Several years ago, maybe three decades ago, I was asked to write an opinion piece on my editor, Aggrey Klaaste, as “the voice of reason”. Because I try not to read my own writing, a habit acquired many years ago, I don’t recall what it was that I actually wrote. What I do remember was that I was embarrassed, I felt humiliated and a bit insulted when I was asked to write the article. I raise this issue to avoid coming across as sanctimonious…
Let me get something out of the way. My guilt notwithstanding — I have learned a lot since I wrote that opinion piece — I should make the point that the late Aggrey Klaaste and Iqbal Survé are two very different people. I seem to recall that Aggrey was a Madiba, but someone has to fact-check that. Let’s fast-forward to a few years later; to an opinion piece published by the Independent group of newspapers.
The article was about Iqbal Survé, published in a newspaper owned by Iqbal Survé, and written by someone who is, presumably, paid or accepted for publication by Iqbal Survé. To be clear I don’t know Iqbal Survé. I have never been in the same room as Iqbal Survé. I don’t know where Iqbal Survé is from, what Iqbal Survé smells like or whether Iqbal Survé is tall or short, like Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
So, while I don’t know Iqbal Survé from Hlaudi Motsoeneng, everything I write here about Iqbal Survé is “moo” — it’s like a cow’s opinion, it doesn’t matter. (I apologise, I don’t watch the sitcom Friends but saw the video clip on Instagram, the only social media platform I actually enjoy because of photography.)
I have over the years learned a thing or two about journalism; from reportage, copy editing (which I am very bad at) to ethics (good ethics cuts away my sorrow, and purifies my life), and over this period, I have developed some insights into the ways in which people present themselves, and especially how they actually behave.
For instance, you can preach about good ethics or journalism as much as you like, but if your behaviour and practice produce a putrid pong (alliteration intended for fun), we may be judged more critically. In other words, if you run a newspaper as a necessary common good, albeit actually a private good in that people have to pay to read it, it would help if you subscribed to institutions that ensure ethical reportage — otherwise you’re just fishwrap…
What am I getting at? Well, it’s complicated. While Iqbal Survé spent his days and nights by the Old Man’s bed — being Nelson Mandela’s doctor and all (wink wink) — I was (at the time) running around being a reporter, photojournalist, political correspondent and, now, I scrape by as a grumpy old fart and struggling writer.
I have to tip my hat to Iqbal Survé and forget all the conversations I had in the heady days of the 1980s with Aggrey Klaaste, Winnie Mandela, Ismail Ayob and Nthato Motlana, you know, the doctor who visited Mandela while he was in prison and with whom I shared a few laughs in about 1989.
Even opinions should make some sense
The thing that struck me about the opinion piece about Iqbal Survé, published in one of Iqbal Survé’s news outlets, was the lack of self-awareness on the part of the writer; granted it was an opinion piece. But this most recent praise song of Iqbal Survé is beyond the pale. Consider, first, the idea that Iqbal Survé is described as “the King David of the 21st century”. Beyond horripilation, this statement induces a painful Gerd and nausea.
Among the main points in the opinion piece on Iqbal Survé includes the following: “Dr Iqbal Survé is the King David of the 21st Century… [and an] example of someone showcasing the power of faith and believing in themselves… [and] Dr Iqbal Survé’s character and actions are best compared to a narrative from a Bible ‘David vs Goliath’, and he is best described as David from the Bible story. I make my comparison of Dr Iqbal Survé as King David and the mainstream establishment as Goliath.”
For the record, there really is a shortage of actual historical, not faith-based or biblical, evidence of an actual figure named David, nor of Abraham for that matter. As it goes, the earliest archaeological evidence for King David is the Tel Dan stele (a stone slab decorated with figures or inscriptions, that was common in prehistoric times) with inscriptions that date to the late ninth to mid-eighth century BCE. The inscriptions claim that David was the legendary founder of a dynasty known as the “House of David” or perhaps the “House of the Beloved” — a religious title, rather than a proper name.
Biblical historians insist that the inscriptions are no direct proof that someone named David actually existed, just proof that someone believed it to be so. It’s like the god of the Abrahamic people; we only know that this god exists because someone said so. The biblical scholar, Prof Francesca Stavrakopoulou, has suggested that “David is more akin to King Arthur — this figure probably didn’t exist, but as a figure he evolved from a collection of legends and stories associated with different leaders and places… Unless we find solid references to King David in inscriptions dating to the 10th century BC, David can only remain a shadowy figure of legend, rather than history.”
But enough of all that… as a metaphor, the legend of David vs Goliath is cute. However, depicting Iqbal Survé as the King David of the 21st century is, well, laughable, truly embarrassing and insulting to people who believe that there was a King David. Besides (my) claim that the opinion piece was seriously lacking in humility and professionalism.
(It’s a newspaper, for goodness sake, even opinions have to be grounded in some kind of logic, reason, plausibility and open to scrutiny and criticism.)
Right now, across the world, there are millions of people in Syria, Afghanistan, Palestine, Myanmar, Ukraine and Tigray battling mighty powerful forces. At the same time, the World Bank and United Nations claim that there are at least 18 million people in Africa who are displaced and living in refugee camps. The United Nations explained that: “Some camps in Africa have been around for 40 years. Children born in these camps have nowhere to call home; in the course of living in these camps, these children have since become parents.”
ReliefWeb reported last year that an estimated 32 million Africans were forcibly displaced by conflict and repression… Back home, from their base in South Africa, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman and his Gift of the Givers travel up and down and across the sub-continent providing disaster relief, hunger alleviation, secure water provision, healthcare, education and general assistance in human development.
This is the actual world in which we live. The actual 21st century state of affairs. It is beyond my grasp how anyone can insist that Iqbal Survé is “the King David of the 21st century”. Unless, of course, the publication is no more than a pamphlet, and the writer is trapped perhaps forever in the grave of what was once a newspaper. DM