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.
South Africa is a country which despite having a remarkable constitution has shown scant regard for the human rights outlined by Chapter 2. The recent debacle around the Dalai Lama is unfortunately, just the tip of the iceberg. If you recall, Chapter 2 is the chapter of the constitution in which our Bill of Rights exists.