LETTER: No moral compass to guide government

There was something missing for South Africans watching the outpouring of grief and anger around the world at the weekend after the news spread that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny had mysteriously died at the penal colony in which he was imprisoned (“Sunak and Von der Leyen express outrage at Navalny death”, February 18).

World leaders, renowned global commentators and many others added their voices of protest over Navalny’s death. They extended heartfelt condolences to his wife and family. They roundly blamed Vladimir Putin, regardless of whether he died after years of abuse and torture in Russia’s notorious prisons or was deliberately poisoned.

And yet, other than a sterile message on Twitter (X) from international relations & co-operation minister Naledi Pandor, in which she expressed concern about Navalny’s death and intimated that the Russian authorities should investigate the cause (of course they should), she and our president have remained silent, unable to get guidance from a shaky moral compass or from SA’s confused foreign policy.

One recalls recent photos of President Cyril Ramaphosa gleefully shaking hands with this discredited thug, grinning from ear-to-ear like an excited schoolboy meeting his hero. The hypocrisy, and lack of compassion or diplomacy, from our so-called leaders is shameful.

Trevor Munday
Via email

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