KEN OWEN accused Cathy O’ Dowd of publishing “unverified rubbish” about the Everest expedition, and concluded “I do hope this is not the journalism taught at Rhodes” (“`Mortal peril’ on Everest,” November 15 to 21).
It’s poor journalism to make this comment without giving readers the background that Cathy has been a master’s student and part- time teacher at the Rhodes University Department of Journalism. It is also poor journalism to make such a sneering comment and keep conveniently quiet about the Rhodes journalism graduates employed on the Sunday Times during Owen’s own editorship there. In addition to prominent journalists like Sven Lunsche, Ray Hartley, Peter Malherbe and Charmaine Naidoo, the Sunday Times’s own reporter sent on the Everest expedition, Ken Vernon, is a Rhodes journalism graduate. Owen is unhappy with O’ Dowd’s journalism, but that is hardly a basis to question the department as a whole.
Owen also berates the press for failing to contact the Nepalese sherpas. East Cape News Agency (working, incidentally, closely with the Rhodes Department of Journalism) did exactly that. One would have expected Owen to have noticed their coverage.
Finally, Owen’s version of what happened on the mountain represents him as a neutral observer. He was clearly appalled by the turn of events, but his paper didn’t leave it at that. It pursued the story highlighting as many negatives as possible. It is a pity he does not admit this partisanship in his article.
I do hope this one-sided writing is not the kind of journalism Owen encouraged in his staff at the Sunday Times. – Guy Berger, professor and head of department, Rhodes University
Bat not picture perfect
D BREYTENBACH’S letter on behalf of the Bat Centre vis-a-vis the Durban Centre for Photography’s (DCP) eviction (“We didn’t just throw DCPout on the street,” M&G November 15 to 21) warrants a response.
The rent was the major issue between us and the Bat and it formed the major point of dialogue. Our endeavours to raise funding was also an issue we raised continuously with the Bat management and trustees. It is totally inaccurate to suggest we did not attend meetings, some of which we, in fact, called.
The impression gained from the letter is that the Bat was prepared to raise money for us and take us on board. This was definitely discussed in previous meetings and no money was raised on our behalf.
The offer to get us to photograph events at the Bat in lieu of rent was an option that was never going to work. It meant freelance photographers would work for nothing to pay the rent for the DCP.
The issue of street photographers not being trained is something of a cheap shot from the Bat whose township outreach programme is seriously questionable. We did, in fact, run workshops for street photographers when visiting photographer Gordon Parks hosted his photographs. Moses Khubisa ran a course for street photographers as well. We acknowledge we could have done more, but without sustainable funding this was incredibly difficult.
The Bat’s final gesture of cultural generosity in closing the gallery space and offering us the darkroom for free, warrants a response. One of the attractions we believe to the Bat Centre was our gallery. For this to be closed left us no base at all.
The gesture for the Bat to run our darkroom with no expertise in photography or track record in management of photographic resources was never workable. The further offer to allow us the occasional exhibition in some back room with screens and partitions was discussed by the committee and rejected.
It remains a serious question for the DCP and for many others committed to culture that the Bat centre which set out with R9- million to support culture in the Durban region should show such a limited vision when it came to real support for the DCP. If cultural support was really its intent, I am convinced that the DCP, a viable project with a proven track record, would never have been evicted from the Bat Centre.
The DCP finds it regrettable that the relationship with the Bat Centre came to an end. We believe we had a lot to offer the Bat Centre and it is unfortunate that a creative fusion of interests has been denied. – Paul Weinberg, chairperson, Durban Centre for Photography
Off the record, for the record
I WAS quoted in the M&G in an article on the Eastern Cape by Marion Edmunds (“Heads to roll in Eastern Cape,” November 8 to 14). I would like to state that I discussed commonly known problems of the Eastern Cape with Edmunds on an off-the-record basis. She already knew more than me anyway about the Ncholo report. The only thing I said on the record was that in my view the Eastern Cape’s top managers were among the best in the country, in particular some of the chief directors and those under them.
It was unnecessary and unproductive to attribute such devastating views on the political leadership of the province to me in and out of quotes. I must, therefore, distance myself from these comments by saying that there is no reason to doubt the ruling party’s capacity to resolve any problems that may exist timeously and efficiently. This is, after all, what the business of political leadership is all about. – Professor Mark Swilling, director, Graduate School of Public and Development Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
FOR the first two decades of my life I had PW Botha protecting me from the Total Onslaught; now I have Ronnie Kasrils protecting me from “predators … in the unpredictable future” (“Strandless in Stutterheim,” M&G November 8 to 14).
Instead of scouring the sea for pirates intent on capturing Mossgas, the deputy minister should turn his attention back to terra firma, and protect me from the marauding taxman.
He should also be informed that no one needs an invitation to “come and have a look at our oceans” because the whole country is at sea.
Frigate! We need food not folly! – Charlie Bester, Stutterheim
BRIEFLY
I WAS saddened to read the letter from “concerned ANC member, Z Masondo” (M&G November 15 to 21), who complained that the M&G was “abusing its right to freedom of speech” in its criticisms of government and the African National Congress. I remember that the apartheid government regularly tried to muzzle the old Weekly Mail for what it regarded as unacceptable criticism. Would Masondo prefer a return to that sort of censorship? – Paul Waters, Randburg
AS much as I admire Oom Krisjan Lemmer’s irreverence, I’m afraid he got it entirely wrong last week (“The mighty has fallen,” November 15 to 21). We have dozens of pictures of Ken Owen, former editor of the Sunday Times. What we don’t have is a picture of him on Everest. – JC Mould, general manager, Gauteng division, Times Media Limited
I REFER to the government’s inability to control the vast sums being spent on consultants (M&G “ANC MPs peeved about consultants’ power,” October 4 to 10).
I used to work for one of London’s municipalities. The main municipal trade union negotiated an agreement with the council that made the appointment of consultants conditional on a number of strict criteria. Management needed the consent of the unions, acting in concert, for every consultant appointed. Managers had to show (1) that the work could not be done by the council’s existing staff; (2) that the work was for less than six months; (3) that the need for the work was not likely to recur in the immediate future; and fourthly, management had to detail the cost of the proposed consultancy and show that money was available for the purpose.
Proposals that met the above criteria except that the work was for longer than six months were accommodated by appointing the intended consultants on a fixed-term contract. This made the consultants council employees subject to the same agreed wages and conditions of all council workers. The only group not to benefit from this simple arrangement were those who saw the public sector as a bank waiting to be robbed. – Jeff Rudin, Cape Town
TO call Africa Addio a film classic, as you did on the last page this week, is rather akin to calling Mein Kampf a literary masterpiece. Has your reviewer seen it? It’s racist cinema at its very worst. – Bron Kaplan, Port Elizabeth
JENNIFER FERGUSON’S stand on the abortion Bill was an act of the highest political maturity. She could have stayed away from Parliament on the day or simply voted the way she was told to. But alone in Parliament, she abstained, and has incurred the wrath of her party, the African National Congress. She dared to allow her conscience to affect her actions. The ANC whip did not. He just followed the party line. He almost proudly defended his vote on the grounds that he was bound to support party policy and that he was a disembodied non-person. – Dr Costa Gazi, head, Department of Public Health, Mdantsane
A MEMBER of the Council of the University of the Witwatersrand has told us, courtesy of the South African Broadcasting Corporation, that Wits’s process of selecting a new vice- chancellor has set a precedent for all South African universities. Presumably this claim is based on procedures which were transparent and democratic and which provided for public presentations by the candidates, as well as for questioning of the candidates by staff, students and members of the public. Perhaps members of the Wits Council might like to know that such a procedure was used by the University of Transkei three years ago when selecting its present principal and vice-chancellor. Incidentally, we also appointed a black South African political scientist with 30 years’ experience gained in the USA. Who set the precedent? – Michael Glencross
— Address letters to: The Letters Page, The Mail & Guardian, PO Box 32362, Braamfontein, 2017; or to our Internet address: [email protected] The editor reserves the right to edit for clarity and space.
ENDS