1. PAGE 24 Monday, 30 May 2011
Comment
The columnists
African
dream is a
nightmare
WITH colonial
flags lowered in
African coun-
tries, we ush-
ered in a new
era of hope
and aspirations
and Africa Day
marked on May
25 every year
is expected
to be a day of
celebrating
the continent’s
achievements
of that free-
dom.
With Nigeria
it’s now 51 years since they got their independ-
ence, 49 years for Burundi, with Tanzania
enjoying freedom since 1964.
However, a walk through these countries is
a walk through poverty, corruption, tribalism
and political cronyism.
These are just few of the harvests found in
the granaries of self-governance in independ-
ent Africa. Historians and politicians remind
us that we fought for independence so that
we could shape, navigate and determine our
social, political and economic destiny.
What is not in dispute in history is that the
departure of colonial masters was the start of
Africa’s nightmare.
Many countries had coups or crises just
after independence. Uganda saw the overthrow
of the country’s founding father, president
Milton Obote by dictator Idi Amin. Angola
plunged into a 27-year civil war. Kenya had a
string of assassinations of prominent political
figures while Nigeria saw coup after coup, not
forgetting the bloody Biafra civil war led by
Ojukwu.
In Djibouti, a country whose only source of
income are a Coca-Cola plant and a French
naval base, you dare not discuss politics while
Ethiopia restricts the use of mobile phones and
camcorders. Ethiopia, Djibouti , Uganda and
Somali are failed states, and do not know the
meaning of free and fair elections.
Swaziland, Sierra Leone , Zambia , Malawi
and Zimbabwe, which are so passionate about
their independence, cannot pay salaries of
their police or meet other financial obligations.
As per the International Monetary Fund
report of 2010, nine African countries are
among the top 10 poorest nations in the world.
In 2000, Kenya, which is struggling with a
high rate of unemployment, spent a staggering
R12.6m for seminars in hotels to discuss how
to eradicate poverty.
Many years after independence, we are still
in search of elusive economic prosperity, politi-
cal stability and ideological road maps.
We still rig elections, kill one another and
practise tribalism.
While celebrating Africa Day, we should be
dispassionate and clear in our thinking, admit-
ting that we have failed to govern ourselves.
An economic giant like South Africa should
annex Zimbabwe and divide it into manageable
provinces. Swaziland and Lesotho should also
become part of South Africa.
For other African countries, the former
colonial masters should come back and recolo-
nise them by pledging allegiance to them in
the same way Canada, Australia, New Zealand
and Vanuatu pledge their allegiance to Britain.
The only thing we shall lose is our poverty,
backward economies and other miseries. Being
independent and in misery is never a source of
nationalism and patriotism.
Tiema Haji Muindi
village
corner
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Email your letter to letters@thenewage.co.za
<mailto:letters@thenewage.co.za> or fax to 011
314 2986. All letters should be short and to the
point and the Editor reserves the right to shorten
or edit letters that are too long and vague.
The AU simply
puppets
SIR,
THE African Union has found itself at sixes
and sevens with regard to the Libyan issue.
It has literally tied its hands and watched as
the US and its European allies take control of a
member state. It is shocking.
The AU is demonstrating to the world that
when theWest tells it to jump it can give the
best jump. How on earth a foreign army can
leave its own continent to go and bomb a
country on another continent which has its own
leadership body (AU) beats the best political
reasoning. This shows that the AU is useless.
The AU ought to have defended Libya with
everything it has, and later dealt with Gaddafi
and his government.We do not need to stand
and watch as African leaders are taken to The
Hague when by now we should be having our
own African court.
Pius Khumalo
Emndeni, Soweto
Educate, not condemn
SIR,
I am suspicious that the alarmist headlines
(TNA, May 25) of teenage girls using abortion
as a means of birth control and the state-
ments emanating from the Junior Doctors
Association are an attempt to curb the rights
to abortion.
They say that having an abortion is similar
to pulling out a tooth and if you can pull out
a tooth numerous times in your lifetime why
should a pregnant girl not be afforded the
right to abort her foetus as many times as she
wishes. The Junior Doctors Association don’t
complain about the frequent pulling out of
teeth.
The right to abortion was one that many
fought for against a repressive apartheid gov-
ernment.We will not allow the right to abortion
to be curtailed or limited in any manner.
This does not mean that I am against the
education of teenage girls and boys on the
importance of using contraceptives. If the
intention of the Juniors Doctors Association is
to merely educate without trying to curb the
rights to abortion, then I apologise, but there
are many religious doctors’ associations trying
to ban abortions.
The statistics provided by The New Age
indicate a failure by the education health au-
thorities in trying to convince our youth to the
benefits of using condoms and contraceptives.
Perhaps we can restart the process of educa-
tion and prevention by providing free condoms
in schools.
Fayzal,
Johannesburg Our councillor must act
SIR,
The councillor for Allandale in Midrand must
do the many things that need to be done.
We don’t have sports facilities or a com-
munity hall. Our kids are turning to bad acts
because there are no facilities for them. Street
lights erected last year have never been lit.
N Ndlovu
Allandale, Midrand
New struggle needed
SIR,
There is much need for elementary revolution-
ary change to the system of governance in our
country.
There is a need for revolutionary strength
to the ANC by the alliance partners to foster
unbroken ties of power to our people, Africans
in particular and blacks in general.
Our revolution needs to look into the class
struggles facing our people, informed by condi-
tions on the ground. The ground is fertile for
the ANC to advance the revolution by ensuring
that the working class hegemony is intensified.
This should ensure that our people become
themselves liberators from the class contradic-
tion that threatens their lives.
The many social needs of society can be
better fought for by society itself as members
of society are directly affected. Through revo-
lutionary struggle people will be freed from all
social ills affecting our communities.
Mmbengeni Takalani
Braamfontein, Johannesburg
Fighting crime
practically
A REPORT in this paper on Friday that
banks and police are using “bounty hunt-
ers” in their fight against bank robbers,
cash-in-transit heist syndicates and ATM
bombers should not come as a surprise
and should be welcomed. Crime is one of
our biggest issues and police shouldn’t be
expected to fight it alone.
A while ago, there were concerns when
stories surfaced about the police using
private security companies to guard police
stations. This makes sense because private
security firms are experts at protecting
buildings – a skill that the police might
not necessarily have. Most of the “bounty
hunters” are former detectives who have
extensive contacts in the underworld, built
up over many years.
Some of these detectives are seen as
“old guard” and moved on when the police
force started transforming to represent the
country’s demographics.
Maybe it’s time police took a serious look
at what their core business is and outsource
what is non-core. For instance, using civil-
ians to take down statements could free
more police to do “proper” police work.
How to contact us:
Tel : 011 542 1222
Fax : 011 314 2986
NEWS : news@thenewage.co.za
BUSINESS : business@thenewage.co.za
SPORT : sport@thenewage.co.za
OPINION : opinion@thenewage.co.za
LETTERS : letters@thenewage.co.za
LIFESTYLE : lifestyle@thenewage.co.za
ONLINE : online@thenewage.co.za
ARTS & CULTURE : arts@thenewage.co.za
Press Council:
The New Age is a member of the South African
Press Council and subscribes to the South African
Press Code, which calls for excellence in journalistic
practice and ethics, and reporting that is truthful,
accurate, fair and balanced. The South African
Press Council, the Press Ombudsman and appeals
panel are a self-regulatory mechanism set up by
the print media to provide impartial, expeditious
and cost-effective adjudication to settle disputes
between publications and the public. If you feel
The New Age does not live up to the code, you may
register a complaint with the Press Ombudsman.
Address: 2nd Floor, 7 St Davids’s Park, St David’s
Place, Parktown, 2193
Telephone: 011 484 3612/8
Fax: 011 484 3619
Email: ombudsman@presscouncil.org.za
Website: www.presscouncil.org.za
The New Age is published by TNA Media, 52 Lechwe Avenue,
Corporate Park South, Old Pretoria Main Rd, Midrand, Gaut-
eng, telephone 011-5421222; printed by CTP Newspapers
Cape, a division of CTP (Ltd), Boompies Street, Parow, 7500.
Tel: 021 929 6200; printed by Caxton Printers, 14 Wright
Street, Industria, Johannesburg, Gauteng. Tel: 011-2497000
Editorial
Sport heats
TV potatoes
INDOOR weather for most of the country
and an incredible sports line-up made this
a perfect weekend for couch potatoes.
A capacity crowd at Mbombela Stadium
witnessed the first soccer treble on Sat-
urday when a feisty Black Leopards team
made Orlando Pirates come from behind
to win the Nedbank Cup. The cup will take
its place in the Buccaneers’ trophy cabinet
next to this season’s Absa Premiership and
MTN8 trophies.
Later, Barcelona’s 3-1 Champions Cup tri-
umph over Manchester United was widely
described as sublime, with one newspaper
declaring “Barcelona touched the heavens”.
In KwaZulu-Natal yesterday, Zimba-
bwean Stephen Muzhingi was the first man
in 23 years to win the Comrades Marathon
three times on the trot, in the 86th run-
ning of the famous ultra-marathon. South
Africans filled seven of the top 10 places in
the men’s race, and four of the top 10 in the
women’s category. Nearly 20 000 partici-
pants entered.
In Super 15 rugby, the hopes of local
teams making the playoffs were bolstered
as the Sharks, Lions and Stormers all beat
overseas opponents. The only team to lose
were the Cheetahs, who went down to the
Bulls. In cricket, India’s MS Dhoni added
another trophy to his collection when he
steered the Chennai Super Kings to their
second Indian Premier League title in a row
with a 58-run thrashing of Royal Challeng-
ers Bangalore on Saturday. As captain,
Dhoni has also won the World Cup and last
year’s Champions League.
For petrol heads, , the Monte Carlo Grand
Prix provided the usual excitement while
just across the way, the world’s best tennis
players tirelessly pounded the red sands of
Roland Garros as the French Open reached
the halfway mark.
Finally, local soccer sensation Thulani
Serero of Ajax Cape Town was the toast of
the Absa Premiership Awards last night.
Let’s push back the
frontiers of evil
SAPS believe that effective policing needs the help of communities
police members are the
law enforcers of this country
and their presence shouldn’t
be regarded as a symbol of
brutality and hostility. It is
distressing to learn that 32
police members have been
killed since the beginnign of
2011, considering that the year
is only five months old. This
clearly indicates that the South
African Police Service (Saps)
is facing a crucial situation
that demands urgent attention.
The brutal murders that they
succumb to at the hands of
criminals raise questions about
their safety, particularly when
they are on the beat.
Numerous threats and dreadful actions
have been posed against dedicated policemen
and women for committing themselves to the
noble cause of securing the community.
Many of them have survived countless
shoot-outs with criminals, while others were
fatally wounded during the process of fighting
the scourge of crime.
Last month, Const Ronny Hlakule of Mid-
delburg, Mpumalanga, escaped with his life
after he untied himself following his enduring
hours of torture when he was kidnapped (off-
duty) by an unknown number of men. He was
the sixth police member to be attacked in that
province at the time.
In addition to the brutal slaying of WO
Gurswin Matthee and student Const Cannon
Cloete, in Wallacedene, Western Cape, as
well as the merciless killings
of Capt Sydney Hlengwa and
Const Zamikhaya Hlangulela
of KwaZulu-Natal, which all
happened in less than a week,
the country has experienced
many more gruesome killings
of our men and women in blue.
Mother’s Day this year had
no meaning to the eight-year-
old daughter of the late Const
Fihliwe Bengeza of Zonkizi-
zwe, near Thokoza. This brave
policewoman fell after she was
confronted by ruthless crimi-
nals who were not reluctant
to pull the trigger when she
responded to an ATM bomb-
ing. She had served her community for only
three months.
Alas, they all paid a high price for the firm
stand they took against crime. Consider-
ing that their attackers use lethal weapons,
including high calibre automatic rifles such as
AK-47s, R5s and land mines, to advance law-
lessness, the police must act decisively against
anyone who puts their lives and other people’s
safety in danger. However, that should not
condone brutality and trigger-happy policing.
Nor the minister of police, the national
commissioner or anybody in the entire police
management has encouraged the police to
“shoot to kill”.
Instead, they request that police should act
unapologetically against gun-toting criminals
who jeopardise the safety of the community
and police members themselves. Further-
more, they have emphasised that police should
always act within the parameters of the
decree.
This simply means that the police have
never declared a war with the community but
tightened screws in the fight against criminal-
ity and gun-wielding tormentors. The phrase
“shoot to kill” has been at the centre of many
shootings that involve police and it has been
over-emphasised by the media without provi-
sion of genuine facts. The media repeatedly
use the phrase as though they are advertising
or promoting a new product in the market.
Such an inappropriate communication has
diminished the seriousness and sensitivity of
the matter. It has also created confusion that
results in little understanding of the subject.
Therefore, the media fraternity should
be liable for inaccurate communication and
misleading information that has seriously
threatened the much needed positive and
trusting relationship between the police and
communites.
Frankly, many victories against crime were
attained as a result of public participation. It is
for this reason the Saps has frequently reiter-
ated its belief that effective policing is rooted
to the community – and that its doors are wide
open for anyone who is willing to take part in
turning the tide against crime.
It is an encouraging notion that when act-
ing together against crime, we will be able to
push back the frontiers of evil and squeeze the
criminal window down to zero.
Siphiwe Mahlangu is communication administration
officer at Saps Corporate Communications head office
in Pretoria
Siphiwe Mahlangu
Opinion