Battle for country’s soul can be won in court
WHILE Patrick Bulger’s analysis of why the Zuptas seem untouchable (June 11) is accurate as far as it goes, it is not complete.
Civil society and the judiciary as a whole have not yet been captured by the “Zuptas”. Civil society organisations are showing backbone by acting independently and in the public interest.
Cynics will point to Willie “Whitewash” Seriti and John “You are our last hope” Hlophe as evidence of the judiciary’s capture, but they are the exceptions rather than the rule.
As for evidence of what Bulger calls “civic-mindedness”: there is the example of the Quaker Peace Centre, the FW de Klerk Foundation and AfriForum teaming up to follow Save South Africa and South Africa First into the trenches to fight the Zuptas.
The first three NGOs could not be more diverse, nor more determined in their unity of purpose.
Their chosen battleground is not the streets and the political arena, where Save South Africa and South Africa First operate, but the hallowed ground of the Constitutional Court, where they seek to secure the appointment of a judicial commission of inquiry into the capture of the state with which the “Zuptas” have busied themselves.
Have no doubt that a properly constituted, fully resourced and suitably mandated commission of inquiry will deal with what Bulger calls “irrefutable proof of criminality reaching the highest office in the land” because our constitution remains supreme, and conduct inconsistent with it is invalid, even in the Presidency. — Paul Hoffman SC, Cape Town
Zille should fall on sword
IT’S time South Africans agreed that Western Cape premier Helen Zille should resign from the DA now, to give Mmusi Maimane the power to run this country as president. — S Naicker, Richards Bay
Not a black or white issue
TO DA leader Mmusi Maimane, coloureds are a product of colonialism.
Are we a good or a bad product? — Glen Wyngaard, Bredasdorp
Going down with captain
IN the early 1980s, I joined organisations that fought against apartheid and became a socialist.
I only joined the ANC in 2003, due to the SACP having its hands tied by the ANC. In 2007, when the ANC elected Jacob Zuma as its leader, I resigned.
I knew that a backward person like Zuma would take the entire organisation backwards. Ten years later, I am fully vindicated.
The SACP should realise that the ANC does not exist any longer — Zuma has divided it and taken it back to some century long ago.
It has no other choice but to ensure that it walks away with at least half of the ANC — or Zuma walks away with everything.
By not actively fighting within the ANC, the SACP will only lose more credibility. — Farouk Jardine, Ennerdale
Tummy politics always wins
ALOSHA RayRay Rwane’s thinly veiled reference to “stomach politics” (Letters, June 11) refers.
Stomach politics rules every time there is an election: voters are bribed with food parcels and other knick-knacks and promises.
The food is an immediate need, so poor people, always in the majority, invariably vote ANC to get the food and to continue receiving social grants, mugs, clothes and T-shirts.
Every time. Forever. Always. — James Farr, Vanderbijlpark
Two-faced student protests
WITH all the scandals that seem to be a character of the ruling party, one wonders where are the young people of the calibre of Steve Biko and the youth of 1976, as Barney Mthombothi did in “Betraying the children who struck a blow for liberation in ’76” (June 11).
Have the former Model C schools damaged their thinking? Are they patriotic enough to say “Enough is enough, this is our country and our future”? The university students, the intellectuals — the future of this country — burn down what is theirs and do not think about others who also want to go to university.
As parents we cannot afford the
Praise for my homeboy
IT is of paramount importance that I dedicate this Youth Month to Sam Masana Nzima, a man from my birthplace, Nkwinya-Mahembhe, a typical South African village in the former Gazankulu homeland.
Through the lens of a camera, Nzima exposed the suffering and senseless killings of unarmed and defenceless youths.
Then, as a dedicated photojournalist, leading up to the massacre of June 16 1976, he said that brave young people, male and female, made him realise that young people had the power to change things around them. Power to change the world.
Nzima was sentenced to house arrest and had to flee Johannesburg and came back to the village.
His picture of the bleeding young Hector Pieterson in the arms of a strong youth leader, Mbuyisa Makhubu, with Hector’s sister, fees — but to burn down what is already there is not right.
The same intellectuals are quiet where it concerns the looting of the country’s money, part of which can be used to better finance education. — Lindi Zantsi, Worcester
What will we tell our kids?
I GET very emotional when I read about poaching, especially of the Big Five, as reported in “No place to hide” (June 11).
Tourism boosts our economy: people come to South Africa to see our Big Five. If people keep poaching these animals, we will be left with nothing. Will we tell our grandchildren via pictures that we used to have these animals?
We should learn to treat animals with respect. Where is our conscience? — Sibongile Baloyi, Polokwane
Pile mounting under carpet
REGARDING the article “New Prasa scandals on Buthelezi’s watch” (June 11), and the investigations in 2015 by Deloitte & Touche into Prasa, what has transpired in taking legal action over contraventions of the Public Antoinette, tagging along in tears, frustrated the funders of apartheid. International organisations and other countries’ reactions after the picture was published went viral and weren’t good for apartheid.
They fought for a good cause. What happened then matters now... — Bethwell Xiviti, Nkwinya-Mahembhe Village Finance Management Act?
Has the board of that time, which was found to be in breach of its fiduciary duties, been charged?
What about the 11 contracts valued at R86-million investigated by Strategic Investigations & Seminars? There is also the R1-billion misappropriated during the six-year term in office of now Deputy Finance Minister Sfiso Buthelezi.
Has he been charged with the violation of his fiduciary duties?
Why has public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane not been ordered to investigate these fraudulent affairs?
Do you consider that these and other cases in your article are going to be “swept under the carpet” by the responsible government department? — NR Lobb, Port Elizabeth