It is well-known that many of those who inhabit ivory towers see the world through tinted lenses. University of the Western Cape research fellow Ali Ridha Khan’s dismissal of Afriforum’s exposure of the vulnerability of minorities as “imagined existential threats” (IOL, April 10) is a case in point.
Given his globalist moorings, Khan disparages what he calls “white nationalist posturing”, which projects “an image of white victimhood” and which seeks “a return to lost glory.” In short, he discards Afriforum and President Trump’s involvement in this subject as a “tragicomic farce” based on “stupidity.”
Among the various sources he cites is George Orwell’s profound statement that “political language is not meant to reveal truth but to conceal it.” If Khan removed his tinted lenses, he would see that there is nothing concealed about the laws, regulations, statements and exhortations which threaten minorities in South Africa.
* How does Khan step around the index of 142 racially discriminatory laws and regulations?
* How does he fail to recognise the concealed truth in the Expropriation Act?
* How does he fail to join the dots from 1998, when the Employment Equity was first passed, to its tightening up in 2003 as B-BBEE?
* How does he not see individuals of merit being discriminated against and disadvantaged because they belong to a minority group?
* How does he dismiss the application of racial discrimination within the fabric of society – business, employment, university admissions – as not being reverse discrimination?
He dismisses Afriforum’s case as a “stupendous folly” based on an “interplay of ideology and emotion.” But if he ditched the globalist jargon, he would see that Afriforum’s case is built on historical records, legal developments and empirical evidence.
Why is Khan silent on the archived exhortation of Paul Mashitile, stating that property will be expropriated without compensation? What about Julius Malema’s promise to slaughter whites and kill farmers? What about MKP member Andile Mngxitima’s undertaking to kill five whites for every black victim?
It is ironic that in concluding his harangue, Khan looks forward to a “society where the voice of reason triumphs over the siren of unreason.” If he reconsidered his case, he would see that it is not on the side of reason.
Duncan Du Bois I Durban