Change law so criminals cannot be elected

Your lead article “28 ‘criminals’ on ANC list” (June 10) appalled me. It is ridiculous that anyone with a criminal record or an outstanding criminal case should be permitted to stand for public office of any sort.

I imagine that this restriction was not included in the Constitution when it was first drawn up in order to enable the many people who had political cases outstanding to stand for office in the new government.

Yet more than 20 years have passed and the time has come to correct this very serious flaw. President Jacob Zuma managed to get elected after the outstanding charges against him were dropped — and look where that has got the people of South Africa.

Our government is now full of people who are more interested in enriching themselves than in developing the educational, physical and employment opportunities so desperately needed by all.

People should be elected for the competencies they can bring to governance, not because they belong to a clique that displays a serious lack of ethics as well as great skill at diverting taxpayers’ money to serve them.

We should all work to give back to South Africa, not mismanage and steal the funds of our country.

Incidentally, do all the people who get shuffled in and out of our government and municipal positions receive state pensions? —