Zanu not our ally
I thought it was glib of some of my friends to describe the South African government as playing a ”sub-imperial” role in Africa. But with reports of a loan to Zim-babwe worth maybe $1-billion (phew, if it’s even half that!) I begin to wonder.
The United States, as world imperial power, has historically used loans to prop up bad guys like Mobutu Seso Seko. Are we now, as the sub-regional power, adopting Robert Mugabe as our bad guy?
Please, African National Congress, take this reminder from a Congress Alliance member/supporter for 45 years — historically, Zanu-PF was not the ANC’s primary or natural ally. The ANC was always with Zapu, the Pan- Africanist Congress with Zanu.
And let us remember how, after independence, Mugabe’s army went on a killing spree of Zapu comrades and civilians in Matabeleland on grounds of ”hidden weapons”.
As for the notion that tacit Chinese support for Mugabe somehow strengthens his case, there are few instances in the history of Third World liberation where Beijing has acted in socialist solidarity; many where it has acted as a vicious spoiler. — Tony Hall, Mpumalanga
The South African government is to assist the Zimbabwe authorities with a loan of up to US$1-billion to enable the Zimbabwean authorities to buy fuel, electricity and food.
One can only hope that the leverage this provides will be used to the full. The portents, however, are not good. ”Quiet diplomacy” has extended only to requesting Zanu-PF to talk to the opposition.
Mugabe has gleefully retorted that they already do this, in Parliament, where the MDC has the ”41 votes the electorate has given them”. — Balt Verhagen, Bramley
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Mugabe says his government will build two million houses over the next four and a half years. This will mean building 1 217 houses a day, working around the clock.
A house cannot be built for less than Z$50-million — so the cost will be Z$2,5-billion every hour, 24 hours a day for the next four and a half years. If it takes six months to finish a house and eight men are working on each house 1,75-million men will be employed. Who will feed, house and clothe them?
It is easy for Mugabe to make glib promises. The reality is that his grand plan will never happen. — David Letshina, Cape Town
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The philosophical angle taken on Zimbabwe by Lashius Ncube (”Reductio ad Hitlerum”, July 15) removes no pain from the reality. Hundreds of thousands of people have been removed from their homes and had their livelihoods stolen. Our government labels it an ”internal affair”. It forgets that our own ”internal affair”, apartheid, was only removed with help and pressure from external parties. — Cecil Barnard
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All the major religious bodies and leading religious figures have condemned the atrocities in Zimbabwe. The silence from the ANC’s religious affairs department is deafening. Is it waiting for permission from its boss, Thabo Mbeki, before standing up for the oppressed? — Father Victor Kotze, Martindale Catholic Church, Johannesburg
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The Zimbabwean problem is almost uniquely intractable — which makes it ideal for the G8’s purposes. The longer Zimbabwe stays a crisis, the longer they can use it as an excuse for plundering Africa while spitting in our faces.
Those who say we have only to get rid of the Zimbabwe issue and Tony Blair will shower us with gold are fooling themselves. If Zimbabwe were a smoking hole in the ground, we should soon hear that the G8 regrettably can’t help us because of the appalling situation in (insert name of African country/city/village here).
We need to get away from this colonial mindset and focus on trying to get things working in Africa without reference to the West. In part, that means focusing on areas where we can get good returns from relatively little physical or political investment. Zimbabwe is not one of those. — Mathew Blatchford, University of Fort Hare
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We must all admit that the situation in Zimbabwe does not fit Mugabe the hero. He has become an embarrassment to Africans. — Mathibela Sebothoma, Milwaukee, US
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Business clueless on art
I must commend Ross Douglas on his article ”The power of art” (Friday, July 15). I was approached by a local corporation to do an art project, and after six months’ deliberation was told they would rather get kids to paint for them.
This highlights South African corporates’ ignorance of fine art, largely due to the disgraceful lack of art education in our schools, which democracy has not improved.
As Douglas points out, companies continue to place art sponsorship under social responsibility budgets rather than much bigger marketing budgets.
Business people say they ”support” the arts and are often stuck in the ”artist starving in the garret” syndrome. It is their vision that is starving. A painting by South African-born Marlene Dumas sold for R17-million at Sotheby’s in London.
Wake up and smell the turpentine. Sponsoring a worthwhile art project or buying a painting from a well-known, good artist at a reputable gallery is not an act of charity. Real art must not be confused with roadside craft, handouts, or political correctness. It should be thought of as something that will help our economy grow and outlive all of us. — Beezy Bailey
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Now we understand Aziz
The latest Mail & Guardian revelations about how the African National Congress used Imvume and the United Nations Oil for Food programme to raise funds explains why Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad compared me to Goebbels and accused me of the ”most despicable form of politicking” in May 2003 for suggesting a sleazy motivation behind his frenzied attempts to save Saddam Hussein from overthrow.
Pahad also tried to deflect attention from my call for the compulsory disclosure of foreign donations to local political parties. It would be extremely healthy for our democracy if this occurred, to allay suspicions that pay-offs influence foreign policy. — Jack Bloom, Democratic Alliance MPL, Gauteng
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No apology needed
Max Ozinsky’s tetchy reaction (Letters, July 15) to a minor point in Zackie Achmat’s brilliant piece on Ronald Louw ironically contains its own historical revisionism.
Contrary to Ozinsky’s assertion that the Marxist Workers’ Tendency (MWT) of the African National Congress did not accept the ANC’s authority, it was the ANC that tolerated no dissent.
Instead of embracing the brilliant minds and committed activists of the MWT, as the ANC did with African nationalists, capitalists and Stalinists, it purged them from its broad church. Possession of the MWT publication, Inqaba ya Basebenzi, was virtually treasonable.
Zackie should be proud of being part of the MWT, as we are of him for championing the rights of subaltern groups. Ozinsky would serve South Africa better by confronting Aids denialists in his own party. — Shuaib Manjra, Cape Town
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SACP must learn from Che
Revolutionaries believe that to earn the title of ”communist”, you need a good grasp of history, a clear vision of the future and a practical strategy to achieve your goals. In this context, the letter ”Campaign against the charlatan” (July 8) by Luthando Nogcinisa, South African Communist Party secretary in Khaye-litsha, leaves much to be desired.
He accuses the media of not caring about HIV/Aids because it did not cover the SACP march against the Rath Foundation. ”Today’s revolutionaries” judge the success or failure of their projects by the response they get from the ”bourgeois” media. Weird, isn’t it?
Nogcinisa accuses the government and Minister Manto Tshabalala- Msimang of indifference to HIV/Aids and pledges to support the Treatment Action Campaign and fight against the Rath Foundation.
As a representative of ”the vanguard”, Nogcinisa should not divert us from efforts to rise out of the -poverty and malnutrition that make the people of sub-Saharan Africa more susceptible to disease.
Medical doctor and Latin American communist Ernesto Che Guevara provides a better understanding of the government’s approach to health, including HIV/Aids.
In 1960, he said: ”The work that today is entrusted to the Ministry of Health and similar organisations is to provide public health services for the greatest possible number of persons, institute a programme of preventive [health], and orient the public to the performance of hygienic practices.”
Clearly, the South African government is not that far from Che’s thinking in its emphasis on the prevention of disease by promoting healthy lifestyles — including safe sexual behaviour and good nutrition (and vitamins). — Sibani Mngadi, Health Ministry
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The closing remarks in the latest remake of War of the Worlds present an interesting scenario. Will the human race in future include only those people whose immune systems can tolerate HIV long enough to reproduce? Will these individuals have a history, culture, education, security? — Roger Price, Halfway House
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Through the death of Ronald Louw I have learned I have been involved in the fight against HIV/Aids from the wrong side. I have been fighting for the poor to access information and services without using the -services and information to which I have always had access to save myself.
As the struggle continues, one vows to start from within … — Emily Mabusela
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Research no enemy of democracy
Rapule Tabane (”ANC should be bigger than Mbeki and Zuma”, July 8) refers to criticisms that national policy is being decided not by the African National Congress as a whole but by government officials with good policy research units. There are implications in this for all of us who like the idea of a deeper participation in democracy.
It isn’t just the executive that can benefit from policy research. Anyone who wants to form a serious opinion, make an informed judgement or decision needs some policy research. Before any policy can be seriously considered, information is needed. What really is the status quo? What needs to change? What if we just do nothing? What will it cost? Are the resources available? How does this policy compare with that one? What could go wrong?
These and similar questions need answers, which are mostly a matter of research. Research needs researchers. This is a ”technical” process and need not in any way usurp the political processes of defining objectives and strategy, or actually deciding what policy to adopt.
That researchers might be tempted to exceed their mandate is undeniable, but the best way to deal with this is by making them transparent, sharing their data with everyone. This would allow us to challenge their conclusions when necessary and, having got that out of the way, we can focus on the real issues. — Paul Asquith, Knysna
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Governance
Adekeye Adebajo’s concerns (”Of fading rock stars and little else”, July 15) about substance not following form in G8 efforts to negotiate a new relationship with Africa has a sympathetic audience among the intelligentsia. But Africa’s progress on good governance is not evident in his critique.
Good governance remains problematic in Africa, as shown by the socio-economic disparities within states. At the G8, the role of governments in perpetuating disparities was drowned out by demands for better resource allocation and terms of trade.
Good governance is an issue not because rich nations demand it, but because Africa’s citizens expect it. — Vino Naidoo, senior researcher, Human Sciences Research Council
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