About the postponed budget, Chris Barron (Business Times, March 9) cites Michael Sachs as saying that the event “signalled the end of fiscal policy being the sole preserve of a tiny governing clique”.
I disagree with this narrative. It seems more likely the entire VAT saga is a complicated political charade. Putting that aside, as Keynes once noted: when the evidence changes, it is often necessary to change one's mind. What Keynes omitted was that being honest about the change is a matter of basic decency.
Sachs was part of the very same “tiny clique” he refers to, seemingly deployed straight from the ANC's economic transformation committee (ETC) to the National Treasury. And thereafter, rising remarkably rapidly to deputy director-general (DDG), he remained a part of it.
I recall vividly sitting at the back of a post-budget briefing in parliament, Sachs showing one of his Treasury colleagues and I a message from Enoch Godongwana asking for speaking notes. Sachs was DDG for the Treasury's budget office, Godongwana was heading up the ETC. I believe some notes were provided.
In a similar vein, Sachs nowadays decries the negative effects of expenditure ceilings on frontline posts and service delivery, but fails to mention that he was part of pioneering that approach at the Treasury and, at the time, responded intemperately to critics like myself who pointed out the inevitable consequences. This kind of disingenuousness (or “memory holing” as it is sometimes called these days) does neither Sachs nor overly ingenuous scribes any favours.
By all means change your mind, but have the decency to admit you once held the opposite view, acted upon it and benefited from it.
— Dr Seán Mfundza Muller, Johannesburg
Shocking ignorance
After reading Mathatha Tsedu’s ramblings about national health insurance, private medical aids, private hospitals, etc (Sunday Times, March 9), I cannot believe Tsedu can be so ignorant of simple economics.
Of course, like all the commentators about poverty, inequality and lack of social cohesion, nobody wants to address the elephant in the room, which is our population explosion. According to statistics, child grants were 350,000 in 1994 but now sit at 13-million, and more than 60% of birth certificates omit the child’s father's details.
It is not for me to tell people how many children they should spawn, but I draw the line at paying for their upbringing, education and schooling plus the rest.
Tsedu has pinned his colours to the mast of people like Julius Malema who never miss an opportunity to stir racial issues.
To coin a Ramaphosian comment: I AM SHOCKED.
— Tony Ball, Gillitts
Heartwarming address
It was heartwarming to listen to the Gauteng state of the province address (Sopa). While the country is in an unsavoury state of affairs, which is playing out in the public discourse where many debates are raging, we are still smarting from 14 of our soldiers dying in a peacekeeping mission in the DRC. And the dishonest and abhorrent theatrics of AfriForum and Solidarity in peddling hogwash that has caught the attention of the unrepentant imperialists in the West is not helping our national project of reconciliation and nation-building.
However, I found solace in the Gauteng Sopa that, despite a blemished history characterised by a fragile rainbow nation whose colours have been dimmed by dishonest and ingenuine engagements that have papered the cracks of apartheid and colonialism, we are soldiering on as a country.
What caught my attention was that the province has secured R100m in infrastructure investment for agrologistics that includes the erection of packhouses, cold-storage facilities and transport infrastructure to assist emerging farmers.
Premier Panyaza Lesufi said the province has allocated 21 refrigerated trucks to farmers and agro-processors. This will increase aggregate capacity that will benefit the RandWest AgriPark and fresh produce market, which will see an aggregate of 3,000 tonnes of smallholder farmer produce by the end of the term.
With the department of agriculture, land reform & rural development spearheading the AgriParks model nationally by working with provincial governments and municipalities in providing smallholder farmers with comprehensive support that includes farming resources like machinery and cold-storage facilities within a 30km radius of where they live gives emerging farmers opportunities to link with the markets and also contributes positively to inclusive growth and job creation, thereby building the rainbow nation.
— Themba Mzula Hleko, Pretoria
Mind-blowing selfishness
I wish to commend Dr Louise van Rhyn on the illuminating and honest exposure of a small segment among Afrikaners (Sunday Times, March 2).
With the false emphasis on so-called “own affairs”, this disgruntled minority maintains that they should be treated differently from the rest of South Africa as they resist integration and instead dream of a separate space while still enjoying the full benefits of an inclusive, nonracial constitution.
Despite colonisation and nearly five decades of exploitation through apartheid and worldwide condemnation, this racist right-wing remnant among Afrikaners, for all the reasons mentioned in her article, persist in claiming the right to having it all their way as they reimagine a life separate and distinct from their fellow South Africans. The utter selfishness is mind-blowing.
— Charl Adams, Cape Town
Oscars fairness
The universality of the Academy Awards committee once again shows how this near century-old body stuck to its ethos of fairness in a society riddled with so much politicking.
From snubbing the first African-American winner [Hattie McDaniel for Gone with the Wind] by not inviting her to the ceremony to collect her prize, then opening up slowly in embracing a slew of black, Hispanic and naturalised foreign artists, the committee wasn't swayed by a herd mentality that prohibited communist sympathisers from joining the industry during the McCarthy era.
All that changed mainly due to lobbying by the black NAACP body. Artists got top billing, picked up a few Oscars on the way, received better pay packages and global recognition, followed by its first African-American winner, Halle Berry.
Recently, an accolade for a joint Palestinian/Israeli production, No Other Land — how inclusive is that? All this happening in Donald Trump's America!
— AR Modak, Sandton
Digital distress
The opinion piece “Older ‘digital refugees’ need some help too” (Business Times, March 2) by Gugu Lourie struck a chord with me.
My mother is a lively 94-year-old. She lives alone in her home and cooks, cleans, gardens, walks her dog and discusses sport results and current topics with confidence. But if her family weren’t nearby, she would not be as able. Her eyesight is not what it used to be and her dexterity has declined. She can no longer drive. Yet she is fiercely independent.
Her grandchildren have enthusiastically helped. They’ve explained and downloaded all the apps on her phone and tablet — Uber, banking, WhatsApp, radios, news, TV, medical aid et al. To no avail.
Elderly people often experience finger tremors when focusing on a point, so she deletes or moves apps without realising she’s done so. Or opens an advert and is completely confused by the unintended content. This is very demoralising for her. Typing usernames and passwords is a process fraught with a stressful sense of inadequacy.
In attempting to improve banking and communication efficiency, technology has created “digital refugees” of many elderly and digitally and visually impaired members of our communities. For many people, smartphones are smarting their sense of dignity.
— Belinda Gough, Kommetjie
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