You broke faith with those who died in the Great War
The Sunday Times of November 11 2018 was a big disappointment. On the very day of the centenary of the end of World War 1 you only carried one article on this historic event. It was by the minister of defence & military veterans and rightly remembered the sacrifices of our soldiers at Delville Wood, the sinking of the Mendi and the battle of Square Hill.
But you failed to even mention the significance of this day in your editorials, did not give any space thereto on your front page and squandered the opportunity to educate your readers on the complete transformation this war brought about.
It rang in the end of the age of empires, kaisers, tsars and changed the way people knew the world and regarded themselves. In this respect a question posed by the novelist Sebastian Faulks is appropriate: “Did Europe’s enthusiastic discovery of genocide in 1914-1918 make a mockery of the preceding 500 years, rendering such terms as the Renaissance and the Enlightenment simple self-delusion; and if this war showed the true nature of the human creature, its limitless capacity for killing once the means are in its hands, how are we to deal with our revised knowledge of what we are?”
You also could have mentioned war poems, including such lines as Age shall not weary them, not the years condemn./ At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them. We all must pay heed to the caution: If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep,/ though poppies grow in Flanders fields. Dan Badenhorst, Cape Town
It’s over for looters and liars
The resignation of minister of home affairs Malusi Gigaba must be welcomed. He was an embarrassment.
He claimed he was innocent. If that were the case, why did he resign? His resignation is proof that he was hiding something.
It is fortunate for the country to have a president like Cyril Ramaphosa. The man is cleaning up this country and we must support him in his endeavours to root out corruption and moral deficiency in our government.
The way things are moving, looters and liars will feel more pain. Their honeymoon is over and it is not business as usual.
Tom Mhlanga, Braamfontein
Nuclear is the way to go
Re “Factual failures as clean energy debate goes nuclear” (November 11), the letter writers attacking Knox Msebenzi’s article in favour of nuclear power ask for facts to show that wind and solar are expensive. The facts are clear: solar and wind have proved to be the most expensive electricity in South African history, and the worst.
Eskom’s last annual report, for the period ending March 31 2018, showed that it was forced to pay 222c/kWh for renewable electricity (solar and wind) under the disastrous Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers’ Procurement Programme. Eskom’s average selling price is 89c/kWh. But the cost to Eskom of this renewable electricity is much more than 222c/kWh.
To accommodate the wild, unpredictable swings of the intermittent solar and wind electricity, somebody else (the electricity-buying public) has to pay a fortune on “system costs”, including the costs of back-up generation, storage, spinning reserve and generators running inefficiently as they ramp up and down to match the renewable generators.
This is why all around the world, as more renewable energy is added to the grid, the cost of electricity goes up, up, up. Denmark, with the world’s highest fraction of wind electricity, has about the most expensive electricity in Europe. Germany, by phasing out nuclear and replacing it with wind and solar, is not far behind, with soaring costs. France, over 75% nuclear, has among the lowest prices in Europe.
Only one solar or wind technology in SA produces honest, usable electricity without imposing system costs. This is concentrated solar power, with storage. The latest such plant in SA charges 500c/kWh for its electricity at peak time — over 10 times as much as Koeberg.
Nuclear power is the most affordable option for our future electricity supply. Andrew Kenny, Noordhoek
Push for vaccines
Many parents have phoned in explaining that their children cannot be vaccinated because there are no stocks of vaccinations, in particular the polio vaccine.
The health department has made no effort to respond to my queries regarding lack of stock.
The only way to get some attention so that your children can get vaccinated is to let the ANC, DA, IFP, EFF know that if they don’t get motivated and ensure the clinics in their areas are well stocked with vaccines, then you will not vote for any of them in 2019. Public servants are here to serve us. The time has come for them to prove their worth.
Cilla Webster, Post Polio Network RSA, Chatsworth
Cyril, with a KO
I agree with Barney Mthombothi, “When MPs treat parliament as a shebeen …” (November 11) about MPs’ conduct and Cyril Ramaphosa’s response to it. The issue is that Ramaphosa is hobbled by coming elections. Unless his position is cemented, he can’t act. If the ANC wins the elections, we look forward to that promised bloodbath when captured and capturers outdo each other and, even better, fist fights follow. Where he might even deck David Mabuza over this Russia trip.
Sentle Lehoko, Alberton