August 22 to 28 2008

Zim needs economic solution

A question that has received less attention than it deserves in the media is what has to be done in Zimbabwe to stop inflation and restore the economy. The answer to this question is critical for what will come out of the negotiations now under way between Robert Mugabe’s clique and the Movement for Democratic Change.

In the reporting we have heard only whispers of what is being discussed about three critical issues: the civil service, land reform and foreign aid. Rumours from the negotiations suggest that Morgan Tsvangirai is opposed to Mugabe’s plan for 36 ministers and wants a much lower number. The reason Mugabe desires a bloated civil service, as the M&G (April 11) pointed out, is that ‘Zanu-PF — party leaders see sitting in government as a means of perpetuating their patronage and ensuring they are not prosecuted for past crimes”.

This touches on one of the key issues. If these negotiations are to result in a political dispensation that can save Zimbabwe, two things must happen. The new government must be politically strong enough to greatly reduce the size of the civil service. There will be real pain as many redundant posts are abolished and the civil service is brought down to a size that Zimbabwe’s much-reduced economy (and new foreign aid) can pay for. This will be painful, but there is no solution to hyper-inflation and the government printing funny money except through this route.

Second, the economy must be restored to productivity. This involves revisiting the so-called land reforms. There is also no alternative here and it is disingenuous to suggest otherwise. So far from the negotiations we have heard only that they have agreed that the land reforms must not be revisited. Without title deeds issued to new land-owners on allotments of land, related to their capacity and determination to use it, and the return of large tracts of prime land to commercial use, there can be no economic recovery in Zimbabwe.

There will have to be very real guarantees of security of tenure to those with capital, expertise and a willingness to invest and produce for the market. This is a minimum requirement for rebuilding the economy and providing income for government to recommence provision of services.

How deep the cut in government spending will have to be, as well as how effectively a new land reform can be introduced, will depend largely on how much foreign aid is forthcoming. The US and the EU have said that a £1-billion aid package will be released only if Mugabe relinquishes control of the government. Without this foreign aid, or unless China is prepared to come to the rescue with hard cash, there will be no other route. — Jack Lewis, Cape Town

Congratulations! ‘Mugabeki” has done it again. They have bought another few months with sham negotiations. While Mugabe works feverishly at disinventing the wheel, Mbeki supplies him with the extra time he thinks he needs. By going along with the sham the MDC are giving the people false hope. Why would Zanu-PF negotiate a transfer of power while at the same time killing those to whom they are supposed to be transferring power? Judging by Mbeki’s support of Mugabe, the pot at the end of the rainbow nation is not of gold but of the same indigestible misery. As for the pot itself, it will be sold to the Chinese for scrap metal. — Johann Braunstein

Serjeant is selective and subjective

Reading Serjeant at the Bar (‘Constitutional dance makes way for a populist jig”, July 29) it would be easy to conclude that South Africa has no respect for its own Constitution. But Serjeant is erroneously subjective.

When he lashes out at the South African government’s foreign policy, you may conclude he is correct. But he offers no discernable alternative as to what the government should have done in the case of Zimbabwe. Did Serjeant hope for an American-style ushering in of democracy as we saw in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, that is marked by mayhem, bloodshed and lawlessness?

I don’t understand the link between the barbaric xenophobic attacks and our Constitution. As far as we know, the government has acted appropriately, though it might be argued that it should have seen the attacks coming. Serjeant’s argument seems a desperate attempt to grab anything that may be seen as a failure and to attach it to the ANC government.

On the case of Judge President John Hlophe of the Cape High Court, Serjeant makes a fatal error in not recognising that before the Constitutional Court judges filed a complaint to the Judicial Services Commission they went on a rampage and put the case to the media. What happened to the sacrosanct right of ‘innocent until proven guilty by a competent court of law” and not a media trial?

The Constitutional Court judges must desist from playing to the gallery and dancing to the propaganda peddled in the media; they must stop making remarks at social events about issues that may be before the court.

In that way the court will be respected by ordinary citizens. We will continue to transform the judiciary and defend our Constitution, but not in a selective manner as Serjeant seems to be doing. — Simphiwe Thobela, Eastern Cape

Every day the events that unfold in our country convince me of two things: first, that we are a very hypocritical nation; second, that the law is influenced by the power relations. The simplistic reduction of criticism of judges to an attack on the judiciary still baffles me. I am even concerned that the media uses loaded language such as ‘attack” when individuals express their displeasure at the conduct of certain judges.

Professor Sipho Seepe sums it up soberly when he says: ‘The threat to our institutions occurs when we turn a blind eye to the egregious conduct of those deployed in them — legal procedures have been, and can be, abused to serve narrow political interests. The courts lose their credibility when they overlook abuse of the law by the prosecuting authority.”

Helen Zille criticised (no, attacked!) the judiciary when a competent judge found against Ermelo High School that it cannot discriminate against black learners. She openly criticised (no, attacked!) the judiciary and no one, even the usual hypocrites, said anything. The Consortium for the Foreigners and Migrants also criticised the judgement found against the foreigners staying in camps and no one said anything.

Just because criticism came from the hated JZ supporters, all of a sudden our judiciary is under attack. We are such hypocrites and this action will serve only to further polarise this divided nation. — Patrick Rampai, Polokwane

Grants are not a solution

John Rook, in his article ‘A handout is a hand up” (August 8), is certainly right to say that pensions and grants have a ‘measurable impact on health and nutrition in the recipient household”. But we should be very careful in planning grants, because too often the long-term side effects are very bad.

Hence the necessity to qualify the whole issue. Pensioners will certainly need a grant. On the other hand, negative effects outweigh the positive for grants handed over to pregnant teenagers. Studies have shown that too many girls get pregnant for the sake of the grant.

Besides, the complexity of setting verifying criteria and managing grants overcome weak administrations. South Africa should have been even more cautious. It has now identified thousands of civil servants as ‘grant cheaters”.

It appears too often that grants give short-term relief but often leave long-term scars. People lose their pride, purpose in life, creativity and productivity. This may be the reason some farmers and others do prefer employing foreigners — they have found them more hard-working and productive. In some places in Limpopo they even have no choice at the end of the month. Many South Africans give up looking for work as they await whatever grant has been allocated to a member of the family. This situation can bring tensions to the fore, as in the ‘xenophobic” violences.

Grants that are not for special cases such as pensioners or the disabled should be designed as short-term support for a specific project. This should be meant for starting productive activities which will be useful not only to the recipient but also to the surrounding community.

Giving free education and basic medical coverage instead would build up a strong society. Cuba, which is much poorer than South Africa, has opted to provide these services free as a way of investing in the future. — PL Lemercier, Port Elizabeth

Land reform can drive change

It is important to know in the rural areas almost all land is under claim. This means that restitution presents an opportunity for the speedy delivery of large amounts of land and the dramatic transformation of some rural areas.

The private sector must come to the table to help this initiative, not just for the settlement of claims, but in the creation of an enabling environment for claimants to succeed and contribute to development. Without this the businesses on the land and the potential of the land all will be destroyed.

What is at stake is not just the return of the land, but the pace of rural change and people’s future livelihoods and opportunities. The settlement of these claims must be done properly to use opportunities. Rushing to meet a deadline must not compromise the future of the land and the claimants. Pushing people to take cash, rushing settlements in a way that sets people up to fail, or putting in place partnership agreements that leave the structure of agriculture unchanged, are not in the interests of claimants or increasing the pace of land reform. Such scenarios could set land reform back years, even decades. — Tshepo Diale, Ga-Rankuwa

Shame on you!

In ‘Welcome to tobacco country” (Business, August 15), you describe how British American Tobacco (BAT) is seen as a hot investment because organised tobacco, having been exposed for what it is in developed countries, is eyeing poorer countries as its only option for expansion. And BAT is seen as well placed to spread the nicotine pandemic to Africa.

The M&G should be ashamed of putting a positive spin on this article. Tobacco is one of the biggest preventable causes of death in developed countries, despite decades of campaigning against it. How can you possibly see the spread of this scourge as a positive development? What next? Extolling a company that plans to make money out of ethnic cleansing? — Philip Machanick, Garsfontein

In brief

Thank you, Ferial Haffajee, for the very pertinent article ‘Blind woman’s bluff” (August 8). I can only add: what a waste of wonderful talent on cheap politics! — PA Palmer

Why should we anguish over our results at the Olympics (editorial, August 15)? Our parliamentary committee on sport is entirely correct: it isn’t about winning or losing or how you play the game; it is about transformation. We should send only dignitaries and officials to such events. It would cut our expenses by at least 10%. — Mike Meekin

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert must be wishing he was living in South Africa right now. He would not have to resign as leader of his party because of corruption claims; he would have been able to litigate almost till kingdom come and avoid having his day in court. — C Dickson, Athlone

Schabir Shaik’s five-month stay in Nkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital makes a mockery of the good work done there. There are thousands of South Africans living with hypertension, but we manage without being ‘wet nursed” at a hospital. — Cilla Webster, Scottburgh

We are at the adolescent stage of democracy, characterised by tantrums and frustrations. Crime, corruption, poor service delivery are testing our character. One gets the feeling that South Africa belongs only to certain party members. Where is the leadership to guide us? — Dr Luca

School chaos

My kid is now six years old, and I went to a few of our local primary schools in Midrand seeking admission forms. My obvious choice was Halfway House Primary as my previous children had schooled there.

I visited the school just after 1pm one afternoon and was visibly shocked at a scene that confronted me in front of the school gates. There was fight going on between some kids. There were two camps of dissidents, about 30 in each camp, and the fight scene moved from the school gates across the road and back inside the gates. All the time there was screaming and shouting, with sudden mass movements as children followed the fight scene and the fighters themselves scuffling with one another. It was like some movie from the New York or Harlem ghettos.

The security guard made a few futile attempts to stop the fight but there were just too many pupils for him to control. In all this time (duration 20 minutes) not one teacher or official from the school came out to intervene.

By now I was already in the school grounds and made my way to the reception, when I enquired why no teachers were out there to put an end to the brawl. The receptionist candidly answered: ”Oh, they are all in a meeting.” I was dumbfounded. Was a meeting more important than the life of some child?

I promptly deposited the enrolment forms in the school dust bin on my way out. As I drove away, the fight was still going on in the streets.

I am horrified by the extent to which our schools have degraded and the lack of concern, support and direction from the Education Department, government officials and parents. All I can say is that this does not augur well for the future. I am going to do my best to find a home-schooling programme in my area. — Theo R, Midrand