An open letter to the president: A call for accountability

SIR, At the outset, let me state that your presidency, now spanning into a third term, albeit the second term being a partial one, has been an utter and bitter disappointment.

- NARENDH GANESH | Durban

A smiling and amiable personality is no criterion for supreme leadership, especially in a country like South Africa, after decades of degeneration, corruption and pure thuggery.

You are fortunate in that you can scream privilege, only because of political association, connections, and indeed under-the-table dealings that have yielded much for you personally.

When you failed in securing yourself the nomination for the presidency post the Mandela presidency, you hibernated in a sabbatical from the political arena but were well ensconced in the business sector.

This gave you opportunities that ordinary South Africans may have been denied only because of your profile as chief negotiator during Codesa; the business sector saw you as an opportunity for the furtherance of their economic objectives in the future.

You obviously had ample opportunity to entrench your privilege and prepare a launchpad for your reentry into mainstream politics.

I do not begrudge you for your ambitions.

However, the time has come when we call a spade a spade.