February 23 to March 1 2007

Where’s ‘Mandela Doctrine’?

Possibly the cornerstone of the 1994 settlement was the mutual recognition between Afrikaners and Africans, an event that took South Africa closer to the key to its future — realising harmony between its different communities.

When trying to make sense of Afrikaners today, it is the sorry state of this mutual recognition that should be used as a point of departure rather than the outdated argument that Afrikaners suffer from a ”power-loss syndrome” (February 16). After all, the young Afrikaners who rally behind the song De la Rey have never experienced power.

The real issue is that government, under the liberal pretext of ”none of us requires a special dispensation”, is applying an increasingly hardened Afro-nationalist agenda. It has failed to understand that dealing sensitively with mostly symbolic Afrikaner questions around language, education and heritage on the basis of mutual recognition will take out much of the sting.

Many Afrikaner organisations and intellectuals argue for restoring African place names without erasing Afrikaans place names (Tshwane-Pretoria), mother-tongue education for all and not just for speakers of Afrikaans and English, or using language or class rather than race as basis of affirmative action — all to no avail.

Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin told Afrikaner leaders last June: ”There is no such thing as an Afrikaner.”

This erosion of mutual recognition is causing a lot of pain and anger for Afrikaners, and there is no reason why this can’t be changed. It would allow Afrikaners to enthusiastically contribute to the fight against Aids, poverty alleviation and other pressing national crises without needing to wonder why they should if what matters to them is not recognised. — Johann Rossouw, Federation of Afrikaans Cultural Associations, Pretoria

Why are people so upset about Bok van Blerk’s song? Signs of an increasing Afrikaner cultural resurgence have been visible for years, and anyone with any knowledge of Afrikaner history should have known it was inevitable.

Political analyst Theo Venter is right about the leadership vacuum. Afrikaners have always responded to charismatic leaders like De la Rey. But today’s potential Afrikaner leaders have abdicated — they are too busy making money to upset any apple-carts.

There is a less visible but equally important reason. As an overwhelmingly Christian group, Afrikaners are familiar with the concept that if a person shows genuine contrition, it is one’s positive duty to forgive him/her. In the early 1990s there was a feeling almost of exhilaration and a willingness to work for the future, whether or not they accepted personal responsibility for apartheid — and, contrary to popular myth, a very large slice of the Afrikaners did not support the National Party.

Nelson Mandela understood this well and played the Afrikaners like a guitar. The ”Mandela Doctrine”, as they understood it, was that a clear line would be drawn between the past and the future, and that everyone’s priority was to build the new South Africa.

But the ”Mandela Doctrine” is long gone. The perception among many Afrikaners is that they will never be forgiven; that their history is irrele­vant; that they are condemned to be permanent whipping-boys for all the nation’s ills; that their skills and energies are not wanted; and that they are interlopers in the land to which they gave their hearts because they are whites and therefore cannot be true Africans.

Afrikaners gave themselves to Africa in the 17th century, when the name was first used to indicate a person who had been born in Africa and to whom Europe was foreign. Many are of mixed ancestry, because in the Dutch East India Company days the most important factor was not race but religion.

All this leaves a vacuum that not only encourages the rise of demagogues but deprives South Africa of a powerful force for progress.

Afrikaners as a group could be the government’s best allies. But that will take more than a few nobly worded speeches and pronouncements which have no practical effect.

People who are so worried about the re-emergence of De la Rey in Van Blerk’s song should be glad. He was a pacifist who believed in harmony among the races and warned against fighting the British, but then fought hard as a patriotic duty. During the 1902 peace negotiations, he turned his back on the bitter-enders because he saw the shape of things to come and was a big enough man to accept them. That makes him a good role model for the new South Africa.

I think Pallo Jordan’s reaction is entirely right. If the song is, in fact, a symptom of an Afrikaner resurgence of some kind, that is perfectly acceptable if it stays within the bounds of the Constitution. It is better to have Afrikaners who rejoice openly in their heroes than a sour group of discontented people who have, as Rapport editor Tim du Plessis describes it, opted for ”inward immigration”. — Willem Steenkamp, Cape Town

Genocide

Simon Tisdall’s ”Al-Qaeda’s new front in Africa” (February 16), which presents recent bombings in Algeria as al-Qaeda strengthening its North African base, froths with Islamophobic stereotypes.

The Islamic party FIS was poised to win multiparty elections in 1990 and 1991 with an absolute majority, when the army declared the poll null and void. These were democratic elections, held in the presence of international observers. There was a deafening silence from Europe and the United States.

Southern Algeria has huge oil and gas deposits, and foreign oil companies are exploiting these fields behind heavily protected security zones. The oil companies are aware of the army’s massive human rights violations, but choose to remain silent.

Tisdall should be awakening the conscience of the international community to the genocide taking place in Algeria. An international commission of inquiry is urgently required to identify the perpetrators and bring them to book. — I Vawda, Jukskei Park

Absurd subsidy proposal

United States economist Abhijit Banerjee’s reported view that labour’s wages should be subsidised in the hands of employees simply does not make sense in South Africa (February 16).

The excess of unskilled labour and the depth of poverty are such that the unemployed, including young people, are willing to earn sub-minimum wages in their droves by participating in the Expanded Public Works Programme. Low wages in the open labour market are hardly a barrier to getting people employed.

It is true that very poor school-leavers and chronically unemployed people do not currently perform well enough in accessing what little opportunity is available in the open labour market. However, we believe this would be better addressed through the enabling effects of a basic income grant and a system of opportunity vouchers for school-leavers.

This would leave government free to implement a wage subsidy, effected in the hands of employers and focused solely on the creation of new, sustainable employment opportunities.

Given our poor productivity rates and stiff regulatory environment, the reduction in the cost of employment for the employer as a result of such a subsidy would certainly not damage job creation in our country. — Coenraad Bezuidenhout, economics researcher, DA

Haywood’s appalling racism

I was appalled by the racism of the newly elected DA representative for Hout Bay, Marga Haywood (February 16). Her call for forced removals complements an article by Cape Town mayor Helen Zille in the local press, and exposes a housing policy that will ensure Cape Town remains segregated.

Hout Bay has always welcomed foreigners — if they are white and affluent. Are we to follow a policy of apartheid-style removals under the pretext of ”clearing up health problems”?

There is land in Hout Bay and Constantia for a constructive housing policy. New housing estates for the affluent proceed apace, perpetuating segregation, but no areas are included for affordable low-income cluster housing to foster mixed communities.

The continued development of exclusive, wealthy suburbs, condemning workers to travel up to two hours a day, perpetuates the immoral cycle of segregation, poverty and crime. — Bianca Mittag, Constantia

On polling day in Clifton, I watched privileged voters park their top-of-the-range cars and walk in their casual elegance to vote.

I was outside the polling station canvassing for the ANC. We didn’t expect much response because we represent the poor, but were trying to engage voters with an alternative strategy for their area.

Those who deigned to speak to us said they supported the DA as the party of white people. So I’m not surprised that their newly elected councillor has called for ”forced removals”.

The ”white” mandate is to keep Hout Bay exclusive and rich, and keep to a minimum small, ugly houses for the poor. — Lorna Levy, Cape Town

Zille and Haywood should read chapter 13 of the Housing Code, which provides funding for informal settlement upgrading and relocation. The programme explicitly states that relocation applies only as a last resort, and that no ceiling applies to the cost of purchasing land. Under-utilised Hout Bay land is within reach through this programme. — Marie Huchzermeyer, Wits University

I agree with Haywood that there should be forced removals in her constituency. Starting with her lily-white arse, let’s get rid of all those in that benighted part of the world who still hanker for ”the good old days” of National Party rule. — Pat Hopkins

Hands off Blade

The badly scripted piece by Vicki Robinson (”Rumblings over Blade in SACP”, February 16) requires some examination to expose the programme of your political handlers.

Is it newsworthy that card-carrying members contest a position within an organisation? Is it not something to celebrate? And is it wrong for an activist on business in another province to attend a gathering of comrades there? Why make an issue about KwaZulu-Natal secretary Themba Mthembe’s attendance at an SACP meeting in Cape Town?

This was another poisonous ploy to sow division and to attempt to prescribe who our leaders should be.

The public and the SACP support Blade Nzimande’s victories and campaigns. They will testify through their votes that he has spearheaded financial sector campaigns that have made a difference.

They know his supposed relationship with Jacob Zuma is a well thought-out implementation of ANC resolutions and the SACP central committee decision that Zuma be given support in trying times.

That support is not about an individual; it has always been about the defence we as a nation should mount when our Constitution is misapplied and abused.

For his exemplary efforts in speaking and acting on behalf of the working class, we will not let Blade be attacked without responding. — Lindani Gcwensa, Centurion

Brouhaha

The brouhaha created by reports about the ANC Progressive Business Forum is evidence of a growing tendency to find fault with everything the ANC does (or doesn’t do).

The ANC is doing nothing wrong by establishing a networking forum to interact with progressive business people who share its ideals as a political party and a government.

The article implies that members of this forum receive information that gives them an advantage over other business people.

Until this is proved, the ANC should be left to continue with its fundraising scheme. — Tembile Yako, Windsor East, Johannesburg

In brief

Chris Roper’s article ”Service with(out) a smile” (Friday, February 16) was so spot on and well written that it had all my friends and myself rolling around the floor with laughter. In fact, one friend had experienced exactly the same treatment that very night, so that the article had a déjà vu quality. Give us scrambled eggs and soy sausages at home any night. — David Allardice

I was delighted that your circulation figures have risen 15%. Frankly, because of the awesome quality of your publication, it is surprising that the figure is not higher. Your fearless reporting and editorials, and excellent lay-out, are a prime example of journalism at its very best. — Terry Herbst, DA councillor, Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (known affectionately to some as Port Elizabeth)

Thank you John Matshikiza for celebrating the writings of Ryszard Kapuscínski (February 16). He had the gift of encapsulating times and places in Africa, and the clarity and vividness of his writing was a gift to his readers. — Elisabeth Anderson, Cape Town

Why is Zapiro always on leave? We’re tired of seeing stale cartoons. Is he the only cartoonist in the country? — Enoch Zungu

Once again Zapiro has hit the nail on the head. He’s brilliant! — Dawn Hull, Kuils River