Readers’ Views Madiba and the media: we all have an interest in his health
REGARDING Redi Tlhabi’s “An open letter to a daughter of Mandela” (June 30): Nelson Mandela does not belong only to the Mandela family. I think it’s about time the family take this into consideration and behave, especially Makaziwe Mandela. In my mind, comparing Margaret Thatcher to Mandela is an insult to the entire South African nation. If Makaziwe was talking on behalf of the family or herself, I’m sorry to say that I do not think she was talking about the Mandela we all know — the freedom fighter, the peacemaker, the father of our nation.
When my little daughter enjoys all the fruits of freedom, she should know that the hero among many heroes who fought for the nation to live free regardless of colour of a skin or shape of a nose or colour of hair is Nelson Mandela.
The media should report about Mandela
until his last breath, if need be. — Spha
Mzobe, by e-mail
Media let us know him TLHABI is spot-on in her open letter. Without the same media that have followed Madiba throughout his political life, I am sorry to bluntly say that we wouldn’t love and respect him as much as we do, simply because we wouldn’t be well informed about his great work. — Lunga
Tshabalala, by e-mail
Insensitive journalist REDI, the only thing I agree with in your letter is the opening remark that says “I cannot imagine what you are going through”. The rest smacks of an insensitive journalist who wants to justify why she needs to get the story at all costs. So please just back off and give the family (and Madiba) the privacy, space and dignity they and he deserve.— CP, by
SMS
Behind him all the way SPEAKING of vultures, oh please, Makaziwe, look in the mirror and see who is the real vulture. We never heard about you until you started fighting for your dad’s wealth. Our journalists were at the doors of the prison when your dad came out and behind him when he took his seat as president. Were they vultures then? You are so racist and ignorant. You must apologise to our media. — Andrew
Mtuedwa, by e-mail
Father of the nation MAKAZIWE needs to understand that although Madiba is her father by blood, he is also the father of a nation that respects him, that is forever grateful to him for fighting to spare its blood and loves him as its own “dad”.— Juan-Martin Jordt, by
MTN heeded the call, is all YOUR article, “MTN pays for AU chief’s Ethiopia furniture” (June 30), refers. As MTN, we are aggrieved by the seemingly concerted effort by your publication to paint MTN as a corrupt and unethical company. We find the sentiment expressed in the article slanderous and malicious.
For example, for the Sunday Times to suggest that, as a company, MTN “woos officials in a bid to penetrate new markets” is offensive and mischievous.
We expected a publication of your standing to establish which governments, companies and individuals — African or otherwise — contributed to the sustenance of the African Union and its programmes, including the building of Africa House — its headquarters in Addis Ababa.
MTN wishes to reiterate that the reasons it agreed to furnish the house of the AU chairperson are historical. AU member states voluntarily contributed to the building of Africa House in the late 1990s. South Africa furnished the house. When the current chairperson took office, the house had not been refurbished for more than a decade. MTN heeded the call of the South African government for South Africans to support the new AU Commission chairwoman, Dr Nkosazana DlaminiZuma, with furnishings. Her historic election is a major success for South African foreign policy.
As a responsible corporate citizen and a proud global African company, MTN is doing its part to support the AU and its chairperson. Like the South African government, we believe that the implementation of the African agenda requires support from Africans in all sectors of society, including business. The AU already gets support from other countries and businesses under the umbrella of cooperating partners. MTN's contribution is therefore not unusual, unique or different. — Paul Norman, MTN group chief of human resources and corporate affairs officer
Where power lies JUSTICE Edwin Cameron, in “Constitution holding steady in the storm” (June 30), attributes to me opinions I do not hold and brackets me with RW Johnson, with whom I have almost nothing in common. Perhaps he does not understand my two criticisms of the constitution.
The more important one is that the electoral system permits voters only to endorse en bloc the candidates selected by party bosses. The consequence is that legislators are answerable not to the voters, but to the party bosses who similarly predetermine the choice of president, “deploy” the party faithful to run the civil service, appoint judges who find it wiser to sing the praises of the constitution than to examine its defects, and so forth. With all three branches of government thus subverted, real power is contested in the party hierarchy, secretly, and has entailed notorious misuse of state resources, police and secret services. To call this democracy is to strip the word of meaning.
My second criticism is less self-evident, but I can sum it up by saying the constitution tends to perpetuate the unscientific racial categorisations of apartheid. One consequence is the skewed appointment of judges, against which white lawyers now flap their broken wings.
Both these criticisms are rooted in the “populist” belief that all people are created equal, which is the foundation of all human rights. — Ken Owen, by e-mail
The numbers game REGARDING “Domingo demands Proteas dominate” (June 30), Telford Vice is quite correct in stating that the Proteas have the highest winning percentage, 64.21%. I think that one should be careful with these statistics. They can create the impression that we should expect more from them, perhaps more than is fair. It would be more accurate to assess the strength of the Proteas based on percentages that disregard all the games against the lesser nations, that is, just taking into account the games between the top eight teams. Using those figures, South Africa drop to 56.87% and Australia become the leaders with 61.35%. Using the same sample, they’ve only won 54.10% of their games with Graeme Smith as captain and 52.17% with AB de Villiers at the helm. In fact, the only captain to average above 60% wins against the top teams was Hansie Cronje, with 69.92%.
Looking at those figures, we should not expect the Proteas to win much more than half their games against the top eight teams. — Etienne Delport, Walmer
Nothing new in prejudice GREAT article, Buhle Zuma, on living together and apart, “Living together but staying firmly apart” (June 30).
I was at Wits University in the ’60s and the same existed between students from white English and white Afrikaans backgrounds. Our white schools and cultures were kept segregated. At university we first met, but we could not mix socially. It had to do with being brought up in a homogeneous cultural environment. A fear of the unknown results in prejudice. — Stefano, by SMS
Sticking to their own kind ZUMA’s findings are not wrong. Since time immemorial, people have formed friendships with those who look and sound like they do. This has nothing to do with the fact that they were born after apartheid, or that they happen to be university students. It’s perfectly natural.
There’s just one bit that worries me. Why should racially homogeneous friendships be deemed “undesirable voluntary associations”? When we see a group of young — or not so young — black people socialising, we do not think that there is something unhealthy about their group because it does not include any whites, coloureds or Indians.
The key to a more harmonious and tolerant society is letting people find each other. — Percival Adoons Bongani Naidoo, Cape Town
Who will clean up the mess? REGARDING Mondli Makhanya’s “When the whiff of revolution starts getting up people’s noses” (June 30), do these individuals stop and think who is going to clean this mess once their mission is accomplished? Do they know that their mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters employed as cleaners will be cleaning their mess? — Ezekiel Semono, by e-mail