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STATEMENT: THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE RELEASE FROM PRISON OF NELSON MANDELA

2020-02-11

The release of Nelson Mandela from prison 30 years ago was the first momentous consequence of the announcements made by President FW de Klerk in Parliament nine days earlier.  As Mr De Klerk observed in his autobiography: as he watched Nelson Mandela walking through the gates of Victor Verster Prison, he was struck by an inescapable truth: “…an irreversible process had begun and nobody could predict precisely how it would end.”  

Now 30 years later we can answer part of that question:  

  • the constitutional democracy that FW de Klerk and Nelson Mandela took the lead in negotiating during the following six years is still intact; 
  • South African has rejoined the international community;
  • it has rid itself of the albatross of minority racial domination;
  • all South Africans enjoy nominal equality;
  • the new multi-racial middle class has flourished.
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STATEMENT: 2020 FW DE KLERK GOODWILL AWARD

2020-02-04

mbeki goodwill

The  Board of Trustees of the FW de Klerk Foundation awarded the 2020 FW de Klerk Goodwill Award to Mr Moeletsi Mbeki. 

The FW de Klerk Goodwill Award was established in 2010 to give recognition to individuals and organisations that have made extraordinary contributions to the promotion of goodwill between South Africans. Past winners include Pieter-Dirk Uys (2012), Studietrust (2013), Patrice Motsepe (2014), Afrika Tikkun (2015), Adv Thuli Madonsela and the Office of the Public Protector (2016), the coach and athlete team of Mrs Anna (Ans) Botha and Mr Wayde van Niekerk (2017), and Gift of the Givers (2018).

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ARTICLE: THE ROAD TO 2 FEBRUARY 1990

2020-02-02

The road to 2 February 1990 can be traced back to the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910.  

In 1909 Britain decided to establish a union of its principal colonies in southern Africa along the lines of the successful federations that it had set up in Australia and Canada.  The difference was that in the other dominions the white populations greatly outnumbered the indigenous peoples – while in South Africa they comprised less than 25% of the total population. 

Nevertheless, in keeping with the colonial approach of the times, Britain gave white South Africans a monopoly of power in the newly established Union. It was an arrangement that, in a rapidly changing world, would eventually prove to be untenable.

For the next 40 years South Africa developed along the lines of the other Commonwealth dominions.  Until the mid-fifties, in a continent that was still dominated by European powers, white minority rule in South Africa seemed unexceptional.  In a world in which racial discrimination was still shockingly the rule, South Africa’s segregation policies elicited little criticism. 

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SPEECH: HOPE FOR THE FUTURE: ACHIEVING THE VISION IN THE CONSTITUTION

2020-01-31

Last year the Wall Street Journal wrote that South Africa was at a crossroads, in 2018 the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement was too titled ‘South Africa at a Crossroads’, stressing the difficult economic and fiscal choices confronting the government, and in 2017 South Africa was once again at a crossroads according to a discussion held at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. No doubt an expert in something, somewhere, was saying we are at a crossroads the year before that, and again another ten years before that.

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SPEECH: 30 YEARS AFTER 2 FEBRUARY 1990

2020-01-31

As the tide of imperialism ebbed from Africa, South Africa found itself floundering in the last pool of white rule.  We were glaringly out of step with the new international norms of non-discrimination, equality and self-determination that had been articulated in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.As the tide of imperialism ebbed from Africa, South Africa found itself floundering in the last pool of white rule.  We were glaringly out of step with the new international norms of non-discrimination, equality and self-determination that had been articulated in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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ARTICLE: IT’S STILL TOO EARLY TO SAY THAT IT’S GAME OVER FOR PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA

2020-01-23

2020 opt

In a recent article, I wrote about five trends that will characterise 2020. These five are:

  • Greater centralisation and State control by the ANC government on the actions of South Africans;
  • Better investigations, charges and prosecutions by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Hawks.
  • The gradual but definite erosion of government institutions’ ability to govern, manage, maintain and provide basic services;
  • The ongoing infighting within the ANC and its alliance partners (and accompanying attacks on President Ramaphosa); and
  • The stagnant economy (with the possibility of a downgrade lurking).

In the past week, the focus of the media and citizens has specificially been on the infighting in the ANC (no. 4 above), which was influenced and even driven by Eskom’s problems (no. 3 above). 

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