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The Citizen
16-07-2025
- Politics
- The Citizen
Mr President, it's time for you to leave
An open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa, as South Africa becomes a failing state. Dear Mr President, Your lacklustre TV appearance on Sunday left the entire nation underwhelmed. It is embarrassingly clear that you are not the president as appearing on TV in a smart suit does not make one presidential. Instead, you have become a convenor of commissions and judicial inquiries that cost millions and only lead to cover-ups and denials. You use these forums to deflect blame and misdirect an angry and desperate nation. Your commissions and inquiries exhaust us while bankrupting the country. Under your watch, you have overseen the destruction of political accountability and integrity. You use words such as 'democracy' and 'freedom' as though they will magically correct everything that has been trampled on under your leadership. We are not free. We are being held hostage by government-driven criminality and corruption that has degraded almost every aspect of our lives. We never voted for a leader that would enslave us while hollowing out our economy for own financial and personal gain. Our country is drowning in debt and yet you continually and shamelessly hold out the beggar's bowl and boast how much money you have been able to scrounge from the international community that you obviously despise. The international community is now realising that your government and faction played the great deception with your platitudes, posturing and deceptive rhetoric. ALSO READ: Mr President, the ball is in your court In so doing, you have betrayed the people you are supposed to lead and protect. Under your anti-West policies, you have overseen the destruction of our economy. Like your well-known proverbial frog, you have put the entire nation in the pot and the filthy water is slowly reaching boiling point. The recent allegations about our minister of police are beyond shocking, especially as he is so close to you. Yet, he gets placed on 'special leave', no doubt with full pay, while such allegations against any other citizen will lead to much more severe sanction. The hypocrisy is astounding. And the public's loss of trust in our law enforcement agencies under your leadership is terrifying. And while the nation continues to reel in shock at the allegations, you continue flirting with states that sponsor chaos and international terrorism. Surely you must be aware of the consequences and grave dangers you are leading the nation into by your steadfast and vocal support for Iran? Iran has been a sponsor for international terrorism for years as they support Hamas, Hezbollah, IS, al-Shabaab and such like. Many of these terror groups enjoy safe haven in SA – and your government has allowed this. Some of these Iranian-backed forces are active in Africa. They murder, slaughter and abuse Africans. They are genocidal proxy forces that attack African Christians and also Muslims who do not subscribe to their ideals. ALSO READ: Our promised land was sold to thugs They act on behalf of Iran – your great Brics ally and friend. By implication, you are the leader of a political party in our parliament that endorses black genocide and you do this in our name. We never voted for you to support this unspeakable betrayal and genocide of Africa – or to be a proxy for such states. Known international terrorists and violent criminals are quietly given safe haven in our country. They are free to practice their terror and criminality. Some are even based not too far from your home in Johannesburg. Under your leadership, South Africa has become an increasingly failing state. You have allowed the collapse of our law enforcement agencies and intelligence service. Our underfunded armed forces are forced to surrender to rebel forces and it takes months to bring them home. There are large tracts of ungoverned spaces in our rural and urban areas. What a disgrace, Mr President. Instead of defending and driving the right to life, safety and property, you have instead done the opposite with your policies based on exclusion and disuniting rhetoric. Populism can never outlive the desires of people to progress. And you then want to be seen as a peacemaker in Africa while challenging the international community with a hollow voice and a no diplomatic or power credibility. Mr President, are you determined to engineer the collapse of our country and position us as a terror-supporting country? We can no longer tolerate this self-centred behaviour of those who are expected to lead us into the utopia your government promised and then destroyed. You and your faction have robbed us of our dignity, pride and unity. It is time for you to leave – and please take your cadres with you. NOW READ: 'We're not always what we claim to be': Ramaphosa takes dig at SA's politicians during Mabuza's funeral
Chicago Tribune
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: A reminder in Africa that the religious freedoms we take for granted are fragile
As Christianity declines in the West, the faith is flourishing in sub-Saharan Africa, which is seeing the fastest growth in Christianity the world over. By 2060, more than 4 in 10 Christians worldwide are expected to live in sub-Saharan Africa, compared with just 1 in 10 in 1970, according to Pew Research. But this growth is coming at a cost. Unlike their counterparts in the U.S., African Christians increasingly risk violent death for their beliefs. Nigeria, home to one of Africa's largest and fastest-growing Christian populations, has also become one of the world's deadliest places to practice the faith. On June 13, about 200 Christians were massacred by a group of jihadists in Yelwata, a town located in Benue State, which is almost entirely Christian. Most of the victims were internally displaced people sheltering at a nearby Catholic mission, many of them women and children. This tragically is not unusual in Nigeria. During Holy Week, more than 150 Christians were killed in targeted attacks across central Nigeria. Some watchdog groups estimate that more than 50,000 Nigerian Christians have been killed by Islamist extremists since 2009. The State Department reports that fatal attacks in Nigeria are ongoing. Moreover, in this violent region, the atrocities aren't limited to Christians. Innocents of all faiths fall victim to militants, including members of the Muslim faith, which is also growing rapidly in sub-Saharan Africa. Some reports estimate that tens of thousands of moderate Muslims also have been killed by extremists in Nigeria, reflecting the broader toll of militant violence. Bishop Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe, a Catholic leader in Benue State where the atrocities occurred, testified in March before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, pleading with officials to take notice of what's happening. He described his home as 'one of the most dangerous and insecure places for Christians,' and his testimony came months before the June 13 attack. He noted that villagers sometimes are warned in advance of attacks and that even if they contact police for protection, no help comes and the slaughters happen anyway. 'Constitutionally, we are a secular country, but our unity has been fragile,' he said. 'We live in fear because at any point, it can be our turn to be killed. But to remain silent is to die twice, so I have chosen to speak.' Pope Leo offered a timely prayer for Nigeria during a June 15 address in St. Peter's Square. 'I pray that security, justice and peace prevail in Nigeria, a beloved country that has suffered various forms of violence,' he said. We do not know the sort of fear of which Bishop Anagbe spoke because we live in a country that believes in the right to religious freedom. It's why we find alleged hate crimes such as the May slaying of a young Jewish couple, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, in Washington, D.C., so devastating. We feel as if we are shielded from the sectarian violence that afflicts other parts of the globe by virtue simply of being American and when hate-based violence occurs here, that confidence is undermined. The First Amendment protects our religious freedoms, hardly limited to the three great Abrahamic religions, but it doesn't guarantee them. We write this not only to spotlight the horrors others face for expressing their faith, but to remind ourselves that America's religious liberty is rare, fragile and worth protecting.
