Respect to Mmusi for Israel visit

The furore over the visit of the leader of the opposition, Mmusi Maimane, pictured, to Israel has strange overtones.

It is not fitting in a democracy and especially with our struggle credentials.

Freedom of speech and freedom of movement are some of the precious values enshrined in any true democracy.

These are hard-fought values and people even paid with their lives so that a new generation of South Africans may experience and enjoy these privileges.

It is sad that a country with our history castigates the leader of the opposition for visiting Israel on a fact-finding mission to position himself to respond to the Israel-Palestinian conflict as a better informed individual.

Have we lost the moral high ground the world positioned us in during the reconciliation process after apartheid?

Maimane’s visit to Israel to learn more about the conflict is the correct thing to do for anybody who wants to play a constructive role in the Israel-Palestinian peace process, unless some people for some reason do not want peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

The peace process is already clouded by groups of people with seemingly hidden agendas using the kind of actions and rhetoric which impacted the process negatively.

The peace process is currently drowned by voices lacking the insight needed for the delicate situation in Middle Eastern politics.

I respect Maimane’s visit to Israel, enabling him to gain a better understanding of the intricacies. Willie Paterson, Brackenfell