Cabinet fails SA

The Mail & Guardian is the only newspaper I know in the country that releases grades for government ministers and leaders annually and, in light of the fact that there seems to be no criteria for both their appointment and evaluation, this is good, as it is the sole measure used to assess their performances. I always look forward to these grades.

The reason for my anticipation is that, within the South African Cabinet, there are people such as Angie Motshekga, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, Blade Nzimande and Thulas Nxesi, who seem to have taken the art of talking rubbish day in and day out to the highest level.

At the same time, there are colourless people like Collins Chabane, Dipuo Peters and a number of others whose justification for being ministers is totally unclear to me. Then on top of all that, there are those like Dr Aaron Motsoaledi who was given an A for this year. This is one person who always creates an impression that he knows what he is talking about while he presides over a completely rotten department.

In conclusion, I have nothing against these grades but, I feel that the M&G while doing something honourable might have become a victim of the threats against the press in the country, especially because it studiously avoids awarding the symbol G even to the most deserving ministers. – Ntsikana Tuntulwana

Thanks again to the Mail & Guardian for publishing its annual Cabinet report cards. It is an essential contribution as it provides an objective, fair and balanced assessment.

Zuma now presides over a bloated Cabinet of 32 ministers and deputies (plus two in the presidency) and their extensive departments.

This has led to a significant increase in the cost of government as ministers and their departments don't come cheap and their benefit is often dubious. This negative factor could even move Zuma's rating to G.

We look forward to an update on the ANC's "Rogues Gallery" as provided last January. – Ron Legg, Hillcrest

Rewriting history is the mark of totalitarian states
Stephen Ellis ("ANC suppresses real history to boost its claim to legitimacy", January 3) is a breath of fresh air in the stink of ANC propaganda. His often lone voice reiterates what those of us who were outside pre-1994 South Africa know.

Unfortunately, the taxpayer-funded media is skewed to promote and promulgate a variation of the truth sanctioned by the ANC and watched over by the SABC's Jimi (the Parrot) Matthews.

The lie trotted out that the ANC "won your freedom" is reminiscent of the USSR history book that was set text in Russian schools when I was training to be a teacher.

It claimed that the Soviet Union fought Nazism single-handed to "free" the peoples of Eastern Europe. Eastern Europeans all know better now but, with the poor level of education in South Africa, the truth here may never get out.

Who wrote the pliable Freedom Charter? Are there signatories and does the original document still exist? The answers to these questions will go a long way to debunking the myths put about by the likes of Mac Maharaj.

The suppression of truth by removing records was a ploy of both the Nazi regime and the USSR. Both were totalitarian. The removal of the heritage of South Africans to distort or hide the truth shows a worrying trend that has been a precursor to totalitarian states further north in Africa. – TJ New Citizen

Less of a legacy than a leg-over
At a press conference, a journalist asked Jacob Zuma this question: "What do you think is your legacy?"

Gwede Mantashe jumped in to save Zuma from having to answer the question. Both were irritated.

We know that Madiba's legacy is peace, honest leadership, loyalty to the truth, reconciliation, nonracialism, respecting the opposition, integrity, fulfilling promises and loyalty to the Constitution and rule of law.

Zuma's biography will talk of a leader who danced and hid from the rule of law, enriched his family, made populistic promises and divisive, homophobic and sexist statements, marginalised "clever blacks", slept with the West in Libya and Côte d'Ivoire, imposed e-tolls, lied about Nkandla and led the Zulufication of the security cluster.

His legacy will also include using comrades and then getting rid of them when they challenge him on morals and good governance. It will also speak of the president who lost court cases on his strategic deployments.

His biography will speak of a president who, despite the prevalence of HIV, slept with a daughter of his comrade and of a leader who is a womaniser but does not use condoms. – Maggie Muthwa, Seshego

Climate article was hot stuff
Thank you to Sipho Kings for writing what must already be the most important article to be written in 2014 so far ('I'll meet you at the end of the world', January 3).

The excellent work that the Mail & Guardian is doing to save South Africa will come to nothing if we fail to save the world.

Perhaps a good follow-up would be a series of articles on practical measures that we can all take to reduce our CO2 generation. – John Jones

Kings's excellent piece is on the big issue that gets minimal serious media coverage.

The climate crisis is the issue of our time – as apartheid and the Cold War were for earlier generations, but is bigger than either of them.

With the M&G's recent 25% price rise, I was seriously wondering whether I could afford a paper that so seldom covered climate-change issues. Kings's article proved your worth. – Liz Palmer

Stars maligned
As a professional astrologer having predicted circumstances like Reeva Steenkamp's murder last year, I have to let you know your "The stars foretell – 2014 zodiacked" (January 3) is obviously utter bullshit.

You seem more interested in discrediting astrology than anything else, even laying it all out in JPG format so no search engines can trace your utter bullshit. What idiots! – Dion van Zyl