Skills are acquired by training, not by social engineering

SA’s population statistics seems to be lost on some people if Mike Siluma’s piece, “All citizens in SA have the right to ‘a place in the sun’” (September 18), is anything to go by.

Africans comprise 85% of the population and will therefore obviously be more visible; they are more visible in semiskilled occupations because they are the majority with such skills. The only way for the majority to be visible in high-end jobs is if many of them are adequately skilled for those jobs.

Instead of moaning about the dominance of whites in high-skilled jobs, our objective should be to train African children to acquire skills. Our worry should be the wasted human potential in the informal settlements and townships.

We don’t need affirmative action; we need able Africans. Able Africans are derived from proper training; rid them of an inferiority complex, cultivate assertiveness and self-confidence, cultivate innovative and creativity skills. That way industries created by Africans will emerge and, as they run them successfully, Africans will be dominant in higher-skilled jobs by virtue of being the majority in the country, not by social engineering.

Whites are few compared with the number of Africans but highly skilled in confidence and creativity; that is why they run industry in this country. But there is no law that has closed development of industry to Africans. Industry is not solely what whites have built but also what Africans can build.

Unfortunately, Africans see each other as useless and tend to regard their peers who are in top jobs as having betrayed the rest.

The demographics of acquired skills, rather than of positions in industry, should be what occupies our minds. “A place in the sun” for African children is the availability of education and skills development.

Dr Kenosi Mosalake, Gauteng

Sheer hypocrisy

KwaZulu-Natal’s MEC for co-operative governance & traditional affairs, Sihle Zikalala, has warned against the misuse of municipal grants, saying it harmed service delivery. “People are tired of corruption,” he is on record as saying.

This from the mouth of the man who in April as KwaZulu-Natal premier diverted a water tanker destined for needy communities to his home and then lied about.

The ANC’s double standards and hypocrisy know no end.

Mark Lowe, Durban

Needles in haystacks

Every day the media publishes stories about new charges of corruption, money laundering and the like by top state officials. Informing the public of these corrupt individuals is to be welcomed, but I suggest the media should also give us news of the sterling officials who render honest, productive work.

I appreciate there may be some difficulty in this regard, but there are no doubt some needles in the proverbial haystack.

VA Volker, Pietermaritzburg

Turn off the taps, please

Every time I walk the Umhlanga promenade or Durban’s Marine Parade I see taps and showers that haven’t been turned off or that are broken and leaking. I make a point of turning them off or reporting the breakages, and appeal to everyone to do the same.

Water is a gift we take for granted; we need to appreciate it and save whenever we can. As an individual, please make a difference!

Derek Krummeck, Umhlanga

Off with their heads

Oh dear, what is journalism coming to? In the Insight section of your September 11 edition Nadine Dreyer mentions Queen Elizabeth “Rex” instead of “Regina”. Then on September 18 you have Elizabeth Sleith in the LifeStyle supplement referring to the late Queen Elizabeth II as “Her Royal Highness” instead of “Her Majesty”! Do your homework please, ladies.

S Bain, Johannesburg

The end of Putin is nigh

In October 1962, President Kennedy exposed Russia by directly threatening

Khrushchev with a crystal clear message ... “Get out of Cuba, or face dire consequences.”

The Americans had called their bluff, as the Russians hastily withdrew their missiles.

Has anything changed in Russia, now a country of 140-million people led by Putin, who clearly is out of touch with his people’s needs?

By attacking Ukraine, Russian conventional military ability has been exposed as being disorganised and weak. The Russian people do not want this insane war and the country is bleeding financially through Putin’s capriciousness in cutting gas and oil supplies to Europe.

The Western allies have been fed “porky pies” about Russia’s military might and Biden’s administration knows this.

Putin’s time is almost up. Both his people and his inner circle are tired of the status quo. Therefore it stands to reason that we are about to see a “new” pragmatic Russia emerging, with the intention of becoming a reliable supplier and allowing financial stability to emerge for the benefit all Russians.

Their first step will be to pay significant war reparations to Ukraine.

Peter Bachtis, Lakefield