Traditional leaders should lead fight against Covid-19

The Sunday Times leads with “Covid death bell tolls for SA” (June 28) and quotes Wits University professor Shabir Madhi pleading for “youth leaders, community leaders and religious leaders” to assist in the drive to improve the behaviour of people towards aggressive preventative measures against coronavirus infection.

This is a highly commendable standpoint but it raises a crucial question: where are the traditional leaders of SA?

According to a Government Gazette in April, royal leaders earn R1.2m a year, traditional leaders R270,000 and headmen and -women R116,000. Income from other benefits, allowances, expenses and mining rights is not included. SA has 10 kings and one queen; the numbers of the others are difficult to ascertain.

According to a report in the Sunday Times in May, the Ingonyama Trust, of which the only trustee is the king of the Zulu nation, receives a further R22m a year from the government, and thus from taxpayers. This amounts to more than R60,000 a day.

Possibly the Land and Accountability Research Centre at the University of Cape Town could inform the general public on the responsibility of traditional leaders in exchange for the monies they receive, particularly in the fight against Covid-19.

I believe that in these crisis times it is reasonable to expect much more visible action from traditional leaders. Their subjects, who number many millions, are spread all over the country in both rural and urban areas. Surely these leaders should be alongside, if not ahead of, the leaders Madhi is calling on?

The positive impact traditional leaders could have is surely enormous.

Benjamin Venter, Durbanville

Media attitudes inform racism

Peter Bruce’s column, “Ancient culture of domination spawns another murder” (June 7), can only be seen as an attempt to promote the belief in the existence of different races and “superior cultures” and the accompanying racism that apartheid legally enforced.

In 1950, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, Unesco, issued a statement asserting that all humans belong to the same species and that “race” is not a biological reality but a myth. More recent studies by scientists have confirmed the Unesco statement.

The answer to Bruce’s question as to why race is “such a hard-wired tumour in our society” is that — either in ignorance or because they want to perpetuate the status quo — most of the media continue to give credence to the mythical and vicious apartheid hierarchy that divided the population into so-called white at the top and “lesser beings” at the bottom.

Seeing oneself as part of a superior culture is the driving force behind the mistrust, hatred and permanent division of SA’s population. As long as such attitudes prevail we will remain a racist society. Reginald Peterson, Cape Town

Mind-boggling defence of Makana

In “A small-city time bomb with a big legal agenda” (June 28), Jeff Peires writes: “If the judge’s ruling is upheld, it will detonate a time bomb which will eventually blow away every local municipality without a clean audit.”

Is this an acceptable argument to defend poor municipal governance?

Peires misses the real point. All citizens are entitled to adequate service delivery and dignified living conditions. The fact that such disparate groups as the Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM) and ratepayers’ associations have collaborated should inform Peires that, when aggrieved, citizens will unite to achieve a common goal.

It is hard to comprehend that anyone can believe the standard of Makana service delivery in certain areas is even adequate, let alone defensible. The filth and poor sanitation are a health hazard beyond belief. The environment for waterborne diseases is prevalent. The poo protest in 2011 mentioned by Peires was as a result of sewage flowing through houses. This is still the case today.

Peires says Makana “hit rock bottom in 2014”. This is at odds with the auditorgeneral’s report, which shows that financial governance in Makana and the Eastern Cape in general has been on a steady decline for the last few years. Does he really believe the abysmal living conditions, poor sanitation and lack of services, which strip people’s health, dignity and self-esteem, have improved?

If the court cases brought by the UPM result in other towns in the Eastern Cape following this course of action, as Peires fears, surely the best defence is to improve leadership, administration and service delivery?

I am a retired Makhanda resident and not involved with any political party, nor with any of the associations mentioned in Peires’s article, but I feel that defending the council’s record and achievements is reprehensible.

Peter Sturrock, Makhanda

Local is lekkerer than Liverpool

It makes me chuckle when football fans claim certain foreign clubs as their own. With Liverpool FC being crowned English champions, certain fans are acting as if they live in the city or were born there.

It irks me that many South Africans show more love for foreign teams than for our own national sports teams. There needs to be more of a rethink of loyalties.

I congratulate Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp, his players and fans who actually have some connection to the city.

To these manufactured fans who somehow feel they own these clubs, kindly re-evaluate. How does Liverpool’s success actually benefit your life anyway?

Kevin Maharaj, Pietermaritzburg

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