It's time the United States of America got a taste of its own medicine, says a reader.
Image: Sora
Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi lists a series of improvements that provide a safety net for workers previously vulnerable to occupational hazards and job insecurity (Business Report, March 23). But nowhere in her report does she account for the 300% increase in unemployment since 1994.
Cosatu should do some introspection about its role in the 41% unemployment Zingiswa Losi cites. She blames economic crises and the hiring of migrant labour. If she considered Cosatu’s role in deterring economic progress and expansion because of the regulations it has imposed, she would realise that Cosatu has caused businesses to be hesitant about hiring labour.
Cosatu’s grip on municipalities is a major cause of poor service delivery and has driven up the costs of basic services. eThekwini Municipality has seen an increase in staffing from 15,000 ten years ago to over 25,000 without any improvement in service delivery and basic maintenance. Yet costs to ratepayers have risen to the extent that, for many, they are unaffordable.
In 2021, the dysfunctional state of the Ditsobotla Municipality in North West province was the reason Clover relocated its cheese factory, the largest in the country, from Lichtenburg to Queensburgh, Durban. Years of indifference to the deteriorating infrastructure of the area necessitated the relocation.
In a nutshell, Cosatu’s role in promoting inflexible labour laws is hugely responsible for the increase in unemployment. Dozens of companies have closed down or left the country because labour laws and costs have made continuation unaffordable. Cosatu itself constitutes the biggest challenge to unemployment. | Duncan du Bois Bluff
The US has always been the big shot, the king, the main actor, the czar when it comes to bullying any country it chooses, especially after the Second World War and after joining with Britain and much of Europe to form NATO.
It has placed embargoes on imports and exports, changed regimes willy-nilly, and ostracised and sanctioned any country it dislikes. It has done so to any country that dares to even challenge the White House, raising tariffs as though playing marbles. It uses flippant excuses such as “undemocratic policies”, “suppressed people”, and “murdering innocent protesters” to justify its actions. Other excuses such as “overhanging instability” and “threat of civil war” are also used to cut ties and punish those who do not toe the line.
It seems that many of the excuses the US uses could equally be used against it. Imprisonment without trial, as in the case of ICE, pushes the country over the red line, making it resemble an uncomfortable police state. How, then, is it not sanctioned in every department?
Holding the Football World Cup in the US should be a definite no. No normal sport belongs in an abnormal society.
None of this even scratches the surface of the country’s complicity in the war in Gaza, its support for Israel in the occupation of Palestinian land in the West Bank, and the continued expansion of Israeli settlements. Then there is the illegal kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the ongoing killing of fishermen in the Pacific. The list is endless.
It is time for other countries to “gang up” on the US to bring it down to size. Nothing abnormal about that – history shows all empires eventually overreach and collapse. It may now be the turn of the United States. | Ebrahim Essa Durban
Can one believe that the Life Esidimeni tragedy, involving the deaths of 141 psychiatric patients due to negligence a decade ago, is still ongoing? How long does it take to secure compensation for gross negligence from the Gauteng Department of Health?
Heads should have rolled long ago, but apart from the Health MEC and the province’s mental health director being held liable for some of the deaths, responsibility must also fall on the many ill-equipped NGOs that took on the patients.
How do you take ill patients into your care and allow them to die of hunger, thirst, and lack of medication? These organisations were clearly only in it for the money they could extract from the provincial government.
The mind boggles at how such negligence was allowed to continue unchecked. Some of those responsible should face criminal charges. Basic nursing standards were clearly ignored, and for sick people to die of thirst and hunger is an absolute disgrace. I await urgent action and accountability. | Barbie Sandler Cape Town
DAILY NEWS