Left fiasco: Chinese casino workers protest at unfair working conditions. The country is ruled by a small clique of communist leaders
Leftist ideas have failed us
It may be a bit of cheek to take on the Frantz Fanon Foundation, especially when I don’t even have a PhD, but the tired old anti-West view of Mireille Fanon-Mendès-France ( Resist this new subjugation by the old order) must be contested. The left bashes the efforts of the West, completely ignoring the real threats facing the planet. The world needs to deal with poverty and hunger, climate change, refugees, and Islamic fundamentalism.
Colonialism has been part of the development of civilisations from time immemorial, from the ancient Egyptians to the Greeks and Romans who colonised the entire Mediterranean world, including most of Europe, spreading language, culture and institutions of government.
Today we have China colonising Africa (building railways in Kenya, employing 5 000 of their own workers, not Kenyans). The “Zulufication” of South Africa itself grows apace, and Middle Eastern money has been pouring into the Western Cape, which has South Africa’s largest Muslim population.
Is this not a process of colonisation? Every group seeks to enlarge its influence. We have to get over the “colonial” argument, and make the best of where we are at now, and deal with major threats to world peace.
The planet has not solved its economic problems. The redistribution of resources so that the poor can benefit remains a major issue; leftist ideas have not been successful. China and the Soviet Union were the icons of Marxist rule, but after a century of experimentation with the lives of millions, where has it got us? Almost 20-million died in the Soviet Union and 60-million in communist China. Meanwhile, workers in China today live and work in appalling conditions, and are finally protesting.
China is ruled by a small clique of a dozen communist leaders – is this democracy? In the former Soviet Union, we now have a Russian oligarchy with several billionaires dominating the economy, with negligible benefit for the working classes. All over the postcolonial world (Fanon-Mendès-France’s “global South”), dictators rule at the expense of the poor.
Last week’s Mail & Guardian also carried the story of the ransacking of diamond wealth in Namibia (Diamonds are Swapo’s best friends). If postcolonial West African leaders had built infrastructure instead of making wars and enriching themselves, there might have been health systems in place to deal with the Ebola virus now ravaging the region.
No, the left has not provided answers to the world’s problems over the past century. The reason the West is a superior civilisation is not because they are racially and economically dominant but because they do democracy better than anyone else. For example, the admission of defeat by the Scottish leader in the referendum last week would be unheard of in most of the nations of the vaunted “South”.
Democracy is not a perfect system. It’s an approximation of a way to deal with the interests of the population. Marxism failed primarily because it was devoid of moral and spiritual values. As soon as activists get into power, they give up the noble principles of tolerance, fair play, truth, justice and honesty – for which they fought in the first place.
They make revolution but omit personal transformation. South Africa is an excellent example. Greed and corruption have replaced the values of the revolution, which was meant to bring the underprivileged into the equation. We spend R60-billion on soccer stadiums for a rampantly patriarchal society when the masses lack water and sanitation and education. We celebrate 20 years of democracy with 2 000 violent protests for water and sanitation in one year.
We should stop bashing the West, pull up our socks and get our democratic principles in order. The United Nations and other international bodies must be made to function equitably and on behalf of the planet’s peoples.
It is not our culture to practise clitoridectomy, or to stone women to death for loving the wrong man, or to perform public beheadings or executions, or to practise child marriage and polygamy.
We have no time to waste on indulging primitive customs such as the Zulu “reed dance ceremony” while millions are homeless and starving. In other words, we have to do democracy properly, to value human life and stop harping on the “colonial” debate. – Irma Liberty, Cape Town
Judge had to dismiss Pistorius murder charge
In reference refer to the article No Oscars for a poor showing all around, Judge Thokozile Masipa was not entitled to conclude that Oscar Pistorius intended to kill the suspected intruder (and therefore was guilty of murder).
A far more likely explanation is that Pistorius intended to incapacitate the suspected intruder – almost certainly to incapacitate without killing – and that the death of the suspected intruder was therefore the unintended consequence or by-product of an attempt to incapacitate the intruder. (That one jumps in front of a car in order to avoid being hit by another car – and foresees the possibility of being hit by a second car – does not mean that one intends or wants to jump in front of a car.)
The court would have to have considered that Pistorius would have had an inadequate opportunity to examine his options and the ramifications thereof (hence little or no premeditation or planning) and also that Pistorius’s ability to think rationally would probably have been significantly impaired by the knowledge that the suspected intruder could be armed and dangerous.
Self-evidently, someone who gratuitously kills an innocent, unarmed person deserves a much heavier sentence than someone who, under the influence of fear, kills an intruder who could be armed. Hence there is little point in convicting the latter of the same offence as the former.
Masipa, in deciding that Pistorius did believe he was firing at an intruder, had no choice but to dismiss the murder charge. – Terence Grant, Cape Town
Lonmin heeds law
The Mail & Guardian‘s story on Lonmin’s historic tax affairs (Cyril’s Lonmin tax-dodge headache) contained significant inaccuracies and material omissions. Disappointingly, the lengthy answers provided to the M&G‘s detailed questions were not reported. Any suggestion of potential illegality to do with Lonmin’s historic tax affairs is seriously damaging to the company’s reputation, not least because such allegations are wholly and absolutely false.
The following facts and context, missing from the published article, are vital in judging its accuracy:
•?The Western Metal Sales structure referred to was a structure not uncommon to old-world conglomerates. The structure was in no way illegal and did not benefit Lonmin from a tax perspective, as Lonmin remained liable for the payment of taxes in the UK arising from legitimate and reasonable commissions paid to Western Metal Sales.
•?This structure was changed in 2007 when Lonmin took a decision to move its marketing services to South Africa.
•?The move was based on cost concerns (having a company registered in Bermuda and operating out of London was expensive) and resulted in marketing personnel being based closer to Lonmin’s operations.
•?A transitional arrangement was put in place for 18 months and thereafter, from October 1 2008, the marketing commission paid to Lonmin Management Services (LMS) was entirely taxable in South Africa.
•?No payments have been made by a Lonmin Group company to Western Metal Sales since the end of the 2008 financial year. It is worth highlighting in this regard that Shanduka only became an investor in Incwala in 2010.
• It is incorrect to state that from October 1 2008 to 2012 Western Platinum Limited booked sales commission payments to Western Metal Sales in Bermuda. A reference in the Farlam commission to the 2012 financial statements of Western Platinum Limited and a payment to Western Metal Sales was a clear error in the notes to the financial statements of Western Platinum Limited and was explained as such.
•?The new agreement with LMS, based in South Africa, and Western Platinum Limited, which superseded the previous agreement with Western Metal Sales, was given effect to in 2008, but only ratified by Incwala in 2012. Western Platinum Limited therefore proceeded to pay LMS (as opposed to Western Metal Sales) the full commission from October 1 2008. It is important to note that Shanduka only became the majority shareholder in Incwala in 2010.
•?The Western Metal Sales structure and the current structure, which involves LMS as the marketer, have been discussed regularly and in the ordinary course of business with the South African Revenue Service (Sars) regarding transfer pricing. Sars has always accepted the treatment as legitimate and therefore insinuations that there are transfer pricing issues are entirely without merit.
These facts clearly demonstrate that Lonmin’s tax affairs during the period in question were entirely legal and in no way unusual.
The company pays tax fully and properly in all jurisdictions in which it operates as a matter of policy. – Lonmin