Thirty years of Black rule has seen South Africa degenerate from the beacon of Africa into just another basket case on the Dark Continent. And I have decried and chronicled each distressing milestone of its patented descent into the heart of darkness.
Chronicling South’s squandered freedom
I joined the anti-Apartheid movement in the early 1980s. In the grand scheme of things, my participation was modest. But to this day, it fills me with unbridled pride.
However, reflecting on the hundreds of commentaries I’ve penned since launching this blog in 2005 saddens me deeply. The titles alone sketch a timeline of my growing frustration and disillusionment.
So, I can think of no more fitting way to mark South Africa’s 30 years of freedom than to list the titles to 30 of them.
- “Happy Birthday, Nelson (Madiba) Mandela,” July 18, 2005
- “Happy Birthday, FW de Klerk? Yes, For He’s (Now) a Jolly Good Fellow!” April 3, 2006
- “South Africa: More Reviled for Its “Fight against Aids” than the US Is for Its “War on Terror”? August 21, 2006
- “South Africa gives same-sex couples the legal right to marry!” December 1, 2006
- “Mandela joins Lincoln, Disraeli and Churchill in Parliament Square,” August 31, 2007
- “Oprah is NOT Running a School for Scandal in South Africa!” November 2, 2007
- “In South Africa, Xenophobic Blacks Prove Almost as Deadly as Apartheid Whites,” May 23, 2008
- “South African President Mbeki Forced to Resign… Hail Zuma?!” September 22, 2008
- “South Africans form New Party to Cope with ANC’s Apartheid Tactics,” December 17, 2008
- “South Africa Bans Dalai Lama from Peace Conference to Appease China…?!” March 24, 2009
- “Black is Beautiful! Just Not in South Africa,” January 5, 2010
- “Nelson Mandela Is a Traitor and an Albatross?!” March 9, 2010
- “The World Cup – South Africa!” June 11, 2010
- “South African President Zuma Snubs Obama (Michelle That Is),” June 24, 2011
- “Julius Malema: President Jacob Zuma’s Mini-Me,” August 18, 2011
- “Zuma Doing for South Africa What Mugabe Did for Zimbabwe,” September 11, 2010
- “South Africa Betraying Its [ANC] Values,” May 13, 2011
- “Is Nothing Sacred? ‘Being Mandela’ – the Reality-TV Show?” March 18, 2013
- “ANC Shamed for Treating Mandela like a Carnival Freak,” May 2, 2013
- “Chief Prosecutor Condemns SA President Zuma and His ruling ANC,” October 21, 2013
- “Mandela Is Dead,” December 6, 2013
- “South Africa Joins Ranks of Countries ‘Selling Its Sovereignty to China’,” October 3, 2014
- “Wither South Africa,” April 10, 2017…
- “South Africa Replaces Corrupt Zuma with Captured Ramaphosa,” February 16, 2018
- “Aping Zimbabwe, South Africa Expropriating White Farms to Give to Blacks,” August 12, 2018
- “Alas, as Much as SA Lifts Up Mandela, It Will Never Live Down Zuma,” September 29, 2018
- “Heart of Darkness Comes to Light as South Africa Apes Worst of Zimbabwe,” July 15, 2021
- “Nelson Mandela International Day Finds South Africa Lost,” July 18, 2022
- “South Africa Is Sending Arms to Russia – Because China Ordered It To,” May 12, 2023
- “South Africa Accuses Israel of Genocide at ICJ,” January 11, 2024
Mandela must be rolling over in his grave
In his inaugural address as South Africa’s first democratically elected president on May 10, 1994, Mandela famously declared:
Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world. Let freedom reign.
(The Guardian, February 10, 2001)
Clearly, he could not have foreseen that liberated Blacks would end up oppressing each other almost as much as apartheid Whites oppressed them.
Cry (still), this beloved country.
Legacy Note: With over 5,600 posts spanning 20 years, I am easily the most prolific blogger on the most eclectic array of topics on the web. That makes The iPINIONS Journal an unparalleled archive of informed political and cultural commentary. Visit the ARCHIVES section in the sidebar or search by topic. You won’t find a more consistent, independent voice on world affairs.