Flagging another mysterious Nathi Mthethwa decision
Just when the dust starts to settle after de facto minister of funerals & ceremonies Nathi Mthethwa’s absentminded rubberstamping of the bigoted changing of Port Elizabeth to the spiteful and superfluous Gqeberha, another salary- and relevancejustifying idea of his springs up: a R22m flag, presumably to overshadow the equally relevance-loving AfriForum’s defence of the old apartheid flag.
Mthethwa must really be stuck between a rock and a hard place, going to such expensive lengths to add value to his factually bland portfolio. The fact that Port Elizabeth International Airport has been renamed after a Khoisan king who has no known aviation relevance remains a mystery.
Luyanda Marlon Kama, Port Elizabeth
The proposed R22m flag underlines that we have ministers in our government, including Nathi Mthethwa, whose skills, capabilities and competence — or the gross lack thereof — leave much to be desired.
It is not their money but the taxpayer’s. Government ministers have feasted at the banquet of gratuitous indulgence, squandering and thieving from a cookie jar whose lid is nowhere to be found.
The vexatious excuse for this indulgence is so-called “nation building”. What a load of hogwash!
People are starving, many schools still have pit latrines, some of our vital infrastructure is decrepit and in a ruinous state and our economy is in a parlous situation.
Is a flag paraded as a national monument the desideratum that will alleviate our woes?
If the government is so obsessed with nation building, start where it matters.
It has been reported that this project has been put on hold, mainly due to a rightful public outcry and outrage, but I would hope that it is shelved altogether and that sanity does indeed prevail.
Narendh Ganesh, Durban North
Minister of sport, arts & culture Nathi Mthethwa wanted to spend R22m to erect a 100m flagpole in Freedom Park and thought nobody would mind? What is even worse is that his department has already spent R1.7m on a flagpole feasibility study! R1.7m wasted on doing what — testing the ground stability or the structural integrity of a flagpole, or was this more not-at-all-subtle wasteful expenditure to enrich ANC officials again? Unless they fly a freedom-from-corruption flag, the R23.7m project will not be worth it!
Rob Nicolai, Howick
Destroying food as children starve
The lead story on TimesLIVE on May 18 was headlined: “Thousands of children have died from malnutrition in the past five years”. The department of health revealed that in the past three years, 2,818 children under the age of five have died of malnutrition in hospitals in SA.
There were 3,886 under-five deaths associated with severe acute malnutrition nationally in the past five years as reported in the district health information system.
In his chilling report in April, advocate Paul Hoffman of Accountability Now protested to the South African Human Rights Commission about the shameful waste of a third of all food produced in SA being destroyed while still nutritious and edible.
Where is the outrage at this abysmal state of affairs? Where is Navi Pillay? Too busy dealing with a matter concerning another country at the UN.
The rights of children dying of starvation in her own backyard when nutritious food is destroyed seem to be of no concern to this guardian of human rights.
Allan Wolman, Tel Aviv
Educate E Cape on state of schools
The infrastructure and state of schools in the Eastern Cape has been terrible for years, with no proper plan to rebuild or restore them. It is a province with one of the lowest matric pass rates.
This is not because teachers are incompetent or do not want to teach. It is because of the situation teachers and learners find themselves in.
How does one expect learners who study under a tree, with no adequate resources or nutritional meals, to do well?
The Eastern Cape government has been seeing this happen for a long time, with no intervention.
It is truly despicable. Education affects people’s lives forever and they should invest in and prioritise it.
Kutloano Makgoro, Eastern Cape
No living in peace with Mnangagwa
I feel ashamed that my country, Zimbabwe, could not celebrate International Day of Living in Peace on May 16. Human rights are abused every week by the Zanu-PF government. People are killed for opposing the present regime.
The regime is pretending that everything is under control worldwide when the majority are struggling to earn a living.
Since President Emmerson Mnangagwa gained power, things have gone from worse to worst.
The world should be involved in Zimbabwean matters and force Mnangagwa and the Zanu-PF government to resign. Tapiwa Muskwe, London