Camp claims not sensational
Dr Hildegarde Fast found the article “Like a concentration camp” (September 26), on the Blue Waters Site C camp, “unduly sensational” (October 3). What is sensational is Fast’s attempts to spurn comments made about conditions, not by a civil society coalition conveniently perceived as hostile to government, but by one of her own employees.
If anything, site manager Marti Weddepohl’s descriptions of conditions at the camp were diplomatically restrained. We salute her bravery in speaking out when her conscience could no longer allow her to condone government actions and inaction, despite threats made against her family.
Fast declares that “the provincial government and the city have been providing extensive humanitarian assistance to people in the safety sites. This includes shelter, two meals a day, nappies and formula for infants, adequate sanitation and water supply, ablution facilities, monitoring of health conditions and referral to health facilities.”
We obviously have a very different understanding of the word “extensive”. We would not describe uniformly leaky UN tents that fall down in a moderately stiff wind as “shelter”. We would not describe four slices of dry bread and a 250ml water-based juice drink as a “meal”. We would not describe toilets so poorly cleaned as to cause widespread urinary-tract infections as “adequate sanitation”.
“There may well have been cases where infant formula was not provided on certain days. But these issues were dealt with as soon as they were raised.” As head of Disaster Management, Dr Fast is well aware that since July 1 civil society has made more than 40 requests to the joint operations committee for childcare necessities (including infant formula and nappies) with zero response. Between July 1 and August 25 178 formal requests (for food, childcare, toiletries, bedding, health and sanitation necessities) were made by civil society: not one was fulfilled. Blue Waters was without baby formula from August 30 to September 26, and to this day has received no fresh milk except that which has been provided by volunteers.
The “reintegration and repatriation support” seems to consist mostly of making the conditions in the camps so unbearable that people decide to risk their lives returning to the townships. Last week’s Home Affairs Rapid Status Determination process was so flawed that more than 99% of applications for refugee status were rejected, leaving the illegal immigrants with no prospect of getting jobs here or being repatriated under UN law.
Government engagement with refugee leadership and civil society has progressed from reluctant to dismissive. Without prolonged pressure, the Joint Refugee Leadership Committee of the Western Cape would never have been granted an audience with any government official.
“Many people have worked tirelessly to help those affected by this disaster.” We agree. But most of the tireless people have been refugee leaders and volunteers from civil society, not those paid by government to do the work. — Sam Pearce, independent volunteer, and Tracey Saunders, independent volunteer, eMzantsi Ubuntu Coalition
Your report on the violations of the human rights of the inhabitants of the Blue Waters camp and the intimidation and harassment of camp coordinator Marti Weddepohl is cause for serious concern.
We visited the Soetwater and Blue Waters refugee camps a number of times in late June to investigate the condition of the children there. We found that the quantity and nutritional quality of meals provided to children aged between one and five was inadequate. They were therefore vulnerable to malnutrition and at risk of infectious diseases such as diarrhoea and respiratory infection.
As the Peoples Health Movement we arranged a meeting with senior managers in the health departments of both the City of Cape Town and the provincial government of the Western Cape on behalf of the NGO Crisis Coalition. Later a second meeting was held with the same health authorities. At both meetings we were assured that the food rations would be revised with specific attention to young children.
Very little changed, however. At a report back to the Civil Society Coalition more than a week later, reporters from virtually all the sites cited ongoing food shortages. Personal visits by us to Blue Waters and Soetwater confirmed this. It is clear to us now that Weddepohl’s belief that “there’s a deliberate intention to make life as difficult as possible so that people will leave” is inescapable. We concur. Refugees are being intimidated, harassed, robbed, arrested for spurious reasons, denied decent sanitation and healthcare, and starved. And the person who brought this to public attention is being threatened and intimidated. Tactics like this were unacceptable under apartheid: how on earth can such things happen in a constitutional democracy? — Louis Reynolds, associate professor, School of Child and Adolescent Health, University of Cape Town; David Sanders, professor and director, School of Public Health, University of the Western Cape; Walter Loening, emeritus professor of maternal and child health, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Two centres of power?
The “two centres of power” the ANC Youth League once warned about was based on the fact that Thabo Mbeki was going to be ousted from the ANC presidency and yet remain president of the republic while Jacob Zuma would be president of the ANC. The “two centres” are a possibility again, but taking a slightly different format, which might not have been foreseen when the ANC made Kgalema Motlanthe president of the republic.
When Motlanthe’s profile rises, so will his independence as a president. When he has been accepted by the public, it will be difficult for the ANC to suddenly make Zuma the face of the ANC’s election campaign. There will be two ANC presidential candidates in the minds of the voters. It would be tempting to say: “The Motlanthe we know as the president of the republic is better than a Zuma we do not know as president of the Republic.” After all, a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. — Luvuyo Mboniswa, North Riding
I wish to condemn the disgruntled crybabies Mosiuoa Lekota, Mbhazima Shilowa, Essop Pahad and that lot. The Polokwane conference served to expose them as a self-serving, self-righteous bunch who thought of themselves not as members of the ANC but the ANC itself.
Lekota should remember his own words to Bantu Holomisa after he left the ANC in the 1990s. Using the analogy of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem he likened Holomisa to the donkey carrying the Messiah and cautioned the donkey against mistaking the cheers as being on its account. — Cassey Madikgetla, Vereeniging
Eden versus atom
Leonie Joubert will probably draw considerable flak from religious fundamentalists for her column on the debate about creation and science (October 3). There is no doubt that this debate does not belong in the science class, particularly in a country desperately short of scientists and technologists. There are already precious few hours in a week spent studying science.
This debate, as pointed out by Joubert, is not a simple argument of evolution versus creationism, but rather of evolution versus many different creation myths. Focusing just on the myth represented in the Old Testament leaves out many wonderful indigenous creation stories, not to mention some of the “other” mainstream religions with significant South African following (Hindu, Buddhist, FSM).
Evolution as a process must be taught in science class; there is no longer any debate about it as an observable scientific fact. There may be some debate about stating conclusively that man has descended (unaided) from a single cell created from the primordial soup — fossil and DNA records can take us only so far right now. That is, however, the simplest theory — Occam’s razor forces us to pare away the more complex proposals offered by creationism. That chimpanzee may not be my cousin, but gene studies show that his and my ancestors swapped DNA at some point. This, too, is now a proven fact and must be taught in science class.
The only arguments for creationism appear to be non-scientific — all the more reason to keep it out of the science class.
Perhaps the solution for now is to leave the indisputable facts to science class and the creationism to religious studies or life-skills classes where all of the appropriate myths can be compared with one another — including the anthropic principle (where a specific creator is unnecessary). — Kevin Charleston, Kenilworth
Violence is not the only language
There is no way the citizens of this country can remain silent in the face of the brutality visited upon a Somali mother and her three children (“Wiped out in SA”, October 3). We have to ask ourselves why ordinary South Africans, armed with one of the most advanced constitutions in the world, which guarantees all citizens and residents in the country protection under the Bill of Rights, can commit such dastardly acts.
This is a violent country. It was taken from its original people by violence and, to extricate themselves from the resulting situation of uneven socio-economic development, African people had to resort to violence. What this means to other people who do not have time for the niceties of polite society is that violence is the only language that people understand: hence the use of violence to drive out fellow Africans who come here to look for greener pastures.
People have to understand that South Africa is the signatory to a number of United Nations charters that guarantee the free movement of people from one part of the world to another. People cannot be punished just because they are not South African. — Vusumzi Nobadula, Pretoria
Malema — the other side
Julius Malema, president of the ANC Youth League, has been a street fighter, raised by a single parent. Yet these conditions didn’t discourage him. Malema is a motivational leader and young people must learn from him. He built a big, beautiful house for his mother — I am proud to be led by a young man who cares about his family. Most of his peers who are “educated” live lavish lives in the cities while their parents back home sleep in mud houses with no food to eat.
Malema is a responsible man: at 27 he has only one child. He has opened an educational trust to assist young people to study. What disturbs Comrade Julius these days is not the nuisance of Mosiuoa Lekota and Mbhazima Shilowa but the poor results of Orlando Pirates. — Mduduzi Phiri, regional executive member, ANCYL (Gert Sibande Region, Mpumalanga)
In brief
I would like debating societies to dot our country. They could be set up by knowledgeable people at little cost beyond that of the venue and posters announcing the details. Here people could get used to argument and rational thought and could acquire public-speaking skills. Subjects could vary from politics to social and ethical matters — anything to interest, stimulate thinking and widen knowledge. The purpose should be to discover some truth or consensus, not to win an argument. — Dolly Maister
Where but on the rugby field do husky men and pubescent boys get to grab one another’s bodies, lean on one another’s bums and leap into one another’s laps when they score (Body Language, October 3)? Surely schoolboys of 13 and up should extend the exuberance of doing sex with other boys beyond the rugby field, rather than burden themselves with assumed heterosexuality in response to the prejudices of an idiot fundamentalist society? — Oliver Price, Cape Town
Andy Capostagno “looks at where the rugby union has lost sight of the tryline”, writes the Mail & Guardian (October 3). That should be “tri-line”, referring to the three points originally awarded for a “tri”, not “try” as in attempt. — James A Short, Pretoria