Race politics in student funding
A TOPIC trending on social media and Whatsapp groups and around tables in the Indian community is that it appears non-african students are simply being ignored by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) for funding, even though they qualify.
It is too widespread to involve isolated cases or to be dismissed as playing a race card.
There appears to be a bigoted agenda at the NFSAS to deny nonafrican (Indians and coloureds) the funding to which they are entitled and I believe that the public protector should investigate the matter.
The NFSAS should be made to answer and should be investigated for racism. Perhaps this needs to be taken up by forums such as Section 21 and even Afriforum.
The role of the NSFAS is to make sure qualifying students get access to higher education, not to play race politics. SAIF SOOFIE Sherwood
Don’t tarnish Indian image
WITH Jacob Zuma gone, I wonder what my fellow Indians who fraternised with him at the race course, birthday parties and certain hotels in the city will do now to ensure they get their clutches in the new administration to continue with tenderpreneurship in roads, telecoms, electricity and other fields as they did for 10 years with Zuma and followers like Sihle Zikalala and company.
Along with the Guptas, they smeared the entire Indian community with the brush of greed and exploitation of the impoverished poor majority.
And do they care about the long-term impact that this will have on the Indian community or are they just interested in filling their pockets with the new administration?
These Indian “businessmen” reaped the benefits of their connections and built multimillion-rand empires with interests ranging from minerals to the media.
Scandals not only tore apart the rainbow nation, but had major repercussions for global business.
Many Indians played a role in the anti-apartheid struggle and some held positions of power in post-apartheid South Africa.
We should not allow our image to be tainted as it will come back to bite the entire Indian community, especially the poorer classes. HIRESH RAMTHOL
Sandton
Global Israeli boycott needed
AT THE core of the tragedy in the Middle East is Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. That Israel is able to continue the occupation, bomb and kill indiscriminately without restraint, points to the international community’s inability to maintain peace and justice.
Conditions for Palestinians under Israeli apartheid are considered worse than for nonwhites under South African apartheid. In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians suffer under an
Israeli blockade that constitutes illegal collective punishment.
Yet there does not appear to be the same outcry from the DA against Israeli apartheid.
In solidarity with the Palestinians and Israelis opposed to war, South Africans should call on political parties to be part of a global boycott against Israel. The DA should call on Israel to halt settlement building, boost efforts to address racism against Africans and stop the detention of children. YUSUF BHAYLA Pietermaritzburg