It seems more than fortuitous that Mbongeni Ngema’s rabidly racist song, AmaNdiya, saw the light of day in an atmosphere of crisis in Zulu politics: Minister of Home Affairs Mangosuthu Buthelezi is struggling to maintain his authority in his ministry and in the Cabinet. This came to a head on the debate around the Immigration Bill, the most important piece of legislation in Buthelezi’s tenure.
Firstly Buthelezi had to embarrassingly capitulate to the African National Congress on critical aspects of the Bill, much to his chagrin.
Secondly, with the Bill passed in Parliament allowing MPs to cross the floor to other parties, the Inkatha Freedom Party is set to lose members to the ANC, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal. This would erode the IFP’s tenuous grip on power in the only legislature in the country under its control, effectively handing it over to the ANC.
Thirdly, the IFP has just lost its battle to keep the provincial legislature in Ulundi, with all of the parties in the province voting against the IFP position.
Fourthly, the campaign against what has been termed the “Xhosa-nostra” has come from, inter alia, the Zulu nationalists, who see national politics and positions of power being increasing concentrated in Xhosa hands.
Fifthly, Buthelezi is increasingly compromising the traditional Zulu structures, and the role of the king, in his quest to retain traditional and political authority. He obviously uses the discourse and power of tradition to feed his political ambitions. The king has not taken this lightly and is standing his ground, giving rise to increasing tensions in the Royal House.
A confluence of these issues has given rise to a profound crisis in Zulu politics, shaking its foundations. Buthelezi, feeling increasingly marginalised, has gone as far as suggesting there may be a return to civil war in KwaZulu-Natal. This might mean ANC supporters in the region being targeted.
Against this backdrop Ngema peddles his hatred against Indians, who, being a sizeable minority in KwaZulu-Natal, are a vulnerable population. Ngema has thereby opened a second front of attack.
This begs the question whether Ngema is someone’s handmaiden, sowing further conflict in order to deflect attention from the crisis in Zulu politics.
This man, Ngema, who took the nation for a ride once with the Sarafina II scandal, is no messenger of conciliation. The words of his song call for anything but that. All he wants is to serve his own agenda and probably those of his political masters.–Sifiso Dhlamini, Westville
Change in leadership is the only hope for Africa
President Thabo Mbeki’s laudable efforts to civilise Africa through the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) can only be applauded. However, whether the African Union (AU) will become an appropriate vehicle for this worthy philosophy of good governance depends entirely on the will of Africa’s leaders to commit themselves to the people they purport to serve.
Their private overseas bank accounts, power considerations and self-aggrandisement should therefore take a backseat to make Nepad work.
It might be wise to appoint 54 psychiatrists/psychologists on a full-time basis to deflate the egos of our African heads of state and bring them down to the reality of an impoverished continent. Street- long motorcades should be the first to go as a result of their successful therapy sessions.
With their egos reduced to size, most political sense will come back automatically. And with it discernment. Something is seriously wrong when Madagascar is put to book by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)/AU while serious offenders (Sudan, Togo, Libya and Zimbabwe) go scot-free, and even steal the limelight (Moammar Gadaffi’s motorcade).
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, as the saying goes. Let’s pay the price and liberate the continent! –Robert de Neef, Howick
I wish to air my concerns about the AU launched in South Africa this past week.
I agree with the newly elected President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, who labelled the OAU a group of African dictators when they could not endorse him as the new president after winning the elections in that country. But these same leaders rushed to the rescue of the beleaguered Robert Mugabe, who declared himself president of Zimbabwe after losing to the young, dynamic leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai.
These leaders cannot take Africa to the challenges of the new millennium. They fear change and do not respect human rights. Right now, they are dining with the world’s most toxic leaders such as Kenya’s Daniel arap Moi and Libya’s Gadaffi.
What can Libya teach us of democracy when there have been no elections in that country? Moi is still equivocating over whether to retire or extend his authoritarian rule.
I foresee the AU being used by Gadaffi to end sanctions against Libya and as a platform to fight the West.
Africa now needs new blood, non-racists and technocrats who can lead us in confronting the challenges of the globalised world. These would be leaders who think of their people first, not like the current batch who think of killing, buying Mercedes- Benzes, stealing from public coffers and rigging elections. If the AU starts with the likes of Gadaffi and Mugabe, forget about it — it’s bound to fail. –Duran Rapozo, United Kingdom
What an incredible waste of money — R95-million for the funeral of the OAU and the birth of the AU. It is no more than a self-glorification party for a bunch of useless African politicians.
They talk about having an election monitoring committee in the new AU to monitor future elections in Africa, but their record to date is not very impressive. What happened in Zimbabwe? The government sent a bunch of African National Congress members under some old, grey-haired gentleman to monitor those elections. Just about every other body of monitors declared the elections grossly flawed, but not the South African bunch, who declared it “legitimate” because that’s what the ANC government wanted.
Do they really imagine that the Western world is going to take them seriously on their future pronouncements on African elections? I fear not.
The government would do better to stop wasting the taxpayers’ money on grandiose gatherings and instead spend it on the alleviation of the horrendous poverty problem in this country. I am sure the poor would be much better off.–RJ Aberdein KwaZulu-Natal
What was really said
My attention has been drawn to the article written by one of your reporters, Wisani wa ka Ngobeni (“Rail boss in disciplinary probe”, July 5).
Among other things, the report says that I, as Transnet spokesperson, said the parastatal was expecting a report on the inquiry by the next week. In the following paragraph, the report further states that I said the transport utility believes “it has a strong case against them [Zandile Jakavula and Chain Vilakazi]”.
The two statements are both inaccurate and contemptable. What actually transpired during my conversation with Wa ka Ngobeni on Monday July 1 was completely different.
He wanted to know when the inquiry against Jakavula and Vilakazi was due to be completed. I said I did not know as I was not part of the proceedings. He then asked when the verdict was likely to be announced if deliberations were completed on the Tuesday. I said the person chairing the disciplinary hearing would need a week or two to release the report. I further said that, at the end of the Tuesday sitting it was unlikely that any report would be released for publication during the week in question.
He never asked any questions about details of the case that would justify his quoting me as saying we had “a strong case against Jakavula and Vilakazi”. It would not be logical for me to make such comments — especially after having said that I was not part of the proceedings. In addition to this, as a spokesperson of the company, readers and all interested parties could perceive such comments as, possibly, the attitude of the inquiry.
I also wish to place it on record that Wa ka Ngobeni promised to phone on the Wednesday of the week in question to check if there was any further progress on the matter. He did not do so. Instead, he wrote his report without any further contact with me.
In the light of this, I demand that Wa ka Ngobeni retract statements wrongly attributed to me and publish an accurate record of our conversation. –Tami Didiza, head, Group Corporate Communications
Off the mark
Your article “Morocco still makes its mark” by JJ Cornish (June 5) refers.
During my editorship of The Sunday Independent, the newspaper published more article columns per issue on the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and the Polisario Front than any other newspaper. We were, however, never able to put the Moroccan side. So I welcomed the opportunity to attend the recent conference at Morocco’s Al Akhawayn University entitled Morocco and South Africa: Globalisation, Development and Pivotal States, jointly sponsored by the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), Morocco’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and Al-Akhawayn University’s international studies and diplomacy programme.
I delivered a paper on ways of linking pivotal states in Africa through shared value systems. I found the conference informative and expressed my views in a column in Independent newspapers last Sunday (July 7), in which I declared the funding of the trip. I told the Saharawi representative in South Africa, Mohamed Beissat, when he called me the day before I was to leave for Morocco, I would contact him for a briefing on the Saharawi position on my return. Cornish’s suggestion that I was “whisked away” by the Moroccans on the eve of the launch of the African Union (AU) is ridiculous.
I covered the launch of the AU in Durban as I had planned to. Although Cornish quoted me in the article he never interviewed me, and the only way he could have purported to know what I had — or had not — said to Beissat was if he had tapped our telephone conversation or put Beissat up to the phone call. — John Battersby, group political editor, Independent Newspapers
In memory
It is distressing that Toni Bernstein was displeased with my obituary of her father.
I knew Rusty Bernstein well, having worked closely with him in the 1950s and in exile in London. The last thing I want to do is diminish his stature.
I grew up politically in Rusty’s shadow, in the Congress of Democrats and the Communist Party. He was a modest man but capable of leadership. He was one of a small group who determined the destiny of the Congress Alliance. My obituary was meant to record that role.
Despite his great talent for political strategy, he was not asked to make the contribution to our transition that he could have. South Africa has been the loser for that.
I cherish his memory. –Professor Ben Turok MP (ANC), Muizenberg
In brief
Sipho Seepe has dreamed up his own Thabo Mbeki, different from the man in the presidency. His articles have contained fabrications and innuendos about Mbeki’s private life. True intellectuals do not rely on gossip. When Seepe joined the M&G, he was described as a “good catch”. I wonder if the paper still believes this in view of his flat-footed analysis. — Mpumezo Ralo, University of the Western Cape
The trade union whose members are trashing our city streets must be held responsible, charged and fined. Littering and public disturbance are offences, and the deliberate execution of these acts must be treated as a crime. –M Mitchell, Durban
I am puzzled by Guy Willoughby’s article on the Grahamstown festival (“Hot water needed”, July 5). He grumbles about bathwater, traffic cops, etcetera. Surely the important part of the festival is its content, not the temperature of its bathwater? –Jill Richards
I laughed like a drain at Guy Ramsay’s Body Language (June 28) — clever, clever, clever. When they first mentioned “oral sex” and Jacob Zuma, I wanted to cringe with embarrassment. You saved my day, week, month and year. Well done. –Michele Postma
Dene Smuts’s reference to “the warlike Palestinians” (Comment, June 28) is inaccurate and offensive. The self-justifying platitudes of unprincipled politicians are nauseating at best, but when victims of human rights violations are subjected to this kind of vilification in the process, one may be justified in wondering if the Democratic Alliance is a Zionist plot after all. — Professor NH Taylor, Pretoria
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