The as yet unsubstantiated rumours that the so-called Old National Party is to be revived will be welcomed by those South Africans who believe that a return to ‘old values and standards” is not only urgently necessary, but something of a moral imperative as well. Despite the obvious misgivings, this newspaper has to agree. As the recent Hefer commission hearings have so painfully revealed, the nest of political vipers that is harboured and nurtured within the highest ranks of the African National Congress has once again proved the adage that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
It is high time that older and wiser heads were reintroduced to a political territory where their presence will not only be a constantly visible exemplar of unimpeachable political rectitude and restraint, but where they can lend valuable advice and moral succour to those currently in high office.
So, it is with a sense of profound excitement that we share in the promise of a return to overall command of the racism- racked South African Defence Force of such a powerful and tactical mind as that of General Magnus Malan; the taking of his rightful place as a perceptive analyst among the world’s leading diplomats by Pik Botha; and the involvement once again in the vital security of the nation of Adriaan Vlok. The long experience and the wisdom of these outstanding ‘positivist colonialists” — to use President Thabo Mbeki’s perceptively brilliant phrase — will be of immeasurable benefit to a country trying desperately to come to terms with its own rapturous transformation; also to a greater world under threat from terrorism and the forces of bitterly competing ideologies.
Naturally there will be voices raised in protest at the resuscitation of the political party that actually founded, cultivated and refined the vile and inhuman system of apartheid. Such negative reactions are not only necessary, but serve to contribute yet more enrichment to the well of intellectually challenging debate that is the hallmark of South African politics today.
As impetuous as is the welcoming hand of this newspaper, is the feeling of caution that surfaces when the names from a wrongful past threaten to become again a part of our quotidian present. The first thing these ‘Old Nats” must do is show us all that they have the flexibility and humility to adapt to and position themselves in our new rainbow dispensation. With a figure in their ranks of such breathtaking cerebral dimensions as FW de Klerk, there will always seem a brightness in the fabric of a party that, despite its many wrong turnings in the past, now sets itself on the road to a new and forceful Damascus.
Dullah be praised
The expected festive season slaughter on our roads was preceded, as usual, by the sterling efforts of Minister of Transport Dullah Omar to reduce the carnage to manageable limits. In yet another of the inestimably brilliant road safety strategies that have marked his tenure in the Transport Ministry, Omar outshone himself earlier this month by advising motorists to drive with their headlights on at all times, day and night. The consequent reduction in road fatalities was not easily detectable but, as the minister was to inform an eager public, the statistics will have to be carefully weighed, coordinated and balanced before any conclusions are reached.
These statistics, Omar assured everyone, should be available in early November and just in time for the next Christmas bloodbath.
In the amiable but forthright style he is known for, Omar has dismissed all advice and suggestions from so-called experts in organisations such as the Automobile Association as ‘useless”, especially what he described as ‘the irresponsible and misguided poppycock printed in the media”. His genial response to a shock revelation in a Sunday newspaper about the fact that there’s only one traffic officer for every 11 000 motorists was: ‘That’s a lot of rubbish.”
Omar’s latest advice about how not listening to the car radio while driving and turning off one’s headlights at night to avoid blinding oncoming drivers will not only contribute to increased road safety, but add to the growing mountain of industrial strength bullshit that has been the Arrive Alive campaign.