"Africans manage poverty while others wealth!" - SA has hope for change, Zimbabwe none N Garikai

Dear Lindiwe Sisulu

Your article in Bulawayo 24 “Hi Mzansi, have we seen justice?” was a good read. It raised many important questions that demand serious debate, even if there are no ease answers. Thank you!

As a black Zimbabwean, I would say Robert Mugabe, if he was alive today, would have taken great comfort from this article because he has taken back the land from the whites and did a number of things you are arguing black ruled South Africa must do.

 “Their (white colonialists) purpose was rooted in the philosophy of white supremacy and entitlement to everything, including the bodies of those they falsely believed to be inferior. It was simply to take and colonise and defend, for kith and kin. It was about power. Economic power, political power, military power, and social power.”

The purpose of Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies was to seize political power and to loot the nation’s wealth.

Nelson Mandela has been heavily criticised for failing to give back the land to blacks and end black poverty; the criticism is founded if one considers that these economic realities are true. I would argue that Mandela did not end black poverty but he did the next best thing- he created democratic South Africa in which every black have a voice.

As long as SA remains a healthy and functioning democracy, in which people like Ms Sisulu has the opportunity to express their views and there is open and vigorous debate, the country has the opportunity to address its problems in a rational and systematic way. A luxury a country like Zimbabwe was denied by Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies.

Nelson Mandela’s legacy for SA was to make sure the country had a democracy constitution and strong and independent democratic institutions. The same solid democratic foundation that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and others gifted America.

“In our beloved South Africa, a new constitution in 1994 and the rule of law took on a new lofty meaning after the deck had been heavily stacked against the victims of the "rule of law." It was a new dispensation of justice after centuries of a vicious oppression of the indigenous of the land by invaders. But what has this beautiful constitution done for the victims except as a palliative (Panadol)?” argued Ms Sisulu.

“But it seems today we have legitimised wrongdoing under the umbrella of the rule of law. Many years down the line, Africans manage poverty while others manage wealth.”

America started a half free and half slave but the country’s democratic constitution has served them well. SA has started half rich and half poor, one hopes its democratic constitution will serve it well too. As for Zimbabwe we started with no democratic constitution, we are a house without a foundation, are in deep, deep trouble.

Once again, thank you my sister for the thought-provoking article.

Nomusa.