Comments on: Manto’s gone, so what?

By: Nick Bee

Nick Bee — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:46:19 +0000

Nice on again Gavin! Now can we educate a few readers on the subjects of objectivety and balanced journalism?

By: Womba

Womba — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:03:52 +0000

Match is one of these dreamers who thinks that having a black skin acts like a magic force-field to shield you from any criticism penned or spoken by a white person.

Here’s a newsflash, Match: just as what blacks are allowed (and are actively encouraged) to criticise whites, so too are whites allowed to criticise blacks.

No, they do NOT have to get your permission first. It’s a revolutionary concept called “free speech”.

By: Thando

Thando — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:17:24 +0000

insensitivity by the previously advantaged minors is coming to an end, the day we unite and forget the lessons of Mandela is near. The statements made by these people are the reasons conciliation is such a hard pill to swallow and why the majority are. listening to people like Julius Malema. Nobody is saying you should glorify the woman, just shut up if you don’t have anything nice to say. I didn’t particularly like the woman or her policies but you’re not going to catch me doing the jig on her gravestone!

By: Rory

Rory — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 07:47:53 +0000

Manto’s behaviour in life has had fatal consequences for hundreds of thousands of people whom she never even met! They suffered more and died sooner than they would have done if Manto/Mbeki had taken a rational view of the effectiveness of AZT and ARVs.

The real issue for both Manto and Mbeki was that the drugs came from ‘European’ pharmaceutical companies. These companies were ‘white’ in that they weren’t African in origin. Never mind that their research and development people came from all over the globe.

M&M were using HIV/AIDS as a political stick to beat the ‘white capitalists’ with. Never mind that the Gates Foundation and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter negotiated a massive programme of free drugs for SA including training for clinic workers who would oversee the administration of the daily medications. Never mind that the Soros Foundation did something similar. Never mind that sub-Saharan had– and still has– the highest HIV infection rate in the world M&M refused even free drugs whilst at the same time castigating the pharmaceutical companies for ‘over-charging’ for HIV/AIDS treatment. Their rationale? The drugs were ‘toxic’. But refusal of treatment was not toxic? That’s M&M speak. When all else fails accuse ‘the West’ of plotting to kill Africans with ‘toxic’ drugs.

The truth is that Manto and Mbeki were ‘toxic’ to this country. Death is not instant canonisation. Our deeds outlive us. That is Manto’s legacy.

By: Arie

Arie — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 09:11:00 +0000

Surely it is not the same situation when “Malema spews the bile” vs “hen the shoe is on the other side, well she deserves it”.

Should I not treat someone who spits on me, different to someone who helps me when I am in distress. Manto has left this country in serious distress and should be remebered for this. Malema is spitting on anything “white” because in his rascist mind “anything black” is better than “anything white”. A classic description in accordance with the definition given by the Oxford English Dictionary.

By: Match

Match — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:24:12 +0000

Gavin,is it not ironic that most black South Africans(radio/print)have been outraged by Garreth Cliff’s detestable comments.While most whites think this is a mere freedom of expression.Your failure to accord respect to Manto’s family suggest something more than it meets an eye.When Malema spews the bile,these are the very first to cry racism fowl and hate speech.When the shoe is on the other side,well she deserves it.Gavin you know better,this country comes afar.Yes Manto bungled,but some of us know where she comes from and it means a lot to us.Not that it overrides her role in HIV/Aids but sensible balance and compassion would do.Respect Gavin is all I am asking.This is not about cultural differences but an exclusive racial approach.I would understand a reactionary young white man.That a heavily bearded mature person you are can;t find such nasty comments unbecoming suggest that this is no longer about Aids policy but something else.Gavin this was a human,gran,wife and mother to humans.No laboraty test is needed to prove this,common sense and what we know about hiprocracy of our society lends credence to the racist issue.

By: Jon Story

Jon Story — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:11:15 +0000

As in every person there is Manto the human being and Manto the politician. As a fellow human being we cannot put her down, after all we do not know what she was really like beneath the politicians’s veneer. Her family may know but even they could not look into her soul. As the human being dies, the politician leaves a legacy behind. I will not comment on the latter as a lot will be true and a lot will be hearsay. Every death, how eagerly or fearfully awaited is a little human tragedy: from a thinking, reasoning complex mechanism one becomes a cadaver to be put away soonest lest the stench of decay offends the living. Nobody but One has come to life again after death to judge the living and the dead, including Manto. And ourselves, in time. Maybe she sought to put things right just before the end, there are reports about it. But what we have done is done: the film of our life cannot be respooled. Mistakes, deliberate or accidentally cannot be made undone, however much we would wish to. But we can learn from our own, and Manto’s mistakes and that, my friends I would hope is her legacy. For the rest RIP.

By: Gavin Foster

Gavin Foster — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:30:43 +0000

@ Match and Vusi
What’s racist about this? Mussolini, Stalin, Hitler were all white, and you may have noticed that I say Manto was not -quite – as bad as them. Hitler abhorred alcohol and smoking and loved dogs. He had friends and family who loved him. He loved children. He was white. Should I treat his name with respect and write nice things about him?
The only way you can respond is to allege racism. If you used a little logic in your arguments I’d be prepared to respect your views.

By: Match

Match — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:46:49 +0000

You are not getting it Gavin,are you.Interesting that it takes some arrogant and patronising bigots to claim some care for the purported 300 000 dead,as if you care.Well ,we all agree about Manto ‘s policy indiscretions.But that’s not the only part to her.She was a mother to somebody, a human to her people,a struggle veteran who dedicated half of her life to the course of her people.Talking about unintended consequences.I understand where you are from,it would’nt matter to you,you stand on the other side.Manto,agree or not deserves some respect.What is wrong with you white people.You take any chance to condesce,fire and discharge your world of racial hate whenever the chance present itself.But expect forgiveness,sow hate and hide behind freedom of speech and patronising care for’her people’.Atrocious article.

By: vusi

vusi — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:30:07 +0000

terrible article