Bishop Tutu’s Criticism Too Harsh
By
Vusi Moloi © 2009
The Nobel Prize laureate and celebrated anti-apartheid freedom fighter Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa has fired a strong criticism at the ruling ANC government for refusing to grant visa to the Tibetan leader His Holiness Dalai Lama. Adding to that line of attack from a different angle is the former apartheid President and Nobel Prize laureate Mr. F.W. de Klerk who has refused to attend the March 27 Peace Conference related to the 2010 FIFA World Cup if South Africa does not reverse its position by granting visa to Dalai Lama.
Oxford, UK - Western Shugden Society Demonstration Against Dalai Lama's Ban - from shugdenwss of Youtube
For its part, the South African government has clarified its position by saying that granting visa to Dalai Lama would take the focus away from the 2010 World Cup and on those grounds has decided against granting the visa. The Government also alluded to the fact that granting visa to Dalai Lama would hurt its interests. This fact lends credence to others who have come out with guns blazing that South Africa succumbed to the pressure by the Chinese authorities that are pouring lots of resources into the development projects of South Africa.
China’s Support for Development Projects
Let’s analyze this situation a bit. South Africa desperately needs to finance its development projects in order to eliminate the extreme poverty and suffering which pose an impressive threat to the democratic achievements of that country. The godsend China says we will help fund your development projects. The ill-timed Peace Conference and its organizers decide to invite Dalai Lama and the Chinese government get the wind of this and say “it would really help if you didn’t grant visa to Dalai Lama since we might change our minds about funding your desperately needed development projects” South Africa responds in kind by saying “akunamathata”. The italics are mine.
Criticism from Bishop Tutu and Mr. de Klerk
On the one hand, I can understand Mr. de Klerk condemning the ruling ANC. After all he does not identify with the dichotomy in which the ruling ANC finds itself with respect to the urgent needs of the African natives. On the other hand, to be condemned by Bishop Tutu is like breaking the back of the camel considering the unenviable position in which South Africa finds itself to which the Bishop contributed greatly through his economically disenfranchising policy of peace and reconciliation. Moreover the credibility of the Peace Conference is going to depend on the success of peace and reconciliation implementation in South Africa meaning that if the African natives cannot testify positively about peace and reconciliation as far as their lives are concerned then why hold the Peace Conference in the first place? How can you celebrate the peaceful transition that economically disenfranchised the majority of the African natives and enriched the colonial descendents?
Bishop Tutu’s Peace and Reconciliation
Bishop Tutu should be the last person to criticize South Africa since he was the consistent and vigorous champion who pushed through the concept of peace and reconciliation against the conscience of many victims of apartheid. The only people that were on the receiving end of the heavy-handedness of peace and reconciliation were the African natives while the colonial descendents enjoyed the fruits of both apartheid and the new democracy.
Apartheid, Perpetrators, Forgiveness: Desmond Tutu's views - litxlit of Youtube
If we reverse wind the tape of history and review the events of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Bishop Tutu was the Chairman and Dr. Alex Borain was a Vice-Chairman. Bishop Tutu also played a pivotal role during the transition of South Africa from apartheid to the present day democracy. We pay tribute to the great Bishop for the sacrifices he made in the anti-apartheid movement as well as the advent of democratic rule. Nonetheless, the African natives of South Africa were put in a situation were they had to forgive and forget the wrongs of their brutal apartheid masters in exchange for nothing by way of reparations.
I recall having this conversation with Dr. Alex Borain when he addressed a crowd at a Nelson Mandela Lecture in Canada. He pointed out that Bishop Tutu went too far in sometimes badgering an African mother to forgive her oppressors. He indicated that, at times, he called Bishop Tutu to order on this matter. Dr. Borain disagreed with Bishop Tutu on forcing the peace and reconciliation down the throat of the apartheid victims. The position of Dr. Borain was that the African mother must be allowed to forgive at her own time when she is ready.
Technical Support for Peace and Reconciliation
It probably would help if Bishop Tutu provided a technical support for his idea of peace and reconciliation. The purpose of this technical support, with a toll free number, would be to fix the problems associated with peace and reconciliation, which left the African mothers holding an empty bag including the very problem when the ANC government finds itself in a situation of dichotomy. This would go a long way in lending credibility to the concept of peace and reconciliation. Bishop Tutu would also have an opportunity to fix the damage with respect to the manner in which this process was implemented. Some of the problems to be addressed would include land distribution. Another good thing out of this technical support is that it would result in a big support centre in South Africa devoted not to the private coffers of greedy and exploitative capitalists but rather to the betterment of others, which in itself promotes peace and reconciliation.
As I write these lines, 50 000 White farmers (some of whom shoot and kill black girls or throw the black boys into the lions to be eaten live and never have to pay for their crime) enjoy a monopolistic stranglehold on more than 80% of the food producing land while the African mother and her children scratch for food on the garbage dumps because she has no land to grow food. I nearly died when I saw one photograph published in the Sowetan Newspaper of these mothers. You find them everywhere including one place Viljoenskroon in the Free State Province. These mothers eventually die from this kind of scavenging because, unlike other countries, South African restaurants mix their food dumps with other hazardous materials like broken glasses and more.
Some colonial descendents of South Africa don’t care about these mothers because they have been socialized to believe that an African native is expendable and must shrivel and die. What is the basis for saying this? Look at the Stone Age living conditions of the African mothers. Despite fifteen years of democracy, the African mothers continue to bear the brunt of economic apartheid. The ANC government is stymied in finding creative ways of helping to address the situation. The new leader of the ANC Mr. Jacob Zuma has vowed to change the equation of wealth distribution so that more development can take place among the African natives. Needless to say that those who want the status quo to remain edged in stone are fighting back against Mr. Zuma including a spirited campaign of vilifying him. Incredibly, it was Mr. Jacob Zuma who brought the peaceful transition in South Africa and today they are throwing rocks at him threatening the very peace they are touting. Mr. Zuma never got a Nobel Peace Prize for the peace, which others now take for granted. Without Mr. Zuma there would be no peace in South Africa today. Mr. Zuma is very philosophical about it and bears no grudge against anyone and continues the work of peace. He recently met with Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi to promote peace and only Mr. Zuma has the credibility when it comes to peace and reconciliation among warring factions because he promotes peace on the shifting ground.
The peace and reconciliation of Bishop Tutu meant that African natives did not demand what was theirs in terms of land. White farmers did pledge, under the inspiration of peace and reconciliation, to release 30% of the land to the African natives in five years. Where is that 30% today? They changed their minds and reneged on their commitments in 1999 and the ANC government was left holding an empty bag. Now the ANC government is scrambling to find a solution to this critical problem of providing land and lo and behold the Chinese have come at an opportune time. If we paid a visit to the economically disenfranchised African mother for purposes of drumming up support for the peace conference, it would not mean anything to her. However, if you told her about putting food on the table, then you are talking.
Conclusion
The great Bishop Tutu has been pivotal in the birth of the new political dispensation in South Africa. His peace and reconciliation produced bittersweet results at best. To lend credibility to this much needed concept of peace and reconciliation necessitates a technical support so that the concept can mean something and not just something collecting dust in the government shelves. A technical support would bring a pause to the sharp condemnation of the government, which is making a good faith attempt to address the urgent needs of its people.
------------------------
About the Author
A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet. In addition to writing, Mr. Moloi also works as a software engineer.
Vusi Moloi © 2009
The Nobel Prize laureate and celebrated anti-apartheid freedom fighter Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa has fired a strong criticism at the ruling ANC government for refusing to grant visa to the Tibetan leader His Holiness Dalai Lama. Adding to that line of attack from a different angle is the former apartheid President and Nobel Prize laureate Mr. F.W. de Klerk who has refused to attend the March 27 Peace Conference related to the 2010 FIFA World Cup if South Africa does not reverse its position by granting visa to Dalai Lama.
Oxford, UK - Western Shugden Society Demonstration Against Dalai Lama's Ban - from shugdenwss of Youtube
For its part, the South African government has clarified its position by saying that granting visa to Dalai Lama would take the focus away from the 2010 World Cup and on those grounds has decided against granting the visa. The Government also alluded to the fact that granting visa to Dalai Lama would hurt its interests. This fact lends credence to others who have come out with guns blazing that South Africa succumbed to the pressure by the Chinese authorities that are pouring lots of resources into the development projects of South Africa.
China’s Support for Development Projects
Let’s analyze this situation a bit. South Africa desperately needs to finance its development projects in order to eliminate the extreme poverty and suffering which pose an impressive threat to the democratic achievements of that country. The godsend China says we will help fund your development projects. The ill-timed Peace Conference and its organizers decide to invite Dalai Lama and the Chinese government get the wind of this and say “it would really help if you didn’t grant visa to Dalai Lama since we might change our minds about funding your desperately needed development projects” South Africa responds in kind by saying “akunamathata”. The italics are mine.
Criticism from Bishop Tutu and Mr. de Klerk
On the one hand, I can understand Mr. de Klerk condemning the ruling ANC. After all he does not identify with the dichotomy in which the ruling ANC finds itself with respect to the urgent needs of the African natives. On the other hand, to be condemned by Bishop Tutu is like breaking the back of the camel considering the unenviable position in which South Africa finds itself to which the Bishop contributed greatly through his economically disenfranchising policy of peace and reconciliation. Moreover the credibility of the Peace Conference is going to depend on the success of peace and reconciliation implementation in South Africa meaning that if the African natives cannot testify positively about peace and reconciliation as far as their lives are concerned then why hold the Peace Conference in the first place? How can you celebrate the peaceful transition that economically disenfranchised the majority of the African natives and enriched the colonial descendents?
Bishop Tutu’s Peace and Reconciliation
Bishop Tutu should be the last person to criticize South Africa since he was the consistent and vigorous champion who pushed through the concept of peace and reconciliation against the conscience of many victims of apartheid. The only people that were on the receiving end of the heavy-handedness of peace and reconciliation were the African natives while the colonial descendents enjoyed the fruits of both apartheid and the new democracy.
Apartheid, Perpetrators, Forgiveness: Desmond Tutu's views - litxlit of Youtube
If we reverse wind the tape of history and review the events of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Bishop Tutu was the Chairman and Dr. Alex Borain was a Vice-Chairman. Bishop Tutu also played a pivotal role during the transition of South Africa from apartheid to the present day democracy. We pay tribute to the great Bishop for the sacrifices he made in the anti-apartheid movement as well as the advent of democratic rule. Nonetheless, the African natives of South Africa were put in a situation were they had to forgive and forget the wrongs of their brutal apartheid masters in exchange for nothing by way of reparations.
I recall having this conversation with Dr. Alex Borain when he addressed a crowd at a Nelson Mandela Lecture in Canada. He pointed out that Bishop Tutu went too far in sometimes badgering an African mother to forgive her oppressors. He indicated that, at times, he called Bishop Tutu to order on this matter. Dr. Borain disagreed with Bishop Tutu on forcing the peace and reconciliation down the throat of the apartheid victims. The position of Dr. Borain was that the African mother must be allowed to forgive at her own time when she is ready.
Technical Support for Peace and Reconciliation
It probably would help if Bishop Tutu provided a technical support for his idea of peace and reconciliation. The purpose of this technical support, with a toll free number, would be to fix the problems associated with peace and reconciliation, which left the African mothers holding an empty bag including the very problem when the ANC government finds itself in a situation of dichotomy. This would go a long way in lending credibility to the concept of peace and reconciliation. Bishop Tutu would also have an opportunity to fix the damage with respect to the manner in which this process was implemented. Some of the problems to be addressed would include land distribution. Another good thing out of this technical support is that it would result in a big support centre in South Africa devoted not to the private coffers of greedy and exploitative capitalists but rather to the betterment of others, which in itself promotes peace and reconciliation.
As I write these lines, 50 000 White farmers (some of whom shoot and kill black girls or throw the black boys into the lions to be eaten live and never have to pay for their crime) enjoy a monopolistic stranglehold on more than 80% of the food producing land while the African mother and her children scratch for food on the garbage dumps because she has no land to grow food. I nearly died when I saw one photograph published in the Sowetan Newspaper of these mothers. You find them everywhere including one place Viljoenskroon in the Free State Province. These mothers eventually die from this kind of scavenging because, unlike other countries, South African restaurants mix their food dumps with other hazardous materials like broken glasses and more.
Some colonial descendents of South Africa don’t care about these mothers because they have been socialized to believe that an African native is expendable and must shrivel and die. What is the basis for saying this? Look at the Stone Age living conditions of the African mothers. Despite fifteen years of democracy, the African mothers continue to bear the brunt of economic apartheid. The ANC government is stymied in finding creative ways of helping to address the situation. The new leader of the ANC Mr. Jacob Zuma has vowed to change the equation of wealth distribution so that more development can take place among the African natives. Needless to say that those who want the status quo to remain edged in stone are fighting back against Mr. Zuma including a spirited campaign of vilifying him. Incredibly, it was Mr. Jacob Zuma who brought the peaceful transition in South Africa and today they are throwing rocks at him threatening the very peace they are touting. Mr. Zuma never got a Nobel Peace Prize for the peace, which others now take for granted. Without Mr. Zuma there would be no peace in South Africa today. Mr. Zuma is very philosophical about it and bears no grudge against anyone and continues the work of peace. He recently met with Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi to promote peace and only Mr. Zuma has the credibility when it comes to peace and reconciliation among warring factions because he promotes peace on the shifting ground.
The peace and reconciliation of Bishop Tutu meant that African natives did not demand what was theirs in terms of land. White farmers did pledge, under the inspiration of peace and reconciliation, to release 30% of the land to the African natives in five years. Where is that 30% today? They changed their minds and reneged on their commitments in 1999 and the ANC government was left holding an empty bag. Now the ANC government is scrambling to find a solution to this critical problem of providing land and lo and behold the Chinese have come at an opportune time. If we paid a visit to the economically disenfranchised African mother for purposes of drumming up support for the peace conference, it would not mean anything to her. However, if you told her about putting food on the table, then you are talking.
Conclusion
The great Bishop Tutu has been pivotal in the birth of the new political dispensation in South Africa. His peace and reconciliation produced bittersweet results at best. To lend credibility to this much needed concept of peace and reconciliation necessitates a technical support so that the concept can mean something and not just something collecting dust in the government shelves. A technical support would bring a pause to the sharp condemnation of the government, which is making a good faith attempt to address the urgent needs of its people.
------------------------
About the Author
A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet. In addition to writing, Mr. Moloi also works as a software engineer.
posted by Vusi Moloi at
5:09 PM
4 Comments:
The South African government has a duty to advance the interests of its voters. If somebody disagrees with its decision let them pony up the equivalent of the Chinese investment that will create wealth for South Africans, and the visa will be granted. Fat chance!
The Dalai Lama carries great moral authority, but his interest is primarily with his Tibetan people first. Getting the visa will advance the cause of the Tibetans. However, if it comes at the expense of the South Africans (in the form of withdrawn Chinese investment) then he cannot be surprised if the South African government looks after its own people first.
Bishop Tutu has a challenge because throughout the apartheid struggle, justice and freedom went hand in hand for the South Africans. In the case of the Dalai Lama visa, that is no longer true because granting the visa (the just decision) would constrain the freedom enabled by the Chinese investment. Bishop Tutu seems biased in favour of universal justice, while the South African government is biased in favour of the economic freedom enabled by Chinese investment.
Thoughtful input there Jay. Good call! We need more people like you who can look at a situation and peel away the layers of ideology in order to uncover the naked reality of people's lives for what it is. We have great respect for the Dalai Lama and will always hold him in high regard together with his people. It's regrettable that his proposed visit to South Africa is at crossroads with respect to the economic interests of the people on the ground. The economically disenfranchised people of that land shouldn't be put in a situation where they have to choose betwee Dalai Lama and improving their lives. How do you choose?
Hopefully these writings will illuminate the subject with respect to the pressing needs of people on the ground whose lives are being crushed daily by economic apartheid.
Lets strip the issue further. China GDP per capita is lower than South Africa. Yes, Southern Africa has a huge standard deviation in GDP and it alone is not the best measure of compassion, but the point I'm making is China has poverty in its own borders that they'd probably would like to spend their money on rather than dishing it out on pure altruistic motivation. They doing it because they need our resources. So let's be vigilant about being recolonised because we think China is "godsend" to help us our sorry state.
I agree whole heartedly this reconciliation was in a way shoved down the throats of many people and whatever closure some got, they were soon disregarded and the injustice continued under the context of economic slavery. Still, how we could blame a bishop for this instead of whoever implemented post apartheid policy is beyond objectivity.
The Lama issue is not just about human rights, it's about Africa's own sovereign right to choose who we let in our countries without being bullied or being coerced into what foreign policies we should persue and have the tamarity to shame our government by bragging it was their pressure that made us decide. It's a shame we miss that obvious point so easy after all the naivity that had us enslaved and colonised. Vandje
Assuming a GDP PPP, the GDP per capita differences between South Africa and China are wide and the reason for China’s GDP per capita being lower than South Africa (South Africa’s GDP per capita ranks 76th vis-à-vis China’s 105th) is the result of the Chinese largest population on the planet since we have to spread this among the members of that population. However China’s GDP is the 2nd largest on the planet if not the largest (for now ranked 2nd after USA; moreover China finances US bailouts!) at one time China’s GDP was more than $10 trillion; compare that with Africa’s GDP of mere $2 trillion. The World Bank has lowered China’s GDP growth and that is bound to change the numbers we are talking about. About two quarters of Africa’s GDP is shackled in a steel cage in a form of liens by Western countries using the instrument of external debt and other policies of voodoo economics. In the majority of cases it is not clear how these debts came about. In fact any external revenue that comes to Africa is wiped out by interest payments (African governments go into deficit in order to pay external debt). Interestingly, there are Europeans who never even set foot on the African soil and yet own a piece of Africa and yet the African natives don’t own a piece of their own motherland. What kind of a contradiction?
South Africa’s GDP per capita is way lower than China if we break it into White and Black which is the harsh reality of that country. Suppose we have $100 and also 100 people to distribute amongst. The African natives represent more than three quarters and the population of colonial descendents and others comprise one quarter. Suppose the White folks are entitled to more than 98% of the wealth using some voodoo economics formula; we are immediately left with a 2% thin slice of the economic pie and if we distribute this among the Black folks then our GDP per capita sinks like a rock. On the other hand we could use statistics and standard deviation to show that these African folks are better off than the Chinese but actually that would be like selling ice in Alaska. A tough sell to say the least!
Bishop Tutu is a living legend and nothing will detract from that. We all have the greatest respect and admiration. I think, however, that what is needed is for him to do a follow up on his policy of peace and reconciliation and provide what I referred to as a technical support to ensure that the concomitant implementation issues associated with peace and reconciliation are addressed in a fundamental way. This will go a long way towards re-establishing the much-needed credibility of this important principle because I personally believe it was a great thing.
The experience of Peace and Reconciliation is not the destination but an arduous road towards the destination. Right now the peace and reconciliation is like a helicopter that came and dropped a hot pizza in the jungle on the premise that’s all you will ever need to survive the jungle but the reality is that people’s lives are being daily crushed under the present day jungle of economic apartheid. Only the cutthroat business world obviates supporting their products and services because their loyalties lie with the shareholders and not the customers. South Africa is experiencing a moral decay precisely because of these issues, among others.
I agree about the legitimate struggles of the Dalai Lama. He is a wise man and I bet you he can understand the position of South Africa even though he may not agree with it. Wise men are very perceptive. He obviously has his own issues to deal with in terms of other Tibetans who are painfully ostracized for worshiping a different deity (Dalai Lama was initiated into the Dorje Shugden deity). He agrees to this but says he recanted from that deity after suddenly experiencing a different enlightenment. These things happen and are a fact of life but is it ok to harshly penalize/persecute those who follow a different religious viewpoint? I can understand the need to maintain a cohesive position against the Chinese foreign occupation but not at the expense of the much-cherished liberties and the concomitant psycho-emotional trauma that comes from being ostracized. Social acceptance is the most fundamental need of humans (close to oxygen, food and water) and denying that to another human being (whatever the reason) is tantamount to killing them inside by slow degrees. This is what the scourge of racism and sexism does to the colonially conquered African descendents. We are experiencing this in South Africa today on the economic front in that the African natives are ostracized and banished from the mainstay of the economy so that they have become economic pariahs in their own land of abundance. How long should it take before economic justice arrives just in time before that African mother succumbs under the crushing weight of economic apartheid?
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