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Sir,

The legacy of Fidel Castro Rus has eloquently offered its own self-defence. As he said it on October 6, 1953, when he prophesied that ‘history will absolve me’, while on trial for his leadership role in the revolutionary grand assault on the Moncada Barracks.

The Cuban doctors who are helping around the world are an inspiration not only to the West but to us Africans too. The point being made is that history will not only judge Castro on the human rights of those who wanted him dead, but will assess him based on the stupendous gains of the Cuban revolution.

Revolution

The massive investments of the revolution, in the social sector, have yielded good returns for the Cuban people. Education and health services are free in Cuba. These socio-economic needs are human rights in Cuba.

That is the social democratic contact of the revolution. The revolution has produced an educated people. The literacy rate in Cuba is higher than those of many developed countries, including the United States.

Even an unyielding critic of the Cuban experiment, the economist of London,

has described the health sector of Cuba as ‘First World’. Thousands of Cuban doctors are saving lives in different parts of the world, especially in rural Africa.

Cuban doctors have exuded the humanity imbued in them by the revolution where other countries found themselves in crises situations. Cuban health workers have been out on their mettle during hurricanes and earthquakes in Haiti.

Achievement

Cuban doctors were on the ground to combat ebola in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The New York Times had this to say about Cuba’s achievement in the health sector: “The global panic over ebola has not brought forth an adequate response from the nations with the most to offer.

‘‘While the USA and several other wealthy countries have been happy to pledge funds, only Cuba and non-governmental organisations are offering what is most needed: Medical professionals in the field.” The newspaper even called on the USA to swiftly restore diplomatic relations with Cuba.

Castro was not only a commander of guerrilla struggles, he also led a battle of ideas. Castro spoke against the debt trap of poor countries of the 1980s, saying the dept was ‘neither payable nor collectable’. He warned against the ecological consequences of the reckless capitalist development of the industrialised countries.

He was unyielding until the end in pointing out the enormous human cost of neo-liberalism, the idea dominating the world in which one per cent owns more than the 90 per cent of the global wealth.

Today, global capitalism, called globalisation, is being attacked for different reasons. Neo-liberalism has no answer to the wave of populism, rising in the West. The beast in the liberal democracy is becoming manifest.

Castro was principled and disciplined until the end and provided a model of leadership.

Gain

An intangible gain of the revolution under Castro’s leadership is the development of a people with national pride and human dignity.

The revolution was rooted not just in socialism but also in Cuban nationalism.

This is one of the reasons for the exceptional durability of the revolution. The gains of the Cuban people’s experiment with the creation of a just humane and popular democratic society will surely outlive Castro.

Colleen Matsebula

Sir,

I feel like respect of privacy befits every soul in this globe, it doesn’t matter whether one is a mother to a teenage soul, a husband, wife, father, teacher etc, privacy is all about drawing a line in one’s life, no matter how much power one has over someone else’s.

Invading someone else’s privacy is not morally good. This is because we are all humans and we mess up big time, so the part of not standing up in a hummock and roar out everything we get up to in our consecrated places simply means everyone has a confidential file.

Privacy

The annexation of privacy is everywhere in this world. Invasion of privacy can terminate other people’s lives and that is just not part of homo sapiens.

Some people invade people’s privacies and on top of that they miss the mark of keeping their mouths padlocked, just by invading a person’s confidentiality.

From this moment, swallow the expression that invasion of one’s privacy is invasion to all. In life, we all have to learn to stick our noses to our business that would prominently benefit the society, because it can reduce factors like self-depression and other serious issues.

Identify

We all identify that we are not alike but we are all made from the carbon copy of God our father and some humans in this sphere find it hard to stay alive whenever they have been exposed, that is customary, and those people then crack to find a way to seepage all because of our verdicts.

Let us respect each other, as much as we also want to, I mean we all merit respect after all.

Conceive how it would feel if your dirty laundry would be hung out in the open or even published on front pages for everyone to comprehend.

Yield it like that, I am sure you will now understand the importance of privacy.

I haven’t laid it all down but I have pointed out all the useful points I gathered during my meeting with my thoughts.

Nkosingphile Ntshalintshali