Too many kids the problem

EUSEBIUS McKaiser (November 15) rambles on about the unearned privilege of being born a white baby and, other than a passing mention of “having fewer relatives depending on your salary when you enter the job market”, omits the main reason for much poverty among black people.

Put plain and simply, sheer logic tells you that raising two children is considerably cheaper than trying to raise six.

That aside, we also have the problem of absent fathers, both in person and in child maintenance, and many black women raise their children on their own.

Even in divorced families, both parents strive to give their children the best possible opportunities in life and to be good role models.

Schools help shape a child’s future to a point. Ultimately, the responsibility lies with the parents and that is sadly lacking in South Africa, and Africa for that matter.

It is criminal that child births are registered in many cases without details of the child’s father and, as many are predicting, the child social grant is ballooning.

In today’s economic climate, uncontrolled breeding is the inevitable route to poverty for millions.

How McKaiser missed that critical element escapes me, unless of course he was trying to do the “white guilt” thing – something our government is expert at doing. TONY BALL

Durban