The Irrelevancy and Danger of the ANC

On May 18th, South Africans will go to the polls to vote in nation-wide local municipality elections. While they are only local in nature, they will have a reverberation for years to come, especially leading into the next general election in 2014. This is because it will in essence a referendum on the nation's relationship with the African National Congress. The ANC, which has ruled South Africa since the end of Apartheid in 1994, has increasingly been the target of a vast array of grievances and charges of corruption. Currently headed by President Jacob Zuma, the people of the country are witnessing its slow evolution from the party of liberation to one with an ever tightening grip over its people.

For the first time in 17 years of full democracy, the voters of South Africa will have a clear and tested alternative to the status-quo.

The Western Cape, the most visited province in the country, is ruled by the Democratic Alliance (DA). Led by former mayor of Capetown Helen Zille, it has become by all accounts the best run out of the nation's nine provinces. Zille, who currently holds the office of Premier of the Western Cape, has been leader of the opposition since the general election of 2009, which saw for the first time since a 1994 a province elect a party other than ANC into power. Since 2006, when Zille was elected mayor of Capetown, it has consistently been rated as the best run city in the country. When the DA begin leading the province itself, it soon became the best run province in the country. Each DA-run municipality in the country has also consistently been ranked above those run by the ANC in terms of both management and service delivery. For the coming election, it is clear that the DA has proven itself more in touch with its constituents and more capable of properly running the nation.

The ANC however, has decided to make this not an election about issues, but about race. Some of its statements have begun to echo those of the ruling party of Zimbabwe, the ZANU-PF. Robert Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist since 1980, has built his current policy on the eradication of minorities in his country. After 17 years in power, the ANC has revealed itself to be headed down the same path. Julius Malema, president of the ANC Youth League, is its most vocal and divisive national (unofficial) spokesperson. Following a trip to Zimbabwe, Malema has thrown his suppsort behind two very draconian measures that have led their northern neighbor to ruin. One is the Protection of Information bill, which would allow the government (and therefore the ANC) to prosecute journalists for revealing information that they believe to be unfit for public viewing under the guise of undermining "national interests". This in essence could be whatever the government wants it to be. Similar laws were enacted during Apartheid. The second is mass nationalization that would mean an entire state control of the mining industry-arguably the nation's greatest source of income.

The DA is strongly opposed to both of these proposed policies, which has led them to be labeled by Malema as being against the interests of the nation. The ANC has implied that the skin color of their leader is indicative of this. Instead of promising to improve their performance, they are telling voters to beware of Ms. Zille and her party. They claim that the DA is only looking out for the interests of the wealthy, and more importantly the white minority. As a white South African, Zille will inevitably face this problem in vary degrees for a very long time.

To say that the DA is a party for whites and only seeks to protect their interests in ignorant. To begin with, a party that seeks only for the votes of white South Africans would never in the post-Apartheid era be a major player in national politics. Just over 9% of the nation is of European descent- you do the math. If Zille was only looking to represents whites, she wouldn''t have gone to great lengths to create the most diverse opposition party in the nation. The DA has also provided its constituents-ALL of its constituents-with far superior management and services than any ANC -run municipalities in the country. This means that the vast majority of people receiving said services are black and living in poverty. Playing the race card only looks pathetic when stacked against a truth. And that truth is that the DA is doing more for the poor majority in the country than the ANC.

While I don't expect the vast majority of municipalities in the country to suddenly transfer power from the ANC to the DA, I believe that the message to the ruling party will be loud and clear: Take care of business by 2014, or the Democratic Alliance will do it for you.

White Materials Part Deux

Recently, I read an article that had a turn of phrase that I thought to be quite comical. In essence it stated that people in fact do exist on the African continent between the borders of South Africa and the edge of the Sahara. It made me chuckle at first but then I realized something sad. The looming civil war in Ivory Coast, which had been headline news for about a week, had completely slipped my mind. Despite the fact that the country was less than a decade out of their most recent conflict, tens of thousands were fleeing, and two man claimed the presidency it had disappeared from both my radar and that of the international press and world governments.

Meanwhile, the Arab protests of North Africa took center stage, beginning with the overthrow of President (read dictator) Ben Ali of Tunisia. That was followed by the over through of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, a rebel movement in Libya, and mass protests in virtually every Arab nation across the region. All the while, Ivory Coast had disappeared from the news. Even Nelson Mandela's hospitalization in Johannesburg had made more air time than the brewing conflict in west Africa. As a student of the Middle East, my attention had completely been taken up by the rise of protest movements in the Arab world. But recently I've managed to tear myself away and reexamine the events taking place in Ivory Coast.

There is a civil war looming in West Africa. Once again, for the second time in less than a decade, the nation of Ivory Coast is descending into chaos brought on by the greed of a power hungry man and his pathetic cronies. On November 28th, 2010, Ivorians went to the polls to choose a new president. After four days of debate and counting, Alassane Ouattara was declared the winner by the Independent Election Commission. The Ivorian Constitutional Council, however, decided to disregard their reports and declared Gbagbo the winner. The country has been experience violence and economic since Laurent Gbagbo was once again sworn in as president of the Ivory Coast.

Since the end of November 2010, Laurent Gbagbo has been waging violence against his own citizens with the help of private militias and gangs of thugs. All the while, the internationally recognized president of Ivory Coast has been under virtual house arrest in an Abidjan hotel. Tens of thousands of refugees have been fleeing their homes for neighboring countries, gangs roam freely around the cities, and the UN peacekeeping force is basically making sure Alassane Ouattara remains alive in his virtual prison.

At the risk of sounding like a broken conspiracy record, the only thing that Libya has that Ivory Coast hasn't is vast oil reserves. Or, for that matter, oil reserves in general. Why has the global community, so soon after the Libyan uprising has been raging for only a brief few weeks, been so willing to make declarations and draw up combat plans against Ghaddafi when for months now Laurent Gbagbo's "troops" have created a refugee crisis for its neighbors? It wasn't until the week of March 6th that the UN decided to throw a token reinforcement at the peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast.

In the eyes of the world's most powerful nations, the majority of sub-Saharan African simply has nothing of worth to offer. Perhaps if oil or something other precious resource was plentiful beneath Ivorian soil, the global community would've assisted and there would be a peace by now. Unfortunately, that isn't the case, and the country only appears to be sliding further and further into another war with itself.

African Revolution

I found this great article on Al Jazeera. It's well worth your time, and covers topics that are very important to me and that I don't think are discussed enough.

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/02/201122164254698620.html

Normal post will continue soon.

When One Should Leave

The United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has joined President Obama in stating that change must occur immediately in the Arab Republic of Egypt. For nine days now, revolution has swept Egypt. No longer will the image of an apathetic, downtrodden man or woman represent the people of Egypt. Their nation-wide revolt against the Mubarak regime has proven that they are no longer content to live their lives without justice or accountability from those in power.

Hosni Mubarak, president of Egypt for the past thirty years, has finally announced that he will ste down at the end of his curent term. This would mean the status quo until September. But, of course, there is no guarantee that he will in fact follow his word. The people on the streets have refused to budge, however, until he leave the presidential palace and Egyptian soil. They have complete support of not only the world, but the Egyptian army as well. For an authoritarian regime, this should spell the end of the road. Mubarak, however, doesn't seem to be rattled by this at all.

When a government no longer has the support of the military, they must come to the realization that they have no legitimacy left under which they can rule the populace. It is time that the Egyptian political establishment accept defeat and bow out with as much dignity as one can in such a situation. Let's hope that in a year, Tahrir can come to mean the final liberation of the Egyptian people.

Solidarity With Egypt

The Palestine Papers

Something ain't clean in the water. Al Jazeera today released over 1,500 classifeed documents covering both sides of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The papers are full of revelations on closed door meetings and demonstrate the many deals that have been brought to the drawing board by both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority.

I'm wary about something. I can't really put my finger on it. Something in the way Al Jazeera refers to them and continuously releases new information by the hour seems bizarre. I can't explain it. It's more than them simply tooting their own horn.

One thing is for certain, however. My support of opposition leader Tzipi Livni has taken a hit. I'll let all of you look over the papers yourselves. Share your thoughts in the comments.