The failure to deliver textbooks to Limpopo schools is a reflection of two characteristics of the ANC government ("Textbooks crisis a national shame", yesterday).

First, it reflects the ANC's indifference to the welfare of South Africa's children and its failure to see them as the most valuable resource for our future.

This was first manifested in 1976 when the party supported the destruction of schools without making plans for the continuation of education.

The education of the class of 1976 was sacrificed at the altar of the political expediency with which the party continues to operate today.

Second, the ANC only enjoys the power it has today on account of the country's under-educated and therefore disempowered majority.

A well-educated population would pose a threat to the ANC.

Education in South Africa is the greatest of the ANC's service- delivery failures.

If the party really had the welfare of the nation's children at heart, responsibility would be taken out of the hands of politicians and unionists and restored to the care of well-trained educationalists.