Please don’t crucify Zille out of context

I WAS brought up by my parents to learn that two wrongs don’t make a right. The current discourse concerning the tweets Helen Zille made about our colonial past falls into this category.

Colonialism is wrong and crucifying Zille out of context is also wrong as colonialism does leave a legacy of some good and a lot that is bad.

Colonialism is a fact of history of our world whether you like it or not. A time when the powerful nations of Europe, Middle and Far East discovered from the adventurous seafarers that the world was round and there were continents beyond their own.

The world was there to be taken, even by conquest, and to bring “civilisation” to the world in the name of Jesus Christ, Mohammed, National Power or just plain Greed.

The British Empire was the most powerful colonialist power in the world and we were once part of it, where the sun never set on its dominion. We were going to celebrate the Commonwealth Games of nations because it is our historical past with the former colonialist British Empire.

I dare say that we were prepared to proudly celebrate this occasion in this common bond we have with our past, good or bad, as it is all a matter of perspective and conjecture. This is a titbit of our colonial legacy, the whole nine yards.

We are a nation too quick to censure and condemn, creating a space which is not conducive to nation-building and bringing out the best in people.

However, we let the people who are really doing great harm to the nation and country get away with deception and corruption, with impunity.

This is a formula for becoming a base nation where our poor will remain in ignorance and poverty for a little while longer, until they cannot endure any more watching the gravy train from afar while they listen to their children crying with empty bellies. WING FONG Durban North