I would like to commend your editorial on Zimbabwe ("Who gives a damn about Zimbabwe," July 14, page 8) and the way the world is turning its back on the terrible consequences of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's violent and power-mad actions.
Zimbabweans are streaming across our border here in South Africa, penniless, terrified and hungry.
Thousands have been arrested and sent back, but this is only a fraction of the numbers who have succeeded in entering and hiding here.
The situation has the potential to cause considerably more damage to South Africa than the contempt that our president and his ridiculous foreign minister deserve for pretending that all is still well in that poor country.
Once the armed militia have no more food and goods to seize in Zimbabwe, they can easily cross the border and use their guns and terror tactics on South Africa.
Please keep drawing attention to this issue. The more noise the media make, the more likely that someone will sit up and take notice.
Barbara Moore
Johannesburg
Beijing-style justice
There has been a recent spate of nightmarish food and safety problems emanating from China.
The frequency and depth of the problem has created a pronounced fear around the world of using or buying Chinese products. Faced with this situation, China came up with a solution: It executed the head of its food and drug watchdog agency, Zheng Xiaoyu (鄭筱萸), expecting the world to applaud its resolve.
We are, instead, decidedly appalled.
Unsure what signal to send the world, Beijing is forever trying to portray itself as a mature and developed nation governed by law and "social harmony."
But once again, it has only demonstrated that it is a dangerous, unpredictable, unreliable, lawless and brutal regime that is bereft of conscience and justice and not above killing a scapegoat or two. It seems to think that executing a government official for alleged "bribery and dereliction of duty" would earn it international plaudits.
We will never know the whole truth about China's health and safety problems, nor the truth behind Zheng's death sentence and execution.
For China, the underlying facts are not as important as the example set by Zheng's execution, because in the eyes of this ruthless regime, execution is a cure-all.
In China, "justice" does not involve a public hearing into the procedures, methods and legal requirements for drug approvals, or the specific cases of six fake medicines approved by the State Food and Drug Administration.
There was no disclosure, debate, nor revelation about what happened or testimonies from the companies accused of bribing Zheng.
Neither were there witnesses testifying about the purportedly fake documents supporting the applications, presumably including fake or absent test reports.
But to think that erasing a bureaucrat -- even a dirty one -- serves "justice" is the height of dictatorial misunderstanding. China should not use big words it doesn't understand, like justice and democracy.
We would have been more satisfied with a public hearing and testimony about how drug companies were able to procure approval for these suspect drugs from an incompetent or corrupt watchdog agency. We would have been more satisfied with public discussion of new rules and procedures on food and product safety and publication of laws and regulations.
Instead, as usual, Beijing just killed someone they picked out of a crowd of wrongdoers to make an example of.
Lee Long-hwa
New York
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