It’s cool to be kind … in traffic:
Is it possible to be too polite? Can being considerate just make you a doormat for more assertive people? Will being kind doom you to failure in your climb up the corporate ladder or in your attempts to become a business entrepreneur?
As with many aspects of life most of us end up in the grey area between the extremes of these human traits. There are those in the “you have to be cruel to be kind” camp and those on the “milk of human kindness” team.
There has been too much written about the tawdry event already but we can be sure that the milk of human kindness wasn’t on the refreshment menu at the White House last week — or the Fight House, as The Sun newspaper brilliantly headlined its story on the Trump/Vance bashing of Zelenskiy. There was nothing kind or considerate about that.
Another element of the polite puzzle is the subjective matter of what “good manners” is. This can vary depending on what part of the world you are in. The good manners that my dear mum hammered into me were mostly of the traditional kind with one of the main features being opening doors for women and allowing them to go first.
Nowadays this can lead to big trouble and has made entering a lift an agonising activity for me.
If I just barge in first ahead of waiting women then I am wracked by guilt at my bad manners and if I step back and allow others to enter first then I lay myself open to a swift chop to the neck from a fiercely independent woman. Taking the stairs is probably the safest option.
There are no such doubts in the minds of commuters in India. If the videos on YouTube are anything to go by I would never be able to get on a train. As the train pulls into the station the waiting passengers storm forward before the on-board passengers have a chance to alight. Somehow the melee sorts itself out in time for the train to leave the station, with just the one passenger, who said “no, please, you first”, left standing forlornly on the platform.
And this is not to say this is wrong compared with the more sedate approach of passengers in other countries.
It is just a different culture.
The masses of wildebeest charging across the plains of Maasai Mara in Kenya during their annual migration in search of greener pastures face a similar dilemma. As they journey across the vast spaces of the national park there is plenty of room for the hungry migrants.
It is when they come to a river crossing that the problems start. The eager ones push to the front and plunge into the water, but now it is a case of first come, first served because there are hungry crocodiles lurking in the water who have been waiting all year for this moveable feast. So a polite “after you” could be the best approach for those who want to make it to the distant grasslands.
It is on the roads where the different approaches and ideas of what is acceptable are starkly highlighted. South African cities are full of terrible drivers of all nationalities united by their utter selfishness and total disregard for the rules of the road.
Driving through a red traffic light is not polite. Bypassing the long line of cars in the turning lane and pushing in at the front is not considerate. Ignoring the right of pedestrians to cross at the traffic light when the little man is green is not kind.
All these habits are incredibly annoying but there is one habit that tops them all and which is a speciality of the most selfish drivers of all and what makes it worse is that these people seem to do this with what can only be described as pride.
There are many popular restaurants in the main shopping street of my suburb now and late afternoon is the prime time for customers to pick up their takeaway orders. This involves a line of double-parked cars with hungry customers waiting for their food. And behind them is a line of cars with angry drivers who just want to get home after a long day at work.
If the disgruntled drivers dare to show their displeasure at what they believe is inconsiderate behaviour they are met with a look of utter disdain by the double parkers for whom blocking the traffic is just a way of life.
The one certainty on the roads is that taxi drivers are in a special category of their own and their dangerously erratic but strangely predictable actions need to be treated with leniency. They are doing a hard, stressful job and providing millions of people with transport to work. So give them a gap, wave them through and refrain from hooting or cursing at them.
And you just might be rewarded with a polite wave as a kind taxi driver stops to let you into the stream of traffic ahead of them.
Response to ‘Israel uses water as a weapon of war in Gaza’:
Last week, Sõzarn Barday authored a misinformed article concerning the water situation in Gaza (Mail & Guardian, 25 February 2025). This response aims to rectify the claims presented in the article and to accurately represent the facts.
First, Israel’s conflict is not with the civilian population of Gaza, but rather with the terrorist organisation, Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2006, when they took power through a coup and prevented any elections for almost 20 years. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) upholds a clear distinction between these terrorist organisations and their infrastructure, and the civilian population in Gaza. As a general principle, the IDF maintains a clear distinction between its ongoing fight against terrorist organisations in Gaza and its commitment to minimising harm to uninvolved civilians, who are often used as a human shield and whose needs are neglected in order to arm the Hamas leaders. This principle is a central consideration in the IDF’s decision-making and operational planning processes.
The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) implements the government’s civilian policy within the territories of Judea and Samaria and towards the Gaza Strip. In this capacity, COGAT facilitates and coordinates regular humanitarian activities in the Gaza Strip, including the provision of food, water, medical supplies, shelter equipment and the refuelling of essential infrastructure throughout the region. Prior to the commencement of the war, Gaza’s water supply was derived from local pumping and desalination facilities.
Barday claims that Gazans survive on just nine litres of water a day. However, evidence indicates that Israel maintains the World Health Organisation’s minimum daily water requirement for individuals in conflict zones, which is 15 litres, and is currently assisting in expansion efforts to ensure there are no water shortages in the Gaza Strip.
Furthermore, Barday displays inaccuracy by stating, “Gaza’s water crisis is not just a consequence of war — it is a weapon of war, systematically used to deprive an entire population of life’s most essential resource.” This is inaccurate. Three water lines from Israel into Gaza are active (Birkat Sa’id, Bani Suheila, and the northern pipeline), supplying an average of 107 litres a person in northern Gaza, 34 litres a person in central Gaza, and 20 litres a person in southern Gaza.
Not only is Israel actively working to provide water to Gaza, even during conflict, it spends millions of dollars to make sure that the people in Gaza have access to water. Since the second week of the conflict, Israel has supplied water to Gaza through pipelines within Israeli territory. This includes sending Israeli teams to repair damaged lines during ongoing hostilities. A particular emphasis has been placed on preserving and reinforcing the water sector in Gaza to ensure optimal access to potable water for the local civilian population.
These actions, their outcomes, and ongoing monitoring underscore the commitment of the IDF and the State of Israel to improving the humanitarian situation in Gaza. They also reflect the consistent policy of enhancing and increasing the coordination of humanitarian aid and support for local humanitarian activities.
Adi Cohen-Hazanov is the deputy chief of mission at the Israeli embassy in South Africa.
How Donald Trump was weaponised:
The Oscars took place in the wee hours of Monday morning South African time. Although my favourite film, A Complete Unknown, a biopic about Bob Dylan, was nominated multiple times, it did not win a single accolade.
I found the movie compelling. It did not only focus on Dylan’s life and mastery of song writing, it also shone a light on American politics and activism before the trade union leadership was captured by commercial and business interests and evolved into a labour aristocracy. Not many would believe that American trade union leaders were once openly communist. But they were.
This preceded the devil’s pact between the United States political and business elite’s objectives to eliminate any communist or socialist ideals. Hence, today you can have a supposedly independent politician Bernie Sanders call himself a socialist, yet at the most he’s a social democrat, who is always willing to compromise and bow to big business and the political elite. We witnessed his cowardice when he sold out his own supporters at the Democratic Party convention so Hillary Clinton could steal the presidential nomination. Even the progressive-sounding New York working-class rhetoric of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) is devoid of any real substance and does not advocate for real change in American society or the flailing Democratic Party itself.
I am honestly tired of US President Donald Trump. It would be great not to talk about his latest decree. I secretly hope he is like the Titanic, thought of as unsinkable and because of that refuses to move out of the way of the approaching iceberg.
It’s impossible, though, because Trump 2.0 has entered the White House like a hurricane, revealing all he has learnt from his previous term.
One, the election campaign does not stop. Trump continues to convene election type-rallies. He speaks to the public through his Make America Great Again (Maga) movement. In South African factional terms, he has not disassembled the core that brought his electoral victory. Some supporters he has brought into government, while others he has organising his rallies.
Second, he knows not to trust the government bureaucracy. There will be no Anthony Fauci this time. Elon Musk and his minions are creating havoc and fear in every government department and agency. Trump seems to hold the view that the current system has the US president serving the agenda of the bureaucrats. Trump understands society’s anti-establishment sentiments, so traditionally as president he would be thought of as a part of the establishment. His bonfire approach, though, temporarily at least creates social distance between himself and the government bureaucracy.
Imagine if the ANC took this approach back in 1994, despite the sunset clause, and sent a fax to all government workers asking them to explain what they are doing and why they should continue doing this so as to retain their jobs. Hell, let us be honest, most of us would not mind if any political party did this today.
Three, Trump is the epitome of transparency. He not only reads press statements but actually takes questions from the press regularly. There are most likely embedded journalists with preassigned questions in the press conferences. But he also tries to answer unscripted questions. Accusations of Trump being a fascist look weak with this remarkable transparency with the media. You may have noticed the outgoing Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, copying Trump and fielding media questions directly. The only time I can remember a South African president being directly questioned by the press was Thabo Mbeki being interviewed by Redi Direko (now Tlhabi).
Fourth, Trump understands that the US and Europe (the collective West) cannot compete with the economic behemoth called China. Chinese business and political sectors work comprehensively in tandem. Many have observed over the years that the US two-party system is a sham, regardless of who wins elections, be it the Democrats or the Republicans, the political and business elite remain in charge. But even this sham is not strong enough to resist Chinese economic and trade growth. The Chinese one-party political model means that there are no opposition parties or highly contested elections to worry about. Musk and his crew are given the task of obliterating the state machinery so that loyal businesses can take over the functions, so that business and the political leadership will work hand in glove, similar to the Chinese. In other words, the construction of an oligarchy.
Fifth, he is carving the world in the image of the US so that it understands that the world exists to serve the US. We witnessed that first-hand in that infamous press conference with Trump, his vice-president JD Vance and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. There is a myth that this is about Ukrainian rare earth metals. Ukraine does not possess much of these minerals and the little it has is mostly in the Russian-annexed land. Trump is ensuring that the US is able to pull out all support, both weapons and personnel, from Ukraine. Simultaneously, Europe accepts its role is to serve the US agenda. The latter may take longer, but in Trump’s estimation the rise of like-minded right-wing populist political parties in Europe and the increasing role of Vladimir Putin’s Russia will mean that in the not-too-distant future Europe will capitulate into the real 51st state of the US.
Many are quick to blame the Republicans, especially the Maga movement. It’s easier to blame them than supposedly good people like the cowardly Sanders or manipulative AOC. Even more difficult is to admit that Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, generally the entire Democratic Party leadership, laid the foundation for Trump. The Democrats are the ones who abandoned the working class and have successfully created a division between the black and white working class.
Think of when Martin Luther King Jnr or Malcolm X were assassinated. It was when they sought to bring about unity between the black and white working class. Or Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, who was on the streets gaining a lot of traction by uniting white and black working-class communities.
It was under Carter that a democratic Iran was overthrown and Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab Middle East countries came under the heel of the US. It was Clinton, more than Ronald Reagan, who removed the guardrails of acts like Glass-Steagall, which placed restrictions on affiliations between commercial and investment banks that had been passed so as to protect the American people from an unregulated financial and banking sector. It was also Clinton who constructed the North American Free Trade Agreement, which moved working class manufacturing jobs from the US to Mexico, thereby ensuring a living wage for Americans would never be a reality.
It was Obama who continued the US’s war in Iraq and Afghanistan, while broadening the supposed war on drugs in Central and South America. Obama normalised the use of drone warfare, especially to assassinate opponents of the US. We must also remember that it was under Obama that a democratic Ukrainian government was overthrown just because they chose to be close to their neighbour Russia. And it was Biden and the current Democrats who showed Trump how to weaponise policies and strategies. They weaponised Covid-19 and its treatment as a political stick to beat Trump. They took the valid problem with racist police and weaponised it into a Black Lives Matters campaign against Trump, and conveniently ignored it after the 2020 elections. The Biden government weaponised the dollar against Russia and tried to re-establish the Cold War. Biden also weaponised tariffs, and forced the European Union to follow suit, against China.
Trump is doing exactly what the Democrats want him to do and they could not. Do not believe any less. South Africa, and every other developing country, must recognise that it has no real friends within the US political sphere. Their friends are the US working class, both black and white. This includes conservative Christian fundamentalists in the Maga movement, as well as those in the African-American and Latino communities who hate the Democrats and could have even voted for Trump.
But we need to begin to accept that we do not have an organised working-class political movement of any real significance in South Africa.
We have professional politicians who speak as if they are raising the issues of the poor and the working class, but they are basically opportunist centrists. If they want to get any power they know to backtrack and “contextualise” (dilute) their socially based views.
Be prepared to march cheerfully into oblivion, blaming the Trumps of the world, but know we have allowed them to be weaponised.
Donovan E Williams is a social commentator. @TheSherpaZA on X.
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