Do right thing, Mr Ramaphosa

● Open letter to the president

Dear Mr President,

My intention was to send this letter directly to your office, but all efforts to obtain a direct e-mail address have been unsuccessful.

I am totally frustrated and angry at being forced to have to sit in the dark for four hours tonight [Saturday March 16], this is the second time today that we have been without power for this length of time.

Predictions are that we will be subjected to the same situation, probably for a long time to come.

This is unacceptable. Being a senior citizen of this country (65 years old) who has, and continues, to pay his imposed taxes, water account, electricity account, VAT, fuel levy and the other multitude of taxes that are constantly levied on me, I find it totally unacceptable that I should have to endure this situation any longer.

I also pay my SABC TV licence and DStv subscription every month, but am now unable to enjoy the benefits of those services due to the fact that the power supply has been interrupted, yet again.

Please inform me who I should send my rebate bill to for not being allowed to use the services I have paid for.

Do you not realise and understand, sir, that we have had enough?

Do you not understand that the people who you appointed (cabinet ministers, directors and the other multitude of people within the current government structures, including state-owned enterprises) are either not doing their jobs correctly or are just totally incompetent to do what is expected of them, and still get paid huge salaries for?

You will also be aware that the systems that worked very well for so many years (schools, universities, medical institutions, transport, policing, courts, water and electricity supply, etc) are falling apart at a rapid rate.

This is totally unacceptable to honest and law-abiding, taxpaying citizens of our country.

For the amount of tax money that we constantly have to “throw” at the building of new fossil fuel-powered power stations, which is now running into tens of billions of rand in overspend, we could have built a huge number of alternative power-producing installations, including solar and wind plants, located closer to the people who need the power.

Why should I have to rely on power from Limpopo when we have wind farms in the Eastern Cape?

Please sir, prove to us that you are worthy of the status of the office that you have been entrusted with.

Please do your best to bring to book those people who have brought this country to its very knees, without any further undue delay.

It is unacceptable that court cases implicating those who have done this can drag on for year after year and still expect us taxpayers to continue to fund the process.

The time has come, sir, for you to “man up” and show us that you actually mean it when you say “a better country for all”.

No more fancy cars, opulent houses, overseas trips, bodyguards, luxury hotel accommodation, free meals and other perks for those people who are supposed to have our best interests at heart on the top of their collective agendas.

The time for taking strong and decisive action is now.

Prove to the citizens of this country that you are the right man for the job.

I am sure that you are aware that the pen is mightier than the sword.

A little “X” in a box at election time will make all the difference.

Please sir, do the right thing and do it now.

Concerned taxpayer Summerstrand, Port Elizabeth