WINNIE PARTIES AS FAMILIES SEEK CLOSURE
WHILE Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s 80th birthday celebrants gloat with glee the families of Dr Abubaker Asvat, Stompie Seipei and Lolo Sono want closure.The media in the past few days has been abuzz with Madikizela-Mandela’s 80th birthday. I’m not trying to be a party pooper but we need to remind those who may have forgotten that Seipei and Sono were murdered long before they were 80.
Asvat wasn’t so lucky either to have lived until the age of 80 after succumbing to assassins. His sin was to have come up with a prognosis that wasn’t favourable to Stompie’s torturers. The police bungled the case even when two self-confessed Asvat assassins, Thulani Nicholas Dlamini and Cyril Mbatha, came forward. Albertina Sisulu worked at Asvat’s practice at the time of the assassination. If she wanted to spill the beans she could have done so, but she went to her grave without blowing the whistle. Katiza Cebekhulu, who was a witness to all the murders, was forced to flee the country. Cases of murder can still be pursued against Madikizela-Mandela since there is no statute of limitation on murder.
Tebogo Brown Roodepoort
attended Winnie’s 80th birthday bash. Are they not embarrassed that this woman has been contesting Madiba’s will, been found guilty of being involved with Stompie Seipei’s murder and also fraud? People tend to forget she is a convicted criminal. Let us not forget that she was friendly with the late Hazel Crane and the late Shai Avisar (ex-head of the Israeli Mafia in South Africa). Allegedly Winnie, together with Hazel and Shai, flew to Angola on a chartered plane to buy rough diamonds illegally, and was turned back to South Africa at the airport by the Angolan authorities. Winnie likes to be in the limelight for all the wrong reasons. Instead of living like a queen with bodyguards, fancy cars, designer clothes, give the money to the people of South Africa who need food and shelter.
Mike Bergman De Wetshof
“FREE education for all!” is the rallying cry for many students and some commentators. Some use the Freedom Charter as their basis for the call while some use princi- ples such as equality, dignity and access to higher education for all. All these calls are noble, but need to be rooted in reality. Put differently, they must be based on a concrete analysis of the conditions in South Africa, and not mere wishes. To reverse the crisis of inequality, it is unwise to call for free education at this stage. Such can only help to widen the inequality gap so often complained about. Strategies to determine who is able to afford and who cannot can be put in place, but the principle is correct.
Tembisile Magkatho Tembisa
IN HIS closing address at the ANC’s 53rd national elective conference, President Jacob Zuma announced that former ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe would lead the ANC’s political education programme. Zuma went on to commit his leadership to the political and ideological development of ANC members, and also referred to Motlanthe as a seasoned cadre of the movement. Four years on and we are still waiting.
Kwazi Mthembu Soweto