EDITOR – Early this June, SA and Canada through high level negotiations signed an agreement to send 300+ firemen to Alberta, Canada on a humanitarian mission to help Canada put out the raging fires that caused millions of dollars of damage to houses, schools and almost wiped out a small town.
This gesture on the part of SA was hailed as a saviour and every newspaper gave the story headline space.
However that was all dampened when the firefighters upon arrival in Canada decided to go on strike over the pay that was offered. The story hit the headlines again, however for a different reason. All the praise went south.
The matter was resolved when Canada had to succumb to our noble firefighters who were then described as anything other than “noble”. Canada would probably never take at risk again and this whole situation would have soured the relationship between these two countries.
One has to remember that Canada was unquestionably one of few countries who stood steadfast in their opposition to Apartheid and supported the sanctions against SA without fear or favour.
Is this the kind of image we want to portray of how humanitarian SA is?
Sicario
Durban
