Bongani Ndwayana, Parklands
I find your publication both informative and entertaining. However, I could not hide my displeasure regarding a growing trend, which I have noticed lately regarding your news coverage.
Your last edition had a front-page headline about a piece of wood from an old wrecked ship (“Wreck’s future in balance,” Tabletalk, October 5). After going through the story, I came across the story of Dunoon Primary School on page 5.
What I found disturbing was that this story was of vast social importance, yet it did not make the front page whereas the other one about the wreck did. Schooling in Dunoon is a major problem due to the socio-economic conditions in that community.
It comes as no surprise that the state has spent R64 million to build such a school.
It is, however, surprising and shocking that such a huge expenditure is standing empty due to poor planning.
Many readers, like me, would have found this story for the first time through your publication. It is disturbing that such public expenditure would go unused while the children continue to suffer, studying in unhygienic conditions.
So, I fail to understand how such an important and crucial story about taxpayers’ money spent on a white elephant could not have made front-page headlines in your publication. Instead, your team chose to lead with a soft, irrelevant story.
It is about time your publication stepped up to the plate and confronted our community’s social challenges, irrespective of which sector of the community it affects – whether it’s the poor sections of Dunnoon, Phoenix, Joe Slovo or the more affluent areas close to the beachfront.
Stories from poor sections of our community deserve to be told and even make headlines when worthy of such.
Your publication should stop giving space to useless stories that do not strike chords in the soul of the greater community. Rather, let us reflect the real issues that affect the plight of the real people on the ground. After all, that is what a community newspaper is all about.