I have always considered (and still do) the Mail & Guardian to be among the best newspapers – not just in Africa, but in the world. I was thus disappointed in the manner that the newspaper handled the issue around the late Professor Sam Nolutshungu.
At first, like everybody else who had read the articles surrounding the Wits “debacle”, I had no idea what the real “truth” of the matter was regarding Nolutshungu’s declining of the Wits job. I almost believed the reason advanced by the M&G: that he used the Wits vice- chancellorship “to land a plum US academic job”.
However, I set out to find the “truth” using my proximity to Rochester – where Nolutshungu was based – to my advantage. It was only while talking to a friend of mine, Dr Msuku, who had met Nolutshungu through Dr Mandela, a personal friend and close family friend of the Nolutshungus, that I begun to understand the issue from a different perspective.
Those I spoke to indicated that he was a very private man, which may explain, for starters, why he did not make his illness public. It took him a very long time – once the illness had really “sunk in” – to even consider telling those close to him, let alone his colleagues.
Once the story was blown out of proportion and he had been grossly vilified, it is understandable why he did not pursue the matter with the M&G and clear his name – the damage had already been done. And besides, that would have plunged him back into the limelight – something that was not part of his nature.
It is really unfortunate that the M&G preferred to go along with the views of the embittered staff of the Frederick Douglass Institute.
The obituary headlined “Academic and leader” (August 15 to 21) looked like nothing more than a piece written out of expediency. It fell short of encapsulating the essence of what the man stood for, his great achievements and, according to Harold Stanely, chair of the University of Rochester’s political science department, his “great warmth, grace and kindness”.
The Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester on August 15 paid a moving tribute befitting a person of Nolutshungu’s credentials and accomplishments. Stanely was quoted as saying: “He was a world-class scholar, a gifted teacher and a vital intellectual force in the department, the University of Rochester and the broader intellectual community.”
Nolutshungu was indeed a great scholar and a wonderful person. It’s such a pity the M&G missed that. – S’bu Chalufu, New York
I was very happy to see that you printed an obituary of Sam Nolutshungu. I felt very strongly about this and your newspaper is really very important to me. It is my link with South Africa, and it is a fine newspaper.
I would have cancelled my subscription if you had not printed the obituary, and that would have been a tough decision to make. – Elaine Kramers, Switzerland
The M&G’s response, PAGE 24
Mining mania
Anglo American Corporation advertises (August 29 to September 4) to the effect that it has seen an opportunity in the sands of Namaqualand where other people see only a barren landscape.
An injection of R2,1-billion is welcome in the best of places. I am sure it will go a long way towards addressing the poverty which is endemic to the region. But this ad immediately makes me feel uncomfortable.
Namaqualand is an area with a unique sense of place, probably more so than the disputed St Lucia eastern shores. It is also home to a large variety of endemic plants and reptiles, and is still relatively undisturbed.
The mining process Anglo American will be employing may be different in its technicalities from what Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) proposed to use at St Lucia, but the minerals mined and, one presumes, the effect on the environment will be much the same.
When RBM tried to mine the eastern shores of St Lucia, it was prevented by a huge public outcry against the desecration of such a unique ecosystem. Now Anglo American proposes to do the same to a lesser known and more sparsely populated region of the country and there is not a single peep about it.
The implication of a natural region that is being “tamed” by a bunch of enterprising humans is quite ridiculous. A “flourishing oasis” means only one thing: disturbance and degradation.
Anglo has a mining lease, and it proposes to utilise this (unsustainable) natural resource to its own material ends. Nobody wants to deny it the right to do so, but please do not try to paint it in these pretty colours.
It is mining which it proposes to do, nothing more, nothing new and nothing less. – Dallein Wassenaar, Menlopark