Free Republic

South Africa — The First Country Built on “Critical Race Theory” — Officially Implodes South Africa is disintegrating. After the jailing of Jacob Zuma, supporters of the former president took to the streets, ostensibly to protest but actually to simply plunder at will. ... Rioters have plundered shops and entire shopping malls. When they run out out of normal goods, they steal livestock. When it’s too heavy to carry by hand, they bring a forklift.... The meltdown in South Africa isn’t a natural disaster or a random fluke. It’s a choice. South Africa was the first modern nation to be...

Soweto (South Africa) — A rain-sodden crowd at the Nelson Mandela memorial repeatedly booed one of his successors as president, Jacob Zuma, Tuesday, in a sign of growing discontent at this generation of South African leaders. As images of Zuma flashed up on the big screens inside the Soweto stadium, there were sustained and repeated jeers from the tens of thousands of onlookers present. Amid the tuneful celebrations to Mandela's life, the heckles were jarring. Mandela's immediate successor Thabo Mbeki received applause in what often appeared to turn into a political beauty contest.

DID YOU KNOW SOUTH AFRICA HAS A CONSTITUTION THAT'S FAR SUPERIOR TO OUR OWN? THAT'S WHAT ONE U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE, AS WELL AS SHADOWY ACTIVITIST GROUPS WORKING BEHIND THE SCENES TO EFFECT CHANGE, BELIEVE. “I would not look to the U.S. Constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012. I might look at the Constitution of South Africa … a fundamental instrument of government that embraced basic human rights …” -Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Jan. 30, 2012. That stunning disavowal—by an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court—of the Constitution she has sworn...

The African National Congress's decision to sack President Thabo Mbeki has been described by some South African commentators as "regicide". Certainly it is unprecedented in South African history that a head of state is dismissed in this way. Nor is the ANC the kind of organisation that goes in for this humiliation of its leaders. So why did it happen? The immediate cause was Mr Mbeki's ongoing feud with his former deputy, the ANC party leader Jacob Zuma. But this was not just a personal vendetta between two men. Behind these events lie two major factors: one political, one personal....

An epic battle for power has ended with a ‘Zulu peasant’ ousting a president in South Africa SOUTH AFRICA’S president, Thabo Mbeki, was toppled from power yesterday by his rival Jacob Zuma, president of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), when its national executive committee took the decision to sack him. Gwede Mantashe, the ANC’s secretary-general, announced that the executive had “decided to recall the president of the republic before his term of office expires”. Mbeki, 66, instructed his office to issue a statement saying: “The president has obliged and will step down after all constitutional requirements have been met.”...

International pressure seems to have finally had an effect on South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki. The man who almost singlehandedly shielded Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe from regional and global efforts to oust him has finally told his crony that he has two choices — resign or face prosecution for a myriad of crimes. Mugabe must hand real power to his political enemy, Morgan Tsvangirai, or else face complete isolation:The president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, has been warned by Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, that he faces prosecution for the crimes he has committed during his 28 years in office unless he...

PRETORIA (AFP) — South Africa on Tuesday labelled as "unacceptable" suggestions by a US ambassador at the United Nations that President Thabo Mbeki was "out of touch" regarding Zimbabwe's political crisis. "The extraordinary and unacceptable statements made will be taken up through diplomatic channels," South African deputy foreign minister Aziz Pahad said. "A British representative said South African mediation efforts had come to nought and we have achieved nothing," he added. "The US representative made remarks about Russia not being a worthy member of the G8 and suggested that President Thabo Mbeki is out of touch with his own country....

Two stories in this edition spotlight the paradox of President Thabo Mbeki's handling of the Zimbabwean crisis, as the president of a neighbouring African state and the region's appointed mediator. On the one hand there is the hard-hitting analysis Mbeki sent President Robert Mugabe in 2001, lambasting Mugabe's economic mismanagement and assaults on democracy. Presciently, the South African leader warns of Zimbabwe's growing isolation, of the danger posed by the violent "war veterans" who have swamped the ruling party and of the potential fallout for the region of a deepening crisis. He calls on Mugabe to cooperate with the emerging...

The horrors of Zimbabwe’s political violence will not feature on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council meeting today. Thanks to South Africa, which blocked an attempt to put the crisis on the agenda, the council will discuss only the dire humanitarian situation. It is hard to see how the two can be divorced. The deliberate displacement of thousands of people, the militarisation of food aid and the ban on international aid agencies are all political tactics that have greatly deepened Zimbabwe’s suffering. The US and Britain are furious with South Africa’s block, achieved with Russia’s help. They had...

An outbreak of xenophobic violence, also known as ethnic cleansing, has resulted in the murders of 56 people and forced thousands more to take shelter in camps, community halls and churches across South Africa – the victims are foreigners who are strictly forbidden from owning guns. Foreigners in Gauteng Province are suffering from gunshot and stab wounds, while many others have been raped, fatally beaten and burned alive. Thomas Eastes, national chairman of Gun Owners of South Africa, said foreigners are unable to defend themselves from such atrocities because they are not allowed to be armed in South Africa. He...

South Africa: Cape Town on high alert as Thabo Mbeki deploys troops to quell violence Last Updated: 8:31PM BST 21/05/2008 President Thabo Mbeki tonight ordered troops into South Africa’s troubled townships as violence against black migrant workers spread across the country, threatening the city of Cape Town. Attacks on migrant workers erupted around Johannesburg over the weekend, forcing foreigners to return to their neighboring countries. Violence flared against foreigners in the provinces of KwaZulu-Nataland and Mpumalanga and police in Cape Town were put on high alert. Mr Mbeki, who has been criticised for his lack of leadership during a week...

We know most of our readers need no further proof that internationalist organizations such as the Commonwealth, the United Nations and the African Union (AU) are nothing more than toothless debating societies. But those few who need more convincing need look no further than Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe is stealing last month's elections in plain sight, and not one of the major talk-shops is lifting a finger to stop him. Sunday will mark three weeks since Zimbabweans voted for a parliament and president, and still the official results have not been released. The country's national election commission, appointed by Mr. Mugabe,...

Mugabe regime ordered 77 tonnes of Chinese arms three days AFTER disputed electionsBy IAN EVANS and WILLIAM LOWTHER - More by this author » Last updated at 21:33pm on 18th April 2008  A huge cargo of Chinese guns and ammunition sits marooned aboard a ship off South Africa. It would have been used to arm the tyrant Robert Mugabe's thugs in Zimbabwe. But dockers in South African port of Durban won't unload the 77 tons of mortars, ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons. Scroll down for more...Danger cargo: The ship is believed to be carrying 77 tonnes of...

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African President Thabo Mbeki can no longer govern effectively after losing the leadership of the country's ruling party, ANC leader Jacob Zuma was quoted as saying on Friday. Zuma defeated Mbeki at a party election in December and is likely to become state president when Mbeki must step down in 2009 if he defeats corruption charges in court. In an unusually strong and direct attack on Mbeki, Zuma said power was firmly concentrated in the hands of the African National Congress (ANC), suggesting the president's authority had slipped away. "... if he's not part of the...

President Thabo Mbeki received a stinging rebuff yesterday from supporters of his bitter rival, Jacob Zuma, in the lead-up to a crucial leadership vote at the national conference of the ruling African National Congress. Moments after Mbeki's speech, his last chance to win over support, thousands of delegates signaled their disapproval by standing up and singing Zuma's trademark song, which loosely translates as "Bring Me My Machine [Gun]." ...Results of a vote by 6,000 delegates are expected today. Mbeki is barred from seeking reelection when his term as national president expires in 2009, but wants to be reelected as party...

THE editor of one of South Africa’s leading newspapers faces arrest this week for having exposed the minister of health as an alcoholic. Mondli Makhanya, editor of the Johannesburg Sunday Times (which has no connection with this newspaper), published an investigation of Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the minister, under the headline “Manto: a drunk and a thief”. The article revealed how she had been kicked out of Botswana, where she practised as a hospital doctor, for stealing the possessions of a patient who was under anaesthetic. It also disclosed that she had a liver transplant earlier this year because of cirrhosis brought...

Representatives of Zimbabwean President Mugabe offered a positive, upbeat assessment of their country at the most recent Southern African Development Community meeting in Lukasha, Zambia. "Political reform is not necessary in my country because we are a democracy like any other democracy in the world," Patrick Chinamasa, minister of justice, legal and parliamentary affairs, told reporters as the two-day summit opened in the Zambian capital Lusaka. CNN (16 Aug, 2007) Chinamasa also dismissed calls for a dialogue with Zimbabwean political opposition leaders such as Morgan Tsvangirai. He accused them of harboring plots to dethrone Robert Mugabe."There can be no justification...

Leon: Mbeki has 'race myopia'23/03/2007 21:20  - (SA)    Cape Town - President Thabo Mbeki has "race myopia" and his shortsightedness is costing South Africa and the sub-continent dearly, said Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon. Leon said: "On the three overriding crises that have occurred on his presidential watch - HIV/Aids, crime and Zimbabwe - the president's steadfast refusal to take necessary action is traceable to a blinkered attitude towards race." In his weekly newsletter, published on his party's SA Today website, Leon said Mbeki's "refusal to tackle the real problem" was typical of the racial myopia that had become a...

FACED with soaring public anger and international fears about violent crime in South African, Thabo Mbeki, the country's president, conceded for the first time yesterday that it was a deeply serious problem, as he announced an increase in police numbers of nearly 20 per cent.In his annual State of the Nation address, he said: "We cannot erase that which is ugly and repulsive and claim the happiness that comes with freedom if communities lived in fear, closeted behind walls and barbed wire, ever anxious in their houses, on the streets, unable freely to enjoy our public spaces." South Africa has...

South Africa faces crime challenge By John Simpson World affairs editor, BBC News Three weeks ago, President Thabo Mbeki insisted that most South Africans did not think the crime rate in their country was getting out of hand. Levels of gun crime are high in South Africa Now, in his annual State of the Nation address to parliament, he has admitted that people live in fear. He has promised an increase in police numbers. It is a turnaround which compares with his change of heart on Aids. In a recent television interview Mr Mbeki said: "Nobody can show that the...