by davidrobertlewis -

SABC Propagandist Sophie Mokoena parrots Iran on ballistic missile attack

TUESDAYS massive barrage of 200 ballistic missiles fired from Iran were aimed at Tel Aviv and other urban centres within Israel, resulting in air-raid sirens and people running for shelter. The barrage was twice the size of a similar event in April, signifies a major escalation of the conflict. Instead of relating eye witness reports, Sophie Mokoena chose to parrot the Iranian position that its missiles were solely ‘aimed at military targets’.

This is reminiscent of the chicanery shown by Hamas’ Head of Political and International Relations Basem Naim when he told Sky News the day after the October 11 event that ‘no civilians have been killed by the militant group’. Editorial note: The deaths of any civilian on either side here, whether man, woman, or child is lamentable, as should be any loss of life caused by an inability of either side to resolve conflict through peaceful dialogue.

Naim claimed immediately following the events of 7 October 2023, which resulted in the deaths of some 1200 Israelis and the taking of over 250 hostages by the Islamists, that only Israeli “soldiers” had been killed because Hamas had chosen to redefine civilians as combatants.

One should not underestimate the chilling effect this statement had for those on the receiving end of the attack, and the manner in which the rhetoric has played itself out in Gaza, a state of affairs which is both shocking and deplorable.

It has become emblematic of those embedded within the Palestine movement to claim no civilians on the Israeli side are actual targets when they are clearly targeted, and if they become casualties of war, Israel is to blame. The resulting fiction merely adds fuel to the fire.

Ahmed Munzoor Shaik-Emam for example, claimed (in an SABC interview on Armistice Day 2023 ) the massacre of persons at an outdoor peace festival ‘never happened’, instead these persons were ‘killed by Israelis’, and in any event they ‘were not civilians’.

In many respects, Mokoena’s propaganda reminds one of the mendacity of Cliff Saunders who during the apartheid border war would deny SADF troops were in Angola, or that people were dying in the townships.

So far as the SABC is concerned, one should not require a lecture on the subject of South Africa’s pacifist constitution and its prohibition against war propaganda, yet when it comes to Mokoena, one is moved to respond — not only has she callously issued support for the belligerent parties in several conflicts, (most recently the Russian invasion of Ukraine), but she appears oblivious to the damage this empty rhetoric is causing South Africa’s much vaunted claim to global ‘non-alignment’.

If we’re allies of every tinpot dictatorship out there, then why not just come out and admit: we’re working with North Korea to destroy Samsung, and helping the Houthis, to reintroduce slavery?

Apartheid Bill mooted

The vocal Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), has announced that they will be marching to Parliament on Saturday, October 5 to call for the South African government to implement an ‘Apartheid Bill’ alongside sanctions against Israel.

The so-called “Apartheid Bill,” drafted by the PSC Cape Town , is purported to be a “step toward operationalising South Africa’s commitment to the Apartheid Convention”. The proposed Bill is thus designed to ‘hold entities accountable for human rights violations and will provide the legal framework for South Africa to implement Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) and establish Apartheid-Free Zones across the country,” claims the PSC.

Whether PSC succeed in introducing legislation into the House of Assembly is another matter, but any debate on the UN Convention would immediately be struck by the primary problem presented by the actual wording of the document, which is geared towards ‘racial groups’. The phrase is often redacted by groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International — if apartheid wasn’t about race, then what have South African’s been going on about these past decades?

As I have illustrated on many occasions, nations are not races, and neither are religions.

by davidrobertlewis -

DA goes woke, as President Ramaphosa gets into Messiah mode.

IT must have happened somewhere on the flight to to the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation when John Steenhuisen had his “Damascus Moment”, or maybe it was during the trade summit or shortly thereafter, it matters not, since the religious metaphor isn’t mine, but can be attributed to an IOL hack. If religious metaphors seem strange when it comes to China, a country which has an abysmal record when it comes to protecting the rights of religious minorities, then please bare with me.

No sooner had Steenhuisen returned from China, he was singing the joys of an economic model that has drawn China out of developing status right into the developed world. I’m not going to bore you with a technical analysis of what is right and also completely wrong about this model, suffice to state that it has come at an immense cost, both to the planet as well as many freedoms we take for granted.

Take any metric aside from personal income and you will realise the Chinese state is a state bereft of a free press, and a host of freedoms associated with liberal democracies. If you believe as I do, in independent trade unions, the right to practice one’s religion (secular or otherwise) without intervention from the state, the creative arts as something more than mere industrial decoration, and defining human achievements in ways that are not purely utilitarian and serving a party-political purpose, then this model is not for you.

Cut to the next scene, as President Ramaphosa is seen standing next to Elon Musk, keen to gain approval from an industrial leader of the West, an expatriot whose net worth puts the South African economy to shame. No sooner had Cyril attended a massive US-South Africa trade function in New York, he is on a United Nations podium, singing a song which is one part New World Order to two parts Totalitarian regime.

For all the song and dance about cutting our continent and the Global South into the razzle-dazzle of the West, what Ramaphosa wants more than anything here is to be seen to broker a deal which would see the dismantling of the ‘Zionist entity known as Israel’, a ‘call it apartheid, and everything else will fall into place solution.’ Never mind that neither religions nor nations are actually ‘races’.

Woke means never having to say you’re sorry.

Just how woke this narrative is, can be seen by the manner in which the leader of the DA is prepared to sacrifice the center of his own party and core principles associated with the former ‘progressive movement’ in the interests of building a country which, come next election may yet lack an official opposition, let alone a free press. Of course, that term ‘progressive’ is now associated with a failed attempt at cobbling together an opposition group known as the ‘progressive caucus’, but we’ll leave that for another day.

While ‘Tintin’, as some like to call Steenhuisen was firing Renaldo ‘Ngamla’ Gouws for being ‘too much of a distraction’, and relegating Roman Cabanac to ‘white boy’ status (too much of a red flag to the far-left), and preparing to take his party’s own seats into a long term deal with government that relegates the DA to a mere wing of Ramaphosa new ‘governing alliance’, our President was literally singing the praises of Hamas and Hezbollah on the international stage.

So let’s do a tally here. In return for Chinese money, the DA have sacrificed Taiwan and Tibet in favour of the ‘One China Policy’. Add some Petro-dollars to the mix and you have a deafening silence when it comes to Israel & Palestine. I think anyone worth his or her salt would realise where this is all going. You can read my pieces on the subject here and here.