Presidential Woes

Vice-President Motlanthe in Uppsala

One day in Uppsala I realised to my surprise that the South African Vice President was going to speak at the Great Hall of the university on ”South Africa’s efforts of mediation in Africa”, on 21 October. On one level this was only to be expected as there is a longstanding relationship between Sweden and her various governments ever since the early 1960s and the ANC and now since 1994 the ANC-in-government. On the other hand no government is beyond reproach and the last couple of years there are worrying tendencies in the current South African government. I will come back to this.

It was a subdued vice president that spoke in a half-filled university hall, the kick-off having been done by the excellent Cummings playing on the organ. Only at question time did Kgalema Motlanthe come alive and did prove that he had quite some insights in developments in and around Africa. His personality may be as it is – subdued. However there were probably two circumstances that made it difficult to act as if everything was fine. My reading of the vice president was that he was well aware of these circumstances and felt the pressure.

A government that has come about through a movement like the ANC and its struggle for dignity, human rights and freedom, persisting through generations ever since 1912, cannot be indifferent to new kinds of violations of various rights.

That is why there was such an outrage when for the second time in about a year, just two weeks before Motlanthe’s appearance in Uppsala, the world renowned peace activist Dalai Lama, was refused visa to South Africa. It is clear that China is against giving this man access to podia in various countries in the world as he also is a champion of independence of Tibet, albeit with peaceful means. China could have done little to South Africa, had Dalai Lama been granted visa, so the refusal is so foolish in the first place. However, to refuse him entry into South Africa makes people wonder whether South Africa is busy leaving its new legacy of democracy and freedom of expression. To add salt to injury, the South African government soon had to endure the ire of none other than Archbishop Tutu, who, at the occasion of his own 80^th birthday, had invited Dalai Lama as his personal guest and as peace lecturer at University of the Western Cape where Tutu has been Chancellor for many years. At a press conference, when it was clear to all that the famous guest was not to come, Tutu expressed anger at this refusal and he waved his finger and told the government in no uncertain terms that “if this continues you should know that we will pray for the down-fall of your government just as we prayed for the down-fall of the apartheid government”.

Motlanthe was of course aware of the fact that the world still listens to what Tutu says. He could not possibly take lightly the fact that his government had been likened to the old apartheid government, the last thing the ANC would like to hear. But this Friday, 21 October, in Uppsala, it was as if the vice president was pressurized between this awkward affair and another thing, that was never mentioned by its real name, but which was there none the less.  Nobody put a question regarding the visa issue, nor did anyone question what has transpired in the African Union the last couple of year. However, he was asked about developments in Libya and the demise of Colonel Muammar Gadhafi, who had died just the day before, hunted down like a dog in a culvert in his home town of Sirte. The question from the floor was about Lybia and South Africa and how he could compare them as states. Motlanthe gave a detailed account of what had taken place in respective country and showed actually eloquently the sharp differences that were there: while South Africa was a society built on racist ideas of white supremacy, Libya (not going into the role of colonialists Italy and France at an earlier stage) was the work of one revolutionary that kept the power to himself while developing a rhetoric that encompassed all people, so much so that there was supposed to be a direct form of participation making parliament and state institutions redundant. In quite clear, succinct words, Motlanthe mercilessly exposed the life work of Gadhafi of 42 years as being years of oppression, exploitation and degradation, causing the death of many of his citizens, not only during the struggle for liberation in this year of 2011, but throughout his whole regime of 42 years. There was apparently no mercy left for Gadhafi in the words of Motlanthe; what happened, without going into any detail of what had transpired, the day before was more that justice had taken its course.

It is slightly difficult to reconcile this kind of rhetoric in Uppsala with facts on the ground, when one knows that Gadhafi recently was the chairperson of the Africa Union, that he was the official guest of the South African government a number of times, that he until recently (in truth together with some Western European governments, notably Italy, France, and the UK) moved freely around the world being shown respect as a statesman. In addition, South Africa’s current President, Jacob Zuma, visited Gadhafi several times earlier this year in a well meant effort to create peace between him and the “rebels”. We do not know what came out of those talks, but one can surmise that Zuma came there so as to speak to an old comrade, who knew the struggle for Africa’s freedom and who also should be talked to as someone that has to be shown respect. No more so, the day after Gadhafi’s death when talking on South African mediation in Africa during a lecture in the Great Hall in Uppsala University. No mercy was shown and one got an uneasy feeling in two ways. First, one could sense how fragile political power is after all, one day the honoured world leader, the other the scum of the earth. Second, no effort was made to talk about Gadhafi’s downfall and death in humanitarian terms. Would it not have been better, had he been taken alive and then also could have been taken to court? There was no mention of this in Motlanthe’s lecture, but could have been a big issue in terms of human rights and the need for giving also hard perpetrators an honest hearing. The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission tried to give such hearings; now, not a word about mercy, instead an icy silence that opens the door of fear.

This afternoon was not a happy afternoon in Uppsala. Things of real import not mentioned; being pressed between two very awkward circumstances, the refusal of visa to the Dalai Lama and the shameful end of an old comrade, Muammar Gadhafi. It is not easy to be a president, not even a vice-president.