Opinions without context risk degenerating into diatribe. Western Cape University research fellow Ali Ridha Khan’s opinion piece on Tony Leon is a case in point (IOL, May 16).
Khan finds that Tony Leon’s life before 1994 disqualifies him for consideration as an ambassador to the US. Apparently, serving in the SA Defence Force and then subsequently becoming Leader of the Opposition on what Khan regards as a veiled racial slogan, namely ‘Fight Back,’ are mortal sins in his lexicon. Yet he fails to explain how Jacob Zuma saw merit in appointing Leon as Ambassador to Argentina in 2009.
Another roadblock for Khan is Tony Leon’s commitment to meritocracy. “Merit according to whom?” he challenges. But unable to contain his passionate intensity, he informs us that Leon’s idea of merit was merely a commitment to maintaining ‘privilege.’
Khan justifies that by citing Leon’s fierce opposition to the Employment Equity Act of 1998, which he denounced as “pernicious social engineering.” But if Khan put that standpoint in context, he would acknowledge that Tony Leon’s prescience has been realised by the realities that now prevail.
Unemployment has increased from 3,5 million to over 10 million; economic growth can scarcely muster one percent. The number of dependents on social grants has grown to 20 million, while the exodus of skilled minorities and institutional memory is evident in the decay and dysfunctionalism of the infrastructure. Even the IMF has urged that the practice of employment based on racial quotas be dismantled.
Ironically, the progeny of employment equity legislation, namely, B-BBEE, has bestowed privilege on a small black elite, making them uber wealthy at the expense of impoverishing the masses. Strangely, that reality seems to have eluded Khan’s radar.
Where Khan’s rant goes completely off the rails is when he blames Leon’s support for free enterprise and capitalist interests as being responsible for failing to alleviate poverty and inequality. If he factored context into his research, he would note that free enterprise has been stifled by B-BBEE, socialism, inflexible labour laws and job-killing regulations, to say nothing of corruption. Moreover, Khan fails to specify where policies that reject free enterprise have alleviated poverty and produced growing economies.
As for the beneficiaries of capitalism, Khan should tread carefully here because the richest capitalists in South Africa are black—starting with billionaire President Ramaphosa and his brother-in-law, Patrice Motsepe, who is worth in excess of R50 billion. There is not even one senior ANC member who is not a multi-millionaire.
Overall, Khan rests his case against Leon being considered as Ambassador to the US on the grounds that he is not neutral. Significantly, in terms of context, Khan did not rank neutrality as a prerequisite when he defended Hamas, supporting Ebrahim Rasool’s eligibility to serve as Ambassador to the US.
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