Move on: Dump the notion of 'born frees' – the focus of support should be on the presently disadvantaged.
Students of all hues in need
Students need funding assistance not because of previous disadvantage but because of present disadvantage. But it is politically embarrassing for those in charge to talk of present disadvantage, so we carefully duck that.
Twenty years after the advent of democracy, the previously disadvantaged have parted ways and are now in two categories: the (now) currently advantaged and the (still) currently disadvantaged. Similarly, the previously advantaged are now either currently (still) advantaged and currently (now) disadvantaged.
But those whose politics are predicated on colour and harvest votes on that basis and related sentiments must pretend otherwise.
Skin colour and not social content is the way they see blackness and whiteness. So, where the intent is genuinely to help students in need, that should be the currently disadvantaged, irrespective of colour.
Previous advantage or disadvantage is an unsound basis on which to classify people because it shifts and may no longer exist.
The preposterous “born free” notion is also being exposed as false, because how can you be “born free” and yet be disadvantaged? It’s a contradiction in terms. Someone lied and the students are seeing through it.
Why, then, don’t we drop the useless term “previously” for the more sensible and honest “currently”?
No, we won’t, because the past provides an escape from a hard present.
Another “excuse” is to fund “deserving” students. Deserving? Says who? Those who say so think they are doing students a favour, so they can dole out state money to boost themselves.
But, in reality, students are deserving on the basis of two criteria that go as a package: by virtue of being citizens of this country and by their admission into higher education institutions. For those from poor backgrounds, just getting that far is the mother all feats. You are deserving. Further hurdles are an unjust, inconsiderate harassment.
Student progression once inside higher education is a different matter, but suffice it to say it’s as much a reflection on the students as it is on those who teach and support them. But that can be worked on further.
So where does this leave us? The role of government isn’t to pick and choose who to help, lest that power be mishandled. Its role is to invest in the young people of the country – all of them.
Because we come from a bitterly and dangerously divided past, we have to unite students by making them truly born free from divisions and funding them as one. These divisions are the mentality of an old generation with a dated mind-set. Because they have failed to transform the country in 20 years, they deflect problems to the young. Unchain the youth!
Hold an economic Codesa and correct the inequalities of apartheid you have shirked or failed to correct. It isn’t the failure of the ANC as such, but of a political generation that squandered the possibilities Nelson Mandela created.
Solution? One, provide free education or brace for unending turbulence. Two, transform the disparities that have been raised ad nauseam.
Peace, progress and prosperity are possible. The weatherman’s prediction of rain doesn’t make him a rain-maker. – Masitha Hoeane
ICC is many black Africans’ only hope
The ANC believes the International Criminal Court (ICC) has “lost direction” and South Africa should withdraw from it (SA could have helped the ICC evolve, Law Report).
Many have heard of the murder of countless black Africans in the western Darfur region of the Sudan, but they may not be aware that President Omar al-Bashir’s army and Arab irregulars have killed many more black Africans in South Sudan during the civil war with the southerners. My wife is South Sudanese. Before the independence of South Sudan three years ago, we lost many relatives. They were killed by the irregulars, the Janjaweed, which al-Bashir’s government regularly sent to kill non-Muslims, mainly women, children and elderly people who could not flee in time.
The ICC is the only organisation that has taken practical steps against butchers such as al-Bashir. The African Union and the Arab states are silent, the Europeans and Chinese do not want to upset the Arabs lest their oil be cut, and the United Nations is gutless.
The ANC should rather reform the ICC from within – the Americans have to become signatories – rather than quit. – Dr David A Vost, Mbabane, Swaziland
Photo ironic in light of M&G’s anti-Israel bias
The Body Language article Pleasure is no man’s prerogative was accompanied by a photograph of a group of women protesting. On close inspection of the photograph, most placards held by the women are in Hebrew script.
The Mail & Guardian often has negative articles and editorials about Israel, so one can only wonder why you published a photograph of a group of Jewish Israeli feminists with the article. After all, these women are citizens of a country that your newspaper despises and slanders on a regular basis.
It is not outrageous to make the assertion that after a thorough and in-depth search by your organisation, you will be unable to come up with a corresponding photograph of a group of Palestinian feminists protesting their rights.
Why? Because Palestinian feminists dare not protest publicly.
They fear for their lives because of “honour killings” executed by their relatives and their governing structures, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. The publication of the photograph of Israeli Jewish feminists in your anti-Israel newspaper is extremely ironic.
It is thus not far-fetched to conclude that if the editor missed the pertinent details displayed in this photo, the editor most probably does not check the facts of most of the negative articles you publish concerning Israel. Some honesty required, please. – Maurice Kotzen