November 28 to December 4 2008

Face reality, Gwede

The statement by the ruling party’s Gwede Mantashe (‘ANC: Focus on development”, November 21) is hastily contrived, more anchored in fantasy than reality and riddled with contradictions.

Mantashe’s assertion that the ANC has made substantial progress in addressing poverty is contradicted by his next statement that unemployment, poverty and inequality remain serious challenges. The housing backlog, more than 700 000 in Gauteng alone, is a glaring example of the failed policies of the ruling party.

The patterns of ownership and production are a result of skewed and anti-poor policies. The tripartite alliance has been in power for 14 years and has failed to reduce inequality.

Mantashe’s call to develop human potential rings hollow when measured against falling education standards, the lack of support for crèches in townships and squatter camps and the number of school classes still taught under trees.

The worldwide economic crisis provides a convenient excuse for government failures. Instead of introspection, they are quick to blame others. In the past Trevor Manuel made claims of economic growth but the poor did not benefit. The DA’s support for Manuel is proof that the ANC and DA have virtually converged in economic policy.

The ruling party does not deserve to be voted back into power because it continues to ignore the cries of its citizens and to act against their interests. It has kept itself in power through a combination of false promises and threats, as well as a stranglehold on media coverage. — Samore Herbstein, Gauteng secretary for information, Azapo

It was with profound disgust that I read the vile African Christian Democratic Party election manifesto (November 21): ‘We oppose gambling, pornography, homosexuality, prostitution and abortion.” My, what an extensive list!

If you don’t like gambling, don’t gamble. If you don’t like porn, don’t buy it. If you want to keep your child, nobody’s forcing you to abort. And if you don’t like prostitution, don’t use those age-old services. Last, if you are heterosexual, you are already on top of the food-chain and nobody is forcing you to be gay or to marry a fag! For goodness’ sake, do not tell us what to do.

The ACDP is a vile little fascist party that has no place in our rainbow nation. — Cobus Fourie, Johannesburg

Choking the life out of universities

Nithaya Chetty’s and David Coldwell’s interventions regarding academic freedom (November 21) are timely and salient, as is the pessimism they express. That both come from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) is telling — for two reasons.

First is the long history at UKZN (and previously at the University of Natal [UN] and the University of Durban-Westville) of litigious rather than collegial approaches to addressing academics’ contestation of managerial interventions, a history UKZN’s present management seems simply to reinforce unthinkingly.

Second, and more important, is the fact that, at least long ago, UN was a university where real academic freedom was indeed respected, which is why Chetty and Coldwell are so aggrieved and why similar interventions do not come so often from most other universities.

Peter Vale suggested recently that apartheid’s universities were distinguishable by adherence to one of three traditions: liberal/English, nationalist/Afrikaner and homeland/black. UN originally drew on the first and thus its early commitment to academic freedom. By contrast, institutions that drew on the other two never really developed a deep-seated commitment to academic freedom or intentions to develop the scepticism and critical creativity it produces. As Vale’s argument suggests, their commitment to ‘the idea that the university should offer the fruit of its labour to the building of a nation” — should be a ‘Volksuniversiteit” respectively for Afrikanerdom and for the various ‘ethnic-national units” for which the black universities were ostensibly established — meant strongly discouraging criticality and academic freedom. Added now are the universities of technology which, for the most part, have no history of a critical approach or academic freedom — ‘training” has been their watchword, not ‘education”.

What exists now, therefore, is a mix where liberal traditions of academic freedom are only thinly spread and are increasingly threatened by crass ‘transformational” managerialism such as at UKZN; where a new nationalism that drives the state finds resonance with old Volksuniversiteit ideas and is given impetus in crude notions of transformation; and where ill-considered massification drives and neo-liberal economic ideas have coincided to strengthen authoritarianism in university management structures.

Maintaining academic freedom and the real critical approach that our future in this country so desperately needs requires intense struggle. It requires critical public engagement. And it requires substantive transformation in the majority of our universities where old anti-intellectual and authoritarian traditions seem not only to die hard, but also now to be experiencing a new lease on life that is choking their capacity to be universities at all. — Associate Professor Andrew D Spiegel, head, department of social anthropology, University of Cape Town

The African National Cowards

The purpose of the Congress of the People (Cope) is to ensure healthy competition and nothing more. If it is to be taken seriously it needs to bring forth leaders with substance. Mosiuoa Lekota is a bitter man and Mluleki George is sheepishly following, while Anele Mda is an ambitious little girl who is hardly articulate. As for Willie Madisha, we all know he is an accomplished liar who cannot be trusted.

Cope is like the Somali pirates who hijack any ship in sight. Lekota has vowed to go to his grave with the dubious Helen Zille if they agree on something. What can they possibly agree on? Cope’s approach is to rebuke whoever mentions the ruling party’s name.

JZ has mentioned several times that the members of Cope are within their constitutional rights to form a party of their choice and they must not be intimidated, but I do not recall Cope applauding Msholozi’s political maturity. — Comrade Dubula

The ANC wants early elections. Fundamental to this is fear of Cope. For the first time the ANC has a strong opponent.

An early election will remove President Kgalema Motlanthe, who is more popular than Jacob Zuma. Also, it will minimise the impact of defections of key ministers to Cope.

Immediately after the list conference in mid-January, many will join Cope. Then, if the National Prose­cuting Authority wins its appeal against Judge Chris Nicholson’s judgement, Parliament will pass an Act indemnifying a sitting president (Zuma) from prosecution.

The African National Congress has become African National Cowards. It fears Cope, democracy, free elections and the rule of law. — Marvin Hlongwane, Pietermaritzburg

Ho-hum hack’s prejudice

I can imagine the team meeting for the November 21 edition: Hmmm, there’s a gap on the letters page, let’s publish this exciting new letter from Paul Kokoski (‘Obama a false prophet”). What fresh ideas! Marxism will lead to the end of the world, abortion and stem-cell research are murder, contraception and homosexuality will kill the family, same-sex marriage will lead to the adoption of children. Horrors! Why have these shocking truths been withheld from us? This letter must be published now!

Oh, come on! This tired 1950s sociology, saturated with a tedious moral-panic rhetoric and couched disingenuously in human rights language, is so last-millennium. Surely we deserve better than this ho-hum hack’s prejudice, unsupported by research, common sense or humanity? — Pierre Brouard, Tshwane

Kokoski’s comment (November 21) reminds one of how easily fear mingles with parochial, conservative mindsets. Kokoski’s fear of progressive change, ideas and the responsibility of choices is the root of prejudice in all forms, and social disintegration, because fear gives way to resentment, which gives way to violence. Of course Barack Obama is no prophet; the machinery of the United States state will see no opportunity for a radical break from existing neo-imperial practices. Domestically, the political economy that facilitates cyclical booms and busts remains unchanged.

So, although some scepticism and informed judgement is useful in discussing Obamania, we should not be misled by irrationality and knee-jerk fears. It is always the mark of a fearful person to refuse to acknowledge the humanity of another. — Trivern Ramjettan, Reservoir Hills

Kokoski’s labelling of Obama as a ‘false prophet” reveals mindless extremism, ignorance and prejudice. Perhaps there’d be fewer abortions if men could be persuaded, as someone put it, to keep their dicks in their trousers and their body fluids to themselves. — Dot Cleminshaw, Cape Town

I am informed that ‘Kokoski” means ‘little prick” in Polish. I suggest he change his name to ‘Kakoski”, pronounced ‘kak-off-ski”. — MS, Cape Town

Apology is superglue of life

These are interesting times in the history of our young democracy, pregnant with political uncertainty and global economic meltdown. But humans are resilient.

We live in a country with leaders who lack morality; South Africa is among the countries suffering a deep moral decay. Children identify role models for the wrong reasons and praise the wrong­doings committed by these so-called superheroes. The majority of these children come from broken families where there are no father figures or disciplined parents to provide guidance. We must encourage strong family values and look after our community infrastructures.

Another need is for spiritual guidance: the parents and elders of our communities should encourage young people to become spiritually involved. These days we hear so-called youth leaders insulting and swearing at elders as if under the influence of toxic substances. This kind of behaviour is very unAfrican.

We must admit that any right-thinking person brought up with good morals and values would find it difficult to trust and support such leaders. I appeal to the ANC to apologise to the divided masses of this beautiful country for the uncalled-for public behaviour of such individuals.

An apology is the superglue of life — it can repair just about anything. Overconfidence is a weakness. — Moletsane Malebo

More than 16 days

November 25 was the start of the ninth annual 16 Days of Activism against the Abuse of Women and Children, which has enjoyed moderate success but fails to address the causative issues. The media reports violence against women and children on front pages while publishing sexually demeaning images of women on the back. e.tv broadcasts pornography and at one point ran ads selling sexually explicit images by cellphone.

Sexual offenders now include rapists as young as eight. Such levels of abuse require more than 16 days of activism. There should be a ban on all media portrayals of women and children that are sexually demeaning. — Errol Naidoo, president, Family Policy Institute, Cape Town

In brief

As the undisputed leader of a political entity, Evita’s People’s Party, I watch the daily debris of political dreams and nightmares swirl around my feet. The ANC president opens his mouth and by the time he has finished contradicting himself a thousand votes have flown away. The ID wakes up and finds its deputy leader grazing in greener pastures. The DA reinvents itself while nothing seems to be broken. And Cope cannot find a name or a direction. The ANC claims ownership of the words ‘African”, ‘National”, ‘Congress” and ‘People”. So, my advice is: choose names they care little for: like ‘Honesty”, ‘Integrity” and ‘Delivery”. — Evita Bezuidenhout

Robert Macdonald’s defence of mayor Helen Zille (Letters, November 21) is at odds with what has been stated by city managers. Namely, there will be a R2-billion overrun on the construction of Green Point Stadium and services to the people of Cape Town will be curtailed. Please, will Mayor Zille come clean on what is going on? Where is the extra funding really coming from? — AB Smith, Newlands

If Detroit’s big three auto-makers go under, their epitaph will read: ‘Rust in Peace”. Let the oil companies bail them out! — Herb Stark, New York