Race immaterial in bid for good leadership

SINDILE Mnguni ("Ramphele a big gamble for DA", January 29), since when are South Africans looking to vote for a party that represents black aspirations – or white aspirations for that matter? That mentality will bring us nowhere.

The colour of our skins has nothing to do with what our people are looking for.

What we are looking for in our leaders are those who will lead the poor out of poverty (black and white alike), our children (all of them, no matter their colour) to better education and our justice system out of the corrupt mess it finds itself in.

Quite clearly Sindile Mnguni, you are not in touch with what our people are crying out for. What matters is that we find leaders who have vision enough for our whole nation and not only their own selfish demands to build palaces furnished with luxury vehicles and the best of everything just for themselves.

I see many different people of all races daily and I can assure you their wants are all exactly the same. We want our leaders to have the courage to fight for our freedom to feel safe in our own homes, our own cars, our own businesses, our own streets, shopping centres, towns or cities.

In Bill Stephens's brilliant letter to The Herald ("Metro needs strong leadership", January 27), he wrote about the cleanliness and orderliness of the Mother City in the hands of the DA. Isn't this what we are wanting for the rest of the country?

We want to be able to drive in streets without potholes. We want leaders who will restore our health systems to what they once used to be.

We want leaders who can assure us that we will be able to enjoy seeing our beloved rhino and elephant for years to come. We want leaders who can once more turn this country into a thriving economy.

We have the potential to become a leading nation. We have all the resources but we are being beaten hands down by nations that do not even have land enough to fit into one of our provinces.

In countries like Germany and Japan, they do not have enough land to keep the same amount of cattle as we are able to keep on our vast farmlands, yet their meat is at present cheaper than ours. Their weather does not permit them to produce vegetables throughout the year like we do. We have fewer people to feed than they do, so why is it then that we need to import so much from these countries and are not able to make the goods we import from them ourselves?

With our first class steel, we cannot make knives that are "made in South Africa". Why is it that we cannot produce cement in South Africa that is cheaper than that which we are importing from India which includes the heavy transport costs, but is still cheaper than ours? Why?

Mamphela Ramphele is correct in saying that the ANC is morally bankrupt. Not only that, its leader, President Jacob Zuma, and his cronies are a complete embarrassment to us all.

The sooner they are replaced by a leader with guts and integrity to pull this beautiful country of ours out of its dire straits, the better for us all.

Marion Baars, Blue Horizon Bay