Does Business Day now have a policy of publishing only those letters that denigrate Judge John Hlophe? Why is it correspondents such as Patrick Wade, John Castitis and Peter Volpe are given repeated and seemingly unlimited space to rubbish Hlophe, the African National Congress (ANC) government or Jacob Zuma whereas letters aimed at defending these individuals or institutions are either not published or edited to such an extent that the argument being made is deliberately rendered incoherent.

After a slew of letters slandering Hlophe over the past four weeks I sent just one letter of support to him that remains unpublished. Granted your paper has a right to decide what to publish. That is your prerogative.

However, your pretensions at trying to lecture the SABC on good journalism have now been exposed for what they really are ­ the classical case of a pot calling the kettle black.

Just think about it, all your columnists have been handpicked according to the degree to which they detest the ANC government *2.

Week in and week out it seems as though Rhoda Kadalie, Xolela Mangcu and John Kane-Berman compete on the amount of venom that must be administered to the ANC, President Thabo Mbeki, Hlophe or Zuma.

Then you have the likes of Wade and Castitis being given free rein to mop up whatever diatribe has been left out by these “courageous and independent commentators” *3 to throw it back to these individuals or institutions.

Thanks to Business Day these days even apartheid-era judges like Rex van Schalkwyk have become heroes and experts on black racism, struggle for freedom and best practices in democracy. How funny it would have been had it not been so sickening!

Thanks to Business Day Snuki Zikalala, with a PhD in journalism *4, is periodically subjected to repeated public lectures on the field by Kadalie, whose only claim to fame is her particularly venomous diatribe against Mbeki and the ANC. Can you honestly claim that Business Day is an honest and ethical paper when it comes to editorial independence? Or is “independence” measured according to how one detests the ANC?

With acknowledgements to Themba Khumalo and the Business Day.

*2  Prerogative?

*3  Bring on Jon Qwelane.Only a courageous and independent commentator such as he is can perennially cure the dreaded ailments of obesity, constipation, depression and racial hatred.

*4  A must-see CV.