LETTER: Ramaphosa visits Britain as cream of SA flows north

Britain’s King Charles will be the recipient of good news when he meets President Cyril Ramaphosa ("Cyril Ramaphosa and first lady Tshepo Motsepe to make state visit to UK”, October 3). That’s because the president will be unable to conceal from His Majesty the growing flood of SA emigrants seeking new homes in Great Britain.

As clear-thinking, highly intelligent individuals, the emigrants are no longer able to tolerate a country in which electricity and water are luxuries, where unattended potholes destroy the roads, where deep corruption pervades the public sector, where law and order are absent, where parliament is no more civilised than a street brawl, and where handsomely rewarding worthless ministers and public servants is common practice.

Errant government officials, of which there are many, are told to step aside (indefinitely) on full pay. In Britain rarely errant officials and politicians resign forthwith and are no longer paid.

King Charles will surely be well aware of the valuable assets his country will be gaining, for it is the cream of SA society that is reluctantly turning its back on a nation it dearly loves. Their talents and intellect will provide a considerable boost to Britain’s economy while substantially eroding SA’s shrinking tax base.

The shame of it all is that Ramaphosa cares little for his loss. As is his wont (witness Eskom, Transnet and other SOEs), he will try to apply a Band-Aid to the problem — invariably too little, too late.

John Spira
Johannesburg

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