Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: article on zuma protests

there are no words from the ground that aren't mediated to us, one way or another. we seek reliable sources, and eventually if we are lucky get to recognize who are the strong reporters whose reporting we trust. what else can we do? the newspaper as well matters. i am impressed by al jazeera, especially on africa, where it seems more serious in its coverage than other major media whose coverage is often scanty.

anyway, i was impressed by the piece as i read on: it seemed smart and reliable.

as we read more, hear more as you suggest cornelius, the deeper our understanding of the issues.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

harrow@msu.edu

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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2021 8:20 PM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: article on zuma protests

 

"Interesting - would like to hear more words from the ground to cut through media filters ", is a fair response to that al Jazeera opinion piece.

Today, South Africa's Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula (official horse's mouth) was busy doing his job, voicing his official outrage on BBC Hardtalk , where he deserved a fair hearing.

As a representative of the official stance and the official wrath it was worth listening to him sometimes squirming on the hook as he was being grilled by Stephen Sackur ( that's why it's called Hardtalk) and this time the theme of the entire 25 mins long program was devoted to this extended question which came up in many guises: "Is the ruling ANC being confronted with its own failure?"

He could have been asked, " If you had not disrespected Jacob Zuma, would all this spontaneous combustion have happened?"

( I have the uncanny feeling that there could have been an even more terrible and terrifying spontaneous combustion of real fire and mayhem from hell if an all-white jury had announced that they were unanimous in their verdict and had found Derek Chauvin "Not Guilty!"

There would have been more than just a little a burnin' and a lootin' for many nights

Stephen Sackur's first question :

" Tell me minister, how would you characterise the shocking - the terrible violence that swept across parts of your country last week?"

Minister did not mince his words :

"It was a hyped-up accumulation of anarchy at the highest level - as you know, anarchy is the highest state of disorder, and then it exhibited opportunistic elements like criminality, as a result of the unemployed jumping on the bandwagon of looting, because their vulnerability which in the main, majority are just innocent bystanders who just joined the hype – but the orchestrators of this, from the calls of mobilisation from the social networks, has all the characteristics of an attempt on undermining the democratic state and mobilising for its overthrow."

Was Minister suggesting - like his boss Ramaphosa , that it was a co-ordinated attempt of insurrection ( Rambo – vs Ramaphosa) was the inevitable follow-up question.

To the very end, it was quite an interesting discussion.

Just as in the US political lexicon, we have the " Deep State" so too in the South African context a fresh term that has been occurring regularly surfaced in this discussion too and needs clarification, namely what South Africans mean by " State Capture", a meaningful term that could well creep into Nigerian political discourse soon enough, since at least some of the elements that define it are already in place, in Nigeria.

South African Media: news sites and online newspapers

I'm also broken-hearted and right now I'm at page 107 of Tony Kent's Healing the Broken Heart

Thumbs up! Blessed are the broken-hearted, for they shall be healed

Somebody please say " Amen"

On Wednesday, 21 July 2021 at 01:56:16 UTC+2 Kenneth Harrow wrote:

here is an exhaustive treatment on the complicated issues now at play in the violent actions in south africa. they seems to go beyond zuma himself.

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/7/20/the-insurrection-in-south-africa-is-about-more-than-freeing-zuma

The insurrection in South Africa is about more than freeing Zuma | Corruption | Al Jazeera The insurrection in South Africa is about more than freeing Zuma. The unrest was not a bread riot or a spontaneous uprising of the poor. It was a targeted violent campaign to undermine the ... www.aljazeera.com

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

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