EDITOR’S COMMENT
Why music matters Of the #JerusalemaChallenge, President Ramaphosa’s open letter on corruption and the murder of one of SA’s top anti-gang cops.
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any years ago, ahead of a lecture titled “Why music matters”1 by Professor Leon Bernstein, then SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations Kofi Annan said to those gathered that “In a world of diversity where often values clash, music leaps across language barriers and unites people of quite different cultural backgrounds. And so, through music, all peoples can come together to make the world a more harmonious place.” The year was 2004, the place New York, USA. Nobody could have imagined the world as it is today, but for all its current troubles, there are some things that have the power to transcend hatred and fear. One of these is music. I’m not sure where I was hiding when the song “Jerusalema” first hit the radio waves late last year but by the time I heard it a few weeks ago, it had become a global phenomenon and I became another of its millions of fans. The toe-tapping, gospel-influenced charttopping “house” song by two South Africans namely DJ, record producer Master KG (Kgaogelo Moagi) and vocalist Nomcebo (Zikode) was well-received when it debuted online but the magic really happened after it went viral in June this year on the back of the #JerusalemaChallenge and a remix version by Nigerian-born Burna Boy. South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa referred to it in his Heritage Day speech on 24 September, saying: “We are the nation that is taking the world by storm with the #JerusalemaChallenge, as young and old in France, the UK, Jamaica, Angola and even … Palestinian and East Jerusalem are getting in on the craze.” And Michael le Cordier, in his opinion piece in the Daily Maverick on 28 September2 compared it to a “feel-good virus” that has spread from “school grounds in the Western Cape to office blocks in Limpopo, from the informal settlements of Durban to the streets of Kimberley, from the classrooms of Angola to the beaches of Miami to the soccer fields of Portugal.” Well done to all those South Africans who are making a difference with their songs, acts of kindness, courage and
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generosity. You make me proud of our shared heritage. That doesn’t take away from the ugly side of South Africa, however, which continues to dominate headlines with unrelenting reports of the most heinous crimes. Our beloved country is desperate for the high-level, hard-line intervention that President Ramaphosa recently promised in an open letter to the ruling ANC. His focus was on corruption and he didn’t pull his punches when he said that “while the ANC may not stand alone in the dock, …it does stand as Accused No. 1.” This, he continued, was a “stark reality” that needed to be confronted decisively and urgently3. The president then went on to list the actions needed to address corruption, which include: Those accused of corrupt practices having to account to the Integrity Commission immediately or face disciplinary action; Those failing to provide acceptable explanations or stepping down voluntarily while they face disciplinary, investigative or prosecutorial action being summarily suspended; Conducting lifestyle audits on ANC leaders and public representatives and ensuring that they make regular declarations of any financial interests; Strengthening the Integrity Commission and providing it with clear administrative and legal support; Ensuring transparency and accountability with regard to procurement through the use of ‘open tender’ processes and using technology and artificial intelligence as a standard practice; Making the information about those tendering for contracts public as well as the vetting processes used to verify their credentials. This will include costings per unit so that the public can ascertain whether prices are being unreasonably inflated or are within reason; Establishing an anti-corruption hotline in relation to Covid-19 and beyond; Strengthening, resourcing and fasttracking the country’s law enforcement bodies and ensuring that they are independent and multi-disciplined;
SECURITY FOCUS AFRICA SEPTEMBER 2020
Promising to end Covid-19-related corruption swiftly, the president said that the Special Investigating Unit had been empowered to investigate allegations of corruption or the misuse of resources in any department, province, municipality or state institution. Further, the details of all tenders awarded under the national state of disaster would be made public going forward. “Our criminal justice agencies must do their work without fear, prejudice or favour,” he said, and if I’d been in the audience, I would have started dancing. Maybe. The same urgency and hard-line approach needs to be adopted when it comes to punishing those found guilty of murder, rape, child abuse and other despicable crimes. This includes meting out the harshest sentences to the killers of one of South Africa’s finest, anti-gang unit section commander Lt-Col Charl Kinnear, who was gunned down outside his home on Friday 18 September. According to IOL4, he was on the verge of arresting two brigadiers implicated in a gun racket that provided gangsters with fraudulent licences which they then used to buy automatic weapons. I endorse unreservedly Police Minister Bheki Cele’s sentiments that “heads must roll” for his death. And for the deaths and suffering of South Africa’s innocent victims.
Ingrid Olivier, Editor ingridolivier@idotwrite.co.za 1. Link: https://www.un.org/press/en/2004/sgsm9580. doc.htm#:~: Music both shapes and reflects society. In world of diversity, world a more harmonious place 2. Link: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/ opinionista/2020-09-28-jerusalema-a-catalyst-for-abetter-life-in-south-africa/ 3. Read the full letter here, courtesy of ewn.co.za https:// ewn.co.za/2020/08/23/read-the-full-letter-ramaphosasent-to-the-anc-on-corruption 4. Link: https://www.iol.co.za/weekend-argus/news/ murdered-top-cop-charl-kinnear-was-probing-gunracket-at-police-head-office-5a444ebb-9b71-44dc-bfe71e38a5231463 )
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