EN PASSANT

I think the ANC London branch should be congratulated on its idea that only taxpayers should have the vote and I hope it will become the official policy of the ANC.

It means that 10 million or so mindless sheep will not be able to vote at the next election. As a permanent resident who pays taxes, I will once again be enfranchised. I voted for the ANC in 1994, but I am sorry to tell it that I cannot promise to do so again.

Paul Slezacek

Northcliff, Joburg

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So the president wants a new plane. If the ANC is returned to power at the next election with an overwhelming majority, then those who voted for them deserve every bit of corruption, non-delivery of services, lack of job creation and so on that comes their way.

How a nation can continue to be taken in by the president and his party is beyond me. So much for the sleepless nights over poverty and joblessness; I think the sleepless nights have been caused through the mulling over of what fabrics should be used in the jet and how the sleeping arrangements of the president’s four wives will be sorted out.

Judy Carpenter

Midrand

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Perhaps a brown man can defuse the dangerous deadlock between black and white in SA.

Chris Athanassiou

Petersfield, Springs

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Democracy appears to be sweeping across north Africa, and President Mohamed Mursi seems set to rule Egypt for the next few years. I do hope the people of north Africa don’t think things will get better – they most certainly won’t! Africa’s different from the rest of the globe, and democracy doesn’t work in a tribal-based system; African rulers know this, and work it to their own advantage to get into power.

Edward Dale

Durban

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Gazzetta dello Sport, a top Italian daily newspaper has apologised for printing a cartoon portraying Mario Balotelli, an Italian soccer player of Ghanaian descent, as King Kong. Balotelli has already suffered racist chants from fans of rival teams several times in Italy before his move to the English Premier League.

In SA no newspaper respects complaints of readers. In fact, newspapers make an apology only when faced with legal action or forced by the ombudsman. The SA National Editors Forum would have already jumped to the defence of both the newspaper and the cartoonists in the name of freedom of expression and freedom of the press. The Italians have shown we are all human and fallible.

Hector Moyane

Siyabuswa, Mpumalanga

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During the tenure of Thabo Mbeki, a new jet was purchased. Now the government is reportedly planning to buy a jet that is even bigger than that of the leader of Germany. The size of our economy is far below that of Germany. For how long should we ask Jacob Zuma to cut our cloth according to our size?

Nokuzola Jama

Umlazi, Durban