PrintJune 13, 2007
Political order under stress in South Africa
Despite the best wishes of much of the world, things are not going well for South Africa in the post-apartheid era. Today's Washington Times reports that the country is preparing for,
"...the worst industrial action in South African history as private-sector unions prepare to join government workers on strike."
Already in its second week, the strike has closed most of the state schools and hospitals, the courts have closed, and police unions have said they may join the strike despite being legally prohibited from walking off the job.
Some analysts think that the general strike may put over two million South Africans in the streets tomorrow. Some also are of the opinion that the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is attempting to regain its political clout rather than being overly concerned with workers wage and benefit issues. Recent events confirm this assessment.
In short, internal tensions of the regime are bursting out onto the street. The ruling African National Congress (ANC), which was a political front of Eastern bloc communist powerbrokers during the Cold War, formed an alliance with the above mentioned COSATU and the South African Communist Party (SACP) to form the post-apartheid transition government in 1994. (In fact, the ANC was labeled as a terrorist group at one time). COSATU's demotion in the scheme of South Africa's political structure reveals that Nelson Mandela's and now current President Thabo Mbeki's polemics about racial equality and their program of "public confession" are nothing more than a front for governance by socialist tyrants.
The ANC has achieved its objective of one party rule staffed with "former Marxist activists turned top government officials," that has rendered what was once the most prosperous and pro-Western country on the Continent close to being a basket case with about 40 percent unemployment. On top of all this, South Africa has developed ties with various terror groups including Al-Qaeda, Hamas, and supporters of the Taliban.
Instability within the South African regime ought to be a major concern. If South Africa's problems ever got to the point of leading to the emergence of another rogue state, the consequences cannot be overstated. This is a country that had a robust conventional weapons development and manufacturing capability and was the only African nation known to have produced nuclear weapons. Upon transition to the post-apartheid government, it disavowed its nuclear program, destroyed its small nuclear arsenal, and signed on to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Yet, despite publicly turning from atomic weaponry and the exodus of military professionals and top-notch research scientists since the ANC took over, much capability remains. This should cause grave concerns if the country experiences regime instability or even lapses into anarchy, providing terror groups with an opening to gain control via a cooperative ANC with control over a modern scientific and manufacturing infrastructure. Matters are nowhere near that point now, but the trend toward disorder needs to be reversed. South Africa's resources and strategic location, along with its technological and military sophistication, make it an important target for the forces of evil.
