‘Uncouth’ envoy’s protestations are all too familiar

“Diva envoy’s LA bust-up” (November 1), concerning SA’s “top diplomat in the US west coast city of Los Angeles”, will be another source of anxiety for taxpayers in our country.

Apparently Thandile Sunduza, the

South African consul-general, has made demands that have irked landlords in LA. She has also been accused of being “uncouth”.

In a letter to a parliamentary committee, Sunduza says senior consular official Shadrack Nepfumbada “wanted to destroy me, sabotage, frustrate me and make me fail”.

This plaintive cry is frequently uttered by ANC government officials who underachieve in their positions.

Our country’s consul-general writes further in her complaint against Nepfumbada: “It’s a high level of insult. And were recently sick with my daughter. If no action is taken then it gives me liberty for a lawsuit, health conditions are bad. I’m not here for luxury but dignity is what I expect from a Person representing the PRESIDENT.” (sic)

This puerile drivel from SA’s “top diplomat” demonstrates her incompetence and unsuitability for this job.

Moreover, her appointment by the government also illustrates its lack of comprehension of what the job entails.

With all the ANC government’s failures since 1994, people ought not to be surprised by this.

Nathan Cheiman, Northcliff

Fear of Islam impossible to justify The statement by President Emmanuel Macron of France that Islam is in crisis is a political absurdity of the highest magnitude. Globally, Muslims are totally united against any form of terrorism. Islam unreservedly condemns it.

When one examines the West’s fear of Islam and tries to relate it to the reasons usually given — Muslim fundamentalism, militancy, radicalism, terrorism, totalitarianism — it is difficult, if not impossible, to justify. One has to believe, however, given all the facts and expertise available to the West, that the fear has to be rational. What is this fear that causes enemies of the Muslim world to play subtly on the theme of the Crusades in order to demonise Islam and Muslims?

With the end of the Cold War decades ago, New World Order strategists urged the West to prepare for a long struggle against “radical” Islam. But Islam is neither a threat to the West nor a united political phenomenon.

The post-9/11 world and ensuing “war on terror” provided the New World Order warlords with an opportunity to settle on a new potential bogeyman. It is Islam or the green peril. When talking about threats to the US it is hard not to think about the two planes slamming into the World Trade Center and the subsequent war on terror.

With the Soviet Union gone, the West has found its new bogeyman or antagonist of democracy, the Islamic world.

Take a bow, Oyama Mabandla

Bravo, Oyama Mabandla! Here’s a man who puts words to paper that fly off the page. Mabandla’s Insight piece, “The Sisterhood for Biden” (November 1), is a masterpiece of impeccably selected expression, a gem of exceptional clarity and understanding. Mabandla is a master of clear, concise communication.

Please, make me a happy Sunday Times reader by asking Mr Mabandla to be a regular Insight contributor.

Bill Constantine B Gen USAF (Ret), Oranjezicht

Safe drivers, you are on your own

I am often amazed and dismayed by the blether given as answers by Chris Barron’s “guests” on Q&A. The replies of Kaine Monyepao, deputy registrar of the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (November 1), were no exception. Here is another government functionary who has no idea what he is talking about, except, of course, when it comes to how to fund his empire.

The past decade was the UN and SA’s Decade of Road Safety. It was an unmitigated disaster, with more people killed and injured and more aggressive exchanges between drivers than in any previous decade. The road safety tsar’s pipe dream is to reduce road fatalities by 50% by 2030! Pull the other one.

Unless there is a sea change in the road safety authorities’ attitudes, planning, proactive policing, willingness to innovate and focused implementation, South African drivers will continue their slaughter. Writing to the authorities, meeting with them, pleading with them to use an innovative, actionable, data-based driver behaviour tool that will enable them to identify individual high-risk drivers and groups are completely ignored, even though this is an SA-developed world first.

You are on your own, low-risk drivers; all the authorities want is to rake in the shekels via Aarto while the high-risk and high-medium-risk drivers run riot.

Nothing will change with the present lot in charge of road safety and the road ordinance, except the cost of motoring. Keith Cunningham, Clansthal, KwaZulu-Natal

A funny kind of freedom

I have always enjoyed Barney Mthombothi’s column and was disappointed in his opinion in last Sunday’s paper. He writes: “John Vorster sold Rhodesian leader Ian Smith down the river to ingratiate himself with the Americans (which is a fact) — a decision that ‘thankfully’ ultimately led to a free Zimbabwe.”

My question is what his definition of “free” is. Does he think it means Mugabe and Zanu-PF were free to slay 20,000 Ndebele tribesmen during the Gukurahundi, to ruin agriculture and to turn a thriving country into a basket case? Patrick Walsh, Wilderness

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