Parastatals should court skills from apartheid era

17 December 2014 - 02:00 By Letters
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CHILD'S PLAY: Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.
CHILD'S PLAY: Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Image: Kopano Tlape

I recently watched Invictus again, and each time I do I come away feeling really upbeat.

Why can our present bunch of leaders not take note?

Nelson Mandela, walking through the office on his first day as president, called all the staff together to tell them they were needed and that they no doubt had the skills to carry on the machinery of governance.

Our present leader, at a meeting with the ANC Youth League, told them apartheid is to blame for power cuts.

Yes, apartheid was an abhorrent system but the skills were in place. Why not use them to mentor young talent rather than throw them out?

Why not look for the old employees at Eskom, SA Airways, the SABC and Transnet, and bring them back to teach planning, maintenance, budgeting and so on? Surely this is a more pro-active method of solving problems than playing the blaming game.

Chris Jennings, by e-mail

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has been given oversight of SAA.

An aviation expert interviewed recently on 702 said British Airways has 300 staff members per plane. The same expert said SAA has 900 employees to one plane.

At that ratio, and with the incompetents continually appointed to the board for political reasons, it is clear why SAA keeps going to the Treasury with its begging bowl.

With unions holding the country to ransom, Ramaphosa may as well give up right now.

Justin Bachmann, by e-mail

Was "State gets tough with bumbling parastatals" (December 12) a sick joke?

The same ministers of public enterprises, energy, finances, telecommunications and postal services, who didn't do their required jobs in the first place, are now working together with the unproductive executives at the three parastatals?

If this is a "political masterstroke", as stated by political analyst Ralph Mathekga, then they all should go play golf and leave the jobs to qualified people. Ramaphosa might damage his reputation by leading the "turnaround" team. Crying Citizen, by e-mail

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