Economy consigned to the trash heap, adorned by ANC flag

Eskom is just one of the many spectacular failures that have effectively consigned our dream of an economy able to create job opportunities for all to the trash heap, adorned by the ANC party flag.

Roads, municipalities, job creation, jobs for pals ... The blatant deceit, the implicit sense of impunity and entitlement, have become all-too-common features of comrades or cadres, betraying their intended gravitas.

The ANC’s arrogant self-adulation, and the incessant outpouring of politicalspeak, are untruthful and seek to con a population continuing to suffer the effects of their spectacular failure to either deliver or effect basic standards of service to all citizens of our country.

As we continue to be subjected to and misled by the galling and sanctimonious claptrap, our individual and collective prospects as citizens plummet further into despair and oblivion.

The misrule, inaction and voracious self-gratification may well have been learnt from other countries; we, though, have certainly perfected it.

We must unite in action against these political opportunists and consign them to a place of purgatory, so that they too can feel the pain inflicted on the hapless citizens of the RSA. Charlie MacGillivray, Karkloof

ANC a Sharpeville no-show

On March 16 1960, Robert Sobukwe wrote to the commissioner of police, Maj-Gen CI Rademeyer, stating that the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) would be embarking on a campaign against pass laws, starting on March 21.

He wrote: “I have appealed to the African people to make sure that this campaign is conducted in a spirit of absolute nonviolence, and I am quite certain they will heed my call.”

You will notice that he addressed himself to “the African people”, not “members of the PAC”. He considered the struggle to be that of every African, hence he also invited the ANC to participate in the campaign.

The Sunday Times of March 20 1960 reported the response of the ANC via

Duma Nokwe, then secretary-general, who said: “The ANC is unwilling to support action which had not been properly prepared for, and which has no reasonable prospects of success.”

Claims of a similar plan by the ANC appear strange. Indeed, if the ANC had a similar plan, did the ANC believe theirs had a reasonable prospect of success? It is also strange that many of the reflections on the Sharpeville incident never mention that the ANC was invited and rejected the overture. Nor is there any mention of what the ANC was doing on March 21 1960.

There are also reports of the ANC having actively canvassed people not to heed Sobukwe’s call.

Any presentation of the Sharpeville massacre without mention of Sobukwe or the PAC, or the actual plan that was being implemented, or the invitation to the ANC and the response thereto, is a gross distortion of history. Dr Kenosi Mosalakae, Houghton The JSC has let us down before

The appointment of Raymond Zondo as chief justice must be welcomed. Justice Zondo possesses all the necessary attributes to fulfil this role well.

We must understand why some, particularly some members of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), would not have wanted him to be appointed. His appointment poses a threat to those seeking to escape the long arm of the law.

It is extremely disappointing to have viewed the conduct of the JSC in the recent hearings.

Some members engaged in character assassination and were clearly partisan in their approach, to the extent that they exceeded their mandate by ranking the candidates. This was clearly an attempt to railroad the president into making a decision in favour of their preferred candidate rather than in favour of the most skilled and suitable candidate.

Fortunately, the president acted in the most correct way.

The JSC has historically not acted in the best interests of the justice system but has engaged in personal and partisan conduct. The unwarranted and shameful attacks on judge Dhaya Pillay in the interviews for Constitutional Court justices bear testimony to this. The attempts to exclude an extremely competent, senior judge who was already acting as a Constitutional Court justice were shameful, particularly as they were rooted in a narrow political agenda.

Even more shameful is the fact that members of the JSC were allowed to get away with this.

Magesvari Govender, Queensburgh

Putin’s troops must leave Ukraine

I differ with the narrative that Russian president Vladimir Putin’s cause is noble. He is hailed as a hero in some quarters for invading a sovereign country. Ukraine has a right to choose who to flirt with.

How did Putin become a billionaire? Was he not stealing from the poor? The effects of the war will be severe in poor countries of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America. Yet the poor countries see Putin as a hero. The Soviet Union and its adversaries plunged the world into chaos for years over capitalism and communism orthodoxy.

Putin must return his troops to Russia. Lindani Ngcobo, Bellair

Power’s just going out

“Men Wanted: For hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success. ”— Sir Ernest Shackleton.

Shackleton was a British explorer who led three expeditions to Antarctica long ago. But could the above recruitment leaflet he wrote possibly be used by Eskom as a new employment poster for our current power crisis? Robert Nicolai, Howick

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