The BBC

A couple of days ago I posted a comment on the BBC 'Have your say' section of their website.

Today they phoned me to ask if I would take part in an on-air discussion. The researcher, a very nice young woman called Ellen asked me a bit more about my comments. Basically the 'have your say' topic was about literacy in Africa, and whether it was in decline. I said that Robert Mugabe had presided over the betterment of education in Zimbabwe which had made that country's citizens the most literate in Africa and this should have been his legacy.

However, this also made his subjects more difficult to rule and he has since set about dismantling this achievement.

I also said that the ANC in South Africa has not done enough to improve education in that country and I hinted that this might be deliberate.

Ellen asked me to explain what I meant, so I had to explain that I didn't really think that the failure of the ANC government to improve education standards in South Africa was a deliberate ploy, and was making a point.

She further asked me about the accessibility of books in South Africa, and in particular in Durban and I told her that there are libraries here, but they are very disorganised, books are dog-eared and tatty and are not properly sorted, shelves and trolleys indiscriminately piled high with books.

Furthermore, books here are extremely expensive, often costing double to buy as the dollar RRP printed on their jackets.

There are three reasons for this, I guess. Firstly, there is the additional cost of transport. Secondly, the major bookstores have a nice little racket going and very little independent competition. And thirdly, the ANC government charges Value Added Tax on books.

Anyway, I went home this evening and awaited the call from the BBC prepared for a heated debate and the chance to express my opinions live on the BBC World Service.

In the event I was simply asked if I was reading a book at the moment. To which I said yes, I was reading Michael Palin's Python Diaries, and that was it.

What an anticlimax.

So do I think that the ANC Government in South Africa is deliberately keeping the populace down by ensuring that they are not informed enough to question their rulers? I guess I don't. Well, not deliberately, anyway.

What I do think is that the ANC's priorities, particularly under Thabo Mbeki, have been largely self serving for the political elite.

The priorities have been about building business empires for themselves. BEE regulations (Black Economic Empowerment) have been about granting competitive advantages to companies with substantial black ownership. In order to comply, companies have been co-opting politicians and big wigs onto their boards.

Education has largely been neglected.

The internet has been made prohibitively expensive by the Government monopoly telco (Telkom), thus restricting access.

So there you go. As Mugabe learned, you don't really want your population to be too well informed if you want to be able to rule them effectively.

the start

Forgive me if I'm a little disjointed.

I play field hockey socially and occasionally get a game on a Sunday morning. Generally this means around an hour of exercise followed by a shower and then numerous bottles of beer after which I wend my way home in a semi-inebriated state. Or fully inebriated state depending on how the game went.

To be honest, I got home this evening and there was a programme on SABC TV this evening on blogging and I thought: 'that's what I need to do'.

When Apartheid fell in the mid nineties, South Africa was full of hope. It was called the 'Rainbow Nation' because it was anticipated that all sides of the racial spectrum would pull together to make a go of, what is, after all a rare phenomenon; a third world country with a first world infrastructure.

In the event, as Bishop Desmond Tutu said, the ANC government stopped the Afrikaner gravy train just long enough to change drivers.

So, having resolved to post the benefit of my insight, I suppose I must declare any conflict of interest which might colour my musings.

I suppose I AM opinionated. And I do want my opinions to be heard. But at the same time, I want people to understand where I'm coming from. So let me introduce myself.

My name is David Graham Coventry. I am of a white skin. Some black people I know, if they are feeling disparaging, might refer to me as a pink. If I was to suggest to them that referring to me as a pink might be considered racist, they would laugh at me. However, were I to refer to the colour of their skins in a similarly disparaging way, they would no doubt be forthright in their condemnation.

No matter. If I stay out in the sun for too long, I do go pink. Red, even, if I overdo it.

I was born in a small town in what is now known as Zimbabwe in 1954. I have no problem with calling it Zimbabwe. The Rhodesian bush war was a nasty, vicious affair with atrocities committed by both sides and I'm glad it ended.

And if the people of Zimbabwe elected Robert Mugabe as their Prime Minister, that was an issue for the people of Zimbabwe. The minority white population might believe that Robert Mugabe was not a very good choice, but the point about majority rule is that the majority will promote their own champions.

The problem with Robert Mugabe is that Prime Minister was not enough for him. He wanted to be President. Hell, I'm sure that if Zimbabwe were not in the mess it is right now, he would have found a way to appoint himself King. Or Emperor.

Speaking of which, I developed a theory a few years ago that the reason Mugabe had not appointed a successor was that he was hoping that his son would be able to take over the dynasty.

Not that I think current events in Zimbabwe allow Mugabe many options. I do think that he will do his utmost to retain power and is very unlikely to cede any meaningful power to the opposition.

I always felt that the end of August would prove very difficult for Mugabe and I'm keen to see how it pans out.

With hemorrhaging inflation he was bound to find it difficult to reward his army for their continued loyalty, and so it has apparently proved.

I also noticed a report in the Guardian suggesting that Mugabe's senior army officers were approaching the South Africans with a view to securing indemnity from future prosecution for crimes against humanity.

It would be nice to think that they may be aware of the possibility that they might actually be pursued by the law.