Zumas quicker than Ruperts to riches

‘EDWARD bears down on Rupert” (April 3) refers. I am an 86-year-old pensioner who does not, and never has, owned any shares in companies, in South Africa or abroad.

In 1949 I was employed as a farm assistant by the biggest private tobacco company in what was then the Nyasaland protectorate and subsequently became an independent Malawi. The general manager approached me with a brochure he had received. The brochure was from a Mr Anton Rupert, who was inviting prominent figures in the tobacco industry to invest in a new company he was forming. It stated that he was already manufacturing, and successfully marketing, a project he conducted from his garage in Stellenbosch. My opinion was sought as I originated from South Africa.

This will refute that the Rupert family acquired their riches in a short space of time. His son followed him and built what became the Remgro empire. It took the best part of 70 years to reach this zenith. Contrast that with the Zuma family fortunes. A scant 10 years ago, donations, contributions and handouts appear to have made up a considerable portion of the family income.

The head of the family then ascended to the presidency and we now have millionaire sons and an extremely rich first family. That is not to say the wealth was acquired illegally, but it begs the question posed by 70 years versus 10. — Martin Cameron-Dow, Cape Town

Let down by our laws

“FOR the sake of your country, Mr President, go now!” (April 3) refers.

I do not have legal training, but I feel let down by a legal system that does not remove a president for violation of an oath of office.

On the other hand, I am scared about how South Africa is still holding on. Some of us still have high expectations of President Jacob Zuma resigning, stepping down, Zuma Must Fall, etc. He never had the training in analytical thinking provided by education.

I don’t blame him because he has ambitions and dreams like all of us.

Put the blame where it resides, the “manipulative” people and formations that put JZ in that position through misleading the masses of our people. — VF, by e-mail

ANC is like the old Nats

HISTORY always repeats itself. Just as apartheid government MPs suppressed black people, ANC MPs are afraid to recall President Zuma. The National Party was also afraid to recall its own leaders.

How can the ANC differentiate itself from the oppressive National Party — which violated laws as it wished — when ANC MPs and Zuma are pushing the country into economic meltdown?

How the ANC defends Zuma is mind-boggling.

I recall what Mandela told us: if the ANC government does what the apartheid government did, then you must do what you did to the National Party government, to the ANC too. That’s my advice to all South Africans. — Tshepo, Springs

Flying into turbulence

CHRIS Barron’s interview with the CEO of FlySafair, Elmar Conradie (So Many Questions, April 3) refers.

As a fairly frequent flyer who travels by air around South Africa every week, and as a trainer and customer-service consultant, I was not inspired.

Lesson 101: please do not go all defensive when you are interviewed with regard to some serious problems with your business. The other airlines’ problems are not yours to compare with.

I really have no confidence in flying with your airline after reading this article.

Take some lessons, Mr Conradie, on customer service and public relations. You have not done your business any good by your responses to Chris Barron’s questions.

I read Barron every week religiously and am constantly amazed at the responses that some of his interviewees come up with. — Roy Barnett, by e-mail

Put Zuma to the vote

“THE president was remiss — will the voters be also?” (April 3) by Pierre de Vos refers.

The logical and democratic way to give the voters a say in the Zuma conundrum is through a referendum. An extra page should be made available during the upcoming municipal elections with the question: “Should Zuma resign?” Yes or no. — Mo Makhothi, by e-mail

SARS swept under carpet

PROFESSOR Pierre de Vos’s extraordinary articulation regarding the upholding of a constitution of a country, community or life should be learnt by us all. In exposing the multiple breaches of the president’s oath, he gives valuable direction for everyone to adhere to as we go along our daily journeys in this difficult new world we live in.

With this spirit of integrity and good governance, I believe it to be incumbent upon the Sunday Times to make public the settlement reached in the SARS saga, as much seems to be swept under the carpet. — Maurice Shawzin, Cape Town

Reporting has lost my trust

I HAVE been reading the Sunday Times for about 60 years. When I read “SARS and the Sunday Times’’ (April 3), it was very disappointing that your paper took so long to publish the articles of Johann van Loggerenberg and Ivan Pillay. Plus that your information was not always checked or correct. Will I in future trust the reporting you publish? No, Sir, no. — Leon Naude, Knysna