Keith Blake, Ottery
Have we noticed as citizens living here in South Africa that our politicians have started behaving like good Samaritans, going from door to door and announcing all their respective manifesto launches and promising that when they get elected they are going to ensure exellent service delivery, create employment and corruption free governance.
Some of our bolder political candidates have, on a very small scale, confessed that there were mistakes made in the past but we must forgive and forget and that is a very tall order.
The biggest issue that is being missed by all political parties is what they are going to do about the cost of living.
Yes, we can hope for service delivery and good governance and houses but these are useless to all of us if no one takes up the fundamental challenge we all face and that is the daily uncontrolled prices of food and services that is causing all of us to live on the poverty line.
We need brave, honest politicians to promise us that when we vote them in, they will enforce price controls, especially on foodstuff and government services.
We have enrepreneurs out there who have tons of food products and not to mention medicines in storage and as soon as there is a petrol hike, those items obtained at old prices are resold at a higher price.
Let me give another example, the cost of medical treatment and medicines seem to have no price control mechanisms in place as different prices are charged by different medical professions for the same service. We need politicians and their political parties to make this issue a priority.
I do not want to sound like a prophet of gloom and doom but I do not need a Master’s degree as a political analyst to see that what is happening in South Africa because of political candidates, political intolerance, municipal boundary demarcation and service delivery, is a taste of things to come.
We have to take note that during these political protests there is a cancerous tendency, at the slightest opportunity, to loot shops.
This should be an indication to our politicians that soon the hunger pains caused by over-priced products and essential services can lead to even worst political unrest.
We really are appealing to those in power to appoint a people’s price protector with a dedicated enforcement staff to control products and service prices so that we can loosen that ever-tightening economic belt around our bruised waists. A quote by Flip Wilson – “The cost of living is going up and chance of living is going down”.