Letter in Cape Times: 1st October 2015: Time for Citizens to buy Cape's SAPS, Roads and Railways

Dear all

Letter in 1st October 2015 Cape Times: Time for Citizens to buy Cape's SAPS, Roads and Railways

Regards
David

Dear Editor

According to yesterday's news​,​ "The Western Cape is the most under-resourced province".

According to research I am doing​ on 19th Century US, private landowners and business people built the highways, called "pikes".

Initially they wanted to toll them, but when they realised they could make substantially more money by bringing people to their towns and for shopping at their farms along their roads, the real build out of these "pikes" started, bringing massive investment to the towns and cities along their roads.

Different towns competed to build pikes to bring people faster and more efficiently and with better stops along the way to their particular towns.

It is now time for the citizens of the Western Cape to buy our roads, to buy our railways, to buy our police service and to take responsibility for ourselves.

Our government isn't interested in our province anymore, allowing crime stats to spiral out of control, and my staff regularly arrive late for work ​due to an under​-resourced railway system.

The Orange Free State has a surplus of police officers, whilst the Western Cape has a shortage.

Just as ​EFF president ​Malema says, strategic assets should be owned "by the people" collectively and not taxed (tolled)​, including the tunnels and passes that are currently tolled.

I don't agree with Malema that these should be owned by government because of the huge waste at the centre.

We need the transport infrastructure for business and leisure purposes.

Tolling them is like having cholesterol build up in one's arteries, preventing the smooth flow of people and goods and capital.

This can be easily started with the reintroduction of Mutual Societies and for people to buy debentures in these companies​, giving them the finance they need to buy and maintain the infrastructure that is so sorely needed to keep South Africa great.

Business owners want their staff to get to work relaxed and on time. Workers want to get to work relaxed and on time.

While​ many people think the government should be doing this with existing taxation, we all know that the government has other priorities.

This was the same in 19th ​century US. Nothing new. Local people took responsibility for their towns and cities back then.

Time to do it again, in a different time and in a different place.

Yours faithfully,
David Lipschitz