/ 24 August 2001

Curiouser and curiouser

Isn’t it strange… (1) When any African National Congress officials/parliamentarians/Cabinet ministers are accused of corruption, inaccurate or downright false statements, the inevitable response is that the complaint is unjustified and racist regardless of who makes the accusation?

(2) We have the most advanced Constitution in the world, we are told, which makes us the envy of many nations and yet, it seems, it often gives protection to the alleged wrongdoers while leaving the victims without justice or redress?

(3) Our redrafted labour laws, so eagerly supported by the ANC in 1994, are now being flouted by these ANC rulers in respect of their own employees, most of whom are not white. How can one explain this? It can hardly be attributed to racism.

(4) We hosted a conference on Aids and one is due on racism. Why do we spend millions on talkshops instead of using the money on practical things, such as treating HIV sufferers, looking after Aids orphans and working together, on upliftment projects, literacy programmes, etc?

People in South Africa need to be shown that it is possible to be in powerful positions without abusing those positions; to be at the top without being unable to remember what it is like to be down-trodden. Rosemary Sundgren, Pringle Bay