March 28 to April 3 2008

Poll will test SADC

The Zimbabwe elections at the weekend will not only test the credibility of the Southern African Development Community observer mission, which is monitoring the poll, it will also test the commitment of SADC to democracy. It is, therefore, critical that the SADC observers focus on four key issues that could result in a disputed election outcome:

The international community should look closely at how the SADC mission deals with these issues.
I ask my fellow Zimbabweans to give our SADC brothers and sisters a chance to show their impartiality and credibility. — Tinashe Bandawa

I was listening to Nathan Shamuyarira stammer through the Zanu-PF manifesto the other day. It sounded like the history of Zimbabwe carefully edited to make Mugabe more prominent. What about the future, Dr Shamuyarira? — Shepherd Mandhlazi

The position taken by the South African government on the freedom of expression of its MPs who are observing the Zimbabwe election is a clear indication of how Mugabe exports terror. Is it not shameful that a big nation like South Africa is being bullied in this way? Mugabe says: ‘Don’t say anything unfavourable to me,” and the Mbeki government says: ‘Yes sir!”

It just confirms the repeated complaint of opposition politicians in Zimbabwe of a clandestine conspiracy by SADC nations, with South Africa in the lead, to facilitate Mugabe’s continued terrorising of his own people. — Herbert Nyamakope

Eskom rise: Poor will suffer

Eskom’s proposed 53% increase in the electricity prices will be a serious blow to communities and specifically the poor. Bread prices and transport fares recently went up. And the new electricity tariff comes at a time when we are approaching winter.

The ‘lifeline” supply of 50kWh a month per househeold has not proved adequate and, depending on income, it should be at least doubled. The poor and the ultra-poor will be forced to use energy sources, such as coal and wood, that will have a negative affect on the environment and affect their health.

We have the cheapest electricity in the world when calculated in terms of rands and cents, but the most expensive when calculated in terms of its ecological impact. The increase will also set back the the government’s progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.

The electricity regulator and other government departments should consider the full implications of giving Eskom the authority for the tariff increase. — Mpumi Mhlalisi, Cape Town

It’s no good Eskom trotting out phrases such as ‘ours is by far the cheapest electricity in the world”.
If the utility’s managers had looked after the country’s total power infrastructure, they would have reduced the price difference, which is proof of negligence. — Andy Oakes

Eskom’s CEO and other government officials keep telling us how cheap our electricity is.
What they ignore is that you cannot compare the purchasing power of the rand with that of currencies like the euro and the US dollar. — Andrew Read

Does anyone remember the vast amounts of taxpayers’ money the nationalist government spent during the 1970s and 1980s to prevent the ANC from sabotaging the national power grid? Well … it didn’t work! — Cliff Smith, Simon’s Town

Pilger is engaged in a propaganda war

So, according to John Pilger, 6,5-million Jews on a tiny piece of semi-desert set among 300-million hostile Arab-Muslims is the fourth-largest military power in the world (March 14). I suppose it all depends on how one defines military power, but Pilger in full propaganda mode couldn’t be bothered with such niceties.

Nevertheless, taking Pilger at face value and that, according to him, ‘[Israel] used satellite-guided American aircraft and missiles against a population of largely children, most of them malnourished”, it is amazing that the Israeli Defence Force managed to kill only 120 Gazans in the course of a week — most of them militants. As we know, a single, decent car bomb in Baghdad or a crowded Pakistani market can accomplish that.

Such paltry results imply either extraordinary levels of Israeli incompetence, which makes its standing as any sort of military power absurd, or, as Pilger is well aware, it reflects extraordinary skill and a determination to minimise civilian casualties despite every attempt by Hamas to provide a respectable body count for people like himself to exploit.

Contrary to Pilger’s idiotic suggestion that Israel has an interest in the destruction of Gazan society and the creation of more violent militants on its borders, as any sane person knows Israel wants nothing more than to be left alone. For this reason it withdrew fully from Gaza in the hope that the Gazan population would create a viable and peaceful state.

The plain fact is that Israel is constantly goaded and threatened by suicide bombers, rockets and mortars directed indiscriminately at its civilian population by Hamas, Hezbollah and the other terror groups flourishing in that region.

Simply stated, Israel is at war with people, with significant support in the West as well as locally, who have never accepted the presence of a Jewish state in the Middle East and who are dedicated to its destruction by any means possible — preferably by violence. This is openly stated and Pilger’s role is to contribute to the propaganda arm of this war.

This also suits some of the states in the region who play the dangerous but profitable game of keeping the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the boil in pursuit of their own regional and global ambitions and to mollify their own restive populations reared on a toxic diet of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.

But Israel will persist, despite its enemies and despite the fears, doubts and imperfections of its own people, partly because decent people everywhere eventually will turn against the purveyors of hatred and death. — Mike Berger

Constitution is limited

I quite enjoyed the article by Judge Dennis Davis and Michelle le Roux in the M&G‘s Easter edition (‘My rights vs your beliefs”), which outlined some of the difficulties encountered in balancing constitutional issues with religious beliefs in our dualistic society. However, I strongly suspect their idea that religious beliefs be subservient to constitutional rights is full of its own difficulties.

The essence of mainstream religions is not simply to give a framework for community living, but to give guidance on why we are here in the first place.

No secular constitution can do this. Our Constitution must be content with the strength it has, which is to keep us from bumping into one another, using the ‘mechanism of reasonable accommodation”. — Jonathan H Rens, Bishopscourt, Cape Town

Drew Forrest’s point on ‘the good” is well taken. And he will draw plenty of appreciation from those who are spiritual/moral but not religious — a tired and thoroughly post-modern chant.

Neither is there a better ‘goodness” than the spontaneous, sincerely disinterested kind that Vasily Grossman describes and Forrest applauds. A religion could only admire such actions or hang its head in utter shame as it compares them with its own acquired pathologies. Sadly, such actions are as infrequent as they are sublime. That is presumably why they stand out — often in times of extremity.

And just admiring or identifying them, as most people could surely do, does not necessarily have intrinsic value. The sad fact is that we do not seem to have the capacity or desire to realise such humanity.

That is how I understand religion’s contribution. Commonplace generalisations about religion, or just keeping one’s options open in the manner of our times, hardly provides a convincing alternative. Even a moderately effective religion has to be better. — TJ Ruthenberg

Your approach to the religious minefield was a careful one. But it might have been more interesting to include a questionnaire inviting readers to say which religion they follow, whether through choice or inheritance and their measure of involvement — or their lack of belief. — Dolly Maister, Woodstock, Cape Town

Minister’s remarks distorted

Your editorial ‘A hare-brained scheme” (March 14) distorts and misinterprets the comments of Sport and Recreation Minister Makhenkesi Stofile to Parliament’s sports committee on Bafana Bafana’s preparations for the 2010 World Cup.

The committee expressed concern about South Africa’s past World Cup performance. The minister responded by outlining how he thought his department could play a role. What he suggested is not new to footballing nations — before the 1998 World Cup France had a weak team and interventions were made that bore fruit.

The matter has been blown completely out of proportion. We all want to see Bafana Bafana at the same level as the 1996 squad, which won the Africa Cup of Nations. In the absence of such momentum other approaches need to be explored. The sports ministry does not own teams or players and cannot ‘nationalise” the team. Safa is the football custodian in this country and it is their call. — Lerato Mogorosi, media liaison officer, Ministry of Sport and Recreation

Horrific

The M&G has highlighted China’s crackdown on the unrest in Tibet and the way it has condoned human rights abuses in Darfur.

However, the world’s attention should also be drawn to the horrific treatment of animals in China, where few, if any, laws protect them. The torture of moon bears for their bile, the dog meat trade, the horrendous killing of dogs and cats for their fur — these and other atrocities towards animals are yet more reasons to protest against the holding of the Olympic Games in Beijing. — Elisa Galgut, Cape Town

In brief

The war in Iraq has cost $650-billion, while the World Food Programme is desperate for a ‘handout” of half-a-billion by June to stop people starving. Where is the morality? — Andrew Verster, Durban

The selection of a convicted race killer by the Pumas is a disgrace and should be condemned unreservedly by all South Africans — regardless of whether an appeal is pending. Complain to Saru president Oregan Hoskins, at [email protected], and vice-president Mike Stofile at [email protected]. A commitment to transformation? Balderdash! — Brian Venter

Monako Dibetle has a point (March 20). Racism is rife at universities, especially in newly merged institutions where white staff are harassed, intimidated and victimised until they leave. — Academic persona non grata

Between March 29 and April 27, South African witches will launch 30 days of advocacy against prejudice and violence. We encourage you to speak out against religious discrimination against witchcraft and to condemn witch-hunts publicly. — Damon Leff

Everjoice Win should not mislead the world into thinking there is a women’s rights issue in Zimbabwe, where the government refuses to recognise human rights in general. She is from a privileged background and cannot speak for us. — Vimbai-Naye Chatitai