DA wrong to blame Zille for saying colonialism had positive spin-offs

I am embarrassed to say I supported, worked for and voted for the DA.

I am now reconsidering my politics after the reaction to a benign statement by Helen Zille that there were some positive spin-offs from colonialisation.

This post-colonial paranoia in Africa is dragging us down and indeed pulling us backwards. Over what? A statement of words that have not killed, robbed or injured anyone. Are we losing the plot?

Every country was at one time colonised. Take your pick which applies to South Africa. The American colonies were established by primarily Englishmen and women.

England in turn was the product of much earlier and barbaric colonisers. Both American and English language, culture, sense of exploration, fascination with the sciences were inherited from their forefather colonisers. The concentration of people into denser areas (towns) allowed the development of human beings with specialised abilities, whether as iron mongers, weavers, teachers, builders or even doctors.

Africans must not forget that they too were in their age colonisers. The Moors conquered vast swaths of western Europe well before the Europeans ever thought of populating other parts of the world. Europeans don’t say that colonialisation was evil, it was a fact of history and much positive influence was derived from the Moors and this is acknowledged still today.

Even South African blacks are the offspring of African colonisers from north of the Limpopo. The large population of Indians in South Africa, arguably among the most prosperous of all ex-pat Indians, are the product of emigration, albeit as indentured labourers originally. Ask a South African Indian if he would like to be repatriated to his land of origin?

If the DA cannot handle history other than by trying to re-write it to suit the appetite of ignorant people, then I am afraid it has lost my vote.

Dr Peter C Baker

Parktown North, JHB