Decent work the key to growth
The article by Lorne Sharpe suggesting that “decent work” has a “hidden agenda” (January 28) gives an incorrect and biased interpretation of the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO’s) Decent Work Agenda and, more particularly, of the Decent Work Country Programme.
We believe that any news organisation has an obligation to ensure the information published is truthful and accurate. The article lacks balance, leading to misrepresentation.
In a relatively short period of time, the concept of decent work has led to an international consensus that productive employment and decent work are key elements to achieving poverty reduction.
Affirmative statements were made on the Decent Work Agenda from former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan, as well as African Union heads of state and government, the Economic Commission for Africa, and the European Commission.
In 2009 more than 150 global leaders agreed to place full and productive employment and decent work as a central objective of relevant national and international policies, spelling out the central role of decent work in development strategies and poverty reduction. Equally important, in the global context of recession, African countries need the Decent Work Agenda not only to be a key instrument to promote growth, but also to become an effective national development policy to mobilise internal and external resources.
Government, workers and employers in South Africa are striving to place employment and decent work at the heart of economic and social policies. The signature on September 29 2010 at Nedlac of a Decent Work Country Programme for South Africa is a formidable step forward for South Africans.
The ILO is always resolute in highlighting the fact that a decent-work deficit in any particular country, with all of its consequences for poverty and unbalanced development, is a risk that can no longer be ignored.
The Decent Work Country Programme for South Africa is clear: strengthening fundamental principles and rights at work, broadening social-protection coverage, promoting employment creation, as well as strengthening social dialogue.
And this agenda, we believe, is the key to growth for South Africa. — Vic van Vuuren, director of the ILO Decent Work team for Eastern and Southern Africa
C’mon Zapiro, drop the shower head
I’m a “swallow” — a British resident but a regular, extended visitor to the Mother City since 1966. I’m reasonably politically aware but, more importantly, I’m a longstanding aficionado of political satire. Zapiro recently provided us with a gem in his image of President Jacob Zuma’s conversation with the Almighty.
Notwithstanding all that, I’ve just sat glued to the State of the Nation address on SABC2. OK, there’s still much sleight of hand and much to be achieved. But the address was a tour de force.
South Africa has a statesman at the helm. Flawed, maybe, and yes, at times he invites ridicule. But you don’t have to think back too far to remember Thabo Mbeki talking incessantly (and profoundly and intellectually, he imagined) about all those challenges and aspirations — and nothing ever happened.
Zuma’s State of the Nation address last week had structure, it was concise and to the point, bordering even on being terse. And it had a wisp of audited delivery and achievement. Above all, it had a fleeting glimpse of gravitas. Let’s acknowledge that.
My point? Well, obviously there’s a long, long way to go and there are still so many unanswered questions. But let’s start focusing on those issues. I’m proposing we drop the shower head. Maybe keep the extended or double cranium (in case we don’t recognise the target), but I really do think Zuma has earned the right to come out from under the sprinkler.
What do you say, Zapiro? Will you come quietly or should I get working on the social networks? — Ian Macleod, Cape Town
Orchestra unfairly labelled
Gwen Ansell’s article “Intersection on the agenda” (Friday, February 4), accuses the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra (JPO) of not promoting diversity in South African classical music. No attempt was made to seek comment from the JPO and we would like to respond.
There seems to be an attempt to retell the evolution of the orchestra by certain academics and journalists alike, to support certain causes or to push agendas. In so doing, we are erasing from our history critical aspects that can help shape the future. Because “Western classical music” was associated with entertainment for the oppressive regime of pre-1994, one always has to justify why the orchestras of today should be supported.
As early as the 1670s, the use of slave orchestras under the governor of the Cape was common. The arrival of the missionaries would further influence people such as John Knox Bokwe and Enoch Sontonga, who began fusing Western choral traditions, Xhosa harmonies and American spirituals to give us a uniquely South African sound still apparent today.
From these complex origins, South African orchestras see themselves as very different to European orchestras, with a common agenda of placing this country up there with the best in the world, while reflecting our diverse cultures. In her 2005 book, The World of South African Music: A Reader, Christine Lucia suggests that it is time that we looked at classical music as a cultural phenomenon within a Southern African rather than a European context.
This is an area where more research is required to fill the gaps. The myth that South African and particularly black composers are ignored should be dealt with, because it continues to perpetuate the view that South African orchestras are European.
In post-apartheid South Africa black composers are featured in the mainstream artistic programming, but more can be done. For example, JS Khumalo’s Ushaka kaSenzangakhona, an epic about King Shaka in music and poetry that blends Zulu and European elements, had its world premiere in the Johannesburg City Hall on November 25 1994, by the Transvaal Philharmonic. Another major work by the same composer was Princess Magogo, the Zulu opera that premiered at the Playhouse Theatre in Durban 2002.
The Cape Philharmonic premiered a work by Bongani Ndodana-Breen titled Hani, a chamber opera that reflects on the values of post-apartheid South Africa. His other work, Winnie: The Opera, will be premiered by the KZN Philharmonic later this year in Pretoria. The JPO, for its part, was involved in notating and orchestrating the music of the Soul Brothers, an mbaqanga group, and recorded a CD released in 2010. This year the work, Afroverture, by SBP Mnomiya, will have its premier at the Linder Auditorium.
The rate at which South African works are performed is dictated by the availability of funds, for South African orchestras have limited resources. An orchestra such as the JPO pays up to R900 a minute in royalty fees to perform a work at its three weekly concerts, including a single broadcast on radio. It is only works that were composed more than 75 years ago that are easily accessible because they are out of copyright. Composers, publishers, music-rights organisations and performers need to create a model that ensures that more works are performed and at an affordable cost to orchestras. — Shadrack Bokaba, managing director, JPO
Even white soldiers feel the pain of war
Thank you, Christo Doherty, for your exhibition Bos: Constructed Images and the Memory of the South Africa Bush War (Resolution Gallery until March 18), Paul Wessels for your letter (“Doherty whitewashes the bush-war experience”, February 4) and Dave Joubert for your response to Wessels’s letter (“Telling ‘smaller’ stories”, February 11). You have opened a discussion that needs to take place in our country if we are to achieve true reconciliation and move forward.
War is traumatic for all those involved. In the case of apartheid South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s, ordinary white boys in their late teens were conscripted to fight in a war about which they knew little beforehand. Images and reports of battle were censored and the average South African did not know that the war extended beyond the borders of South Africa, that Namibia and Angola had been invaded, that young conscripts were involved in close combat and witnessed brutal murders of enemy and comrade. Conscripts were forbidden to talk about their experiences when they returned.
Furthermore, since the advent of democracy they have been vilified for participating in a war that was not of their making and into which they had been conscripted. The devastating psychological scars endure to this day.
All people suffer in war, irrespective of race or what side they fight on. We cannot heal ourselves as a nation until we understand this with compassion and without judgment. — Dr Jillian Carman, Johannesburg
What a hypocrite
How amusingly hypocritical was Milisuthando Bongela’s piece “Injustice cuts both ways” (February 4). So insecure is she that she has to declare she was at a “business meeting” at a restaurant. She implies she is too important to be simply enjoying a cup of coffee.
She then describes a group of white women at a nearby table, who were seemingly unaware of her presence, as “typical Jo’burg kugels” with “high-pitched nasal twangs”. The rest of her article is a bellyache about white people. She finds it understandable and excusable that black people should exercise their rights by throwing tantrums and not letting inconsequential issues slide.
So, what was Bongela’s reaction to the conversation she sneakily listened into at another table? “I didn’t say anything … because their conversation was none of my business.” Quite right, Milisuthando, it wasn’t any of your business when you hadn’t the guts to confront the group privately? “I turned round to look at them, wearing a grin on my face.” How pathetic is that?
And no, I am not a white “Jo’burg kugel” with a high-pitched nasal twang. Neither do I eavesdrop on other people’s conversations. You are right. You do seem too exhausted to find anything worthwhile to write about. — Isobel M Roberts
Jassat’s misleading group
Whatever one may think of Zev Krengel’s piece about “lawfare” against Israel (February 4), at least he is honest about his affiliation. Iqbal Jassat, on the other hand, writes in his capacity as chairperson of the Media Review Network, an organisation that comments almost entirely on issues pertaining to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with breathtaking bias (“‘Lawfare’ is a legitimate way to demand accountability“, February 11).
According to its official website, its mission is primarily “to dispel myths and stereotypes about Islam and Muslims and to foster bridges of understanding”. A cursory glance at its main page, however, reveals an obsession with Israel and a logo containing a scimitar.
It is highly misleading of the Media Review Network to give itself such a neutral-sounding name. It is rather a partisan Islamic, perhaps even Islamist, organisation. Let the South African public no longer be deceived about this organisation’s true nature. — Alex Myers, Cape Town
ANC getting it wrong
Interesting, isn’t it, that the ANC at national level had to hijack the so-called democratic Western Cape provincial party congress to impose its will and ensure the election of a coloured person as local chairman.
All that effort because of the ANC’s overriding preoccupation with race (presuming coloured people will only vote for a coloured person) instead of delivery.
The Democratic Alliance didn’t need a coloured leader to win the Western Cape from the ANC, which surely proves once and for all that, to the ordinary Cape citizen, real service delivery rather than platitudinous incompetence is so much more important than race. — Peter Slingsby, Lakeside