Is this animal welfare?
I refer to the Mail & Guardian‘s article (January 18) about the tragic story of Frida the Romanian lioness, so cunningly misused by Vier Pfoten International (VPI).
Last year, our department of trade and industry asked me to comment on VPI’s application to establish a sanctuary in the Free State for exotic lions.
VPI’s Amir Kahlil made an appointment to see me on July 5. It was not kept nor have I heard from him since, and I submitted my report without answers to important questions.
The only purpose of South Africa’s vast captive lion population (4 500 at least) is to provide living targets for the canned hunting industry. Proposed legislation to regulate canned hunting and captive breeding might cause surplus lions to come on to the market or be killed by owners to save further costs.
It would therefore be irresponsible to permit VPI to set up a facility in the Free State for European lions. There are also important genetic and veterinary reasons not to import exotic animals.
If VPI was proposing a sanctuary only for surplus South African lions, it might have some merit.
Sanctuaries are not recognised in South Africa, so existing policies would have to be changed before VPI could be granted a permit to import and keep exotic lions.
I have campaigned for years for such a policy change, to the extent of drafting a policy amendment, which can be seen at www.cannedlion.co.za/book/sancpolicy.htm
Why South Africa? It would be cheaper and better for VPI to establish a sanctuary in another African country closer to Europe that recognises sanctuaries for exotic animals. Why choose the only African country that bans sanctuaries, and where European animals must be relocated after gruelling and expensive flights? Is it because we are the world centre of canned hunting?
VPI has chosen notorious members of the captive breeding and canned lion hunting industry for its planned sanctuary.
And its treatment of Frida does not support its claim that it can run a genuine lion sanctuary. It misled Radio Total, Frida’s owners and the Cites authorities into believing she would be released into the wild and then handed her to a canned lion breeder. It has arrogantly refused Radio Total’s requests to transfer her to Drakenstein Lion Park.
There is a real possibility that VPI is not a genuine animal welfare organisation, but a fund-raising factory that uses a few genuine animal welfare activities to induce European animal-lovers to part with funds, much of which go into salaries and administration.
If VPI is genuinely concerned to provide sanctuary for European lions, let it do so in Europe. — Chris Mercer and Bev Pervan
Traditional cures can’t be stolen
Yolandi Groenewald’s article on biopiracy (“Selling SA’s secrets”, January 12) was typical of your newspaper in its left-wing “it’s all a Western plot” narrative. However, it failed to point out some crucial facts.
Firstly, nothing stops the South African government from radically increasing scientific research budgets, and encouraging universities to patent their ideas. But buying guns and high-speed trains, and “transforming” the scientific community, are seen as more “developmental” — so most of our biotech engineers head for the private sector or leave the country.
Secondly, with our current matric pass rate, the ministry of science and technology will in all likelihood not exist in 20 years, as there will be no scientists for it to police. So, if it was not for those “evil Western pharma companies”, no one on Earth would gain from the benefits of the plants we have in South Africa.
Thirdly, “traditional” knowledge, because it is collectively and culturally held, is in the public domain — you can’t steal it. Can a Zulu bio-engineer be accused of “stealing” a traditional Zulu remedy?
This is why traditional societies don’t innovate, and ones that allow individual ownership of intellectual property do. There is no incentive for the traditional Zulu cure to be improved or even scientifically tested by traditional healers.
But a biotech firm does have the incentive. It is for this reason that we have the miracle of modern medicine, which keeps innovative societies alive, while others have to make do with beetroot and potato recipes. — Anthony Bizos, Rosebank
Myanmar a legit supplier
I refer to your article “Import quotas backfire” (January 19). Firstly, there is a statement attributed to “an Edcon associate who asked to speak anonymously”, saying that the group was looking into sourcing from Myanmar as an alternative to China.
It is stated in Edcon policy that comments to the media are on the record. Further, the head of supply chain logistics himself cannot confirm this suggestion, so it is unlikely that anyone in his department could make such a statement with any authority. He was not contacted by your reporter.
This same “associate” refers to Edcon’s “American owners”. Edcon is a publicly traded company domiciled in South Africa. Some 42% of its shares are held overseas. Of the 20% in American hands, more than 35 institutions hold those shares.
South Africa’s United Nations Security Council vote, which essentially leaves Myanmar to its own devices, means that we would in no way be deviating from government policy were we to consider sourcing products from Myanmar.
It could be considered, along with all other eligible locations including South Africa, as a source of supply. — Tessa Christelis, executive manager, investor relations, Edcon
Transform legal fraternity!
The General Council of the Bar and the Law Society have a moral obligation to ensure that South Africa’s legal fraternity is transformed. But things are not as they should be.
The withdrawal of Bills aimed at transforming both organisations and the judiciary speaks volumes about the miles we still have to travel as a country.
For example, the annual quarrelling among advocates over who should lead them is disturbing. The practice of rotating leadership along racial lines — this time it’s black, next time white — perpetuates racial stereotypes.
No wonder Judge Nkola Motata of the Pretoria High Court should remark in handing down a recent decision that whites do not respect black advocates.
Another pointer is the Law Society’s curriculum for candidate attorneys. There are no elective modules, only compulsory ones. And despite the fact that South Africa is an ÂAfrican country, African indigenous law is nowhere to be found in this category, meaning that candidate attorneys receive a lecture on the subject but are not examined in it.
The contrary applies in respect of modules such as attorneys’ bookkeeping and accounting and court practice.
Practically speaking, not all attorneys litigate. And accounting and bookkeeping are done by secretaries, bookkeepers and accountants. Yet, would-be attorneys must write an exam on these subjects. Where is sense in this?
Why would candidate attorneys, on graduation, be granted leave to specialise? Being a law student in South Africa involves a devastating exercise with two stages of theory, at university and law school.
The intervention of the minister of justice in these matters is long overdue. — Percy Molaba, Pretoria
Much ado about Woolies
What is the point of Matthew Burbidge’s reply to Nic Dawes’s article “Why are our greens wrapped in silver?” (Friday, January 18)
A thoughtful piece on how marketing imposes an artificial value on foodstuffs, driving consumers into a hierarchical system that allows some to define themselves as “in the know”, and to define others as unenlightened, is hardly complemented by a response that effectively says: “Who cares if they [Woolworths] label some of their vegetables ‘Discoveries’. At least they’re going to the trouble to broaden the palate of South Africans.”
I don’t agree with many of Dawes’s sentiments. After all, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with selling people a fantasy, which is what most South African restaurants do, as the food that eventually arrives often bears no resemblance to the description on the menu. Without the floury (sic) words, you’d have no hope whatsoever, and no idea what they’ve actually plonked on your plate.
But the counterpoint to Dawes’s curmudgeonly diatribe is not someone making the point that “I like to cook, so I’m not going to bother thinking too deeply about the mechanisms Woolworths uses to convince me that it’s okay to pay a small fortune for a turnip”. — Chris Roper
I tend to agree with Burbidge’s point about a certain arrogance at Woolworths. They make so much of their good practices with regard to additives and sourcing that I am puzzled by two glaring failures.
Firstly, why can one no longer buy loose tea? Their house brand is in bags and there doesn’t seem to be any other kind available. Doesn’t Woolworths realise that connoisseurs don’t want tea in teabags, as it is notoriously the worst and dustiest of the crop. There’s also a serious ecological problem with all those little bags.
Another way Woolworths might Âfollow the best of European practice is to remove all sweets, chocolates and other empty caloried foodstuffs from the long narrow passageways that shoppers must traverse to the tills.
There is a major obesity/diabetic problem in this country and it is not just pestered parents who fall victim to impulse-buying of such unhealthy items.
I filled in a suggestions form on the Woolworths website on these points some time ago and got no feedback. Don’t they like criticism? If so, what earthly use is their apparent concern for “suggestions”? — Margot Beard, Grahamstown
God wills Manto’s sidelining
In 2003, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang was quoted as suggesting that “HIV/Aids is God’s way of challenging us to care for our people, to support the dying and to appreciate the gift of life”.
She should apply the same “theological” approach to her own recent illness. Perhaps it was God rather than Thabo Mbeki — non-ANC members tend to distinguish between the two — who decided to sideline her for a lengthy period.
The minister’s statement rather blasphemously suggests that God (as opposed to Mbeki) would deliberately inflict a tortuous death on untold millions just to provide the self-righteous with objects for their “charity”.
In the case of the minister’s illness, however, God’s action resulted in much progress being made in providing “care for our people”. If Tshabalala-Msimang was prepared to go along with Him/Her in letting millions die, surely she should be prepared to go along with Him/Her in providing improved care for “our people”?
God’s way is clearly that Tshabalala-Msimang be sidelined. Never mind the TAC or Mbeki, by sidelining yourself you could even have God on your side. — Cosmas Desmond
Tragedy
What a tragedy for Islam, Cape Town and Africa Muslim Party voters that a Bidah Chaaban should smear them with his shameless admission that his purpose in politics is self-seeking for personal advancement.
Chabaan’s reprehensible behaviour in trying to barter with the ANC for a top job unsettled his party’s leadership long enough for them to give their approval before gagging him.
Multiparty differences would have been much better resolved quietly. — PC Willis
In brief
Richard Cornwell (January 19) argues that there must be internal political reconciliation and a clear political outcome in Somalia before South Africa deploys troops there. In a genocidal conflict, we cannot wait for these requirements to be met. Should the world and Africa have waited until the Hutu militia was prepared to reconcile before intervening in Rwanda? To quote the pan-Africanist, Marcus Mosiah Garvey: “If we are not prepared to do what other races have done, what other nations have done, then we had better die!” Africans have been dying in conflicts for decades — a trend that can only be halted through intervention. — Grant Geduldt, Cape Town
As an IT consultant, I find it strange that we have so much unemployment in South Africa, yet many, if not all, the banks are hiring droves of foreigners. At one bank where I have a contract, I was swamped by people from India. Almost every top IT management job is filled by a non-South African. Is our education system failing us? Or are South Africans too lazy for such jobs? — Worried
Are Opec members allowing the oil price to drop in order to slow up or stop the development of alternative energy sources and herd the Western world back into its comfort zone? Opec will allow the price to drop for a while, and then zap us again. We need to wean ourselves off the carbon-based fuels and take control of our own energy sources. — Peter Gamble, Somerset West