She is advised to step down of her own volition without forcing the hand of President Jacob Zuma or the ANC national executive committee.

What happened in Limpopo is scandalous. Surely anyone found negligent or liable for the mess must face the music, including criminal charges.

Motshekga's handling of the textbook fiasco showed incompetence and a lack of appreciation of the seriousness of the situation. The damage is done; the least she can do is resign with immediate effect.

Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale and education MEC Dickson Masemola must follow suit. They too must account, and be held responsible, for the officials who dumped and burned usable textbooks in an attempt to conceal failures to distribute those textbooks.

Matric results in Limpopo have been the poorest in the country year after year and for Masemolo to allow the situation to degenerate to these lowest levels is unforgivable.

Both men must resign. They have derailed the future of our children.

It is understandable that some political opportunists within the ANC would score political points, but neither Mathale nor Motshekga have sufficient reasons to justify their positions in the government. They are an embarrassment to the ANC and its millions of supporters. - Tshepo Manyane, Oldkraaipan, North West

• THE 18-year-old blame game, which "worked" well for the first 10 years of the new administration, is now a cliche.

The mere idea of middlemen being given the all-important task of delivering textbooks shows the total lack of responsibility of the ANC, which is giving scant attention to the very problem that ignited protest in the country in the 1970s.

President Jacob Zuma, in a recent interview, was all at sea when the subject of reprimanding Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga was raised.

Indeed, whenever one of his ministers errs, his immediate reaction is to protect them.

For as long as this happens, there is little chance of moving forward and getting rid of the "Verwoerdian residue" so often referred to by our esteemed ministers.

The country will remain stagnant in key portfolios where inadequacies have been noted, and where progress has been found wanting.