Your editorial, “How booze spoils the party for South Africans” (Sunday Times, January 4), is topical and pertinent.
While I agree with the measures that are advocated to curb the abuse of alcohol, especially amongst young people, I would go further to suggest, first, that the legal age limit for the purchase and consumption of alcohol be raised to 21.
Second, we should revert to pre-1994 laws, when the sale of alcohol was strictly regulated. Liquor stores closed at 1pm on Saturday and only reopened on Monday. We have become such a permissive society that today some liquor outlets are open even on Christmas Day. Of course, in those bad old days of apartheid we managed to get our booze on Sundays and holidays from the local “shebeen queen”.
How permissive we have become regarding alcohol is manifest in our attitude to public drinking, which has become the norm in some places. People drink beer on the streets while officers of the law drive past pretending not to see anything.
Should some readers consider me a rabid Calvinist, let me confess that I drank and drove for most of my adult life until recently when traffic officers have become overzealous on weekends.
- Harry Sewlall, Parkmore
SANDF vs Seals Team 6?
Not since Chuck Norris starred in the 1986 film Delta Force have the world’s tyrants been as scared of the US special forces as they are after the recent capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, who is facing multiple charges in the US ranging from narcotics smuggling to election fraud to confiscation of US-financed oil fields.
Our local politicians must be stressing over being arrested and prosecuted by President Donald Trump. His “white genocide” accusations are much more serious than cocaine smuggling boats. Perhaps now our frigates, submarines and fighter jets will be fixed and returned to service, as the prospect of senior South African politicians doing the “perp walk” outside a New York City police station looms large.
- Rob Nicolai, Howick
Freedom is the foundation
Peter Bruce is at his “you might as well slit your wrists” best in his column (“A future built on dark apartheid foundations”, December 21). When I joined others in condemning his naïve support for Cyril Ramaphosa, he said that at least I was “vaguely sane”. In these straitened times, I take that as a compliment.
Now, taking a swipe again at the DA, he says it has “nothing” to say about the future. Well, compared with the ANC, the DA is positively verbose. It comes down to the available choices.
Who knows what the future holds? I have lived in South Africa since 1969 and many “predictions” have gone to die in the ditch of depression. We have been very poorly led for about 50 of the 56 years that I know of, and we continue to survive. We need to stay focused on the principles of freedom, the rule of law, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of the individual, freedom of association, freedom of markets — spot the common denominator. This is an arduous, often unrewarding, task, as not all of these freedoms have been completely won by any means, and it requires that we keep putting one foot in front of the other. It is indeed a very long walk.
Who knows where we are headed? One thing, however, is sure. The ANC does not have one earthly clue.
- Alan Stevenson, via e-mail
Keep listening to this DJ
The memorial service for DJ Warras was not only a farewell to a gifted voice and soul but also a powerful reminder of the cost of truth. When you stand up, when you speak truth to power, when you refuse to bow to corruption and injustice, you inevitably make enemies. Warrick Stock understood this. He chose courage over comfort, principle over popularity and truth over silence.
If this journey of speaking out ever feels like it could be the end for some of us, then let it be known it is a worthy end. Because silence has never saved a nation, and fear has never defeated corruption. The real danger lies in doing nothing.
Let DJ Warrick’s life remind us that our voices matter. That corruption thrives when good people retreat. That change is born when ordinary citizens decide to speak, even when it costs them. We must honour him not only with words but with action — by continuing to speak out, to expose wrongdoing, and to defend what is right.
To those who feel afraid: speak anyway. To those who feel alone: you are not. To those who benefit from corruption: know that truth has a longer memory than power.
May DJ Warrick rest in power. And may we find the courage to carry forward the fight he so bravely lived.
- Thulani Dasa, Khayelitsha
The DA’s anti-BEE onslaught
The DA is diametrically opposed to socioeconomic transformation. Like Solidarity, the DA roguishly rallied behind AfriForum’s reactionary campaign of perpetuating a false narrative abroad to impugn South Africa’s efforts to redress the imbalances in society. AfriForum is a marginal constituency of a privileged minority that benefited from the regime that entrenched disparities along racial lines. The DA is stealthily kowtowing to AfriForum.
No wonder Solly Malatsi, communications & digital technologies minister, has conveniently introduced a narrow policy directive to waive a working model of equity equivalents in favour of monopoly capital. If Malatsi is not challenged, then entities that plonk money on the table will bypass the [BEE] obligation.
- Morgan Phaahla, Vosloorus
Our Mobutu look-alikes
A state of emergency is often declared when a situation threatens a nation. In South Africa circumstances already exist to trigger such a declaration — corruption represents an imminent threat, and the past 30 years paint a picture of politicians who, if not restrained, will collapse this country in the next few years.
That among those jostling to steer the sinking ship we count the likes of Paul Mashatile, Fikile Mbalula and Nomvula Mokonyane demonstrates that we can no longer speak of corruption of the kind that destroyed Zaire [now the DRC] under Mobutu Sese Seko in abstract terms. The ANC has no ideology or doctrinal coherence. If the Hawks had the courage to raid an ANC NEC meeting, they could round up a decent number of suspects.
The voices of the few remaining incorruptible ANC members have been drowned out by the corrupt. When Jacob Zuma was catapulted into power despite judge Hilary Squires’s judgment when convicting Shabir Shaik, it not only put South Africa into the basket of fundamentally corrupt countries such as Zimbabwe and Nigeria, but it resuscitated tendencies that were prevalent in exile: a leadership that cared only for itself.
While Zuma is an illiterate tribalist, his modus operandi has been copied by even the educated within the ANC. His stratagem was to get the educated to do his bidding. Look at John Hlophe, who threw away his entire illustrious judicial career because of Zuma’s promises. The much-vaunted Operation Shanela, which often involves the indiscriminate arrest of the downtrodden, should be extended to apprehend corrupt politicians and their counterparts in the private sector.
- Junior Polisario Nthane, Haartbeespoort
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.