We were wrong about ANC
Radio and newspaper discussions and headlines in the past two weeks have been about new African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma and the Polokwane conference. It sounds as if people are very unhappy with Zuma as the new leader. Is it because they expected a lot from the ANC or they saw it as a super political entity in Africa? I think the ANC exposed itself by electing Zuma who has legal woes and people like Tony Yengeni in the national executive committee (NEC). How can they elect Yengeni into the NEC of the ANC of all people? Someone who has no respect for the rule of law and a low sense of responsibility?
Maybe the problem does not lie with Zuma or Yengeni, but rather with the ANC delegates who were in Limpopo, the South African Communist Party, Congress of South African Trade Unions, ANC Youth League and ANC Women’s League. These structures are a danger to our constitutional democracy and toxic to our judicial system.
I thought only the best can sit on the NEC; I can now safely say that we, the people of South Africa, overrated this oldest movement in Africa. We thought it was full of thinkers and visionaries and we were wrong. This new NEC will take us nowhere. Our country is on the brink of collapse and we have no one to blame but ourselves, black and white. We sat down thinking that we had enough brains in the ANC to take us forward, and we were wrong. — Golimpi, Tshwane
Black or white?
Barack Obama is making huge strides towards becoming the preferred Democratic candidate for the upcoming United States elections. Much is made of the fact that he is “black”. He is, in fact, of mixed descent, being half Kenyan and half “white” American. But this being the case, why is he described as black? He is not black. He is half black, half white. If he has to choose one of the two racial groups as his chosen racial classification (sorry about the recourse to old labels, this is necessary for the sake of exposition) why would he choose black instead of white? His father, a Kenyan, abandoned the family, and left him with his white mother. So, being brought up by a white woman, why does he not refer to himself as white? Websites refer to him as an African-American, but he isn’t. If anything, he is surely Kenyan!
A similar attitude is taken by Halle Berry, who in her Oscar speech refers to herself as black. The press makes much of her African-American descent; nothing is made of her Liverpudlian descent (her mother is a white woman from Liverpool). Again, she refers to herself as African-American. Why not English or British?
Since I have no expertise in race relations, social science or the politics of racial descriptions, I have to ask why these individuals choose as their dominant identity descriptor one that highlights or emphasises a notion of oppression. Both, however, hail from privileged backgrounds. I think that this question would make an interesting topic for critical debate, or even an academic paper. — Adam Pike, Cape Town
The NPA disgraces us
The manner in which the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is operating and conducting itself disgraces the very nation it is supposed to impress — even though we need to give it some credit in dealing with serious crimes in our country, especially those involving drug trafficking, crime, corruption and so forth. The NPA should not be allowing itself to be used for political factional battles within, in particular, the ANC. It is an open secret that the NPA was used politically to recharge the ANC president.
For starters, we have always argued that there can be no stability if the NPA is allowed to take a decision relating to the president of the ANC, including charging him without the go-ahead of the president of the republic. It is my view that if indeed the NPA did take this decision without the president of the republic, then we have all reasons to be afraid, really afraid!
Considering the political, social and economic implications this action might have, one would have expected the NPA to have consulted the president, as this action has the potential of causing a lot of uncertainty for the country, the continent and the world. It cannot be correct that a state institution of the NPA’s character can make such a serious decision without the Presidency, the minister of justice, the minister of intelligence and the police being taken on board.
I believe that President Thabo Mbeki was consulted — in fact, I believe he instructed the NPA to charge Jacob Zuma. As such the president was factional, and worst of all, was declaring a political war on the ANC. Our country and the movement that leads it cannot afford the president and those he is leading, because they are hell-bent on destroying the democratic gains we won since 1994.
History will never forgive us if we do not ensure that we remain vigilant and hard at work in making sure that the coming national executive committee (NEC) of the ANC takes decisions that will save our country from this uncertainty created by individuals who want to control power and make history for themselves at our expense.
How can we build unity when the president of our movement is being politically prosecuted and his leadership and persona being painted badly through the media and other means?. When people are publicly insulting the president of the organisation of which they are members? How do we build unity and cohesion of the movement when its own decisions are being undermined by some of its own?
We need the immediate withdrawal of charges against Zuma, the immediate stepping down of the president as a matter of urgency, the removal of Mosiuoa Lekota from the Defence ministry and the removal of Ronnie Kasrils from Intelligence — these are conditions that will lead to meaningful engagement on matters of unity and cohesion. — Kaizer N Mohau
Is Zuma’s number up?
In the Chinese game of fahfee, the number four signifies death or total loss. The Chinese word for “four” is a homonym for the word “death”.
Those who oppose Jacob Zuma’s rise to the presidency of South Africa have one last hope. According to numerology, Zuma’s chances of becoming South Africa’s next president is as good as the number four on a fahfee player’s dice.
Zuma’s personal and political life has been plagued by the number four. He was born on April 12, which is the fourth month of the calendar. His father died when he was four years old. Zuma married four women. With his wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he fathered four children. His most recent marriage to his fourth wife was on January 4 2008. During a traditional wedding dance, he fell during the fourth dance step.
While he may have won the support of his political party at its recent leadership conference in Polokwane, the evil eye of the fourth numeral has already cast its spell on him. Zuma’s nemesis Thabo Mbeki held the support of four of South Africa’s provinces. On day four after his victorious election, the National Prosecuting Authority announced that it had a viable case to charge Zuma and bring him back to court.
In Zuma’s several past court appearances, the number four kept showing its ugly head. The several charges against him fall into four categories: racketeering, money laundering, corruption and fraud. According to prosecutors, Zuma received R4-million from a French arms company while he was deputy president of South Africa.
Questions about Zuma’s alleged corruption first surfaced in 2001. In order to substantiate charges against him, the Scorpions raided four of his homes. In the court ruling regarding the corrupt nature of the relationship between convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik and Zuma, the judge said that on four occasions interventions by Zuma on Shaik’s behalf advanced or were intended to advance Shaik’s commercial interests.
Even in Zuma’s rape trial at the Johannesburg High Court, he arrived on day one in a grand motorcade of four black cars with flashing lights. On April 4 (the double curse: fourth day of the fourth month) during the rape trial, Zuma made the outrageous gaffe about taking a shower after having sex with an HIV-positive woman. The court’s ruling was televised to the nation in a four-hour-long live broadcast on radio and television.
If numerology can be trusted more than Zuma can be, then it is likely that Zuma will not walk out of court this time as a smiling man. There is a strong likelihood, according to numerological patterns, that he will be charged. In the ANC’s national executive committee elected in Polokwane, and according to numerological patterns, Zuma is likely to be the fourth person in the NEC to have a guilty indictment. The other three are Tony Yengeni (ironically for his 4×4 vehicle), Baleka Mbete (fake-licence scandal at a four-way intersection in Delmas) and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (fraud and theft).
Could this mean that for Zuma’s political aspirations, numerology is a wonderful comforter for those of us who oppose his rise to presidency? Can numerology predict that during this round in court, the nation will be blessed with Zuma’s final annihilation? If this is the case, bugger the lottery! I’ll place my bets with the Chinaman when he comes around to throw his dice for the next game of fahfee. — Ismail Mahomed, Waverley, Johannesburg
First ladies
Surely it is a little premature to surmise that Jacob Zuma’s latest wife, Nomphumelelo Ntuli (now Zuma), will be the only first lady if he becomes the state president in 2009? One must remember that JZ is also paying lobola to marry another young lady and will possibly invoke his customary entitlement to have even more wives before the elections next year. Due to the fact that the South African taxpayers are forking out for his legal fees, he should now be able to afford even more wives.
Anyway, one would think that with the strict rightful ANC policy of women being equal, in order to keep them and subsequently Zuma happy, it would be wise that all of his wives are granted the same equal privileges of first ladies. If the situation arises, of course. Bring it on. — Frank Hartry, Kingsburgh
Kenya: Where’s the surprise?
Why are people surprised by the violence in Kenya? Presidential power is everything in ethnically divided, non-capitalist countries: with it, patronage can ensure that those allied with you thrive, and those against you stay disciplined through a combination of carrots and sticks.
Democracy as we know it in the Western world rests on deep capitalist roots — where people come to share interests, needs and wants that extend beyond the primordial links of family, clan and ethnic group. Kenya is an incomplete capitalist country. Its wealth depends on the export of minimally beneficiated primary products and plantation agriculture.
In Ali Mazrui’s words, Kenya (as with most of sub-Saharan Africa) is a “beverage economy” — producing those things necessary for non-essential Western consumption: sugar, cocoa, coffee, tea. Such economies are heavily dependent upon and influenced by the central state. Thus, if you hold state power, you control the country through its economy. In ethnically divided societies such as Kenya, patronage ensures not only dominance of one or a combination of groups, but also the marginalisation and regular oppression of minor groups, and the cooptation of those willing to play by the rules of patron-client relations: as with Kenya, so with Malawi, Nigeria, Cameroon, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the like. (South Africa, with its deep capitalist base, is the exception that proves the rule.) Enter “democracy”.
Clearly, many people are unhappy with such a system where “trickle down” trickles neither very widely nor very deeply. A presidential vote in such a setting is a dangerous thing: to lose power is to lose all. To win power is to turn the tables. What we have seen in other African countries is a revolving door of kleptocratic behaviour: a new president is elected, he or she (think Johnson-Sirleaf in Liberia) appoints her friends and family and opposition actors willing to be disciplined, and they loot the state. After all, they only have five years before the next election to get as much as they can.
Globalisation adds a new wrinkle to all of this: state restructuring enforced by Western aid conditionalities has led to the widespread laying off of workers, the loss of business (sometimes to South African companies) and the shrinking of the state (so narrowing the ability of the ruling elite to accommodate other actors through jobs). Kenya’s economy and its people — underdeveloped to begin with — are suffering. In such a close vote as that recently held, where the opposition sees the possibility for change (and a chance at the trough of the central state) and the ruling party knows the potential economic, political and perhaps personal costs of a loss, the prospect for a violent outcome is very real.
International observers knew this. So what’s to be done? Ah, there’s the rub. In my view, without deepened economic development, all of Africa’s weak states stand on the precipice of violence each and every election. But in a globalised world, where Western states themselves are overwhelmingly challenged to maintain their place in the world economy, what hope is there for little Kenya in particular and sub-Saharan Africa in general? — Larry Swatuk, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Your lead story entitled “Kibaki accuses rivals of ‘ethnic cleansing’” (Mail & Guardian Online, January 2 2008) refers.
It is the responsibility of newspapers to report news as they see or hear it. However, I am apprehensive that this kind of equivocal and manipulated news reporting (in the context of a slow media blockade) will simply buy the regime in Kenya time to launder its image in the midst of a crisis it has deliberately fuelled. The brewing genocide in Kenya has a long and complicated history. The Kenyan government spin doctor has not even begun to scratch the surface of what is truly going on. Kenya has a long history of internecine violence fuelled by ruling regimes that have always tried to protect their ill-gotten wealth by using “tribe” as their alibi. As exiled Kenyan anti-corruption official John Githongo said not too long ago: “Corruption always fights back.”
There are many in the Kibaki Cabinet and others in opposition parties who are known to have muttered what, under the South African Constitution, would be termed hate speech. Many of them have worked for the state at points in history when major public figures such as Dr Robert Ouko, Bishop Alexander Kipsang Muge, Pio Gama Pinto, JM Kariuki, Tom Mboya, Dr Odhiambo Mbai and others were killed on the grounds of their political beliefs or ethnic roots. Others kept quiet when state-sponsored militias spread mayhem in Western Kenya in the early 1990s in order to stop the enactment of multi-partyism.
I know for a fact a number of public figures in the current mess who violently speared effigies of then exiled Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o in the late 1980s. There are others who sat back, laughed or kept quiet when state thugs were unleashed on Nobel Peace Prize-winner Wangari Maathai and politician Paul Muite in the early 1990s. Yet others took oaths of ethnic-elite solidarity, sold to the public as a defence of ethnic rights, when massacres and interparty repression rocked Kenya in the late 1960s.
It would be naive in the extreme to expect that they have all of a sudden developed a conscience. Beware of how many Kenyan politicians will in the coming days make a show of appealing to universal values of liberty and human rights ad nauseum when their conduct has been consistently illiberal and complicit in crimes against humanity. Beware especially of the diplomatic ones who will speak in pious Oxfordian tones in order that they may seem less violent than others. Beware of the suave, slick types who could never hurt a fly; they don’t need to, for they have snuffed many human lives. Investigate, investigate, investigate!
Let the world know the truth that members of almost all Kenyan ethnic communities are being killed and not just Kikuyu supporters of President Mwai Kibaki’s illegitimate government as the news report insinuates. Government-sponsored thugs and mercenaries cut the water and power supply to Kisumu (an opposition stronghold) at a time when a cholera outbreak is clearly imminent. Over 100 people have been killed in Kisumu, many of them shot in the back by paramilitary forces. There have been reports of cholera in greater South Nyanza and this will spread to major urban centres on the Kenyan side of Lake Victoria. Massive starvation is also imminent in the face of a ban on fishing (a consequence of the cholera outbreak). A government that consorts with known international criminals cannot presume to lecture Kenyans on human rights.
Kenyans at home and in the diaspora have to admit that it is our collective silence in the face of extreme repression at key moments in our history that has led to this crisis. Giving air time to sabre-rattlers, spin doctors and latter-day Goebbels will not help, but a little investigative journalism just might. The horses of the East African apocalypse may just have been unleashed. The truth must come out. However, our immediate duty now is not to dig in with specific accusations against politicians, but to work out a solution. Only a truth and reconciliation commission and clear rules for power-sharing will help us in the end. Do not fail East Africa, for the region could implode! — Dr Dan Ojwang, head: African literature, University of the Witwatersrand
No more Umshini Wami
In your news item on how Umshini Wami echoes through South Africa, Jacob Zuma is brave indeed to acknowledge the following: “If you erase the songs, you erase the record of history,” said Zuma of the anthem which has become a familiar accompaniment to his roller-coaster ride from court to the presidency of the party.
“Umshini Wami (Bring Me My Machine Gun) was first popularised by members of the ANC’s Umkhonto weSizwe during the struggle against the apartheid regime,” Zuma apparently said, yet it remains so much poppycock. It is far from the truth, and this kind of whitewashing is not funny any more.
Then former ANC combatant Andrew Mlangeni is quoted as saying that the song must go. Absolutely — because if not, then bring back all the old names for airports, streets and towns. While they (who? I wish I knew) are at it, let them bring back the old anthem!
While tribalism might be frowned upon in South Africa, this kind of attitude just shows it is still the culture that exist in the hearts of many people who outwardly wear modern suits and expensive shirts, yet revert to the mass invocation of emotions: no clear thinking about politics or politicians; rather a populist bragging, swaggering and cry to battle that falls well on the ears of adolescents and young adults.
Thank God for some insight into the situation: Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota’s naming the singing a “brainless” act shows at least an effort to start anew. As for Pallo Jordan, his view of keeping the song as a cultural tool just reflects that of his fellow comrades who want to get rid of all memory of past history and all white rule. — Charl de Bruyn
Sojourning in Zimbabwe
Zimbabweans are the most tenacious people in history — after the Israelites, of course. The Israelites did 40 years in the desert in search of the Promised Land. Zimbabweans have so far managed 27 years with Robert Mugabe, who has led the people of Zimbabwe from 1980 into what we all thought was the promised land of milk and honey. High hopes even led to him being anointed as “God-sent”. But, as we sojourn, we are getting weary of Bob’s catastrophic leadership.
However, if the Israelites could get to the Promised Land in 40 years marked by suffering and death, Zimbabweans need to endure and persevere. Next year we need to vote wisely; if we miss that chance, then we have many more years before we are freed.
More than a quarter of the population now live in exile, outside what they call their own land. They are sojourners, hoping to get back to the promised land, Bob permitting. The three-quarters remaining are searching for the slightest opportunity to flee from the draconian Zimbabwean bondage. Others, apparently, have realised that there is no way out but to vote for a change come election time. If the sojourners make any mistake, then we will languish with no water, no electricity, no food on shop shelves, poor education standards, a health system that is non-functional, and poor transport and communication.
We must soldier on and fight for our own emancipation from tyranny. Ours might prove to be the greatest of histories towards liberation, with Zimbabweans as the chosen people, yet forsaken by their leaders. — Clydez B Chakupeta, Georgetown, Guyana
Let Swaziland spend more
It was nice to see that Wipada Soonthornsima, International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission chief for Swaziland, expressed a desire to see Swaziland spend more on healthcare (“In support of healthcare“, November 27). However, he correctly cites the IMF’s priorities of ensuring that achieving “sound macroeconomic policies” should first take precedence, and that other concerns like adequate health financing ought to be subordinated to the first goal.
As usual, the IMF neglects to define “sound”. There is very little justification or empirical evidence in the economics literature to keep Swaziland’s overall spending constrained by targeting its fiscal deficit to be reduced to 1,5% of GDP or to keep inflation rates below 5%. If the IMF really wants Swaziland to spend more on healthcare, it ought to “let” Swaziland spend more generally, and allow the government to adopt reasonably more expansionary fiscal and monetary policies. — Rick Rowden, policy analyst, ActionAid International USA, Washington, DC
Celibacy is sacred
I wish to express my disappointment with the schismatic, rebel clergymen who have decided to split from Zambia’s mainstream Catholic Church over the issue of mandatory celibacy. All Catholics should strongly avoid this heretical sect.
Celibacy is a time-honoured tradition that has been embraced and guarded by the Catholic Church for centuries as a brilliant jewel. The Second Vatican Council confirmed that the Christian priesthood can be understood only in the light of the newness of Christ, the Supreme Pontiff and eternal Priest, who instituted the priesthood of the ministry as a real participation in His own unique priesthood.
To share authentically in the ministerial priesthood of Christ means to devote one’s entire life to the faith while sharing with Christ his very condition of living. Indeed Jesus promised a more abundant recompense to anyone who should leave home, family, wife, and children for the sake of the Kingdom of God (Luke 18: 29-30).
There is ample evidence in the words of Jesus and St Paul (Matt xix I2; Cor, vii, 7-8 and 32-35) for looking upon virginity as the higher call, and by inference, as the condition befitting those who are set apart for the work of the ministry.
In the words of Pope John Paul II: “The value of celibacy as a complete gift of self to the Lord and his church must be carefully safeguarded … The life of chastity, poverty and obedience willingly embraced and faithfully lived confutes the conventional wisdom of the world and challenges the commonly accepted vision of life.”
Allowing Roman Catholic priests to marry might resolve the priest shortage but would create new and equally serious problems. Married priests have to divert their attention away from their parishes to their wives and children, assuring their care and education. In addition, a priest with a family is more difficult to move to a different parish. — Paul Kokoski, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
For and against Zumania
I was pleased to witness the ANC delegates democratically express and represent their branch mandates. We will now witness two centres of power, so that the state president can report to the president of the ANC. I do hope the period from now to 2009 will be one of remarkable progress in service delivery.– Sisa Cyril ka Jikeka (ANCYL BEC member, Southernwood, East London) Nqamakwe
The ANC is no longer a liberation movement and the change has caught many struggle veterans off guard. Party members are no longer asking how to advance the struggle, but rather how to advance their own interests. Personalities have become more important than policies as members attach themselves to those who they believe will best serve their interests. The ANC has transformed into a political movement.
This trend is far better suited to dealing with the multiple interests and demands of a vibrant democracy. Where a liberation movement needs unity, a democracy thrives on dissent and divisiveness. But for the transformation to be complete, the voters too need to alter their behaviour. Instead of giving the struggle their unequivocal support, voters will need to instead consider which political movement will best support their interests. This will complete the democratic circle, as it will then become the politicians’ interests to serve the voters’ interests in order to maintain their votes and keep their positions.
The ANC must now learn how to be a political movement: the leadership should become more open and transparent, and the public needs to be drawn into debates. No longer can the support base be taken for granted. — Peter Nixon, independent analyst Johannesburg
A few tips for Jacob “Msholozi” Zuma:
Thanks to his warmth and charm, Zuma is capable of uniting the tripartite alliance and reaching out to ordinary citizens. He must avoid taking revenge against those who wanted to destroy him. And, unlike his predecessor, he must not surround himself with so-called elites and intelligentsia.
A final tip for JZ, one his predecessor ignored: “No matter how intelligent you may be, if you fail to engage people and hear their side of story, you’ll be doomed to lose their support.”
Remember that everything you say and do will be scrutinised.– Mothusi Motlhabi, Mafikeng
As Robert Mugabe was the man to bring Zimbabwe to its knees, Zuma has shown himself to be willing and able to cripple South Africa by selling favours and empowering himself at the expense of democracy.
So far, there has been a slow trickle of emigrants leaving South Africa– a “brain drain”– but this will become a flood. On the horizon are the queues for food and fuel that are common in every Third World country where leadership is based on buying votes rather than on merit.
South Africans can say goodbye to democracy, security and the necessities of life– food, fuel, water and energy.– Ingela Richardson, Gonubie
The celebration of our democracy has faded with each passing year. We have become somewhat accustomed to our status as a democratic miracle. Our once politically active public (in which vibrant discussion, popular interest and involvement in politics was the norm) disengaged to the extent that large proportions of citizens do not cast their ballot at election times. At the same time, there has been an increasing disconnect between the government and citizens, most notably around HIV/Aids.
South Africa has had a rude awakening. No doubt, many would-be bystanders are now resolving to vote in the 2009 election. With a renewed public involvement in political processes, democracy in South Africa can regain its impetus.
As a South African collective, we need to push through the gambit of emotions, re-define our social reality and move away from the angry, frustrated, helpless “let’s move to Australia” response to a “pushing up our sleeves and let’s make this work” response that we did so ably in the past.– Cherrel Africa, political analyst, Cape Town
Rather than gushing about triumphs of “democracy”, let us see that the ANC has not been “reborn” and “the people” have not “spoken”: they had no say in what happened at Polokwane.
One faction has simply accomplished its long-predicted victory over its opponents. South Africa remains a monocracy and the course now is to follow events on to the next stage with a close eye to whatever we consider are our individual and the country’s interests.– Paul Whelan, Umhlanga
Thabo Mbeki remains a leader of the highest quality in the ANC. What made him fall was the atmosphere poisoned by Zuma’s backers.
Had Mbeki continued as ANC president for the next five years, Zuma feared that he may never have made it to the presidency of the ANC in his lifetime because new leaders would have emerged.
I don’t think Zuma is ready to govern South Africa.– Dumisani Mphalala
We hope that the victory of Zuma at the ANC conference will be accepted by all of us. I was one of the campaigners for Mbeki in KwaZulu-Natal. Once a leader is elected with his collective, we must, as genuine ANC members, rally behind him. This principle does not mean that we cease to subscribe to the truth and defend the South African state led by President Thabo Mbeki. If ANC leaders are exempted from investigations and prosecution, we would be another African banana republic. — Philip Mhlongo, Newlands West
So help me to understand: Winnie Mandela (fraud; kidnapping), Tony Yengeni (corruption), Jacob Zuma (rape, and corruption if convicted), and so goes the list. South Africa has entrusted its future in the hands of these kinds of people? God help us all. This country will sink faster than Mugabe can say Zimbabwe. Mark my words.— Lazarus Yotamu, Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
We can’t see (what the computer is doing):
We can’t see
what the computer is doing
we want transparency and
therefore manual counting
Is this a harbinger
of days to come
when our treasury must
do the manual thing
Might this be an omen
a step in the direction
of the traditional way
with the new emperor
We can’t see
(and do not often see)
our politicians and their ilk
until baby-kissing time
We want transparency
a manual government
returning to the source
(that got us here)
A manual government
without the mouse-clicks
the smoke and mirrors
(our poverty in pie charts)
Government going back
tramping the streets and
knocking on doors and
listening and taking heed
We can’t see
we want transparency
was the cry at Polokwane
should it be ours now
Written after giving the December 21 edition the once-over; my right eye on their own predictions, post-Polokwane, my left (wing) eye on the tribute to apartheid-murdered intellectual and activist Rick Turner. — David Kapp
Death penalty not the solution
Primarashni Gower’s account of the ordeal she experienced is a harrowing one (“Only death deters”, December 21). But her conclusion that the death sentence is the only solution as it would “instil fear in would-be rapists and murderers” is fundamentally flawed.
The death penalty is not a solution to violent crime, never mind the “only solution”. It does not deter and it never has.
It represented, in a very concentrated form, the hideousness of apartheid– at least 95% of those sentenced to death were black and 100% of those who sentenced them were white. It was known on death row that if your victim was white you had little chance of escaping the noose. It was a brutal place that did damage to all of those in whose name the killings were carried out.
On February 2 1990 the use of the death penalty was halted and it was finally outlawed by the Constitutional Court in its first ever judgement.
There appears in South Africa to be an increasingly vocal clamour for the return of the noose as a solution to the crime.
Even if we leave aside all arguments around the arbitrariness of the punishment, the possibility of error and the cruelty of it and focus only on its effectiveness as a deterrent, it is a non-starter. Public figures who fan debate about the death penalty generate an illusion of being tough on crime, but only succeed in deferring hard decisions needed to really start dealing with the problems of crime.
Let’s consider instead the outlawing of the ownership (illegal and legal) of firearms, knives and other offensive weapons. TV, radio and every other public platform could be used to ensure that each person in the country knows that after a short window period, anyone found with a weapon will be assumed to have it for offensive/criminal purposes and will go straight to jail.– Paula Leyden
What’s in a label?
We asked 1 500 black diamonds what they thought of the name. Only 27% were aware of it and 67% liked the name. Of those not aware, 57% said they liked the name (“Hey, black spender”, December 21)!
I understand people’s sensitivities when it comes to labelling or segmenting them into groups, but we have been at great pains to point out that the black diamond grouping is highly diverse. We have identified at least eight sub-segments in this grouping so not everyone is being lumped together.
I don’t particularly like segmentation, but marketers need it to market effectively– LSMs is just another example, as are terms such as “the working class”.
Our own segmentation philosophy actually embraces the diversity of people and generally scores them along continuous dimensions to show this. But marketers do need classes!– Neil Higgs, TNS Research Surveys
Kirby oversight?
Did I misread anything or did you fail to mention Robert Kirby, one of the best things to have ever happened to M&G, and to humour in South Africa, in your list of people who passed away in 2007 (December 21)?
Kirby was left out but that despicable Nazi weasel Kurt Waldheim got a mention. Unforgivable.– Rudy Nadler-Nir, Claremont, Cape Town
It was a massive oversight. We apologise. The editor.
Protect us from retarded teachings
John McCann’s account (December 21) of his rape as a child by a Catholic priest illustrates the hold the Catholic Church has over its members. Not only was he raped by the priest, his father thrashed him as if he were to blame, and his uncle, Cardinal Owen McCann, threatened to excommunicate his mother if she took her children out of the Catholic school. Yet he remains a loyal Catholic.
Everyone in this drama is a “victim” of the paranoia provoked by the un-evolved teaching on sex and sin that still pervades the Catholic Church.
In a humanist state that upholds freedom of religion alongside freedom of thought, there should nevertheless be legal provisions preventing churches, religious schools and parents from corrupting the minds of children with such retarded and stupid teachings, and ensuring that children in state schools receive guidance in enlightened and open-minded thinking.– Oliver Price, Scarborough, Cape Town
Animal slavery
I was horrified to see in the December 21 edition that you are advertising the circus.
In most circuses the animals are confined to stuffy, cramped trucks during transportation, which, for a travelling circus, occurs a great deal. They are also permanently restrained on site. For most circus animals, life is one of misery and constant fear, and this is not fair. In fact, this is slavery.
Circuses teach our children disrespect for wildlife, the idea that nature can be distorted for our own entertainment, and that bending another to one’s will, for their entire life, is a lucrative business.– Sarah Harrison