An angel should know when to shut up

Well I think we now know it for sure: the premier of the Western Cape, Leader of the Democratic Alliance and thus of the biggest opposition party in the country, Helen Zille, is no angel. It was proved by the way she got herself embroiled in controversy around the very touchy subject of HIV – not only once, but twice within a single week.

If only she knew her English poets better, things might have worked differently for her. And, it would seem that as is also so often the case with people who find themselves in a spot of bother, she does not know when it is time to keep her mouth shut..

It was the English poet Alexander Pope who first in his An Essay on Criticism in 1709 coined the phrase “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread” in reference to the literary critics of his time. And, the original context is quite appropriate for the Zille-case: “No place so sacred from such fops is barr’d, nor is Paul’s Church more safe than Paul’s Churchyard, fly to Altars; there they’ll talk you dead (my emphasis); For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”

Here is not the place to address the merits of my old journalist colleague and friend Helen’s arguments. But she should have known that when she starts advocating charges of attempted murder against people for the way they act or do not act when having sex, there will be strong – even very strong – and emotional responses.

The immediate history of debate around the subject of HIV and Aids – especially in South Africa – should also have taught her that it is a subject around which politicians should tread very carefully.

The hoo-ha over her initial statement was still in full swing, when she initiated a "Know Your Status and Win"/"Weet en Wen" campaign coupled to a cash-prizes lottery-type lucky draw – à la Power ball!

When one of the most respected and longest established professional associations in the country, the South African Medical Association, dared to call into question the wisdom of her competition, she came out sparring for a fight – accusing them of being “completely outrageous and unethical!”

I would like to give my friend Helen the same advice with a story that I gave to my son many years ago. He was not quite 10 and was being confronted with something he did wrong.

The moment I started talking to him, he started explaining and the more .he explained the deeper he dug himself into a hole.

Then I told him the story about the Kiewiet that was hopping around in the veld behind a grazing cow. Suddenly and unexpectedly, to the Kiewiet anyway, the cow relieved herself and poor old Kiewiet was instantly covered from head to toe by biologically processed grass.

Shaking his head violently and screaming complaints and protests at the top of his voice Kiewiet emerged from the mess.

The commotion caused by Kiewiet caught the attention of a falcon high-up in the sky, who swooped down and took Kiewiet’s head clean off.

And the moral of the story: When you are in the …. it  is better to keep your mouth shut.

Piet Coetzer