The monster of apartheid is still with us and bears out the words of Desmond Tutu that these apparitions cannot be reformed – they need to be destroyed. A case in point is the kind of reporting endemic with Die Republikein. Whatever appertains to the white man is worthy of empathy and what relates to the brown citizens is treated with a patronising snootiness. (The black man has escaped their disdain on account of the political clout he lately wields, and is being treated with the kind of respected that the politically emasculated must of necessity proffer the powerful). Let me quote their most recent unseemliness. When Mr Tonie Botes died last year the tone of the article about his passing was one of commiseration and deference, and nowhere was he addressed in any but the most respectful of forms. When that well-known Baster leader Mr Izaaks (Dap) died, a headline in Die Republikein after his funeral referred to ‘Ou Dap’. This man was a respected husband, father, brother and leader of a proud race, for crying out loud. What kind of tastelessness is this? Why the disparaging address, and the contrast in treatment with that of the white man? Its roots can be traced back to that undying disrespect for everything that’s not Afri-kaner, or British, or (God forbid) American. Just that overweening sense of ‘baasskap’ that has been the undoing of this race. A few years ago a friend of mine got killed near Gru-nau and Die Republikein reported quite decently on the incident, the reporter being under the impression that the victim was white. When it emerged that it was in reality a Coloured person, the tone changed dramatically and even before he was buried, the paper published how many brushes with the law the man had had previously, slandering his memory with irrelevant matter that could not have done anyone any good. When I confronted Dr Jan Spies (the then Editor-in-Chief) about the damage his newspaper was doing in our community, he brusquely dismissed my appeal, as only those battle-hardened proponents of Apartheid could do it in those grim days. It is time this monster is removed from our midst. Troubled Reader