Mkhwebane foundation nudges US over Phala Phala dollars
The former (now impeached and pensionless) public protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, has formed a foundation bearing her name and has joined the MK party.
Her foundation has reportedly written to the FBI and justice department in the US to report the discovery, in the presidential guest house couch at Phala Phala, of a great deal of cash in dollars (the exact amount is unclear at this stage) by a gang of burglars (“MPs scrabble for interim rules to avoid Ramaphosa impeachment inquiry delay”, May 24).
Not to put too fine a point on it, the foundation would like to know from the American authorities whether it was kosher for the dollars to be kept in the couch for more than a month before they were stolen, and whether, to the knowledge of the American authorities, the dollars were legally in the country when they were stolen. In other words, should the dollars have been there at all?
There is poetic irony in the fact that Cyril Ramaphosa, as sitting president, suspended Mhkwebane and, after a committee of the National Assembly inquired into her fitness for office, removed her as public protector in accordance with a resolution of the National Assembly that stated this should be her fate.
The Americans are protective of the status of their mighty dollar and may well take a dim view of the facts that the foundation has drawn to their attention. Watch this space.
Paul Hoffman
Accountability Now
Private hospitals are being hollowed out
Business Day’s opinion pages have for months vigorously debated National Health Insurance (NHI). It is now overdue that they break the silence on two revolutions hollowing out our private hospitals (“Top court’s ruling on doctors shows good intentions aren’t enough”, May 22).
The private hospital chains have been replacing their nurses by outsourced nurses, mostly belonging to private companies. This is presumably management’s fightback against nurses acquiring fringe benefits. But outsourced staff do not show employers the same long-service loyalty as the company’s own staff.
The second hospital revolution is down-skilling. Registered nurses with purple epaulettes were replaced by “enrolled nurses”. Enrolled nurses have not graduated. At my latest hospital visit, the enrolled nurses had been replaced by “nurse assistants”. These have presumably not yet started the nursing degree course. Qualified nurses seem now limited to one per ward, available only for setting up drips and issuing medicines.
Private hospitals and medical aids ensure their lengthy posttreatment questionnaires have no blank spaces where you can fill in what you wish to complain of. They want to read only your preguided comments.
Can the experts in this field inform Business Day readers of the consequences of all this?
Keith Gottschalk
Claremont
Stories behind Jaguar blunder and Ferrari EV are quite different
Luke Feltham’s most recent column refers (“Ferrari, EVs and the fear of change”, June 1). The parallels between the Jaguar case and this Ferrari Luce outrage are weak, driven by completely different internal dynamics.
In Jaguar’s case, JLR’s love affair with its ever-expanding Land Rover/Range Rover offerings has left Jaguar neglected. A long period of range decline killed off the XJ, then the XF, then the XE, without the requisite attention to the Pace models. “Sales decline” headlines followed blindly.
Then the smart people at JLR, unsure what to do with the brand they were wrecking, decided the world really needed an extremely expensive, huge, all-electric fashion item, and heaven forbid it should look anything like a Jag or have anything to do with the Leaping Cat. Stupid is as stupid does.
Ferrari, on the other hand, is caught in the net of euro emissions calculations, which are done on a manufacturer basis. Exceed these targets, and here are your fines. So it has to make some effort to balance the outputs of the V8s with zero-emission cars, hence this terrible five-seater.
Martin Neethling
Via Business Day online
Trump era is a turning point for US and Africa
John Dludlu’s lament over the direction of the US under President Donald Trump is in many respects unsophisticated (“Can the US find its way back at 250?” May 27). More concerning is the belief that America will simply revert to its pre-Trump, interventionist-globalist posture once he leaves office.
That expectation misunderstands the deeper political and economic forces reshaping the world. For better or worse, Trump is a transformational political figure. By the time he exits the stage in 2028 he is likely to leave behind a fundamentally altered global order — one increasingly defined by bipolar competition between the US and China.
The post-Cold War consensus is fading. Europe has stagnated economically and strategically over the past two decades and is now irrelevant, while the UK is moving towards a reawakening from its post-Thatcherism slump. Across South America, political and economic transformation may yet lift millions into greater prosperity.
At the same time, regimes in countries such as Iran and Cuba have remained entrenched for decades, at significant cost to their own populations. A tougher Western posture towards such governments may ultimately prove beneficial for long-term global stability and democratic accountability.
The real strategic question for South Africa and the broader African continent is not whether the old international order can be restored but how Africa positions itself within the emerging one. Africa should seek a pragmatic and mutually beneficial relationship with a renewed Pax Americana, while carefully assessing the long-term implications of deepening dependence on China.
Many Africans increasingly question whether the economic relationship with Beijing has delivered balanced outcomes, or whether disproportionate benefits have flowed eastward at the expense of sustainable development and industrialisation on the continent.
South Africans should acknowledge and celebrate the enduring influence of the American constitutional republic established 250 years ago — a system that has shaped modern democracy, constitutional governance and free enterprise across much of the world.
If there is one enduring legacy Trump is to pursue, it is to challenge global institutions such as the UN, which many critics argue have become bureaucratic, ineffective and increasingly disconnected from the practical realities facing sovereign nations and their citizens.
John Catsicas
Via email
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