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IOL News
2 days ago
- Politics
- IOL News
The Unintended Consequences of US Refugee Policy for South African Minorities
Members of the Khoi and San community camped outside the Union Building in 2019 demanding that their rights be recognised. Image: Oupa Mokoena/African News Agency (ANA) Clyde N.S. Ramalaine The recent resettlement of 49 South Africans, described as 'Afrikaners', to the United States under refugee status via the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) has drawn public ridicule, suspicion, and commentary. While some predict their imminent return to sunny South Africa, the event offers an unexpected opportunity to examine how USRAP's criteria could inadvertently apply to other historically marginalised South African groups, particularly the KhoeSan and Coloured communities. This article does not support or validate the ideological narratives of groups like AfriForum or Solidarity, who claim persecution under terms like 'white genocide.' Such claims are unsubstantiated, racially selective, and morally indefensible. Instead, this article offers a literal and policy-driven reading of USRAP's eligibility framework, focusing not on its intentions but on its possible implications for marginalised non-white South African identities. USRAP eligibility criteria Under Executive Order 14204, USRAP permits applications from South Africans who meet three conditions: Must be of South African nationality; Must be of Afrikaner ethnicity or a member of a racial minority; Must articulate past persecution or fear of future persecution. Although influenced by racialised narratives of white Afrikaner persecution, the policy does not explicitly exclude non-white groups. This opens an interpretive doorway that, when read literally and consistently, may qualify KhoeSan and Coloured South Africans—groups with longstanding, legitimate claims of marginalisation. South African nationality - A contested construct The idea of a unified 'South African nationality' is not neutral or straightforward. South African identity has been deeply shaped by colonial conquest, apartheid-era racial division, and selective post-apartheid nation-building. Far from a cohesive category, 'South African' is an ongoing site of contestation, haunted by economic inequality, cultural marginalisation, and incomplete reconciliation. Under apartheid, nationality was fractured across pseudo-ethnic 'homelands.' Today, the uncritically adopted 'Rainbow Nation' rhetoric fails to conceal the persistence of racial and spatial disparities. For many, especially KhoeSan and Coloured South Africans, national identity remains fractured, imposed, and weaponised against their claims to full inclusion and recognition. Afrikaner identity - An exclusionary social construct The term 'Afrikaner' has always been a politically fluid concept. It was only in the 20th century, under apartheid, that it solidified as a synonym for white Afrikaans speakers. However, Afrikaans itself is a Creole language born at the Cape from African, European, and Asian linguistic influences. Millions of non-white South Africans—particularly the KhoeSan and Coloured communities—speak Afrikaans as their mother tongue and have made significant contributions to its literary and cultural legacy. If 'Afrikaner' is used to denote those rooted in Africa who speak Afrikaans, then the most authentic claimants are arguably the KhoeSan and Coloured peoples. To exclude them is to perpetuate apartheid's racial gatekeeping. The USRAP, though likely intending to privilege white identities, inadvertently opens space for those previously denied recognition within the very cultural matrix it seeks to protect. The notion of a "white Afrikaner" as a uniquely persecuted category is built on historical erasure. Afrikaner culture is not racially homogeneous. Its racialisation is a mid-20th-century political invention, not a cultural or linguistic truth. If USRAP implicitly assumes whiteness under the 'Afrikaner' identity, it contradicts its own stated openness. Racial minorities - Recognition beyond whiteness The policy's second clause, which asserts, 'or a member of a racial minority', broadens the scope for inclusion. Here, the KhoeSan and Coloured groups qualify, both as racial minorities and as communities subjected to historical persecution and contemporary marginalisation. The KhoeSan, South Africa's first people, have endured centuries of displacement, genocide, and erasure. Today, despite growing self-identification, they remain denied official indigeneity and reparative justice. Their exclusion from land reform and identity recognition makes them textbook examples of persecuted minorities. Coloured South Africans, a category created by apartheid to obscure Indigenous ancestry and maintain social control, also remain in a state of political liminality. This imposed identity, still used in state policy, has allowed the post-apartheid government to deny both their indigeneity and their oppression, framing them as 'beneficiaries' of apartheid while excluding them from targeted redress. Post-1994 policy continues to maintain racial categories rooted in apartheid logic. In practice, this has meant retaining the 'Coloured' label to contain indigenous claims and limit state accountability. Despite Steve Biko's inclusive definition of Black Consciousness, embracing all non-white oppressed peoples, the state's operational framework reserves 'African' identity for Nguni-Bantu groups, excluding KhoeSan and Coloured communities from full African identification and associated redress. A policy that outruns Its intentions The original purpose of the USRAP criteria appears to have been the protection of white South Africans fearing political and land displacement. However, its language is broad enough to permit reinterpretation. A literal application of its three criteria—nationality, minority status, and persecution—clearly allows for KhoeSan and Coloured inclusion. If USRAP is truly about offering refuge to marginalised South Africans, then KhoiSan and Coloured communities not only qualify but arguably embody the policy's intent more authentically than the white Afrikaners it was implicitly designed to protect. The US Refugee Admissions Program, though politically motivated and ideologically framed, unintentionally exposes the contradictions in South African identity politics and racial categorisation. Its criteria, if interpreted without racial bias, could provide an unexpected platform for historically marginalised communities like the KhoeSan and Coloured peoples to assert claims long denied by the South African state. This article is not an endorsement of emigration as a political solution. Rather, it is a call to critically examine how refugee policy, constructed with one ideological target in mind, might unintentionally illuminate deeper questions of identity, marginalisation, and justice. USRAP, as worded, opens a policy loophole. This gateway challenges racialised assumptions about Afrikaner identity and repositions the conversation around who truly qualifies as persecuted in post-apartheid South Africa.
IOL News
7 days ago
- Politics
- IOL News
Malusi Booi on why safety boss JP Smith and City manager ‘targeted' him
Former Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Malusi Booi. Image: File Picture: David Ritchie/African News Agency (ANA) Safety and Security mayco member JP Smith has defended himself against claims by his former human settlements colleague Malusi Booi's that he was central to a political witch-hunt, which led to his downfall including being arrested over charges that have been subsequently withdrawn. The Cape Times reported this week that Booi had implicated two senior City officials as being behind the raid to his offices last year, leading to his arrest over alleged tender collusion. The two officials he implicated are Smith and City manager Lungelo Mbandazayo. 'I know it's the two of them. I've got it on record.' He said Smith had made statements saying he was the one who gave police information while Mbandazayo made remarks in a CCMA case that 'he wanted to deal with me harshly'. Booi believed that his woes began when he did not support Mbandazayo's reappointment amid social delivery concerns. He said Smith and the municipal manager were friends, which he believed could have motivated alleged moves against him. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ JP Smith Image: File picture Smith told the Cape Times on Tuesday that he reported any wrongdoing to relevant authorities as he was 'ethically bound' to do. Mbandazayo did not respond to requests for comment. 'As stated previously, each time potential wrong doing within the City of Cape Town came to my attention, I reported the allegations to the relevant authorities for investigation as I am legally mandated and ethically bound to do. I am not privy to any details regarding the SAPS investigations into the allegations against Mr Booi. The public statement issued by the NPA makes it clear that the criminal charges against Mr Booi have only been provisionally withdrawn pending investigations into newly discovered evidence,' said Smith.
IOL News
7 days ago
- Politics
- IOL News
ANC questions DA MEC's axing of speaker
Local Government MEC Anton Bredell. Image: Picture: Ayanda Ndamane/African News Agency (ANA) LOCAL Government MEC Anton Bredell's decision to axe Knysna speaker Mncedisi Skosana, who is also an ANC councillor, may be a continuation of the DA's attempts to destabilise the coalition-governed municipality, says the ANC. In what the opposition DA labels a "coalition of corruption", the ANC governs Knysna along with the EFF, Patriotic Alliance and the Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners (PBI). Bredell, also a senior DA member, said his decision emanated from findings into an investigation following complaints by interest groups who made 'various allegations'. 'It was held that (Skosana) failed to perform the functions of his office in good faith, honestly and in a transparent manner and that he failed to act in the best interest of the municipality and that he conducted himself in a manner that compromised the credibility and integrity of the Municipality,' Bredell said it was in this respect that he imposed the recommended sanction of removal of Skosana as a Councillor. The report released last year was related to findings from 'any adverse statements and findings against councillors of the Municipality made in the Henney judgment'. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ 'In the Henney judgment, the court had made a number of serious adverse findings against certain political office bearers and municipal officials in the Municipality. Many of these findings directly concerned or indirectly related to the incurrence of unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and/or wasteful expenditure, as well as conduct that amounts to a breach of the Code of Conduct for Municipal Councillors,' the report noted. His decision comes at a critical time for the municipality amid a water crisis with thousands of residents in several wards recently left with no or limited access to water for weeks. The municipality would not respond to questions on how Bredell's move would impact service delivery. Knysna municipality spokesperson Christopher Bezuidenhout said: 'We acknowledge receipt of a letter from MEC Bredell on 23 May 2025. The letter will be tabled at the Ordinary Council Meeting scheduled for 30 May 2025. The election of a new Speaker will be determined by Council.' The ANC in the Victor Molosi Region raised concerns over Bredell's objectivity. ANC spokesperson Moyisi Magalela said: 'We are currently studying the contents of the report and its implications and we will engage with our legal representatives to consider all appropriate steps forward. It is important to note that Bredell is a senior politician and a member of the DA. In light of this, we question the objectivity and impartiality of the investigation and its outcomes. It is our considered view that the DA has continuously sought to destabilise the municipality, which is currently governed by a progressive coalition committed to service delivery and clean governance.
IOL News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
The erosion of moral values in South African political movements
There were snaking queues of South Africans eager to vote in a new government during the first democratic election in 1994. But hope for a better future has become overshadowed by corruption and allegations of state capture. Image: African News Agency (ANA) Archives 'What I fear is that the liberators emerge as elitists who drive around in Mercedes Benzes and use the resources of this country to live in palaces and to gather riches.' — Chris Hani THERE is a saying in various circles, often spoken in whispers, that there is a moral difference between Inkatha and the IFP. The two carry vastly different connotations. Pre-1994, Inkatha Yenkululeko Yesizwe was a movement of voluntary activists — men and women driven by love and passion for liberation, not personal gain. Contrast this with the post-1994 IFP, a political party whose activists are, to some extent, motivated by 'What's in it for me?' — Ngizotholani. The same troubling shift applies to the ANC. The pre-1994 ANC was a movement of selfless revolutionaries, individuals who sacrificed careers, freedom, and even their lives for the emancipation of our people. Today's ANC, however, is glaringly consumed by greed, its moral compass shattered. The veterans of both movements decry this inversion of values, where the struggle's principled disdain for wealth accumulation has been replaced by a merciless contest in conspicuous consumption. This is an era where narrow self-interest trumps the collective good — something the late Dr Margaret Mncadi of the ANC and the living stalwart Abbey Mchunu of the IFP would have condemned in the strongest terms. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ At the risk of undermining the work of contemporary women, one cannot help but contrast the women of the struggle era with those of today. Where has the resilience, tenacity, and assertiveness of the 1950s women gone? What happened to the visionary leadership of the Mncadis, Ngoyis, and Josephs — women who fought for the upliftment of others rather than personal enrichment? Today's women risk undoing the hard-won gains of their predecessors. The struggle for gender equality has been reduced to a scramble for positions and tenders, rather than a sustained fight for systemic change. The women of the 1950s understood that liberation was not about individual advancement but collective emancipation. Sadly, many of today's female leaders seem preoccupied with their own 'personal RDP', a far cry from the selflessness that once defined our movement. The ANC and IFP are not just political parties; they are moral influencers. The conduct of their leaders shapes the values of the younger generation. Yet, how can we ignore the spine-chilling headlines of corruption, fraud, and scandal involving their members? The period between the 1940s and the late 1980s was defined by sacrifice. Figures such as Mandela, Gwala, and Sobukwe endured imprisonment, torture, and exile in their fight against apartheid. Many of these leaders were highly educated — they could have pursued comfortable careers but chose instead to wage a struggle for justice. The 1970s to early 1990s saw an even greater resolve, with thousands of cadres joining MK and Poqo, making the country ungovernable despite brutal states of emergency. Post-1994, however, the struggle's ethos was abandoned. Politics became a scramble for material benefits — what Michela Wrong aptly termed 'our turn to eat'. Many who joined after the unbanning of political parties lacked the ideological grounding of earlier generations. Their political baptism came not from the trenches of resistance but from the opportunism of a new democratic dispensation. Machiavelli observed that in politics, as in medicine, early symptoms of decay are hard to detect but easy to cure; left unchecked, they become obvious but incurable. Clausewitz, meanwhile, saw politics as a contest for power and resources, not governance itself. This explains the factional wars tearing apart the ANC and, to a lesser extent, the IFP. At the heart of these divisions is a battle for control, not of ideas, but of state resources. Reinhold Niebuhr warned that politics would always be where conscience clashes with power. Today, money has eroded conscience. As Teresa Nesbit Cosby noted: 'Money, politics, and influence are like water to the river, they belong together.' True leadership is borne of service, not ambition. Mchunu, the former chairperson of the Inkatha Women's Brigade, embodies this ideal. At 85, she remains a beacon of selflessness, a living rebuttal to today's politics of greed. The old proverb, 'Service is no heritage', captures the fate of many struggle veterans. They served without expectation of reward, yet today's leaders treat politics as a career path to wealth. As Hwa Yung wrote: 'Leadership does not come from striving to be leaders but is the by-product of a life of humble service.'
IOL News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
All you need to know about Zingiswa Losi: The woman who schooled Donald Trump on South Africa
Zingiswa Losi: The woman who challenged Donald Trump on South Africa. Image: Simphiwe Mbokazi/African News Agency/ANA Zingiswa Losi, the president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), delivered a pointed response to US president Donald Trump's controversial remarks on South African land reform and violence against white farmers during a high-level meeting at the White House on Tuesday. Losi, the country's first female president of COSATU, joined president Cyril Ramaphosa as part of a delegation aiming to strengthen diplomatic and economic ties between the two nations. Trump used the opportunity to repeat long-standing, debunked claims of 'systematic killings' of white farmers, raising alarm over land expropriation policies in South Africa. She countered his narrative with a clear message: crime in South Africa is a universal scourge, not a racially targeted phenomenon. "The problem in South Africa is not necessarily about race, but it's about crime," Losi told Trump. "Black men and women in our rural communities are just as many victims of brutal crimes as anyone else." Born in 1975 in KwaZakhele, Eastern Cape, Losi began her activism in the anti-apartheid struggle, inspired by her politically active family. She served in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) from 1996 to 1999 before joining Ford Motor Company in Port Elizabeth, where she became a shop steward for the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA). Her rise within the labour movement was steady. She served as COSATU's second deputy president from 2009 and became its first female president in 2018, securing re-election in 2022. Beyond her union leadership, Losi has played key roles in the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP), championing workers' rights and economic transformation. She is also president of the Southern African Trade Union Coordinating Council (SATUCC), representing unions across the SADC region. On Tuesday, Losi used her platform to call for cooperation, not division. "We are here to say: how do we, both nations, work together to reset, to really talk about investment but also help to address the levels of crime?" she said. IOL Politics Get your news on the go, click here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel.
