OPEN LETTER TO JACOB ZUMA

Dear President Zuma: In the past, through print media, I have excoriated, admonished and castigated your government for incompetence, neglect and corruption, to mention a few systemic problems within your administration. For purposes of this open letter to you, I will assume that you do keep your finger on the pulse of the nation through media outlets. That being so, I write, not to berate your government (as I regularly do), but to urge you to take cognizance of the plight of thousands of citizens living in abject squalour on the doorstep of our cities. You, like many of us, travel on the N2 highway to and from Cape Town. Townships abound on both sides of the highway, abominably unfit for human habitation. It boggles the mind that your government, in more than two decades, has taken no meaningful steps to improve living conditions for these desperate people. Before you protest too much, the installation of fire hazardous electrical connections, and satellite dishes on tin shacks do not qualify as meaningful. For these voiceless, forgotten people the misery and despair continues unabated, despite promises of a better life post-1994. Inasmuch as there is a government program to provide housing, it is a drop in the ocean. You may say that funding for housing is limited, and is insufficient to meet demand. This is not so, as all you need to do is earmark the money saved from stamping out rampant government maladministration and waste. This could be a positive legacy in the making for you - think about it.