EFF leader explains his lineage, with claim that his ancestors are Israeli.
Category: Activism
What Redi Tlhabi, Chris Maroleng, and Anthony Carroll had to tell the U.S. Congress about South Africa
Redi Tlhabi:
“There are a lot of politicians who say stupid things. there is a minister, who recently said something about the CIA funding non profit organizations. That’s a lot of nonsense and it gets called out in South Africa.”
“It is true that South Africa benefits richly from its relationship with the United States, far more than it does from its relationship with Russia. South Africa also has far more in common with the United States and shares common values and norms – an independent judiciary, checks and balances, a free press and a robust civil society that pushes back against state excesses. There is much to value and salvage from this relationship. However, African states don’t want to seem weak. They do not want to be seen to be doing the bidding of the United States. Their peers and constituencies may punish them for that.”
Full https://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA16/20230927/116405/HHRG-118-FA16-Wstate-TlhabiR-20230927.pdf
Bio: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA16/20230927/116405/HHRG-118-FA16-Bio-TlhabiR-20230927.pdf
Chris Maroleng:
“The US and Africa as a whole can forge a relationship that is mutually beneficial and supports the development goals of both parties. May we be so bold as to suggest that our organisation is the perfect intermediary for such interventions, given the antipathy displayed by members of the governing party to certain messages?”
Full : https://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA16/20230927/116405/HHRG-118-FA16-Wstate-MarolengC-20230927.pdf
Bio: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA16/20230927/116405/HHRG-118-FA16-Bio-MarolengC-20230927.pdf
Anthony Carroll:
“And SA has a robust civil society that forced President Thabo Mbeki to abandon his disastrous policies on HIV/AIDS and took to the streets to protest the excesses of “State Capture” during the destructive presidency of Jacob Zuma. Recently, a public ombudsman was removed by Parliament on suspicion of corruption and overreach. Yet, while clearly not a failed state, by many measures, South Africa is a failing one.”
Full : https://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA16/20230927/116405/HHRG-118-FA16-Wstate-CarrollA-20230927.pdf
Bio: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA16/20230927/116405/HHRG-118-FA16-Bio-CarrollA-20230927.pdf
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FULL https://youtube.com/live/P5O_x1f31fQ?si=yaCc1oLCg11aa8g-
Via: @TshweuMoleme
SA Anglican Church’s dishonest prognostications on ‘Israel Apartheid’
THE ANGLICAN Church of South Africa appears to have endorsed a statement by the South African Council of Churches ‘declaring Israel an apartheid state’. This just weeks after the Archbishop of Canturbury Justin Welby had dismissed comparisons with South Africa’s former racist constitution, by stating Israel’s constitution ‘is unlike the former regime in South Africa, which was built on a system of apartheid that institutionalised racial segregation”,
The resolution by the ‘Church Provincial Standing Committee‘ is thin on detail, and references decisions made by one of the active role-players in the apartheid regime, namely the Dutch Reformed Church, Western Cape — whose synod has without any hint of remorse “also expressed its opinion that Israel should be declared an apartheid state” and has thus asked its church’s National synod “to consider this at its October 2023 Synod.”
Archbishop Welby had earlier refused to support such a resolution and has said Israel is rather a country in “turmoil”, adding: “It remains a risk if the constitution changes to an apartheid constitution, then it obviously would become an apartheid state. But until that happens, I won’t use that word about Israel.”
The statement by the local chapter of the Anglican Church is nothing more than replacement theology and gross supersessionism in furtherance of the Anglican Covenant which seeks to replace and situate non-Christian faiths, and in particular the Jewish Faith, within the ambit of neocolonial dogma. Though Archbishop Thabo Makgoba himself appears at pains to distinguish between Zionist and Non-Zionist Jews, such an interrogation of religious identity, even under a secular regime, is unsustainable and scurrilous — leading to contradictions, inconsistencies and discrimination on the basis of religion, all outlawed by our Constitution.
Attributing race to Jews for instance, in order to make a false comparison with apartheid is racism and anti-Semitism, and meets definitions of anti-Semitism proposed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
Just how discriminatory this modern day inquisition (by latter day saints and self-appointed pontiffs), has become may be seen by the treatment of David Unterhalter by the Judicial Service Commission, where mere association with the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) was grounds for disqualification. My own experience with having my Jewish identity reduced to little more than caricature and stereotype, where I was placed on remand in 2007 for complaining about the intrusion of an apartheid media firm upon my private life, a clear case of Anti-Semitism, amidst the refusal of both media and civil organisations to defend secular rights and freedoms also refers.
The failure of the SACC, the Anglican Church and its allies, the Dutch Reform Church, to fully atone for its role in the creation of the apartheid state constitutes a form of scapegoating and denial in which black persons are now held responsible for apartheid and where the narrative of our own struggle is displaced by a supersessionist movement — one that is authoritarian, theocratic, anti-secular, anti-democratic, homophobic, misogynistic and racist — a topsy-turvy anti-nomian worldview if ever.
The ecclesiastical statements by Makgoba are thus littered with bald-faced ipse dixit assertions and a dogmatic resort to unproven authority — two disputed reports by non-governmental organisations (Amnesty International & Human Rights Watch) are mentioned, perhaps because they are closely tied to the United Nations, but without so much as adoption of a resolution in this matter by the UN General Assembly.
Their terms and references and conclusions have already been debunked, and the influence of these reports must be rejected. It is clear such donor organisations view ‘apartheid’ in euphemistic terms and their reports cannot sustain academic nor legal inquiry — nor withstand the stringency of intellectual scrutiny required, to make such conclusions an honest appraisal of the situation as it is stands viz. viz. the ongoing conflict over the Final Status of Jerusalem.
The local Anglican council resolution, in essence a religious decree much like those delivered during the Crusades, and in particular the discriminatory statements by Makgoba, must therefore be condemned as intellectually dishonest, the exact opposite of secularism, and unhelpful in charting a path to peace in the Middle East.
UPDATE: As I write this an Al Jazeera report claims, “Jews Are Storming the Temple Mount“. The propaganda piece flies in the face of the reality that in terms of the Jordanian Waqf, or status quo, Jews are allowed to ascend the Temple Mount during certain holy festivals such as Sukkot. Under the Jordanian occupation 1948-1967, Jews were forbidden from praying at the Western Wall.
SEE: Anglican Church silent on Hamas’s murder of Israelis
SEE: DEBUNKED: Palestinians and Jews, each form a distinct race & the conflict is thus like apartheid
SEE: Everything you know about the Palestinian Struggle is wrong
Palestinian academics condemn Abbas Holocaust statement
In response to recent statements by President Mahmoud Abbas, a group of Palestinians have released an open letter:
We the undersigned, Palestinian academics, writers, artists, activists, and people of all walks of life, unequivocally condemn the morally and politically reprehensible comments made by President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas about the Holocaust. Rooted in a racial theory widespread in European culture and science at the time, the Nazi genocide of the Jewish people was born of antisemitism, fascism, and racism. We adamantly reject any attempt to diminish, misrepresent, or justify antisemitism, Nazi crimes against humanity, or historical revisionism vis-a-vis the Holocaust.
The Palestinian people are sufficiently burdened by Israeli settler colonialism, dispossession, occupation, and oppression without having to bear the negative effect of such ignorant and profoundly antisemitic narratives perpetuated by those who claim to speak in our name. We are also burdened by the PA’s increasingly authoritarian and draconian rule, which disproportionately impacts those living under occupation. Having held onto power nearly a decade and a half after his presidential mandate expired in 2009, supported by Western and pro-Israel forces seeking to perpetuate Israeli apartheid, Abbas and his political entourage have forfeited any claim to represent the Palestinian people and our struggle for justice, freedom, and equality, a struggle that stands against all forms of systemic racism and oppression.
Rashid Khalidi — Sherene Seikaly — Tareq Baconi — Muhammad Ali Khalidi — Zaha Hassan — Noura Erakat — Raja Shehadeh — Isabella Hammad — Lana Tatour — Nadia Abu El-Haj — Bashir Abu-Manneh — Raef Zreik — Leena Dallasheh — Lila Abu Lughod — Kareem Rabie — Mezna Qato — Amahl Bishara — Dana El Kurd — Nadia Hijab — Samera Esmeir — Ahmad Samih Khalidi — Abdel Razzaq Takriti — Maha Nassar — Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian — Huwaida Arraf — Rosemary Sayigh — Areej Sabbagh-Khoury — Tamara Ben-Halim — Yezid Sayigh — Jumana Manna — Nadim Bawalsa — Yousef Munayyer — Omar Qattan — Ismail Nashef — Nu’man Kanfani — Himmat Zoubi — Shahd Hammouri — Hamzé Attar — Hana Sleiman — Haithem El-Zabri — Samir Sinijlawi — Mussa’ab Bashir — Sam Bahour — Huda Al Imam — Bashir Bashir — Joey Ayoub — Michel Khleifi — Layth Malhis — Abdalhadi Alijla — Anis Mohsen — Karam Dana — Omar Dajani — Ubai Aboudi — Issam Nassar — Bassam Massarwa — Zaina Arekat — Bahaa Shahera Rauf — May Seikaly — Jerry Jareer Khoury — Rania Madi — Wesam Ahmad — Refaat Alareer — Omar Jabary Salamanca — Mona Hewaydi — Y. L. Al-Sheikh — Yasmeen Hamdan — Emilio Dabed — Ines Abdel Razek — Basheer Karkabi — Majed Abusalama — Leila Farsakh — Yazan Khalili — Moien Odeh — Hilary Rantisi — Tariq Raouf — Aimee Shalan — Nadia Khalilieh — Linda Kateeb — Bassam Dally — Zahi Khamis — Sami Jiries — Razzan Quran — Nour Salman — Jamal Rayyis — Izzeddin Araj — Tarek Ismail — Susan Muaddi Darraj — Basman Derawi — Rawan Arraf — Asad Ghanem — Assad Abdi — Umayyah Cable — Fahad Ali — Samar Dahleh — Ayman Nijim — Jumana Musa — Miryam Rashid — Helga Tawil-Souri — Leila Shahid — Leena Barakat — Nadia Saah — Hana Masud — Asma Al-Naser — Diana Buttu — Selma Dabbagh — Rana Issa — Riyad Khoury — Nasser Saleh — Said Abu Mualla — Haneen Zoabi — Muayad Alayan — Afnann Egbaria — Khaled Karkabi — Jaber Suleiman — Tarif Khalidi — Pelican Mourad — Ibrahim Fraihat — Basel Ghattas — Wisam Gibran — Fathi Marshood — Radi Suudi — Ahmed Abofoul — Omar Barghouti — Abdelhamid Siyam — Noor A’wad — Lara Elborno — Areen Hawari — Liyana Kayali — Nadia Naser-Najab — Kamal Aljafari — Anthony Broumana — Seema Hejazi — Fady Joudah — Samah Sabawi — Ramy Al-Asheq — Yousef Abu Warda — Khalil Sayegh — Nadim Khoury — Waseem Abu Mehadi — Jonathan Kuttab — Line Khateeb — Abdellatif Rayan — George Abed — Khalil Shikaki — Diana Alzeer — Lena Khalaf Tuffaha — Nadim Rouhana — Bassam Shihada — Hiba Husseini — Majed Kayali — Nahed Schäffer-Awwad — Burhan Ghanayem — Loubna Turjuman — Abeer Al-Najjar — Naseer Aboushi — Yasmeen Daher — Siman Khoury — Amani Barakat — Dimah Habash — George Bisharat — Walid Afifi — Hasan Hammami — Khalil Hindi — Akram Baker — Margaret Zaknoen DeReus — Mazen Masri — Tanya Keilani — Marzuq Al-Halabi — Hanan Toukan — Abdelnasser Rashid — Fadya Salfiti — M. Muhannad Ayyash — Yasser Abdrabbou — Maurice Ebileeni — Rashida Tlaib — Lina Qamar — Oraib Toukan — Rima I Anabtawi — Emad Salem — Mona Khalidi — Mohammed Said Samhouri — Raja G Khoury — Sara Husseini — Nasser Mashni — Jawadat Abu El-Haj — Norma M. Rantisi — Ann Shirazi — Ahmad Shirazi — Suheil Nammari — Nafez Abo-Elreich — Moosa Omar — Karem Sakallah — Farouq R Shafie — Mahmoud Muna — Izzat Darwazeh — Awni Daibes — Nadeem Karkabi — Ra’fat Sub Laban — Lina Ramadan — Gabriel Mifsud — Khaled Hamida — Basma Al-Sharif — Ali Mansour — Falestin Naili — Manar H. Makhoul — Nabil Armaly — Hassan F Hamed — Waleed Karkabi — Nada Elia — Abed Azzam — Hassane Karkar — Ben Jamal
BRICS, a boondoggle of dictators, homophobes & outright misogynists.
LAST MONTH Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were invited to join a grouping of ‘top emerging economies’ known as BRICS dreamt up by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill. The only thing linking the bloc previously was their economic status. Nowadays, the addition of six new members, appears to add weight to the notion that the club is less an economic convenience than a means for these nations to escape pressure from Western values which emphasise elections and human rights.
While Argentina is a democracy, the other new additions are not. Ethiopia’s authoritarian one-party system has largely excluded the public from genuine political participation, while the UAE has been described as a “tribal autocracy” where the ‘seven constituent monarchies are led by tribal rulers in an autocratic fashion’. There are no democratically elected institutions, and there is no formal commitment to free speech.
Saudi Arabia on the other hand is an absolute monarchy. According to the Basic Law of Saudi Arabia, the country’s de facto constitution adopted by royal decree in 1992, the king must comply with Sharia law and the Qur’an. With neighbouring Iran competing as an oppressive theocracy called the “Islamic Republic,” with a religious “Supreme Leader” overseeing all aspects of Iranian life.
This month marks one year since Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the Iranian morality police, setting off mass protests. Authorities continue to quell any new unrest. UN experts in March expressed outrage at the deliberate poisoning of more than 1200 schoolgirls in Iran’s major cities by a regime intent on maintaining religious strictures against women who are forced to wear the Hijab.
Despite the threat of arrest, millions of Iranian women actively oppose the hijab, wearing it loosely around their heads or on their shoulders.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Saudi Arabia face severe repression and legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. LGBT rights are not recognized by the government of Saudi Arabia. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal. In Iran, LGBT face the death penalty. In Ethopia homosexuality is criminalized under the country’s penal code,
The newcomers for the most part lack universal rights for minority groups. In Saudi Arabia, Jews are restricted from practising their religion in public and the country bans non-Muslims from entering the city of Mecca.
In contrast, Iran’s Jewish community is officially recognized as a religious minority group by the government, and, like Zoroastrians and Christians, are allocated one seat in the Iranian Parliament.
Behold, I am Malema the Mighty, bow before my absolutist, authoritarian glory
AS EFF SUPREMO Julius Malema rose from the decks of an elevator platform within the FNB soccer stadium, showered with pop-star confetti before 94 000 of his supporters, he was echoing another stadium-size political event which had occurred in Russia to mark the anniversary of an authoritarian — Vladimir Putin’s ‘special military operation’ celebration in Moscow.
Like the dictator Putin, Malema views himself as the prodigal heir to a former colonial Empire. In many respects the two politicos are cut from the same cloth — Juju as he is often affectionately known — is an ardent fan of policies which have seen war resisters imprisoned, gay rights activists jailed, and media outlets banned.
The well-orchestrated EFF fanfare came barely a week since his party platformed an openly misogynist, and homophobic speaker, Prof PLO Lumumba.
Amidst the sheen of festive excess to mark the party’s 10th anniversary, a thin veneer of Africanism and decolonial rhetoric faceted over Malema’s ultra-nationalist policies, which would entail wholesale nationalisation, ‘expropriation of land without compensation’, and seizure of businesses and property at the behest of reracialisation, ‘revolution and revenge’ against white citizens.
The circus event touting a command economy — another self-abnegating Marxist dynasty much like North Korea’s Kim dynasty — occurred within the oval of a stadium sponsored by a large South African financial institution — one of several which the grandiloquent leader wants to nationalise. It is one of many contradictory policy facts ignored by Malema’s critics, who also point out the party, which claims membership of 1 million supporters, represents barely a 3rd of the country’s over 30-million electorate.
Still, the third largest political grouping in South Africa, borrowed heavily from Putin’s United Russia Party and its contempt for the media, and has sought funding from oligarchs such as Adriano Mazzotti, a confessed tobacco smuggler, seemingly immune from prosecution under the current government.
Leading a chant of “Kill the Boer” a song which has “sparked pushback in both South Africa and the United States“, most notably from South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, reignited debate about a “controversial decades-old tune that dates back to the struggle against apartheid”.
It is doubtful whether the threatening words are appropriate to peacetime and the 21st century? Such criticism was however met with derision from across the spectrum of black social media, with many persons of colour, eager to normalise the equivalent of waving around the old Republic flag.
Yet Malema’s open endorsements of the violent sentiments behind the fringe song popularised by the late Peter Mokaba — which is anything but metaphorical in this context, nor even lyrical for that matter — is uncomfortably close to an outright call for civil war, and needs to be seen against his earlier statements this year, urging followers to ‘not be afraid of murdering in the name of revolution’.
Later at an amply funded black-tie shindig, sponsored by his right-wing capitalist associates (read fawning opportunists), Malema sung the praises of erstwhile and current benefactors, whilst cautioning his guests that he was ‘ruthless when it came to dissent within the ranks of his own party.’
The comments were apparently aimed at his second-in-command Floyd Shivambo.
LUMUMBABWE: EFF host to a misogynist, homophobe in PLO Professor
IN A SPEECH littered with offensive references to ‘men’ and ‘man’ that ignored the substantial role played by African women, both during the struggle against apartheid, and the fight against colonialism, Prof PLO Lumumba gave students a one-sided sermon on African history, that avoided her-story. Outside the largely, empty Sara Baartman hall, EFF martials assaulted several LGBT protesters. This in front of a massive crowd of gatherers from the LGBT community which included students, academic staff and allies, who waved Rainbow flags, and sang songs.
Former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor, appeared embarrassed, as she addressed several news teams covering the event, wearing dark shades and avoiding eye contact. She claimed the organisation was ‘not responsible’ for the views of its guests, even though inside, Lumumba’s speech was being met by loud clapping and even applause by EFF supremo, Julius Malema.
It was Malema who had only months earlier marched on the Ugandan embassy, claiming Yoweri Museveni, the Ugandan president was seeking “to use the anti-homosexuality bill against his political opposition”.
Now eager to appear straight, monogamous and even liberal, Malema orchestrated a flipflopping equivocation, joining other EFF staff in trotting out chicanery — what was once the preserve of the traditional far-right. Yes, you heard that right, the liberal “marketplace of ideas”. Malema’s sophistry translates into a disclaimer that the professor’s views are merely ‘his own opinions with which one may agree or disagree’.
Would he be so accommodating if his guest were an outright religious conservative who thinks abortion-on-demand is murder? A white supremacist who believes black persons are inferior?
Trouble with such an expedient and calculated viewpoint, is that anti-hate speech clauses in our Constitution limit speech that is ‘hateful, incitement to violence and propaganda for war’.
The SCA had earlier this month dismissed an EFF application for leave to appeal an interdict , brought , to restrain the party from ‘inciting people to invade private property’. The leader of the red berets however, has escaped several applications brought regarding hate-speech.
The most obvious case being a highly publicised action by Afriforum against various “Kill the Boer” statements. One can only remark that if the boot was on the other foot, would our justice system think differently? There is certainly double-standards at play.
Our country’s enfeebled justice system thus appears to have moved the bar of hate speech, shifting the burden of evidence onto applicants, who are now forced to prove actual harm. The infamous Jon Qwalane case, in which a former Sunday Times columnist was found guilty of homophobic statements by the SAHRC for equating homosexuality with bestiality, was thus overturned on appeal by the SCA in 2021, ‘because nobody died as a result‘.
It is unclear whether the SCA’s obtuse and frankly, outrageous ruling extends to recent statements made by Prof Lumumba, to the effect that LGBT persons should also face the death penalty? Should hate speech, or speech clearly aimed at overthrowing our own democratic system, and the values it purports to uphold, be protected?
Can one really campaign for South Africa to be replaced by Lumumbabwe?
June Media threads
These past weeks have seen several media items worth of our consideration. I flag them here to remind readers that Medialternatives still cares about these issues:
GLOBAL NEWS
BRICS Circus
President Ramaphosa made a bizarre trip to Ukraine and Russia, attempting to broker a peace deal, resulting in an incident in Poland, and then quickly superseded by the Wagner rebellion.
Putin may now skip the controversial BRICS summit.
Pundits like Patrick Bond are warning that an expanded BRICS would result in less influence for the country
LOCAL NEWS
IOL finds 10 news subs under the bed
The spat between IOL and Media24 appears to have escalated with two new inhouse opinion pieces criticising another company circulated widely on twitter by CEO Iqbal Surve. They are notable for the way in which they attack other daily press outlets, fail to acknowledge previous criticism by Medialternatives, and for their bizarre attempts to maintain a semblance of editorial distance. The latest piece published yesterday even carries the nom-de-plum of one ” J. Edwards” , apparently a person who “requests anonymity in order to prevent his/her writing from interfering with his/her regular responsibilities.”
Koos Bekker – Unveiling the elephant in the newsroom
Naspers and Media24 must face their apartheid legacy
Damning indictment of JSC in Judge Motata case
Mayor comes out in support of LGBT
An obscure political party demands removal of the Green Point rainbow crossing. But so did a larger party last year, the ACDP, the same picture was used in both stories.
EFF dragged over LGBT flipflop
Over 100 UCT staff and students signed a petition to stop the EFF Lumumba lecture
US historical relations with South Africa are being mischaracterised by Putin propagandists
RONALD REAGAN’S REPUBLICAN USA may have been a tough nut to deal with during the 80s, but harping on about the perceived slight caused by his party’s treatment of Nelson Mandela, whom they Republicans’ labelled a ‘terrorist’, ignores the substantial contribution of many other personalities from within the ranks of the Democrats and broader American civil rights movement.
Personages such as Dr.Martin Luther King Jr., late John F Kennedy, the late Robert F Kennedy, the Reverend Jesse Jackson and UN ambassador Andrew Young, demonstrate the enormous USA impact which ultimately boosted the anti-apartheid movement (AAM) both within and outside the country.
The first American political leader to show genuine interest in South Africa was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. By the time of Senator Kennedy’s visit in 1966, Dr. King had publicly linked the Civil Rights Movement in the United States and the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
“Our responsibility presents us with a unique opportunity. We can join in the one form of non-violent action that could bring freedom and justice to South Africa – the action which African leaders have appealed for – in a massive movement for economic sanctions.” Martin Luther King’s London address 1963
It was this democratic movement for universal rights which formed the basis for the anti-apartheid movement, a movement whose historical trajectory spans decades of progressive extra-parliamentary activism and whose aims were far broader than the narrow ideological constraints of party politics.
Robert F. Kennedy’s historic visit to South Africa in 1966, remains one of the most important visits by an American during the worst years of apartheid. As Senator Kennedy’s address at the University of Witwatersrand and meeting with Albert Luthuli, shows, he was a strong advocate for liberty, equality, human dignity, democracy, human rights and justice.
Later it was Andrew Young whose trip to SA in 1977 first raised the spectre of serious economic pressure on the apartheid government and ushered in a sanctions campaign which did more to liberate the country than any Russian-supplied weapons and Soviet-style rhetoric.
The Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 was thus a law enacted by the United States Congress. The law imposed sanctions against South Africa and stated ‘five preconditions for lifting the sanctions’ that would essentially end the system of apartheid.
It is an historical fact that the conclusion to apartheid and white minority rule came as the result of broad economic pressure and that the military campaign at the behest of MK and others, at the end of the day, played a rather minor role.
Partisan propagandists stuck inside Cold War rhetoric forget that Paul Robeson’s American Committee on Africa (ACOA) was the first major group devoted to the anti-apartheid movement, and predate the later boycott movement formed in 1959.
Later incarnations played an equally important part, with the result evolving into the African Growth and Opportunity Act of 2000, which lowered trade barriers by lowering tariffs, and providing economic opportunities and incentives.
It would be a shame to see South Africa lose its beneficial trade status in exchange for appeasement of a Russian dictator opposed to the democracy and civil rights we take for granted? It is no secret that Putin’s United Russia Party is opposed to LGBTIQ rights, and perceives the conquest of Ukraine as a colonial and imperial endeavour.
In 1984, TransAfrica became a founding member of what it termed the Free South Africa Movement resulting in demonstrations on US campuses. While supportive of UN resolutions against apartheid, and the chief supplier of weapons during the conflict, Russia played a marginal role and absolutely no part in the transition process. In fact it was the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and end of the USSR in 1991 which brought a wave of democracy and freedom across Eastern Europe, whose impact is still felt in South Africa today.
Reflections on Freedom & Workers Day 2023
FREEDOM DAY is a monument to majority rule under an inclusive democratic system that relegated previous attempts to segregate the franchise according to skin colour. We no longer have to look over our shoulders for the special branch, nor worry about spooks under our beds, and any comparisons with the apartheid regime immediately demonstrate that we are a far more open, transparent and freer society than people like BJ Vorster and JG Strydom could ever have imagined.
But for all the blather over the weekend, speech after speech on worker’s rights and the ruling party’s suppose success in ruling, our President came across like a maître d’ asylum, the manager of a mental ward covering up for the lateness in supplying the main course to a bunch of rowdy inmates — economic freedom (read equal opportunity) is so past overdue that it would not an overstatement, if I remarked, ‘the dish is already cold’ — practically any party promising alternatives to the failed ‘developmental model’ being offered up as the sole option on the table by the ANC, has a pretty good chance at it, come the 2024 general election.
This past 12 months have seen a veritable smorgasbord of trouble besetting the party, which which like the NP ‘volkscapitalisme‘ — sheltered employment and state maximalism of yore — has become synonymous with the fate of the country, leading many to assume a permanent mandate, as if our nation’s mixed economy were under command much like China and its CCP, and our destiny is to be ranked, not alongside democracy but the rather the autocracies of the world.
From the release (attempted burial) of the Zondo Report, to the Phala Phala story (equally discarded), and now several fresh debacles, including revelations of organised criminal syndicates at Eskom, the attempt to wiggle out of an ICC Putin arrest warrant by dumping the Rome Statutes, the equally spineless attempt to dodge commitments made under the UN IFCC climate arrangement, the embarrassing February military exercises on the anniversary of the Ukraine invasion ( greylisting for money laundering the same day), the withdrawal of an invitation to attend the Tokyo G7, the prognosis for the ruling party, if not the nation, seems rather bleak
Remembering how from afar, I watched the 1994 event, casting my first vote in Beverley Hills, Los Angeles, nogal alongside other expat South Africans, many of them exiles and refugees, the day nevertheless still brings tears of joy to my eye, but more often than not I find myself sobbing these days at the deprivation caused by the ruling party, levelling down instead of levelling up.
The South Africa to which I returned may yet be a vastly different country to the one I left, but in many significant ways, things are very much the same here — corrupt politicians, crooked political parties, well-orchestrated graft, crass state largess and siphoning of funds. The ANC from this vantage point looks no better than the previous regime and one can only hope the party will be removed from office in a spectacular way, if only to learn from its mistakes instead of operating under the false assumption of manifest destiny.