THREE cheers for Frene Ginwala, speaker of the National Assembly, for apologising for the role of her predecessors, now colleagues in the government of national unity, in devastating neighbouring Mozambique. She said what had to be said, and she did it with appropriate dignity and forthrightness. It is unusual for a speaker of parliament to speak this way, but then these are exceptional circumstances: welcoming the leader of the poorest country in the world to the parliament which bears a large responsibility for that
National Party MPs should be shamed, rather than angry. Their moral indignation is sickeningly inappropriate. They are the guilty ones, not the current government. They should be grateful that Ginwala has done for them what they couldn’t do themselves.