What kind of man is this?

Yesterday, South Africa welcomed its fifth President since the advent of democracy in 1994.

The first such President was Nelson Mandela, Nobel Peace Prize winner and internationally renowned statesman who bridged the racial divide to unite a new nation at a time when civil war seemed like an inevitability.  The "Mandela magic" was quite a surreal effect, and everyone knew he would be a tough act to follow.

That task fell to Thabo Mbeki, under whose watch the South African economy grew and service delivery improved.  At the same time, however, power was increasingly centered around the Presidency, as Mbeki became more and more controlling.  His unorthodox views on the link between HIV and AIDS prevented millions from receiving the anti-retroviral drugs they needed, and he earned the scorn of the international community for refusing to condemn Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.  Mbeki fired his deputy Jacob Zuma after he was embroiled in a corruption scandal surrounding an arms deal.

Zuma went on to win the ANC leadership, and saw to it that the party removed Mbeki from office.  Kgalema Mothlanthe was installed as "Caretaker President" until the next election.

And so, in 2009, Zuma assumed office.  His tenure as President has seen the rand slip to record lows, state-owned enterprises be stripped of their talent and capital and the criminal justice establishment removed of its teeth.  Together with the wealthy Gupta family, Zuma has enriched himself at the cost of ordinary South Africans.  The rich have become richer, the poor have become poorer.  Crucial positions like the Public Protector and National Director of Public Prosecutions have been filled with Zuma-friendly candidates, and he replaced one of the world's most respected Finance Ministers in an attempt to raid the National Treasury.  The Zuma house of cards came tumbling down in spectacular style this week, leading to the election and swearing-in of President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday.

So what kind of man are we dealing with?  Is he in the mould of Mandela, Mbeki or Zuma?

Ramaphosa first came to prominence in the 1970s as a leader of the Student Christian Movement, very much aligned with the "black consciousness" philosophy and served periods of detention and solitary confinement for his politics.  After qualifying in law, he went on to work for the Council of Unions of South Africa and was selected by them to establish the first major union for black mineworkers.  He not only became the first Secretary General of the National Union of Mineworkers, but won official recognition for the union with Anglo American and the Chamber of Mines.  He became famous as a skilled negotiator who did much to improve the lives of poor black mineworkers.  His work with the NUM led him into contact with the ANC, where he quickly rose to prominence.

He formed part of the National Reception Committee which prepared for the release of Nelson Mandela (watch footage of Mandela's first speech after his release - the man holding the microphone is none other than Cyril Ramaphosa) and soon after became the ANC's Secretary General.  He headed up the ANC's negotiations to form an interim constitution to bring about the first fully democratic elections.

It is well documented that Ramaphosa was Mandela's favoured successor, but that the ANC wanted Mbeki instead.  Ramaphosa took on the job as Chair of the Constitutional Assembly, and led the drafting of what is widely regarded as the world's most progressive human rights based constitutions.  When this task was done, feeling snubbed by Mbeki, he left frontline politics and entered the world of business, tasked by Mandela of establishing ways of black economic empowerment.

Beginning with zero capital, Ramaphosa wound up on the boards of several companies, most notably Johnnic, which had been sold off from Anglo American.  He later went on to found his own investment vehicle Shandkua and has become one of the wealthiest businessmen in South Africa, at one time owning the entire McDonald's franchise.

In 2012, he saw the opportunity to return to frontline politics and was elected Deputy President of the ANC and subsequently the country.  He played the long game during his Deputy Presidency, keeping his eyes on the prize as President, a position he won at the ANC elective conference in December based on his platform of rooting out the corruption of the Zuma years.  Just two months after his election, he has managed to remove Zuma from the Presidency of the country in a way that exposes his true character, he has replaced the board at state-owned power utility Eskom and he has given assurances of independence to law enforcement authorities allowing them to arrest, among others, many from the Gupta empire.  South Africa's clean up is underway.

It is notable that in his short speech accepting his election as President of the Republic yesterday, he reached out to all opposition leaders by name, inviting them to meet with him and eat with him to find a solution to the country's problems.  He made telling references to the values of Nelson Mandela.  He pledged to support nation building and reconciliation and to fight corruption and criminality.  As MPs from both sides of the house queued up to hug and congratulate him, it felt like the magic of 1994 was back.

Cyril Ramaphosa is a shrewd politician, tough negotiator and formidable businessman.  But above all, he is a constitutionalist and will fight to the end to ensure that South Africa's non-racist, non-sexist democracy succeeds.  Four Presidents late, Mandela's wish has been granted.

Strong and stable covfefe

2017 in review

Take a look at any look-back at this year's events and it would be easy to conclude that 2017 was a stinker.  But I'd like to throw in some optimism and suggest that maybe it wasn't such a bad year after all.

Okay, okay... there's the Trump thing, not to mention North Korea.  And Brexit is going about as well as can be expected.  Then there was the fall from grace of my one-time hero Aung San Suu-Kyi.  Not forgetting [insert your pet political grumble here].  I get it.  But hear me out.  Mugabe is no longer in power (granted that Mnangagwa may not be much better, but still), Zuma no longer leads the ANC (and hence, hopefully, will soon no-longer loot lead South Africa), UKIP has all but disappeared and Steps went on tour again.  Personally, it was quite a good year too.  I built a staircase and obtained my reindeer drivers' license (seriously).

Oh, and I became a father.

That's right... whatever the doom-peddlers may say, 2017 was a good year as the world welcomed this little bundle:

It gives an opportunity to put things in perspective.  Let me take you back to the early hours a September Friday morning...

I'm just in bed, having been sent away from the hospital as a spare part, when the phone rings.  This is it: the moment.  It was hard to make out the exact instruction through all the screams and profanities, but the gist was something like 'make haste to the labour suite'.

As I arrive and try to accept the reality of the situation, before I have the chance to do anything, the midwife calls me over to the side to warn me that already things are not looking straightforward.  There is a problem with baby's heartbeat, and a range of scenarios could ensue.

She takes me through her scenario-planning: if x happens, then y could happen, so we better do z just in case.  Then again, if a happens, we'd have to do b so I'm going to prepare c just in case.  Then again, d, e and f might all happen, and that would spell real trouble, so I've got g and h standing by.

"Do you play chess?" I ask her, hoping that levity will relieve the gravity of the situation.  "If you don't, you should."

The clock ticks forward, and more and more complicated pieces of monitoring equipment are attached and inserted as a stream of medics visit, look at the graphs and suck in through their teeth like a mechanic who is about to tell you the cylinder head has gone.  The various alarms and people racing from the room suggest there are several emergencies on the go at once.

"I've called in the on-call surgeon, just in-case," says the chess-playing midwife.  "And I've asked the Sick Kids to send out a paediatric emergency team."

It all sounds very serious, yet no-one is worried because this midwife appears to be super-woman.  There is surely no possible scenario she hasn't got a plan for.

In comes a consultant to look at the monitor, and before we know what's going on, everyone is whisked away down a labyrinth of corridors to theatre, and I'm thrown some scrubs to change in to.  It's all very ER.

Thirteen people it took to bring this one little life into the world: nine midwives, surgeons, anaesthetists and others in theatre, and two paediatric emergency doctors stood with me at the side.  In the end, they aren't needed, as the moment he's delivered, he's as healthy a baby as they've seen.  We all share a moment of gratitude that everything is well, thanks to this 13-strong medical team brought together by the chess-playing midwife.

It's hard not to think back to that night.  The harsh reality is that at any earlier time in history, mother and/or baby may not have survived this ordeal.  The harsher reality is that in most other parts of the world, such a team of specialists would be unaffordable, if available at all.

That we still, over 50 years later, have a National Health Service, free at the point of need, that can perform these most miraculous of acts daily is something for which we should be most grateful.  2017's not been so bad after all, has it?

It's time to take an interest (again)

If you are of a certain age, I'd be willing to bet you did your part in the anti-apartheid campaign.  Maybe you boycotted South African apples, moved money out of South African-linked investments or filled the cleverly re-named Nelson Mandela Place in a protest march.  Perhaps you watched the 'Free Mandela' concert from Wembley, bought the song by The Specials or signed a petition to keep South African cricketers out of the UK.  In lots of small ways, the people of the UK came together and condemned this crime against humanity.

If, like me, you're a little too young to be involved in all of that, then perhaps your seminal memories involve watching Nelson Mandela walk through the gates of Victor Verster Prison to freedom, or seeing him sworn in as South Africa's first democratically elected president, or watching him work his magic at the 1995 Rugby World Cup final, or hearing the accounts at the Truth & Reconciliation Commission... I could go on.

The fact is, that for several decades, the UK - and Scotland in particular - was caught up in the fight of black South Africans for their emancipation.  We followed their struggle, did what little we could to help and then rejoiced as the miracle of the "rainbow nation" unfolded.

Here's the thing, though: the time has come for us to get stuck in again.  The miracle has been coming undone.  Through a corrupt and reckless president, the last decade has seen the lives of ordinary South Africans plunged into despair, racial tensions re-stoked and Mandela's legacy trashed.  Desmond Tutu has described it as "worse than the apartheid government" - at least we would have expected it of them, he cries.  And yet, we in the UK are paying no interest.  But we should be...

Most people are shocked and stunned by Donal Trump's disinformation campaigns and use of "fake news" as propaganda to further his narrow cause, but on another continent, one Jacob G. Zuma has been doing the very same since he seized power at the 2007 ANC conference through what courts have now shown to be lies and deceit.  He engineered the removal of Thabo Mbeki as president of the country and established for himself a patronage network that has in the process destroyed parliament, cabinet, the Treasury, the Revenue Service, the police, the prosecutions service and the rule of law.  He has ensured that he and his network get richer, while the poor get poorer.  And the price to maintain this power?  Re-igniting the racial divisions of the past that Mandela's generation worked so hard to overcome.

Why should this matter to us?  Why should we again take up the cause?  The answer is simple: this is all being made possible because of UK companies.

British PR company Bell Pottinger masterminded a campaign blaming South Africa's woes on "white monopoly capital" and gave Zuma the racial narrative he was looking for.  As they profited from sowing division, we in the UK turned a blind eye.  (Since this was uncovered, Bell Pottinger has gone into administration - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41245719.)

KPMG was then found to have been involved in lending legitimacy to the regime and its associates through what it admits were "deficiencies" in its auditing of accounts associated with Zuma which "fell considerably short" of the required standards.  (More here: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/sep/15/bell-pottinger-fallout-deepens-kpmg-chiefs-south-africa.)

The Serious Fraud Office is investigating the use of HSBC and Standard Chartered accounts to launder money.  (See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41672793.)  Peter Hain has claimed that HSBC ignored warnings that this was going on (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41835937).  He also claims that Barclays and Santander need to check whether they have had any accounts used (https://www.fin24.com/Economy/british-peer-calls-for-london-based-bank-accounts-of-soes-to-be-investigated-20171206).

I could go on at some length...

The point is that 10 years before Trump burst on to the scene, JZ was using the same tactics in another hemisphere.  The UK has become bound up in his network of corruption and propaganda, and its time that we, who took such an interest in the anti-apartheid movement - did something about it to safeguard the freedoms secured by the Mandela generation.

But what could we do?  Rock concerts and apple boycotts won't achieve much this time round.  But we could investigate whether the companies we have money in have any links to Zuma or his associates the Guptas, and move it if they do.  We could lobby our foreign office to take a tougher stance against the stoking of racial tensions for personal gain.  But most importantly, we could take an interest.  During the days of apartheid, South Africans drew strength for their struggle from knowing that millions across the world stood in solidarity with them.  They need to know the same now.  So lets inform ourselves (start by watching these episodes of HARDtalk: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search?q=hardtalk south africa&search_group_id=urn:bbc:programmes:b006mg2m) and take an interest once again.


P.S. The ANC conference to elect Zuma's successor begins tomorrow.  The two leading candidates are Zuma's ex-wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Nelson Mandela's favoured choice as his own successor, Cyril Ramaphosa.  It would seem that the best hope to reclaim the principles of democracy would be a Ramaphosa victory.  Watch with interest...

Saying "totsiens"

Tuesday 27th September

Bole International Airport, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

As we set off towards the airport, traffic was very heavy and the reason became apparent as we approached the University of Cape Town.  Students were blocking the road in a protest against higher fees, calling for education to be free as described in the Freedom Charter.

In places, the protests are turning violent, which is extremely concerning to say the least, but at the moment, the ones ere are peaceful and good natured.

There's a general dissatisfaction with the ANC government everywhere we've been.  It seems that loyalty to the party of liberation has not been able to withstand the multiple corruption scandals of late, as the party's heavy losses in the recent local government elections have shown.  In the last few days, President Zuma has paid back a proportion of the Nkandla money, but it feels like rather too little too late.  It is clear he will now go, the only question is when.

"Enjoy the good exchange rate while you can," advised one local resident, "because when Zuma is gone, we will never allow this to happen again."

And that's the real story of South Africa.  It no longer shimmers with Mandela magic, but neither is it the failed state that some residents disgruntled with the fall of apartheid would have you believe.

Democracy is alive and well, there is a strong, independent judiciary and the office of the Public Protector is rooting out government corruption.  Things can only - and will only - continue to improve.

The repeated plea we've heard everywhere is for people to come here - the economy is dependent on foreign visitors.  And so that is my plea, too.  Visit.  This is the most geographically beautiful, ecologically fascinating and culturally diverse country in the world.  South African's are friendly and welcoming, their wildlife enthralling that there really is something for everyone - beaches, cities, wilderness, desert, luxury, basics and a retreat for the soul.

So visit.  And visit.  And visit again.  It will transform the way you see the world and will captivate your heart in a way that will never leave you.

I for one can't wait to get back...

Note: Since this diary entry was written, political events have moved apace in South Africa.  Thuli Madonsela has finished her term as Public Protector and her successor seems less enthusiastic in holding the government's feet to the fire.  Zuma is trying to block Madonsela's report into 'state capture' and her successor is not defending it.  Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan is facing trumped up charges of fraud (for offering someone early retirement) in a bid to have him replaced with someone more Zuma-friendly.  South Africa has withdrawn from the International Criminal Court.  The student protests have become increasingly violent, with many deaths now occurring.  Rather than deal with the protests, Zuma took himself off to Kenya to discuss the urgent matter of avocado prices.  Many of these matters come before the highest court in the land in November and I truly hope and believe that South Africa's courts are strong and independent and that justice will take its course.

Die Eiland

Friday 23rd September

Hout Bay, Cape Town, Western Cape Province

Die Eiland

Looking out from Table Bay, just 12km from the shore sits the unmistakeable outline of Robben Island. 

As we sailed towards it on a modern catamaran with dolphins swimming alongside, it could not have been a more different arrival that that experienced by its prisoners who would be enclosed in darkness in the bowels of the Susan Kruger on the choppy sea.

The tour of the island began by bus, revealing the graves of its former leper colony, the warders' village and the house of Robert Sobukwe - a man deemed so dangerous the was not allowed with the other prisoners.

After that, we were shown around the Maximum Security Prison by one of its former inmates Zozo, who spent five years here from 1977-1982 for protesting during the Soweto Uprising of 1976.

The clanging of the metal doors is reminiscent of the opening credits of Porridge, but this is no HMP Slade, and the wardens here would have made Mr Mackay seem like Father Christmas.

Exercise yard and Mandela's garden

We were shown the admissions room, the censor's office where prisoners' letters were cut to shreds, the exercise yard (including Mandela's garden), the solitary confinement unity and the cells of B-section, but there's just one cell that most people are interested in - that of prisoner 466/64 - Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.

Zozo used this opportunity, as he did many others, to preach Mandela's message of peace and reconciliation - "otherwise, this is all for nothing.  You must forogive.  You must forgive."

Clearly, though, this is not an easy experience for him.  Asked if it is important to him to tell his story, he replies, "No.  I do not want to be here - it is too traumatic.  But I need to feed my family."  As we pass the solitary confinement unit he mumbles, "They send you here and they do things to you.  Things I can't talk about."  As the tears well up in his eyes, it is difficult to realise that he has to relive these horrors multiple times each day for the benefit of tourists.

Mandela's cell

As we say farewell in D-section, he finishes with an impassioned plea - "Please, go home and tell everyone in your country that South Africa is an amazing country where all are equal before the law.  Encourage them to visit.  We need them, and we need their investment.  Please, tell people to come."

And so I do: Zozo is right - this is the most wonderful country and you really must visit.

After a very rough crossing back to the V&A Waterfront, we took a ride on the Cape Wheel to get a look over the bay. 

This was nothing, however, compared to the view from the top of Table Mountain, which we ascended by cable car.

Zozo

Die Eiland was clearly visible from the top, and the opposite is also true.  From Robben Island, Table Mountain loomed so large it must have offered Mandela and his comrades a constant and taunting glimpse of freedom.  A freedom - thank God - they were able to see in their lifetime.  For countless others, though, their part in the struggle did not allow them to see the benefits it won.

Looking from the mountain over the glorious white-sand beaches, the busy modern city, the lush vineyards of the winelands, Zozo's plea again comes to mind - this is a wonderful country, and you really must visit.

View from Table Mountain - the Beloved Country

A limerick tribute to Thuli...

In her role as the Public Protector -
SA's corruption inspector -
Thuli Madonsela
was something quite stellar:
if she stands for high office, elect her!

Despite intimidation and threat,
she proved a tremendous asset:
she spoke truth to power,
caused grown men to cower
in a way we will never forget.

With bravery and with good humour,
she stood up to President Zuma.
To cries of "Amandla!"
she showed that Nkandla
was more than an EFF rumour.

At the close of a seven year chapter,
she bowed out to cheers of great rapture,
but right to the end
she had to defend
investigating State Capture.

So now at the end of her reign,
Thuli's legacy will remain.
Her's certainly will
be big shoes to fill,
but our loss is Stellenbosch's gain.

The world's most remarkable woman?

I'd like to stop and salute one of the world's most remarkable women.  She has championed the cause of justice.  She has stood up to powerful male bullies.  She has faced death threats and intimidation.  She has almost single-handedly fought to defend democracy and good governance and to combat corruption.  And yet, most Brits will never have heard of her.

Advocate Thuli Madonsela

Her name is Thuli Madonsela and at midnight, she ended her seven year term as South Africa's Public Protector, a sort of ombudsman into all areas of government and executive life.

When she was appointed in 2009, the Office of the Public Protector didn't have much of a profile, would not have been seen by those in office as a threat to their power and Madonsela was not regarded as anything special.  But that disregards her history...

In the early 1980s, she was a teacher in Swaziland then Soweto, and went on to work for the trade union movements fighting against apartheid, serving in both the ANC and the United Democratic Movement.  She completed legal studies at the University of Swaziland in 1987 and qualified as an advocate in 1990.  In 1994, she turned down the chance to become an ANC MP, believing politics would not allow her to make her "best contribution as a human being."  She became part of Nelson Mandela's team to draft South Africa's constitution, widely regarded as the most progressive and egalitarian in the world, and went on to serve on the South African Law Reform Society.

From her appointment as Public Protector, she has investigated South Africa's most powerful people, including the Chief of Police, the chair of the ANC Youth League, government ministers and leading businesspeople and has been a constant thorn in the side of an increasingly corrupt President Zuma.  She has ruthlessly investigated government excesses, incompetence and corruption and reported boldly with her own artistic flair. 

In the most publicised case, she found in 2014 that President Jacob Zuma had benefited unduly from R23million of public money spent on his private residence in Nkandla.  These so-called "security upgrades" included a swimming pool, an amphitheatre, a cattle kraal and a chicken coup.  She ordered that Zuma should pay back an appropriate sum to the public purse.  But Zuma, and the ANC in parliament, took every opportunity to dismiss her report and her powers.  She was publicly threatened by leading members of the party and accused of being "partisan" and "overstepping her office".

But Madonsela was unflinching.  She held press conference after press conference exposing the truth of what the President and his bully-boys were up to.  She tweeted with words so brave they bordered on foolish.  She took Zuma, Parliament and the Speaker of Parliament to the highest court in the land... and won.  The Constitutional Court found that the President, Speaker and Parliament had all "failed to uphold the constitution" in not carrying out Madonsela's remedial actions.  Last month, Zuma finally paid back some of the money.  The Goliath of the system was no match for Madonsela's David.

Even on her last day in the job, Madonsela was fighting to speak truth to power.  She announced she would release the report into her investigation into "state capture", prompted when Minister Jonas revealed he had been offered the position of Finance Minister by a wealth businessman.

At the last minute, Zuma and Minister Des van Rooyen launched legal proceedings to try and interdict her from reporting, clearly hoping to kick the issue into the long grass when the new Public Protector takes over.  The interdict hearing will be held on 1st November, but she has preserved her report, lodging a copy with the Speaker of Parliament so that it can be released in full once the proceedings are over even though she is no longer in office.

On Wednesday, she was announced as one of the Tällberg Foundation's Global Leaders - one of the five most important and influential women in the world.

Madonsela insists she just did her job, but without her, South Africa could have become another Zimbabwe with a leadership seeking only to enhance and entrench its own power.  Because of her courage and leadership, democracy and the rule of law remain intact. 

I encourage you to find out more about this remarkable woman.  Google "Thuli Madonsela".  Watch her interview with BBC Hardtalk on iPlayer.  Share her story far and wide as an important female role model.  And watch out... if she is prepared to break her self-imposed ban from politics, we could one day be looking at President Thuli Madonsela.

Same sky, different horizons

Tuesday 13th September

Central Business District, Johannesburg, Gauteng Province

"We all live under the same sky, but each sees a different horizon."

Cheetah, Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre

So reads the introduction to the Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre.

Cheetah, once having five species spread over four continents, are down to one species located in a few pockets of Africa.  As they prey on the livestock of pastoral farmers, they are routinely shot and their numbers have dwindled to a critical level.

Ann van Dyk grew up on a chicken farm in De Wildt, where she developed an interest in feeding the various wild cats that passed by.  Hearing of the chance to adopt three cheetah cubs in the 1970s, she decided to create a space for them on the farm and try to breed them.  Since then, she has established one of the largest cheetah breeding programmes and has released over 800 cheetah into the wild.

Perhaps more importantly, she has set up a programme to help the local population see a different horizon and conserve rather than kill the cheetah.

Lily exercising

A few cheetah which have had to be hand-reared (for medical or other reasons) and so cannot be released to the wild become her "ambassadors" - visiting schools, communities and farms to educate and develop a love for these animals.

It was three of these ambassador cheetah that we met early in the morning as they exercised by chasing a lure - rather like the rabbit a greyhound might chase at a racecourse.

First up was Lily, a fairly young cheetah who can easily reach a speed of 120 km/h.  Then comes Jules, a "king" cheetah bearing a striped rather than spotted pattern caused by a genetic mutation.  King cheetah are not bred because they do not stand a high chance of survival in the wild.  Lastly comes Harris, an ageing cheetah recovering from surgery.  He is less ken to run, and has worked out that if he sits still, the lure will come full circle back to him.

The cheetah purrs away like a regular house cat

After this, we tour the farm, which is currently home to 112 cheetah, many of which will be released into Pilanesberg from where we have come.  The centre also breeds wild dogs - there are currently over 80 here out of a total population of just 300 in all of South Africa.

Refuge is also offered to animals which cannot live a natural life in the wild - vultures injured on power lines, troublesome honey badgers, rescued cerval and caracal.

At 86, Ann van Dyk is still very much involved in the conservation work.  The whole centre - and the survival of the cheetah as a whole - are a testament to what one woman can achieve.

From the centre, after a hair-raising drive across Johannesburg's central highway, we arrived at the Apartheid Museum to relive a portion of this country's horrific recent past.

Apartheid Museum

At the outset, we are allocated a racial group - I am white, Amanda non-white - and we are forced to use separate entrances and amenities based on this arbitrary classification.  Although only in the context of a museum, this feels degrading and unjust - a fitting introduction to such a topic.

The museum charts the arrival of the first European settlers, the Great Trek, the Anglo-Boer War, the Union of South Africa, the rise of the National Party, the legislative creation of Apartheid, the protests, the detention without trial, the bannings, the overseas pressure, the release of Mandela, the dawning of democracy and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Parts of the story are harrowing - the footage of 'necklacing' where impimpis (informers) had a tyre filled with petrol placed over their head and set alight, the replica security police detention cells, the 115 nooses hanging from the ceiling representing those political convicts sentenced to death.

Yet the story is also one of hope.  For all of its problems - and they are legion - South Africa has achieved the unachievable.  And it is a story that, however hard, must be told.  Every child must learn of the hatred of the past so they can prevent it happening tomorrow.

The whole experience concludes in a sanctuary garden.  The sign reads:

"Take some time to walk in the garden.

Think about all that has gone before

and all that is yet to come.

Then walk away free."

From cheetah to race relations, education is transforming this wonderful country.

I may have just done something foolish...

If the commentariat are to be believed, the upper echelons of the Labour Party have gone into panic mode as the possibility of Jeremy Corbyn being elected their next leader increases.  The accepted wisdom seems to be that a "left-wing" candidate like Corbyn would be "unelectable" and would be, according to the Spectator, a "coup for the Tories".  The Telegraph suggests that were Corbyn to become leader, Labour would face "20 years in the wilderness".  Cue countless comparisons to Michael Foot.

This view is predicated on an analysis of Labour's election defeat which concludes that the electorate did not trust Labour to manage the economy well, that Labour appealed too narrowly, that Labour did not occupy enough of the central ground, that Labour did not have enough to say to the "aspirational classes", whatever that means.  Many have claimed that Ed Milliband was "too left-wing" - "Red Ed" they dubbed him.

There seems to be an unchallenged assumption that in order to become electable, Labour needs to occupy more of the traditionally Conservative ground.  Over the course of the last parliament, and especially since the election, Labour has adopted the policy of austerity and largely accepted the economic argument put forward by Osborne and company.  They even happily adopted the Conservative line that Labour had spent too much, despite the fact that until the banking crisis, Labour had run a smaller deficit than Thatcher did.  And yet, the Labour front bench were falling over themselves to say they'd spent too much and to distance themselves from everything to do with the previous Labour government.  I was even more astounded on Sunday to see Labour's acting leader say that they would not oppose the changes to social security and tax credits in last week's budget.

If this analysis is correct, then yes, Jeremy Corbyn would be an electoral disaster.  However, I just don't buy this narrative.  While the reasons for the Conservative election victory are many and complex (for example, the Tories successfully played on the fear some parts of the English electorate had of what a Labour-SNP coalition might look like), I would like to suggest that the reason for Labour's defeat was much more straight-forward... they were just the same as all the others.

During the election campaign, I chuckled as the suggestions on Twitter read "Similar to Ed Milliband: David Cameron, Nick Clegg".  It told a truth that few were willing to admit.  Reading the manifestos of the Conservative and Labour parties, I struggled to work out where the difference was, especially on economic policy.  Both offered cuts and austerity, both offered little to the most vulnerable in society, both tried so much to occupy the so-called "centre ground" that they stood for very little.  George Osborne's budget last week could have been lifted straight from the Labour manifesto, and that is very telling.

When the Labour Party stops standing up for the poorest and most needy in our society, is it any wonder that Scotland opted for the (more "left-wing") SNP and that England agreed better the devil you know?

Perhaps Labour's key to electoral success might not come in another carbon-copy leader and more of the same austerity narrative.  Perhaps Labour's best chance lies in returning to its founding values, in a leader who stands up for the poorest, in... dare I say it... socialism.

And so I may have just done something foolish... I've just registered as a Labour supporter (it only costs £3) so that I can vote for Jeremy Corbyn as leader.  I'm not doing this because I admire Corbyn's leadership skills or agree with everything he says.  I'm not doing this because I believe he is the solution to all Labour's problems.  I'm doing this because this country needs a Labour Party which is prepared to stand up for the most disadvantaged.  This country needs an effective party of opposition.  We've already got a Conservative Party - we need a party which offers an alternative vision.

Maybe thinking that Corbyn could be electable is foolish, maybe those who say Labour should seek "power rather than purity" are wiser, but then again, maybe the "foolishness" of wealth re-distribution is just the sort of foolishness we need to become a fairer society.

And they'll whisper to you, "socialism's dying...  

you cannae sell it at the supermarket till."   

But while there's fifty left like me,  

we'll make bloody sure they see  

that ideals are the hardest thing to kill. 

A threat to democracy

I begin with an apology for yet another post about South African politics, but the events of yesterday cannot go unremarked upon.  It amazes me that they were not reported on any UK network news.  Democracy was hard fought for in this country, and yesterday it faced grave threats.

Last night, President Zuma was to give the annual State of the Nation Address (SONA) to a joint sitting of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces at the parliament in Cape Town.  I wrote yesterday that it would be an interesting political event given the current situation in the country, but I could not have expected the chaos which ensued.

Before the sitting even began, protests began in the media gallery as they discovered that their mobile signals were being jammed by a clocking device, preventing them from live reporting the events.  No decision had ever been taken by parliament to do this, and indeed such devices are illegal for use except by state security departments.  South Africa's constitution expressly provides freedom of information communication in situations such as this.

As soon as the speaker opened the session, MP after MP from the opposition parties raised points of order demanding that the signal be unblocked.  The speaker ordered the Secretary to the Parliament to investigate and eventually the signal blocker was turned off and business could proceed.

Or not, as the case turned out.  President Zuma had barely spoken a few words when it became clear that his microphone was not working, a result of the Parliament staff withdrawing their labour.  This (and the water supply for thirsty MPs) fixed, at last Zuma could deliver the SONA.

Again, maybe not.  Shortly after starting, the President was interrupted the Whip of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) who raised a question of privilege with the Speaker asking when the President was going to pay back money spent on his private residence in KwaZulu Natal that the Protector said he had unduly benefited from.  The Speaker stated that this session was not for questions, and that there would be ample opportunity to question the President at next week's sitting.

Before she had even completed, another EFF member raised the same point, followed by another, at which point the Speaker lost her temper and ordered the member to leave the chamber.  This provoked a number of EFF members to raise points of order asking under which rule the Speaker was ejecting their colleagues, and these members were too asked to leave.  When they refused, the Speaker sent in security forces to remove them.

During this time, the parliamentary TV feed focused on the speaker, but footage was shot by mobile phone from the press gallery which shows plain-clothed, armed security forces violently dragging the entire EFF party from the parliament.  Mercedes Besent, a journalist from SABC who got caught up in the scuffle reported seeing security officials "kicking, beating and dragging" EFF MPs out of the building.  One of the MPs ended up in hospital.

The Leader and Chief Whip of the official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), then continually asked the speaker whether these security men were parliamentary officials or police.  This was a key issue, DA Leader Maimane said, as one reports to the Speaker while the other reports to the executive, and this would be "unconstitutional".  When the Speaker and Chairwoman refused to say whether they were police or not, the DA walked out of the chamber, followed by the other opposition parties COPE and the UDM.

So, an hour later than planned, and speaking only to his own party, President Zuma was able to deliver his SONA, beginning - without a hint of irony - by commemorating 60 years since the adoption of the Freedom Charter and 25 years sice the release of Mandela.

Understandably, huge controversy has surrounded the events.  Clearly, the EFF were wrong to try and disrupt the business of parliament and the speaker had to take some action to ensure the SONA could go ahead, but was she right to eject members raising points of order without first hearing their point?  Then comes the question of the security forces.  If they were police or private forces entering parliament to remove an entire opposition party, this constitutes a breach of the separation of powers required for a transparent democracy.  Note also that the entire EFF were removed though only a handful of individuals had been asked to leave by the speaker.  With the remaining opposition parties walking out, what kind of scrutiny does it offer to the South African people if only the governing party is present for such an important occasion?  And what about the signal blocker?  On whose authority was that installed and what information were they trying to contain?

Ultimately, media and political attention has focused on these issues rather than the content of the SONA.  With half of South African young people unemployed, the value of the rand sliding, protests against foreign shopkeepers in Soweto continuing, the University of KwaZulu Natal closed due to protests and enforced power cuts due to ramp up tomorrow, I would suggest that the people of South Africa deserve a democracy which holds the executive to account and that all parties and parliamentary authorities need to work together to achieve this.

Former President Thabo Mbeki said of the events, "We are elected by people who want to find solutions; all political parties need to discuss this.  You can't tell a person that you can't ask that question.  Don't use administrative problems to solve political problems.  You've got to confront the political elements and have a political engagement."

The blocking of communications and the use of armed forces to violently remove an entire opposition party cannot be allowed in a free, democratic society.  This, combined with an opposition unable to hold the executive to account, constitutes a real threat to democracy.