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ANC foreign policy shows it has a broken moral compass, By Bouwer van Niekerk

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South Africa’s foreign policy has for some time been the subject of scrutiny.

Recently, it has been (albeit politely) questioned by the Belgian Foreign Affairs Minister Hadja Lahbib, who very diplomatically said that Belgium had “always looked up to South Africa as a key partner for peace and the defence for human rights and basic international principles, so given your strong historical links to Russia, we would be delighted if you consider using your channels of communication to advance on a path towards peace based on the international principles.”

How did our government respond? Our President said that the country would continue to promote peace. Awesome. Good for us. Or is it really the case? What is the ANC – the governing party that dictates our foreign policy – really up to? Let us explore this in more detail with reference to what it was up to during this time.

‘Working visit’ to Russia

As recently as 2 April 2023, the governing party proclaimed that several of its members are currently on a “working visit” to Russia. Why, pray to tell, one would ask. It was, so the public was informed, a visit followed by an invitation from the United Russian Party – Russia’s supposed largest political party and a longstanding ally and friend of the ANC. In essence, so the ANC confirmed, it was a “working visit to the Russian Federation.”

But what on earth would they be discussing, these influential Russians and our ANC National Executive Members? What ideas and policies would these Russian heavyweights and our (among others) International Relations Subcommittee Deputy Chairperson and Deputy Minister of International Relations be sharing among themselves? Luckily, we don’t have to guess, as the party informed us that the engagements will include “discussions on the recalibration of the global order to reserve the consequences of neo-colonialism and the previously prevailing unipolar world.”

One needs to take a step back to properly digest this statement, as it is cloaked in what seems to be finely nuanced political parlance. But, once it is consumed bite by bite and stripped of its highfalutin partisan robe, there appears to be something quite worrisome that underlies it.

Differently put, the statement reads thus: The ANC NEC members and their Russian counterparts discussed how to change the global order, and in so doing discussed what consequences should follow for those responsible for neo-colonialism and the world as it was, supposedly controlled by those responsible for colonialism.

On the face of it, there is little wrong with having such discussions, as reparations for those affected by colonial rule are not only universally prevalent but to a great many people also relevant and important. Engaging in such talks can also be helpful in understanding history in order to ensure that the negative impact that colonialism had on large parts of the world is not repeated by future generations. How to address this and other negative consequences that were spawned by colonial rule can therefore be a noble and necessary reason for individuals crafting nations’ foreign policy to meet and share ideas.

Why have discussions with a country at war with another?

However, the fact that the ANC has decided to have these discussions with a nation that is the aggressor in an ongoing war is worrisome, as it is akin to deliberating with rabbits as to what is to happen with a crop of lettuce.

It is highly doubtful that the outcome of the discussions (at least from a Russian perspective) will be one where the debate should triumph over conflict and where weighing up different viewpoints will prevail over one-sided action. I say this not because I am guessing and that my guesswork has been influenced by distrust shaped by Western ideology. I say this because of the fact that Russia is actively engaged in a war with Ukraine. This is not a notion that, in order for it to be taken seriously, requires a cerebral discourse; it is a fact.

So why would the ANC elect to have these discussions with a country that is waging war on another? The ANC has repeatedly justified its relationship with Russia by stating that, mostly because of its historical relationship between the party and the country that munificently provided it with assistance and training during apartheid, it will remain loyal to it.

It is this loyalty that has made the ANC show its true colours, and which should be deeply disturbing to all South Africans who respect and believe in our Constitution and the constitutional democracy that governs our land. The reasons for this are axiomatic: if the governing party can stay loyal to a country that is ruled by one of the worst tyrants of our time, it can discard the values that the likes of Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, and Oliver Tambo who fought so hard to instill in our society, namely (to name but a view) the right to life, dignity, and freedom of association.

Strictly Personal

Road deaths are symbolic of our national failure, By Tee Ngugi

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“Killer roads claim 25 lives,” screamed the headline of the Daily Nation on March 18. Among this number were 11 Kenyatta University students, who died in a grisly road accident on the Nairobi- Mombasa highway.

The report gave chilling statistics on the ever-worsening road carnage. The 25 died in a span of three days. Between January and February 20, a staggering 649 people lost their lives on our roads.

What these statistics show is that we are well on our way to breaking the annual record of deaths on our roads.

Roads are deadlier

In a column in 2022, Kenyan roads are deadlier than some of the battlefields, I gave some comparative statistics to illustrate just how deadly our roads are.

I stated: “In 2021, more than 4,000 people lost their lives (in Kenya). By contrast, the UK, with a population of 65 million people and 32 million cars, recorded 1,400 deaths on the roads in 2021.

“In Germany, within a comparable period, about 2,500 people died on the roads in a population of 85 million people and 48 million cars.
“Thus, Kenya, with a population of 50 million people and only two million cars, registered more deaths on the roads.”

I went on to show that the deaths on our roads in 2021 were twice the number of American soldiers killed in Afghanistan in a 20-year period.

If these statistics are not enough to wake up our somnolent officials, then nothing ever will.

Not the avoidable deaths during droughts. Not the deaths caused by collapsing buildings. Not the sky-high cases of femicide.

Not the cry of millions who sleep hungry every day as officials fly around in helicopters. Not the alarming numbers of street families.
Not the despair of millions of unemployed youth. Not the squalor in our unplanned towns and cities.

Nothing will wake these officials. In any case, as the Daily Nation of March 19 on globe-trotting officials showed, when awake, our officials are travelling to the next European destination or, as the countless cases of theft being reported almost daily in all media show, they are busy lining their already saturated pockets.

Now, Kenya wants to send its police to Haiti to rein in marauding gangs that control most of the capital. Do our officials, or citizens, ever ask themselves how Haiti became what it is?

Cursed by God

Haiti is not cursed by God. It got that way because of systematic plunder by officials over the years.

It became what it is because of officials not performing their duties to required standards, and not being sanctioned for it.

It became that way because its officials love nothing more than to cavort in Paris or Miami, rather than think about how to transform the lives of their people.

Every day in our papers, we read about the conduct of our officials that mirrors the behaviour that led to Haiti becoming the broken country it is today.

Tee Ngugi is a Nairobi-based political commentator

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Strictly Personal

How patriarchy underpins gender violence today, By Tee Ngugi

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On January 27, Kenyan women flooded city streets to protest rising cases of femicide. These were the largest protests ever held against gender-based violence in the country.

The killings that triggered the outrage were especially horrific. In one instance, a woman was raped, beaten and forced to swallow acid. Another young woman was beheaded in airbnb establishment. In January alone, 14 women were killed in the country. Between 2016 –2024, 500 women were killed. The figures, horrendous as they are, are thought to be higher.

Statistics on gender-based violence paint a very sick society. Almost half of women in the country experience gender-based violence in their lifetime. Then countless others face daily sexual harassment in schools, public transportation, universities and workplaces.

Boda boda riders are notorious for harassing women drivers. In an incident that caused national shame, boda bodas descended on a hapless woman driver they accused of ramming one of them and physically and sexually assaulted her.

A few years ago, some self-appointed moral police would beat and undress women they deemed indecently dressed, as if in a country in which billions are stolen every year, and in which so many sleep hungry, the most egregious crime is a woman’s short skirt.

To be sure, femicide and physical and sexual violence against women is not a uniquely Kenyan problem. In South Africa, rape has reached crisis proportions. In eastern Congo and other war-ravaged regions in Africa, rape is a weapon of war.

The problem of rape also transcends race, culture and religion. In the United States and, surprisingly, liberal Sweden, rape is endemic. And in the so-called traditional societies of Lesotho and Swaziland, rape is a serious problem. In pious India, rape had become so rampant that it even happened in buses. The government, unlike other regions, moved with ferocity to stem the problem.

The Kenyan protesters called for tough legislation against gender-based violence as well as quick police action in response to cases of sexual harassment. These measures will go a long way in curbing the impunity that exists in the country about violence against women.

But, at the same time, we must seek to change deeply ingrained cultural attitudes. Even though we no longer live in the traditional society, residual traditional attitudes still stain our views of women. Therefore, we must explore ways of overcoming these cultural attitudes and making them a liability in society.

At the same time, we must rid our society of erroneous views such as there is a head of a family who lords it over the household and, instead, advocates a respectful partnership. Other erroneous beliefs consider domestic violence as not quite violence and rape within marriage as not quite rape.

Police stations also need to be sensitive to rape victims. Eradicating gender-based violence will, therefore, require uncompromising action at the levels of legislation, policing and culture.

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