This week I have read two stories of brave men in ships in war. One concerns World War 2 when the German battleship Scharnhorst put to sea against a British convoy bound with war supplies to the thankless Soviets in the sub-Arctic port of Murmansk. The Scharnhorst was trapped by superior forces under Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser and salvos from the 15-inch guns of HMS Duke of York and gunfire and torpedoes from her supporting cruisers eventually sank Scharnhorst, her colours still flying to the end, along with all but 36 of her 1,900 crew.
This was in 1943, when acres of Britain's cities had been reduced to rubble by the Luftwaffe and most of the 3,500 ships that were sunk by the Germans and the 72,000 sailors in them were already at the bottom of the Atlantic. This was a war of annihilation, and yet a German historian wrote: "A few days later, when the Duke of York again passed the site of the battle, Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser paraded a guard of honour and had a wreath dropped over the side in honour of his late adversaries."
The second story concerned the 646 mainly black South Africans who died with courage and discipline aboard the SS Mendi in World War 1, "Military snubs Mendi's fallen troops" (February 17). Our department of military veterans refuses to honour these men because they were fighting in a war of colonialism. I'll leave the reader to decide which story reflects best on the participants: on a true warrior, Admiral Fraser, who recognised the courage of his enemies, or on the decision-makers in the department of military veterans who, apparently in an attempt to unite us, turn their backs on their own.
- Ian Flint, Onrusrivier, Western Cape
NAZI RULE WORSE THAN APARTHEID
With reference to the article indicating the decision of the department of military veterans not to honour the loss of SS Mendi, I am appalled by the comments of Mbulelo Musi.
We should never forget the supreme sacrifice made by all South Africans in defending the liberty of the free world. Despite our internal history of oppression that has thankfully ended, I believe that we should always remind ourselves of what could have been the result of German/Nazi rule had they been victorious.
Apartheid would have looked like a fairy tale in comparison to being governed by the Third Reich. Musi should read Mein Kampfif he needs convincing, especially the parts on race elimination.
- Peter Clark, Centurion
FAIR BUDGET, DON'T LOOT IT
With SA facing such a difficult economic period, we have to welcome the budget speech delivered by finance minister Tito Mboweni. It was a very fair budget considering the constraints that we have to deal with. The budget spoke to the people of this country. However, as expected, there are serious concerns in the budget.
Why is Eskom given the amount of R23bn over the next three years (R69bn), when this state-owned entity has shown that it is failing? We have municipalities and individual clients that are owing Eskom - like the people of Soweto, who owe this entity an amount of R17bn. What is it doing to collect the money due to it?
It is also worrying that the country is borrowing about R1.6bn a day at close to 50% interest. Clearly this shows that we don't have money as a country because our GDP growth is not fast enough at 1.5%, and this means we are not producing enough.
It is also a confusion that in a country with a programme to expropriate land without compensation we have a budget to buy land, what for?
However, we must welcome the fact that there are some serious interventions in the budget, particularly in education, health and the fact that we have R30bn set aside for the building of schools and R2.8bn for new human resources grants in the health sector. This is good but it would be great if this money was not looted.
- Tom Mhlanga, Braamfontein
USE SUGAR TAX WISELY
I am not opposed to a sugar tax to tackle the obesity epidemic. However, the basic "single nutrient" message is wrong.
Instead of trying to reduce obesity-related illnesses through the tax system, governments should look at policy ideas that have actually led to better health outcomes. Perhaps our public education system could do a better job educating young people about the food they eat, the need for regular exercise and other factors that impact their health.
One way to fight obesity is that the government should apply soda tax revenue to nutrition and physical education programmes, and include information about sugar in school curricula. The approach should consider local conditions, enhance education, and provide access to healthy alternatives. That is the basis for a durable solution to SA's obesity epidemic.
- Riyaad Dhai, Durban
TOO MANY PARTIES
So the Independent Electoral Commission has confirmed the number of parties to contest our 2019 elections at a staggering 299! Just how elaborate will the ballot paper be to accommodate all these parties and in what order will they be placed?
Putting 299 options on a ballot paper where every option needs to be checked to ensure only one vote is cast is an auditing and validity-checking nightmare for vote counters as even if only some newer party founders and employees vote for their lesser-known party, we still need the votes counted correctly to be a real democracy.
Why make it so prone to intentional or accidental errors?
- Robert Nicolai, Howick..