Crying wolf in a land of sheepdogs

AND on they march, the forces of evil stopping at nothing to bring Israel down by crying wolf in a land of sheepdogs.

Yet their apartheid battle cry rings hollow and lacks credibility, coming from the mouths of indoctrinated zealots from lands lacking even the most basic of democratic principles.

From the trenches of Jordan sounded the triumphant rallying cry from the UN’s Rima Khalaf, who had made it her life’s calling

Who is going to pay for fire damage?

HOW many thousands of people are expected to pay to clean up the mess made as a result of the fire on March 24?

At our complex in Durban North, red tiled roofs are now black, walls, garage doors, windows and cars parked outside are covered with a thick black film. The swimming pools and plants have a grey, waxy layer over them.

I’m sure that there are more serious damage claims than ours, even health issues – let us hear some. Why should we, the public pay for this?

Is it possible to claim from the insurance of the company who were responsible for this fire? Any advice or comments will be welcome. Still cleaning. LA JUDD Durban North

Maimane represents future DA and SA

I’M SO pleased that someone else can see what the DA is up to.

It was, to me anyway, obvious that Western Cape Premier Helen Zille would never make this type of error in judgement, so to read that Imraan Buccus feels the same way was somewhat liberating.

The dilemma I have is that as much as I am attracted to the DA’s recent successes, I’m not convinced that the brand has evolved, and the old guard definitely don’t represent me.

However, Mmusi Maimane and the “new guard” very much do! So, as much as Zille’s motive may be part of some master plan, shouldn’t we shift focus to a longer term better case scenario – a strong opposition, a completely transformed modern party that represents the rates- and taxpayers of our country, run by a team that will “fake it until they make it”. BRADLEY PORTER

Morningside

Let us forgive and build our nation

LET me begin with a quotation: “There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it ill becomes us to speak ill of the rest of us.”

I stand for correction in the accuracy of this quotation (attributed to various people), but the point is true.

Apropos the Zille disaster when she uttered the most damaging words to the effect “that not all aspects of colonialism were bad”.

Can we honestly declare that there is no element of truth in the statement? Can we honestly deny that there was an iota of good in colonialism? Can we say that this dark period was not a fact of history?

Sadly for Zille, she omitted to juxtapose with her poorly judged statement the horror, the criminality, the abominable actions of worldwide colonialism that reduced humanity to slavery of the body as well as the mind.

This evil has left such damage that even today the remnants of this legacy persists.This is a truth that cannot be denied.

Allow me to shift to the focal point of this letter.

Let us hold hands. Let us forgive. Let us build a peaceful nation even in diversity that is culturally rich. to cry wolf, to prove Israel was an apartheid state. Her boss, however, instructed her to remove the report, grandiosely named “Israeli Practices towards the Palestinian people and the question of apartheid”, from the UN website.

She elected to resign, and in doing so thankfully rid the UN, and the world, of a biased voice it could do well without.

Despite its charter’s solemn affirmation of “the equal rights of men and women and of nations

May the God of our troubled universe help and guide us to realise this. R MUNISAMY Isipingo Hills

Youth league must change their ways

I AM astonished at the youth league march for jobs at the opening of the Ballito Junction Mall that turned violent as many of its members stormed through and broke the boom-gates to the rooftop parking area. It is alleged they hurled rocks at the new mall. Their behaviour is unfortunately very unbecoming.

ANCYL spokesperson Musa Zondi called on the private sector to empower youth through partnerships and business opportunities. Zondi talking of empowering the youth, which youth is he talking about?

When the youth behave in this way as they did at Ballito Junction Mall, who would want to go through partnerships and offer business opportunities?

Because of their behaviour, the private sector won’t want to have anything to do with them.

It is up to them to start taking stock of themselves – enough of this marching and showing no respect by destroying private property – this is unacceptable.

The youth must look for a new strategy that will appeal to and is acceptable to everyone. We are now in a new South Africa and the youth must also change in an orderly way.

The parent body – the ANC needs to rope in the ANCYL leaders and have a heart-to-heart talk over their large and small”, the UN is the home of singular mistreatment for one member state, Israel, whose commitment to equality can rival that of virtually any country.

The mistreatment of Israel manifests itself in several ways. A permanent Human Rights Council agenda item is dedicated to singling out Israel, alone among nations, for hostile scrutiny.

A UN “special rapporteur” is dedicated to publicising only Israel’s alleged faults and overtly intolerable behaviour. Their militant behaviour affect local business that provides jobs to many.

The ANCYL must stop dictating – they are not the government of the day. They can suggest, recommend and advise but not demand.

If they want to object by marching, let it be for a good reason, and they must do it in an orderly, respectable and responsible manner that does not cause disruption and violence. ISMAIL MOOLLA Umzinto

Spur behaviour was rooted in apartheid

UNFORTUNATELY, bullying, aggressive behaviour and cruelty were once again brought into the spotlight, in footage circulated on social media of a heated argument between a white man and a black woman at a Spur restaurant.

It was disgusting to see two adults behaving in the most inappropriate manner and hurling vulgarities in front of their own children and others.

Children are most likely to learn behaviour, values and swear words from people with whom they feel a connection with, such as their parents.

It is through this socialisation process that children learn what they need to know to be adults.

Apartheid systemised privileges, power, preconceptions and racism into one of the most successful social engineering projects of recent times.

Regrettably, the apartheid era mentality remains embedded in our promotes economic warfare against Israel.

If you repeat a big lie often enough and shout it loud enough, people will finally believe it, a persecutor of Jews once said, and he wrote a book to prove his maxim and justify his persecution.

To compare the state of Israel with the South African apartheid state is deceitful and belittles black suffering. Two very big differences will ensure that the two never measure up. First, in Israel, unlike in society and it urgently requires redress. The dismantling of racism is in the best interest of all who live in South Africa.

We need to build social movements that can dismantle racism, xenophobia, power privileges, nepotism and hate speech. MOHAMED SAEED

Pietermaritzburg,

Grants debacle a human rights issue

HUMAN Rights Day has come and gone with the usual rhetoric, praise for the men and women who laid down their lives at Sharpeville. Our president also mouthed some platitudes about human rights.

A human rights catastrophe was averted with the grants issue. Some 17 million people would have been without sustenance come April 1, because of a callous minister and equally unrepentant president.

Kudos must go to the Black Sash as they maintained in court that a minister was not doing her job. They took on Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini and the SA Social Security Agency and taught them a lesson in humility. Through the Black Sash’s action Dlamini has lost power in her department. She will be court supervised because of her incompetence.

It’s a pity the court couldn’t censure President Jacob Zuma for his role in this debacle. Praise must go to the Constitutional Court (Concourt). To see the Black Sash gogos at the Concourt when judgment was delivered was priceless. PAKS PAKIRIY Durban North South Africa, a democratic majority government governs the land.

Second, in Israel, again unlike in South Africa, it is the original indigenous population that rules and has been given a divine mandate to do so, and a worldly one since 1948.

Cry wolf all you can, but there comes a time when the world will realise that the wolf is a hoax and that there are nothing but sheep dogs herding the sheep. ROBERT DE NEEF

Howick

There was a time we hanged rapists in SA

THE horrendous crime of rape has become ever more common in South Africa as recent reported incidents reveal.

Over the years, there have been repeated reports of police officers not treating this horrible crime with the seriousness that is required. What is a damning indictment of the police is that an unnamed police station’s officer hearing a report from the victim did not record the incident.

Apparently, so that their station statistics show a downturn in the incidence of rape. Probably this is to suggest the SAPS are doing their job. There are regular reports of male police officers lacking a sense of care and willingness to get involved. This scenario is an encouragement to potential rapists or repeat rapists.

The penalties imposed on rapists by the courts do not appear to be curbing this hideous phenomenon in South Africa. Add to this the influence of the lingering elements of a patriarchal society which does not treat rape with the seriousness it demands.

These factors can be said to be at play in our police stations when rape is reported by a traumatised woman/girl. There was a time when rape led to hanging. The minimum penalty should be life imprisonment.

Why not castration? Maybe then potential rapists will have second thoughts. Currently nothing is discouraging rape. RON LEGG Hillcrest