Thuma mina, sings Lutheran Ramaphosa

On Thursday 15 February Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa was sworn in as President of the Republic of South Africa. He succeeded Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, according to Al-Jazeera an embattled ex-leader.

In my understanding this is good for South Africa. But one should not be to optimistic. Compared with Zuma, Ramaphosa is a much better leader. That is my deep conviction. But he is still a tainted leader. He was one of the owners of the Lonmin mine, where the Marikana massacre took place 16 August 2012. 17 mine workers were killed. Shot by the police.

Ramaphosa is also a very rich person. This could be an asset. He does not need corruption. He already has enough. At the same time he is distant from the poor and marginalized.

Ramaphosa talar vid en begravning i en luthersk kyrka.

Having said that I must confess that I appreciate his leadership style. One reason for that could be that he originates from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Southern Africa (ELCSA) the very church that my own Church, Church of Sweden (CoS) has been in partnership with for more than a century. According to the Limpopo Mirror he

… grew up under strict Christian supervision as his mother was a staunch member of the Lutheran Church.

I am not sure whether or not he himself belongs or has belonged to ELCSA. Be that as it may, I guess that I somehow connect with him.

I have read his State of Nation Address (SONA). Much of it is of course normal rhetoric. It is interesting though, that he speaks firmly about land expropriation without compensation:

Guided by the resolutions of the 54th National Conference of the governing party, this approach will include the expropriation of land without compensation.

We are determined that expropriation without compensation should be implemented in a way that increases agricultural production, improves food security and ensure that the land is returned to those from whom it was taken under colonialism and apartheid.

This clear message was sandwiched in between reconciling words. He started by stating that the year to come will be a commemoration of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela’s centenary. He was born in 1918. Ramaphose said:

Guided by his example, we will use this year to reinforce our commitment to ethical behaviour and ethical leadership.

Another icon was also born the same year:

Albertina Nontsikelelo Sisulu

Ramaphosa continued:

We honour this son and this daughter of the African soil in a year of change, in a year of renewal, in a year of hope.

On twitter I have seen many examples that people found hope in the speech. One tweet comments this in a very ironic way:

He spoke openly about how poverty levels have risen in 2015, how unemployment has gone up and how inequality has persisted. He also admitted that the that economy has not grown for several years. 

Of course he also spent time talking about the role of education, investment and job creation. The latter especially with the youth in focus.

An interesting thing was the announcement that the Government will introduce the first national minimum wage in South Africa in 1 of May. He also announced that

… free higher education and training will be available to first year students from households with a gross combined annual income of up to R350 000.

He also mentioned a continuing fight against HIV where the goal is set:

This year, we will take the next critical steps to eliminate HIV from our midst.

The opposition will monitor how these promises are kept. On Times Live I heard Julius Malema talk about this. The EFF will hold Ramaphosa accountable, said Malema. They gave him a chance to deliver his speech. Malema said they (EFF) want peace in the parliament.

Most interesting will be how Ramaphosa deals with his predecessor, Zuma. Will he (and the state institutions) hold him accountable? That is still to be seen. Ramaphosa said:

This is the year in which we will turn the tide of corruption in our public institutions.

The criminal justice institutions have been taking initiatives that will enable us to deal effectively with corruption.

I hope that justice really will prevail.

Ramaphosa concluded by citing a well-known South African musician, Hugh Masekela. The song is called: Thuma mina.

I wanna be there when the people start to turn it aroundWhen they triumph over poverty
I wanna be there when the people win the battle against AIDS
I wanna lend a hand
I wanna be there for the alcoholic
I wanna be there for the drug addict
I wanna be there for the victims of violence and abuse
I wanna lend a hand
Send me.

'Send me' in isiXhosa and isiZulu is 'Thuma mina'. This is the watch word of the Lutheran Youth League in ELCSA. Was this song chosen by coincidence? 

#freeajstaff

Today three Al Jazeera journalists have been detained in Egypt without committing any crime. We watch Al Jazeera News almost every day. We are very impressed by the channel that mentions this detention every day. I cannot say if they do it every hour but at 7 pm it is mentioned. Every day!

Baher Mohamed, Mohamed Fahmy and Peter Greste were arrested in Cairo on December 29, 2013 under false charges of aiding the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and spreading false news.

So, today, when they have been detained a whole year, I also want to add my voice:

Free AJ staff

By doing this I also want to remember the Swedish Dawit Isaak, who has been detained by Eritrea over 13 years.

Allow journalists to do their job!

Period!

Lesotho – what is going on?

It is a "long and winding road" to stability and peace in Lesotho.

This is my third blog post about the current situation in Lesotho. More and more I feel I have to state upfront:

I am writing under correction.

Lesotho is only a few hours away. But the news I get through media (both old and new) are confusing. Has there been a military coup or not? I don’t know.

Al Jazeera writes about the conflict between Lesotho's deputy prime minister and leader of the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) Mothetjoa Metsing and the Prime Minister, Thomas Thabane, leader of the All Basotho Congress (ABC). Together with a third party – the Basotho National Party (BNP) - they form a coalition.

The problem, according to Al Jazeera, is (and this I think really happened some months ago):

Thabane himself announced a nine-month suspension of parliament, effectively escaping a no-confidence vote that would have seen him ousted.

The political crisis that came out of this culminated on Saturday, when soldiers surrounded police headquarters and also shut down radio stations for hours. But was this a coup d'état? Al Jazeera writes about the events on Saturday:

… what may, or may not, have been a coup …

Nevertheless, the Prime Minister fled to South Africa. And on Sunday and Monday the SADC called the parties to talks. BBC reports that the SADC

… have rejected calls by Lesotho's exiled Prime Minister Thomas Thabane for the immediate deployment of troops to help restore order in his country …

This is indeed the right decision. It seems as if the solution rather lies in reopening the parliament, as an analyst says to Al Jazeera:

You just need to reopen parliament. Once it opens, the normal constitutional procedures can be followed to change the government.

Good news and bad news from Africa

The good news from South Africa is that the five month long mining strike ends. BDLive reports that workers will go back to work on Wednesday. But I have also understood that some of the platinum companies had a lot of platinum in stock, so maybe the strike, for them, came in handy.

It has however been bad for South African economy and the families of the mine workers have suffered. Amcu asked for ZAR 12 500 per month. Some of them might get this in three years time. It is difficult to understand if all the workers will get this much. ZAR 12 500 is not much if you take into account that the work is dangerous and they work long hours way from their families. It equals EUR 870. But at least its better than many other South African employees.

Another good announcement is that the Sudanese woman Meriam Ibrahim is released from death row. According to The Guardian it might be the result of international campaigns.

But on the other hand there are no good news from Nigeria about the 200+ schoolgrils, who according to News24, are still missing. Despite international campaigns.

Just like the three Al Jazeera journalists in Egypt, who were sentenced today to long sentences. This is sad news for media freedom. And it is sad news for Egypt. What happened to the arabic spring?

Just over 50% voted in SA

We whatch Al Jazeera a lot. Yesterday evening I saw ‘Inside story’ and one of the commentators was Adam Habib (vice chancellor and principal of the University of Witwatersrand). He made me aware of two important aspects of the election.

The first point was that all the 73.42% that casted their votes are not 73.42% of all adult South Africans. The percentage refers to all registered voters. News 24 also claimed the following the day before the election:

Over 10 million eligible voters in South Africa have not registered to vote in tomorrow's elections.

If this is true the picture suddenly changes. The IEC states on its website that 25 381 293 persons are registered. If another 10 000 000 could have registered it means that around 35 000 000 are eligible voters. And close to 18 500 000 have voted. This makes the percentage just over 50%. Not so impressive. I didn’t know this. Habib said that this is a sign of voting apathy and a wakeup call to all the parties.

Second he made a point about the DA. In his opinion the DA has reached a ‘plateau’. His argument was that the ANC is becoming a party for the middle class and therefore there are no more votes to fetch for the DA that side. They could move left of the ANC. This will obviously not happen. In this scenario the EFF is bound to grow in the next election. Already in 2016 South Africa will have municipal elections. I heard a number of EFF-politicians claim that 2016 will be their year.

So maybe this is the scenario. Not that a new, alternative major black party will grow on the right of the ANC but to the left. I have never thought about this but it might happen. Then of course the EFF might become the new ally of the Communist party. As well as to some of the groupings within Cosatu that does not support the ANC.

When I look at this illustration, from the IEC website, I can easily imagine a scenario where the ANC, the DA, and the EFF in the future will meet after the ANC has declined, the DA reached a plateau and the EFF having grown bigger.

Boston eller Bagdad?

De flesta har hört talas om bomberna i Boston. Mycket media-intresse har det varit. Sydafrikansk media har också rapporterat. Det var en del sydafrikaner där. Missar vi nyheterna på TV kl 19, så är det skralt med sändningar. Kanske någon sändning på språk vi inte behärskar. Men annars fylls TV-kanalerna mest av serier och såpor. Därför ser vi på Al Jazeera English. Ett tag trodde jag att det var en slags alternativ nyhetsförmedlare, som skulle ge ett annat perspektiv på det som händer i den globala byn. Och visst, de har mycket täckning av skeendet i Syrien, Irak och Afghanistan. Men bomdådet i Boston får nog, relativt sett, mer utrymme. (När ny påve skulle väljas, sände Al Jazeera live från Petersplatsen timmar i sträck.) Jag är ingen media-vetare, så jag kan ju bara spekulera i varför västerländska företeelser får mer utrymme. Kanske är det för att de flesta TV-nyhetskanaler är finansierade av reklam och de som gör reklam vill att folk ska sitta kvar och titta. I skrivandes stund har jag dock svårt att dra mig till minnes hur mycket reklam som sänds på Al Jazeera. Men jag tror i alla fall att det förekommer.

Tillbaka till frågan: Boston eller Bagdad? Det sker ju fler dödsfall i Bagdad. Därför är det ju på ett sätt värre, det som sker där. Samtidigt är varje dödsfall i sig en oerhörd tragik. Att värdera det ena dödsfallet i förhållande till det andra låter sig inte göras.

Av en mycket speciell anledning blev dock svaret på frågan denna gång: Boston! För yngsta dottern bor i Somerville, som ligger i det som kallas Greater Boston. Därför satt vi som klistrade framför Al Jazeera i måndags. Vi ringde och skypade och visste ganska snart att dottern var i säkerhet. Men blotta tanken, att hon kunde varit skadad, skrämde. Hade hon inte just då jobbat, hade hon tänkt vara där.

Därför är jag glad för mediatäckningen denna gång. Samtidigt vill jag understryka att varje liknande dåd som utförs, är lika förskräckligt. Vare sig det är av en enskild människa, en organisation eller en stat. Jag har väldigt svårt att försvara bomber. Jag vet att det finns situationer när människor tar till vapen som en sista utväg. Jag vet att det finns skäl att argumentera för länders rätt att försvara sig vid anfall. Men ändå: bomber är inte OK! Vare sig de placeras dit i förväg eller släpps från ett plan!

Dotterns närvaro i Boston ledde till en löpsedel i Östran och en artikel både i papperstidningen och på nätet. Länken kommer här. Vi gläder oss över att hon är oskadd, samtidigt som vi deltar i den sorg, rädsla och oro som många känner efter det som hänt. Min innerliga bön är att de röster i världen som vill försoning och rättvisa, som en förutsättning för fred, ändå ska höras mest. Jag vill vara en sådan röst!

 Gatubild från Boston sommaren 2012, när vi var där på besök

How to rob Africa and Rosa Parks

Igår var det 100 år sedan Rosa Parks föddes. En förebild! Man kan se mer om detta här.

Idag kan man läsa vad två ageravolontärer bloggar om från gruvmötet i Kapstaden. Det kan man göra här. Eller se en dokumentär om Afrikas gruvindustri, producerad av Al Jazeera, vilket man kan göra här.

Människor som säger ifrån behövs!

Ludde trivs i sitt mödernesland

En mycket kort bloggpost beskriver nu några av våra landvinningar i vår nya hemstad.

- Vi har gått med i det gym, som vi var med i då vi bodde i Bloemfontein mellan 2002 och 2006: Virgin Active.

- TV-uppkoppling med de kanaler som är gratis. Bl a Al Jazeera.

- En student till har flyttat in i gårdshuset: MT, som är god vän till Malibongwe.

- Vi har fått fast internetuppkoppling i vårt hus.

- Vår hund har fått en ny boll. Det visade sig att en basketboll är bättre att leka med. Den kan han inte bita i och alltså går den inte sönder. Via youtube går det att beskåda hans bollkonster. Klicka här.

Usama bin Laden är död

TT konstaterar kort:

Tio års jakt på Usama bin Ladin är över. En amerikansk säkerhetsstyrka har dödat al-Qaidaledaren i Pakistan, på order av USA:s president Barack Obama. Kroppen efter den ökände terrorledaren har begravts till sjöss. (TT)

Vad har hänt? och vad ska man tycka om detta? Jag söker på Al Jazeera och tydligen är det sant. Man kan läsa kommentarer. Palestinska och Israeliska myndigheter tycker att det är bra. Det gör inte Hamas. Resten av världen gläds. I USA jublar man.
Jag är emot dödsstraff! Jag tar verkligen inte bin Ladin i försvar. Det gör jag inte med någon mördare. Men jag är ändå emot dödsstraff. Eller ska jag tycka att USA har rätt att utdöma dödsstraff?

Viktigare är dock svaret på frågan: Kommer detta att bidra till en fredligare värld? Det tror inte Al Jazeera. Inte heller jag!