Both Helen Zille and your correspondent Thomas Johnson (Anti-colonial hypocrites, March 17) seem to mistakenly believe that colonialism is responsible for universities, infrastructure, the parliamentary system and modern medicine. Wrong. Love of learning, the scientific method, the struggle against the divine right of kings and a desire to improve the lot of man (and woman) produced them. The fact that colonialism brought them to Africa (and Singapore) is neither here nor there, and in no way ameliorates the exploitative and repressive evil it represents. It is like saying the hurricane that destroyed your house wasn’t all bad because it also deposited a couple of mangoes in your (now ruined) front garden. While mangoes are undeniably delicious, one might hope for a more benign delivery mechanism. Simon RhoadesVredehoek
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