INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

South Africa In Need Of More Than Just Regime Change As The ANC Begins To Unravel

By Jinger Jarrett
Published on: 10:21 PST, Mar 24, 2016

As an American, I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t always understand the politics of other countries. It’s not that I don’t want to understand or don’t try and learn. Understanding the politics of another country like South Africa isn’t always easy because watching a country from the outside isn’t the same as living in that society. South Africa’s politics is somewhat complicated for me to understand because they developed along very different lines than America did.

Whites are in the minority in South Africa. They were deeply influenced by British rule and the Boer Wars. America achieved independence from the British and created a different system of government. I believe that American independence from the British is what ultimately saved us and kept us from developing as a nation under colonial British rule the way South Africa developed.

For the South Africans, colonial British rule planted the seeds of both apartheid and the subsequent problems South Africa has had. Although I don’t completely understand the apartheid system since I didn’t live under it, I know that it was an attempt to solve some deeply complex problems in South Africa, and like many political systems, it failed, because in the end, it created more problems than it solved.

News 24 reported that a reader wrote in and said that South Africa is in need of spiritual healing. I agree. Economics, constant corruption, and a communist government have done very little to solve the problems of the past. If anything, it has made things worse. The pendulum has swung. In a country where one race once ruled, now the majority rules. Instead of rectifying the injustices they claim happened in the past and healing South Africa, the ANC-led communist government under President Jacob Zuma has allowed far worse to happen.

Farm murders in South Africa are higher than anywhere else in the world. Rape and murder continue to climb, and for the fifth straight year in a row, murders are up. South Africans are suffering from a stagnant economy, and a major drought is affecting growing food. White South Africans are excluded from the job market because of policies like Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), and over 400,000 whites live in squatter camps. Ultimately at the root of all this is a faulty belief system that says government can solve the problem, something the ANC-led government has had 21 years to do and yet they have failed. They failed because it takes people with skills to create jobs and build an economy, and current leadership lacks these skills.

As previously reported in Inquisitr, the ANC continues to support President Jacob Zuma in spite of the scandals he has been involved in and the fact that South Africa is once again facing a downgrade in its credit rating as well as a scandal involving the Gupta family. Although whites are excluded from the job market and discriminated against regularly, Zuma’s theme for Human Rights Day this year was an anti-racism campaign based on comments made on social media. Instead of focusing on real issues of discrimination and following the Constitution of South Africa to enforce equal rights under the law for all South Africans, he chose to focus on the ignorant comments of ignorant people.

The Conversation reported that the ANC is trying to buy itself time as it begins to unravel. Because of his relationship to the Gupta family, Zuma’s presidency appears to be based on a patron-client network where families like the Guptas receive government contracts and in some way Zuma benefits. The $19 million dollar renovations on one of his homes was financed by tax dollars, and prior to his election to government, his lifestyle was reportedly financed by patrons like Schabir Shaik, a role that seems to have been filled by the Guptas since Shaik was imprisoned.

South Africa will never heal until it comes to terms with its past and forgives. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued its final volume in 2003, and all pardons were issued for crimes committed under apartheid. It is way past time to learn from the past and forgive and move forward. The people of South Africa deserve better, and when the apartheid government was dissolved in 1994, white South Africans made a good faith attempt to remedy any wrongs from the past.

Murdering whites in South Africa is not the way to begin the healing process. Only a concerted effort by all parties can bring out the changes that South Africa needs in order to survive and prosper. As an American who sees similar problems in my country, I believe it’s long past time for all parties to heal. Otherwise, the only place the path leads is to destruction.

[Photo by Pixabay]

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