The final word

TIME MOVES VERY SWIFTLY. A QUARTER OF THE YEAR HAS ALREADY GONE.

As we sit in April we have had the worst unemployment figures in the country’s history. Crime is on the rise and food costs are spiraling the fuel price... I need not say anymore.

Santam have issued a winter warning regarding load shedding. There are people that are leaving the country - if emigration agencies are to be believed-in droves

So how do we fix this?

The solution is not an easy fix but there is a solution. The fuel price we cannot do anything about but the unemployment rate we can I believe that we should revert to national service with young men and women, who have no prospects in the current job market, should be conscripted into the army, navy, air force and the police. The politicians won’t like this because it harks back to the colonial days but it would offer the young and not so young unemployed a chance at a career. It might be in mechanics-as the police have more broken down vehicles that ones that run!!!

Having extra police presence on the roads, at shopping malls, in the towns, will create a sense of safety and it will force down crime. Extra army will mean feet on the ground in the drug war and in the trouble spots.

We should re-instate apprenticeships in plumbing and building trades, in mechanics and the manufacturing industry.

I also think that the teaching sector needs a lift so what about reopening teacher training facilities.

I know at about this point the honorable minister of finance has fainted because money has to be found from somewhere

Insurance companies can help here. As the crime deceases insurance companies will not have to pay out so much. With the employment increasing crime should decrease and the UIF fund will increase and they will be able to contribute to financing the conscription program.

But maybe this is all a pipe dream MARTYN J SMITHERS