On May 28 last year, Washing Post columnist, Michael Gerson coined a phrase which is finding increasing resonance in the international corridors of power: “Whatever the reasons, South Africa increasingly requires a new foreign policy category: the rogue democracy. Along with China and Russia, South Africa makes the United Nations impotent. Along with Saudi Arabia and Sudan, it undermines the global human rights movement. South Africa remains an example of freedom — while devaluing and undermining the freedom of others. It is the product of a conscience it does not display.”
Yesterday we looked at the balancing act required in respecting the wishes of a major trading partner while doing the right thing with regard to promoting human rights. In isolation we could weigh up this measure of expedience against the downside of alienating the international community by refusing to support its quest to assist the people of Tibet. The problem is that it is anything but a one-off with all too often South Africa, over the past couple of years, siding with some of the world’s most despotic regimes in the United Nations and steadfastly refusing to support human-rights initiatives in that forum.
On Human Rights Day last year, South Africa refused to support a declaration by the United Nations General Assembly calling for the decriminalisation of homosexuality. Mail and Guardian
Moreover having refused the Dalai Lama a visa, it is interesting to note that the government has provided succour to Mengistu Haile Mariam and refuge to ousted Haitian president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Where some justification might be found for the Dalai Lama there is no basis whatsoever for assisting the other two and it simply leaves the global community with the impression that South Africa always does the wrong thing. In 1999, Human Rights Watch wrote letters to the South African government urging it to arrest Mariam who travelled from Zimbabwe — where he has been granted refuge by Robert Mugabe — to South Africa for medical treatment. There was neither acknowledgement nor response from the government to these letters from an esteemed international human-rights organisation.
Here is the text of those letters:
Letters sent on November 24, 1999 to South African ministers of justice and foreign affairs from Peter Takirambudde, executive director, Africa division, Human Rights Watch:
Dear Minister Penuell Mpapa Maduna,
We write to urge that South Africa bring Mengistu Haile Mariam to justice for crimes against humanity committed during his rule in Ethiopia. We understand that Mengistu is currently in South Africa seeking medical treatment.
As you are probably aware, from 1974 to 1991, Mengistu’s ‘Dergue’ regime was responsible for human rights violations on a massive scale. Tens of thousands of Ethiopians were tortured, murdered or ‘disappeared’. Tens of thousands of people were also killed as a result of humanitarian law violations committed during Ethiopia’s internal armed conflicts. Many others, perhaps more than 100.000, died as a result of forced relocations ordered by Mengistu’s regime. A background paper on Mengistu is attached. His crimes are more fully documented in our 1991 book-length report Evil Days: 30 Years of War and Famine in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia has in the past sought Mengistu’s extradition from Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe refused the extradition requests. Mengistu is the leading defendant in trials of 2,000 former officials that began nearly five years ago in Addis Ababa. Two men were sentenced to death in absentia this month in these trials. Because of our concerns about the fairness of the Ethiopian trials, and the use of the death penalty, we do not recommend Mengistu’s return to Ethiopia.
We do urge, however, that South Africa investigate Mengistu before its own courts. The South African Constitution (article 232) expressly incorporates customary international law. Under customary international law, all countries have a right and a duty to exercise jurisdiction over crimes against humanity and a right to exercise such jurisdiction over torture. Alternatively, South Africa could extradite Mengistu to a country which is willing to prosecute him and guarantee a fair trial.
Given the scale of Mengistu’s crimes) we believe that South Africa would set a terrible precedent if it failed to bring this terrible tyrant to justice. Human Rights Watch would be pleased to provide any information concerning Mengistu and his crimes which your government might find useful. We also believe that this case underscores the need for South Africa to enact domestic legislation implementing its obligation under the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which South Africa ratified in 1998, to prosecute or extradite accused torturers who enter its territory. South Africa should also enact legislation to establish its jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed anywhere in the world, as required under customary international law.
Please let us know if we can be of assistance in this matter. Thank you in advance for your consideration.
————————————–
Dear Minister Nkosazana Zuma,
Although we have not received a response to our letter, we have read statements in the press, attributed to Foreign Ministry spokesman Khangelani Mongwane, that South Africa will not bring Mengistu to justice because he is a ‘refugee’, because South Africa does not have an extradition treaty with Ethiopia, and because it would be inconsistent to insist on Mengistu’s prosecution, given South Africa’s reconciliation process. Respectfully, we would like to address each of these assertions.
First, Mengistu Haile Mariam is not deserving of the international protection offered to refugees, pursuant to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. As you know, that Convention specifically excludes from protection ‘any person with respect to whom there are serious reasons for considering that … he has committed a war crime, or a crime against humanity’. Similar terms are used in the 1969 OAIJ Convention governing the specific aspects of refugee problems in Africa. South Africa is a party to both these conventions. Mengistu is accused of both war crimes and crime against humanity. From 1974 to 1991, Mengistu and his subordinates were responsible for atrocities on a massive scale. Tens of thousands of Ethiopians were tortured, murdered or ‘disappeared’ - Tens of thousands mote were killed as a result of war crimes. Many others, probably well in excess of 100,000, died as a result of forced relocations ordered by Mengistu’s regime.
Second, in our letter, we did not recommend that South Africa extradite Mengistu to Ethiopia, because of our concerns regarding his right to a fair trial and the application of the death penalty. We did urge, however, that South Africa investigate Mengistu before its own courts. The South African Constitution (article 232) expressly incorporates customary international law. Under customary international law, all countries have a right and a duty to exercise jurisdiction over crimes against humanity and a right to exercise such jurisdiction over torture. We also note that South Africa in 1985 ratified the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or degrading Treatment or Punishment, which requires South Africa to prosecute or extradite accused torturers — such as Mengistu — who enter its territory. South Africa has not, however, met its treaty commitment by enacting implementing legislation to incorporate this.
Finally, we believe that it is a disservice to the South African truth and reconciliation process to use that carefully-devised mechanism as a pretext to provide impunity to one of the most blood-stained tyrants of modem times, a man who has never told the truth about his crimes, who has never sought nor received an amnesty and whose government wishes to prosecute him for crimes against humanity. In South Africa, amnesty from prosecution was predicated on truth-telling, which Mengistu has not done. In addition, the route to reconciliation is not something for others to decide but for each country to determine for itself—Ethiopia has clearly decided that reconciliation is best achieved through justice — a fair assessment given the horrendous atrocities committed. South Africa should not seek to impose its model on a fellow country.
South Africa is regarded as a country which places the highest value on human rights. Our organization has had the privilege of working with your government in developing an effective International Criminal Court to bring to justice those accused of the worst atrocities. We believe that South Africa has an opportunity to break the unfortunate cycle of impunity that has developed in many parts of Africa by bringing Mengistu to justice before its courts and providing him with a fair trial.
Thank you in advance for your consideration.
Postscript
According to Human Rights Watch, no official response was received to these two letters. This silence is particularly poignant when one considers how so recently the ANC in its struggle against apartheid invoked human rights and international legal principles in its demand on governments to place principle above profit or other “political” motives to cease trade ties with, and impose economic sanctions against, apartheid South Africa or cut diplomatic and other (like sporting and cultural) links. Yet in government the ANC itself has seemed no more ready than Thatcher’s Britain to govern by principle. Consider how the post-apartheid regime snuggled up to the Indonesian government at the expense of its one-time fellow East Timorese freedom fighters. It refuses to this day to act against Morocco in its continued denial of the rights of the Polisario movement in Western Sahara, another former ANC ally. It has stood silently by and retained diplomatic ties with the government of Sudan while it continues with its genocide directed at the non-Islamic African majority in the south of that country.
In the absence of an official explanation, one can only speculate as to the government’s motives, Perhaps it was the result of a prior arrangement made with Mengistu’s host, the increasingly fascist Mugabe regime, or perhaps there was no need for such a deal as some close to government have suggested, the ANC does not move against those that supported it in its exile past. Mengistu’s Ethiopian government was one such ally. While understandable at a superficial level, there can be no morality in a stance which places considerations of friendship above those of law and justice.
Whatever the case, the result is the South African government’s shame and the losers — the relatives of those countless thousands of victims of Mengistu’s terror who have again been denied their day in court.
The South African government has been just as supportive of Aristide.
The DA foreign affairs spokesperson, Tony Leon, in summing up the voting record of South Africa during its recent two-year tenure as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, said the ANC was increasingly distancing itself from the Barack Obama administration on human-rights issues; the question is: why?
In a disturbing essay on the website of the South African Institute of Race Relations, John Kane-Berman provides his assessment in the context of the South African government’s support for Robert Mugabe. The information he provides seems to indicate that Thabo Mbeki’s ANC not only supported and protected Zanu-PF but deliberately sabotaged its opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change — thus undermining the will and the rights of the people of Zimbabwe.
“The question is, ‘Why?’ The usual answer is that there is an unwritten rule that one liberation movement does not criticise another. But there is a more worrying possibility. This is that our government and ruling party share with Mugabe a belief that liberation movements have a perpetual right to rule. Mugabe intensified his crusade against democracy only when there were clear signs that his people were turning against him and he faced the prospect of defeat at the polls. Our government, in other words, does not wish to be hypocritical and condemn Mugabe when in its heart of hearts it endorses his desire to stay in power at all costs.”
“The implication is that democracy in South Africa is safe only for as long as it works for the ANC.”
The refusal by the South African government to grant a visa to the Dalai Lama may thus be interpreted as part of a long pattern of either complicit silence when human-rights abuses occur or outright support for the perpetrators of those abuses.
In little more than a decade the ANC has squandered the credibility South Africa earned during the Mandela era — and the free world has taken cognisance of this. Time magazine, in its October 6 issue last year said: “The days when the ANC commanded widespread respect are long gone,” and, in its latest report on international corruption, Transparency International has dropped South Africa 11 places, from 43rd to 54th.
Accordingly it is time to start the long overdue exercise of clawing back South Africa’s respectability and credibility within the international community.
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44 Responses to “Dalai Lama debacle as a case study on SA foreign policy”
“Accordingly it is time to start the long overdue exercise of clawing back South Africa’s respectability and credibility within the international community.”
How? The Government is deaf to all comments and criticism - on the Dalai Lama, on Shaik, on Pikoli, on the NPA dropping charges against Zuma, on Zimbabwe - the list goes on and on. The only hope is to vote them out of power, and that hope is dimmed when intelligent, educated people continue to vote them into power - power which they abuse at every turn.
The ANC isn’t interested in South Africa or her people, the ANC is only interested in the ANC.
> Yesterday we looked at the balancing act required in
> respecting the wishes of a major trading partner
> while doing the right thing with regard to promoting
> human rights.
Yes, and if you read the comments on that article you’ll see that “we” decided by a vast majority that major trading partners have no legitimate role to play in deciding our own attitude to foreign leaders. The parter in question, China, has been behind more major human rights abuses than you could count on both hands. The morally correct solution would be to stop trading with them.
But about this particular article, you’re quite right. The ANC government has an appalling international voting record. And the usual response to these failures would be to cease voting ANC.
This history happens to be peculiar to the Mbeki-ANC era. That might allow you to defend voting for the ANC, since they are now under new leadership, but there is no reason to suppose that matters will improve under a Zuma-ANC, or an anyone-else-ANC. On the contrary, financial allegiances to China, the country behind the majority of all human rights abuses in Africa in the last decade (including Darfur), will remain as strong as ever, and an ANC government will remain culpably silent in the face of gross human rights abuses.
It is therefore morally impermissible for anyone aware of these issues to continue to vote ANC.
Nelson Mandela promised that “human rights will be the light that guides our foreign affairs?” Then why Robert Mugabe and Omar al-Bashir receive warm welcomes every time they visit South Africa but the Nobel Peace laureate and the global symbol of peace, the Dalai Lama, is treated like a criminal by the South African government?
SA under the ANC regime can also be called a reactionary democracy with its knee-jerk reactions to progressive Western thought. The ruling party seems to be stuck in the Cold War, perhaps that’s why are pawns willing to position themselves to be used by China and Russia.
Well, maybe the West deserves our snub, because they, at least the dominant governments, were not exactly friends of this party (ANC), before and after the 1994. The sad thing is neither were Russians and the Chinese; they will only support the party as long as it benefits them. We still remain disposable pawns to them as well, as they continue to spread their influence worldwide, moving in on neglected Africa, while seeking to declare an alternative hegemony in the face of the global economic meltdown caused by the West. So, technically, the ANC is clearly siding with the China or whoever appears poised to be the new Masters of the Universe.
I personally believe that this will prove to be a wrong and costly bet, for it is not based on a correct analysis, but the residual ideology from the past Cold War. Besides, we have more in common with the West, than with Eastern dictatorships. There is nothing wrong with doing business with anybody, but the problem is when we let these superpowers dictate our foreign policy and interfere with our sovereignity.
It’s a slippery slope to non-relevance for the ANC-led government. Whatever happened to NON-ALIGNMENT.
Khululekile Tshunungwa on March 25th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Traps
You’re going to reward the ANC with your vote.
You’re voting for a continuation of these policies as you know they have been carrying them out and show no inclination to stop, Zuma certainly does not display any thought on foreign policy otehr than the current line.
Why are you complaining when your chosen representatives are doing what they’ve been doing all along?
You have no doubt seen Zuma has called for the return of Street Committees to deal with criminals. The head-of-state-to-be is calling for people to undermine the rule of law.
If these street committees are politicised, which they will undoubtably be, how far is the leap from brutal street committee to ANC green bombers.
I think you’ll find the jump disturbingly small. Green Bombers, Brown Shirts, Street Committees.
1) The Dalai Lama did NOT ASK TO COME TO SAL; HE WAS INVITED.
2) The Dalai Lama NEVER INTRODUCES THE SUBJECT OF TIBET’S OPPRESSION BY CHINA UNLESS HE HAS BEEN ASKED TO DO SO.
3) TO ASSUME THAT HE WOULD SCUPPER THE PEACE AND RACISM TALKS BY INTRODUCING CHINA’S TREATMENT OF TIBET, IS TO SLANDER HIM.
4) The Dalai Lama is NOT DEMANDING SOVEREIGNTY FOR TIBET. HE IS REQUESTING THAT THE CHINESE TURN THEIR PROPAGANDA INTO TRUTH BY TREATING TIBET AS AN “AUTONOMOUS REGION”–WHICH IS WHAT THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT HAS CALLED TIBET SINCE THE INVASION!
5) The Dalai Lama has NEVER advocated or condoned violence. He cannot do so even he wanted to because to do so would be a repudiation of the Buddhist ‘Middle Way’.
6) The DL owns nothing. His travel is paid for by donations from supporters all over the world. THE CHINESE THREATS AGAINST HIS LIFE AND SAFETY HAD MADE SECURITY NECESSARY. HE DOES NOT LIKE IT AND HE DID NOT SEEK IT.
The ANC will never be able to claw back any respectability. They see themselves as untouchable and unfortunately at the moment it is true.
Only when it is too late and things go belly up will the supporters of the ANC realize that they have been backing the wrong horse.
But it may not be all that bad we can always turn to the Chinese to help out.
There is a part of me that very clearly tells me that the Chinese got SA by the balls and we became an African extension of China; doing its bidding etc.
There is another part of me that wants to blame our ’stand-in’ president. If one of his cabinet ministers can criticize the decision as openly as Barbara Hogan has, I smell a rat. This ’stand-in’ president did what he thought was right (he is after all a unionist; complicity with the Chinese is NOT unexpected) without consulting his cabinet colleagues hence the desent from Ms Hogan.
If case one is the truth, then the ANC has lost its spine and should be taught a lesson.
If case two is the truth, then Kgalema should enjoy his ‘retirement’ after April 22.
About voting them out, that does seem like a knee-jerk reaction when we don’t really know the facts.
Never, never again! on March 25th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Since when did black South African people begin abusing the long term friendship between China and this country, which has been built on unconditioned mutual respect and understanding, as well as long-lasting unselfish and brave moral and economic supports of China to this country which was once an atrocicous hell on the planet earth? Who can give me some evidences that Dalai Lama ever voiced his strong criticism and oppositon against the then racialist South African government during those dark miserable racial segregation era in this country? Can someone just stand out and point out some facts that show what China has done to help the casue of those opposed African people in fighting for their freedom in decades? How much do you really know about the figure nature of Dalai Lama or just choose to ignore some facts to side with him wholeheartedly? People, I totally understand and support the spirits of democarcy and human rights, but one should never behave like a naive and blind fool and believe he could uphold these spirits by ignoring or distorting facts so conveniently and one-sidedly, and this just doesn’t work and will lead him to nowhere.
Traps you have me confounded; totally bemused. Your article is so on the spot it hurts. So please explain how you can even contemplate voting for the ANC. Or have I missed the declaration where you changed your mind? If there was even the vaguest chance of the ANC doing all they promise and stand for, I’d give them my vote. But they are no better than the Nats were; platitudes and wise words do not solve problems.
I’m afraid my bath water is deeper than the morality of the ANC. The attitude to the Dalai Lama staggers the mind. We’re talking human rights here, something we have fought and suffered for and pride ourselves in - “Ah, to hell with all of that, we’ve got soccer matches to play.” I’m not only ashamed of being a South African, but also a soccer supporter.
The real reason the ANC needs China is that SA has been benkrupted by corruption, and can no longer get loans from anywhere except China -like happened with Zimbabwe in the end days.
The global meltdown has been used as a smokescreen for the fact that we were in deep water even before it happened.
The ANC has asset stripped SA (Sasol, Iscor, Telkom, state land etc etc) and built nothing.
Remember how Tony Erenreigh tried to blame our inability to attract foreign investment on Helen Zille?
I listened to the spokesperson for Moody’s being interviewed on the radio as to why SA’s currency had been recommended for a risk downgrade. Stripped of the tact - Moodys don’t trust the way the ANC is governing.
The ANC is going to allow China to recolonise because the country is bankrupt.
Unfortunately many within the ANC are powerless to act to regain their respectability. Their jobs with its trappings of power and perks are far more important. Sadly, the ANC does not represent the wishes of the majority when it bends over for China. The corruption and intolerance is a result of the Mbeki legacy and will be continued with JZ. But lets see what Apr22 brings.
Michael, help me understand your odd behavioral pattern:
First you’re critical of the ANC, then you declare your intent to vote for the ANC. Go figure!
Yesterday, you justified the SA government’s self-destructive decision, and now you write about SA - the “rouge democracy” and the need to regain its respectability internationally.
Now let me guess - during the apartheid, you were probably critical of the government, but you then went ahead and voted for the NP anyway didn’t you?
I respect your opinions and agree with you on a lot of issues, even though I still hope you would vote Cope, so forgive me if I’m jumping to conclusions.
What makes you people think that ll you read in the papers is true? People human rights abuses by China as if the West has never committed any? Sometimes the papers tell us a story according to the eyes of the master. Sudan has had their Civil War long before China was a major power, the USA used to classify the ANC as a terrorist organisation.
This country’s foreign policy will not be guided by a minority of neo-liberal whites! When black people were dying like flies during the apartheid regime, countries like Britain and the USA still did business as usual with the apartheid regime. The hysterics of some on these forums are irrellevant and this demonstrate their unpatriotism! They should make up their minds whether they want to remain in this country as citizens or take the high road! This govt. made an executive decision which they feel is in the interest of the country, not to placate hypocrits. No individual, even the Dalai Lama is more important than the interest of this country and its people!
This is the month of March and it was when the Tibetan uprising started in 1959. The Dalai Lama cannot be allowed to use this peace conference to celebrate a political event that happened in Tibet.
Mr. Trapido, you are talking about two different things.
South Africa’s foreign policy has been consistent: not to play the right-wing Western game.
The notion that we are obliged to hand over a former dictator to the current tyranny in Ethiopia (which committed terrible atrocities after its unprovoked aggression against Somalia and is therefore backed by the United States) goes against tenets of human rights which I don’t expect you to understand.
The idea that we should not have supported the elected President of Haiti against an American-backed military coup shows how morally corrupt you are — and the fact that you must cite outright fascists like John Kane-Berman to sustain your ridiculous opinion just confirms my point.
The reason why we should not have denied the Dalai Lama a visa is very simple: once you start doing things like that, you can’t easily stop. It’s an attack on freedom of movement and freedom of speech in South Africa. Hence we should not have done it. Not against the Dalai Lama, not against Joe Soap, not against Sally Ndhlovu.
Is that too simple an argument for you to understand, that you have to mess it up by displaying your own contempt and hatred for ethical foreign policy?
And you are gonna vote for these guys on 22 April? Really looks like Mandela was an aberation among his cronies, does it not. Wonder what he really thinks of the ANC today?
Our western view and understanding of the DL is completely hazed by the Hollywood hype. Movies do not show the actual truth, they are there for entertainment. If you do some research in who the Dalai Lama actually is you will be shocked. He is such a controversial figure, disguising his desire for political power and reputation with monk’s robes. How sad indeed! Buddhism is a beautiful and pure religion that is not at all interested in politics, but teaches us how to control our minds and remove our inner delusions. The Dalai Lama is contributing intensely to the degeneration of Buddha’s holy teachings in this world. People in Asia know this and are mostly not interested in being associated with him. It is only our western blind Hollywood mentality that makes us glorify such a deeply controversial man.
Thank you Mr. President, we don’t need him here, we have got enough of these problems here already. Please, Mrs. Hogan and Mrs. O’Regan, investigate and think more deeply before speeking publically on these issues.
For your interest please look at the following reports:
So much of what you write these days is suggestive of a man who is wrestling furiously with his political conscience.
Time to give up the dodos and vote DA because you will feel so much better. If you are still in doubt, ask yourself ….when did the ANC last do something that made you feel proud of being a supporter.
Whatever the reasons and whatever the facts, the denial of entry has brought the Dalai Lama into just about everyone’s consciousness.
Indeed, he has probably had a greater impact on the people of this country by being denied entry than he ever would have had if he had simply come in and made a few speeches.
It actually ironic just how shortsighted the ANC are - like children really.
Traps - good points on the Dalai Lama and Haile Mariam but Aristide was not a dictator. He was the first elected President of Haiti and was ousted by the CIA, not once but twice. His hands are dirty (with cocaine, mainly), but I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that the US chooses its allies and enemies for reasons other than the pureness of their hearts.
The Washington Post is pretty much the expression of US consensus on foreign policy matters - i.e. unqualified approval of Washington’s right to invade, bomb and assassinate wherever it pleases. For an American to characterise other countries as “rogue democracies” is more than a little ironic.
Goodness me. “The Dalai Lama cannot be allowed to use this peace conference to celebrate a political event that happened in Tibet.” Absolutely no evidence that he intended too, of course. He must be shut up in advance, just in case. Gosh. I am old enough to think there’s something familiar about this… let me see… oh yes, it’s beginning to sound like the Nationalist Party in their day!
By the way, I have NEVER come across the idea that March was a highly delicate, sensitive time for the DL. I suspect that’s a chimera called up by the SACP, who may, just may, be recipients of funding from the People’s Rep of China, waddaya think?
Why even hold the world cup in SA. Delay it, send it elsewhere. It seems that SA (ANC) would like to establish legitimacy through this sporting event, it is basely using it. Good for the economy peripherally, but politically all most all important. Save SA denying sharing its owns history, for example, to the linguistic (Afrikaans-Mandarin) and cultural pummeling by the Han Chinese monolith of its regional neighbors.
Get specific. What crimes and/or atrocities is the Dalai Lama accused of? How can a man who has transformed Tibet’s government in exile into a democracy be politically power hungry?
Has Amnesty International accused him of abuse of power?
Has anyone tried to have the Dalai Lama tried for crimes against humanity at the ICC?
The Dalai Lama has no home; he owns nothing nor does he seek to to so. The money that is raised by foreign supporters and Tibetans who live in exile around the world, is used for the support of the exile community which is still growing. Exiles arrive in India, Nepal Bhutan and Sikkim with nothing but their lives. The Dalai Lama struggled for decades to negotiate terms on which Tibetans could live as guests in these countries.
Because he was already respected by many leaders in the ‘west’, some private foundations and charities took up the cause of re-housing, educating, providing medical care and sponsoring Tibetans in many countries to ease the burden on India and the other countries who accepted Tibetan refugees.
The DL has always been a reluctant leader. He is by nature a scholar and the very embodiment of compassion–even for the Chinese who have destroyed his country and committed unspeakable crimes against Tibetans. THOSE ATROCITIES HAVE BEEN DOCUMENTED BY HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD WHO RISKED THEIR LIVES TO FIND OUT WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN TIBET. Go to Dharamsala. See for yourself.
It seems that the ANC is now determined to inflict maximum damage on their global image. There are definitely times when attack is the worst form of defence. This is one of them.
The ANC have lost their moral high ground. But are we surprised, with their leader fighting tooth & nail to stay out of court and criminals like Winnie standing for election? It is such a pity that our democracy is so young and the electorate so gullible. The truth will come out one day and people will see them for what they are.
China bullies countries like South Africa through economic bribery & dependency.
China is ruining the world with it’s uncontrolled growth; in medicine, the word they use is cancer.
‘China is just going to consume everything — let’s get it now!’ ” Lucy Corkin, projects director for the Centre for Chinese Studies at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University,
Ex chinese spy Li Fengzhi says about the Chinese Communist Party (CCP): “The CCP is a true impediment to China’s development and also a poisonous root damaging the whole world and the Chinese nation.”
Up to 60 million chinese have been murdered, 51 million members have resigned from the CCP; 50,000 per day.
“the secrecy and elitism that already define the government of China, and many of those in Africa, are poised to usher in a toxic intercontinental corruption we can hardly yet imagine.” Robert Behar
Chinese companies are the second-most likely to be bribed, Transparency International’s Bribe Payers Index
The goverment did the right decision not to grant a visa to the Dalai Lama. Those who are upset should question their own confusion, being unable to distinguish clearly between religion and politics. What does the Dalai Lama want to do here anyway? He is supposed to be a Buddhist monk who should engage in spiritual practice and not in politics. It is a sad sign of these degenerate times that these things are happening and that people are so confused, glorifying people who are themselves seriously transgressing human rights issues and dividing society. Investigate more deeply what the Dalai Lama has done, he is even currently brought before the Indian High Court in New Delhi for violating human rights, the courtcase is still running. We need to learn to differentiate more clearly and not fall into blind glorification without questioning. Those who don’t will soon feel very embarrassed when the truth and facts come to light. I think this was a very wise decisions of the ANC government, and I congratulate them for that. We do not need more confusion and pretense, division and blaming. What our society needs is a good example of pure spirituality (without mixing in worldly politics) to lead us to peace and harmony, true friendship and well-being. The Dalai Lama has shown that he is not such a person, but quite the opposite. Where ever he goes he causes distress, division, anger, fighting, and confusion.
@Bongo
Soon you will be a proud Chinafrican citizen!
Hail to the next great colonizer, also the world’s greatest polluter and murderer of tens of millions of its own citizens. Go watch all the NINE COMMENTARIES ON THE COMMUNIST PARTY videos at youtube then let us know how nice it will be to do business with the most oppressive regime on the planet bar none.
Don’t live in the past
pay attention to the present
Don’t look at the trees, look at the forest
@Siobhan, I agree with you
@Firewind seems to be doing just that, expelling wind!
Hey @Firewind, do you even meditate? Have you even read any of the hundreds of books on Buddhism and Compassion that HH has written? What’s your expertise in this field? Please fill us in. To judge a man like HH, you must be equal or greater, true? So let’s see what’ve you done with your life!
The real point is that the Chinese PAY BRIBES! It is cheaper than any other method of acquiring land and/or minerals.
China is NOT our biggest trading partner, and we have now offended the rest of the world, risked the vast amounts of Aids given for welfare as well as other trade, and contaminated 2010.
What other explanation than bribes can you think of?
i am having difficulties coming to grips with the furore around the government’s visa refusal of Dalai. I think there is something else at work. Maybe we should rather talk about degrees of complicity in aiding and abetting rogue states (presumably this means countries with less than impecable human rights records).
China is a very important trading partner of SA, by the way it is also a very important trading partner of US and EU, that is why everyone was at the opening ceremony of the Olympics.Is it an acceptable response and action of people who have a problem with China’s human rights violations. violations. i did not see people matching in the streets or protesting that by even engaging in such actions, including sending our athletes there could be construed as ‘constructive engagement’. One eminent priest said when chastising Trevor Manuel ‘Dalai is a Nobel Peace prize winner’. But so is FW de Klerk.It was never a benchmark of anything. We are going to secure our economic interest first like everyone else, we do not have friends, we have economic interests. Some south africans must grow up.
@Lyndall Beddy
“The real point is that the Chinese PAY BRIBES!”
Right on the money Lyndall!! I wish more South Africans would understand how the oppressive Chinese government operates.
Now if we had more transparency in government and a few dedicated hotshot investigative reporters we could figure out the real criminals behind this corruption. The SA government’s decision makes NO economic or political sense!
@Siobhan & Sipho et al
Fire Wind appears to be a mole of the Chinese government. Not worth taking seriously.
I would like you to consider something. Who would you be quicker to believe, the ANC government, with a terrible track record of lies, corruption and deceipt, or a man who is the spiritual leader of Tibet? I wonder what Nelson Mandela thinks of the current government’s decision. We all know what Desmond Tutu thinks and I tend to agree with him!
Yes, Dave, I’m sure you are right about Fire Wind. He/she writes like a Party propaganda sheet to tell the Chinese abroad what to think and say.
@Fire Wind: Since you apparently prefer fiction to history, you might be entertained –and also enlightened–by reading the five novels on China in Tibet by Eliot Patison. Much of the detail in his stories came from Tibetans who had been in Chinese ‘Re-Education Camps’. They make the Russian gulags look like scout camps.
Well, if it goes to court and the people win, it’s going to send an awfully big message to China!
@Lyndall,
That’s what the Fastcompany article is about…China, paying bribes and kickbacks. Corruption extraordiaire! My, what a good example they set for doing business!
@Jerry,
Let me explain to you how schoolyard bullying works. A schoolyard bully terrorizes all the kids. Each one of them is too afraid to stand up to the bully so they all give in to the bully’s demands. The fear is that if I stand up, I will get beaten up. Nobody will help me because they are all too afraid.
So everybody else doesn’t stand up, ergo we shouldn’t stand up. I guess Gandhi and Nelson Mandela should have applied your reasoning of submission too. Is this what you teach your kids?
This is South Africa and South Africans should decide for themselves. Who knows, we may even set a trend of standing up to the bully!
Jerry, it’s only when everyone cowers that terrorism works,right?
If we ALL stood up to China at once, can they intimidate us? How? No raw material to run their economic engine and no market to buy it…do you think they would last a week?
Oh, latest news: massive spy software found in 103 countries…guess where it’s controlled from?
This is a great article, bristling with salient points; you must have put in a lot of time and effort to get your factual ducks in a row. Definitely a don’t-throw-away piece, which I’m filing away for future reference.
In my opinion the ANC took a business decision — rather than political — to defer to the wishes of the Chinese government, probably thinking the ensuing flak would be light enough to brazen out. In taking that decision it will have been cognisant of the price France is paying for going against the wishes of the Chinese government with regard to the Dalai Lama.
It has backfired horribly, and the echoes of it will reverberate throughout South Africa’s international relations for a time to come.
In a normal situation we would have been able to live down the brouhaha without too much bother. But now, for all the reasons you raise, we are deep in the proverbial smelly stuff.
In a way, I feel sympathy for the ANC; it was, from the start, damned if it did, and damned if it didn’t.
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By trade a criminal attorney he is now a politcal commentator and journalist full time.
"Traps Report" on the Richmark Sentinel is probably the largest news aggregator in the world. That includes Google, Huffington Post and Drudge.
If you click on the links of the Traps Report you should be up to date on all the latest news worldwide as well as local.
He is a director of the firm Turnbull and Associates.
He was born in Johannesburg and attended HA Jack and Highlands North High Schools. He married Robyn in 1984 (Mrs Traps, aka "the government") and has three sons (who all look suspiciously like her ex-boss).
He was a counsellor on the JCCI for a year around 1992.
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“Accordingly it is time to start the long overdue exercise of clawing back South Africa’s respectability and credibility within the international community.”
How? The Government is deaf to all comments and criticism - on the Dalai Lama, on Shaik, on Pikoli, on the NPA dropping charges against Zuma, on Zimbabwe - the list goes on and on. The only hope is to vote them out of power, and that hope is dimmed when intelligent, educated people continue to vote them into power - power which they abuse at every turn.
The ANC isn’t interested in South Africa or her people, the ANC is only interested in the ANC.
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