LETTER: Tom Eaton’s joy in tearing down Joburg is absurd

I normally enjoy Tom Eaton’s writing, but his most recent column was so over the top that it verged on the absurd (“Returning expats can live like kings in Joburg’s leafy suburbs,” March 19).

When was he last in Johannesburg? Has he ever visited the city? Clearly not, since, thanks to the private sector, many of the ills Eaton takes great joy in enumerating have been rectified, at least partially, and come the defeat of the ANC in the May election, further improvements will surely be forthcoming.

Eaton has conveniently overlooked the fact that Johannesburg keeps the country turning. It has action and vibe. Cape Town? Slaapstad says it all. There’s surely a cogent reason 80% of Business Day’s subscribers live in Johannesburg, and a mere 10% in Cape Town.

Eaton’s diatribe is starkly reminiscent of SA emigrants who badmouth the country that nurtured them to justify their (regretted) decision to leave.

John Spira
Johannesburg

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