Sadc should guard

against neo-colonialism

THERE is something inherently wrong with a country when the Head of State is lampooned to the extent that he has his dignity seriously impugned by an artist who depicts him with his manhood exposed for the world to see. This becomes even worse when the critics and mud-throwers are the former minority rulers who presided over a racist and supremacist system that was condemned the world over but are now conveniently using the cover of freedom of expression to undermine a sitting president. This can only  be democracy gone  drunk.

South Africa today is paraded as a good example of a thriving democracy where its tenets are religiously adhered to and respected but somewhere along the line the rainbow nation seems to have missed it. Yes, they have one of the best constitutions in the world, their economy is thriving and the general standard of living of people is decent but there are flaws — serious ones for that matter.

While the political transfer of power was smooth and total in 1994, the wheels of economic independence have been turning rather slowly leaving the levers of real power in the hands of the former oppressors. This has created a serious chasm between the rich (read the white minority) and the largely poor masses who continue to toil in their mkhukhus (shacks) in sprawling townships where the bucket system toilet is still in use.

This obvious disparity in class has spawned arrogance among the haves who are revelling in the knowledge that whole political power might be wielded by the ruling ANC, the economic might that is the South African economy is in their hands. “It’s the economy stupid’’, is a famous catch phrase that came to epitomise former United States President Bill Clinton’s election campaign when he defeated George Bush Snr for his first term in office.

Everything revolves around the economy that is why the forthcoming US presidential election in November will hinge on the state of the country’s economy.

European Union member countries are also reeling under a meltdown which has spawned major political changes in Greece, France and very soon Spain.  South Africa is therefore sitting on a time bomb if it does not address the yawning gap between the rich whites and poverty-stricken blacks.

The militant ANC Youth League, whose former president Julius Malema is a victim of the might of white capital, is pushing an agenda that is deemed dangerous to the privileged class hence its demonisation in the largely white- controlled Press in South Africa. In fact, anyone seen fronting an agenda that is likely to result in the shift in the balance of power economically will find themselves dragged through the mud.

South Africa is a country in crisis and the ANC has a mammoth task on its hands to radically change the face of the country’s economy without inflicting too much damage to it. The transfer of the means of production from the former ruling class to the majority is an event that has to occur damn the consequences. Otherwise, the ANC will find itself being continuously undermined by an unrepentant citizenry using its economic muscle to push through its nefarious and racist agenda.

In that vein, Zimbabwe is seen as a bad example for the South African government to follow hence the renewed onslaught on its Government, leaders and people by a section of the South African society which seems to have coalesced from remnants of apartheid and Rhodesians.

North Gauteng High Court Judge Hans Fabricius recently passed a ruling calling on au