It is our duty to fight corruption

NO AMOUNT of spin-doctoring can do justice to the utterances of King Goodwill Zwelithini. Praising the system that reduced his subjects to hewers of wood and drawers of water, a system that deprived his subjects of citizenship and reduced them to foreigners in their own fatherland, is not only insensitive but inconsiderate as well.

To say that the Boers respected him is tantamount to saying you can disrespect my subjects as much as you like, but as long as you respect me it’s okay. To praise the system that was universally declared a crime against humanity is mischievous, to say the least. To praise the might of the army that was designed to keep every black man, including your subjects, in bondage is insensitive and ridiculous.

It is well documented that the might of that army was used to eliminate all those who yearned for social justice and democracy. The might of that army was used to eliminate black people, most of them your subjects, through cross-border raids and in the townships.

The economy His Majesty is boasting about was the sweat and blood of our forefathers, most of whom died in poverty, servitude and bondage.

We cannot correct the wrongs of today by yearning for and praising the wrongs of yesterday. We have a moral duty and responsibility to consolidate and safeguard our democratic gains by fighting corruption and other social ills that are manifesting themselves daily in our socio-political sphere.

Ntuzuma, KwaZulu-Natal

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