There is a dark cloud of injustice rising in South Africa. As the preeminent power in Africa, where South Africa goes matters a great deal to development of the continent as a whole. Events in South Africa and Africa in general, do not appear on the US’s radar but the US has the opportunity via trade relations and diplomacy to nudge South Africa in the right direction and so set a positive tone and sustainable development strategy for the entire continent.
The South African government has denied the Dalai Lama an entry visa into South Africa. The request came at the behest of Desmond Tutu; the two men are good friends. The South African press blamed China. Just as in the US, China’s economic tendrils are everywhere in Africa. Though the Dalai Lama has publicly pursued a policy of Tibetan peaceful accommodation and not independence, China still views the Dalai Lama as a threat to it’s territorial integrity and rule thus it brow-beats governments the world over whenever the Dalai Lama wants to step on an airplane. China’s charges of “meddling in China’s affairs” are tired and recently Mexico and the US braved China’s tantrums and entertained the Dalai Lama much to the chagrin of China. South Africa should have done the same but sadly it caved to Chinese pressure. What makes the action so egregious is that the world came to South Africa’s aid to defeat apartheid yet the South African government hypocritically does not see fit to aid in similar struggles by others: we got ours, we don’t care about yours. The US, itself light on China’s human rights violations of late, could have applied pressure to the South African government. It did nothing and thus South Africa set the tone and example for all of Africa and the message was clear: human rights are no longer important.
Another disturbing development is legislation (proffered by Desmond Tutu) that would tax the wealth of all whites in South Africa . Mr. Tutu reasons whites were complicit in and benefited from apartheid and thus compensation should be paid in the form of a tax. It ignores the fact that some blacks prospered under apartheid and that there were poor whites who did not. Indeed many whites were just children in 1994 when apartheid officially ended. And what about mixed race people? Another point made is that it would by law necessitate a racial stratification of the population (your race in a government database somewhere). Taxes, like justice, should be colorblind. The US could weigh in on this important development by letting South Africa know that if the pendulum swings to far in the other direction that economic measures could be taken like those during the apartheid struggle. Again, the US is silent.
Yet another worrying trend is the refusal of the South African government under Zuma to denounce the hate speech of one Julius Malema from the ANC Youth League. Most of Malema’s speeches would be unprintable in a news article but suffice to say he espouses and advocates the genocide of whites and the taking by force of all white property. The courts in South Africa have recently defeated the efforts of Julias Malema and his followers to chant a song (“Kill the Boer”) espousing the killing of white farmers but upon exiting the court house the followers sang the song anyway and continue to do so to this day. Zuma’s administration has remained silent because fear mongering serves to strengthen the ANC’s hand in the upcoming elections. Stamping out hate speech should be denounced by the governments of the world and the US especially should not remain silent.
Much more could be written about the nationalization of businesses, the AIDs epidemic denial, the anti-farm posture of the government, corruption and the newly proposed secrecy law (automatic jail time for corruption whistle blowers). It is clear a state of governance will soon exist in South Africa that persecutes the weak, the press and the minorities and this is eerily similar to the injustices of apartheid. Where is the US voice? The US’s muteness is a stain on our collective conscience and an insult to fairness and because Africa contains a wealth of precious metals, minerals and energy, not to mention biodiversity of great importance, we stand to lose influence in this important region of the world. Our loss is clearly China’s gain. Obama is uniquely positioned to do something but he has not. The African people and the continent’s life need our support more now than ever.