Make institutions work
Christopher Caudwell, in Studies in a Dying Culture, picks on Rousseau to expose the fallacy in the idea that human beings lose their freedom because of institutions. “Unfortunately, not only is man not good without institutions, he is not evil, either. He is no man at all; he is neither good nor evil; he is an unconscious brute,” Caudwell writes.
Martin Legassick (Letters, September 16) has given a new spin to the liberal and neo-liberal illusion identified with Rousseau.
It is the people who struggle outside structures, he declares, who are the real democrats. The institutions brought by national liberation are like Rousseau’s “chains” to him (man is born free but everywhere in chains).
Legassick hates fixed institutions in the same way that Margaret Thatcher hated “society” and Ronald Reagan hated “big government”.
Caudwell was right and Rousseau was wrong. Human beings can only achieve freedom through institutions. Legassick is wrong to call for a retreat from institutional democracy.
And he is equally wrong to accuse Jeremy Cronin of being blind to its deficiencies. Cronin has conspicuously and frequently warned against the “hollowing” of our new institutions.
Legassick’s argument gets progressively weaker as he approaches his bottom line. It becomes clear that what he really wants is the break-up of the alliance and for the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions to start all over again without the African National Congress.
Let’s pretend that could happen. Sooner or later, we will arrive back where we are now — with a whole lot of new institutions (and with the next generation of Legassicks denouncing them from the sidelines).
The problem is to take democracy forward from here. Running away from mass institutions, and calling for others to do the same, is no good.
Legassick should rather get involved in the people’s structures and help to give them more life. — Dominic Tweedie, Johannesburg
Semites were monotheists
Colin Bower’s assertion that Christian and Judaic beliefs are subverted by archaeological findings that female deities were worshipped in ancient Palestine is less than accurate (“Goddess of the Israelites”, September 16).
Anybody who has read the Bible knows that the ancient Israelites incorporated the practices of surrounding cultures into their own. One example was the Canaanite worship of the male deity El as the “king of the gods” and Asherah‚ considered his consort. Many Old Testament prophets warned the Israelites against these practices.
Stephan Langdon, one of the first cuneiform scholars, believed that the history of Sumerian religion, which he considered the most powerful cultural influence in the ancient world, could be traced by means of pictographic inscriptions almost to the earliest religious concepts of man.
He found unmistakable evidence of an original monotheism, which is also indicated by the inscriptions and literary remains of the oldest Semitic peoples. These scholars believed polytheism evolved from monotheism, rather than the reverse.
We should be cautious when making sweeping observations that the holy texts of the Old Testament (adhered to by Jews and Christians alike) are nothing more than the humanly contrived narratives of male elites, without entertaining all the evidence. — Nina Taaibosch
Burden of extended family
Despite its small size, we already seem to be celebrating the emergence of the black middle class. Or at least Thebe Mabanga and Maya Fisher-French do so in their commentary on the significance of the black middle class in South Africa’s economy (September 16).
The quantitative view adopted by both writers poses serious questions about the existence of this class.
Although he identifies growing inequalities among blacks, Mabanga does not question the significance of this. Rather, he seems to conclude that middle-class blacks will be increasingly removed from the majority of the poor and unemployed.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the unemployed masses are the brothers, sisters and members of the extended families of those fortunate enough to be regarded as middle class in terms of salary and buying power. How many households can be regarded as middle class in a situation where the income is shared among nine other members of an extended family?
Perhaps we should ask whether the conditions allow black people to enter the middle classes before we start talking about sustainability and the impact on growth. — Geoffrey Modisha, Sociology of Work Unit, Wits University
We have been conned
Lately, I have not been sleeping well. I am disturbed by intrusive thoughts about the tertiary institution where I work. I believe we are part of a great educational con.
When the tertiary mergers were first contemplated, the public was told no institution would remain unaffected. The major purpose was to force transformation in higher education. Every tertiary institution would adopt a new identity, a merged culture, opening up opportunities to previously disadvantaged groups. The mergers would promote equity and attend to redress.
On the academic side, we were told to compare programmes and merge them; to make considered academic decisions about what to offer and why, in the light of the minister’s plan for higher education.
The best from both sides was to be kept. Some discussion took place between merging institutions, although at times it seemed a struggle from our side in the black institutions to be heard.
Almost two years into the incorporation, I believe the government conned us. There has been no follow-up. The receiving institutions have had free rein to do as they wish, and many seem to want to remain unchanged and rid themselves of the burden of their acquisitions.
Agreements made before incorporation have been ignored, violated and unilaterally changed to suit the bureaucracy of those institutions.
In some cases, even departments have conned us, promising merging of programmes, but later avoiding debate around curriculum transformation, preferring to continue with offerings unchanged for decades.
Students affected are those from the townships, with historically disadvantaged education and with home languages not represented in tertiary institutions. These languages are not on the table at language debates where white students protest primly over the relative space given to English and Afrikaans.
One can debate whether the standards at historically black tertiary institutions were always the same as those of historically white institutions. But thousands of students received an education there, whereas their successors from the townships will in all likelihood receive none in the near future. And we wonder about the crime rate.
We are in this together. The government was elected by us — there is no “they” out there who will put this situation right. We must do it. — LB
Government deserves our support
The African National Congress-led government has worked tirelessly to reverse inhibitions placed in the path of black people, and deserves our unequivocal support and appreciation.
For the first time in South Africa, it is desirable to be black and female. My son will enjoy all the rights a human being is entitled to, and my daughter has been made a top-most priority with regard to opportunity and protection.
We should take solace from the fact that there is commonality between our independent media, which reports without fear or favour, and our government’s commitment to weed out corruption.
With that kind of synergy and commitment, more and more corrupt officials will be exposed and lose their place in government. — Khulani Qom, Pretoria
DA chickens home to roost
Voters have watched helplessly as the public representatives they voted for a few short months ago have “crossed the floor” in utter disdain for those who voted them into positions of trust and responsibility.
But while the Democratic Alliance is bleating and blaming MPs and members of provincial legislatures (MPLs) for defecting and supposedly helping to “create a one-party state”, it conveniently forgets that it aided and abetted the creation of this monster.
The party’s KwaZulu-Natal electoral college chose seven MPLs, of whom two have defected. Of the top nine MPs selected by this body of people, three have now defected, one of them before Parliament even started. In their craven ineptitude, this so-called “college” chose people who had never worked at any level for the party, spurning others who were both tried and trusted.
By doing so, the DA in KwaZulu-Natal has handed five out of 15 seats to the African National Congress. Its own chickens have come home to roost. — Gloria Borman
One must feel sorry for the Independent Electoral Commission, which must advocate the importance of registration and voting, while politicians cross the floor carrying suitcases brimming with votes.
The effect will be to permeate next year’s local government elections with apathy.
The constitutionally recognised right to cross the floor is qualified by the ethical condition that the political party in question no longer subscribes to the principles it advocated and used to gain votes at election.
A person voting for an opposition party wants to replace the current government with another on the ballot paper. MPs do not own the votes cast by the electorate — they are political mandates.
Given the theoretical purpose of floor crossing — which has been violated — and the disgust of the electorate, why is the ANC happily rubbing its stomach? To quote the words of the DA’s Ryan Coetzee: “Floor crossing … puts on display the worst of politics — the lust for position and the lure of money.” — Andre Kormuth, University of KwaZulu-Natal
I will no longer be made a fool of and taken for a ride — I will boycott all future elections until the floor crossing is scrapped. Of course, I won’t be missed. But at least I will keep my pride. — Frank Hartry
Fawu backs Cosatu on Zuma
Matuma Letsoalo distorted my words in his September 2 article to suggest the Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu) does not support the Congress of South African Trade Unions on Jacob Zuma.
Fawu supports Cosatu’s position and will actively implement its resolutions. We have always argued that the Zuma matter has been questionably handled. When the media first reported on the “possible” corruption of Zuma, he started undergoing a trial without having a platform to prove his innocence.
Then-prosecutions director Bulelani Ngcuka briefed the media off the record, saying the National Prosecuting Authority had prima facie evidence of corruption against Zuma but would not prosecute. This was the beginning of a miscarriage of justice. Normally, prosecuting authorities must charge and prosecute or decline to prosecute.
Then Zuma was tried in absentia during the trial of Schabir Shaik. The judge concluded they had a generally corrupt relationship.
Fawu has decided to support Zuma’s candidacy for the presidency of the African National Congress and the country, based on our belief that every citizen is innocent until proven guilty.
When President Thabo Mbeki removed Zuma as deputy president, based on the Shaik judgement, Cosatu’s position — which Fawu supports — shifted from calling for a fair trial to the dropping of charges. This should not be seen as interfering with the independence of the judiciary, but as addressing a miscarriage of justice. — Katishi Masemola, Fawu general secretary
Be fair
You make much of former chief rabbi Cyril Harris’s anti-apartheid contribution (“Mercurial paradox of chief rabbi”, September 16) but you have never mentioned the death of former Muslim Judicial Council president Sheikh Nazeem Mohammed and his role in the anti-apartheid struggle.
Mohammed was a leader of South Africa’s Islamic community and was known to Nelson Mandela during his time on Robben Island.
Does the Mail & Guardian acknowledge Islam’s role in the fight against apartheid and colonialism?
The media are quick to focus on Muslims when there are bombings, terrorism and the like. We want fair representation. — Shiradz Majiet, University of the Western Cape, Bellville
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