Sunday Times fires Bullard

2008-04-11 07:26

Leané du Plessis

Johannesburg - David Bullard, a regular contributor to the Sunday Times, was fired from his post after an "extremely racist" column of his was published in last Sunday's edition of the newspaper.

Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya said on Thursday that Bullard's weekly column also would be cancelled.

Makhanya added that Bullard, who has been a contract worker at the newspaper for 14 years, wrote a column that was "not in accordance with the character and values of the Sunday Times".

"It's not about censorship, but about the fact that the column was not in accordance with the values to which our country and its constitution adhere," said Makhanya.

What the column said

Bullard's column, titled "Uncolonised Africa wouldn't know what it was missing" describes what South Africa would have looked like had the "evil white man" not come "to disturb the rustic idyll of the early black settlers".

He wrote: "There are no roads because no roads are needed because there are no cars. It's 2008 and no one has taken the slightest interest in South Africa, apart from a handful of botanists and zoologists who reckon that the country's flora and fauna rank as one of the largest unspoilt areas in a polluted world.

Bullard describes how, never having been exposed to "the sinful ways of the West", the various tribes of South Africa live healthy and peaceful lives, "only occasionally indulging in a bit of ethnic cleansing".

"They live in single-storey huts arranged to catch most of the day's sunshine and their animals are kept nearby.

"The dreaded internet doesn't exist in South Africa and cellphone companies have laughed off any hope of interesting the inhabitants in talking expensively into a piece of black plastic.

"There are no unsightly shopping malls selling expensive goods made by Asian slave workers and consequently there are no newspapers or magazines carrying articles comparing the relative merits of ladies' handbags.

Bullard writes: "Life is, on the whole, pretty good, but there is something vital missing. Fire has been discovered and the development of the wheel is coming on nicely, but the tribal elders are still aware of some essential happiness ingredient they still need to discover.

"Then something happens that will change this undisturbed South Africa forever.

"Huge metal ships land on the coast and big metal flying birds are sent to explore the sparsely populated hinterland.

"They are full of men from a place called China and they are looking for coal, metal, oil, platinum, farmland, fresh water and cheap labour and lots of it.

"Suddenly, the indigenous population realise what they have been missing all along: someone to blame.

"At last their prayers have been answered," the column ends.

Looking for new columnist

According to Makhanya, the decision to fire Bullard was taken by the newspaper itself and there were no external influences which played a role.

"From now on, Bullard has no association with the Sunday Times.

"He respected the decision, but it wasn't easy.

Bullard could not be reached for comment on Thursday night.

- Beeld