LETTERS | Cape Town rates & taxes: DA can't have it both ways

Before the DA took control of Cape Town back in 2006, the ANC had introduced/proposed adjusting the rates of homeowners in Camps Bay (and I assume other areas of Cape Town) on the basis, as I recall, that the properties had escalated greatly in value.

The DA — in opposition at the time — and civic groups were absolutely opposed to the exorbitant hikes, saying: 

• Many of the homeowners had bought their houses when they were far cheaper as homes in which they would retire;
• These people, now pensioners, were on fixed, and in many cases modest, incomes;
• They were therefore not able to supplement their incomes and did not enjoy salary increases;
• This meant they would have been unable to afford the new rates as they were simply retired middle-class people;
• That meant they would likely have to sell the homes in which they had hoped to live out their lives; and
• In short, they were asset-rich but cash-strapped.

Now, however, the new budget proposed by the DA and based on new property values is doing exactly what it opposed so vociferously when the ANC proposed it — and pensioners today are in the same position as those in the past.

So what has changed? Either the DA was correct then or it is correct now — both cannot be true.

Everyone has higher living costs and pensioners on fixed incomes are being particularly hard-hit — and now the city decides to add to the pain with exorbitant hikes.

Can the mayor et al, when trying to justify these hikes, stop using the argument that compares Cape Town with other South African cities? They are of no relevance as we do not live in Johannesburg, Durban or wherever. We live in Cape Town.

— Rod Baker, Fish Hoek

Students betrayed

The tragedy at Walter Sisulu University, where Sisonke Mbolekwa was fatally shot during a student protest, is not only a crisis of leadership but also a rupture of trust between students and the institutions meant to serve them. When universities become places where students feel unheard, unsafe and unseen, we are witnessing a deeper erosion of dignity and public confidence in higher education itself.

This was not simply a violent protest gone wrong. It was a culmination of unresolved student grievances, poor living conditions and a pervasive silence from those in authority. The image of students carrying placards through heavy rain, demanding justice for a fellow peer, reflects not just mourning but betrayal. These are young people who believed that by enrolling they were taking a step towards opportunity. Instead, they are fighting for basics: safety, shelter, respect.

We often speak of universities as “spaces of enlightenment” yet the reality on many South African campuses paints a different picture. Poor infrastructure, delayed responses from administration and increasing securitisation have turned these institutions into pressure cookers. When students are met with silence or force instead of dialogue, what options are left to them? The goal of protest, after all, is not destruction, it's to be heard.

We must interrogate how institutional power is exercised. The idea that a residence manager allegedly had a firearm on campus is not just a procedural failure, it’s a symbolic breach of trust. It signals that some staff see students not as partners in a shared educational journey but as threats.

Higher education minister Nobuhle Nkabane, alongside the portfolio committee, has rightly expressed outrage. But what’s needed now goes beyond condolences and commissions. There must be a fundamental shift in how universities build trust with students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds who are often most affected by institutional neglect.

We must ask: do students believe the university is invested in their future? Do they feel seen beyond their student numbers? Are there credible, accessible channels for dialogue that don’t require protest to activate?

True transformation in higher education cannot happen without student dignity at the centre. Dignity is not a luxury, it’s the foundation for engagement, discipline, accountability and aspiration. Students will respect rules when they feel respected. They will engage meaningfully when they are engaged meaningfully.

Sisonke Mbolekwa’s death must force us to reflect: what kind of university system are we building, and for whom?

— Pikolomzi Qaba, via e-mail

Don't blame Jews for Nakba

Neil Horne spreads libel and ahistorical lies about Israel and Palestine (“What about Palestinian voices?", April 27).

The founding of Israel did not involve the massacre of Palestinians. The Nakba wasn’t caused by Jews, it was a voluntary evacuation of Arab-Muslims from the region of Israel called forth by five Arab armies that planned to eradicate the fledgling Jewish state and commit a genocide against Jewish people, many of whom had ancestors who had lived there for centuries.

Many Arabs left their homes to avoid the battle, expecting to come home to soil soaked by Jewish blood to claim the land for their own. Instead, they lost and fled defeated. But many Arabs stayed and chose to live alongside their Jewish neighbours. They became Israelis and today prosper alongside their Jewish brethren. 

Why should we pity a belligerent that lost? Especially when Israel accepted every partition plan, even when said partition gave them the shorter straw.

Horne must not act as if Palestinian voices are ignored. Mass media gives plenty of airtime to them. The South African government gives preference to Hamas’s narrative and even congratulated Hamas on the invasion of Israel on October 7.

UNRWA (The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) is a testament to the unfair privilege that so-called Palestinian refugees are given. Palestinians can inherit the designation of refugee — the only people in the world who can. They have an entire UN department dedicated to their welfare. A department, I might add, that has been proven to have aided in acts of terror, the imprisonment of hostages and the attempted genocide of Israelis on October 7.

If anything, there needs to be more airtime given to Jewish voices, who still experience so much hate by the world’s ignorant and malicious.

— Nicholas Woode-Smith, Cape Town

Doctors feel entitled

The article on “bogus quacks” (April 27) brought to mind what has always puzzled me about unemployed qualified doctors who take to the streets because they are struggling to find work and believe the country that has contributed hugely to their studies owes them a job.

These young individuals are undoubtedly intelligent and belong to a profession that has abundant self-employment opportunities, judging by the number of bogus quacks we have — 49 arrested in 2024 alone.

Why is it medical doctors who take to the streets to air their struggles to find employment rather than graduates belonging to professions whose employment relies mostly on the government, such as nurses and teachers? 

What is it in our education system that leads either to such entrepreneurial challenges or selective entitlement?

— Thandi Ngcobo, via e-mail

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