Putting on the right emphasis

TWEETS by Helen Zille about current benefits in use from colonialist times have attracted strong comments and condemnation.

The descendants of those who lived through colonial times – and older people still alive – including the apartheid era in South Africa, are only too well aware of the trauma caused by the colonialists.

We have got our emphasis quite wrong, including myself, although I had other thoughts at the back of my mind. Whatever developments the colonialists carried out were entirely for their own benefit, not that of the indigenous populations. The fact is that, once colonialism had become an unacceptable means to exploit what were considered to be Third World countries at the time were now all developing countries.

When the colonialists decided that it was time to leave, there would have been no point in wasting time and effort destroying whatever developments they had constructed, etc, but leave them for the indigenous populations to take over for their own use. So, whatever aspects of progress that emanated from colonial times in South Africa which remain useful, now, were originally developed entirely for the benefit of the colonialists.

So I trust that, providing we put the right emphasis with our future comments on these colonial developments, which present populations are able to take advantage of, those of you currently severely criticising us will accept our better understanding in our choice of words and emphasis in future. I also trust that the DA committee which is intending to question Helen Zille on her tweets will place emphasis on this aspect of the current use of colonial developments, too. MIKE THURGOOD Milnerton