South Africa as a major indicator of the current hegemonic tactics trying to win back Africa: but that is not all

Africa, South of the Sahara has a problem or rather, it has three problems. South Africa is the best example of the three problems.

We have to quickly look at the surroundings and the whole picture of geopolitics in our world.  Every Western sleeper cell, every Stay Behind group of cadres, every Alphabet Agency and their tentacles such as NED and USAid and possibly some that we do not know about are now activated for the war between multipolarity and a single hegemon.  As such this story about South Africa does not stand alone as this is happening everywhere.

Let us go back a little to the 1994 Freedom election. The ANC inherited a working country. One cannot say there was anything of an equal distribution of opportunity, but it was a working country with a working railway system, post office, power generation and distribution, proper roads, land for further distribution, an agricultural sector that was the pride of the nation and a very effective medical and health sector. and we should not forget it, hope – there was the Mandela vision of a ‘Rainbow Nation’ and acceptance of the concept in the general population.

A correspondent recently wrote to me and said that there are no more people with ‘shining eyes’ and willingness to step out of their hard life to see if there is anything else. People go about their business wretched and discouraged.

Let us do two quick comparisons.

1) The USSR tumbled around 1991 and the country was broken with the greatest grab of Russian wealth that one could imagine. They worked through their problems and now they have just entered the world’s big 10 economies again. South Africa in return is being downgraded economically on all levels possible. The non-formal youth jobless rate is around 60%.  In South Africa … Electricity is available if you are lucky less than 12 hours per day and the grid is in the process of collapse. Crime against all sectors of the population is incredible.

2) Another comparison in this tweet:

Nicaragua has increased electricity coverage to almost 100% from only 54% in 2007, and over three-quarters is now from renewable sources. It has one of fastest transitions to renewables in Latin America. pic.twitter.com/EB7kAiUjUw

— John Perry (@johnperry21) May 11, 2023

The first problem is societal: Cronyism and not merit, ingrained and state-inculcated corruption is the rule of the day.  Most of the parastatal and all state functions run on the principle of self-enrichment.  This cannot last as there is no railroad, there is no post office and even the last printer of driver’s licenses is now broken.

Pressure is being put on us to force us to abandon the position of non—alignment and accept one of the sides in a situation that represents a rivalry between the West and Russia – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa

“South Africa has not been and will not be involved in the struggle between the world powers… We do not agree with the statements that our non-aligned position favors Russia. We also do not agree that this should jeopardize our relations with other countries,” the country’s leader said.

The second problem is societal: The division can be seen from this report:

“A report by the Pan-African Institute for Socialism (PAIS) has exposed the depths of collusion between Western intelligence and South African media for propaganda purposes, pushing a consistent theme that Africa must defend Ukraine “given the risk of authoritarianism on our continent”

The report reveals correspondence between head of Brenthurst Foundation, Greg Mills, who is also “Daily Maverick” editor-at-large, and the Ukraine Minister of Defence in which Mills is requesting an interview.

In the email, dated 5 April, 2023, Mills describes the propaganda work he has done for the Western regime for an African audience and goes on to describe how the Brenthurst Foundation, established by South African oligarchs, the Oppenheimer family, has published over 30 op-eds and five videos as pro-Nato propaganda.

Mills says he has visited Ukraine five times in the last year, including taking African opposition politicians from South Africa, Uganda and Tanzania.

Mills boasts of his reach into faith leaders on the continent, writing that he also took the Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, to Ukraine during one of the five trips. “

—o0o—

You can see from this that the war between multipolarity and a single polar hegemon stretches its tentacles everywhere, and now it is South Africa that is on the barbecue.  This is not only media, but the collusion stretches right into the top governmental levels. The one who brings the money, is the one that will be supported.  The IMF just made a visit to South Africa, and even they talk about “far-reaching reforms needed to durably lift potential growth, create jobs, reduce poverty and inequality, and facilitate the transition to a greener economy. ”  That is IMF talk for austerity, but where will they get that austerity?  There is not much more austerity to squeeze from a population that is clapped out!

The third problem is societal. As the Russians say, one cannot sit on two chairs and in South Africa, the society sits on two chairs. The one part is so desperately scared of socialism (and they have the right to be as we see how socialism is inculcated in South Africa. It is not socialism, it is self-enrichment based on some skewed understanding of the original teachers, which was the USSR.)  The other chair is a firm position of non-alignment and that of course is a multipolar view.

This is now coming to a head and South Africa is being roasted.  I have little sympathy because they are still sitting on two chairs.  They cannot any longer profess to be part of the multipolar majority, while colluding with the West and the IMF. The West is not your friend.

So, what happened that they ended up on the empire’s barbecue?

What happened is that a Russian ship pulled into Simonstown, the main navy base,
A sanctioned Russian airplane landed at Waterkloof,
And war games with China and Russia played out.

And the BRICS gathering is planned to happen in Johannesburg.

Then the US ambassador to South Africa, Ruben Brigety, accused Pretoria last week of providing arms to Russia by loading them onto a cargo ship in Simon’s Town naval base in Cape Town in December, which the South African government has denied.  But first, they did an investigation and decided they did not sell weapons and got a type of apology out of Ruben not-so-Brigety.

During the previous months, the ICC drew up an arrest order against Mr Putin for made-up charges of unlawful deportation and transfer of children during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This brought the cat amongst the pigeons and showed clearly who is really sitting on whose chair. It was announced that South Africa is a member of the ICC and will have to arrest Mr Putin if he should visit the BRICS Summit whereas they could have sought a constitutional amendment as well as started their withdrawal from the ICC. Instead, the president announced that he would send an envoy to the US to explain South Africa’s non-aligned stance.  Just recently the Foreign Minister walked that back and said their group did not speak about that, but rather about uhm, something else.  I like Nalendi Pastor, but this sounded like a fib, or covering up a weasel stance of asking the US to please play nice, in other words begging for mercy.

Africa needs to start to stand on its feet.  It cannot allow US soldiers any longer.   It has to throw out USAid.  The last time I was there, granted about 12 years ago, the USAid posters were all over the place.  Anything you wanted, USAid could provide, at least according to the posters.  My correspondents confirm that this is still the case.

Even Baerbock is punishing South Africa.   Annalena Baerbock says she is “very concerned” with allegations that Pretoria delivered arms to Russia.  https://www.rt.com/africa/576208-germany-baerbock-south-africa/

This is what US soldiers are doing, working against unauthorized fishing (I kid you not!) on African Shores.   Note the Hollywood level reporting.  Also note, eight of the fishing boats that are fishing without authority (whose authority, I ask you), are Chinese, of course.

SOGAKOPE, Ghana, March 16 (Reuters) – The West African troops silently pulled their small boats up to a rust-stained ferry and swarmed up its sides on grappling hooks to disarm the mock kidnappers onboard.

The drill in Ghana’s Volta river on Saturday was carried out during the first ever maritime exercises organised by the U.S. military under its long-running Flintlock programme to bolster the skills of West African forces.

The sea-based training in the first half of March culminated with soldiers holding their guns aloft as they braved neck-high waves before storming a beach resort to defuse a staged hostage crisis. Military bigwigs and diplomats watched from nearby.

Admiral Milton Sands, commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command for Africa (SOCAF), said the programme had expanded to help coastal nations in the region cope with maritime threats such as piracy and illegal fishing.

Unauthorized fishing “is a significant one that we’re really trying to work with our partners to get our arms around slowing down,” he told Reuters on Tuesday.

U.S. military conducts first maritime drills with West African forces

Nigerian military personnel train during the annual counter-terrorism program called “Operation Flintlock”, in Sogakope, Ghana March 10, 2023.

He said illegal fishing not only robbed the region of a key food source, but fuelled other criminal activity including drugs and human trafficking.

Around 350 troops took part in the drills including servicemen from Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria on the Gulf of Guinea. The area has become a global piracy hotspot in recent years although cases have fallen there since 2021, according to the U.N. Security Council.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing has spread along West Africa’s coasts, sapping an estimated $9.4 billion per year through illicit financial flows, according to a 2022 report by the Financial Transparency Coalition of non-governmental organisations.

Of the top 10 companies they found involved in IUU fishing in the region, eight were Chinese and a third of all vessels sported Chinese flags, it said.

Commodore Godwin Livinus Bessing, commander of Ghana’s Naval Training Command, said tackling IUU fishing had become a top priority, citing a lack of resources to deal with the foreign boats stealing from Ghana’s waters.

“They continue to flout our regulations because of our enforcement capabilities,” he said. “That is one of the biggest problems. If we had enough ships out there and they knew we were monitoring the place, we would be able to curb the situation.”

This is an African Issue.  Where then is the African Union?  Have they now stopped their support?

These are the insults to Mr. Putin directly from South Africa.

• Inviting him to the BRICS gathering without having their own legal basis stabilized.  How can we have respect for South African BRICS envoys, leaving this issue in the wind?  You’re talking to one of the world’s major leaders, and your legal situation is to arrest him?  How much worse can it get?
• Then, South Africa goes to the US to ‘explain’ this very weak case of suddenly being non-aligned.
• Then, it is publicized that they may change the format of the BRICS meeting, and allow Mr Putin to take part online.  Gee, Thanks!
• Then, while your own country is reaching the level of a failed state, you offer Russia help and negotiation with Ukraine.   Gee, Thanks!

This is not moving to a multi-polar model.  This is extreme weakness and actually just garbage.

Rampahosa weakly tried to mend fences or keep at least Russia as a friend.  As far as Russia is concerned, South Africa is on the back foot, despite Ramaphosa requesting a conversation with Mr.Putin.

Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of the Republic of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa at the South African side’s initiative

🔸The presidents discussed topical issues of Russian-South African relations of strategic partnership. They expressed a desire to further step up mutually beneficial ties in various areas.

🔸The presidents noted the importance of further close, bilateral coordination of positions during preparations for major multilateral events, in particular, the Second Russia-Africa Summit scheduled for July in St Petersburg and the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg in August under South Africa’s Presidency.

🔸During the discussion of global food security, Vladimir Putin reaffirmed Russia’s willingness to supply needy African countries with substantial amounts of grain and fertiliser, including no-cost deliveries.

🔸Having supported Cyril Ramaphosa’s idea on the participation of a group of African leaders in discussing the prospects for settling the conflict in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin set forth his principled assessments of the destructive line pursued by the Kiev regime and its patrons. He noted that Russia has never refused to work on the diplomatic track.

🔸It was agreed to continue contacts at various levels.

Note, nothing is being given to South Africa and this is the Chinese stance as well.  All is now peachy keen and well between the US and the South African authorities and the Finance minister said;  “The Americans are not likely to respond with any anger tomorrow.”   I think it was the first shot across the South African bows. 

If you want to move to a multipolar model, these are the issues that you should look at in your country

People need to be hopeful.  Discouraged communities, polarized communities, and weak governance will not get you there but will get your country into failed state position.  It is better if you cannot stand the heat, to express your adherence to one pole or another and seek shelter.  You need to have a coherent citizenry or polity, and we are learning from LAC.

It is fine to follow a non-aligned model.  In the LAC there is a distinct call-out that this will be a peaceful zone.  But then, you have to be clean and not have dirty hands because this makes you a target for the hegemon.  Clearly, Ramaphosa’s hands may not be so clean, after all the ‘state capture’ in South Africa.  State Capture is only another name for the wholesale theft of state resources, fully sanctioned and organized by the political classes to their own benefit.

It is fine to follow a non-aligned model.  But then have the courage of your convictions to say clearly:  We will sell whatever we want, to whoever we want to sell it to.  Weak dithering is just that.  It makes you a target.  And many countries are not a target.  South Africa is a target.