The Communications minister has the temerity to criticise Vodacom’s court application over mobile termination rates but is silent on the public protector’s report on the SABC head.
He then turns it around further by insinuating that the growth of the economy is not reaching targets because of the cost of communication.
Cellphones have transformed communication in Africa where infrastructure is either broken or stolen and surely he can appreciate that the set-up costs of the vast equipment needed has to be recovered one way or the other.
Telkom is constantly losing customers (and money) despite it being funded by taxpayers.
I need to state that I am not connected to a cellphone company in any way other than being a normal subscriber.
Come on minister, show us taxpayers that you have some teeth.
Tony Ball
Durban
Crotty’s leaving is a sad loss for paper
How sad that Ann Crotty is leaving Business Report!
Her weekly column was a model of well-informed, incisive analysis with down-to-earth good sense.
Her keen sense of the sheer folly on display among the movers and shakers of the corporate world, as well as her elegant prose, will be sorely missed.
Julia Nicol
Cape Town
Government looks for scapegoats before poll
Columnist Ethel Hazelhurst is bang on target with her assessment of the antics of this government, blaming the most convenient targets for its own poor governance and ineptitude.
The easiest of targets is foreign immigrants, of course. The disease is called Scapegoatitis. We will see a lot more of the same before the elections.
She drew an analogy to the explosive immigration (invasion) of Genghis Khan in the 12th century. It is worth making the point that the grandson of this invader became the first Mongol emperor of China, Khublai Khan, noted for his wisdom, religious tolerance, for welcoming trading foreigners like Marco Polo, and the general social and economic progress that benefited all of his empire.
He created a stable monetary system all those years ago, including issuing the first banknotes.
One only has to look at the state of the rand today to see how South Africa is viewed by the outside world.
Peter Hill
St Lucia
Labour market is omitted from Budget
Having read through the Budget speech of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, I noticed one glaring defect in that he makes no reference to the labour market.
He can do all the predictions he likes, but until the ridiculous and restrictive labour laws are scrapped or totally revised, nobody in the private sector is going to employ any more than they do at present. Unfortunately the labour unions control the government and not, as it should be, the other way round.
I also have a question for the DA manifesto that claims it will create 6 million real jobs over the next 10 years. All very well, but there are approximately 550 000 new entrants to the labour market each year. That actually reduces to 500 000 over 10 years, a tiny impact on the present 4 million plus without work.
Unless my mathematics is wrong.
MG Mackenzie
Johannesburg