You can't say that! Now the shoe's on the other foot

Letters to the editor

How can this be an ethical war/struggle

Sir,

I categorically condemn the heinous bloodshed in Delhi (November 10) and Islamabad (November 11) as utterly reprehensible.

The loss of innocent lives and assaults on democracy are inherently malevolent, regardless of who bears responsibility or what underlying causes precipitated the outrage.

Perhaps, if a just cause is pleaded, international conventions analogous to the law of war should obligate perpetrators to issue warning notices of their intentions, affording authorities sufficient time to safeguard innocent lives by evacuating civilians from harm’s way.

Label me as naïve or with whatever pejoratives you are inclined to, but sparing innocent civilians, who are going about their daily lives, from stress and fear, in the interest of their well being and dignity, is paramount in a civilisational context.

Gandhi and Jinnah, the revered fathers of their countries, are weeping for the evil and abomination of late, which must not rouse the monsters lurking about with evil intentions and agitate the dogs of war, engulfing both countries and filling them with terrible resolve. | Saber Ahmed Jazbhay Newlands West

Let’s all stop judging, and make SA great

Sir

I am writing to share some reflections on the state of social relations in South Africa today.

I was born in 1980 and raised in a Christian home where my parents instilled in us the importance of loving and respecting all human beings. We were taught the “fruits of the Spirit” from a very young age.Now, in 2025, I find it truly disheartening and embarrassing as a nation that so many South Africans are still judging each other based on colour.

Witnessing this prejudice, whether on the news or in public spaces, feels like a failure of upbringing. Those of us who are 45 and younger should not be perpetuating discussions of race and colour in this divisive way, as we did not directly experience the atrocities of the past. While our elders (the gogos and babas) who lived through those times are often the most humble and forgiving – and have no issue connecting with people of different backgrounds – the current climate is troubling. To be honest, as a white man (mlungu), I am embarrassed by the actions of the past and the resulting divisions today.We seriously need to re-examine the moral principles we are teaching our youth. Why must everything revolve around colour?

We are all human, we are all flawed, and we have all made mistakes. Only God has the right to judge. All South Africans need to stop creating division and instead focus on being respectful and kind. With that mindset, South Africa would be unstoppable.

My greatest heroes are the elders who lived through those times, and men like Nelson Mandela. His choice to forgive – to turn the other cheek – is the difference between living in the past and building a future. This is what instills respect, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.

I believe that if we have the right mindset, everything else falls into place. We need to focus on prosperity and harmony.

We must support one another and choose positive action over negative assumption. If you see injustice, you must speak up.Finally,

I feel strongly that we need to protect our women. To the men who think it is acceptable to raise a hand to a woman: that is the act of a weak coward. Men should be utterly ashamed of this behaviour. We must stand up for one another and instil goodness, regardless of the situation.

Our future leaders need a foundational platform of equality and sustainability, not constant preaching about how bad the past was. We need to focus on the positive and grow a future where we do what is right, guided by principles of respect and kindness. | Kev zn

This Muslim mayor is a threat to us all

New Yorkers elected Zohran Mamdani, an openly anti-semitic Islamist and socialist to be their mayor. This does not bode well for the city that was attacked on 9/11, nor for the rest of us.

He was endorsed by Barak Obama, the president who brought the Muslim Brotherhood into his administration.

The West has been under assault since 1928, when Hassan al-Banna formed the Brotherhood in Egypt. Its aim is to replace infidel societies with a caliphate. Its headquarters are in Qatar, whose royal family is closely associated with the Mamdani family.

Israel, the “Small Satan”, blocks the way to the “Great Satan”, America.

Gazans swarmed and ravished southern Israel on October 7, 2023. 40 000 dormant web-sites sprung into action. Propaganda, flags, placards and tents appeared on campuses the day after.

The organisations behind these radicals are intact. There are sleeper-cells everywhere, awaiting instruction.

Mamdani’s election will embolden those planning our demise. | Len Bennett Ottawa, Canada

Who is accountable for atrocities?

After watching The Last Days of Adolf Eichmann on YouTube, I was reminded of uncomfortable but enduring truths about responsibility for mass atrocities.The first is that perpetrators of genocide, whether architects or operators, are often pursued across borders. Eichmann’s arrest in Argentina proved that geographical distance does not erase accountability. The Genocide Convention, shaped directly by the horrors of the Holocaust, made it clear that, “I was only obeying orders” cannot be a defence for crimes against humanity.

Yet even those principles have limits. While justice may catch high-level strategists, many lesser actors – those that make a system function – often pass escape sanction. This raises a moral question: Where does responsibility begin and end in a hierarchy? If a president issues an order, a minister refines it, a department signs it off, and a low-level worker finally executes it, who bears the weight of the outcome when things go wrong? The chain is long, but accountability cannot disappear simply because it is shared.

Late Palestinian leader Yahya Sinwar wrote that even an Israeli soldier who abuses civilians may defend himself, saying: “I am only doing my job. Disobeying means no food for my family”. It is a tragic and familiar refrain heard in many conflicts: Personal survival set against moral responsibility.

An even deeper complication arises when political leaders frame their decisions as religious imperatives. When a prime minister claims to act under scriptural instruction the question becomes even more troubling.

If leaders invoke divine authority, where does human accountability live? | Ebrahim Essa Durban

Trump’s lies laid bare

Sir/Ma’am,

Many Ukrainians now carry dog biscuits in their pockets – so that if they’re trapped beneath the rubble of Russian bombings, rescue dogs might find them. Is this the way to live while Western allies pontificate and posture, merely tut-tutting at Putin’s illegal, murderous war?

And where is the self-styled “Master of the Universe,” Donald Trump – the so-called peacemaker – as Ukraine burns? Where was he when Gaza was levelled under Benjamin Netanyahu’s watch and the Israeli Knesset’s silence? Gaza’s child amputees already exceed any war in modern history – and Trump was nowhere to be found.

His claim of “brokering peace” in Gaza rings hollow; it is far too little, far too late. Now, he is accused of authorising the killing of 76 Venezuelan sailors without trial or proof – acting on questionable intelligence reports. Are these the same kind of “intelligence” briefings that once alleged white farmers in South Africa were being massacred and dispossessed – fabrications pushed by shadowy movements?

Where are the Western allies while Trump meddles in global affairs, acting with impunity on disinformation and deceit? He has divided the US, demonised Democrats, and vilified anyone who dares oppose him.

Democrat Gavin Newsom must now step up and confront this dangerous narrative before America’s midterm elections. If not, Trump’s corrosive influence may yet finish what it started – the slow unravelling of the US itself. | Colin Bosman Newlands

You can’t say that!

The Editor,

I refer to the letter, SA Golfing Great Gary Player Was No Hero, by Ebrahin Essa.

In his letter, he insinuates that white South Africans behave like monkeys. Surely, under the Constitution, such inflammatory statements cannot be acceptable.

I recall that some years ago, a lady, I think from the South Coast, had to appear in court when she referred to “Blacks behaving like monkeys": | Kevin Meineke Summerveld

No new ANC face can salvage South Africa

Speculation about who might succeed Ramaphosa and halt the ANC’s decline reflects shallow thinking when the real issue is the party’s devotion to the historically discredited Marxist National Democratic Revolution (NDR).

No matter who replaces Ramaphosa, as long as the ANC clings to the NDR, South Africa will continue sliding toward failed state status. Motlanthe and Mbeki may offer a more palatable face, but both have long endorsed the NDR and BEE.

Given daily revelations of fraud, theft, nepotism, and dysfunction by ANC figures, the idea that a new leader can restore the party’s dignity defies logic. Nor has the ANC changed since Oliver Tambo’s era in exile, when it was bankrolled by Western sympathisers and armed by communist allies. Today, having captured the state, the ANC freely exploits its resources while driving the economy deeper into debt.

“Liberation” and “delivery” – slogans since 1994 – have merely meant enriching the politically connected at the expense of those duped by empty promises. Disappointment over the ANC’s failure to learn from its past reflects willful ignorance.

Marxist socialism inevitably impoverishes because it wages war against free enterprise while clinging to the falsehood that governments create wealth. The fact that unemployment has tripled since 1994 says it all.

The ANC’s political dividends of 1994 have long been squandered. The time has come for it to join the political cemetery of failed parties – the National Party and the United Party. Only an alliance of parties committed to free enterprise and opposed to globalist ideology can rescue South Africa. | Duncan du Bois Bluff

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