LETTER: Let’s stop pretending SA is doing fine

It is staggering that tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu even imagines she can get away with the vanity/self-enrichment project of sponsoring Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, in much the same way we all suspect the Karpowerships are mineral resources & energy minister Gwede Mantashe’s special going-away project (“SA Tourism plan to sponsor Spurs worth more than Rwanda deal with Arsenal”, February 1).

Read the mood of the country, guys, the party is over and the pitchforks are not far off. Regardless of how the branding association of the club may be used by other tourism destinations, I’m not sure we want to be showing our current offering to anyone from outside. I was treated to a Blue Train trip as a birthday gift in 2022, and I really think it would be wise to withdraw the product until things are in a better state.

Yes, the train was magnificent, the staff wonderfully trained, the food excellent. But the scenes of devastation from the observation car, and the litter and shacks on the tracks, were sickening. Because of cable theft the timetable was not followed, which meant long spells sitting in stations so violated that it felt like something from a horror movie set.

Let’s stop pretending everything is okay. It is not. Stop the madness.

Michael Hook
Parkhurst

JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.​