God helps those who help themselves first

World Peace amid global conflict: I salute the SA Hindu Dharma Sabha for its call and I support it.

This has been its consistent prayer alongside Muslim organisations and I pray also that a symbiotic relationship becomes cemented between these two great faiths even though they see the same things through different lens.

I reiterate what I said elsewhere in other mediums whilst reaching out with palms pressed together, urging Muslims and Hindus to approximate past experiences as minorities and to unite to become a cohesive, progressive and tolerant community as we were during the desolate days of apartheid.

Yes, Mr Editor, we need to and, I sincerely believe we can, show those warmongers in Pakistan and India, that through communal co-operation and sharing that the deadly pathways they travel down will only weaken them and render them prey to those one-eyed giants seeking to entrench the partition.

Whilst we luxuriate in our differences, I pray that the harsh judgments that painfully, time and again, find publication are tempered with reason and a resolve not to seek revenge or retribution, but to solve through mutual dialogue and, I pray further, that we come together in truth and reconciliation and work through the problems that engage these blind neighbours.

The terrors we experience in our souls must remind us of that prayer ‘never, and never again’.As a creature of the once united area abounded by Warwick Avenue/ML Sultan Boulevard\King Cetshwayo ( formerly Old Dutch Road) Highway /ML Sultan Boulevard ( formerly centenary Road) / Steve Biko ( formerly Mansfield) Road where SAfrindians of all denominations and shades of opinions subsisted, united, with the indigenous South Africans and whites until apartheid wrenched us apart, I pen this letter with my palms pressed together joining with the SA Hindu Dharma Sabha in endorsing its call.

But, it starts with us and once cemented it will radiate outwards. I urge you, Mr Editor, that this message finds space for our people to read and embrace. God will not change our conditions unless we change ourselves. | Saber Ahmed Jazbhay Newlands

Mobeni Heights faces crematorium crisis

Once again the Mobeni Heights crematorium is in the news and for all the wrong reasons.

The closure, due to administration issues, has caused inconvenience and frustration for those who rely on its services. Ensuring compliance with regulations, including emission certificates, is crucial for the smooth operation of such facilities.

The consequences of failing to renew the certificate are severe. Administrative oversight should not hinder the dignity and respect due to the deceased and their families. This shows the negligence of the city’s parks and gardens department.

The eThekwini Municipality needs to replace staff with more competent individuals, who have the necessary skills and expertise; this could be a step towards resolving the issues at the crematorium.

The incinerators have been out of action for over ten years. The closure of the crematorium has caused significant inconvenience and distress to families and loved ones.

Privatisation is one potential solution and bringing in experts is definitely a viable solution. The chairman of the Clare Estate Crematorium, Pradeep Ramlall, and his team would have this crematorium fully refurbished within a month if they had the opportunity to manage it.

Without a doubt their administration sees Clare Estate as the best run crematorium in the country.

My appeal to Rocky Naidoo, chairperson of the civic federation, and Visvin Reddy, of the MK Party, is to challenge the municipality in court if there is no solution.

To the eThekwini Municipality, I urge you to take immediate action to address the neglect of the Mobeni Heights Crematorium. Remember respect for the dead is a fundamental aspect of human dignity. | DHAYALAN MOODLEY Mobeni Heights

Smarter ways for SARS to net R50bn

While aiming to improve revenue collection and recover debts is commendable, there are smarter ways than hiring and training 1 700 debt collectors in the hope they will bring in R50 billion.

Has SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter not been watching how the Donald Trump Administration increases revenue?

The first thing it did was to cut the civil service bloat by offering packages effective from September 1. Some 75 000 have taken the deal.In less than 100 days, $150bn was saved by incisive auditing and the uncovering appallingly frivolous waste and money laundering thanks to the Musk-headed Department of Government Efficiency.

Although South Africa is not in a position to use tariffs as a revenue garnering mechanism as Trump does, Kieswetter should incentivize the abolition of B-BBEE and the crushing bureaucratic, regulatory red tape that accompanies it.

Such liberation would spur economic development, reduce unemployment and promote foreign investment all of which would yield far more than the R50bn in taxes Kieswetter hopes to scrounge.

Kieswetter says that SARS needs to modernize its systems. Yes – get rid of the 20th century’s most failed system – socialism and the system the ANC claims to have defeated, namely, apartheid, but has re-installed via

140 laws and regulations that marginalise the highly productive white sector of the population. Only then will revenue accrue through accelerated economic growth. | DUNCAN DU BOIS Bluff

An ode to the song, Kill the Boer

US President Donald Trump wants to know why Julius Malema hasn’t been arrested yet for persistently singing this song.

Julius Malema believes he is going to be killed. Over the weekend at the Africa Day Celebrations, former president Thabo Mbeki said the Struggle song did not amount to the literal killing of the Boer or the Farmer.

Afriforum’s hate speech case against Julius Malema and the EFF was dismissed in court recently. The following poem has reference…“Kill the Boer”

Every Boer killed unleashes tidal waves of pent up rage, frustration;
not as if South Africans factor tolerance anchoredin love into the equation.
Kill the Boer is an archaic struggle wrong,such lyrics and songs to the distant past belong.
A shared and prosperous future is within our reach only if we songs of life, harmony and love preach.
Where is the love Mandela used to teach?
Is there any to be found in archaic hate speech?Inciting fellow countrymen to kill creates a climate in which murder is romanticised;
a deplorable practice that alienates and cannot be legitimised.
Kill the Boer should never have been sung.
Let us treat it with disdain, give it a wide berth like dung.
Why encourage lingua that inflames racial division? And then expect the constitutional court to reach a legal decision?
As a nation let us condemn inflammatory behaviour;
embracing each other, securing a future of prosperity our saviour.
Choice is ours to remain shackled to the evil of the pastor to unchain ourselves, join hands and have a blast.
Moving into the future under the banner: Sibanye Together as Onean enigma to the rest of the world, not a fragmented cacophony under the sun.
Before ninety-four we sang filled with emotion: WE SHALL OVERCOME!
Sadly, thousands in the struggle died; for their sakes our tongues will not be numb.
Let us join hands, let us close ranks and sing: SIKHULULEKILE WE ARE FREE;
an element of love, prosperity and sustainable harmony is key. | Eolin Jooste Cape Town

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