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. 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.
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] 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.
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.
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.
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.
This following is most likely the evidence/"evidence" against YALI (Young African Leadership Initiative) http://www.timeslive.co.za/ilive/20...-recall-Zuma-for-betraying-SA-and-party-iLIVE
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.
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
