June 26 to July 2 2009

New values needed

In ‘Mind the ethical gap” (June 19), Iraj Abedian hits the nail on the head. We have many in government, business and society in general, who may be political, intellectual or business giants — but are moral dwarfs.

The lust for power and greed often subverts our dreams. Unless our private lives match up to our public pronouncements, we will always end up with a ‘duality of values”.

Speaking at an international conference in Switzerland some years ago, the late Dr William Frederick Nkomo, one of the founders of the African National Congress Youth League, said: ‘Many people ask which way will Africa go, and at this moment I believe Africa is confused.

There is a crisis in character — men who were united when they fought for the freedom of their continent and countries have now allowed self-interest and other things to take precedence in their lives, and unless we can get an incorruptible type of leader who will not be bought with money, with position, with success, and the promise of other things that all these things can offer, then Africa will be doomed.”

I believe these words hold true today. Honesty and accountability in both private and public life are key to the future of South Africa and beyond. — Pieter W Horn, Pretoria

Ecclesiastes 7:7 says: ‘Extortion turns wise people into fools and bribes corrupt the heart.” The biggest challenge facing the country is corruption. What makes corruption so difficult to deal with is that those involved have power in society.

Government officials, professionals and law enforcement agencies directly or indirectly support, participate in and cultivate a culture of corruption in our society.

Few people go through the tortuous task of obtaining a licence by the legal route. They would rather spend R3 000 to get one.

The law enforcer who runs the test can fail you just to get a few hundred rands. Traffic cops stop you for all sorts of funny things and of course, sometimes, the right things, but all you have to do is present a note and observe the ticket book disappear.

The law enforcement agencies are specialists in this. Rumour has it that at home affairs and the licensing department you don’t even have to queue for your licence disc or your ID — you just need to slip an envelope to someone.

Let alone the government tenders that go out to friends and family who have no idea of what is expected of them. Our government does not deliver, not because there is no capacity, but because corruption rules — and more and more people depend on it for their survival. It’s nightmarish to think that our society is like this and we have nowhere to run.

Don’t be surprised if you report your car stolen or someone murdered and the dockets suddenly develop feet. Come court day you are told the docket has disappeared. I wonder how things would have turned out had they lost the Jacob Zuma rape-trial docket. No, they would not dare. But his lawyers managed to get hold of evidence from government intelligence without permission. The rest is history.

The questions remains: how long will society tolerate this behaviour? Have we become fools, like the wise man said? We need to develop a generation of new people to change society, our government and the law enforcement agencies. We still have a few South Africans who believe in doing things right. They need to stand up and be counted. The future of South Africa depends on it. — Teboho Mphuthi, Pretoria

Solar heaters not so costly

Maya Fisher-French in ‘Raising tempers and temperatures” and ‘Better policy would create more jobs” (June 12) does the solar water heating industry a disservice by using as her example one of the most expensive (more than R30 000), imported systems on the South African market.

Reference to the list of suppliers approved by Eskom for subsidies (see www.eskomdsm.co.za) indicates that there are a number of local manufacturers, the products of which do not attract import duties.

Prices for three local 200-litre systems which carry the SABS mark are R8 285, R10 351 and R13 778, taking the subsidy into account but not installation.
Such costs are variable, and subject to negotiation, as is the cost of installing a time switch. The latter benefits the homeowner by greatly improving the efficiency of the solar system.

Local manufacturers seem to be off the radar at the Department of Trade and Industry, yet every one of them could be assisted to ramp up production, create more jobs and use more local materials.

Eskom could help by increasing its subsidy for locally manufactured systems. There was provision for this when the Eskom scheme was introduced, but the multiplier for local manufacture has remained at one and has no stimulating effect.

Members of the Solar Water Heating Division of the Sustainable Energy Society of Southern Africa (see www.sessa.org.za) include both importers and local manufacturers.

It is in the interests of South African consumers, and our environment, for government to reconsider the import duty on solar water heaters, at the same time as taking measures to encourage local manufacture. — Dr John Ledger, chairperson, Sustainable Energy Society of Southern Africa

Why link Judaism and fraud?

I must object most strongly to the fact that the article ‘Ponzi mess taints all players” (June 19) was accompanied by a picture of alleged fraudster Barry Tannenbaum holding a Torah (Scroll of the Law).

Of all the pictures of Tannenbaum that must surely have been available, why was one showing him at worship chosen?

It is true that other publications (The Star, Noseweek) reporting on the matter made use of the same photograph, but they at least had the sensitivity to crop it so that the Torah did not show.

By contrast, not only did the Mail & Guardian show the entire photograph, but explicitly drew attention to what Tannenbaum was holding in the caption.

The effect of this is to gratuitously make an issue of Tannenbaum being Jewish, to the extent of showing him holding the universally re-cognised symbol of Judaism. This in turn has the effect of associating the Jewish religion with fraud, thereby feeding into a whole range of anti-Jewish prejudices.

Just what point did the M&G feel it was making by so pointedly drawing attention to Tannenbaum’s religious and ethnic affiliations when this has nothing to do with what he is accused of? — David Saks, South African Jewish Board of Deputies

M&G replies: That picture of Tannenbaum was one of only two available to us. We used the other elsewhere in the paper.

We should perhaps have made it clear that the photo was taken when Tannenbaum donated a Torah to a Lubavich community; he was known as a philanthropist for such gifts. The Torah donation has been mentioned many times in other stories on the net and in print.

Our chief photographer says that he simply wanted us to use the picture differently to the many other publications that used the same picture.

We certainly did not intend to associate Judaism and fraud or perpetuate anti-Semitic stereotypes. We apologise if any such impression was created.

SABC bankruptcy no surprise

I am not the least bit surprised the SABC is bankrupt. I was executive director of the Association of Marketers (ASOM), whose members represented 73% of the SABC’s advertising revenue, from 1985 to 2000.

ASOM warned the SABC 10 years ago that it would lose money if it pursued its Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) strategy and converted all three channels to that format and dropped commercial television.

It expected marketers to continue to advertise on PBS, where we had no knowledge of the size, consistency, psychographics or demographics of the audiences. When ASOM, with the best intentions, told the SABC and government that it would not work and advised it on what format would be viable as an advertising medium, ASOM was told: ‘Private enterprise is obliged and expected to support PBS with advertising. You owe it to the new South Africa.”
There are a few essential truths about television that the SABC has refused to accept. People watch TV mainly to be entertained.

The SABC’s 40% education, 40% information and 20% entertainment programme formula would not deliver the advertising money needed to run the SABC.

Commercial stations stay alive by delivering good, entertaining programmes, which deliver audiences and thus ad revenue. Nowhere else is pure PBS funded by ad revenue, but rather by licence fees. Our tax base is 6% of the South African population; this gives an indication of the licence-paying pool and commercially viable audience size.

ASOM’s advice was ignored. Surprise, surprise — the SABC is now reaping the whirlwind.– Professor Derrick Dickens

The SABC board must be commended for its firm action in removing Kanyisiwe Mkonza as chairperson. But this is not enough.

The SABC cannot expect government to invest R2-billion in the corporation while the current chief financial officer, Robin Nicholson, is still employed there. He should be held responsible for the current financial turmoil at the SABC. Financially speaking, the buck stops with him.

A man who takes home approximately R3.3-million a year should be able to manage the finances of this organisation, but no! Nicholson has run the SABC’s finances into the ground. —Rozario Brown, Mitchell’s Plain

She went quietly . . .

She went quietly did she
the Madame Editor of
the Mail & Guardian
Ms Ferial Haffajee

She went quietly did she
no drama here it seems
no kicking and screaming
or gnashing of teeth

She went quietly did she
I heard her not (did you)
until I saw her on TV
City Press under her name

She went quietly did she
she wasn’t (even) pushed
and neither did she jump
to the other side
She went quietly did she
she whose dulcet tones stop me
in my tracks on a Sunday morn
on SAFM’s The Editors

(The enticement that gets me
to grab pen and paper
always feeling a line or two
is on its merry way)

She went quietly did she
I had to hear it again
another presenter telling
that she is now ‘ex”

She went quietly did she
how does life go on
can it be business as usual
—David Kapp

In brief

‘Sterilised without consent” (June 19) shows the need for informed consent, not just consent alone. It must be crippling emotionally and otherwise for women to learn months or even years later that they are unable to bear children because of deceptive medical intervention. The Women’s Legal Centre should be congratulated for exposing this abhorrent paternalistic decision-making. — Sibusiso Ntsele

I have just read the brilliant article ‘Where were you?” (June 12) and I would like to send a note of thanks to Prince Mashele. I am at once both terrified and inspired as I acknow-ledge what he says to be the truth. I hope to garner the courage to act. — Leanne Tlhagoane

Your profile of the top 300 Young South Africans (June 12) picked out some of the best and the brightest of their generation. It is a wonderful acknowledgement of their personal and professional accomplishments and an authoritative point of reference. — Kiru Naidoo, National Research Foundation

The bolt in Alec Erwin’s head has affected his brain. He says those clowns at Eskom deserve their bonuses, but I have worked at 15 power stations throughout the country and those clowns don’t know a light switch from a candle. —TM Doran, Pretoria