So vacate the DA hellhole
Dear Hansie Smit,
I am a Gautenger. Having read your article DA, take a post-election chill pill, I decided to add my thoughts.
You refer to Cape Town, its inhabitants and the Democratic Alliance as being bunch of racist slackers, which I must assume includes yourself, being a resident there too. (Maybe you should have voted for the Nationalist Party. I note they lost their one seat because they didn’t get your vote.)
If Cape Town and the DA are a bunch of slackers who hardly do any work, I guess this means the rest of the ANC-held metros, prior to the elections, didn’t do anything at all.
Never mind that you failed to raise the fact that the ANC has done sweet f-all for two decades and Gauteng looks like the rubbish dump of the planet. You fail to note that the ANC, an antiracist organisation, has become one of the most racist parties in South Africa.
Maybe you haven’t noticed that thieves, liars, fraudsters, nepotists, cronies, morons and lazy slackers have been housed under ANC governance in the rest of the country for the past 17 years.
The ANC of today is by no means the ANC of Nelson Mandela. In fact, it is an insult to his legacy. But the ANC and its current leaders continue to fail to understand that, and I don’t see any chance of change to their arrogant attitude in the near future. In the light of this, I don’t know who you expected residents of Cape Town to vote for, but I would like to hear. The DA has achieved more in the Western Cape and Cape Town in the past 10 years than the ANC has achieved across the whole country in 22.
Maybe you are just an anticapitalist, anti-order, anti-Establishment rebel with an unknown cause, seeking to break out of the order created by the DA. If so, please move to any other province and enjoy the crap we have to endure on a daily basis.
It is said that money makes the world go round, something the DA seems to understand.
If you don’t look after your so-called white racists, those who have made their homes in Cape Town and the Western Cape, and give them a good reason to invest and pay taxes and bring in their tourism money, there won’t be any money or jobs to improve the lot of the poor and downtrodden.
So at least grant the DA their place in the sun for a while. Lambast them if Cape Town and the Western Cape start to look like Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal. – Kyle Erasmus
Not in Islam’s name
As a young Muslim, every time I hear of a terrorist attack being attributed to Muslims or alleged Muslims committing these violent acts, it crushes me inside. This is not the religion I’ve come to know and love.
This is not the Prophet’s example, not in the least. I feel like Islam is being stolen from us, misrepresented and abused in the name of greed, envy and, more than anything, ignorance.
A few years back I involved myself in the founding of an international Islamic learning centre in South Africa because I believe that, where there is no knowledge, there is no understanding and, when there is no understanding, there’s no compassion, and this leads to fear, hate and disunity. It was initially intended for interfaith groups to reduce the divide, and to create ambassadors of the true compassion of Islam in whichever workplace they found themselves.
But today I realise there is a greater need and a greater message to be portrayed. As the world turns to radicalism under the guise of righteousness, innocent people are being convinced and enticed to take to extreme routes under false pretenses. We need to do something when we start looking at everyone with suspicion, attach labels and people are branded by association.
There is nothing righteous about taking the life of another. There is nothing righteous about causing harm or suffering to anyone, regardless of their colour, creed, religion, nationality and past or present state. Hate never brought any good to any community.
As a Muslim, female doctor, who lives in a country that enjoys freedom of speech and tolerance and a deep-rooted peace struggle, I want to make a stand. I support nonviolence and peace because it is a foundational principle of Islam. I want to call on all South Africans to support the peace symposium, which takes place at the Century City Convention Centre on Wednesday August 24 at 7:30pm. Details can be found at events.madinainstitute.org.za – Zeenat Gaibee
Call for robust and courageous women
When everyone is worried about our loss of wildlife and economists are worried about the rand, I see another thing to add to the list – the dwindling numbers of courageous women.
Courage is missing when women defend an accused rapist with their bums.
They protect him to the point where they levelled insults at South Africa’s pinnacle of female leadership – Thuli Madonsela.
The women of 1956 achieved results because they were brave. They believed in the power of women as a tremendous and divine force. Women need to regain their rightful stand to lead.
In this month, I challenge every woman to evaluate her leadership objective.
You are enough, equipped with a powerful mind that can transform and a soul that inspires.
The world bleeds for courageous, robust, intelligent leaders. Who shall answer the call? – Lesego Setou