August 28 to September 3 2009

Engendered potential

The Athletic World Championships have thrown up a gender issue in relation to Caster Semenya, the female South African 800m runner.

This athlete clearly has some male physical characteristics.

Scientific testing now under way will determine whether there is a chromosome basis to these characteristics or whether they fall within the normal range of variability within the female gender.

It’s known that about one in 500 males can have an extra chromosome, so that they are an XXY male instead of a XY male. These males can have some female characteristics, either latent or manifest.

Alternatively, it may be discovered that Semenya has an extra or missing chromosome. If all the other competitors in a race have XX chromosomes then clearly it’s unfair to expect them to compete with an individual who has some chromosomal advantage.

But, then again, all athletic competition is inherently unfair. The ability to run fast or jump high is biologically determined. The motivation to develop that biologically determined ability is also biologically determined.

The only athletic competition with a semblance of fairness is that which involves handicapping.

The only reasonable function of sport, beyond the benefits of physical activity, is the realisation of an individual’s inherent biological potential. — Stephen Mooney, Australia

I’m over the moon about Mokgadi ‘Caster” Semenya’s achievements. She deserved a big, loud welcome when she landed at home. But I find it disturbing that she is getting no support from human rights and gender groups, in particular those which were so vocal when Julius Malema made dumb comments in relation to women abuse. In Semenya we have a woman who is being politely told that she’s not a woman, therefore a man unless proved otherwise by Western methods. Questions are raised about her body, her face, moustache, her way of celebrating a victory. It doesn’t take an expert to figure out that this amounts to emotional abuse. I know for a fact that you’ll never find a single woman in the world who is happy to be told she looks like a man.

Semenya is being emotionally abused and the organisations that should be defending her are silent. This silence not only creates doubt on the confidence we have in her but also encourages this abusive behaviour against her. — Sipho January, Cape Town

It’s unbelievable that a young South African woman, who has just won a gold medal and should be fêted as a brilliant athlete, has become the object of salacious gossip in her home country. Under the guise of investigative journalism, some local newspapers have been digging up childhood stories about how she played only with boys, didn’t like wearing dresses and, horror of all horrors, preferred playing football to watching romantic movies.

Evidence, beyond any doubt, that she’s really a boy! The message for all girls growing up in South Africa is: if you want to be seen as a proper girl don’t go around with boys, unless you’re feeling romantic, get behind Bafana Bafana in 2010 but make sure you don’t actually play football. — Rob Pattman, Durban

If gender-testing of Semenya is driven by her exceptional performance, then surely all male athletes who don’t make it to the top three should also be gender-tested for underperformance? — Arlette Franks, Polokwane City

Race debates will move us backwards

Recent comments by President Jacob Zuma and the ANC secretary general, Gwede Mantashe, about the ANC’s commitment to nonracialism and the liberation of blacks are welcome.

The evolution of the ANC into a nonracial movement has taken many decades and there are still some who do not fully grasp the apparent contradiction of espousing nonracialism while yet striving fiercely for the liberation of black people.

Some context may be helpful. The ANC was founded as an Africans-only movement and remained so until 1960 when its armed wing Umkhonto weSizwe was formed and non-Africans were included. Prior to that, alliances were struck with the Indian Congress, the (white) Congress of Democrats, the Coloured People’s Congress and the Congress of Trade Unions to constitute the Congress Alliance.

Great care was exercised to project an image of racial representivity under ANC leadership. It became a multiracial movement which increasingly espoused nonracialism as an ideal. The Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), formed in 1921 by white workers and socialists, soon became nonracial and remained so, as did the SA Congress of Trade Unions (Sactu). The CPSA was outlawed in 1952, so could not be part of the Congress Alliance. In any case it would probably not have been accepted by the more conservative elements in the ANC leadership, whereas Sactu remained legal and had a mass membership which was important for the ANC.

Coloured and Indian people were also oppressed and white democrats were valuable allies. It was acknowledged that the various racial groups were all South Africans. They could not be dismissed as ‘minorities”. During the Congress Alliance period there was much working together and strong bonds of comradeship were built.

In exile the ANC began to include coloured, Indian and white comrades in some of the top structures, then opened ordinary membership to all races. The first elected national executive after 1990 and the first democratic Cabinet reflected this inclusivity.

Yet the huge disparities between the races had to be addressed. Affirmative action was implemented to create a state with a reasonable degree of racial representivity. It has to be acknowledged that such policies have at times been used opportunistically. Such abuses have brought discredit to the cause of African liberation.

In addition, many useful non-Africans have been passed over or sidelined by government and valuable expertise lost.

Also, the ANC has neglected to project an image of nonracialism in its own structures as was the norm in previous decades. Non-Africans are represented in government, but this is less evident nowadays in the senior structures of the ANC itself.

I support President Zuma’s view that we should not engage in introspective debates about race — this would take us backwards.

What is needed is a strong commitment to the ideals of a diverse but nonracial society which nevertheless actively removes the awful and persistent disadvantages of black people in general and Africans in particular.

Finally, there is a practical reason for ensuring that smaller racial groups believe their interests lie in an integrated nonracial society. They continue to hold a great deal of power, especially in the economy, and their alienation could be a cause for instability or worse.

South Africa is a complex society with many diverse elements. It requires great wisdom to hold all this together. —Professor Ben Turok, MP

Africans must develop political consciousness

Adekeye Adebajo (‘Natives are getting restless”, August 14) explains Africa’s scarred global image as a result of systemic Afrophobic stereotypes. Eusebius McKaiser and Sasha Polakow-Suransky (‘Dreams from my father’s continent”, August 14) propose a ‘third way” or African agency, which they believe circumvents the dichotomous ‘aid versus trade” debate.

Adebajo’s claim is largely correct, but his proposal of an alternative African narrative is problematic. Africa’s problem is not image deficiency and an Afro-optimistic narrative is not the solution. Instead, Africans need the political consciousness to engage in a critical dialogue among themselves and against social structures, local and global, that demean them.

As Paolo Freire suggested, people subjected to media prejudice and socioeconomic servitude must fight for their emancipation, not for positive publicity.
Equally, McKaiser and Polakow-Suransky’s view that African leaders should ‘get a handle on corruption” is inadequate.

The dilemma associated with such claims, though largely true about African leaders, is that they risk reifying the Afrophobic stereotypes that Africans are corrupt, lax and irresponsible and therefore need Western civilisation.

Inadvertent or not, this thinking informed the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.

Africans need Steve Biko’s process of self-actualisation and self-pride, a process that will remind them of their complicity in the crime of allowing other continents to misuse and abuse their natural and human capital, and will energise them to put an end to the reign of injustice on their continent. — Nkosinathi Mzelemu, KwaZulu-Natal

Attack on Nehawu ‘hypocritical’

‘Nehawu, we want an apology” by members of the ANC Mowbray parliamentary constituency office (Letters, August 21) is hypocrisy. To say Nehawu made a defamatory statement is diabolical. In fact, labelling Nehawu branch executive committe members as ‘sexist” is defamatory in itself. Nehawu does not say the deputy minister of international affairs is a prostitute. What it cleverly did was to use a compound metaphor: ‘Our forefathers were correct when they say a leopard does not change its spots just like a prostitute in a new long dress is still a prostitute.” Where is the defamation?

Our Constitution gives protection to freedom of expression, including caustic expression or attacks on public officials. It restricts the level of liability for defamation. Criticism of government is vital to the success of democracy. — Kelebogile Moeketsi, Sifikile, North West


Atomic power is dirtier and more costly

The Pebble-Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) communications manager responded to my article ‘Why go nuclear when better and cheaper options exist?” in your letters page (August 7).

She is correct about xenon. My article ought to have said that it is radioactive isotopes of strontium-90 and caesium-137, which leak out 100 000 times more in pebble-bed reactors than from any other type of atomic reactor. The source for this is the Nuclear Engineering International of early April, which summarised two studies reviewing the lifespan of the two German proto- type ­pebble-beds.

The Final Environmental Impact Report, submitted to Parliament on the pebble-bed in 2005, Annexure 19, reported that, compared with a conventional atomic reactor generating the same quantity of electricity, a PBMR would produce 31 packets of waste versus the 3.6 waste packets from a light water reactor. This is at least eight times more waste by volume.

Eskom’s head has revealed that the Areva quote was R330-billion for one atomic power station. This is more than four times the cost of Inga 3, which would also generate four times more electricity.

The PBMR has quoted R31-billion to generate 85MW of electricity. This means that for the same price as Inga 3, two of them will generate less than one-50th as much electricity.

This strengthens my main point. Atomic power stations and their necessary high-level radioactive waste depositories are more expensive and complex than alternative options to generate power.

As taxpayers and consumers of electricity, the optimal generation mix should come from hydro- and concentrating solarpower stations. — Keith Gottschalk, Cape Town

In brief

Judicial nomination hearings are lengthy and rigorous and if there are any glitches in Judge Sandile Ngcobo’s profile that prove embarrassing, the correct decision will doubtless follow. In the absence thereof it is offensive to subject him to the hisses now doing their rounds. — Saber Ahmed Jazbhay, Durban

The problem with hiring along tribal lines in government has become broader. First, we had a Xhosa gentleman as president of the country and many government posts were filled by Xhosas. Now we have a Zulu gentleman, filling vacancies with Zulus. Is this the democracy that we fought for? Are we saying in a country as diverse as ours that there are no people more qualified than Bheki Cele, Blade Nzimande, Judge Sandile Ngcobo and so on? — Phuti wa ga Mokwele

Two conditions must be met for state organs to deliver to the citizenry. First, the distinction between party and state must be strictly observed. Second, political parties must organise their internal structures and programmes so they can shape the thinking and activities of the citizenry. The ANC must enlarge its capacity so that its branches can detect local disturbances before they happen. — Thembinkosi Ngcobo, convenor, KwaZulu-Natal Progressive Professionals Network

Factual errors in article

The insinuation in the M&G online article ”Fraud rife in Cape Town planning dept says report”(27 August 2009) is incorrect. There are approximately 428 staff members in the City’s planning department and the individuals under investigation represent a minority. The City took decisive action when it came to light that staff members were acting inappropriately.

The City completed an investigation into 31 staff members of the City of Cape Town’s Planning and Building Development Management Department as well as other departments that were drawing building plans in a private capacity, without permission in March 2009. This investigation was commissioned by the City and 12 employees were charged.

Two of the staff took early retirement prior to their hearings commencing, one resigned prior to his hearing commencing and 9 faced disciplinary hearings. Seven of the employees were dismissed and two received final written warnings. Twelfth cases were withdrawn due to insufficient evidence. The results of this investigation were conveyed to the media in a press release on 31 March 2009, when the first phase of the investigation was completed. The City fully disclosed the outcome of its investigation over 5 months ago.

A secondary phase of the investigation into a further 7 staff members is currently underway. The City will once again report on the outcome of the second phase when it is completed.

The article attempts to portray the City’s planning department as rife with fraud, which is not the case. Rather, the investigation identified the following practices:

• Employees linked with outside architects and draught persons under whose names plans were submitted;
• In certain cases there were plans with very suspect turnaround times; and
• Certain employees were trading as private companies and close corporations.

Should the public wish to report any City employee for conducting private work during working hours please call the City of Cape Town’s anti-corruption number on 0800 32 31 30. The City is committed to dealing with all allegations of corruption speedily. —Kylie Hatton, Manager: Media, City of Cape Town