GOOD Statement by Brett Herron, Unite for Change Leadership Council Member and GOOD Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament:
Gary Player, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday, was a wonderful golfer. He was also an unapologetic supporter of apartheid ideology. In the 1980s, he claimed to no longer support apartheid but became an outspoken critic of the anti-apartheid campaign for South Africa’s economic isolation.
Player’s nine Major golf titles and career grand slams on both the regular and senior tours earned him the right to global respect for his sporting prowess. But he should really have learned to keep his political views to himself.
To hear him parroting DA/AfriForum/Donald Trump speaking notes about the instruments of post-apartheid redress to assembled media over the weekend, while taking a break during his birthday golf day, once again diminishes him from unadulterated sporting icon to representative of South African whiteness.
South Africa is a multicultural democracy with constitutional obligations to rectify societal imbalances and injustices bequeathed by history and unsatisfactorily resolved in the first 30+ years of democracy.
The greatest beneficiaries of the country’s transformation to democracy, besides the handful of super-rich connected cadres, are arguably its white population, which still holds much of the country’s wealth and land, lives in the most desirable locations, and occupies a disproportionate number of senior jobs.
Mr Player is entitled to his views on land expropriation and Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). One would have hoped, however, that he’d be worldly enough to grasp that it is not the policies meant to narrow inequality, but the extent of inequality itself, that poses the greatest threats to the privileged few.
Criticism of the State’s implementation of land reform and BEE policies is warranted. But opposing the need for transformative policies is something else: it undermines the central pillars of equal rights, equal justice, and equal opportunity in the Constitution. These rights protect all South Africans, including Mr Player, whereas the white victim narrative corrodes them.
*The GOOD Party is a founding member of UNITE FOR CHANGE.
GOOD Manifesto on Land Reform: Supporting fair land reform that respects property rights.
soiled dove
Interview with a pirate:
There was a pirate who had agreed to do an interview with a local tv station. The reporter was very courteous and professional, giving a bit of background as to the pirate\’s business. She then began interviewing him.
\”So Mr. Longbeard, are there any risks to your business? I see you have a peg leg- how did that come about?\”
\”Well, y\’see I were sailing along the coast of South Africa, looking to plunder some locals when as I boarded the small boat from the ship, a great white shark came up and got my leg clean off. \’twas scary yes, but thus is the life of a pirate.\”
\”Wow, that is pretty scary- well, how about your hook? What happened to your hand with that?\”
\”Oh now that\’s quite the tale, y\’see I were fighting a rival pirate, and we had locked swords. We had been fighting for a few hours, and were both terribly fatigued. I had a bit of exhaustion and confusion, and when I went to block one of his sword blows, I met him with me hand instead of me sword. Took it right off, but it shocked him so much I managed to get him back pretty good and have him submit. So the hook hand was given as a replacement.\”
\”Wow. Simply fascinating. Now, what about your eye patch? How did that happen?\”
\”Well, one day, a seagull was flying overhead, and I looked up. It pooped right in me eye.\”
\”… Well wow. I must admit, I wouldn\’t think just seagull poop could damage the eye that badly.\”
\”Oh, I forgot to mention… it were me first day with the hook.\”
Moon Radar
Fun South African Fact: South Africa is the largest producer of platinum in the world.