Reports that students have been prohibited from speaking Afrikaans – even in private conversations – at the University of Stellenbosch – are deeply disturbing. They are the latest development in the sorry decline of the language at South Africa’s oldest (and once-upon-a-time) Afrikaans university.
South Africa’s former president during apartheid calls for the pandemic to be a turning point in strengthening the rule of law and empowering survivors.
Our history mirrors the troubled histories of many other countries in North and South America and Australasia that were ‘discovered’ and settled by Europeans between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The indigenous populations were conquered, some were enslaved and nearly all lost their ancestral lands. As Chief Red Cloud of the Sioux observed: “They made us many promises, but they kept only one: they promised to take our land – and they did.” Some indigenous people died resisting the invaders – but many, many more succumbed to the settlers’ diseases – perhaps as many as 90% of the population of South and Central America.
It is crucial that racist and hurtful non-inclusive behaviour anywhere in South Africa should be addressed with firmly and effectively. Equally critical is a unified and unambiguous condemnation by all South Africans – including government – of racist threats and instigation of violence as such actions have the potential of provoking racial conflict that would cause immense harm to South Africa – we have seen this in Senekal and, more recently, Brackenfell.
After his election as national President in 2018, Ramaphosa showed that he was serious about combating corruption by strengthening and supporting key institutions – including the National Prosecuting Authority and the Zondo Commission – that were investigating corrupt practices and state capture. These steps finally bore fruit on 10 November, when the NPA issued an arrest warrant for Magashule on 21 charges of fraud and corruption – associated with the so-called Free State asbestos affair which involved irregular contracts to the value of R255 million.
The EFF obtained a permit for a demonstration by 100 people. In the event, an estimated 2 000 of its supporters descended on the suburb. Hardly any of the protesters wore masks and far exceeded the 500 permitted at outdoor meetings under COVID19 regulations. According to the SAHRC some protesters were carrying golf clubs, axes and stones. They caused serious damage to the Brackenfell Post Office, to traffic lights and roads and to a car dealership. They burned a fire engine and set fire to grass.
Last Friday both Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investor Services downgraded South Africa’s sovereign risk rating by a further notch each, pushing the country yet further into junk status. South Africa is now at ‘its lowest credit rating levels…since 1994’, said the Treasury in its reaction.
On a different level, however, one cannot but be astounded by the severity of the effects of the anti-virus measures. Disruption was the order of the day in, among many other instances, the operation of virtually all organs of state, ranging from Parliament, the courts and the public service, to public education, police services and the military. No doubt it can be expected that this pandemic will, as other plagues and epidemics in the past, eventually peter out – until the next one occurs.
The National Prosecuting authority (NPA) has been at the heart of SA politics for many years, playing a central role in the saga of corruption. Control of the NPA was a prime objective of the Mbeki, Motlanthe and Zuma presidencies – because controlling the NPA determines who should – and who shouldn’t – be prosecuted.
