Shadley Nash in Port Elizabeth
A reward has been offered for the return of Port Alfred’s mayoral solid silver chain of office, valued at R10 000.
Former taxi driver Gordon Bavuma, recently elected as the chairperson of the Port Alfred Transitional Local Council, now has the dubious distinction of being the first “mayor” since the 1960s to lose the chain.
The chain, donated to the municipality by a Port Alfred resident, carried the engraved names of all the former mayors of the seaside resort since the early 1960s.
Bavuma said on Wednesday that one possible motive is that the chain was removed to embarrass him. “I was not very surprised by the chain going missing because I am the first black man to sit in this office and anything could happen,” he said.
Bavuma said there were active rightwingers in Port Alfred who could possibly have tried to embarrass him by stealing the chain. — Ecna
Army called in to deal with gangsThe National Defence Force is to be called in to help police curb rampant gang violence in Port Elizabeth, which has cost a dozen lives already this year.
With three hand grenade attacks reported over the last week, the weaponry used in the gang war indicates a deadlier intent on the part of gang lords.
In a raid last week police seized 11 hand grenades, a limpet mine, and nearly a dozen hand guns, but the success of the raid was tempered by the hand grenade attacks on homes of suspected drug kings and their families over the weekend and this week.
To help stem the rising tide of the brutal tit-for-tat murders the SANDF will be deployed in areas of the city from February 27.
Police spokesman Colonel Suena Gowus said the army will be used to assist the 140 police officers patrolling gang-infested areas. — Ecna
Letters
# Depressing responses to police’s thankless task
I AM a civilian attached to the South African Police Service and am employed at Regional Headquarters in the Public Relations Department.
The reason that has prompted me to write this letter is that in my job I answer at least 340 telephone calls per day. I liaise with people from all walks of life as well as policemen and women of all ranks.
A couple of years ago I enjoyed the work I do, but since then I find my job stressful, pressurising and depressing due to the increasing number of complaints against the police which I receive from the public daily.
The police have an incredibly difficult and thankless task to carry out. There is a shortage of manpower, their working conditions are appalling and since the escalation of crime, they have to try and solve thousands of different serious crime cases every month, working unbelievable hours of unpaid overtime and as a result their personal lives suffer tremendously, often ending up with severe stress, divorce and sometimes suicide.
They often have to carry out raids in certain built up areas where crime, murder and rape is rife, or after receiving information from the public. The police face extreme danger, especially on investigations they become vulnerable targets in shooting incidents.
They are sometimes witness to gruesome, savage murders of their colleagues, let alone innocent victims young and old, even in sporadic spates of unrest situations the SAPS are subjected to the murders of the most cruellest ever inflicted on a human being, hence being doused with petrol and burned alive, or having to gather up dismembered bodies.
Policemen and women are only human beings and under the most dangerous situations they have very difficult decisions to make, always bearing in mind the innocent people they try so hard to serve and protect. Sometimes their urgent decisions aren’t always right, but then again they are only human beings and not Robo Cops.
As a civilian who has worked in this department for the last five years on a minimum salary I shall continue to serve the public as conscientiously and diligently as before.
I humbly ask you, the public, should you require my services concerning your complaints against the police, please don’t shout abusive threats and swear at me, I will always try and assist you to the best of my ability. — Avril van der Schyff, Johannesburg
Keep Mango Snooze away from StonesWORD via the grapevine is that Mango Groove is going to support The Rolling Stones in Johannesburg. I enjoy South African music and I would support any activity that furthers the development of our local talent. Mango Groove have been there and done that and returned to enjoy a quiet death in the backwaters of the South African music industry quagmire.
To allow them to support the Stones would effectively be flogging a dead horse. We are tired of that old pennywhistle, we want something new and original and Mango Groove are not providing that.
Why doesn’t whoever is responsible for organising the support group(s) for the Stones select one of the host of steaming young gun bands that are bringing the music venues around the country down-to-the-ground? — Philip Desmet, Kalk Bay
# Racism at consulate?
THE white South Africans in the New York City consulate continue to discriminate against black South Africans. An attempt has not been made by this consulate to give equal employment opportunities to thousands of South African blacks who live in New York City.
In the absence of scholarships, college students who desperately need these jobs are left to look for other means of survival. This behaviour makes one wonder if this consulate is exempt from affirmative action.
The personnel officer here deliberately ignores applications sent in by blacks. While there are only two black South African women employed here, one of them (whose office faces the entrance door to the staff office) was put in the office for the purpose of window dressing — there are as many as 25 Filipino employees in this consulate. One of these Filipinos is chauffeur to Consul General Joe Stauch.
We urge our leaders to look into this issue, so we can all come to a peaceful and reasonable solution. — Thatha Zungu, New York City
# Promote Van den Berg
AS A Unisa student, after reading the Weekly Mail & Guardian’s article “Verwoerd Resurrected at Unisa” (February 3 to 9), I was extremely concerned that Verwoerdian education is still being taught at the university. However I was relieved to read further on that a group at the university was against this. I was subsequently appalled that one of the abovementioned group, editor Sam van den Berg, was in danger of being fired.
People like Sam van den Berg should be promoted and not victimised. Students and university management should be extremely grateful for editors of this calibre who act as “stop-gaps” to study material that has no place in this brave new reconstruction and development programme. Unisa must hold on to people like Van den Berg who will facilitate this change, otherwise it and its students will be left far behind.
Furthermore, Unisa has foreign exposure partly due to its foreign students. The foreign press will have a field day with the fact that, despite a new non-racist government, a Unisa editor who has publicly taken a stand against Verwoerdian education is disciplined. — P Skoulariki, Johannesburg
# Don’t downgrade
THE decision by the department of health to downgrade the three renowned teaching hospitals (GSH, TGH and Red Cross) is very shortsighted indeed.
The reason given that the Western Cape’s health budget is the highest in the country can hardly be accepted as sufficient grounds for such a drastic decision, considering that the Western Cape is the only place to offer tertiary care outside Natal and the Transvaal. The Western Cape serves a far wider area than the two former provinces (Natal and Transvaal) put together.
The question that needs to be addressed in all earnestness is: do we need two tertiary institutions in the same province.
It is quite evident that the creation of Tygerberg Hospital was a manifestation of Afrikaner and Nationalist Party ideology to uplift the lot of the Afrikaners regardless of the cost. Therefore a way out might be to share resources and remove duplication.
If Cape Town is to become heavily reliant on the tourist industry, then such care will only be available via the private sector, in which case, good care would only be available for the rich and famous.– Robert E Rapiti, Kenwyn
# Picnic from hell
KAREN OVEREND’S “To Die For” (December 23 1994 to January 5 1995) is more of a “To Die From”. She reviewed the Sunnyside guest farm near Golden Gate. Far from being an Enid Blyton venue, Stephen King may be more appropriate.
The only thing that may have been Enid Blyton was the dated style of management. As for the picnic lunches, far from being romantic or interesting, these included a sandwich, an overripe apple and dry Provitas — served in a plastic bag!
The thing most felt by its absence was any warmth or hospitality. Meals were served at fixed times — and woe betide a latecomer. The rooms wereoppressive. The only accurate statement in Overend’s article was the reference to the beautiful mountains. — Greg Morris and Tammy Meyers, Savoy Estate, Johannesburg
# Reason needed in debate
Since the leakage of recommendations of the commission appointed by the Minister of Health, Dr Nkosazana Zuma, into health care services financing mechanisms, numerous newspapers have carried reports on this issue. Instead of contextualising and then analysing the recommendations of the now infamous “Deeble proposals”, the reportage has tended to be biased.
The Sunday Times of January 22 1995 titled its article “National health plan poisoned by envy”. The Weekly Mail & Guardian ran headlines such as “Radical option for health care to all — the pros: most voters will love it; the cons: most doctors will hate it” (December 15 to 22 1994) and “Fear and loathing for health plan” (January 20 to 26). This sensationalises rather than informs.
Why should a health plan that emphasises principles like equity, affordability, sustainability, efficiency, universal access to primary health care, and cost control be considered radical or be feared or loathed? Indeed why should voters love it but doctors who are presumably also voters, hate it?
Both these questions are readily answerable. Any attempt to create new policies will be resisted by those who have benefitted from the old policies. International and local experience is that resistance to any new health policy can be expected from: big business; the organised health professions, especially the organised medical profession; by those that are wedded to the free market ideology; and those of us on medical aid plans that are extremely generous.
The debate currently raging is not a new one but dates back to the 1930s and 1940s. The then United Party government appointed the National Health Services Commission, which recommended the establishment of a national health service that guaranteed access to health care for all on the basis of need to be financed by a health tax levied on employers and employees.
There were many reasons that led to the non- implementation of the major recommendations of the NHSC. Perhaps one of the most poignant comments was made by DF Malan in parliament on January 23 1945: “A satisfactory scheme of social security will not be obtained from this government, simply because its support in the country and its constitution is of such a nature that it cannot do it … The Minister of Labour … said that this is a capitalistic government and any efficient scheme of social security for which sacrifices will be asked from the nation, and especially from the more affluent portion of the population, cannot be expected from such a government, because the capitalistic supporters of the government will not support it.”
It is also true however, that successive National Party dominated governments also failed to implement an NHS! However, what the National Party did was to facilitate the creation of conditions that ensured almost full employment for white South Africans, especially Afrikaners.
It is suggested that the debate surrounding health financing mechanisms needs less sensation and more reason. — Yogan Pillay (PhD), University of Durban- Westville