Youth need role models
Last week I attended a memorial service for a young man who was killed in Nyanga, Cape Town, and it has haunted me.
This young man was a gangster and, in true gangster fashion, he was shot dead in the course of his ways. At that memorial service, his friends came to ”salute” him: they shot a number of gunshots in the air, and at the coffin itself.
For the first time in my life I saw a gun being shot live, with smoke and everything. It was awesome, to say the least. But what struck me was the ease and pride with which young men, much younger than me (being 25), handle and shoot guns. And, more than that, how everyone, except me, was unfazed.
In his delivery, the pastor said something like this: ”As parents we raise good children, we feed them, send them to school and to church. But our duty and power is limited to the age of about 13, after which we lose our children to the streets. They no longer hear us, they begin to follow the influence of the outside. These influences tell them to drink, to have sex, to do crime such as this, which has led to this young man’s fate.
”And as parents, there is nothing we can say or do because, in fact, we cannot even be role models to our children. Our children have nothing to look forward or up to because the most exciting things in their lives are night clubs and guns.”
This touched me deeply because it is true on many levels. The conditions under which children are growing up in townships are shocking, though these communities have come to regard this as normal.
We all know crime, whether by experience or by fear. But it is for these young people that I fear and feel. Their experiences, their lives and their role models will impact on how our country turns out.
Among other things, young people need hope, direction, role models. What the pastor said is tremendously powerful. Many teachers, police, nurses and even community leaders have been tainted by alcohol abuse, perhaps even by corruption and crime. So who are the youth supposed to look up to?
Well, to me it’s clear: we must help them look up at us, at you and me who have half made it. We are the only ones who can change the outlook of our country. To steal lines from a friend: ”Every generation has its purpose; what’s ours?” — Name withheld at author’s request
Zim: results speak for themselves
The land confiscated from white farmers in Zimbabwe is now controlled by the government, and we all know what a democratic institution that is. In truth, land supposedly given to ”new farmers” has simply been transferred into the Zanu-PF patronage system, where only those who toe the line survive.
That anyone can claim, as Sam Moyo did (”The ‘Mugabe way’, April 13), that anything in Zimbabwe has become more democratised over the past seven years is laughable.
On the contrary, anything functioning outside the control of Zanu-PF has been taken over, destroyed and reformed in the image of Zanu-PF. Apart from the agricultural sector, the cricket team is another such example. The results speak for themselves.
It is disappointing that an academic like Moyo has reduced himself to peddling what can only be described as half-truths more closely resembling Zanu-PF propaganda than genuinely independent commentary worthy of publication in the Mail & Guardian. — Andrew Hartnack, Cape Town
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When Bob Marley sang Zimbabwe at the inauguration of Robert Mugabe as president in 1980, one wonders if the dreadlocked musical genius was not providing a prophecy for the next 27 years within his lyrics: ”To divide and rule could only tear us apart / In everyman chest there beats a heart / So soon we’ll find out who is the real revolutionaries / I don’t want my people to be tricked by mercenaries”.
If Bob Marley didn’t have a moment of prophetic intervention when writing those words, however, he must be turning in his grave. — Michelle Evert, Johannesburg
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The article by Brian Chikwava (”Dear Mr President …”, April 13) was in extremely bad taste. I have read Chikwava’s short stories, including the one he won the Caine Prize for. I presume that his article is some kind of send-up.
However, it is the postscript, which is presumably linked to the picture, that is astounding. I doubt whether even Nathaniel Manheru of The Herald would have written those kind of remarks, although I am sure he would thoroughly approve of them. To describe two (rare) tourists to Zimbabwe as enemies and to depict the animal that killed them in a grotesque way and carrying a Zimbabwean flag is really too much. — Bryant Elliot, Harare
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What does Zuma have to offer us?
Thami Mazwai, in his Polokwane Briefing (”Who is up to being president?”, April 20), understands that we are a young democracy and that we need nourishment more than upheaval and turmoil.
He speaks to all who believe in and are striving for sustainable development and growth for South Africa and its citizens at large (including the extended family of Africa).
Therefore, to me he is saying that Gedley’hlekisa Jacob Zuma is a candidate we have to seriously review as our preferred president.
It is simple how I came to this understanding: ”The days of the populist are fading, and in his or her place must come the visionary, the shepherd and the pragmatist.”
We all have vision and goals. Nelson Mandela had a vision, Robert Sobukwe had a vision, Martin Luther King definitely had a vision. Their visions were so strong that we talk and envision some of them still today.
Now, let’s ask ourselves: What long term vision does Zuma have to offer us? — Nangamso Kwinana
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Potter packs a punch
Once again your newspaper poo-poos a movie with a strong woman character.
I’m referring to Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian’s review of Miss Potter, which opened on the film circuit at the end of March.
I was thoroughly delighted by the film, which is so much like the pastel-coloured Beatrix Potter pocket books. The soothing, gentle, understated movie packed a powerful punch.
What a babe Beatrix Potter was, and what a wonderful legacy she left behind. Not only are her works ever popular, but she bequeathed 4 000 acres of farmland that cannot be otherwise developed to the British people.
It seems fitting that Chris Noonan, who gave us Babe, directed this film. He has an interesting take on Potter, whose story he tells in much the same way he told the famous pig’s.
It takes grit to survive and prosper despite a stuffy, annihilating mother and a kind but rather ineffectual father, Noonan shows us.
Potter must have had more than just a backbone. She seemed to believe in herself without making a fuss, in the process amassing a fortune and giving it away generously.
Is it the pastel-coloured nature of the film that makes your reviewers underestimate it? Or are we merely seeing how hard it is for men to sit through movies with strong woman characters?
Apart from telling a story about a wonderfully resourceful and strong woman, the movie also speaks to the child in all of us. Can we really afford to bypass the creative child in ourselves who is inspired by good, artful storytelling? — Vossie Goosen
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Report ignores known facts
Your report, ”ANC braces for NEC revamp” (April 13) by Vicki Robinson refers. While you have every right to speculate on who might be elected or not to the national executive committee of the ANC, it is quite another thing to quote unnamed sources claiming that Minister of Intelligence Ronnie Kasrils will not be supported for re-election because he is seen as a ”key abuser of state security apparatus against Zuma”.
I would have expected an investigative newspaper of your standing to balance this allegation with the known fact that the minister acted against members of the National Intelligence Agency precisely because it was found that they had misused their position and abused their power.
I also refer you to statements by Cabinet, the ANC and SACP issued in support of the action taken by minister Kasrils. — Lorna Daniels, ministry intelligence services
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De la Rey architect of forced removals?
Despite all the debate about De la Rey, John Matshikiza is among the first to question the general’s real legacy. And although Antjie Krog has proclaimed him a reconciliator, my perfunctory readings suggest something different.
While it is true that De la Rey initially opposed war and favoured negotiations, his real legacy was as the most successful of the Boer generals and the most tenacious Bittereinder. Yet what was the real basis of his successes?
At the Battle of Modderrivier, De la Rey inflicted heavy casualties on the British from trenches dug by native labourers who accompanied or were forced to accompany the Boer armies. Thomas Packenham attributes De la Rey’s successes in the Western Transvaal at the end of the war to a vicious campaign of forced removals of African families to prevent information on his movements reaching the British.
This begs the question whether the hero being proclaimed so loudly (at least in my neighbourhood) was actually the architect of forced labour and removals? And are these the values for whose return the volk yearns? — Barry Levinrad, George
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In brief
Your article on the Blair Atholl scandal (April 20) refers. Thank you for having the courage to point out a misuse of power, as well as of the environment, which other media have not had the balls to do. — Dr John Carlisle, Sheffield
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Thank you, Tom Eaton, for making my morning with your article ”Breeding in the time of gene deprivation” (April 20). Brilliantly and hilariously, it puts the whole nonsense of the British monarchy into perspective. — J van Tonder, Claremont
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In the listing for the exhibition headspaces at the Art space, I am referred to as a she. While I have made great strides in geting in touch with my feminine side, while my dick remains firmly attached to my body, I prefer to be referred to as a he. — uwe pfaff
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I would like to congratulate the M&G for its comprehensive and balanced reporting on HIV/Aids. Publications such as yours have an invaluable role to play, not only in informing the public but also in addressing stigma. — Lyn van Rooyen, project manager, Christian Aids Resource and Information Service
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I was shocked to find an ad in the April 20 edition headed ”Divine Employment Agency”, based in Peitermaritzburg (sic), which exhorts people to register for R100. No reputable agency asks job seekers to pay! Are you being party to the potential ripping off of unemployed people? — Michelle Nel