ZA Government accuses US of plotting regime change in ZA

[qed]

A short while ago, Gwede Mantashe, secretary general of the ruling African National Congress, accused the US of holding daily meetings in its South African Embassy with the aim of advancing regime change in South Africa. While I have only heard the first radio report, details are breaking in the press at the moment.

Mantashe calls on South Africans to defend the revolution
ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe called on South Africans to defend their revolution while addressing approximately 87 000 supporters at the party's march for "unity, democracy and non-racialism" in Pretoria on Friday.

Mantashe said that when people talked about the ANC, it was not about Zuma, but about the revolution.

"We must defend the revolution and defend every attack on the ANC structures," Mantashe said.

He said that an attack on President Jacob Zuma was also an attack on the ANC.

According to Mantashe, "any advice from your enemy is not advice". He urged ANC members to never take any advice from their enemies.

"We are a majority, we should be able to take decisions and enforce them," Mantashe said.

He said that the march was not a protest, but rather a positive initiative for a united society.

Mantashe also accused the US Embassy of meeting daily to advance regime change in South Africa.

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http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics...ls-on-South-Africans-to-defend-the-revolution

While I find the accusations hard to believe, given the diplomatic storm that is about to break in South Africa, I assume the South African government has evidence.

• I simply ask that we keep an eye on this one.

 

[deirdre]

bold mine

American Ambassador Patrick Gaspard has hit back at the claims, saying that people shouldn't blame others for their own challenges.

Mantashe made the claims against the US while speaking to ANC members during today's march.

“We are aware of the programme that takes young people to the United States for six weeks then bring them back and plant them everywhere in the campuses.”

But Gaspard appeared to mock the claims, saying Mantashe should be aware of the programme because he personally invited him to recommend young ANC leaders for it. http://ewn.co.za/2016/02/19/Mantashe-accuses-Americans-of-mobilising-opposition-to-the-ANC

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is this the 'evidence'?

 

[qed]

I was about to post that too.

 

[MikeG]

It's not uncommon to use the United States as a straw man (or bugbear, or whatever) to generate popular support.

I thought Mantashe's claim from the same article was interesting [bold mine]

JOHANNESBURG – African National Congress (ANC) Secretary General Gwede Mantashe has used today's anti-racism march to claim that he is aware of meetings at the US embassy designed to mobilise opposition to the party and plant the seeds of anarchy.

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The United States has deliberately destabilized nations in the past, but I can't imagine any reasonable person believing that we want that in South Africa.

I am curious about that six-week program.

 

[deirdre]

I am curious about that six-week program.

this came up when i googled 6 weeks

The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders brings 500 dynamic young African leaders, ages 25-35, from across the continent to the United States for 6 weeks of leadership training and mentoring at twenty U.S. universities and colleges in three areas: business and entrepreneurship, civic engagement and public administration. https://youngafricanleaders.state.gov/yali-africa/

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[Hevach]

The United States has deliberately destabilized nations in the past, but I can't imagine any reasonable person believing that we want that in South Africa.

There are still people alive who remember when US policy regarding South Africa was that the certainty of Apartheid was better than the risk that a change may open the door for communism. It's a specter that's probably going to hang over every country that was ever even peripherally a pawn in some offshoot of the Truman Doctrine.

 

[SR1419]

this came up when i googled 6 weeks

This sounds like a fairly standard "empowerment" type program designed to foster civic involvement and democratic principals that are run by numerous NGOs across the World but often funded in part by the US State department (USAID). This is the same type of stuff that was brought up in the Ukraine (when Nuland mentioned "billions" spent in Ukraine) and is cast as being subterfuge by some people in the countries in question. Teach them how to run a business and organize civic groups and they are bound to overthrow you...or so goes the reasoning.

 

[MikeG]

There are still people alive who remember when US policy regarding South Africa was that the certainty of Apartheid was better than the risk that a change may open the door for communism. It's a specter that's probably going to hang over every country that was ever even peripherally a pawn in some offshoot of the Truman Doctrine.

Agreed. We are going to be living down past actions for a very long time, particularly where we chose stability and pro-American/anti-Communism over better, more risky options.

It is a shame that kind of reflexive, anti-American still has traction and probably will be so for the foreseeable future.

It's interesting though to see how much of it persists because of history and how much of it involves myth. That might be worth some debunking at some point.

 

[qed]

US embassy fuelling regime change – Gwede

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe set off a social media frenzy yesterday when he charged that clandestine meetings, promoting regime change in South Africa, were being held regularly at the US embassy in Pretoria.

“As we mobilise our people, we must say, be vigilant. You must see through anarchy and people who are out there in a programme of regime change. We are aware of the meetings taking place regularly at the American embassy,” Mantashe told tens of thousands of ANC supporters at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

“Those meetings in the embassy are about nothing else other than mobilisation for regime change.

We’re aware of a programme that takes young people to the United States for six weeks, brings them back and plants them everywhere in the campuses and everywhere.”

Mantashe said “regime change elements” which gripped countries like Libya and Egypt had crept into South Africa.

“Anarchists” had been given “so much rights” here that they were “making our Parliament a joke”.

“Democracy is about us exercising our right of being the majority party. It can’t be that every time we take a decision in the legislature, it must go to the judiciary for ratification. I’m not attacking the judiciary, but we are the majority,” Mantashe declared, adding that the ANC had the right to make decisions and enforce them.

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http://www.iol.co.za/weekend-argus/us-embassy-fuelling-regime-change--gwede-1987357

 

[qed]

US coup threat not a joke, says ANC
Cape Town - ANC leaders say they will formally raise concerns with the US over meetings at the American embassy in Pretoria they claim were aimed at promoting regime change in South Africa.

“We will elevate this matter to a formal level,” ANC spokesman Keith Khoza said on Saturday.

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http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/us-coup-threat-not-a-joke-says-anc-1987531

 

[qed]

this came up when i googled 6 weeks

The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders brings 500 dynamic young African leaders, ages 25-35, from across the continent to the United States for 6 weeks of leadership training and mentoring at twenty U.S. universities and colleges in three areas: business and entrepreneurship, civic engagement and public administration. https://youngafricanleaders.state.gov/yali-africa/

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This following is most likely the evidence/"evidence" against YALI (Young African Leadership Initiative)

Young African Leadership Initiative asks ANC to recall Zuma for 'betraying SA and party'

The announcement by President Jacob Zuma to replace the finance minister has recklessly endangered the South African economy. This decision can only be described as a disaster. As representatives of a young professional generation, passionate about building a better South Africa, we call on the ANC to recall the President for the betrayal of the people of South Africa.

This betrayal will be experienced differently by the rich, the middle class, and the poor; but it will negatively impact everyone. From declines in social services to sky-rocketing interest rates, life in South Africa has just become tougher.

...

The decision to remove Minister Nene and replace him with an inexperienced, failed, back-bencher is a betrayal of the South African people. We, as a diverse group of young South Africans, call on President Zuma to step down or be recalled or impeached by the ANC.

This is a call to the senior leadership that is left within the ANC to act, your silence is breaking South African hearts. To stand on the sidelines is to be complicit in the destruction of what so many have fought to build. Please act; South Africa’s children are watching.

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http://www.timeslive.co.za/ilive/20...-recall-Zuma-for-betraying-SA-and-party-iLIVE

 

[qed]

Op-Ed: Fear & Loathing, 2016 edition


On Friday the ANC's Secretary General claimed in front of tens of thousands of ANC supporters that "We are aware of the meetings that are taking place in the American embassy regularly. Those meetings that are taking place at the American embassy regularly are about nothing else than mobilisation for regime change. We are aware of the programme that takes young people to the United States, keep them there for six weeks, bring them back, and plants them everywhere in the campuses and everywhere. It is our responsibility to mobilise our people to be vigilant."

.............


The "six-week" programme that Mantashe is referring to is the Mandela Washington Fellowship.
........
two of the people who were on last year's class have said Mantashe's claims are wrong. Lee du Preez runs a business programme in Pietermaritzburg. He told EWN on Friday afternoon that "Any government who is not fulfilling the needs of their population is going to feel inadequate when another government does something that is for the betterment of their own people".
.................

Pearl Pillay is another recent alumnus of the programme. She is also, proudly, a member of the ANC, and someone who says she is "part of the movement". She says that it would be silly to presume that a government taking the citizens of another country on a programme like this would not have any agenda at all. But "to suggest the programme is to sow the seeds of anarchy is, I think, a bit extreme".

.............................

Considering that one of the major factors in this year's polls is going to be turn-out, and the ANC's problem that people who previously turned out to vote for it may now stay at home, we may be getting closer to an explanation for Mantashe's comments, and the ANC's recent behaviour. This is all designed to drive up turn-out.

In other words, it's election time. And the ANC is scared.

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http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2016-02-21-op-ed-fear-loathing-2016-edition/#.Vsryil7Srb0

 

[MikeG]

This leads to questions about what it is that the ANC really fears. Why is Mantashe, and others, behaving in this way? Part of the reason behind Mantashe's reckless statements could be a simple attempt at deflection. He has to get the news agenda away from Nkandla and Zuma. These statements have certainly done that.

But the accusations as wild as these also smack of desperation. They smack of a possible agenda of getting our politics back to race, and away from the quality of governance, corruption, hope, and other politics of class.

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Great article.

 

[Jeremy]

It's understandable that they're wary of such things.

Zuma hasn't done much to help himself, though.

 

[Northern-nosypants]

Zuma hasn't done much to help himself, though.[/QUOTE]

As a child of immigrants from the region I have been watching South African politics with alarm. Since the revolution in the late Twentieth Century the ANC has been exploiting thier political legacy for material gain. Many citizens are concerned about Zuma's corruption and everyone is dissapointed (unrealistically) with the lack of economic change. As for the Presidents opinions he has some wild ideas about the AIDs problem too.

 

[Northern-nosypants]

The papers report today that a high court in South Africa has cleared the way for impeachment of the president. The issue was the use of public money for renovations to a private(?) home. later on TV I saw a report that Zuma was offering to repay 23 million rand.

mod add: reference

He said he would abide by a court ruling that he must repay government money spent on upgrading his rural home with a swimming pool and amphitheatre.

The case was brought by the opposition, which urged him to stand down.

The public protector, an anti-corruption body, ruled in 2014 that $23m (£15m) of public money had been improperly spent on Mr Zuma's rural home in Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal province, and ordered him to reimburse part of the expense.

In Thursday's unanimous judgement, the Constitutional Court ruled that Mr Zuma's failure to repay the money violated the constitution.

In his live address on Friday, Mr Zuma said: "I respect the judgement and will abide by it." http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35943941

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