETERSON