Zille deflects from real issues

I HOLD no brief for Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane. In fact, after the Reserve Bank mandate debacle, the Absa judgment, and now her misplaced human rights pursuit of Helen Zille, she clearly hasn’t covered herself in glory.

However, the disingenuous response by Zille about her tweets defending the merits of colonialism so very cleverly deflects from the real issue. She is trying to create virtue that doesn’t exist. After all, having apologised, she admitted wrong.

Like a real liberal wishing to portray herself as a Struggle icon, she intellectualises her tweets as catalysts towards public dialogue which is constructive of moral agency, and that her tweets provoked a healthy debate about colonialism.

But that is not the real issue. The real issue is what Helen Zille doesn’t say.

The real issue in this debate is not the independent judiciary, transport infrastructure and piped water, but the legacy of intergenerational wealth perpetuated by colonialism, and the continuing poverty of those that were colonised.

The real issue is that the truth be admitted: that the beneficiaries of colonialism passed laws to materially benefit white people only, and all this was underpinned by systems of violence against the indigenous people.

The real issue is that the painful conversation of restoring the land to the broader South African society cannot be glossed over, but must be substantively addressed with the sole purpose of setting our country on the road to peace.

The alternative of the likes of Zille trying to sidetrack from fundamental issues by pointing us to judges, piped water and trains is putting us on the road to nowhere.

Good luck to Zille in her battle with Mkhwebane, but in the bigger scheme of things it is of no consequence. Addressing issues of justice, equity and the constitutional imperative of righting the wrongs of the past must now be our priority. GEORGE HECTOR Heathfield