Elle Tredoux, by e-mail: As much as I have been outraged at the barbaric behaviour of loutish South African strikers abandoning and intimidating their scholars, and medieval-type nurses disrupting places of healing in an orgy of thuggery, I have been equally disgusted at Patricia de Lille's disclosure of the milking of Parliament by greedy politicians, including the DA's Manie van Dyk who reportedly claimed a staggering R275000 in 2009 for road travel expenses.

This legal looting of state coffers has been described as "the extreme larceny of executive remuneration" and sends an abhorrent example to the general workforce by politicians. Only about 17% of the population earn more than R150000 a year.

Mark Twain said: "Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing, often, for the same reasons."