LOOKING UP
LOOKING UP
LOOKING UP!
RABBI RAMON WIDMONTE. RABBI OF MIZRACHI SA
ON THE eve of the municipal elections
this year in August, I stopped to marvel at this
unique period in South Africa’s history.
It was a week in which serious questions were
posed to South Africans as a collective. The one
with which I resonated was put as a remark at my
Shabbos table. A guest of ours remarked, “Rainbow
nation – it was always a myth!”
And I wondered – is it so?
“I need to
listen well so
that I hear
what is not
said.”
I thought to myself, of whom am I proud in South
Africa? Why would I bear a feeling of pride in being
a South African on the eve of these elections?
Well, I thought, firstly I’m proud of Nhlanhla Nene.
When appointed, I remember him being proudly
touted as the first black African to hold the position
of finance minister. What no one knew was that he
was about to undergo a baptism of fire in the
deepest purgatories of corruption and nepotism.
No one knew that he had a ramrod straight spine
Continued on pg 8
6
7 ((0