Are Jews grateful to Hitler for technology?
Staggered by skeletons
IAM a member in good standing of the DA, and am very disappointed in the leadership of the party on the issues we have raised countless times internally regarding the ill-treatment by racist whites of black people and gatekeeping tribalism.
We hear that Madam Helen Zille will be facing disciplinary processes regarding the racist utterances she tweeted.
This got me thinking as to why is it that more and more white racists within the DA keep surfacing on social media. It struck me that these are the issues we have been raising internally — and nothing gets done until one of them becomes public.
I believe I’m speaking for many when I say that I’m truly disappointed.
I wonder how Zille would feel if someone was to ask her to be grateful to Hitler and the Germans for the engineering technology the Jews are able to enjoy, ranging from motoring to other German intellectual property. — Mandla Nyaqela, Dobsonville
Fat cats lap up colonialism
WHY don’t politicians grow up and forget about using teen-type social media to disseminate their opinions?
However, Zille is right about the benefits of “colonialism”.
The Nguni people, including the Zulus and Xhosas, were nomadic colonists. They did not own or claim to own land. Europeans arrived in South Africa at almost the same time as the Nguni people. It took decades before the two groups knew about each other’s existence.
In 1856, “colonial” people saved the Xhosa from starvation.
The Xhosa had destroyed their own crops and cattle to fulfil a prophecy. The resultant famine reduced the Xhosa population from 105 000 to fewer than 27 000.
If the white “colonists” had not rallied to assist, the Xhosas might well have died out altogether in 1857. Today, Xhosas comprise nearly a fifth of the South African population.
White “colonial” influences on blacks include literacy, money, electricity, clothing, cellphones, cars, aircraft, et cetera. In fact, everything that the black fat cats in government possess is colonial in origin.
Stop living in the past and look to the future founded on the benefits of white expertise.
Panashe Chigumadzi, who wrote “Helen Zille and the myth of the White Saviour” (March 19), benefited from colonial influences in that she can read and write.
Perhaps she ought to read some actual history and not quote Wilbur Smith’s novels. Great Zimbabwe is NOT mentioned in the Bible! — Charles G Dyer, Cape Town
Deeply hurt by Zille’s tweet
WHAT worries me is that young minds look to Zille as a role model, only to see statements like the one on colonialism from her.
Colonialism has robbed us of our identity, land and wealth. Even today, black people are treated like animals because of it.
Some negative things the colonialists brought to destroy our nation were diseases and the Bible that scared us with stories of hell.
I am deeply hurt by the statement from a leader of Zille’s calibre. It is going to take generations to recover from the damage it caused to the mindset of our people. — Mzwandile aka Pepe Nkomombini, Zwide
Rebuild, despite the past
FOR many, the subject of colonialism creates a storm disproportionate to the great benefits it brought to Africa.
Education and health improved the living standards of the majority of those emerging from an Iron Age existence — those are the facts, however unpalatable.
The record of almost every emancipated country on the continent is a disgrace: human rights abuses, corruption on a grand scale and the neglect of the general population puts colonialism in a good light.
The ANC has followed the route of the other countries freed from the colonial yoke.
So let us focus on what is possible despite our past, build on where we are today, blend it with fresh thinking and exploit our potential so that we can reclaim our status as the boiler room of the continent. —SMillar, Albertsville
Racism hurts DA’s ambitions
THE DA leader’s anger, as reported in “[Mmusi] Maimane angry, A YEAR ago this month, Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini said: “All of us in the NEC [ANC national executive committee] have our smallanyana skeletons and we don’t want to take all skeletons out because hell will break loose.”
Now that the hell she feared is indeed breaking loose, one needs to focus on why she wants CPS to remain tied to her apron strings.
The ANC of loosening parts, clashing values and confusing public faces holds together only due to a vast network of patronage.
As more details of the Sassa-CPS saga surface, the “smallanyana skeletons” promise to be staggeringly large. — Farouk Cassim, Milnerton
Worthless apologies
HOW could Dlamini have her picture above the statement in the half-page advert by the Department of Social Development (March 19)? offended by tweet” (March 19), is justified.
Senior party members have made it a habit to turn to social media and deviate from the DA’s stance on racism and colonialism.
This is really hurting their party’s ambitions. — Fanga Frans Jood, Kuruman
A portrait v poverty
DEPUTY Police Minister Maggie Sotyu was upset Manguzi police station did not have her portrait (March 19) — but didn’t notice the broken furniture, cracked walls, lack of electricity and peeling paint.
She went on a rant about her portrait in a deeply impoverished area.
I think we need to close this Rogues’ Gallery division. — Ayesha Ranchod, Lenasia
Wiese is the real deal
TOO often so-called experts tell everyone how things should be done — despite having little or no practical experience, because their expertise is all theory.
That’s why I enjoyed Christo
Surely we should have read that she had resigned (or been fired), in the light of her condemnation by the Constitutional Court.
I am also tired of “unconditional apologies” by politicians who, by their subsequent behaviour, show they are not apologetic at all!
Will we ever see genuine, committed politicians serving the “people”, or is that wishful thinking? — Tony Kruger, Durban
Wiese’s advice to the government on how to fix the country in “We have excellent plans and advice — now let’s use them” (March 19).
He has an enviable track record in business and is a no-nonsense person, which of course will rub some people up the wrong way.
I owned a business for 35 years and for the past 10 was so drowned in all the red tape that I spent less and less time actually running the place.
Wiese did leave something out, however: the government and social commentators see business as the proverbial cash cow — regardless of size and field of trade.
Owning and running a business requires sacrifice, hard work and never taking your eye off the ball. This message needs to be emphasised, not glamorised. — Tony Ball, Pinetown