LETTER: Who are we kidding, South Africans?
At what price do we continue living in SA? I used to be a positive South African. Now I’ve realised: who am I kidding?
The ANC and its die-hard supporters must realise that if SA shows no growth in the next three years, an equivalent of the Arab Spring is likely. Since 2009, in my understanding, the economy grew by about 1.5% a year, yet unemployment grew by 500 basis points. Is this sustainable? It is also my understanding that a McDonald’s worker in the US earns more than a graduate civil engineer in SA. How long will it take for graduate civil engineers to realise they can double, if not triple, their annual earnings if they emigrate? Yes, I know critics will throw the cost and standard of living argument at me. But South Africans pay a lot of “invisible” taxes because they don’t use government-run facilities: medical aid hospital plan (R2,500), life cover (R1,000), disability cover (R1,500), security and levies for living in a secure complex (R2,000), petrol due to limited public transport (R1,000) and BEE. My question is: at what price do we continue living in SA? I used to be a positive South ...
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