what a load of nonsense. check here aunty. i agree with deena. you have no place putting mahatma gandhi's name there. anc nothing but a bunch of leeches sucking the people of SA dry to line their deep pockets. they have grown older yes, but cenile. and you know what the really sad thing is? the sheep will still vote them into power.

@Happy: You are so spot on. I came to SA as a European expat in 1995 and have followed the transition. Why is it that young people who come from poverty and low levels of education suddenly believe they can manage well educated and experienced people? Where is the black humility? A good manager, amongst other things, is humble towards his assignment - not arrogant. So, you don't want to get your hands dirty, and you don't want to show true leadership, but just have the fine title, the big salary and - not to forget - the big German premium automobile. This is a doomed generation. Hopefully the country will survive relatively unharmed, so that the coming generations can restart what needs to be done.

I think that one of the biggest problems is arrogance. I observed a situation where the water supply to a large town was in crisis, and it was pretty obvious that the Engineers Department in this town didn't have any idea as to how to solve this issue. An old retired engineer who had been in this department, and had been in charge of this same department offered to help. There were no ulterior motives, he is one of those people who are naturally helpful. I witnessed the current (then) of this department say to this man, in front of a few of his colleagues, "No, we don't need your help!", in a rather arrogant manner like that of a young man trying to impress the onlookers. The broader issue was that he didn't want this White Man's help, he had spent enough time being told what to do. The elderly gentleman left it at that. After the crisis had continued for a further two months, someone further up the ladder in the council approached the elderly gentleman and asked if he could assist. (Noticably not the so called director of engineering, he was away on a course of some deion and it was the person temporarily put in charge). The elderly gentleman worked in the facility for around 7 hours, instructing the workers as to what to do and a crisis which had lasted for a number of months was solved by the next morning. What saddened me was that here was a person who wasn't interested in show up the current regime in this department, he just wanted to help, and he was snubbed. There are people out there who have valuable knowledge and are more than willing to help, but as long as they get snubbed by arrogant people like this, their knowledge will be lost. It makes me thing of the story of the two donkeys, who lose their lives because they are both trying to get to the feed tray next to them, but the harness between them is too shot and they struggle against each other. If they both went to the one trough, and then the other their problems would be solved. It is pathetically sad.

The ONLY time when I will buy this book is if there is a sudden shortage of toilet paper

@Happy: I know exactly what you mean. I have been contracting for a certain government run transport giant. The workforce is almost entirely BEE. Almost without exception, whenever an employee is asked to perform a certain task (assuming that they have actually bothered to turn up for work that day), the first thing they do is run to the union steward and ask if this request is within their contract. If it isn't then they either refuse to carry out the task, or they ask for more money. The company in question is losing a small fortune daily.

Erm...Ms Holland..how can you blame everyone else, who behaved, not neccessarily in the correct manner, but in an emotional, confused, human way that one can expect from anyone for what is happening in our government at this very moment? Twisting the core concept of democracy to suit their own needs and not being true to the citizens of this country, many of whom is suffering greatly - nevertheless believing that they live in a democratic society? The independence of the judiciary is the core of our country's access to equality and citizenary freedom. If you want to write an influentiary book that is truthful and based on the real issues of this country, you have to stick to that which is factually relevant and not that which tugs at a reader's hearstrings and plays with his conscience. It is this guilt trip which keeps us from moving forward - we need to focus on what needs to be done to stop erring members of government NOW. And, believe me, they know their deliberate errors. It is evident in the ambiguity of their values. Deliberate repeats of selfish error is beyond forgivable human fault if you are responsible for so many lives.

Erm...Ms Holland..how can you blame everyone else, who behaved, not neccessarily in the correct manner, but in an emotional, confused, human way that one can expect from anyone for what is happening in our government at this very moment? Twisting the core concept of democracy to suit their own needs and not being true to the citizens of this country, many of whom is suffering greatly - nevertheless believing that they live in a democratic society? The independence of the judiciary is the core of our country's access to equality and citizenary freedom. If you want to write an influentiary book that is truthful and based on the real issues of this country, you have to stick to that which is factually relevant and not that which tugs at a reader's hearstrings and plays with his conscience. It is this guilt trip which keeps us from moving forward - we need to focus on what needs to be done to stop erring members of government NOW. And, believe me, they know their deliberate errors. It is evident in the ambiguity of their values. Deliberate repeats of selfish error is beyond forgivable human fault if you are responsible for so many lives.

The situation is such as it is and analysing it is not going to change anything. The rampant corruption and incompetence that is the calling card of the anc, has destroyed the future for the youth - not to mention an anc youth leader who spreads the gospel of ignorance and violence with impunity. Making excuses for this mess is a futile exercise. The anc must be held accountable. They have squandered billions upon billions that could have been invested in our youth, in the environment, in infrastructure and particularly in education and health. Now we have the child grant, a brain wave of some anc nincompoop who could not foresee the consequences. Every year we have schoolgirls getting pregnant so that they can claim the grant. This is a fact, and another burden for society to bear. The ever dwindling tax base just cannot be stretched any further. Zuma continues to increase the already top-heavy load of comrades at immense expense. None of this is making things any better for the young people, who hare angry and frustrated, and encouraged to place the blame for their woes onto the shoulders of the white man. South Africans deserve better than this. The anc is a cancer that must be excised.

You know Ms. Holland, your artical title says it all. It seems that you have still not been able to look at Zimbabwe and reach a conclusion as to what the future might hold in South Africa.But one day your eyes might open and who knows, you might even stop being disingenuous to your own race.

Don't you dare make a comparison between the great Mahatma and the ANC. Gandhi was a pacifist, the ANC are terrorists and still are, treating everyone like 'caged-animals'. No respect for the 'freedom-charter' at all.

How can u get rid of corruption when the people in charge are corrupt and want to pass a bill to conceal their actions , amazing how people complain and then still vote for the anc

Please blame it on the previous government - one can argue just as well that the ANC couldn't wait to move the incumbents of (para)statals out towards reflecting the demographics of the country. As Tutu once said: "The gravy train stopped just long enough for the whites to get out and the blacks to get in"

I get so tired of being told aout the heroic struggle for equality. The ANC has always been a political movement which, like all successful political movements, has been led by by people who had no interest in anything but gaining power for their own purposes and to hell with the fools who voted for them.

If you know you are required to mentor someone to become your boss or to replace you on the basis of skin colour, would you part with ALL your knowledge? Not a chance! If you stand a chance of joining the ranks of the unemployed whilst you are still economically active, or at least old enough to be economically active and your own actions would mean that your standard of living would drop, you would not perform those actions. It is called self-preservation! Therefore, if I do not support the ruling party, why must I entertain them to my own detriment?

Bunch of cheats could add a few extra adjatives but our editor friend seems to be very pro!!

After the exit of Mandela from the presidency, the ANC enbarked on a downward slope until today, as a government, it is the most corrupt in the history of South Africa. Billions of rands of taxpayers money has been looted in various ways under the administration of this ANC led government under Zuma and it is getting worse. Looted taxpayers money intended for the poor people of South Africa. But what do we expect when the ANC elects a man as its president and therefore state president, who had hundreds of allegations of corruption against him, that, although according to the NPA they had a strong case, were withdrawn due to unproven allegations of a political conspiracy. We can only hope that the ANC this years makes a move to return to ethical sanity by not re electing Zuma for a second term.

This mentality of entitlement by the ruling party is going to create more corruption and discontent.

As a technician myself with 25 years experience in electronics it became extremely difficult for me to have to mentor young black students as time went by, I just gave up. These young man and women were extremely talented and had it in them to become great tech, but you had to deal with them with kid gloves for fear of being labeled a racist. You cannot teach anyone anything if they do not respect you that was my experience. All off them was chasing to become managers and no one was willing to get their hands dirty. My boss at this moment was my apprenitice I have no problem with that it's just while he was under my wing he showed very little interest to get down and dirty. I will be going on retirement myself in the very near future and I can assure you that this organization is going to get wors because all the old guard is still doing the work and most of the young black techs are sitting in offices, politicizing just about almost everything.

South Africa became the talk of the town, as it were, when we successfully transformed our country into a "Democratic Republic" without the conflict and blood letting the world was expecting. Since then unfortunately the ANC has been allowed to run riot, and has been responsible for the loss of billions of Rand's. We as South Africans must as a people enforce our Democracy and act as task masters to the government, the bottom line is that if allowed to continue without intervention we will not only cease to be a democracy, but also cease to be a recognized country. Unlike other so called Democracies we have the importunity to be a true Democracy with all the freedoms and controls of those in power that this implies, but the people must act, it is the people of this country and not the government that must dictate our future and hold those in power directly and solely responsible for our standards of living and the condition of our country.

...but richer!