My row with Rian
Sir: When Rian Malan's book, My Traitor's Heart, was shortlisted for a non-fiction prize awarded by the (South African) Sunday Times, of which I was then editor, I ventured the opinion that it was an exploitation of racism. He never forgave me. However, as I told Malan during our recent dispute at the writers' conference in Franschhoek, my original view has since been confirmed repeatedly by his later writings in which, frankly, I cannot recognise the country in which we both live. Nor do I recognise in his latest report in The Spectator (Shame on Mugabe's stooges', 19 May) the terms of our argument, although on this occasion the reason was perhaps that he was enjoying the lavish supply of fine Haute Cabriere Cellar wines while I, a teetotaller, was not.
I must confess that I told him his snivelling, self-pitying, race-based terror of the future in this country was pathetic. I also said, among other things, it was not beyond understanding that President Thabo Mbeki might resort to 'quiet diplomacy' to try to avert rather than precipitate the implosion which Zimbabwe now faces. I used the Anglo-American intervention in Iraq as an example of the sort of catastrophe that can ensue when hubristic leaders intervene in other nations' affairs. He seemed, in his excited condition at the time, to find that view mystifying.
Ken Owen Claremont, Cape Town, South Africa
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