A positive story, for once

I have been reading FW for many years and believe, for once, I read something positive from someone grateful: Mike Burgess’s article ‘Perseverance pays off at High Heaven’ (8 March, pg 56) on Nomthunzi Ndzulwana.

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Most, if not all, of your articles have launched scathing attacks on government and its agencies and politicians. The people interviewed don’t see anything good being done by the SA government. I have read with disgust about land reform beneficiaries who blame government for everything that goes wrong. Even if things go right, they find something to blame on the politicians.

It is time FW published positive thinking like Mike Burgess’s article. Nomthunzi has a positive attitude and is grateful. She has had a turbulent time suffering various setbacks, including natural disasters but nonetheless she thanks government and extension workers for mentoring her and standing by her through the disasters. She also mentions the funding she has received from government and its agencies.

Such positive stories are hard to come by in FW, especially if stories are covered by Alita van der Walt and Peter Mashala. They have negative articles and this doesn’t achieve anything. My advice to Alita and Peter is: check your negative approach to see if it is helping the farming industry or if you are creating tension in the long run. Stop making people and land beneficiaries think that the nation and its leaders are monsters.

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Yes, if something is wrong, journalists must mention it, but they tend to look for the bad things. Even if something is very good they still paint it black. Learn to appreciate. This is politics, which is never easy. A tip from across the Limpopo – in the long run your negative approach will not change things. Learn to co-exist.  Here in Zimbabwe we have walked this road already, over and over again.