Letters to the Editor | 9 June 2007

Malan is an anti-racist

Sir: As a South African liberal, I regard both Rian Malan and Ken Owen with the highest affection and respect. However, Owen is completely wrong and Malan completely right in the matter of the South African government’s approach to Robert Mugabe. Owen is talking nonsense when (Letters, 2 June) he suggests opponent’s of Mbeki’s ‘quiet diplomacy’ towards Mugabe want an invasion of Zimbabwe such as ‘the Anglo-American intervention in Iraq’.

What they actually want of the South African government is two things. First, when Mugabe rigs elections, please stop praising them as free and fair — as the South African government always does. Second, when Mugabe murders, terrorises, tortures, oppresses and impoverishes millions of ordinary black Zimbabweans, please just say, ‘We condemn that’ — in exactly the same way as the South African government condemns the actions of Israel and condemned the US government’s response to Hurricane Katrina.