SA Politics Thread Part 10 : The GNU Has Crashed

Status
Not open for further replies.
https://twitter.com/x/status/1922917618161164748

Yup. There it is. Expect ASA to unite behind MK or EFF after 2026.
“If those miners were of the white race, the container holding their bodies would have been removed long ago. The government would have mobilised every resource to rescue them, and the media would have been shouting from rooftops.”
Click to expand...
 

There is enormous frustration in the ANC reaches of government and the leadership of South Africa’s majority party that they have lost control of the narrative around the country, writes Pieter du Toit.

The sight this week of 49 Afrikaners traipsing into a hangar in Washington DC waving little American flags galled many. And US President Donald Trump’s steadfast belief that a “genocide” was taking place in the country continues to be a cornerstone of his misguided approach towards South Africa.

President Cyril Ramaphosa clearly tried to offset the publicity around the American “rescue operation” by visiting the NAMPO agricultural show in the northern Free State midweek, mingling with farmers and agriculturalists and talking shop with those whose job it is to till the land.

The message was that he wanted to talk to farmers, that he tried to understand their queries and issues and that he considers them an important part of South African society and the economy. But two statements from him over the last week stood out and undermines the NAMPO visit.


Unnecessary alienation

The first was delivered on a stage in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where he said that South Africa was the only country on the continent where “the colonisers” remained behind and weren’t chased away. “They’re making great progress,” he said. As if white South Africans were recent arrivals on these shores and were now starting to make headway in a new country.

The second was his cutting criticism of the 49 South Africans who left on the American charter plane on Sunday night. Talking to reporters at NAMPO, he called them “cowardly” and said they ran away because of their resistance to the constitutionally mandated programme of redress and transformation.

READ | Ramaphosa makes surprise visit to farmers’ expo, calls Afrikaner ‘refugees’ cowards


The Americans’ insight into South African politics, history and current challenges are often misplaced, if not ignorant, and Trump’s wading into domestic affairs has not been welcome. But here we are. He has singled out Afrikaners for special assistance, and this in turn has given many conservative and right-wing groups the oxygen and justification for beliefs that in many instances are diametrically opposed to the 1994 settlement. This is what we must deal with.

But Ramaphosa’s statements - about “colonisers” and being “cowardly” - will not serve anyone who has the country’s best interests at heart. Sitting on a stage in West Africa and ruminating about “colonisers” was as disingenuous as it was uncalled for.

Obviously referring to white South Africans, the comment should probably be seen in context of the president needing to maintain his standing among other African leaders. But hearing it from back home, it is jarring.

Does Ramaphosa want to “other” his compatriots? Or was it clumsy formulation? Because the net effect of a statement like that will, in many instances, lead to the unnecessary alienation of people who want the country to succeed.

Not real ‘refugees’

Ramaphosa’s comment about the 49 “refugees” might well elicit the same response. Very few people really believe that the group can be classified as refugees in the proper sense of the word, and there is broad agreement that the whole scheme is part of Trump’s attempts to undermine South Africa’s sovereignty and standing as a constitutional democracy with the rule of law as one of the country’s governing tenets.

It is also unclear why any of them took up the offer of resettlement in the US. Various media - including News24 - have tried to interview them to find out what their reasoning is. But whatever it is, it’s certainly more complicated than merely stating they are opposed to the democratic project, and that their actions are “cowardly”.


READ | Adriaan Basson: I am an Afrikaner, not a refugee

But the current reality in South Africa is that we have high unemployment, low economic growth, misfiring and collapsing service delivery and high levels of crime. And many South Africans are rightly furious at an ANC-led government who have over the last 20 years failed to help lift people out of poverty, giving them jobs and handing them the dignity of being able to progress in life.

Endemic corruption, state capture and the endless pantomime of ANC power struggles have meant that the single biggest question in South Africa - how to accelerate economic growth at all costs - is often pushed to the periphery. Instead, we’re embroiled in the spectacle of an American rescue flight, Trump’s lies about genocide and other dramas that in the bigger scheme of things do not matter.

Economic growth the only issue that matters

On Wednesday, Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke announced the latest employment figures. He told journalists he has never seen such high unemployment figures for young people. Official unemployment rose to 32.9% of the working population. And the broader definition (including those who have given up on finding work) increased to 43.1%. That, on its own, should be ruinous to a sitting government. And it should rightly be the single most important focus of any government.

But on Monday, Mahlengi Bengu-Motsiri, the ANC’s spokesperson, told a podcast that foreign investors, despite promising to inject billions into the economy and to create thousands of jobs “can go, to India, or elsewhere” if they don’t want to conform to BEE laws. Is that the way to encourage investment? Is that the way to take down barriers to economic growth?

Neither the facts nor the narrative about South Africa tell an overtly positive tale about the country. And it is in the power of Ramaphosa’s government to change that with actual deeds
Click to expand...
 
ToxicBunny said:
Did our Dishonourable Minister in the Presidency watch what Donnie did to Zelensky? And she somehow thinks Donnie won't do the same to Squirrel if his plan includes it?
Click to expand...
As a black male, Serial expects preferential treatment so would never get the rude awaking that Zelenskyy received. There are affirmative action and BBBEE laws that guarantee this.
 
The_Right_Honourable_Brit said:
Is that one of the few municipalities that the DA is strong in the FS? Seem to recognise the name...
Click to expand...
giphy.gif
Checking...


DA got 11% in 2019. 7% in 2021 PR. And 18.6% in 2024.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X