Give us a reason to vote ANC again

The ANC, as it moves towards its elective conference, has never been in this situation before.

Having lost support in the metros at the last local government elections, there is every possibility that this trend will continue. The results in 2019 could be disastrous for the ANC.

However, it can get the public to vote for it again — if the correct leadership is produced at the conference.

In 2007, when Jacob Zuma won the Polokwane elections, I resigned from the ANC because of the criminal charges levelled against him. The national executive committee was weak and could not instil discipline.

Most South Africans will acknowledge that the government has done very well at service delivery. However, there is a blight on its sheet because of Zuma’s antics, corruption at state-owned enterprises and the Guptas.

The correct leadership will ensure a majority vote but the candidate must get a grip on corruption and have clear policies on immigration and securing the borders, revival of the economy, job creation, and investment by South Africans into the economy.

Please give us reason to vote ANC again. Des, Benoni

Ramaphosa the best choice

While the knives will be out for presidentin-waiting Cyril Ramaphosa, he is the best choice for our future, coming in with six good, clean top executives.

Wiping the slate clean, eradicating corruption and uplifting the low image and morale of the ANC — not forgetting to install Lindiwe Sisulu as his deputy

(gender equality will be his ticket to win) — Ramaphosa will be the breath of fresh air South Africa and the ANC really need now. Farouk Saloojee, Rustenburg

Willing Gupta, willing Zuma

The “willing buyer, willing seller” concept has now spread to state capture as the “Gupta-Zuma” concept.

Peter L’Estrange, Retreat

Centuries-deep inequality

In order to determine whether what DA leader Mmusi Maimane is trying to propagate in his article “Measure every policy by how much it helps the poor and jobless” (December 3) is the truth, one needs to determine the social status of blacks and whites in the Western Cape.

In the Western Cape an average black professional can afford to stay only in the areas where the poor that Maimane talks about stay. Since the early 18th century blacks have been unequal to whites.

What will foreign investment change? M Nqoro, Cape Town

What about Naki?

In the article “Heartbreaker” (December 3) on the first heart transplant, Claire Keeton erases the contributions of the surgical brilliance of the African man, Tata Hamilton Naki, by mentioning him in just seven and a half sentences!

Without education (read bantu education), Tata Naki became one of South Africa’s most skilled surgeons, contributing to pioneering research at Groote Schuur Hospital and becoming a valuable member of Professor Christiaan Barnard’s team.

Granted, this is disputed by others. But it seems that, writing this medical history, Keeton has never heard of Hidden Heart ,a compelling film about Barnard and Naki.

Fifty years later, and 23 years after the “fall” of apartheid, the narrative of this pioneering accomplishment is presented as if there are no compelling calls for the decolonisation of South Africa’s education at schooling and university systems.

The injustices of the past continue in a democratic dispensation.

In 2003 president Thabo Mbeki awarded Tata Naki the Order of Mapungubwe, bronze, for excellence and exceptional achievement on the international stage.

Dr Neo Lekgotla laga Ramoupi, Midrand

And what about Ozinsky?

The world’s first heart transplant has rightly been accorded prominent space in your newspaper together with appropriate accolades to team leader Chris Barnard.

However, almost no mention has been made of one of the most central figures in this extraordinary event, the anaesthetist, Dr Joseph Ozinsky, who played a prominent and crucial role.

With no precedent to guide him, Ozinsky used his exceptional experience in and knowledge of anaesthesia for cardiovascular procedures to achieve the near-impossible feat of keeping this dying patient alive to enable the heart transplant to be completed successfully.

MFM James and PC Gordon, emeritus professors of anaesthesia, University of Cape Town

Lettuce hope

Regarding your article “So warm and cuddly, and that’s just the guys”

(December 3): do the calendar bunnies get a modelling fee, or do they just get carrots? Mike McDonnell, Knysna

Settler-bullet cry is hateful

What can we do about thugs who shout things like “One settler, one bullet”? Where do they come from?

Where do many of us originate from? This country has been colonised not only by people from Europe but those from Asia and African areas to our north as well.

Hateful behaviour and language should be treated as criminal. If we continue like this, no one will invest here, and people will be hurt or killed. This applies to all racism and violent threats.

Hilary Ford, Port Elizabeth

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