‘Afrophobia’ argument insults the poor

THE article by Professor Rothney Tshaka, “Hating the African ‘other’ is rooted in history of slavery” (November 27), refers. The professor has spent a lot of time researching what he calls “Afrophobia” when common sense would have sufficed.

Many leaders, including Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, have raised the fact that poverty dehumanises people. A lot of people simply do not understand what this means.

The brutal murder of African migrants is exactly what “dehumanising poverty” means. The conflict is nothing more than the poor fighting over the crumbs falling from the master’s table.

It hurts me deeply when people with their stomachs full of bacon, pork sausages and scrambled eggs insult poor people by calling them xenophobic and Afrophobic.

You can insult poor people in order to suppress their opinions all you like; this problem will only be solved when we really feel the pain of others.

At the dawn of democracy, poor people were excited that their lives would change for the better, only to find themselves caught up in a flood of migrants fleeing poverty in their own countries.

When Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Namibia attained their freedom, no economic migrants from South Africa flooded those countries in search of greener pastures. The people of South Africa stayed in the country and faced the apartheid government.

If the African countries from which these migrants come were better run, no migrants would have been killed in this country. It is no longer acceptable for the governments of African countries, including South Africa, to blame colonialism for the poor state their countries are in.

Professor Tshaka states that white migrants are not subjected to the same treatment by locals. But white migrants do not compete for the same meagre resources.

The same applies to highly skilled African migrants: doctors, engineers and accountants. They live in the suburbs, provide much-needed skills and there is no competition between them and the poor.

Stop insulting the poor. Try to walk a mile in their shoes before you point a finger! — Fakazile Nkabinde, Roodepoort

Good night, Comandante

THE death of Fidel Castro chilled the heart of many a revolutionary. He was a fighter who lived and died for his beliefs.

Africans — South Africa in particular — benefited a lot from Cuba, and the late Nelson Mandela didn’t hesitate to tell the whole world of his love for this icon.

Good night, Comandante — you were the last of a dying breed. — Frans Jood, Kuruman

Put engineers in charge

PETER Bruce often writes a good piece, but he was out of his depth when writing about engineering in “Vaulting Eskom ambition runs into reality” (November 27).

When Eskom was run by technocrats (engineers), we had sufficient reserves and a long-term plan.

That was scuttled when the politicians took over.

During the 1970s and ’80s, Eskom built its own power stations because it knew it had the capacity to do so.

Twenty years later, with this capacity lost to attrition and with Eskom controlled by politicians, it still attempted to do this itself, hence the excesses at Medupi and Kusile.

The headlong rush into nuclear was driven by politicians with agendas. Now that the integrated resource plan — largely an engineering document — is back on the table, hopefully sanity will prevail.

Engineers are quite capable of distilling the options between wind, solar, nuclear, fossil fuel based on facts and without the second agenda politicians succumb to.

It is politicians who should get the boot and permit the engineers to bring our future power generation requirements back to reality. — Peter Vlietstra, Randburg

Good news at last

TWO things stood out for me this week. First, we were not downgraded to junk status thanks to the steadfast Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan and his team.

Second, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital was officially opened. Thanks for the hospital, Ms Machel and all other role-players involved. — Othafa Odinga, Stilfontein

ANC will count Zuma cost

THE shame that President Jacob Zuma has brought to South Africa worsens every day.

Members of the ANC’s national executive committee appear not to be concerned about the character of an irresponsible leader, but the effect is felt by the public.

The utterance by the president that he knows who the real thieves stealing from the public purse are without naming them was reckless.

Zuma has survived endless scandals by diverting attention each time he is cornered.

His statement that former public protector Thuli Madonsela didn’t give him time to answer the allegations levelled against him in the state capture report has been proved to be untrue. Now he is arguing that it was unlawful to be recorded without his knowledge.

The ANC seems not to care that he dents the image of the party, which deployed such a questionable character.

Where is the truth in his statement that he chopped former minister of finance Nhlanhla Nene from the cabinet because he had earmarked him for a Brics bank position?

That was another questionable statement that was not challenged by the ANC or the cabinet. Were we deceived?

The ANC gave the country a liability and it will be punished in 2019 for something it could have avoided.

Let the ANC make peace with the fact that having Zuma hold the presidency means fighting personal battles. South Africa’s interests are of no concern to Zuma. — Phaswana Rofhiwa, Thohoyandou