Posts
By Vusi Moloi © 2009
The sudden death of the immortal icon of pop music Michael Jackson has hit us hard. The long distance phone call I received regarding the tragic news rocked my emotions. I am shocked beyond belief and unable to regain my composure as I still find this hard to believe.
Greatest Artist
Mr. Jackson was the greatest artist who gave all he had to contribute to the betterment of his audience through his musical renditions. His educated feet were instrumental in treating his fans to the highest form of entertainment unmatched by anyone. He defined the concept of finesse on the dance floor to an extent that it is impossible to emulate. He was like a god of athletic prowess.
Thriller - Dance Video - from thedreeeeeewski of Youtube
He was greatly influenced by those who have gone before him like the Nicholas Brothers (Fayard and Harold) and he is the only artist to successfully emulate the hard to beat moves of the masters of flash dancing.
No Easy Acceptance
It is hard to accept and appreciate the pain of Michael Jackson who never really enjoyed easy acceptance among those who only sought to exploit him financially but vilify him afterwards. In a way, he suffered a similar fate to that of the great legend Josephine Baker who was never really fully accepted by her homeland. Josephine Baker is the richest Black woman that ever lived who later died in a self-imposed exile in France.
The proud son of the Jacksons may your soul rest in peace. You have done what you needed to accomplish on this planet and your endless list of achievements obscures many lifetimes. We neither understood nor provided the necessary support for the pain you were put through for reasons we will never understand but you remained true to your calling like a world citizen.
Like a Good Soldier
Companies like MTV owe their existence to your immeasurable success but they continued to exploit you like a commodity which they still do today to many other artists. As Sammy Davis once said that he would die with his tap shoes on, you are a good soldier who has fallen in the line of duty contributing to the betterment of others teaching us to pick up where you left off to continue to serve others. Hopefully, under these circumstances, some hearts will repent however in hindsight.
About the Author
A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet
Friday, June 26, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Why Msholozi Is The Greatest Leader of All Time?
By Vusi Moloi © 2009
The new South African President Mr. Jacob Zuma has rewritten the pages of history as a comeback kid when he was crowned the new President of the Republic of South Africa on May 9th last week despite the many damaging stings he suffered in the fangs of the Scorpions which had threatened to paralyze his hopes of occupying the highest office in the land. Msholozi seemed bolstered by fervor of strong recuperating skills when he vowed that the struggles and sacrifices of his people would not be in vain. “Instead they shall inspire us to complete the task for which so much blood was shed, and so much hardship endured. This is a moment of renewal.” President Zuma outlining his vision as an agent of revolutionary change in pursuit of economic transformation in front of countless and spellbound dignitaries from many parts of the world including Queens, Kings, Princesses, Princes, Prime Ministers, Presidents, Ambassadors and many other world leaders who had descend upon the City of Tshwane to witness the historic event of a Zulu President taking office in the beautiful motherland South Africa. President Zuma is the first Zulu President and the fourth President since South Africa adopted a democratic rule in 1994 under the leadership of the perpetual legend President Nelson Mandela. President Zuma succeeds President Kgalema Motlhanthe who served as a caretaker President of the Republic from President Thabo Mbeki who was forced to step down as a result of an implicated political interference against Msholozi.
Jacob Zuma sworn in - from NTVKenya of Youtube
The frail looking yet highly energized Nelson Mandela was there to witness and cheer on the one who is carrying the torch of South African freedom into a better future. Zuma’s nemesis and former President Thabo Mbeki was also in attendance and Msholozi gracefully paid tribute to him in keeping with the magnanimous spirit of ubuntu which typifies an insignia of Msholozi.
President Zuma is an African intellectual mind with traditionalist Zulu roots and well versed in African praise poetry making him part of the “organic intellectuals” something he has referred to in the past when addressing African intellectuals. This fact was brilliantly demonstrated when he paid tribute to the outgoing praiseworthy President Kgalema Motlanthe. “On behalf of the nation, let me express our sincerest gratitude to President Motlanthe for patriotic service to the nation. Motlanthe! Bakone! Mmadiboka, seboka, dikgomo lebatho!” President Zuma expressing tribute to the great Batswanas of Motlanthe in a form of poetic rendition in Setswana language.
Fulfilling the ANC’s Campaign Promise
President Zuma brings a solid repertoire of skills, knowledge, experiences and a unique leadership style which promises to steer the country in the right direction in fulfillment of the ANC’s political manifesto which seeks to fast track delivery of services to the majority of the African natives who remain economically disenfranchised despite the advent of the new political dispensation in 1994. Part of the South African challenge is that South Africa’s economy remains an apartheid economy in which White South Africans enjoy easy access to the mainstay of the economy while the African natives are shut out despite the fifteen years of democracy. This in itself threatens the very framework upon which the young democratic society is pegged. Above and beyond, everything within the gutsy spirit of the African native militates against this antagonistic contradiction.
The Challenge of the Apartheid Economy
The bone of contention, which South Africa must tackle head-on, is the economic transformation and all other pressing issues associated with it like crime, the AIDS epidemic, high unemployment, extreme poverty, shortage of housing and land deprivation. The South African leaders in 1994 handed the African natives a landless revolution something not sustainable over the long term. To transform an African native from landless to landowner is a formidable yet necessary undertaking. This requires a gutsy spirit on the part of the leader to confront the intransigent White farmers who refuse to budge in terms of land distribution. Their lobbyists’ powerful influence in derailing the program of land distribution is brazenly assertive as evidenced by Mr. Mbeki’s government decision to shelve an important legislation in response to the pressures of the White lobbyists a legislation which would have advanced the cause of land distribution despite the fact that Mr. Mbeki’s Government enjoyed a two-thirds majority to do so unilaterally if it had to.
How can Zuma deal with these daring lobbyists who throw their weight around? He must take a page from another newly crowned African American President Barack Obama who introduced a set of new ground rules early on to restrain the unfettered power of the lobbyists and special interests by regulating the relationship between the US Government and the arm-twisting lobbyists because he saw the power of lobbyists as a serious threat to the success of his Presidency. Zuma has proven himself to be both a quick learner and a resilient individual with an ability to recover from setback. His cherished relationship with the electorate will give him the moral strength he needs to recharge his spiritual batteries as he chips away at the rock layer of economic apartheid. Whenever Msholozi visited poor families in the rural countryside he sometimes sat on the floor instead of taking a chair offered to him. Such humility fortifies his impressive array of diverse skills providing a good synthesis he can tap into in order to advance the long-term interests of his people. He demonstrated the same humility when he knelt in front of the perpetual legend Nelson Mandela during the inauguration which led to many teary eyes.
Intellectual Advantage of a Polygamist Background
Zuma’s polygamist background gives him an added advantage of a unique and enviable vantage point by expanding his visual field and range of problem solving skills unlike others who have gone before him. Instead of being satisfied with solving the routine issues of a subset of a single variable domain of monogamy Zuma decidedly challenged himself by raising the bar to solving the superset of polygamy effectively increasing his reach of interpretive and analytical skills in this multivariable problem domain. African polygamists are renowned for their impressive problem solving prowess in a form of people’s skills by virtue of the breadth and depth of their domain knowledge.
Those of us who study and analyze African Civilization have observed that an African polygamist carries with him a large bag of formidable skills and tools like compromise, trade-off, listening skills, charm, charisma, patience, lots of love, analysis, fairness, spontaneity, consultative skills, peacemaking skills, the ability to recover from setback and the superior skill which enables him to transmute a battleground into a playground while oozing with empathy and compassion enabling him to pay deserved tribute to his bevy of queens. Interestingly, there is something uniquely spontaneous about Msholozi including when he breaks into song and dance using his charming voice to easily win the hearts and minds of those whom he admirably treats to the artistry of his rendition.
As a result of being mindful and masterful at obviating a potential revolt by his African queens, the expert African polygamist has developed a heightened sense in the area of managing complexity and crowd dynamics and anticipating volatility with the result that this broad and deep experience has greatly increased his fluency in solving problems of unpredictable complexity. This fact is observable among other legendary polygamists like the great Nyanga Skhandule of the Limpopo Province who demonstrated these hybrid skills even though he was married to twenty seven wives and fathered more than seventy children all of whom were comfortably taken care.
Given such an intellectually and psycho-emotionally enriching background Mr. Zuma demonstrated these rare skills of peacemaking and good recovery when others had already written him off. When Zuma intervened in the destructive bloodletting between the ANC and Inkatha in the run-up to 1994, which pushed the country to the precarious brink of civil war, he stopped the bloodbath which would have robbed South Africa of democratic rule an achievement deserving of a Nobel Peace Prize in its own right. Our living legend Nelson Mandela is forever grateful to Zuma for that notable achievement a fact demonstrated by Mandela’s loyal and unwavering support for Msholozi. When sporadic skirmishes were reported in the KwaZulu Natal province during the last election campaigns the proactive and charming Zuma met with Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi as well as the great King of the Zulu people King Zwelithini to ensure that the elections were conducted in a peaceful manner and yes South Africa did enjoy peaceful elections thanks to the peacemaking skills of the great Msholozi.
Transformation Stages
Many analysts fail to isolate and understand the three distinct stages of South Africa’s revolution, consolidation and empowerment, which are transforming the South African society from a White establishment system that disinherits the African natives to the one that economically empowers them. Most analysts are English of colonial descent some of whom are driven by a narrow self-serving agenda which seeks to buttress the permanence of the White establishment with its concomitant economic disenfranchisement of the African natives a good example being the Anglo American company which relocated its headquarters from South Africa to England when apartheid collapsed an unfortunate move that left South African natives feeling robbed of the wealth of their motherland. Any model that thrives at the cost of others is incredible and not sustainable over the long term. For this reason, an urgent need to agitate for a durable solution governed by reciprocal interest and mutual respect is inevitable. The majority of the colonial descendents thought that the peace and reconciliation of 1994 was the end of the road and everyone would go on with their lives. This erroneous idea was premised on a failed Zimbabwe’s model of a landless revolution. Mr. Zuma is concerned with the third stage of transformative empowerment and is irreversibly intent on liberating the economy from the tenacious claws of the vestiges of apartheid. This is what will define the success of his Presidency.
African Learning vis-à-vis English Education
A lot has been said about the distinctions between Mr. Thabo Mbeki and Mr. Jacob Zuma with respect to their academic credentials. The reasoning goes something like Mr. Thabo Mbeki who is a Sussex scholar (Master of Economics at The University of Sussex, England) commands the intellectual prowess, which Mr. Zuma lacks because he is not a graduate of Sussex or any other English institution of higher learning. Indeed Mr. Mbeki is an adept intellectual, something that greatly exhilarates me. In my book A Goodbye To My Little Troubles I write about this fact and pay deserved tribute based on his visit to Canada during the G8 conference of Kananaskis. However, the fact that Mr. Zuma lacks Western education credentials does not diminish the intellectual prowess of his own which he acquired via a multitude of African traditional learning systems. In fact he brings to the table a remarkable array of chiseled and seasoned skills and talents many of which are not possible to acquire in an English school of learning simply because those WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) institutions discount African learning systems in which Mr. Zuma and many of us were schooled.
The best way to appreciate the differences, in terms of a problem solving approach, between someone who was schooled in an English university setting vis-à-vis another who was schooled under a different African learning system of which I am a humble creation is to relate a narrative of my heated discussion with a Canadian university professor in Ottawa regarding the Canadian health care system. I had visited the professor’s home as a result of an invitation by a Spanish lady friend of mine.
To help you to appreciate Canadian universities and colleges before delving into my discussion with the professor, let me point out that Canada commands the world’s best in college and university education. NASA built a satellite known as OCO (Orbiting Carbon Observatory) at a cost of $285 million and launched it into space early this year. The satellite failed to reach orbit (possibly abducted by the angry aliens?) and the American taxpayers were left holding an empty bag. In contrast, Canada’s University of Toronto, at a cost of $300,000, had built a satellite known as CanX-2 a year earlier with the same functions and mission of the American satellite. That Canadian satellite is still orbiting the earth as I write this article not to mention the fact that this satellite was built mostly by students. My university is a participant in this satellite with its communications experiment. This is one shining example of the superiority of Canadian university college education in terms of producing brilliant men and women who serve this great country. A deserved credit belongs to the Canadian Ministry of Colleges and Universities for their stringent rules which result in high quality tertiary education.
Now that we have paid tribute to the great Canadians, we continue with the topic at hand. We had a barbecue outside the house of the professor in the yard a Canadian tradition similar to South Africa’s tradition of braai vleis. As the meat was sizzling, we got off a heated discussion on the Canadian health care system as previously mentioned. The view of the professor, contrary to mine, was that the Canadian health care system had deteriorated. I pointed out that even though the health care system had somewhat degraded as a result of extreme budgetary cuts by Ontario’s ultra rightist Premier Mike Harris resulting in long queues in many hospitals which I personally experienced, Canada’s health care system remained an enviable enterprise nonetheless.
The professor disagreed very strongly. I then asked what was the basis of the honourable professor’s argument in thinking that Canada’s health care was no longer something to be proud of? The professor cited expert opinion to which I respectfully replied by posing another question as to which was more authentic namely educated opinion or personal experience? He said educated opinion was definitely more authentic. I shot back with a fact of my own and pointed out that in fact experience was more authentic because experience is a sensory determinant whereas educated opinion is an academic construct. Experience does not lie but educated opinion can a fact understood by courts of law which prefer an eyewitness to an expert witness. An educated opinion has no emotional value and thus no direct interface with respect to the survival of the organism. It’s the experience that gets encoded by human emotions which give meaning to survival and impinge on the self-preservation of the organism. That’s because educated opinion is a layer of indirection, which in Western societies stands between a human mind and his or her natural environment and sometimes negates the very survival of the organism, a breach of the fundamental premise of living organisms.
The professor was aghast as he looked at me with a sense of disdain. He didn’t expect this line of reasoning from what appeared to him to be an unlikely intellectual sophisticate. In a Canadian society an African descendent is generally regarded as intellectually inferior. That’s because Canadian universities and colleges, like many other English universities, are packed with books and some professors who portray the Africans as subhuman. Some Canadian families, particularly the fathers (no reference to the above mentioned professor), teach their children to hate African men. The reasoning is based on two things namely (1) the English Darwinist theory of Evolution which says humans evolved out of monkeys but some races (particularly the non-English) are not fully evolved and therefore remain inferior (others who say this include George Hegel, Immanuel Kant, David Hume and more) and (2) the perceived sexual prowess of a Black man which creates the need to protect a White girl from the concomitant urges of this overpowering figure. As a result, the blood of a Black man has been spilled on this fact something considered germane to the defense of the English way of life by some. I personally know this fact because my own blood was spilled when I got attacked at night outside my apartment a fact I refer to in the above-mentioned book because those youths’ minds had been penetrated with hateful teachings towards the people of African descent a fact confirmed by the latest Canadian survey on race relations and published yesterday in the Toronto Star newspaper.
The acclaimed University of Sussex made news headlines in 2002 when its internationally renowned Professor of Natural Language Processing Dr. Geoffrey Sampson published an article where he said that Africans were intellectually inferior and that there was nothing wrong with racism. Canada’s respected University of Western Ontario Professor Jean Philippe Rushton echoed those views. In fact many respected English universities like Oxford University, Leeds University, and Edinburgh University, among others, made similar news headlines with Edinburgh University firing its Psychology Professor Chris Brand who had claimed that Black people were less intelligent than their White counterparts.
Foreign Education Not Necessarily Advantageous
Some African people have these fantastic notions that the best form of education is from an English university. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact that someone is a graduate of an English institution of learning is not in itself an advantage in terms of the ability to enhance the efficacy of analyzing and solving the African domain. In fact the reverse may be the case because graduates of English institutions are intellectually wired to serve the interests of the English in a way that diminishes the non-English because of the master servant relationship model. In other words English universities inculcate a sense of disdain in the hearts and minds of the students towards African Civilization. This makes such graduates a misfit in efficaciously solving the African problem domain. Moreover, an African scholar whose education is almost exclusively acquired from an English institution of learning, develops tendencies that freeze his or her warm sentiments towards the African motherland which makes such an individual tentative in fully embracing his or her Africaness effectively undermining his or her ability to contribute positively, unambiguously and innovatively to the African motherland.
Depth and Breadth of African Knowledge
The range of desirable solutions requires an African schooled intellectual mind like President Zuma who commands the depth and breadth of the African milieu. Let me explain the meaning of depth and breadth so that you can better appreciate this in a holistic fashion.
Depth refers to the number of years in performing a certain task. If person A has been working in the fabrication of widgets for five years, then we can say person A has a depth of five years in the fabrication of specific widgets. Breadth refers to the number of different widgets fabricated over a certain length of time. If person B has been working on seven unlike widgets over a period of two years we can say person B has a depth of two years and a breadth of seven years in the fabrication of widgets. If you multiply both the depth and the breadth you get fourteen years meaning that person B has a vastly more superior experience and expertise than person A with the depth of five years even though person B has only been working on the widgets for two years. Why is that?
Primarily, the number of years does not exclusively determine the value of knowledge and experience but rather the maxima of the nature of the task determine that, a process easily established using advanced mathematical tools of calculus. If the maxima of the task are one year then even if you spend five years on it you are still one year knowledgeable out of that experience. Mr. Zuma’s exposure to a variety of teaching and learning situations over extended periods of time has resulted in the acquisition of vast knowledge and domain expertise as already demonstrated above making him the greatest leader of all time in tackling the difficult issues of stopping the bloodbath and also his current critical mission of extracting the economy from under the claws of the fire-spitting dragon of economic apartheid.
Such credible breadth and depth of knowledge and skills is a PhD material a fact vindicated by the historic University of Forte Hare, which awarded Jacob Zuma a Doctor of Philosophy degree on May 25 2001. In his acceptance speech this is what Zuma said “I cannot help but remember some of the illustrious scholars who were part of the galaxy of leaders who went through this institution, such as the former President of the ANC, Oliver Reginald Tambo, former President of the ANC and first President of a democratic South Africa, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the distinguished scholar, writer, former President of the Senate in 1994 in the Democratic South Africa and outgoing Chancellor of this University, Govan Mbeki, and Prof. ZK Matthews, a former rector of this university to name but a few.” Other intellectuals he mentioned in his speech included Mr. Andrew Masondo who was Professor of Applied Mathematics before joining the South African National Defence Force as well as Tshaka ka Chungwa, among others.
A poem I wrote in tribute The Great Msholozi follows:
“Schooled in the struggle’s page
Irrevocable cadre at young age
A natural leader by convocation
Mechanisms of natural selection
Instructed in the university of life
Like a humble soldier to serve them
Chanting umshini wami anthem”
From The Indomitable Mongoose by Vusi Moloi © 2008, Canada.
Philosophical Model of Learning
Another interesting fact about an Anglo-Saxon model of education is that a student is trained to serve an English system of racial capitalism that says that the most important interests are those of the English and others are secondary to the fact. A good example of this is the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who persuaded Mr. Robert Mugabe and Dr. Joshua Nkomo to sign the Lancaster Agreement which resulted in the independence of Zimbabwe even though there were no guarantees in the document with respect to the return of the land to its rightful owners. As I write this article Margaret Thatcher is nowhere to be seen on this issue and England has disavowed any responsibility towards Zimbabwe and the rest is a tragic history. I have already addressed these points of discussion in many of my articles like The White Establishment as well as Why The West Is Less Influential in Zimbabwe in the blog Zulumathabo on the Internet.
The English regard education as an economic utility. When you take a college or university course your Canadian friends will almost always say something like “Why are you taking the course? What are you going to do with it?” What they are really asking is: What is the economic utility of acquiring that course? The English have a utilitarian view of education vis-à-vis the Africans who regard education as a form of prestige and that’s because prestige in a traditional African society is associated with the credibility that comes as a result of contributing to the betterment of others.
An education system is designed according to the philosophical view of its architects to serve the strategic interests of that society. The African architects in a traditional African society conceived of education as a system of didactics designed to produce a stake holding contributor in the enterprise of the village. The imperative directive of this African system is to serve the collective, which in turn serves the individual. Msholozi has demonstrated this irrefutable fact in his village of Nkandla where he received the highest number of the votes more than anyone else during the last elections which swept him to power.
While an African with a high level of education and knowledge commands prestige even though he or she may not have much in terms of wealth a PhD expert in an English society is regarded as nothing if he or she does not command an economic leverage of some kind particularly if he or she is non-English. Prestige does not emanate from education and knowledge as is the case in a traditional African society but rather from economics, which explains why the elders in the English societies are thrown away when they are no longer productive towards the English economy in contrast with the traditional African society where an elderly woman is regarded as a professor emeritus who teaches the new generation about the indigenous knowledge systems. On the one hand an English system produces and prepares students to serve in a master servant relationship i.e. a non-capitalized servant worker vis-à-vis a capitalized master owner of the enterprise. On the other hand an African teaching and learning system produces and prepares a student to serve the collective where the enterprise is owned by the village. Such a worker is not a servant but a stakeholder in the enterprise of the village and together with others works the economy using a system known as letsema, which fosters cooperative economics.
Conclusion
The newly crowned President Zuma, the great Msholozi, with his vast array of problem solving skills, unique background and leadership, has opened the doors to a new era of economic transformation, which requires transforming a landless African native into a land owner, a formidable task yet a necessary undertaking. Zuma’s Presidency ensures that these pressing issues will consistently receive a well-deserved attention in keeping with the ANC’s political manifesto. President Zuma ran a brilliant campaign despite the impossible odds thrown his way and he managed to inspire the whole country. All that Msholozi has to do is run the administration like he ran his political campaign and this will fulfill the words of a song “Usiphathe kahle ngoxolo Msholozi” meaning “kindly lead us in peace the great Msholozi”
About the Author
A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet
The new South African President Mr. Jacob Zuma has rewritten the pages of history as a comeback kid when he was crowned the new President of the Republic of South Africa on May 9th last week despite the many damaging stings he suffered in the fangs of the Scorpions which had threatened to paralyze his hopes of occupying the highest office in the land. Msholozi seemed bolstered by fervor of strong recuperating skills when he vowed that the struggles and sacrifices of his people would not be in vain. “Instead they shall inspire us to complete the task for which so much blood was shed, and so much hardship endured. This is a moment of renewal.” President Zuma outlining his vision as an agent of revolutionary change in pursuit of economic transformation in front of countless and spellbound dignitaries from many parts of the world including Queens, Kings, Princesses, Princes, Prime Ministers, Presidents, Ambassadors and many other world leaders who had descend upon the City of Tshwane to witness the historic event of a Zulu President taking office in the beautiful motherland South Africa. President Zuma is the first Zulu President and the fourth President since South Africa adopted a democratic rule in 1994 under the leadership of the perpetual legend President Nelson Mandela. President Zuma succeeds President Kgalema Motlhanthe who served as a caretaker President of the Republic from President Thabo Mbeki who was forced to step down as a result of an implicated political interference against Msholozi.
Jacob Zuma sworn in - from NTVKenya of Youtube
The frail looking yet highly energized Nelson Mandela was there to witness and cheer on the one who is carrying the torch of South African freedom into a better future. Zuma’s nemesis and former President Thabo Mbeki was also in attendance and Msholozi gracefully paid tribute to him in keeping with the magnanimous spirit of ubuntu which typifies an insignia of Msholozi.
President Zuma is an African intellectual mind with traditionalist Zulu roots and well versed in African praise poetry making him part of the “organic intellectuals” something he has referred to in the past when addressing African intellectuals. This fact was brilliantly demonstrated when he paid tribute to the outgoing praiseworthy President Kgalema Motlanthe. “On behalf of the nation, let me express our sincerest gratitude to President Motlanthe for patriotic service to the nation. Motlanthe! Bakone! Mmadiboka, seboka, dikgomo lebatho!” President Zuma expressing tribute to the great Batswanas of Motlanthe in a form of poetic rendition in Setswana language.
Fulfilling the ANC’s Campaign Promise
President Zuma brings a solid repertoire of skills, knowledge, experiences and a unique leadership style which promises to steer the country in the right direction in fulfillment of the ANC’s political manifesto which seeks to fast track delivery of services to the majority of the African natives who remain economically disenfranchised despite the advent of the new political dispensation in 1994. Part of the South African challenge is that South Africa’s economy remains an apartheid economy in which White South Africans enjoy easy access to the mainstay of the economy while the African natives are shut out despite the fifteen years of democracy. This in itself threatens the very framework upon which the young democratic society is pegged. Above and beyond, everything within the gutsy spirit of the African native militates against this antagonistic contradiction.
The Challenge of the Apartheid Economy
The bone of contention, which South Africa must tackle head-on, is the economic transformation and all other pressing issues associated with it like crime, the AIDS epidemic, high unemployment, extreme poverty, shortage of housing and land deprivation. The South African leaders in 1994 handed the African natives a landless revolution something not sustainable over the long term. To transform an African native from landless to landowner is a formidable yet necessary undertaking. This requires a gutsy spirit on the part of the leader to confront the intransigent White farmers who refuse to budge in terms of land distribution. Their lobbyists’ powerful influence in derailing the program of land distribution is brazenly assertive as evidenced by Mr. Mbeki’s government decision to shelve an important legislation in response to the pressures of the White lobbyists a legislation which would have advanced the cause of land distribution despite the fact that Mr. Mbeki’s Government enjoyed a two-thirds majority to do so unilaterally if it had to.
How can Zuma deal with these daring lobbyists who throw their weight around? He must take a page from another newly crowned African American President Barack Obama who introduced a set of new ground rules early on to restrain the unfettered power of the lobbyists and special interests by regulating the relationship between the US Government and the arm-twisting lobbyists because he saw the power of lobbyists as a serious threat to the success of his Presidency. Zuma has proven himself to be both a quick learner and a resilient individual with an ability to recover from setback. His cherished relationship with the electorate will give him the moral strength he needs to recharge his spiritual batteries as he chips away at the rock layer of economic apartheid. Whenever Msholozi visited poor families in the rural countryside he sometimes sat on the floor instead of taking a chair offered to him. Such humility fortifies his impressive array of diverse skills providing a good synthesis he can tap into in order to advance the long-term interests of his people. He demonstrated the same humility when he knelt in front of the perpetual legend Nelson Mandela during the inauguration which led to many teary eyes.
Intellectual Advantage of a Polygamist Background
Zuma’s polygamist background gives him an added advantage of a unique and enviable vantage point by expanding his visual field and range of problem solving skills unlike others who have gone before him. Instead of being satisfied with solving the routine issues of a subset of a single variable domain of monogamy Zuma decidedly challenged himself by raising the bar to solving the superset of polygamy effectively increasing his reach of interpretive and analytical skills in this multivariable problem domain. African polygamists are renowned for their impressive problem solving prowess in a form of people’s skills by virtue of the breadth and depth of their domain knowledge.
Those of us who study and analyze African Civilization have observed that an African polygamist carries with him a large bag of formidable skills and tools like compromise, trade-off, listening skills, charm, charisma, patience, lots of love, analysis, fairness, spontaneity, consultative skills, peacemaking skills, the ability to recover from setback and the superior skill which enables him to transmute a battleground into a playground while oozing with empathy and compassion enabling him to pay deserved tribute to his bevy of queens. Interestingly, there is something uniquely spontaneous about Msholozi including when he breaks into song and dance using his charming voice to easily win the hearts and minds of those whom he admirably treats to the artistry of his rendition.
As a result of being mindful and masterful at obviating a potential revolt by his African queens, the expert African polygamist has developed a heightened sense in the area of managing complexity and crowd dynamics and anticipating volatility with the result that this broad and deep experience has greatly increased his fluency in solving problems of unpredictable complexity. This fact is observable among other legendary polygamists like the great Nyanga Skhandule of the Limpopo Province who demonstrated these hybrid skills even though he was married to twenty seven wives and fathered more than seventy children all of whom were comfortably taken care.
Given such an intellectually and psycho-emotionally enriching background Mr. Zuma demonstrated these rare skills of peacemaking and good recovery when others had already written him off. When Zuma intervened in the destructive bloodletting between the ANC and Inkatha in the run-up to 1994, which pushed the country to the precarious brink of civil war, he stopped the bloodbath which would have robbed South Africa of democratic rule an achievement deserving of a Nobel Peace Prize in its own right. Our living legend Nelson Mandela is forever grateful to Zuma for that notable achievement a fact demonstrated by Mandela’s loyal and unwavering support for Msholozi. When sporadic skirmishes were reported in the KwaZulu Natal province during the last election campaigns the proactive and charming Zuma met with Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi as well as the great King of the Zulu people King Zwelithini to ensure that the elections were conducted in a peaceful manner and yes South Africa did enjoy peaceful elections thanks to the peacemaking skills of the great Msholozi.
Transformation Stages
Many analysts fail to isolate and understand the three distinct stages of South Africa’s revolution, consolidation and empowerment, which are transforming the South African society from a White establishment system that disinherits the African natives to the one that economically empowers them. Most analysts are English of colonial descent some of whom are driven by a narrow self-serving agenda which seeks to buttress the permanence of the White establishment with its concomitant economic disenfranchisement of the African natives a good example being the Anglo American company which relocated its headquarters from South Africa to England when apartheid collapsed an unfortunate move that left South African natives feeling robbed of the wealth of their motherland. Any model that thrives at the cost of others is incredible and not sustainable over the long term. For this reason, an urgent need to agitate for a durable solution governed by reciprocal interest and mutual respect is inevitable. The majority of the colonial descendents thought that the peace and reconciliation of 1994 was the end of the road and everyone would go on with their lives. This erroneous idea was premised on a failed Zimbabwe’s model of a landless revolution. Mr. Zuma is concerned with the third stage of transformative empowerment and is irreversibly intent on liberating the economy from the tenacious claws of the vestiges of apartheid. This is what will define the success of his Presidency.
African Learning vis-à-vis English Education
A lot has been said about the distinctions between Mr. Thabo Mbeki and Mr. Jacob Zuma with respect to their academic credentials. The reasoning goes something like Mr. Thabo Mbeki who is a Sussex scholar (Master of Economics at The University of Sussex, England) commands the intellectual prowess, which Mr. Zuma lacks because he is not a graduate of Sussex or any other English institution of higher learning. Indeed Mr. Mbeki is an adept intellectual, something that greatly exhilarates me. In my book A Goodbye To My Little Troubles I write about this fact and pay deserved tribute based on his visit to Canada during the G8 conference of Kananaskis. However, the fact that Mr. Zuma lacks Western education credentials does not diminish the intellectual prowess of his own which he acquired via a multitude of African traditional learning systems. In fact he brings to the table a remarkable array of chiseled and seasoned skills and talents many of which are not possible to acquire in an English school of learning simply because those WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) institutions discount African learning systems in which Mr. Zuma and many of us were schooled.
The best way to appreciate the differences, in terms of a problem solving approach, between someone who was schooled in an English university setting vis-à-vis another who was schooled under a different African learning system of which I am a humble creation is to relate a narrative of my heated discussion with a Canadian university professor in Ottawa regarding the Canadian health care system. I had visited the professor’s home as a result of an invitation by a Spanish lady friend of mine.
To help you to appreciate Canadian universities and colleges before delving into my discussion with the professor, let me point out that Canada commands the world’s best in college and university education. NASA built a satellite known as OCO (Orbiting Carbon Observatory) at a cost of $285 million and launched it into space early this year. The satellite failed to reach orbit (possibly abducted by the angry aliens?) and the American taxpayers were left holding an empty bag. In contrast, Canada’s University of Toronto, at a cost of $300,000, had built a satellite known as CanX-2 a year earlier with the same functions and mission of the American satellite. That Canadian satellite is still orbiting the earth as I write this article not to mention the fact that this satellite was built mostly by students. My university is a participant in this satellite with its communications experiment. This is one shining example of the superiority of Canadian university college education in terms of producing brilliant men and women who serve this great country. A deserved credit belongs to the Canadian Ministry of Colleges and Universities for their stringent rules which result in high quality tertiary education.
Now that we have paid tribute to the great Canadians, we continue with the topic at hand. We had a barbecue outside the house of the professor in the yard a Canadian tradition similar to South Africa’s tradition of braai vleis. As the meat was sizzling, we got off a heated discussion on the Canadian health care system as previously mentioned. The view of the professor, contrary to mine, was that the Canadian health care system had deteriorated. I pointed out that even though the health care system had somewhat degraded as a result of extreme budgetary cuts by Ontario’s ultra rightist Premier Mike Harris resulting in long queues in many hospitals which I personally experienced, Canada’s health care system remained an enviable enterprise nonetheless.
The professor disagreed very strongly. I then asked what was the basis of the honourable professor’s argument in thinking that Canada’s health care was no longer something to be proud of? The professor cited expert opinion to which I respectfully replied by posing another question as to which was more authentic namely educated opinion or personal experience? He said educated opinion was definitely more authentic. I shot back with a fact of my own and pointed out that in fact experience was more authentic because experience is a sensory determinant whereas educated opinion is an academic construct. Experience does not lie but educated opinion can a fact understood by courts of law which prefer an eyewitness to an expert witness. An educated opinion has no emotional value and thus no direct interface with respect to the survival of the organism. It’s the experience that gets encoded by human emotions which give meaning to survival and impinge on the self-preservation of the organism. That’s because educated opinion is a layer of indirection, which in Western societies stands between a human mind and his or her natural environment and sometimes negates the very survival of the organism, a breach of the fundamental premise of living organisms.
The professor was aghast as he looked at me with a sense of disdain. He didn’t expect this line of reasoning from what appeared to him to be an unlikely intellectual sophisticate. In a Canadian society an African descendent is generally regarded as intellectually inferior. That’s because Canadian universities and colleges, like many other English universities, are packed with books and some professors who portray the Africans as subhuman. Some Canadian families, particularly the fathers (no reference to the above mentioned professor), teach their children to hate African men. The reasoning is based on two things namely (1) the English Darwinist theory of Evolution which says humans evolved out of monkeys but some races (particularly the non-English) are not fully evolved and therefore remain inferior (others who say this include George Hegel, Immanuel Kant, David Hume and more) and (2) the perceived sexual prowess of a Black man which creates the need to protect a White girl from the concomitant urges of this overpowering figure. As a result, the blood of a Black man has been spilled on this fact something considered germane to the defense of the English way of life by some. I personally know this fact because my own blood was spilled when I got attacked at night outside my apartment a fact I refer to in the above-mentioned book because those youths’ minds had been penetrated with hateful teachings towards the people of African descent a fact confirmed by the latest Canadian survey on race relations and published yesterday in the Toronto Star newspaper.
The acclaimed University of Sussex made news headlines in 2002 when its internationally renowned Professor of Natural Language Processing Dr. Geoffrey Sampson published an article where he said that Africans were intellectually inferior and that there was nothing wrong with racism. Canada’s respected University of Western Ontario Professor Jean Philippe Rushton echoed those views. In fact many respected English universities like Oxford University, Leeds University, and Edinburgh University, among others, made similar news headlines with Edinburgh University firing its Psychology Professor Chris Brand who had claimed that Black people were less intelligent than their White counterparts.
Foreign Education Not Necessarily Advantageous
Some African people have these fantastic notions that the best form of education is from an English university. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact that someone is a graduate of an English institution of learning is not in itself an advantage in terms of the ability to enhance the efficacy of analyzing and solving the African domain. In fact the reverse may be the case because graduates of English institutions are intellectually wired to serve the interests of the English in a way that diminishes the non-English because of the master servant relationship model. In other words English universities inculcate a sense of disdain in the hearts and minds of the students towards African Civilization. This makes such graduates a misfit in efficaciously solving the African problem domain. Moreover, an African scholar whose education is almost exclusively acquired from an English institution of learning, develops tendencies that freeze his or her warm sentiments towards the African motherland which makes such an individual tentative in fully embracing his or her Africaness effectively undermining his or her ability to contribute positively, unambiguously and innovatively to the African motherland.
Depth and Breadth of African Knowledge
The range of desirable solutions requires an African schooled intellectual mind like President Zuma who commands the depth and breadth of the African milieu. Let me explain the meaning of depth and breadth so that you can better appreciate this in a holistic fashion.
Depth refers to the number of years in performing a certain task. If person A has been working in the fabrication of widgets for five years, then we can say person A has a depth of five years in the fabrication of specific widgets. Breadth refers to the number of different widgets fabricated over a certain length of time. If person B has been working on seven unlike widgets over a period of two years we can say person B has a depth of two years and a breadth of seven years in the fabrication of widgets. If you multiply both the depth and the breadth you get fourteen years meaning that person B has a vastly more superior experience and expertise than person A with the depth of five years even though person B has only been working on the widgets for two years. Why is that?
Primarily, the number of years does not exclusively determine the value of knowledge and experience but rather the maxima of the nature of the task determine that, a process easily established using advanced mathematical tools of calculus. If the maxima of the task are one year then even if you spend five years on it you are still one year knowledgeable out of that experience. Mr. Zuma’s exposure to a variety of teaching and learning situations over extended periods of time has resulted in the acquisition of vast knowledge and domain expertise as already demonstrated above making him the greatest leader of all time in tackling the difficult issues of stopping the bloodbath and also his current critical mission of extracting the economy from under the claws of the fire-spitting dragon of economic apartheid.
Such credible breadth and depth of knowledge and skills is a PhD material a fact vindicated by the historic University of Forte Hare, which awarded Jacob Zuma a Doctor of Philosophy degree on May 25 2001. In his acceptance speech this is what Zuma said “I cannot help but remember some of the illustrious scholars who were part of the galaxy of leaders who went through this institution, such as the former President of the ANC, Oliver Reginald Tambo, former President of the ANC and first President of a democratic South Africa, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the distinguished scholar, writer, former President of the Senate in 1994 in the Democratic South Africa and outgoing Chancellor of this University, Govan Mbeki, and Prof. ZK Matthews, a former rector of this university to name but a few.” Other intellectuals he mentioned in his speech included Mr. Andrew Masondo who was Professor of Applied Mathematics before joining the South African National Defence Force as well as Tshaka ka Chungwa, among others.
A poem I wrote in tribute The Great Msholozi follows:
“Schooled in the struggle’s page
Irrevocable cadre at young age
A natural leader by convocation
Mechanisms of natural selection
Instructed in the university of life
Like a humble soldier to serve them
Chanting umshini wami anthem”
From The Indomitable Mongoose by Vusi Moloi © 2008, Canada.
Philosophical Model of Learning
Another interesting fact about an Anglo-Saxon model of education is that a student is trained to serve an English system of racial capitalism that says that the most important interests are those of the English and others are secondary to the fact. A good example of this is the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who persuaded Mr. Robert Mugabe and Dr. Joshua Nkomo to sign the Lancaster Agreement which resulted in the independence of Zimbabwe even though there were no guarantees in the document with respect to the return of the land to its rightful owners. As I write this article Margaret Thatcher is nowhere to be seen on this issue and England has disavowed any responsibility towards Zimbabwe and the rest is a tragic history. I have already addressed these points of discussion in many of my articles like The White Establishment as well as Why The West Is Less Influential in Zimbabwe in the blog Zulumathabo on the Internet.
The English regard education as an economic utility. When you take a college or university course your Canadian friends will almost always say something like “Why are you taking the course? What are you going to do with it?” What they are really asking is: What is the economic utility of acquiring that course? The English have a utilitarian view of education vis-à-vis the Africans who regard education as a form of prestige and that’s because prestige in a traditional African society is associated with the credibility that comes as a result of contributing to the betterment of others.
An education system is designed according to the philosophical view of its architects to serve the strategic interests of that society. The African architects in a traditional African society conceived of education as a system of didactics designed to produce a stake holding contributor in the enterprise of the village. The imperative directive of this African system is to serve the collective, which in turn serves the individual. Msholozi has demonstrated this irrefutable fact in his village of Nkandla where he received the highest number of the votes more than anyone else during the last elections which swept him to power.
While an African with a high level of education and knowledge commands prestige even though he or she may not have much in terms of wealth a PhD expert in an English society is regarded as nothing if he or she does not command an economic leverage of some kind particularly if he or she is non-English. Prestige does not emanate from education and knowledge as is the case in a traditional African society but rather from economics, which explains why the elders in the English societies are thrown away when they are no longer productive towards the English economy in contrast with the traditional African society where an elderly woman is regarded as a professor emeritus who teaches the new generation about the indigenous knowledge systems. On the one hand an English system produces and prepares students to serve in a master servant relationship i.e. a non-capitalized servant worker vis-à-vis a capitalized master owner of the enterprise. On the other hand an African teaching and learning system produces and prepares a student to serve the collective where the enterprise is owned by the village. Such a worker is not a servant but a stakeholder in the enterprise of the village and together with others works the economy using a system known as letsema, which fosters cooperative economics.
Conclusion
The newly crowned President Zuma, the great Msholozi, with his vast array of problem solving skills, unique background and leadership, has opened the doors to a new era of economic transformation, which requires transforming a landless African native into a land owner, a formidable task yet a necessary undertaking. Zuma’s Presidency ensures that these pressing issues will consistently receive a well-deserved attention in keeping with the ANC’s political manifesto. President Zuma ran a brilliant campaign despite the impossible odds thrown his way and he managed to inspire the whole country. All that Msholozi has to do is run the administration like he ran his political campaign and this will fulfill the words of a song “Usiphathe kahle ngoxolo Msholozi” meaning “kindly lead us in peace the great Msholozi”
About the Author
A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Zulumathabo on the Internet Joins MBA
By Vusi Moloi © 2009
A notification to the readers of Zulumathabo on the Internet that there is an important change on this blog which can be seen with the MBA logo at the top. This signifies a membership with the Media Bloggers Association known by its acronym MBA. Professor Robert Cox formed the MBA in 2004 after successfully fending off a legal clampdown by the New York Times newspaper as a result of his blog.
Bloggers Facing Harassment and Intimidation
There has been an increasing number of blogs and bloggers facing harassment and intimidation by the establishment. Some have been driven to the ground by the fire of the big dragons of the establishment. It was on this basis that Zulumathabo on the Internet made this important decision of becoming part of the pact of mutual defense because citizen journalism is an important evolutionary change towards the enrichment of free debate of ideas in what has been an iron grip by the traditional media moguls who have consistently discounted an African point of view in favour of the Anglo-Saxon perspective.
Traditional Media is WASP
The traditional media has used the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (also known as WASP)society as a standard by which the non-English get measured and judged. The non-English always fall short in this system of metrics. For their part, some non-English have increasingly adopted the WASP way of life to gain acceptance in what is kind of a lost cause because the English strategic interests are predicated upon a master servant relationship (MSR) between the themselves and the non-English where the non-English are expected to serve the economic interests of the English establishment. MSR is a model that has served the English well and will continue to be going forward.
Media Law Course
One important precondition of the MBA membership is a successful completion of an online medial law course Online Media Law: The Basics for Bloggers and Other Online Publishers offered by the News University an online project of Poynter Institute. The President and Founder of MBA Professor Robert Cox who is also an Associate Professor at Columbia State University conceived the course. Respected experts in media law from esteemed universities teach the course like Professor David Ardia of Harvard University and Professor Geanne Rosenberg of City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism. Professor Rosenberg has authored and produced Top Ten Rules To Limit Legal Risk for the Knight Citizen News Network among others. The course assessment instruction is carried out by Professor Scott Swift an expert on risks and media insurance.
Needless to say this was a great refresher for me considering that I graduated from Journalism and Professional Writing many years ago in England where I learnt Libel and Slander among others. Learning media law as it applies to North America was a natural progression.
This is an important step in the evolution of blogging because it gives the starving blogger the ability to analytically write and report on what matters to society without a fear of being harassed or intimidated by those who seek to suppress dissent or viewpoints which are not to the liking of the establishment.
Professor Cox made news headlines in 2004 when the New York Times, as a result of a posting in his blog sued him. Cox prevailed in that case despite a temporary shutdown which led to the New York Times amending their correction policy. The well-financed legal machinery of the New York Times could have easily buried Cox but he was fortunate that a group of lawyers offered to fight his case pro bono. Even though the New York Times is a news organization that is supposedly on the same side as the small time media; it [New York Time] decided to exercise corporate censorship to squelch a starving blogger. It is out of this harsh experience that the Media Bloggers Association came into being almost like being born out of ashes.
Fighting Fire With Fire
As a result of MBA it means that when the blazing dragons of a livid establishment spit fire upon a small starving blogger he or she will be able to fire back thanks to MBA. Dragons don’t like to receive fire but will exhale harsh fire upon others and by knowing that they will taste their own fire they are more likely to back off.
Kowtow Philosophy
Some of my African brothers and sisters have subscribed to a self-defeatist philosophy that says that if you remain subservient and adopt a kowtow position towards the WASP masters your life will be enhanced and will live happily ever after. Nothing could be further from the truth.
We must take a page from the University of the African Jungle. The African jungle teaches us that when the great African buffalo is attacked by a group of lions he survives if he successfully carries one lion on his powerful horns and throws him into the air. That is because that lion will run to the nearest corner of the jungle after crash landing on the hard ground. When other lions in the pack see this physical prowess of the African buffalo they too will take cover leaving the buffalo to go on with his business of living. If the buffalo decided to adopt a kowtow position the lions would deliciously and judiciously enjoy him while dancing around his dead body. In an English capitalist society which is based on racial capitalism there is no such thing as merciful love towards the oppressed. The agenda of the establishment is their bottom line and that means aggressively and sometimes brutally defending those interests at the expense of others.
Suppression of Ideas
As a result of the establishment, many truths have been suppressed (suppression resulting in death among some) and continue to be in a bid by the establishment to control the learning, publishing and dissemination of ideas. A blogsphere is a new front in the reopening of the avenues of unfettered dissemination of ideas.
About the Author
A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.
A notification to the readers of Zulumathabo on the Internet that there is an important change on this blog which can be seen with the MBA logo at the top. This signifies a membership with the Media Bloggers Association known by its acronym MBA. Professor Robert Cox formed the MBA in 2004 after successfully fending off a legal clampdown by the New York Times newspaper as a result of his blog.
Bloggers Facing Harassment and Intimidation
There has been an increasing number of blogs and bloggers facing harassment and intimidation by the establishment. Some have been driven to the ground by the fire of the big dragons of the establishment. It was on this basis that Zulumathabo on the Internet made this important decision of becoming part of the pact of mutual defense because citizen journalism is an important evolutionary change towards the enrichment of free debate of ideas in what has been an iron grip by the traditional media moguls who have consistently discounted an African point of view in favour of the Anglo-Saxon perspective.
Traditional Media is WASP
The traditional media has used the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (also known as WASP)society as a standard by which the non-English get measured and judged. The non-English always fall short in this system of metrics. For their part, some non-English have increasingly adopted the WASP way of life to gain acceptance in what is kind of a lost cause because the English strategic interests are predicated upon a master servant relationship (MSR) between the themselves and the non-English where the non-English are expected to serve the economic interests of the English establishment. MSR is a model that has served the English well and will continue to be going forward.
Media Law Course
One important precondition of the MBA membership is a successful completion of an online medial law course Online Media Law: The Basics for Bloggers and Other Online Publishers offered by the News University an online project of Poynter Institute. The President and Founder of MBA Professor Robert Cox who is also an Associate Professor at Columbia State University conceived the course. Respected experts in media law from esteemed universities teach the course like Professor David Ardia of Harvard University and Professor Geanne Rosenberg of City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism. Professor Rosenberg has authored and produced Top Ten Rules To Limit Legal Risk for the Knight Citizen News Network among others. The course assessment instruction is carried out by Professor Scott Swift an expert on risks and media insurance.
Needless to say this was a great refresher for me considering that I graduated from Journalism and Professional Writing many years ago in England where I learnt Libel and Slander among others. Learning media law as it applies to North America was a natural progression.
This is an important step in the evolution of blogging because it gives the starving blogger the ability to analytically write and report on what matters to society without a fear of being harassed or intimidated by those who seek to suppress dissent or viewpoints which are not to the liking of the establishment.
Professor Cox made news headlines in 2004 when the New York Times, as a result of a posting in his blog sued him. Cox prevailed in that case despite a temporary shutdown which led to the New York Times amending their correction policy. The well-financed legal machinery of the New York Times could have easily buried Cox but he was fortunate that a group of lawyers offered to fight his case pro bono. Even though the New York Times is a news organization that is supposedly on the same side as the small time media; it [New York Time] decided to exercise corporate censorship to squelch a starving blogger. It is out of this harsh experience that the Media Bloggers Association came into being almost like being born out of ashes.
Fighting Fire With Fire
As a result of MBA it means that when the blazing dragons of a livid establishment spit fire upon a small starving blogger he or she will be able to fire back thanks to MBA. Dragons don’t like to receive fire but will exhale harsh fire upon others and by knowing that they will taste their own fire they are more likely to back off.
Kowtow Philosophy
Some of my African brothers and sisters have subscribed to a self-defeatist philosophy that says that if you remain subservient and adopt a kowtow position towards the WASP masters your life will be enhanced and will live happily ever after. Nothing could be further from the truth.
We must take a page from the University of the African Jungle. The African jungle teaches us that when the great African buffalo is attacked by a group of lions he survives if he successfully carries one lion on his powerful horns and throws him into the air. That is because that lion will run to the nearest corner of the jungle after crash landing on the hard ground. When other lions in the pack see this physical prowess of the African buffalo they too will take cover leaving the buffalo to go on with his business of living. If the buffalo decided to adopt a kowtow position the lions would deliciously and judiciously enjoy him while dancing around his dead body. In an English capitalist society which is based on racial capitalism there is no such thing as merciful love towards the oppressed. The agenda of the establishment is their bottom line and that means aggressively and sometimes brutally defending those interests at the expense of others.
Suppression of Ideas
As a result of the establishment, many truths have been suppressed (suppression resulting in death among some) and continue to be in a bid by the establishment to control the learning, publishing and dissemination of ideas. A blogsphere is a new front in the reopening of the avenues of unfettered dissemination of ideas.
About the Author
A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Rejected By His Motherland
By Vusi Moloi © 2009
Punishing shackles cut like suicidal
Tracing the cruel ground like sinusoidal
A little boy soldier was arrested
To be tried on evidence untested
They vowed to avenge one of their own
For a crime they couldn't prove against the boy
He cried for help via the syntactic
His motherland was unenthusiastic
She remains disinclined at great distance
Reluctant to heed the cry of the boy
Hereafter to be painfully rejected
By his motherland despite contacted
To be detained at Guantanamo
Without trial at Guantanamo
His motherland complied with Guantanamo
Despite torturing the boy at Guantanamo
He cracked under pain for her warm breast
The motherland remained unimpressed
His countrymen label him a terrorist
To remain shackled by a militarist
The moon flickered at his pain
Unable to stomach his suffering
Hereafter to be painfully rejected
By his motherland despite contacted
Contextual Commentary
The moon that lights the sky remains like a watchful eye over the earth below. Her memory, etched in meteoritic stone, transcends time and space to serve as an institutional memory for the children of the stars. The moon goddess who lights up the moon with her fire, uses her gravitational pull to equalize the distribution of the waterways of the land hence when the tide rises all vessels must rise. The sacred heart of the moon is averse to the distinctions that deprive others of the plentiful waterways.
Vusi Moloi, The Indomitable Mongoose, Canada, 2009
Dedication:
This poem is written in tribute to Omar Khadr who was captured as a little boy on July 27 2002 in a compound near the village of Ayub Kheyl in Afghanistan. His country of birth Canada has consistently refused to intervene on behalf of Omar even though other countries have come to the rescue of their own.
Guantanamo Bay Child Soldier CSIS interrogation
Omar Khadr cracking under pain and sobbing uncontrollably while undergoing an intense interrogation by the Canadian Inteligence Security Agency. In this video (released by his defence team) Omar also shows sustained injuries - video from nomoredrugwar of Youtube.
Background
US Navy Lieutenant-Commander William Kuebler has taken a lot of heat for defending the rights of Omar. Lieutenant-Commander Kuebler has declared his special relationship with the young man saying people should disregard the hurtful comments made by some of the Khadr family members because he believes Omar can go on to lead a productive life in society given a chance. Omar Khadr is accused of throwing a hand grenade that killed US Special Forces soldier Sergeant First Class Christopher Speer. No uncontested evidence has been established to support that claim. The Pentagon under President George Bush had based their argument on the fact that Omar was the only one alive when the Christopher Speer assault team stormed the compound after US air strikes had obliterated it in a four hour fire fight. That position has since been discounted by sworn military documents from one soldier (known only as OC-1) who shot Omar twice on the back causing gaping exit wounds on Omar's chest. The soldier testified under oath that there were two people found alive at the compound namely Omar Khadr and another combatant. The second person was shot dead by OC-1.
Lieutenant Commander Kuebler has even suggested that given the nature of the battle Sergeant First Class Christopher Speer may have been killed by “friendly fire” and not by enemy combatants as originally reported by the US authorities a viewpoint now confirmed by some researchers using both medical records and the type of grenade that killed Sergeant First Class Christopher Speer. It’s now alleged that the grenade that hit Speer was American. If this is the case then does it mean that Omar Khadr is paying for someone else’s crime?
Kuebler Called the Government's Case
US Navy Lieutenant-Commander William Kuebler speaking to reporters - video from omarcanada1 of Youtube
Defence Attorner Dennis Edney
Another great Canadian Mr. Dennis Edney continues to defend Omar in spite of the frustrations that result from attempting to deal with a close-knit organization like the US military authorities where the rules are like a black box that needs special decoding. Mr. Edney has had to wait for four years before being allowed to meet his client in person something that is very torturing to the mind of someone who wants to help others.
Latest Developments
In a latest development the Federal Court of Canada Justice James O’Reilly has ordered the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to bring Omar Khadr home warning that Canada was implicit in the continued torture of Omar. The Prime Minister swiftly responded by leaving open the option of quashing the court decision via an appeal process. This position is in sharp contrast to what the Prime Minister declared before in a similar case where a Canadian citizen was accused of terrorism by China as follows:
"I think the government of Canada, when a Canadian citizen is ill-treated and when the rights of a Canadian citizen need to be defended, I think it's always the obligation of the government of Canada to vocally and publicly stand up for that Canadian citizen... That is what we will continue to do.", Prime Minister Harper speaking to reporters in Halifax about China allegedly torturing a Canadian citizen Huseyin Celil.
About the Author
A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.
Punishing shackles cut like suicidal
Tracing the cruel ground like sinusoidal
A little boy soldier was arrested
To be tried on evidence untested
They vowed to avenge one of their own
For a crime they couldn't prove against the boy
He cried for help via the syntactic
His motherland was unenthusiastic
She remains disinclined at great distance
Reluctant to heed the cry of the boy
Hereafter to be painfully rejected
By his motherland despite contacted
To be detained at Guantanamo
Without trial at Guantanamo
His motherland complied with Guantanamo
Despite torturing the boy at Guantanamo
He cracked under pain for her warm breast
The motherland remained unimpressed
His countrymen label him a terrorist
To remain shackled by a militarist
The moon flickered at his pain
Unable to stomach his suffering
Hereafter to be painfully rejected
By his motherland despite contacted
Contextual Commentary
The moon that lights the sky remains like a watchful eye over the earth below. Her memory, etched in meteoritic stone, transcends time and space to serve as an institutional memory for the children of the stars. The moon goddess who lights up the moon with her fire, uses her gravitational pull to equalize the distribution of the waterways of the land hence when the tide rises all vessels must rise. The sacred heart of the moon is averse to the distinctions that deprive others of the plentiful waterways.
Vusi Moloi, The Indomitable Mongoose, Canada, 2009
Dedication:
This poem is written in tribute to Omar Khadr who was captured as a little boy on July 27 2002 in a compound near the village of Ayub Kheyl in Afghanistan. His country of birth Canada has consistently refused to intervene on behalf of Omar even though other countries have come to the rescue of their own.
Guantanamo Bay Child Soldier CSIS interrogation
Omar Khadr cracking under pain and sobbing uncontrollably while undergoing an intense interrogation by the Canadian Inteligence Security Agency. In this video (released by his defence team) Omar also shows sustained injuries - video from nomoredrugwar of Youtube.
Background
US Navy Lieutenant-Commander William Kuebler has taken a lot of heat for defending the rights of Omar. Lieutenant-Commander Kuebler has declared his special relationship with the young man saying people should disregard the hurtful comments made by some of the Khadr family members because he believes Omar can go on to lead a productive life in society given a chance. Omar Khadr is accused of throwing a hand grenade that killed US Special Forces soldier Sergeant First Class Christopher Speer. No uncontested evidence has been established to support that claim. The Pentagon under President George Bush had based their argument on the fact that Omar was the only one alive when the Christopher Speer assault team stormed the compound after US air strikes had obliterated it in a four hour fire fight. That position has since been discounted by sworn military documents from one soldier (known only as OC-1) who shot Omar twice on the back causing gaping exit wounds on Omar's chest. The soldier testified under oath that there were two people found alive at the compound namely Omar Khadr and another combatant. The second person was shot dead by OC-1.
Lieutenant Commander Kuebler has even suggested that given the nature of the battle Sergeant First Class Christopher Speer may have been killed by “friendly fire” and not by enemy combatants as originally reported by the US authorities a viewpoint now confirmed by some researchers using both medical records and the type of grenade that killed Sergeant First Class Christopher Speer. It’s now alleged that the grenade that hit Speer was American. If this is the case then does it mean that Omar Khadr is paying for someone else’s crime?
Kuebler Called the Government's Case
US Navy Lieutenant-Commander William Kuebler speaking to reporters - video from omarcanada1 of Youtube
Defence Attorner Dennis Edney
Another great Canadian Mr. Dennis Edney continues to defend Omar in spite of the frustrations that result from attempting to deal with a close-knit organization like the US military authorities where the rules are like a black box that needs special decoding. Mr. Edney has had to wait for four years before being allowed to meet his client in person something that is very torturing to the mind of someone who wants to help others.
Latest Developments
In a latest development the Federal Court of Canada Justice James O’Reilly has ordered the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to bring Omar Khadr home warning that Canada was implicit in the continued torture of Omar. The Prime Minister swiftly responded by leaving open the option of quashing the court decision via an appeal process. This position is in sharp contrast to what the Prime Minister declared before in a similar case where a Canadian citizen was accused of terrorism by China as follows:
"I think the government of Canada, when a Canadian citizen is ill-treated and when the rights of a Canadian citizen need to be defended, I think it's always the obligation of the government of Canada to vocally and publicly stand up for that Canadian citizen... That is what we will continue to do.", Prime Minister Harper speaking to reporters in Halifax about China allegedly torturing a Canadian citizen Huseyin Celil.
About the Author
A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
South Africa Votes for a Better Life
By Vusi Moloi © 2009
The people of South Africa cast their votes today [April 22, 2009] for a new Government to lead them another five years. The iconic legend of Nelson Mandela injected new levels of energy among those waiting in long lines to cast their vote. The President of the African National Congress and the potential President of the Republic of South Africa Mr. Jacob Zuma enjoyed a cult-like personality when he cast his vote at his home village of Nkandla. Mr. Zuma is a worshipful figure at his home village and has energized people of all backgrounds. He has extended that natural charisma beyond his village to the entire Province of KwaZulu Natal and far and beyond throughout South Africa.
Big Turnout
It is estimated that the voter turnout is nearly 80% (or over 18 million of 23 million registered voters), an unheard of record in Canada. Unlike the Canadians who remain subdued during the polls, the South Africans are both expressive and energized to exercise their right in what is likely to be a new chapter in the great struggle for economic emancipation from the crushing shackles of economic apartheid. People have been economically disenfranchised for fifteen years in what is seemingly an unusual misnomer whereby the African natives make do with a razor thin slice of the cheese pie while the colonial descendents have the entire pie to themselves without any qualms about it. The African natives were disinherited by a system of apartheid that has since mutated into a modern gated system of economic exclusion.
South Africa votes in general election - from itnnews of Youtube
Former Presidents Vote
The former President of South Africa Mr. Thabo Mbeki also cast his vote. Responding to a question about whom he was voting for Mr. Mbeki replied by saying that only God knew. Mr. Mbeki remains the member of the ANC although he didn’t assist his organization during the political campaign despite being expected to do so. In a letter he wrote to the ANC on this question, he was non-committal. On the other hand Mr. Mandela remains a self-declared loyal cadre of the ANC and has come out, despite frail health, to support his party and leverage support for Mr. Zuma boosting the fortunes of the ANC.
Impressive Threat From COPE
Many observers say the ANC, which has ruled South Africa since 1994 is facing an impressive threat from the Congress of the People commonly known as COPE, a political breakaway from the ANC led by the former Defense Minister Mr. Terror Lekota. Mr. Lekota has since lost the leadership contest to the Methodist Minister Hamilton Dandala who largely remains an unknown quantity on the campaign trail. COPE had hoped that Reverend Dandala’s impressive credentials would prove instrumental in setting the leadership of COPE apart from the leadership of Mr. Zuma considering the polygamist way of life of Mr. Zuma. This has not worked as intended largely because Reverend Dandala spent a fair amount of energy on Zuma and the ANC instead of articulating the issues, which voters care about. Moreover some have observed that jumping ship [defecting from the ANC] to form a breakaway party is a historical baggage that voters could use to punish COPE.
In a traditional African society a messenger who is sent out on a mission must report back to the village in order to attract good fortune in existential activities going forward. Political parties that have been formed out of jumping ship have seen their fortunes progressively shrink overtime. The great Chinese philosopher Sun Tsu once observed in his book The Art of War that providence is on the side of big battalions. The ANC, with so many ground troops of volunteers on the ground, is strongly favoured to win big in this election.
Strident Foe of Zuma
Ms. Helen Zille, a strident opponent of Mr. Zuma and the ANC, is a leader of the Democratic Alliance a political party that protects the economic interests of the White South Africans and vehemently defends the apartheid economy which remains a unique feature of what is otherwise a wealthy country. This divisive economy has had the effect of squandering the peace and reconciliation goodwill of the African natives while shredding the fabric of that country’s morals.
Ms. Zille has doggedly pursued, with a one-track mind, the strategy of focusing nefarious attention on Zuma and the ANC as opposed to what the DA would do for the voters. She has even gone to the extent of threatening litigation against Zuma and his defense team and has demanded the resignation of the Chief of the NPA Professor Mokotedi Mpshe S.C.
About the Author
A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.
The people of South Africa cast their votes today [April 22, 2009] for a new Government to lead them another five years. The iconic legend of Nelson Mandela injected new levels of energy among those waiting in long lines to cast their vote. The President of the African National Congress and the potential President of the Republic of South Africa Mr. Jacob Zuma enjoyed a cult-like personality when he cast his vote at his home village of Nkandla. Mr. Zuma is a worshipful figure at his home village and has energized people of all backgrounds. He has extended that natural charisma beyond his village to the entire Province of KwaZulu Natal and far and beyond throughout South Africa.
Big Turnout
It is estimated that the voter turnout is nearly 80% (or over 18 million of 23 million registered voters), an unheard of record in Canada. Unlike the Canadians who remain subdued during the polls, the South Africans are both expressive and energized to exercise their right in what is likely to be a new chapter in the great struggle for economic emancipation from the crushing shackles of economic apartheid. People have been economically disenfranchised for fifteen years in what is seemingly an unusual misnomer whereby the African natives make do with a razor thin slice of the cheese pie while the colonial descendents have the entire pie to themselves without any qualms about it. The African natives were disinherited by a system of apartheid that has since mutated into a modern gated system of economic exclusion.
South Africa votes in general election - from itnnews of Youtube
Former Presidents Vote
The former President of South Africa Mr. Thabo Mbeki also cast his vote. Responding to a question about whom he was voting for Mr. Mbeki replied by saying that only God knew. Mr. Mbeki remains the member of the ANC although he didn’t assist his organization during the political campaign despite being expected to do so. In a letter he wrote to the ANC on this question, he was non-committal. On the other hand Mr. Mandela remains a self-declared loyal cadre of the ANC and has come out, despite frail health, to support his party and leverage support for Mr. Zuma boosting the fortunes of the ANC.
Impressive Threat From COPE
Many observers say the ANC, which has ruled South Africa since 1994 is facing an impressive threat from the Congress of the People commonly known as COPE, a political breakaway from the ANC led by the former Defense Minister Mr. Terror Lekota. Mr. Lekota has since lost the leadership contest to the Methodist Minister Hamilton Dandala who largely remains an unknown quantity on the campaign trail. COPE had hoped that Reverend Dandala’s impressive credentials would prove instrumental in setting the leadership of COPE apart from the leadership of Mr. Zuma considering the polygamist way of life of Mr. Zuma. This has not worked as intended largely because Reverend Dandala spent a fair amount of energy on Zuma and the ANC instead of articulating the issues, which voters care about. Moreover some have observed that jumping ship [defecting from the ANC] to form a breakaway party is a historical baggage that voters could use to punish COPE.
In a traditional African society a messenger who is sent out on a mission must report back to the village in order to attract good fortune in existential activities going forward. Political parties that have been formed out of jumping ship have seen their fortunes progressively shrink overtime. The great Chinese philosopher Sun Tsu once observed in his book The Art of War that providence is on the side of big battalions. The ANC, with so many ground troops of volunteers on the ground, is strongly favoured to win big in this election.
Strident Foe of Zuma
Ms. Helen Zille, a strident opponent of Mr. Zuma and the ANC, is a leader of the Democratic Alliance a political party that protects the economic interests of the White South Africans and vehemently defends the apartheid economy which remains a unique feature of what is otherwise a wealthy country. This divisive economy has had the effect of squandering the peace and reconciliation goodwill of the African natives while shredding the fabric of that country’s morals.
Ms. Zille has doggedly pursued, with a one-track mind, the strategy of focusing nefarious attention on Zuma and the ANC as opposed to what the DA would do for the voters. She has even gone to the extent of threatening litigation against Zuma and his defense team and has demanded the resignation of the Chief of the NPA Professor Mokotedi Mpshe S.C.
About the Author
A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Vice President Biden Warns Israel Against Attacking Iran - Analysis
By Vusi Moloi © 2009
The United States Vice-President Mr. Joe Biden has warned the Jewish State of Israel against attacking Iran. In a clear departure from policy statements of previous US Administrations (criticized by some for bringing disrepute to the United States), Vice-President Biden sounded the warning in a concise statement “I think he (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) would be ill advised to do that”.
Vice-President Biden was responding to a question on national security on Tuesday by the CNN’s veteran Journalist and Host of The Situation Room Wolf Blitzer who con-anchored the show with Gloria Borger. In dissuading Israel from attacking Iran, Vice-President Biden added, “… my level of concern is no different from what it was a year ago.”
Wolf Blitzer’s line of questioning was motivated by an expressed concern that the new Israeli Government, under the hawkish Prime Minister Netanyahu and his key advisors was inexorably intent on striking Iran’s nuclear development facilities. For his part, Prime Minister Netanyahu had made it a cornerstone of his campaign message that he would order military strikes against Iran once voted into power. Mr. Netanyahu was inaugurated as the new Israeli Prime Minister last week.
Israel’s Nuclear Power
The incoming Prime Minister Netahanyu has characterized Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat to the Jewish state and has vowed never to tolerate a nuclear Iran even though Israel is a nuclear power in the region and has previously collaborated with apartheid South Africa in the Project Phenix in exchange for uranium (despite the United Nations Security Council Resolution 418) which resulted in the explosion of two nuclear bombs on the Antarctica on September 22 1979 near South Africa’s Prince Edward Island an event registered by the US satellite Vela 6911. South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Azis Pahad later confirmed the historic incident in his interview with the Jewish newspaper Haaretz twenty years later. The American Embassy in Pretoria also confirmed the event as well as the retired Central Intelligence Agency Chief Officer Mr. Tyler Drumheller who provides more details in his book On The Brink. Mr. Drumheller lived in South Africa in the 1980s.
Eisenhower Pioneered Iran’s Nuclear Program
The interesting thing is that the US Government of President Dwight Eisenhower pioneered Iran’s nuclear program after the President had delivered his historic speech at the United Nations on December 8 1953 when he spoke about Atoms for Peace which philosophically laid out a strategy for the peaceful use of nuclear technology. A nuclear agreement was signed between Iran and the US in 1957 towards this goal. Iran received a lot of assistance from the US and other European countries as a result. Iran fell out of favour with the US when the Shah, who had signed the nuclear agreements fled for exile on January 16 1979 and his loyalist forces were subdued on February 11 by the forces loyal to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who became the Supreme Leader of Iran under the new Iranian Revolution.
US Change of Strategic Direction
Prime Minister Netanyahu believes that a military strike against suspected facilities of Iran’s nuclear program would set it back by a number of years during which time other punitive actions against Iran would combine to deal a final death blow to the nuclear program. The problem with this approach is that the geo-political strategy may have changed and unless Prime Minister Netanyahu changes with it, he might find himself on a collision course against the steamroller of a new US policy. Should this be the case, then the words spoken by the former Secretary of State Dr. Condoleeza Rice last year about the permanence (or impermanence) of relations become a case in point.
The former Secretary of State Dr. Condoleeza Rice once made an astute observation “The United States believes there is no permanent enemies so it is possible for it to have better relations with countries like Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea”. She was in fact invoking the philosophical principle of a great British Prime Minister of Irish descent Lord Henry John Temple who once said “Therefore I say that it is a narrow policy to suppose that this country or that is to be marked out as the eternal ally or the perpetual enemy of England. We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.”
An indication of change of direction can be partially deduced from President Obama’s Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Professor Richard Holbrooke. Holbrooke has hired an internationally acclaimed Iranian nuclear expert Dr. Vali Nasr as part of his team. Another special advisor to Secretary of State Clinton on the Middle East Dennis Ross has hired an Iranian expert Dr. Ray Takeyh. This seemingly underscores the importance of amicably settling the question of Iran in a credible fashion.
An interesting fact is that the current Iranian nuclear project Busher is permitted under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to which Iran is a signatory (Israel is not) and the main concern of the US is that it should not be used for secret development of weapons. This precondition would not be too hard to satisfy should Iran decide to cooperate with the US. There are already signs of a change of direction from snippets when President Obama recently said that Iran must choose between nuclear weapons or nuclear power. This could possibly mean that if Iran guaranteed the non-military use of nuclear technology they would be allowed to go ahead with the nuclear program. Moreover, Iran has more to offer to the US than Israel in terms of natural resources. An alliance with Iran would not be an expense as is the case with Israel but rather a rich investment with many returns.
Could Obama be resuscitating President Eisenhower’s nuclear program with Iran? This may not be related but we know that one of the staunch supporters of President Obama’s election campaign was Suzan Eisenhower (granddaughter of President Eisenhower) and I recall her defending him in a very powerful way during Larry King Live on CNN last year. She absolutely adores President Obama and was one of his early adopters.
The Fundamentals of US-Israeli Relations
The fundamental equation of the relations between US and Israel is premised on a strategic alliance for purposes of advancing the strategic interests of the superior power USA in the Middle East in exchange for guaranteeing the security of Israel. From a business analysis point of view, Israel is an expense to the US given the billions of dollars it receives in foreign aid in lump sums each year from American taxpayers. Sometimes the US Treasury goes into deficit in order to write that big fat cheque to the Jewish state. The only benefit in return, is the surrogate role, which Israel plays in the Middle East on behalf of the US. The parameters of this role are rooted on the ground and not on the abstract. Should the pendulum of US interests change there is a risk that the new Government of Prime Minister Netanyahu might be out of step with the instantaneous changes on the ground effectively spelling its own demise. These things happen and they are a fact of life. Where is Yugoslavia of Slobodan Milošević? Where is Iraq of Saddam Hussein? Where is Czechoslovakia of Vaclav Have? The list is endless. It would be very hard for Israel to make a business case that justifies pursuing actions that are contrary to the interests of the USA unless the Jewish state decides to go it alone without US support.
Can Israel Go it Alone?
It’s inconceivable that the Jewish State could survive without the material support of the USA. Moreover, the timing is presently not right because the urgencies of the economic slowdown inside the US are forcing a review of relations and strategic directions. There was even an unusual case of a GM CEO Rick Wagoner being fired by President Obama. Who would have predicted? Wagoner didn’t see it coming. It would be impossible to go it alone considering that the whole design of the alliance between Israel and US is like an NGO project where a proposal is put forward and if the funder thinks it’s a worthy cause, money comes flowing like milk from a cow udder. What happens when the cow’s udder shuts down? One could be sucking from an udder of a dead cow without knowing it. What happens then (as per an NGO analogy) when the funder no longer thinks it’s a good cause?
Two State Solution
Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to do away with a two state solution, which was laid out in the Annapolis Conference on November 27, 2007 in Maryland. The consensus solution, as organized, architected and envisioned by a US Secretary of State Dr. Condoleeza Rice, calls for a real sovereign State of Palestine. The watered down version of the Two State Solution desired by Prime Minister Netanyahu and his key advisors removes sovereignty from the equation reducing the Palestinian State to an apartheid-era Bantustan homeland since the sovereign functions such as imports and others would be vested with the Jewish State.
Another legal problem facing Prime Netanyahu is that the Obama Administration expects the Jewish State to honour its legal obligations as ratified in the Annapolis Conference and President Obama has signaled his commitment in that direction. US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has told the Jewish state that it is in its best interest to accept a Two-State Solution. Already some Jewish observers are reading the writings on the wall whereby a clash of strongly held ideas between Israel and US could lead to the end of Israel as we know it. The Palestinians are the most brutally oppressed human beings on the planet and this may very well have reached a point of saturation with President Obama. He obviously believes that Dr. Condoleezza Rice fashioned a credible framework and wants to build on that.
Jewish Settlements in the West Bank
President Obama has indicated that he is not going to accept any further building of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land a position reinforced by US Secretary of State Clinton who has reminded the Jewish state of its international obligations. This puts Prime Minister Netanyahu on a collision course with the Obama Administration since Prime Minister Netanyahu is not averse to the expansion of Jewish settlements. It’s currently estimated that there are more than 500,000 illegal Jewish settlements on Palestinian land in violation of international law. Almost half of these are the direct result of taking land away from the poor Palestinians by the Jewish authorities in favour of the Jewish settlers. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has already made strong statements with respect to the Jewish state’s legal obligations.
Unilateral Military Action Against Iran
It would be difficult, if not impossible, to successfully carry out a military strike of this complex nature without the material and tactical support of the US. In fact President Bush flatly rejected the requests of the Jewish state to attack Iran last year because the US was not willing to provide refueling, airspace and the bunker busting weaponry according to a published report of the New York Times of January 11 2009. Without these three, Prime Minister Netanyahu would be creating a situation that might wind up causing an irreparable damage with respect to the relations between the two countries in which the Jewish state is a junior partner. Prime Minister Netanyahu has referred to the strident tirades of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as evidence that Iran posed an existential threat against the Jewish state. It’s of the essence to take a page from a warrior princess Dr. Condoleezza Rice. Interestingly, Dr. Condoleezza Rice once observed that they needed to take him [President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] at his word but watch his actions, in an interview with Journalist Glenn Beck. This implies that the US does not believe Iran poses a viable threat with its nuclear program hence Israeli’s request for assistance in attacking Iran was turned down, effectively nullifying any argument based on these strident tirades. Better reasons will have to be advanced in order to persuade the US authorities.
In fact the experts say that it was on the advice of the Defense Secretary Robert Gates that President Bush rejected the request from the Jewish state. This would explain why President Obama decided to keep Robert Gates because he is more familiar with the fluid dynamics and intricacies of the situation on the ground and maintains a good rapport with his commanders. Military commanders on the ground like the respected Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Glenn Mullen have already warned against attacking Iran saying it would further destabilize what is already an unstable region. It can be deduced from here that any strike against Iran is potentially hurtful to the US interests something the Obama Administration will not tolerate.
History Lessons
Risking a strategic alliance with the world’s superpower on the need to carry out a preemptive strike against some potential threat weakens the fundamentals of self-preservation and puts at peril the very survival whose objective it’s to safeguard. Since 1945 there have been many holocausts that have neither been addressed nor recompensed an observable fact that has the effect of chipping away at the core ingredients of compassion without which it’s impossible to facilitate the mobilization of strategic alliances in the first place. History is full of many such examples and to avoid another holocaust requires that people form alliances with others so that in the process of advancing other’s interests they are effectively advancing and strengthening their own survival interests.
Conclusion
As an African shepherd boy, I once caught a frog and put it inside ibhodo (a three legged African cast iron pot) and poured cold water in it. I then placed ibhodo on the fire. My reasonable expectation was that the frog would jump out once the water heated. To my amazement, the frog stayed there despite the rising temperatures. By the time everything was said and done, the frog had cooked in the African pot. I drew a harsh lesson from this experimental observation that the inability to detect small changes and act accordingly poses an existential threat against an organism. It’s prudent to put our ear to the ground and listen to the subtle changes and act accordingly.
About the Author
A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.
The United States Vice-President Mr. Joe Biden has warned the Jewish State of Israel against attacking Iran. In a clear departure from policy statements of previous US Administrations (criticized by some for bringing disrepute to the United States), Vice-President Biden sounded the warning in a concise statement “I think he (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) would be ill advised to do that”.
Vice-President Biden was responding to a question on national security on Tuesday by the CNN’s veteran Journalist and Host of The Situation Room Wolf Blitzer who con-anchored the show with Gloria Borger. In dissuading Israel from attacking Iran, Vice-President Biden added, “… my level of concern is no different from what it was a year ago.”
Wolf Blitzer’s line of questioning was motivated by an expressed concern that the new Israeli Government, under the hawkish Prime Minister Netanyahu and his key advisors was inexorably intent on striking Iran’s nuclear development facilities. For his part, Prime Minister Netanyahu had made it a cornerstone of his campaign message that he would order military strikes against Iran once voted into power. Mr. Netanyahu was inaugurated as the new Israeli Prime Minister last week.
Israel’s Nuclear Power
The incoming Prime Minister Netahanyu has characterized Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat to the Jewish state and has vowed never to tolerate a nuclear Iran even though Israel is a nuclear power in the region and has previously collaborated with apartheid South Africa in the Project Phenix in exchange for uranium (despite the United Nations Security Council Resolution 418) which resulted in the explosion of two nuclear bombs on the Antarctica on September 22 1979 near South Africa’s Prince Edward Island an event registered by the US satellite Vela 6911. South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Azis Pahad later confirmed the historic incident in his interview with the Jewish newspaper Haaretz twenty years later. The American Embassy in Pretoria also confirmed the event as well as the retired Central Intelligence Agency Chief Officer Mr. Tyler Drumheller who provides more details in his book On The Brink. Mr. Drumheller lived in South Africa in the 1980s.
Eisenhower Pioneered Iran’s Nuclear Program
The interesting thing is that the US Government of President Dwight Eisenhower pioneered Iran’s nuclear program after the President had delivered his historic speech at the United Nations on December 8 1953 when he spoke about Atoms for Peace which philosophically laid out a strategy for the peaceful use of nuclear technology. A nuclear agreement was signed between Iran and the US in 1957 towards this goal. Iran received a lot of assistance from the US and other European countries as a result. Iran fell out of favour with the US when the Shah, who had signed the nuclear agreements fled for exile on January 16 1979 and his loyalist forces were subdued on February 11 by the forces loyal to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who became the Supreme Leader of Iran under the new Iranian Revolution.
US Change of Strategic Direction
Prime Minister Netanyahu believes that a military strike against suspected facilities of Iran’s nuclear program would set it back by a number of years during which time other punitive actions against Iran would combine to deal a final death blow to the nuclear program. The problem with this approach is that the geo-political strategy may have changed and unless Prime Minister Netanyahu changes with it, he might find himself on a collision course against the steamroller of a new US policy. Should this be the case, then the words spoken by the former Secretary of State Dr. Condoleeza Rice last year about the permanence (or impermanence) of relations become a case in point.
The former Secretary of State Dr. Condoleeza Rice once made an astute observation “The United States believes there is no permanent enemies so it is possible for it to have better relations with countries like Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea”. She was in fact invoking the philosophical principle of a great British Prime Minister of Irish descent Lord Henry John Temple who once said “Therefore I say that it is a narrow policy to suppose that this country or that is to be marked out as the eternal ally or the perpetual enemy of England. We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.”
An indication of change of direction can be partially deduced from President Obama’s Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Professor Richard Holbrooke. Holbrooke has hired an internationally acclaimed Iranian nuclear expert Dr. Vali Nasr as part of his team. Another special advisor to Secretary of State Clinton on the Middle East Dennis Ross has hired an Iranian expert Dr. Ray Takeyh. This seemingly underscores the importance of amicably settling the question of Iran in a credible fashion.
An interesting fact is that the current Iranian nuclear project Busher is permitted under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to which Iran is a signatory (Israel is not) and the main concern of the US is that it should not be used for secret development of weapons. This precondition would not be too hard to satisfy should Iran decide to cooperate with the US. There are already signs of a change of direction from snippets when President Obama recently said that Iran must choose between nuclear weapons or nuclear power. This could possibly mean that if Iran guaranteed the non-military use of nuclear technology they would be allowed to go ahead with the nuclear program. Moreover, Iran has more to offer to the US than Israel in terms of natural resources. An alliance with Iran would not be an expense as is the case with Israel but rather a rich investment with many returns.
Could Obama be resuscitating President Eisenhower’s nuclear program with Iran? This may not be related but we know that one of the staunch supporters of President Obama’s election campaign was Suzan Eisenhower (granddaughter of President Eisenhower) and I recall her defending him in a very powerful way during Larry King Live on CNN last year. She absolutely adores President Obama and was one of his early adopters.
The Fundamentals of US-Israeli Relations
The fundamental equation of the relations between US and Israel is premised on a strategic alliance for purposes of advancing the strategic interests of the superior power USA in the Middle East in exchange for guaranteeing the security of Israel. From a business analysis point of view, Israel is an expense to the US given the billions of dollars it receives in foreign aid in lump sums each year from American taxpayers. Sometimes the US Treasury goes into deficit in order to write that big fat cheque to the Jewish state. The only benefit in return, is the surrogate role, which Israel plays in the Middle East on behalf of the US. The parameters of this role are rooted on the ground and not on the abstract. Should the pendulum of US interests change there is a risk that the new Government of Prime Minister Netanyahu might be out of step with the instantaneous changes on the ground effectively spelling its own demise. These things happen and they are a fact of life. Where is Yugoslavia of Slobodan Milošević? Where is Iraq of Saddam Hussein? Where is Czechoslovakia of Vaclav Have? The list is endless. It would be very hard for Israel to make a business case that justifies pursuing actions that are contrary to the interests of the USA unless the Jewish state decides to go it alone without US support.
Can Israel Go it Alone?
It’s inconceivable that the Jewish State could survive without the material support of the USA. Moreover, the timing is presently not right because the urgencies of the economic slowdown inside the US are forcing a review of relations and strategic directions. There was even an unusual case of a GM CEO Rick Wagoner being fired by President Obama. Who would have predicted? Wagoner didn’t see it coming. It would be impossible to go it alone considering that the whole design of the alliance between Israel and US is like an NGO project where a proposal is put forward and if the funder thinks it’s a worthy cause, money comes flowing like milk from a cow udder. What happens when the cow’s udder shuts down? One could be sucking from an udder of a dead cow without knowing it. What happens then (as per an NGO analogy) when the funder no longer thinks it’s a good cause?
Two State Solution
Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to do away with a two state solution, which was laid out in the Annapolis Conference on November 27, 2007 in Maryland. The consensus solution, as organized, architected and envisioned by a US Secretary of State Dr. Condoleeza Rice, calls for a real sovereign State of Palestine. The watered down version of the Two State Solution desired by Prime Minister Netanyahu and his key advisors removes sovereignty from the equation reducing the Palestinian State to an apartheid-era Bantustan homeland since the sovereign functions such as imports and others would be vested with the Jewish State.
Another legal problem facing Prime Netanyahu is that the Obama Administration expects the Jewish State to honour its legal obligations as ratified in the Annapolis Conference and President Obama has signaled his commitment in that direction. US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has told the Jewish state that it is in its best interest to accept a Two-State Solution. Already some Jewish observers are reading the writings on the wall whereby a clash of strongly held ideas between Israel and US could lead to the end of Israel as we know it. The Palestinians are the most brutally oppressed human beings on the planet and this may very well have reached a point of saturation with President Obama. He obviously believes that Dr. Condoleezza Rice fashioned a credible framework and wants to build on that.
Jewish Settlements in the West Bank
President Obama has indicated that he is not going to accept any further building of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land a position reinforced by US Secretary of State Clinton who has reminded the Jewish state of its international obligations. This puts Prime Minister Netanyahu on a collision course with the Obama Administration since Prime Minister Netanyahu is not averse to the expansion of Jewish settlements. It’s currently estimated that there are more than 500,000 illegal Jewish settlements on Palestinian land in violation of international law. Almost half of these are the direct result of taking land away from the poor Palestinians by the Jewish authorities in favour of the Jewish settlers. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has already made strong statements with respect to the Jewish state’s legal obligations.
Unilateral Military Action Against Iran
It would be difficult, if not impossible, to successfully carry out a military strike of this complex nature without the material and tactical support of the US. In fact President Bush flatly rejected the requests of the Jewish state to attack Iran last year because the US was not willing to provide refueling, airspace and the bunker busting weaponry according to a published report of the New York Times of January 11 2009. Without these three, Prime Minister Netanyahu would be creating a situation that might wind up causing an irreparable damage with respect to the relations between the two countries in which the Jewish state is a junior partner. Prime Minister Netanyahu has referred to the strident tirades of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as evidence that Iran posed an existential threat against the Jewish state. It’s of the essence to take a page from a warrior princess Dr. Condoleezza Rice. Interestingly, Dr. Condoleezza Rice once observed that they needed to take him [President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] at his word but watch his actions, in an interview with Journalist Glenn Beck. This implies that the US does not believe Iran poses a viable threat with its nuclear program hence Israeli’s request for assistance in attacking Iran was turned down, effectively nullifying any argument based on these strident tirades. Better reasons will have to be advanced in order to persuade the US authorities.
In fact the experts say that it was on the advice of the Defense Secretary Robert Gates that President Bush rejected the request from the Jewish state. This would explain why President Obama decided to keep Robert Gates because he is more familiar with the fluid dynamics and intricacies of the situation on the ground and maintains a good rapport with his commanders. Military commanders on the ground like the respected Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Glenn Mullen have already warned against attacking Iran saying it would further destabilize what is already an unstable region. It can be deduced from here that any strike against Iran is potentially hurtful to the US interests something the Obama Administration will not tolerate.
History Lessons
Risking a strategic alliance with the world’s superpower on the need to carry out a preemptive strike against some potential threat weakens the fundamentals of self-preservation and puts at peril the very survival whose objective it’s to safeguard. Since 1945 there have been many holocausts that have neither been addressed nor recompensed an observable fact that has the effect of chipping away at the core ingredients of compassion without which it’s impossible to facilitate the mobilization of strategic alliances in the first place. History is full of many such examples and to avoid another holocaust requires that people form alliances with others so that in the process of advancing other’s interests they are effectively advancing and strengthening their own survival interests.
Conclusion
As an African shepherd boy, I once caught a frog and put it inside ibhodo (a three legged African cast iron pot) and poured cold water in it. I then placed ibhodo on the fire. My reasonable expectation was that the frog would jump out once the water heated. To my amazement, the frog stayed there despite the rising temperatures. By the time everything was said and done, the frog had cooked in the African pot. I drew a harsh lesson from this experimental observation that the inability to detect small changes and act accordingly poses an existential threat against an organism. It’s prudent to put our ear to the ground and listen to the subtle changes and act accordingly.
About the Author
A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Address By ANC President Jacob Zuma After The Formal Withdrawal of Charges By The Durban High Court
By Jacob Zuma, 7 Apr 2009
The decision of the NPA to drop charges against the ANC President Mr. Jacob Zuma was ratified by the Durban High Court Yesterday in South Africa's Province of KwaZulu Natal. Shortly afterward, Mr. Zuma made his acceptance speech. Following is the transcript of the speech. A link to the ANC website appears at the end of this speech.
Today the Durban High Court withdrew the indictment against me following the decision of the National Prosecuting Authority not to prosecute.
This marks the end of a long and painful period. The investigation has brought untold pressure on the entire Zuma family especially my children and relatives.
We have been sustained throughout this by the unwavering support of comrades, friends and scores of well wishers nationally and internationally.
We thank all of them for believing in my innocence, my assertions of a political conspiracy and of being a victim of a systematic abuse of power.
I do not regard myself as being above the law and I believe that no public representative should be beyond scrutiny. That is why throughout the eight-year period, I did not use my position to interfere with the due process of the law.
I have always been ready to co-operate with the NPA and have presented myself in courts whenever needed.
My quarrel with the NPA was on the methods and the motives of the investigation. The probe was supported by a vicious media campaign designed to find me guilty in the court of public opinion.
In addition to routine media leaks, the infamous off the record briefing by the then National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka contravened the fundamental principle that individuals are innocent until or unless found guilty.
It is in this briefing where he showed his real motives and said he wants to try me in the court of public opinion and was asking the editors present to help him. This was the beginning of the abuse of power.
The actions of the NPA, which fuelled my view that there was more to the investigation than pure legal matters included the following amongst others:
(a.) The decision by Bulelani Ngcuka not to prosecute in 2003 saying the case was not winnable in court, but choosing to announce this publicly in order to leave a cloud of guilt, further confirmed what he had said in the off the record briefing. There was a clear agenda so that I should remain guilty forever.
There never was a case against me. We have now discovered that Ngcuka continued to manipulate and abuse the investigation process long after he resigned as head of the NPA. The agenda was clearly to improve the chances of his preferred candidate for leadership of the ANC, assisted by the head of the Directorate of Special Operations, Leonard McCarthy.
(b.) The subsequent decisions to prosecute by Vusi Pikoli and Mokotedi Mpshe. No reasons have ever been given as to why the decision of Ngcuka was reversed.
We are pleased that it is now finally clear why these decisions were taken. The reasons were political and manipulative.
(c.) I was alarmed by the failure by the then Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and that of the Head of the NPA to co-operate with the Public Protector in his investigations arising out of my complaint in 2003, that my rights had been violated by the NPA.
My assertion was confirmed by the Public Protector, but his report was subjected to ridicule by Bulelani Ngcuka and Penuell Maduna, and its recommendations were never acted upon.
Nobody defended the Public Protector. We will need to look into how we avoid this in future, as our Chapter 9 Constitutional institutions cannot be effective if they are not protected from abuse.
We were yet again shocked by the initiation and involvement of the NPA in the procurement of the Browse Mole document.
The document accuses me of a conspiracy which was a threat to "the sovereignty and integrity of the South African State".
It also made very serious unfounded allegations about the Angolan President His Excellency Eduardo Dos Santos and Libyan leader His Excellency Muammar Qaddafi.
We were also suspicious of the excessive use of monetary resources to drive the investigation both locally and abroad. Also alarming was the political nature of the meetings held by the NPA to discuss the ANC’s resolutions taken at its policy conference regarding its future and initiatives to counter such.
We were also startled by the fact that in 2005, the NPA instituted charges first, and then later raided my properties, former offices and those of my lawyers, an indication that they charged first and looked for evidence later. This was a sign of desperation and I had to seek relief from the courts to protect my rights.
Most importantly, we were concerned about the failure of Government to respond decisively to a series of recommendations by Parliament. We have always said that we believe our democratic institutions including Parliament are strong and sound, we still believe this to be the case.
However, something clearly needs to be done to make them more effective in their oversight role, to correct abuses and to protect human rights as enshrined in the Constitution. Also, we need to ensure that none of the institutions we create become so powerful that neither Parliament, the Executive nor the Judiciary can address their excesses and abuse of power and protect the public.
The issue of the Browse Mole report was a classic case of dirty tricks by the DSO.
Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence concluded that the Scorpions were involved in several illegal activities including intelligence gathering without a legal mandate.
The Committee made several recommendations which should have made analysts, media and monitoring groups realise that something was seriously wrong at the NPA.
These included amongst others the following:
· That the executive authority take appropriate action against the head of the DSO, Mr McCarthy and all the officials who were involved in the production of the Browse Mole Report;
· That Government must conduct a comprehensive review of the DSO, giving urgent attention to the manner in which the DSO is currently operating.
All said and done, let me emphasise that my conscience is clear. I have not committed any crime against the State or the people of South Africa. I had no difficulty with responding to the charges as I knew they were baseless. I sought legal remedies in the courts simply because I felt my rights were being violated for reasons that appeared very suspicious. And I have clearly been vindicated.
WAY FORWARD
The conclusion of this divisive and painful episode provides lessons for us in many ways. The parliamentary oversight role needs to be strengthened. When Parliament or any of our Chapter 9 institutions recommend certain actions to protect individuals whose rights are being violated, it is a travesty of justice for that to be totally ignored by the Executive.
In the task we have set ourselves to transform our criminal justice system; we have to promote and reinforce the independence of our law enforcement agencies and the judiciary.
We are noticing a worrying new trend of political parties that want to interfere with the work of our law enforcement agencies in a desperate bid to win votes for the coming election. They are playing a mischievous game. The NPA needs to be allowed a period of healing and refocusing.
We must clearly strive for a public service in which officials serve the people and not individuals with ulterior motives no matter how powerful they are.
The NPA decision and reasons given also reaffirmed portions of the Nicholson judgement without any shadow of doubt. The NPA itself admitted that there was manipulation and abuse of power
It must be emphasised that this debacle has confirmed that our democracy is strong and our people are very mature politically. Over an eight-year period, our country proved that disagreements can be managed legally and politically and this matter did not spark off violence despite generating intense emotions. There can be no doubt that peace and stability are a certainty at all times in our country, even when we have intense political disagreements.
We also need to develop vigilance and inculcate a culture of promoting adherence to human rights regardless of who the victim is. We have found that some media institutions and certain think tanks became willing and active participants in the conspiracy, simply because they disliked the individual being targeted.
That is regrettable as the fourth estate should actually assist us to expose abuses of power. Our country has gone through a very painful and divisive period, and it is a time for healing and unity.
I would not wish for any South African to go through what I went through over the last eight years. Retribution will not take us anywhere. Now is the time for us to focus on improving people’s lives. We want to put this episode behind us and focus on our priorities; education, health, rural development, the fight against crime and creating decent jobs despite the global economic meltdown.
Most importantly, all citizens must remain vigilant against any abuse of power. We can prevent it if we work together. Let me take this opportunity to thank the ANC and the Alliance, my legal team for their sterling work, religious and traditional leaders and ordinary South Africans who supported me throughout this ordeal. They all demonstrated that they were and are defenders and guarantors of our democracy.
They have been vindicated by the NPA statement that:”In the light of the above, I have come to the difficult conclusion that it is neither possible nor desirable for the NPA to continue with the prosecution of Mr Zuma’’.
I thank you
Visit The ANC Website For Learn More
The decision of the NPA to drop charges against the ANC President Mr. Jacob Zuma was ratified by the Durban High Court Yesterday in South Africa's Province of KwaZulu Natal. Shortly afterward, Mr. Zuma made his acceptance speech. Following is the transcript of the speech. A link to the ANC website appears at the end of this speech.
Today the Durban High Court withdrew the indictment against me following the decision of the National Prosecuting Authority not to prosecute.
This marks the end of a long and painful period. The investigation has brought untold pressure on the entire Zuma family especially my children and relatives.
We have been sustained throughout this by the unwavering support of comrades, friends and scores of well wishers nationally and internationally.
We thank all of them for believing in my innocence, my assertions of a political conspiracy and of being a victim of a systematic abuse of power.
I do not regard myself as being above the law and I believe that no public representative should be beyond scrutiny. That is why throughout the eight-year period, I did not use my position to interfere with the due process of the law.
I have always been ready to co-operate with the NPA and have presented myself in courts whenever needed.
My quarrel with the NPA was on the methods and the motives of the investigation. The probe was supported by a vicious media campaign designed to find me guilty in the court of public opinion.
In addition to routine media leaks, the infamous off the record briefing by the then National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka contravened the fundamental principle that individuals are innocent until or unless found guilty.
It is in this briefing where he showed his real motives and said he wants to try me in the court of public opinion and was asking the editors present to help him. This was the beginning of the abuse of power.
The actions of the NPA, which fuelled my view that there was more to the investigation than pure legal matters included the following amongst others:
(a.) The decision by Bulelani Ngcuka not to prosecute in 2003 saying the case was not winnable in court, but choosing to announce this publicly in order to leave a cloud of guilt, further confirmed what he had said in the off the record briefing. There was a clear agenda so that I should remain guilty forever.
There never was a case against me. We have now discovered that Ngcuka continued to manipulate and abuse the investigation process long after he resigned as head of the NPA. The agenda was clearly to improve the chances of his preferred candidate for leadership of the ANC, assisted by the head of the Directorate of Special Operations, Leonard McCarthy.
(b.) The subsequent decisions to prosecute by Vusi Pikoli and Mokotedi Mpshe. No reasons have ever been given as to why the decision of Ngcuka was reversed.
We are pleased that it is now finally clear why these decisions were taken. The reasons were political and manipulative.
(c.) I was alarmed by the failure by the then Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and that of the Head of the NPA to co-operate with the Public Protector in his investigations arising out of my complaint in 2003, that my rights had been violated by the NPA.
My assertion was confirmed by the Public Protector, but his report was subjected to ridicule by Bulelani Ngcuka and Penuell Maduna, and its recommendations were never acted upon.
Nobody defended the Public Protector. We will need to look into how we avoid this in future, as our Chapter 9 Constitutional institutions cannot be effective if they are not protected from abuse.
We were yet again shocked by the initiation and involvement of the NPA in the procurement of the Browse Mole document.
The document accuses me of a conspiracy which was a threat to "the sovereignty and integrity of the South African State".
It also made very serious unfounded allegations about the Angolan President His Excellency Eduardo Dos Santos and Libyan leader His Excellency Muammar Qaddafi.
We were also suspicious of the excessive use of monetary resources to drive the investigation both locally and abroad. Also alarming was the political nature of the meetings held by the NPA to discuss the ANC’s resolutions taken at its policy conference regarding its future and initiatives to counter such.
We were also startled by the fact that in 2005, the NPA instituted charges first, and then later raided my properties, former offices and those of my lawyers, an indication that they charged first and looked for evidence later. This was a sign of desperation and I had to seek relief from the courts to protect my rights.
Most importantly, we were concerned about the failure of Government to respond decisively to a series of recommendations by Parliament. We have always said that we believe our democratic institutions including Parliament are strong and sound, we still believe this to be the case.
However, something clearly needs to be done to make them more effective in their oversight role, to correct abuses and to protect human rights as enshrined in the Constitution. Also, we need to ensure that none of the institutions we create become so powerful that neither Parliament, the Executive nor the Judiciary can address their excesses and abuse of power and protect the public.
The issue of the Browse Mole report was a classic case of dirty tricks by the DSO.
Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence concluded that the Scorpions were involved in several illegal activities including intelligence gathering without a legal mandate.
The Committee made several recommendations which should have made analysts, media and monitoring groups realise that something was seriously wrong at the NPA.
These included amongst others the following:
· That the executive authority take appropriate action against the head of the DSO, Mr McCarthy and all the officials who were involved in the production of the Browse Mole Report;
· That Government must conduct a comprehensive review of the DSO, giving urgent attention to the manner in which the DSO is currently operating.
All said and done, let me emphasise that my conscience is clear. I have not committed any crime against the State or the people of South Africa. I had no difficulty with responding to the charges as I knew they were baseless. I sought legal remedies in the courts simply because I felt my rights were being violated for reasons that appeared very suspicious. And I have clearly been vindicated.
WAY FORWARD
The conclusion of this divisive and painful episode provides lessons for us in many ways. The parliamentary oversight role needs to be strengthened. When Parliament or any of our Chapter 9 institutions recommend certain actions to protect individuals whose rights are being violated, it is a travesty of justice for that to be totally ignored by the Executive.
In the task we have set ourselves to transform our criminal justice system; we have to promote and reinforce the independence of our law enforcement agencies and the judiciary.
We are noticing a worrying new trend of political parties that want to interfere with the work of our law enforcement agencies in a desperate bid to win votes for the coming election. They are playing a mischievous game. The NPA needs to be allowed a period of healing and refocusing.
We must clearly strive for a public service in which officials serve the people and not individuals with ulterior motives no matter how powerful they are.
The NPA decision and reasons given also reaffirmed portions of the Nicholson judgement without any shadow of doubt. The NPA itself admitted that there was manipulation and abuse of power
It must be emphasised that this debacle has confirmed that our democracy is strong and our people are very mature politically. Over an eight-year period, our country proved that disagreements can be managed legally and politically and this matter did not spark off violence despite generating intense emotions. There can be no doubt that peace and stability are a certainty at all times in our country, even when we have intense political disagreements.
We also need to develop vigilance and inculcate a culture of promoting adherence to human rights regardless of who the victim is. We have found that some media institutions and certain think tanks became willing and active participants in the conspiracy, simply because they disliked the individual being targeted.
That is regrettable as the fourth estate should actually assist us to expose abuses of power. Our country has gone through a very painful and divisive period, and it is a time for healing and unity.
I would not wish for any South African to go through what I went through over the last eight years. Retribution will not take us anywhere. Now is the time for us to focus on improving people’s lives. We want to put this episode behind us and focus on our priorities; education, health, rural development, the fight against crime and creating decent jobs despite the global economic meltdown.
Most importantly, all citizens must remain vigilant against any abuse of power. We can prevent it if we work together. Let me take this opportunity to thank the ANC and the Alliance, my legal team for their sterling work, religious and traditional leaders and ordinary South Africans who supported me throughout this ordeal. They all demonstrated that they were and are defenders and guarantors of our democracy.
They have been vindicated by the NPA statement that:”In the light of the above, I have come to the difficult conclusion that it is neither possible nor desirable for the NPA to continue with the prosecution of Mr Zuma’’.
I thank you
Visit The ANC Website For Learn More
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)