DA Shows How to run a City - But Will Voters Notice?

Sent to "The Star, Johannesburg", Sat 04/12/2010 08:54 & published

 

I refer to Mariano Castrillion's November 29 attack on, and Cllr Ross Greeff's December 1 defence of, mayor Amos Masondo, and subsequent discussion.

The way the ANC and the DA run a city makes for interesting contrasts.

The ANC in Johannesburg spends our money bragging that we are a "World-Class African City", though this is obviously not true: The tame lapdog of the advertising industry, the Advertising Standards Authority, predictably fudges the issue.

The DA, instead, spends ratepayers' money on actually making the City of Cape Town work.

But here's the scary part:

In my field, the personal computer industry, Lotus Corporation devoted itself to building excellent software. Microsoft Corporation wrote mediocre programs and put its money into marketing.

Today Microsoft is market leader and Lotus is a small subsidiary of IBM.

As James Thurber said, you can fool too many of the people too much of the time!

Sensational Star Headline about Robbery that wasn't

Sent to "The Star, Johannesburg", Sun 04/07/2010 16:22, not published.

 

Sensationalism sells newspapers.  Responsible papers like The Star need to constantly guard that, in the quest for a snappy headline that will sell well, they do not exaggerate the contents.

The Star's headline of Friday July 2, "Lolly's daughter robbed" broke this rule.  Nowhere in the article is there any suggestion that the incident was anything other than a burglary.

For those who don't know, in a robbery there is violence, or threat of violence, towards the victim, who must be present.  If things are stolen but the victim is not present, as in the break-in in this case, it is a burglary.

Surely the headline-writer must know that robbery is much more serious that burglary?  Particularly at this time when the eyes of the world are on South Africa, it is irresponsible to inflate a headline like this.

Mr Editor, an apology to your readers would be in order.

[but was not forthcoming...]

Loos(e) Talk Avoids the Cape Facts

Sent to "The Star, Johannesburg", Tue 15/06/2010 20:05

Luther Lebelo ("Would Zille use an open loo?", The Star, Mon June 14) shows what great propaganda one can make if one ignores all the facts.

It is well known that the City of Cape Town entered into an agreement with the community (brokered by the ANC Youth League's local representative, mind you).  With the money they had been given, the City would provide a toilet per family instead of one per five families (the government standard), if the recipients enclosed the loos.

97% of the community kept the agreement.  3% tried to get an advantage by breaking their word.

The local ANCYL saw a chance to get some cheap publicity at the expense of whatever integrity they still had.

It is very fair that the 3% of liars and chancers now have to share a loo with five other families.

This has nothing to do with the dignity or otherwise of black people.

It is about not rewarding those who wreck society for their own ends.

Melanie Meyers Needs Lessons in Logic from Julius Malema

Sent to "The Star, Johannesburg", Wed 27/01/2010 20:34

Melanie Meyers in her letter (Star Letters of today, "I agree with Julius Malema on labour brokers") makes a breathtaking extrapolation on the basis of a single incident of which she doesn't even know the facts!  The sales assistant was, she says, "in all probability" placed by a labour broker.  Shouldn't she at least have made sure about this instead of assuming it?  From this assumption she draws a conclusion about a whole industry!  With such a vast generalisation based on such incomplete research, should she go to Mr Malema for lessons in logic?

Hydrogen From Seawater: Where Would the Energy Come From?

Sent to "The Star, Johannesburg", Wed 27/01/2010 20:19

I respond to some uncomplimentary letters about John Parker in "En Passant" of today.  I think the respondents have missed the point of Mr Parker's question.  Anyone who has done physics at school knows that hydrogen can be produced from water by electrolysis.  However, the point is: Electricity is required for this – where would this electricity come from?  This was never explained in the original letter to which Mr Parker responded.