Letter+versus+Leon,+Tweedie

From: Dominic Tweedie [hypercube@telkomsa.net] Sent: 17 August 2005 09:38 To: Sol Makgabutlane, Letters Editor, The Star Subject: Letter to the Editor

To: Letters Editor, Sol Mkgabutlane, The Star, P O Box 61682, Marshalltown 2017.

From: Dominic Tweedie, 36 Byron Road, Lombardy East, 2090


 * Dear Editor,**

I refer to the DA opposition leader’s letter “SMS the DA to stop Mugabe loan”. As usual, Tony Leon is doing his best to twist all good initiatives on Zimbabwe into campaigns against our own government.

Leon only reveals his opportunism and lack of principles. He hangs out a line of dirty washing. But apart from his own minority following, South African public opinion will not be convinced by the use of innuendo and half-truth. And without majority public opinion behind it our government cannot and should not move.

Our government needs strong support around the simple need for democracy, the rule of law, and rational (not arbitrary) use of the state monoploy of violence in Zimbabwe. As a lawyer Leon understands the necessity for such a precise case to be put. Instead of doing so, he plays cheap tricks.

It was the opening of the loan negotiations between South Africa and Zimbabwe that brought Operation Murambatsvina (“clean-up”) to an end. Whether you want to call it quiet or loud, this was one effective piece of diplomacy. It seems to me that Leon doesn’t want effective moves. What he craves is the sound of gunfire.


 * Yours,**


 * Dominic Tweedie**