The excellent article by Samantha Enslin-Payne ("Retrenchments devour trade union memberships", October 13) exposes the real reason Cosatu opposes labour broking. In essence the union federation is having difficulty recruiting new members and labour brokers are by their very nature supplying temporary workers.
Cosatu has lost more than 200 000 members through retrenchment and is now desperately looking to make this up.
Desperate times mean desperate measures. A desperate measure would be to ban labour broking and hope that some of these people who lose their jobs will find permanent jobs in organised industries.
This hope has no scientific basis and just punishes those who are able to find employment through labour brokers.
Michael Bagraim
Cape Town
As a frequent visitor to South Africa I've been following the discussion about the possible increase in the Eskom tariff.
One point that hasn't been discussed is the increase in government revenue if Eskom increases its tariff by 145 percent.
The VAT income would increase significantly, so why has nobody suggested that the government freeze or reduce VAT on electricity?
While any increase would be unpleasant for the consumer, a cut in VAT would go some way to cushioning the blow.
Nigel Aldridge
Sunset Beach
Now that the price of the Airbus A400M has escalated, ("Airbus deal could cost SA R47bn or its credibility", October 16), it will be interesting to see the list price and if this information is made public.
The escalating price of the A400M has much to do with its European-designed turboprop engine, the development of which has been extremely protracted.
I can bet that if an alternative engine - offered by Pratt & Whitney Canada at a price 20 percent lower than that initially projected for the European engine - the A400M would have long been flying and perhaps almost ready for delivery.
In the meantime without fuss or bother Japan is developing an indigenous airlifter in the A400M class over a far shorter timescale, which might even be cheaper.
John Fourie
New Germany
The story you published on Friday refers to a story you carried on September 16 headlined "Premium on 'rare coins' raises ire of gold expert".
For a professed gold expert, Levenstein appears to have allowed his personal feelings to cloud his judgement as he now recommends gold bars despite having a VAT component and thus a 20 percent to 30 percent spread, which is excessive for a bullion product.
To claim that limited edition medallions sell at premiums as high as 400 percent above the spot price of gold and that dealers' buyback prices are 35 percent less than their selling price is disingenuous, not to mention inaccurate and hypocritical as he sold these same medallions himself.
One must wonder just what prompted Levenstein to make such unsubstantiated claims.
Alan Demby
Executive Chairman
South African Gold Coin Exchange
No one will deny that the rich/poor wealth gap is huge and widening, nor that it unfortunately tends to correspond with a white/black racial dichotomy.
What I find alarming is the tone of how the situation is being discussed in government circles and presented in the media.
I sense a growing impression, dangerously so among the disgruntled, that a revised form of economic apartheid has been strengthening, or even promoted, and that countermeasures should therefore be devised.
Among the uninformed, the discussion and its possible outcomes are potentially inflammatory. Some clarifications are needed.
The primary cause of our excessive wealth gap, and also of our frightening unemployment level, no longer principally derive from pre-1994 policies.
Much more, the blame lies with the ANC government's misdirected attention to education and training.
Consequently, the majority of unemployed people are simply not employable, and that is why so many are poor.
The only answer to narrowing our rich/poor gap lies in highly prioritised education and training.
Tim Anderson
Newlands