SOUTH AFRICA'S LEADERSHIP – FROM BRAVADO TO BOTCHED

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Dec 22

Blundering at home, ANC government blunders abroad as it flounders into Gaza conflict

By Kenneth Moeng Mokgatlhe

The African National Congress (ANC) has been able to secure a victory in every national election the country has had since 1994 due to its reputation for having fought against minority rule, and apartheid regime. There is no doubt that South Africans have been mandating the ANC to govern based on its struggle credentials rather than its ability to deliver on its promise to bring about a "better life".

However, the ANC has failed dismally to remodel itself from being a broader liberation movement to being a modern political formation. The party is living in the past. They seemingly are still hoping to restore and keep their historical cold-war era ties with their "like-minded" organisations or countries. We are seeing their cozying up to both Russia and Hamas.

Floundering in Foreign Affairs. Seen here is Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sergei Lavrov meeting with his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor in Pretoria in January 2023. South Africa unleashed a storm of criticism in 2022 in response to its draft UN General Assembly resolution on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, which failed to mention Russia's responsibility for the crisis. It displays even worse confusion in its support for Hamas following the terrorist groups' massacre of Jews on October 7 in southern Israel.(Photo PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES)

The ANC is a resistance movement that is still trapped and stuck in the past and wants to destroy those who don't agree with them. They believe that their revolutionary antics and empty political rhetoric will help them secure more votes by continuing to attack the State of Israel. It is a diversion tactic that is easier than doing what they have failed to do, that is to focus on more than 18.2 million people who are living under horrible circumstances without food to eat.

Criticising Israel is proving easier than dealing with the stark reality that our country faces. We have one of the highest murders in the world, with more than 1,786 people killed daily. We have more than 7.9 million young people who are actively looking for jobs without success. We have a situation wherein literally half of the population depends on state-sponsored social grants. This is a horrible situation to be in.

The economy is at its knees due to corruption in the public service and the government's public institutions, such as the health and education system, transport and infrastructure have collapsed. There is a power crisis and many people are unable to access drinking water. Unsurprisingly, we are seeing many investors leaving or threatening to leave our country to invest in other destinations. Yet. we are so preoccupied with issues that are not going to change our economic fate or fortunes. The ANC-led government's castigation of Israel is not going to solve our country's problems. Nor, by welcoming Hamas into our country, will they solve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Bias instead of Balance. Adorning a Palestinian keffiyeh, it is no surprise the South African president, Cyril Ramaposa has thrown away any chance of South Africa playing a mediating role in the Israel-Palestine conflict.

If South Africa wanted to create a conducive atmosphere for dialogue between warring parties and be at the table like Qatar, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, they should have tried to resolve this political hot-potato, by bringing the warring parties to the negotiation table.

But it doesn't. It would rather pay lip service to being an upholder of human rights. But even by its low standards, it falls short on this, too. They have let Zimbabwe down by supporting the authoritarian ZANU-PF, allowing human rights abuse in that country. It is no wonder that we continue to see increased levels of emmigration from South Africa.

To show the ANC's hypocrisy further, there is an unprecedented catastrophe that the ANC and other main political actors in Africa have been ignoring in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) which is far worse than what we are seeing between Hamas and Israel conflict. It is difficult to determine the reasons for the ANC's lack of interest in the DRC matter which has existed for decades. The suspicion I have is that the DRC conflict doesn't attract the kind of media that you see for the Israel-Gaza or Ukraine-Russia conflict.

Cozying up to Killers. South Africa has no qualms about openly welcoming and supporting vicious terrorism groups as seen here in 2015 when a Hamas delegation led by Khaled Mashaal (seen here addressing a meeting in South Africa) which also included Mashaal's deputy Moussa Abu Marzouk, was welcomed at the airport by the ANC's deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte.

Logically, we should be helping realise Africa's dream of silencing the gun and working towards peace on the continent. The political and military crisis in many African states directly affects South Africa and its people. We have Congolese refugees who have been in South Africa for many decades. Yet, the ANC, which claims to fight for human rights for the vulnerable, has neglected Congolese refugees who have not been adopted as citizens of this country despite the ever-worsening war situation in the DRC. These Congolese who have come to be part of the country's diverse community are struggling to make ends meet because many of them do not have proper documents to help allow them to work or contribute towards the economy. Instead, we see them being killed or injured during the regular waves of xenophobic attacks that have been occurring since 2018.

South African ANC government fails to deal with Xenophobic Violence Against Non-Nationals

If the government had to prioritise a conflict, the one in the DRC should be it. However, the government doesn't seem bothered by the plight of Congolese in this country. Nor do they seem interested in playing a role to help ensure stability in the DRC.

It is therefore absurd for the ANC to take a side in the Middle East war, which has historical, political, and religious complexities that they do not even understand when they are unable to help fellow Africans.

Mandela would be Appalled. Having time to advise other countries abroad, South Africa fails abysmally at home. A local teacher from a nursery school in Johannesburg got her class of kids to paint signs calling for the unification and end to xenophobic violence. [Photo. Ihsaan Haffejee/Al Jazeera]

The most our government can hope to achieve in foreign conflicts is to encourage both sides to peacefully address their differences and put pressure on both sides. Our non-aligned policy is selectively applied. It doesn't seem to apply in the Israel-Gaza and Ukraine-Russia conflicts.

Yet, for all its grandstanding on these two conflicts and for all the deflection they hope to achieve, and the media they court, none of it will help save the dire situation that Ordinary South Africans see through it.

About the writer:

Kenneth Moeng Mokgatlhe is a columnist and political writer based at Ben Gurion University where he is doing his Master of Arts in African Studies..

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