December 12 2008

Pikoli: rights and wrongs

My penny’s worth on the dismissal of advocate Vusi Pikoli is that President Kgalema Motlanthe had no other option but to fire him. That is not to detract from the incontrovertible fact that he was a devoted, dedicated and uncompromising prosecutor, as evidenced by those parts of the Ginwala report that praise him.

First, he clearly mistook arrogance for independence. Prosecutors prose­cute without fear, favour or prejudice, but within certain political, economic and social milieus. It is not possible to have a national director of public prosecutions (NDPP) or any state functionary who is so independent as to suggest that he is from another planet. Independence means not to be influenced directly by what happens around you but it also does not mean to behave like a raging bull in a china shop on some mission characterised by an I-shall-go-ahead-no-matter-the-consequences-to-the-nation mentality.

Second, Pikoli pandered to the interests of white liberals and ­forgot his struggle roots. It was silly, for one schooled in ANC politics, to find comfort in praises from the opposition parties and in the process to alienate both the pre- and post-Polokwane ANC leaderships.

Also, his wife is one of the organisers of the Congress of the People (Cope). Could this be a pointer to where his political loyalties are? Only the politically naive and the constitutional romanticists in our liberal media will say it is possible to have as a head of prosecution an opponent of the ruling party or a person whose political sensibilities are fudged. Pikoli is fit to hold the NDPP office the same way that Blade Nzimande would be fit to hold a ministerial post in a DA or Cope government.

Motlanthe had no choice but to fire this unpredictable and unaccountable molecule called Pikoli. There was just no other way. Those who have hiccups about this decision should go win next year’s elections and rehire him.

By the way, I write as an ordinary voter. I am not an ANC member or supporter. Well — not yet. — Oupa Monene, Chueniespoort, Limpopo

President Kgalema Motlanthe has disappointed those who thought his appointment was going to restore much-needed credibility and substance to the office of the presidency. His decision to fire advocate Vusi Pikoli should be seen for the evil-intentioned and transparent political decision it is.

The findings of the Ginwala inquiry expose the case against Pikoli as an ill-conceived conspiracy to get rid of a dedicated and patriotic South African whose allegiance is to the Constitution of the republic. Pikoli is perhaps the closest thing we have to a leader who understands the meaning of constitutional superiority and public trust, something Motlanthe and the ANC seem not to care about because it hampers their political ambitions.

While the ANC alliance partners and organised criminals will cheer the decision, the rest of South Africa, which has more than two brain cells to rub together, is sad and disappointed. The next step is for the ANC, led by South Africa’s de facto prime minister, Gwede Mantashe, to once again instruct Motlanthe on who to appoint as the next national director of public prosecutions, a person who will no doubt take a dim view of the Jacob Zuma case and halt all prose­cution. That will pave the way for Zuma’s ascendancy to the presidency, having been declared ”innocent”.

When history is recorded Motlanthe will be remembered as the man who put his signature next to legislation that dismantled entire institutions for political gain. What a shame. As a long-standing ANC voter, I am disgusted and cannot associate myself with these people any more. This is not what our freedom was supposed to be about. — Jeff Mpondozenyathi, Midrand
JZ not the same as JC

It’s frightening to hear what ANC leaders say about Jacob Zuma. He has been elevated to the status of a deity.

For every court appearance schools and factories must shut so they can go to court in ”solidarity” with their leader; traffic must be disrupted, resulting in millions of rand being lost by the economy. This demonstrates the dangerous path this country is travelling.

What would have happened had Zuma been found guilty of rape? We can’t help but think there would have been blood on the streets, there would have been looting of shops and torching of vehicles — in simple terms there would have been anarchy akin to civil war. Thank God he was acquitted, for the sake of our country.

We now wonder what will happen next year if the Congress of the People (Cope) and other political ­parties form coalitions to oust the ANC in some provinces. Will the ANC accept the results of a free and fair election? Will it respect democracy in action? One part of me says it will, but another says it will be the beginning of Zimbabweism in South Africa.

For the sins of one man the entire nation must be held to ransom. We must now pay the legal bills of a man who stole from us and a man who compromised our integrity as a nation.

Julius Malema says we are all dead should Zuma lose the election or be convicted. Malema says that, by hook or by crook, Zuma is going to occupy the Union Buildings. Where is democracy when you tell us that we must vote for Zuma or else, when you tell the National Prosecuting Authority it must withdraw the charges or else and when you tell the courts they must acquit Zuma or else?

Zuma himself likens the ANC and, by default, himself, to Jesus; he says the ANC and, by default, himself, will rule until Jesus comes. This is déjà vu; how many African leaders said that and turned their countries into one-party states, becoming presidents for life? What Zuma forgets to say, though, is that the same Bible says ”when Jesus shall come, he shall do so like a thief in the night”.

Ace Magashule says Zuma is like Jesus: he is being persecuted and yet he remains magnanimous. What Magashule forgets to tell us is that Jesus never bedded women and he never stole from Caesar.

Jesus rebuked Peter for cutting off the ear of the enemy. Why are Zuma and the ANC vengeful and litigious if they are Jesus-like? They are suing everybody — Anele Mda, Willie Madisha and now the Independent Electoral Commission. They sacked the councillors, mayors, premiers and the president who disagreed with them. They call members of Cope cockroaches, snakes, dogs, baboons and bigamists. Why didn’t Zuma, if he were Jesus-like, preach peace, promote tolerance, talk reconciliation and mend the fences? Instead he threw the first stone.

South Africa does not need a baby-kissing, handshaking, tell-us-what-we-want-to-hear, dance-and-sing-for-us leader. We want a leader who can deliver and Zuma is not that leader. — Sindiso Malaku, Pretoria

UKZN must show leadership

For the past several years the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) leadership has been scathingly criticised for its lack of respect for academic freedom and the way it tramples on academics’ job security. In the Mail & Guardian of December 5 academics from all over the world expressed their displeasure with the way UKZN has failed to uphold the principles of academic freedom and governance.

Amazingly, every time UKZN is besieged with scathing attacks, its leadership resorts to being extremely defensive and bombards the public with its outstanding achievements under the present leadership. At no time, in my recollection, has the university leadership paused to reflect on such criticisms or indicated some form of repentance and desire to reform its controversial and combative style of management.

Is this another form of claiming infallibility on the part of the university leadership? I join other academics worldwide calling on UKZN leadership to take the lead unconditionally, ”to restate the university’s commitment to academic freedom; and reaffirm the university’s commitment to standards of university governance” as acknowledged by the United Nations. — Professor Tuntufye S Mwamwenda, Durban

Faced by reasonable faculty criticism, a university administration should resort to one of two options. The first should be an openness to debating the concerns expressed, to indicate how they may be misguided or wrong-headed. If the criticisms are shown to have some justification, however, an administration would be better off admitting the wrong­doing or failure and to begin openly to address them.

The administration may seek to suppress the criticism but, as UKZN has experienced, the attempt is likely to engender vigorous public scrutiny, negative media reportage and a knock to the university’s reputation.

I join those many colleagues throughout South Africa and around the world who have already urged the UKZN administration to realise the error of its ways, to reinstate the faculty in question and to take robust steps to revive the core commitment of the university to free expression and critical debate. — David Theo Goldberg, director, humanities research institute and professor of comparative literature/criminology, law and society, University of California, Irvine

Neither honour nor compassion

Jeremy Gordin’s words about rape sum up the moral position of the whole Zuma cabal: ”Zuma didn’t … hurt her; he merely … had his way with her … [i]t’s the way of the world”. And the victim brought charges because she ”simply couldn’t or didn’t want to deal with the way of the world” (Friday, December 5).

Rich and powerful people can get away with whatever foulness they please, with the help of hired praise-singers. The press, owned by rich and powerful people, will ask few questions, fearing that their own complex edifice of mendacious propaganda might collapse.

I thought of WH Auden’s The Shield of Achilles:
A ragged urchin, aimless and alone,
Loitered about that vacancy, a bird
Flew up to safety from his well-aimed stone:
That girls are raped, that two boys knife a third,
Were axioms to him, who’d never heard
Of any world where promises were kept,
Or one could weep because another wept.

This is the world Gordin wants us to inhabit. Whenever you read a promise made by any of the ANC’s leadership, think of Gordin’s words, and think of this poem, and remember that such people have neither honour nor compassion. — Mathew Blatchford, University of Fort Hare

Check the facts

Regarding ”Giving bucks to lame ducks” (December 5), please note: I am not, nor have I ever been, a member of any political party. My taxable income for 2006/07 was R37 000. I hardly think that qualifies as a ”bureaucrat … whose political interests and careerism leave little room for the ‘common man’ (read ‘woman’)”.

I shall not address the insinuations made about my professionalism. But should you wish to ascertain what I am actually doing, some research among the many NGOs and CBOs organising the ”common woman” of the Western Cape might shed some light on the matter. I support media freedom, but for every right there is a responsibility: check your facts. —Yvette Abrahams, commissioner for gender equality

In brief

Fay Chung’s proposals for ­breaking the Zimbabwe impasse (December 5) recalled the solution of the scriptwriter hired to produce the next episode of a serialised spy thriller. The previous writer had left James Bond inside the cellar of a blazing building, tied bleeding to a stake in a shark-infested tank, the waters rising, and the waterproofed time bomb strapped to his ankle, only two minutes from detonation. No problem. ”With one bound,” the writer continued, ”Bond was free.” — Paul Whelan, Umhlanga

In the article ”God will, in fact, be mocked” (Friday,
December 5
), Shaun de Waal writes that Bill Maher ”has a good go at Christianity and Judaism, but Islam doesn’t get the same amount of attention”. Can you imagine a movie on the life of the Prophet Muhammad like The Last Temptation of Christ? Never! We need the oil and we fear the fundamentalists’ terrorism. — DC

I was overwhelmingly happy to hear that a ”son of the soil” had scooped a prestigious award. Congratulations to Trevor Ncube — you have fought for the rule of law, media freedom, human rights and democracy not only in Zimbabwe but also across the region. -­Lebuhang Hlabangana, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe