The Sigma-Tau Pharmaceutical has announced an innovative combination therapy fixed dose to fight Malaria, the disease that is responsible for 250 million cases worldwide and causes more than 880,000 deaths, especially among children under 5 years in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2008, malaria was endemic in 109 countries, 45 of them in Africa.

A UN assessment has revealed that flooding in northern Namibia during March severely disrupted HIV and AIDS treatment, care and prevention services. The floods, caused by heavy rains, affected more than 350,000 people in six regions with some of the highest HIV-prevalence rates in the country. The north is also one of the poorest and most isolated parts of Namibia, with limited social services, employment opportunities and infrastructure.

Women's groups in embattled Mogadishu are stepping into the aid vacuum to assist thousands more displaced by fighting in the capital, civil society activists said. "We have been helping in the past but now the situation is even worse so we have had to assume an even bigger role," said Asha Sha'ur, a civil society member and activist.

Aid analysts applaud the “courage” of the UK government’s just-released development policy paper, which detailed plans to allocate at least half of all new bilateral funding to fragile states, but question how the government can do the job well without shrinking other aid commitments.

Reporters Without Borders is very concerned about the still fraught political situation in Madagascar and its constant impact on the media. Several journalists have been harassed in recent weeks, a website was mysteriously blocked and a radio journalist was held for two weeks after being the victim of a heavy-handed arrest.

Nearly four months after the death of Franco-Congolese journalist Bruno Jacquet Ossébi, the Committee to Protect Journalists called today for authorities in the Republic of Congo to publicly disclose a report that was prepared weeks ago on their investigation. A magistrate appointed in February to oversee an investigation into the cause of the fire that ravaged Ossébi's residence in Brazzaville, Jean Michel Opo, told CPJ in mid-May that a police commission had given a report to his office.

As the latest summit to discuss a post-Kyoto treaty continues in New York this week, the single most revealing statement has already been spoken: 'We need to climate-proof economic growth.' These few words, told to reporters by the UN’s top climate official, Yvo de Boer, during the recent Vienna round of talks, define the blinded establishment approach to tackling climate change.

This paper was presented to the Africa University Annual Conference on the 'Commemoration of the Legacy of Dag Hammarskjöld', held in Mutare, Zimbabwe, 24-26 September 2007. The author, Henning Melber, was prevented from participating in the event, since the Zimbabwean embassy had informed him a day before his departure from Sweden that the immigration authorities in Harare had turned down his visa application.

During a visit to India in early February 1956, Dag Hammarskjöld presented one of the very rare impromptu speeches of his career as second Secretary General to the United Nations (1953-61) when addressing the Indian Council of World Affairs. Prompted by a moving encounter with local culture performed in his honour earlier on, his mainly extemporaneous speech explored the dimensions of human universalism. A commonality beyond Western – or, indeed, any other culturally, religiously or geographically limited – ideology or conviction.

'It is no news to anybody, but we sense it in different degrees, that our world of today is more than ever before one world. The weakness of one is the weakness of all, and the strength of one – not the military strength, but the real strength, the economic and social strength, the happiness of people – is indirectly the strength of all. Through various developments which are familiar to all, world solidarity has, so to say, been forced upon us. This is no longer a choice of enlightened spirits; it is something which those whose temperament leads them in the direction of isolationism have also to accept.'

Isolationism is a phenomenon guided by a lack of reality, or by selective perceptions, found often by leaders and their followers. It is a universal feature, and not confined to any particular society or group. By no coincidence it was the British Lord Acton, who stated, within the society considered to be one of the cradles of the modern day political system called democracy, that power corrupts, and that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Former liberation movements, who, after long and painful sacrifices by the oppressed people fighting against colonial occupation ultimately secured the fundamental right of self-determination and seized the legitimate political power based on popular vote, are not protected from these temptations. As a result of such 'limits to liberation', Zimbabwe is in the midst of an ongoing crisis. The 'political economy of decline' can hardly be ignored by anyone living in or having insights into the social and political realities. Even though Zimbabwe has frequently denied the freedom of movement and the freedom of expression to those seeking to form or to articulate a view on the ground; just as the apartheid settler colonial regimes of Rhodesia, South West Africa and South Africa had done during earlier (and definitely not so good old) days.

Notwithstanding such disturbing features of limiting the freedom of individuals, to which numerous (and much more serious) incidences against its own people over the years since the Gukurahundi of the mid-1980s in Matabeleland have alerted us, some maintain the impression that ‘business as usual’ exists (- and maybe it does?). There remain ‘professional denialists’, who continue to dismiss any such notion – even if the authorities of a state without any serious crisis of legitimacy could afford to allow visitors to enter their country freely. Zimbabwe’s ambassador to neighbouring Namibia (where an increasing number of Zimbabweans are seeking refuge and thereby testify to the ongoing crisis at home) stated in an interview to the state-owned daily newspaper as late as mid-September 2007 that, 'Zimbabwe […] is a peaceful paradise and politically stable since 1980'. Asked how the political situation in his country can be resolved, he answered: 'The question is misleading because it assumes that there is a political problem in Zimbabwe. This is not the case. There is no political situation in Zimbabwe.' According to most others, and in direct contradiction to the diplomat’s view, there clearly is.

These more critical views do not have to be a part of or closely affiliated to any of the organised political rival groupings contributing to a chronic state of protest, unrest and repression spiralling the country’s people further into misery and suffering. The sub-regional body, SADC, has officially acknowledged the need to mediate, with the goal to bring the decline to a halt and the country back on track towards a peaceful future in stability. The Communiqué of the Extraordinary Summit of the SADC Heads of State held, because of the Zimbabwe crisis, on 28-29 March 2007 in Dar-es-Salaam, however, provided a classic example of a dilemma, when it 'reaffirmed its solidarity with the Government and people of Zimbabwe'. In this case, obviously, one can hardly have it both ways.

It is fair to assume that Zimbabwe 'has posed fundamental questions about the extent to which SADC members can and should intervene in the internal affairs of other member countries for the sake of regional interests. […] SADC has been slow to respond to the crisis. It has failed to replicate the positive solidarity that SADCC members once levelled against apartheid South Africa.'

Notwithstanding the reservations provoked by the ongoing double-bind message by SADC as the sub-regional organisation as well as individual SADC member countries, the latest assessment of the International Crisis Group (ICG) concludes that the regionally negotiated solution would be the most feasible option for Zimbabwe:

'The next few months present a moment of truth. […] SADC and its member states have the capacity to reverse a downward spiral which increasingly threatens the region’s stability but they must be prepared to support the initiative they have begun and Mbeki’s mandate. This means using economic leverage, conditioning a recovery package on performance and making clear that if there is no cooperation they will not hesitate to call the initiative a failure and reject elections that are not a product of their mediation and do not comply with SADC’s own democratic standards.'

Such pro-active policy is a kind of interference, which corresponds with the new political realities and a common understanding as codified in the currently applicable documents guiding African continental politics. The Constitutive Act of the African Union (AU) deviated in a substantial paradigm from the fundamental principles of the earlier Organisation of African Unity (OAU).

The non-intervention into matters of member states had been a hitherto holy principle, on which the OAU based its continental policies. The AU constitution has replaced this by a clear notion of collective responsibilities, which under grave circumstances even justify joint intervention into the internal affairs of the member states. This new approach has already provided results by means of a visible implementation on several occasions.

Along similar lines and despite all critical analyses - justified with regard to the reluctant pursuance of the noble goals defined - The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and its African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) have created a corresponding new paradigmatic framework for good governance and the commitment by African states to comply with such defined standards. It could do no harm to measure those governments not volunteering to this screening exercise according to similar criteria and seek their application. Similarly, as suggested by SADC at its last ordinary summit in August 2007 in Lusaka, a few among the growing number of voluntarily retiring elder statesmen and former presidents might be a suitable task force to seek negotiations with an aging autocrat reluctant to give up power.

But seeking a lasting solution for Zimbabweans means more than entering into a negotiated compromise in terms of power sharing among segmented political elites representing different interests, while offering guaranteed protection for perpetrators if they comply with such controlled change. In an analytically remarkable Pastoral Letter released by the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference on Holy Thursday of 2007, the internal, class-related roots of the current Zimbabwean crisis were highlighted:

'Black Zimbabweans today fight for the same basic rights they fought for during the liberation struggle. It is the same conflict between those who possess power and wealth in abundance, and those who do not; between those who are determined to maintain their privileges of power and wealth at any cost, even at the cost of bloodshed, and those who demand their democratic rights and a share in the fruits of independence; between those who continue to benefit from the present system of inequality and injustice, because it favours them and enables them to maintain an exceptionally high standard of living, and those who go to bed hungry at night and wake up in the morning to another day without work and without income; between those who only know the language of violence and intimidation, and those who feel they have nothing more to loose because their Constitutional rights have been abrogated and their votes rigged.'

This insight is of relevance not only for Zimbabwe. It is relevant for all societies marred by antagonistic forces culminating in extreme social disparities, where a privileged few feast at the expense of the marginalised majority. This includes (though is anything but confined to) the societies in (southern) Africa, who for both external as well as internal limiting factors have not managed to overcome the colonial legacy and its fundamentally unjust and discriminating social structures and corresponding mental dispositions.

This paper opened with a quote from a rather spontaneously motivated speech by Dag Hammarskjöld in 1956, documenting his firm belief in the unity of humankind and its shared values and norms. Much remains in this world, even half a century later, as a continuing challenge to enhance such understanding. A challenge, which clearly embraces the need to reduce the gross imbalances, which, in a very concrete and lasting material sense, prevent the full implementation of such universal ethical and moral norms to the benefit of most, if not all, in this world of the early 21st century.

But the lack of progress does not mean that Hammarskjöld’s words and visions were neither practical nor realistic. For him, the work of the United Nations should build on the commonality of humankind, its conduct and experience:

'With respect to the United Nations as a symbol of faith, it may […] be said that to every man it stands as a kind of "yes’ to the ability of man to form his own destiny, and form his own destiny so as to create a world where the dignity of man can come fully into its own.'

These words should continue to serve as an invitation to jointly turn all corners of this world into a better one to the benefit of the ordinary people. 'In such a world', the late Secretary General further clarified in no uncertain terms, 'it is impossible to maintain the status of "haves" and "have-nots", just as impossible as it has grown to be inside the nation state'. The challenge to turn his words into social and political realities remains on our agenda. It includes the southern African region in general, and, in particular, Zimbabwe.

Such a demand is by no means a Eurocentric fantasy of neocolonial or imperialist interventions, as so often claimed by those local elites under siege, simply because they are measured and judged against universal standards and values relating to fundamental and undivided human rights based principles and norms: the same principles and norms, they claimed to be fighting for, when fighting against settler-colonial minority regimes denying them those rights. The same rights they are now denying to so many among their 'liberated' people. The current necessity to take sides is by no means drawing a dividing line along race or the North-South axis, as relevant as such criteria for historically rooted privileges, identities and interests might generally be. Instead, such dismissals of human rights-related notions are nothing more than a smokescreen, a constructed escape route for those, who try to get away with cheating again the 'wretched of the earth'. As a pan-African human rights campaigner clarified:

'I have heard some people argue that the "enemies" of Africa now crying about human rights did not burden their conscience with such luxuries when benefiting from 400 years of industrial scale slavery, colonialism and brutal exploitation of Africa and its peoples. In other words, that ‘white farmers’ deserve some of their own medicine. Not only does such thinking reduce Africans to the moral bankruptcy of colonialists, it also fails to understand that it risks granting unlimited and indefinite power to Africa’s actual and imaginary liberators such that we may all end up being shackled by them. Africa’s liberation movements drew their moral strength from the fact that on the balance, they fought for social justice, human rights, equality and democracy – for all […].'

The 25-year old unemployed Harare woman Ndakaitei captured the sentiments after three chimurengas on behalf of a frustrated post-independent urban youth when she cried out: 'We desire a future that is not like the present!'

Notes and references

I owe this information (and the quotes) to the fascinating manuscript submitted by Manuel Fröhlich on ‘The Unknown Assignation’. Dag Hammarskjöld in the Papers of George Ivan Smith for forthcoming publication with the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation in its new Critical Currents occasional paper series. This will then – like many other publications - also be available on the Foundation’s web site:

Dag Hammarskjöld, ‘The United Nations – Its Ideology and Activities. Address before the Indian Council of World Affairs 3 February 1956’. In: Andrew W. Cordier/Wilder Foote (eds), Public Papers of the Secretaries-General of the United Nations. Volume II: Dag Hammarskjöld 1953-1956. New York and London 1972.

Henning Melber (ed.), Limits to Liberation in Southern Africa. The unfinished business of democratic consolidation. Cape Town: HSRC Press 2003.

Suzanne Dansereau/Mario Zamponi, Zimbabwe – The Political Economy of Decline. Uppsala: The Nordic Africa Institute 2005 (Discussion Paper; 27).

A recent volume included a variety of case studies from SADC countries ranging from better to worse practices with regard to state presidents (not) leaving office, including Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe; see Roger Southall/Henning Melber (eds), Legacies of Power. Leadership Change and Former Presidents in African Politics. Cape Town: HSRC Press and Uppsala: The Nordic Africa Institute 2006.

Rotimi Sankore, ‘Pan Africanism and the Zimbabwe Crisis’, Pambazuka News, no. 319, 12 September 2007.

* Henning Melber came to Namibia as a son of German immigrants in 1967, where he joined the liberation movement SWAPO in 1974. He was director of The Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit (NEPRU) in Windhoek (1992 to 2000) and research director at The Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala/Sweden (2000 to 2006). He is presently the executive director of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation.

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

An appalling total of 144 trade unionists were murdered for defending workers’ rights in 2006, while more than 800 suffered beatings or torture, according to the Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights Violations, published by the International Trade Union Confederation, which boasts 168,000,000 members. The 379-page report details nearly 5,000 arrests and more than 8,000 dismissals of workers due to their trade union activities.

This new research report conducted by the Centre for Chinese Studies evaluated the market entry models of Chinese construction firms in Angola, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zambia. Particular attention was paid to the methods of engagement and the impact on the local construction industries.

Kenyan politics is marred by tribalism, violence and graft and this year's election will be the true test of how far the country has come since single-party rule, its election commission said on Wednesday. Polls in 2002 that removed long-time ruler Daniel arap Moi were seen as broadly free and fair. But Samuel Kivuitu, the chair of the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK), said there were major challenges before the nation votes again in elections expected in December.

A Cairo court has sentenced four journalists and a newspaper executive to two months in jail with labour for publishing 'false news' about a businessman, judicial sources said on Wednesday. The verdicts, which come amidst concern from rights groups about what they call a pattern of harassment of the press by authorities, were passed last Saturday after an in absentia trial, the sources said. The defendants can ask for a retrial.

Up to $42 billion will need to be found by 2010 if universal access to HIV treatment, prevention and care is to be achieved in line with the 2005 commitment by G8 governments, UNAIDS has said. UNAIDS’ estimate has been developed ahead of an international meeting, which starts today in Berlin, to win increased donor commitments to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. The Fund currently accounts for one-quarter of all international donor expenditure on Aids.

Equatorial Guinea produces a barrel of oil per person per day. In 2005, it had a budget of US$2 billion" more than sufficient to raise the standard of living of it’s 400,000 citizens. The country also has aid links: with school students in the United States, and church schools and small municipalities in Spain. Agustin Vellos argues that the so-called 'development cooperation' between Spain and Equatorial Guinea is nothing more than political rhetoric that supports the corrupt practices of President Obiang’s government and acts as a smokescreen for failed Western development models.

Development cooperation between Spain and Equatorial Guinea is an exercise in political rhetoric. Fine for soothing the consciences of sensitive citizens. Useful to dissemble the policies of both countries' governments. The citizenry think they are 'helping' the poor. While politicians cover up the way cooperation is useless for the African country's development; but good for increasing the scandalous wealth of the Obiang ruling clan, and for contributing to Spanish political and business expansion.

Some people think international cooperation and official development aid are matters of foreign policy. In the pre-democratic years, the governing class argued that Spain had been generous during its colonial era; and that the proof of this was the spread of Catholicism and civilization, as well as miscegenation. However, that generosity was not enough to produce doctors and engineers, or to leave a political and social infrastructure in Western Sahara and Equatorial Guinea. So. when independence came, frustrated in the Saharawi case, development cooperation was obligatory for Equatorial Guinea.

The same happened with the other colonial centres, England, France, and Portugal. They left nations independent politically, but not culturally or economically. Colonialism became neocolonialism. The powerful could no longer directly exploit the weak as before. But they worked out new systems: conditional loans, unfavourable trade deals, e.g., the Lomé Convention of 1975, exorbitant charges for services, the fiscal policies of the IMF, World Bank projects, and so on.

From independence in 1968 until approximately 1995, when the oil exploration years began, Spain worked on development with Equatorial Guinea in the fields of politics, economics, the armed forces and education. Ironically, one of the first agreements signed in 1979 was the Protocol on Cooperation on Hydrocarbon Matters.

It is surely surprising that cooperation between the tenth world power and its former colony of just 28,000 square kilometres, 400,000 inhabitants and abundant natural resources has not managed to pull the colony up from among the lowest rungs of the United Nations Development Program's Human Development Index in its first 30 years of independence. It is more surprising still when one considers the development cooperation from the United States, France, China and other countries, without counting the international bodies and agencies: the United Nations, The World Health Organisation, UNESCO, UNICEF and the European Economic Community.

Beginning in the last years of the previous century and the first years of the 21st century, Equatorial Guinea experienced unparalleled rapid growth. The reason was gas and oil: 81,000 barrels a day in 1998, 300,000 a day in 2004 and 420,000 barrels a day in 2005.

This led the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to grow 18 percent in 2000, 66 per cent in 2001, 20per cent in 2002, 10 per cent in 2003 and 25 per cent in 2004. Per capita income has gone from some US$600 in 1998, US$2000 in 2000, to US$5300 in 2005.

The oil sector makes up 97 pr cent of the country's exports and 92 per cent of its GDP. But in addition there are timber, cacao, minerals, fisheries, agricultural produce and tourist potential. Once again, it is surprising that a country able to produce a barrel of oil per person per day, that can count on other resources and is a trade partner of the richest countries in the world, also depends on aid links with school students in the United States, and with church schools and small municipalities in Spain. All these links indicate what is commonly understood as development cooperation by rich-country citizens concerned for people in poor countries.

Karen Miller, former secretary of the Hatcher primary school (Kentucky, USA) moved to the capital of Equatorial Guinea, Malabo, and emailed her friend Jenny Johnson about the school needs in the country. The world's fifth largest oil company, Marathon Oil (www.marathon.com), which operates in Equatorial Guinea, published Jenny's response:

'I felt the need to help. I knew this was something God wanted me to do. I put up posters in the school. The only problem was making sure the books donated by teachers and pupils arrived. I want to thank all those who have helped with this project. First of all to God, our Father, for making this happen, to the school community and especially to Marathon for starting this aid project for the students of the island of Bioko.' The estimated cost to the company was some 35,000 Euros.

Last April, the municipality of Alcorcón, close to Madrid, signed a permanent cooperation agreement with the Organization of Ibero-American States. The fact that Equatorial Guinea is not exactly located in the ibero-american area does not stop the municipality saying: 'we are very proud as a city to join this project of a meeting between cultures. Material cooperation with Equatorial Guinea, initially of 60,000 Euros, will enable the start up of a reading project on the one hand, with school libraries and on the other hand, teacher training in Spanish and local languages and in mathematics'.

In the first week of June, the church schools of Monforte organised a solidarity fair to raise funds for their colleagues in Equatorial Guinea. According to a local daily paper, 'the jumble sale, dinner and dance and donations raised 7,794 Euros'. Unlike the reports above, no mention is made of the uses made of the money.

Perhaps the teacher, the mayor and the religious teaching staff are unaware that the government of Equatorial Guinea, with a budget of US$2 billion in 2005, could well afford to pay for some text books and school libraries.

Preoccupied with prayers, meetings and brunches, maybe they have not had the chance to get to know the reality of the country; but instead have collected over 100,000 Euros. Even if that sum reaches Equatorial Guinea, which may be unlikely, that money does not even come close to the 380,000 Euros paid for a Lamborghini sports car acquired in 2005 by Teodoro Nguema. a son of President Obiang and Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, according to a report in the South African Cape Times of July 20, 2007.

It can be argued that a similar effort by 16 other solidarity groups could match the money that Nguema might have used to benefit his people. This last alternative seems more likely to benefit the development of Equatorial Guinea, except one might prefer that people not live dependent on the charity of others. 27 solidarity groups with similar fundraising ability would be needed to match Nguema's penchant for luxury cars, since the same article reports he also spent 800,000 Euros that year buying a Bentley Arnage and a Bentley Mulliner.

Even so, it is hard for the good will of development workers, donors, sponsors and volunteers to keep up with the pace of spending: the US Forbes magazine, specialising in listing the world's wealthiest people, reported that on June 5, 2006 Nguema also rented the yacht of Microsft co-founder Paul Allen, the fifth wealthiest man in the world, for 600,000 Euros.

Teodorín, as he is known, has a mansion and a recording studio in the United States and various properties and interests in other countries. Global Witness, an organisation dedicated to uncovering corruption in countries rich in raw materials, reports that the mansion is worth US$35,000,000.

Although ordinary citizens are unaware of these facts, the government knows them very well, but still maintains cooperation links. With regard to state development aid, there is abundant information in various official and quasi-official sources, such as political parties, institutes and foundations

The Spanish State Secretariat for International Cooperation declares 'the government...bears collective responsibility for respecting and defending peace and human dignity and equality at the world level. Poverty reduction is an ethical duty for the world's most prosperous citizens and a political obligation for all the governments on the planet'.

Lofty aims that perhaps don't marry up too well with military spending of 17 billion Euros in 2007, 15th highest in the world, while expenditure on development aid is 3 billion. Loans that create more debt, debt forgiveness and so on must be subtracted from the latter amount. While that first figure for defence can be left out of the equation altogether until someone proves the link between arms spending and development.

Spanish development aid to Equatorial Guinea devoted nearly 4.5 million Euros to healthcare in 2004-5, spread over various projects: control of endemic diseases, water purification, community health and health workers. With that sum, President Obiang would have struggled to purchase his two mansions in Maryland in the US.

But we may say: It is not a matter of tracking down every last cent. These African countries are known for their idiosyncrasies. No one is perfect. Well, in that case, take the example of quality healthcare. Spain, for example, is placed 21st in the Human Development Index. Shile Equatorial Guinea is placed 121st. Per capita spending on healthcare is US$1,640 and US$139 respectively.

Development cooperation, galactic style, to use a fashionable term, would ensure that people in Equatorial Guinea enjoyed the same level of health care as people in Spain. Multiplying 450,000 people by US$1,640 works out at a little more than US$700 million. Coincidentally the same amount Obiang transferred to personal accounts in the unexpectedly extinct Riggs Bank, based, by the way, in the United States and, as luck would have it, the main investor in Equatorial Guinea.

We can look at it another way. Obiang spends about US$70,000,000 a year on 'security', a figure to be treated with caution, since the actual sum is unknown, even to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (www.sipri.se). But it can be inferred from purchases of war equipment. Spain, the United States and Israel have all sold Obiang military materiel and trained his troops and police. In ten years of oil exploration, it is not unreasonable to think that Obiang could have increased his people's life expectancy with such a sum. But life expectancy remains about half that of Spain's: 43.5 and 79.5 years respectively.

Or again, we could argue, development cooperation is very much more than money. According to Spain's International Cooperation for Development Law, drawn up in 1998, 'development processes will be promoted with respect to the defence and protection of human rights, basic liberties and economic and social welfare needs...'

Those processes do not exist as Spain knows very well. Although the Minister for Foreign Affairs omits to mention it and prefers to talk about other things. Parliamentarians who visited the country in 2007 'found improvements and returned optimistic'.

Political declarations, projects, reports and aid workers abound. But this is not development cooperation. To talk as if there were development cooperation is an insult to the people of Equatorial Guinea. In fact, we should talk about a development cooperation fraud.

* Agustin Velloso. UNED, Facultad de Educacion, Paseo Senda del Rey, nº 728040-Madrid, Spain.

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Abdelbagi Jibril, director of the Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre, compares South Africa's economic and trade relations with China and the Arab Gulf states and its defence of the Khartoum regime with its indifference towards the tragedy of the people of Darfur, which, he concludes, is tantamount to the genocide of Africans.

The South African government is playing an increasingly important role in the political and economic affairs of the African continent. South Africa’s increasing political role is directly linked to its economic might. Its economy accounts for about 45 per cent of Africa’s GDP, equivalent of three times the size of the second biggest economy in Africa (Egypt). South Africa's economic interest and importance are the driving forces behind its political stands on some of the crucial situations facing Africa today, including Darfur. Within the African Union (AU), South Africa is a member of the influential Peace and Security Council, where vital measures affecting peace and security in Africa are discussed and acted on. At the international level, South Africa is currently a member of the UN Security Council and the UN Human Rights Council.

South Africa and Sudan, south Sudan

South Africa has developed a special relationship with Sudan, especially after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in January 2005. The two countries collaborate in various economic and commercial fields. They have growing cooperation in the energy sector, as well as in security and military fields. Immediately following the signing of the CPA, South Africa decided to establish a diplomatic mission in Sudan, which opened soon after. President Thabo Mbeki was the only African head of state outside of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to attend all the concluding sessions of the important phases of the political negotiations between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and Army (SPLM/A) and Khartoum that ended in Nairobi with the signing of the CPA on 9 January 2005. He was also among the few African heads of state to attend the coronation of the late Dr John Garang as the first Vice-President of Sudan in July 2005.

After the defeat of apartheid and the establishment of a democratic nation in 1994, the ANC government made a strategic decision to support the people of south Sudan and their representative organisation the SPLM/A. A number of SPLM/A cadres received training and education in South Africa. Cooperation in this field continues through the Pretoria-based Centre for African Renaissance Studies at the University of South Africa. A considerable contingent of scholars and students from south Sudan are now attending South African universities. Following the increase in the production of commercially viable quantities of Sudanese crude oil and the establishment of the autonomous Government of South Sudan, the relationship between the two countries has been further strengthened and consolidated. The struggle of the people of south Sudan for justice and equality was the cornerstone of South Africa’s interest.

It has been observed that some SPLM/A supporters, especially those who participated in the Inter-Sudanese Peace Talks on Darfur, hold unusual enmity towards the insurgent movements and people of Darfur. These cadres have aggressively rejected the demands of the people of Darfur for a proportionate share in the economic and political life of the country, on the grounds that such demands will affect the CPA. Some of them even claim that the people of Darfur instigated the destruction of their region in order to sabotage the peace agreement. Since then, some SPLM/A elements have launched a sinister campaign against the demands of Darfurians for justice and equality. This campaign has reached many parts of east, west and southern Africa.

South Africa and China

South Africa has strong trade and economic ties with China. There are political and ideological affinities, inherited from the era of black South Africa’s revolution against the oppressive apartheid regime. This relationship has created a complicated dynamic, especially at international decision-making fora. Both China and South Africa are currently members of the UN Security Council and the Human Rights Council. At the international level we have observed that South Africa and China assume similar positions on some issues in the area of international peace, security and human rights, in particular on the situation in Darfur.

South Africa and the Arab Gulf states

South Africa has strong trade and economic relationships with countries in the Arabian Gulf region. In fact, the Gulf region is becoming an important trade zone and It holds great potential for South Africa, not only as an export market and a source of energy, but also as a strategic source of foreign direct investment. During the past few years, the oil-rich Arab Gulf states have invested billions of US dollars from surplus oil revenue in real estate, private equity investment, infrastructure development, tourism and other related business affairs in South Africa. Sudan represents a special area of geopolitical interest for the Gulf States. Protecting the Arab-centric government of General El Bashir is one of the main factors, which bring together all members of the League of Arab States in their support of Khartoum. On the other hand, it is clear that most states in sub-Saharan Africa have yet to understand the full ramifications of the crisis in Darfur: which is largely driven by the quest for encroachment on the land owned by indigenous African tribes.

South Africa and Darfur

The position of the government of South Africa vis-à-vis the situation in Darfur is characterised by indifference to the suffering of the victims of this human tragedy. Although South Africa participated in the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS), and has sent some military and police forces to Darfur, the effectiveness of its contribution remains disproportionate to the role of political leadership that it actively pursues in relation to the Dafurian situation.

Out of the total AMIS authorised troops of 6,171 military and 1,560 police personnel, South Africa has contributed some 600 individuals. Recently, we have observed that the government of South Africa increasingly supports the Khartoum government in its handling of Darfur. South Africa continues to use its membership of the AU Peace and Security Council to back the position assumed by Sudan and its north and east African allies within AU institutions. At the international level the country follows a similar policy. On no less than a dozen occasions, South Africa has used its membership of the UN Security Council and the Human Rights Council to oppose and water down projects and resolutions which could have helped provide the victims of the armed conflict in Darfur with protection and relief. Below are some examples of South Africa’s callous position on Darfur.

On 12 July 2007, three members of the UN Security Council, Britain, France and Ghana, submitted a draft resolution for consideration and action by other members of the council. Because of the gravity of the situation on the ground, the resolution was tabled under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. The draft text approved the 'hybrid' African Union-United Nations force. Although the text was reasonably prepared, it ran into strong opposition from some council members, in particular China and South Africa took the lead.

South Africa's ambassador to the UN in New York, Dumisani Kumalo, labelled the draft resolution as 'totally unacceptable'. He further accused the sponsors, including Ghana, of 'throwing everything into the kitchen sink'. He strongly supported the position of the Sudanese government that the resolution should be 'more Sudan friendly'; and that it should drop 'irrelevant' and 'alien' issues, like the threat of 'other measures', usually meaning sanctions. Ambassador Kumalo has been consistent on this position. In March 2007, when he was President of the Security Council, he said that 'the UN can't send troops into Darfur without the permission of the Sudanese Government…[the] UN can't just order the marines into a country'. This assertion is irrelevant and misleading about UN peacekeepers being drawn from the US marines.

The irony is that the government of South Africa seems to be blindly supporting Khartoum. On 17 June 2007, at a press conference given by the UN Security Council delegation following a meeting in Khartoum with Sudan’s president, Ambassador Kumalo was quoted as saying 'I can tell you that the Foreign Minister told us in no uncertain terms that the Government of Sudan accepted the hybrid operation without any conditionality. The President himself just confirmed the same thing to us'. Indeed, Sudan’s president did not miss out on the opportunity to declare that '…no Western European soldier will touch Sudan’s soil', thus belying Kumalo’s statement.

At the High Level Meeting held in New York, Sudan, supported by South Africa and other AU members, formally objected to the deployment in Darfur of infantry contingents from Uruguay and Thailand. They also objected to the deployment of a military engineering unit from Norway. These objections are clear violations of the AU agreement with the UN on the UN/AU hybrid military presence in Darfur. They disregard completely the letter and the spirit of UN Security Council Resolution 1769 (2007), which authorised the UN/AU Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID).

At the fifth session of the UN Human Rights Council held in Geneva, 12–30 March 2007, many human rights activists were shocked when the South African delegation stood fast in support of the Sudanese government. Together with Algeria, they endorsed a weak resolution text that praised Sudan’s militaristic policy in Darfur. This occurred despite the almost unanimous opinion among delegates from sub-Saharan Africa, including SADC countries, that they could no longer extend unconditional backing to the government of Sudan for its crimes in Darfur. When their efforts failed, the delegation of South Africa used all kinds of tactics to water down the resolution, introduced by the EU, on the situation in Sudan.

The position of the ANC government in South Africa vis-à-vis the situation in Darfur is disappointing. Providing unconditional political and diplomatic support to the government of Sudan amounts to certain complicity. Moreover, efforts of the government of South Africa to abort robust regional and international plans to protect the defenceless civilian population in Darfur betray the ideals of justice, human dignity, equality, liberty and peaceful coexistence, for which the South African masses fought an heroic rebellion against the racist apartheid regime. Because of such a glorious history, the position of the ANC government in South Africa, in support of the the crimes the Sudanese government continues to commit in Darfur, disturbs the victims of this tragedy more than the positions of China, Egypt, Algeria, Russia and other friends of Sudan. External observers too could easily point out that if Africans themselves don’t give a hang about African victims of the Darfur tragedy, why should the rest of the world care?

In 2010, South Africa is expected to host the Football World Cup. This important global manifestation will focus the world’s attention on South Africa as a preferred destination for tourism, trade and investment. Hosting this prestigious global tournament should place a certain moral responsibility on the host nation regarding the values of solidarity, friendship, peace, justice and human dignity. What we see in South Africa’s policy towards Darfur is the antithesis of these high moral values. It should be rejected by all peace-loving people. The world should know that by protecting the government of Sudan over Darfur, South Africa has tainted its hands. It supports a killer regime that actively pursues a policy of imposing living conditions that will eventually lead to the destruction, in whole or in part, of a specific group of people because of their ethnic or tribal background. Dafur is tantamount to the genocide of Africans.

* Abdelbagi Jibril is Executive Director of the Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre.

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

The arrival of new technologies often results in a wider gap between the rich and the poor. Yet some innovations fail to be applied in developing countries where there is a real need. As E.F. Schumacher observed, 'new technologies are developed only when people of power and wealth back the development'. The International Council for Science argues, as do many others, that developing countries lack an infrastructure base for exploiting technology, and suggests increased investment in universities.

High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres has welcomed the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution establishing a multi-dimensional United Nations mission in Chad and Central African Republic (CAR) that will help strengthen security in the region. Guterres said he looked forward to an early decision of the European Union (EU) to send military troops so that the UN force – to be known by its acronym MINURCAT – can deploy in the coming weeks and months.

A very dry spell preceding the floods affected the whole country, almost leading to the closure of the hydroelectric dam at Akosombo in the south-east; this facility is fed from the north by the Volta River. Then, in late August, came the rains, deluging the Northern region and the Upper East and Upper West regions, also in the north. The downpours forced families. who had been battling with the drought, to deal with a different type of natural disaster, with many fleeing their homes.

Rita Kalikokha of Dowa, a rural district in central Malawi, thinks about abandoning school every time she menstruates. The hard-working, resolute 13-year-old attends a primary school that has no running water. All 350 pupils at Rita’s school have only two pit-latrines to share, and there is no tap where they can wash their hands after using the toilet. Rita says she and other adolescent girls find these poor sanitation conditions even more awkward when it is time for their monthly periods: 'It’s so difficult to concentrate in class when you know there is no water to clean up with at break time. I usually prefer staying home every time my menses come.'

While its economic landscape is brightening, Africa is still bedeviled by some of the same obstacles that have historically undermined economic development in the resource and labour-rich region. And many of those woes could be solved through development of further intraregional trade. 'The relatively small weight of intraregional trade in Africa, despite the existence of several (and frequently overlapping) regional trade agreements, is due largely to their structure of production and the composition of their exports', according to a report released earlier this month by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

When Mohsin Hendricks, an Imam in South Africa, revealed that he was gay he expected protests and calls for his death. But he never imagined he would talk about his sexuality and religion publically. Hendricks appears in Jihad for Love, a documentary about gay Muslim men and women in Iraq, Pakistan, Egypt and South Africa. Indian filmmaker Parvez Sharma, who is gay himself, wants his movie to reach Muslim communities, even those where being homosexual remains a crime punishable by death.

Nigerian armed group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) has threatened to resume its campaign of kidnapping foreigners and attacking oil facilities, ending a four-month ceasefire. They made the announcement in an email to the media on Sunday, denying government reports that the group's leaders had been arrested in Angola

Darfur's rebel groups could face sanctions if they do not attend peace talks with Khartoum in Libya next month, delegates to a UN-sponsored meeting in New York have warned. US and Sudanese officials both called for sanctions against rebels who stayed away from negotiations, in a rare moment of unity following Friday's meeting.

A new IFAD-funded programme in Uganda will help increase incomes, boost economic growth and reduce poverty by improving farmers’ access to markets with better infrastructure. The programme will be funded partially by a US$15,000,00 IFAD loan to the Government of Uganda. The Community Agricultural Infrastructure Improvement Programme, co-financed by the African Development Bank, will cover 26 districts in central and eastern Uganda, representing about 27 per cent of the country’s land area.

The Uganda National Council for Science has asked the Government to change the school curriculum to develop science and technology at early stages. The executive secretary, Dr Peter Ndemere, on Monday said they were working on a US$30,000,000 (about 48 bilion Kenya shillings) project to address research, curriculum development and the transfer of knowledge to the market. The five-year project started in February this year.

Nine African countries have won the first ever awards given for promoting the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by governments in fulfilling their public service delivery functions, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has announced. The Technology in Government in Africa (TIGA) awards came about through collaboration between UNECA and the Canadian Policy Resource Centre in training African policy-makers.

The discovery of about eighty foetuses in a stream used by a peri-urban community in Swaziland has raised disturbing questions about the desperation of women in a country where unwanted pregnancies are common, abortion is illegal and two-thirds of the population live in poverty.

The Somali government has stopped evicting internally displaced persons (IDPs) from government buildings, in a bid to stem displacement in the capital, Mogadishu, an official told IRIN on 26 September. Dahir Mohamed Burale, the commissioner of the National Refugee Commission of Somalia (NRCS), said it had convinced the government it should provide alternative accommodation for the IDPs before evicting them.

Tajudeen Abdul Raheem argues that Western posturing against Zimbabwe, particularly in the case of the British, stokes the cause of the Mugabe apologists. Instead, he argues, solidarity should be with the ordinary people of Zimbabwe, who should not be distracted from demanding their government be held accountable to them.

There are very few African political activists who have been publicly consistent in their criticisms of
President Mugabe and ZANU-PF of Zimbabwe. I am one of them. But we are not very many. That is not because Africans do not care about what is happening in Zimbabwe; but because the external dimension: regime-change agenda induced from UK and US, and internal racial dynamics of the struggle have both combined to work in Mugabe's favour.

My position is made more difficult by the fact that I was until early last year Secretary-General of the Pan African Movement. Mugabe is indeed one of the most respected and admired leaders in the Pan African Movement, so how can I be criticising one of our icons?

Readers who routinely sent me text or email messages: 'well said'; 'aluta continua comrade'; 'give it to them man', etc, have been outraged by my stand on Zimbabwe and Mugabe. One close comrade, a well respected academic lawyer, wrote to me stating categorically that I should add a disclaimer at the end of my columns. He suggested: 'the views expressed are my personal views not necessarily the view of the Global Pan African Movement'. Both legally and politically, he is correct. But I was puzzled that he never felt it necessary to give me this legal advice until Mugabe became an issue!

One of my critics, a veteran of black struggles in the diaspora, even went as far as to suggest that my columns are syndicatedly written by the MI5 and CIA! My response to such lurid accusations is that if the CIA and MI5 could recruit me without my knowledge, then we must give them credit for good judgement!

More seriously, I have not been surprised by the hostile reactions. President Mugabe evokes extremes of passions, with no one being neutral. He is regarded by many Africans and pan-Africanists as the Liberator, the icon of anti–imperialism, the bold and courageous African leader who is able to look at imperialists in the face and say: 'to hell with you'.

In a historical period when Western arrogance and US hegemonic unilateralism are making many people angry, eliciting powerlessness and hopelessness, many are willing to embrace anyone who dares stand up against the West, especially the US. The same sentiments that drew many to admire Saddam Hussein, as an agent of the US for many years, regardless of his atrocities against his own people; or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran today in his vitriolic attacks on the US, or Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Many who are unsympathetic to socialism nonetheless admire Castro and Cubans for standing against the US and for having defied it for almost five decades, less than 100km from the coast of Florida! These are seen as leaders who refuse to bend to the wishes of Washington. Even other leaders, especially from the poorer countries of the world, are silently applauding them.

In the case of Mugabe, legitimacy is also derived from a genuine liberation struggle that many regarded as being ambushed by a 'Lancaster House compromise'. Therefore, they see Mugabe as returning to the unfinished agenda, differing from the negotiated settlement that led to independence in 1980. Many are stuck in 1980 and Chimurenga, and fail to judge Mugabe and ZANU PF for almost three decades of monopoly power in the country.

When this is pointed out, a lot of apologetics say that Lancaster House prevented any radical solution. But Lancaster was for only 10 years. Why then did Mugabe not restart the Chimurenga in 1990, instead of being forced to do so in the late 1990s by the veterans? But seeking answers to these questions are like arguing with Jehovah' witnesses!

What also strengthens the pro-Mugabe lobby is the evident hypocrisy of the West in dealing with the
Zimbabwe. Why is Mugabe singled out? Where were they in the mid-1980s when Matabeleland was wasting in ZANU's drive for a one-party state? Would they be making so much noise had Mugabe not attacked and repossessed land from white settlers, whose ancestors - with British imperial force - had grabbed the lands from black people? Is Mugabe being punished as a warning to the ANC in neighbouring South Africa: not to even dare to address the grotesque land inequality in that country?

It is the historic wrong against blacks in Zimbabwe that makes many Africans generally sympathetic to Mugabe, even if they will disagree with some of the methods. The pressures from the West, which is silent about similar or worse excesses of human rights, government authoritarianism and dictatorial leadership by other African leaders, but chose to make Mugabe a scapegoat, work for Mugabe apologists.

That is why the current debate sparked by Britain's Gordon Brown on the forthcoming Africa-EU dialogue scheduled for Portugal later this year can only make Mugabe's position more formidable. Britain is the least qualified country to grandstand anyone on Zimbabwe. Brown can not be threatening the rest of Europe with boycott because of one man and one country. If the dialogue is indeed between Africa and Europe, why should one side be laying down the terms?

Why do European leaders think they are the only ones with a public to respond to? African leaders must not accept this. If they do, they will prove to their people that they are spineless poodles of imperialism, whose only question, when asked to jump by the West, is not why, but how high?

However, rejecting the arrogance and hypocrisies of European leaders should not mean that we should endorse the excesses of President Mugabe's prolonged one-man-rule. Political and ideological suspicions of the opposition do not justify the attacks on them. In any case, our solidarity should be with the people of Zimbabwe, who may be ZANU loyalists, MDC supporters or neither. As citizens, they deserve to demand that their government be held accountable to them.

A disproportionate focus on the West's agenda is making us compromise in our duty to express this
solidarity much more boldly.

Tajudeen Abdul Raheem is the Deputy Director for the UN Millennium Campaign in Africa, based in Nairobi, Kenya. He writes this article in a personal capacity as a concerned pan-Africanist.

Military dissidents loyal to renegade army general Laurent Nkunda have resumed fighting in the eastern province of North Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, two weeks after a ceasefire was negotiated by the UN Mission in the Congo (MONUC). 'The insurgents launched attacks against three of our positions in the morning, in Ngungu where the clashes had ceased, in Karuba and in Kichanga' [in Masisi territory, northeast of Goma, the provincial capital], Colonel Delphin Kahindi, the deputy commander of the Congolese army in the province, said on 24 September 2007.

Reporters Without Borders is appalled by the attempted murder on 24 September 2007 of privately-owned Radio Shabelle's acting manager, Jafar Mohammed 'Kukay', the latest target of a wave of political killings that seems to be aimed at demonstrating that the transitional federal government is unable to guarantee security in the Somali capital.

Zimbabwe posted a trade deficit of US$189,000,000 in the first six months of 2007 against China, the price of a costly marriage of convenience founded on Harare’s quest for friendship and Beijing’s search for cheap raw materials. Bi-lateral trade between the two countries clocked US$205,000,00 between January and June, almost 80 per cent of the US$270,000,000 registered during the whole of 2006.

Floods that have left hundreds of thousands of Africans homeless across vast swathes of the continent have claimed 64 lives in Nigeria and 33 in Burkina Faso, government and aid officials said on Thursday. Nigeria's Red Cross said the death toll covered a period since mid-July, while 22,000 people have been displaced in ten sometimes arid northern states of the most populous nation in Africa, as well as in the Lagos area, the huge economic capital in the south-west.

Every day a bus, usually packed to capacity, leaves Malawi for South Africa. Most of the passengers are traders, off to sell wooden curios in the main South African cities of Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. A few stop in Harare, Zimbabwe, with pieces of cloth and food products such as flour and sugar. From South Africa, the traders bring back items of clothing, shoes, electronics and personal accessories. Those who go to Zimbabwe buy butter, jam and tomato sauce to sell in Malawi.

'In a landmark case, we, Ugandan lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people assembled at the High Court of Uganda two months ago to reinforce our right to privacy, dignity, and property. There were no charges against us. We had done nothing wrong.'

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/320/43380.jpgMartin Legassick argues that the high-handedness of the South African housing minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, towards residents of the Joe Slovo informal settlement is 'reminiscent of old apartheid ministers. Her behaviour is a symptom of the arrogant, aloof, and self-satisfied unwillingness to listen to ordinary people that increasingly characterises the Mbeki government'.

Since the launch in 2004 of N2 Gateway, housing minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s pet ‘flagship’ project has run into problem after problem: delayed delivery, cost over-runs, above all lack of consultation. In their 2004-5 report the Development Action Group, an NGO, wrote 'The top-down approach in the N2 project undermines its overall sustainability…the casual, continued and increasing practice of excluding people from decision making about development processes that directly affect their lives is an obstacle that communities are unlikely to tolerate for much longer'.

Their prognosis was vindicated this week when the discontent of Joe Slovo residents boiled over. They closed down the N2 freeway at peak time on Monday morning. After the fire in January 2005, which destroyed 3,000 shacks and made 12,000 people homeless, Joe Slovo residents were promised priority in the allocation of N2 Gateway housing. But they were not accommodated at all in the allocation of the phase 1 flats. Now in 2007, they face being forcibly removed to Delft on the outskirts of the city to create space for the building of phase 2. Not for them, but for those better off. They have lived in Langa for years and do not want to be removed to the margins of the city far from job opportunities. What the Joe Slovo residents are asking for is RDP [low cost] housing to be built in the area for them. They have a plan as to how this can be done without any forced removal at all.

Incredibly, as a result of their occupation of the N2, they have instead been threatened by Lindiwe Sisulu with being struck off all housing waiting lists because they refuse to 'cooperate with government' in their eviction. Additionally, she said she had consulted with lawyers about 'legal avenues to compel' their removal.

Sisulu’s first threat, of course, violates the constitutional right to housing enjoyed by every South African. 'She has declared we are not South African', says the Joe Slovo elected task team member, Sifiso Mapasa, echoing the famous words of Sol Plaatje about the segregationist 1913 Natives Land Act, that it turned Africans into 'foreigners in the land of their birth'.

Moreover housing allocation is a provincial not a national competence, and Sisulu’s action is therefore additionally illegal. As well, at the whim of the minister, her declaration punishes each resident for refusing to cooperate with government, without even giving them a hearing - a third constitutional violation! Sisulu is losing her senses.

The Western Cape and the City of Cape Town waiting lists are anyway, in the words of regional COSATU general secretary Tony Ehrenreich, 'a joke'. There is a backlog of some 400,000 houses in Cape Town. Yet Dan Plato says there are only 3,060 names on the city’s waiting list!

There are not more than 20,000 houses being built each year in the whole Western Cape, barely enough to meet population increase, let alone the backlog. How many people have been waiting 20 years and more on the lists? The government could put the 4-8 million unemployed to work on a crash programme to build homes, were it not wedded to the capitalist profit system.

Sisulu claims that Joe Slovo residents 'would have to make way for people higher up the housing waiting list'. But Phase 1 N2 Gateway housing was not allocated on the basis of waiting lists because very few people could be found who were economically eligible. Instead, advertisements were placed in police stations to attract new applicants. What reason is there to expect any difference with Phase 2, which is so-called ‘gap’ housing for those earning between R3,500 and R7,500 a month? Rather than allocation by waiting list, she is moving out the poor to make way for the better off.

Some people ask why Joe Slovo residents are objecting, since they are only being ‘temporarily removed’ to Delft. But the national housing director-general has admitted that the plans are only to build houses for 1,000 people on the Joe Slovo land; whereas there are presently 6,000 residents. Thus, even if each one of those 1,000 were a Joe Slovo resident, 5,000 would still be stranded in Delft. But, since the projected phase 2 is ‘gap’ housing, most Joe Slovo residents (and most of those on housing waiting lists) will be economically excluded anyway.

Transport MEC Marius Fransman maintained that it was 'unacceptable' in our democracy to blockade the N2 when 'we have the opportunity to access the government'. But Joe Slovo residents have tried many times to 'access the government'. On 3 August 2007, they marched to parliament to present a memorandum to Sisulu and asked to meet with her. It was received by her personal assistant, who promised a reply within a week. In fact the only reply from Sisulu was a disdainful one reported in an article in the back pages of the Weekend Argus of 25 August 2007. Sisulu did not even have the courtesy to deliver her reply to those concerned. Thus she undermined our democracy.

In her reply, she accused Joe Slovo residents of being 'unwilling to accept that communities of the future would cut across race and class'. If that is what she wants, then why does she not 'cut across race and class' and, as Ehrenreich suggested, move them to Constantia? She claimed she wanted to 'eradicate slums'. But what she is doing is merely moving the Joe Slovo ‘slum’ to Delft and installing better-off people in their place.

Sisulu does not like the term 'forced removal'. But what substantive difference is there in her present search for means of 'compulsion', from the apartheid government of the 1970s wanting to forcibly evict Crossroads residents out of Cape Town altogether?

I was an eye-witness to the events of Monday morning from 4am, having been invited to observe by the task team. What I saw, even in the dark, was a peaceful protest interrupted by a police riot. Contrary to some news reports, no guns were fired at the police. Nor were stones thrown, until the police had wounded some 12 people with rubber bullets. Riotous police behaviour was witnessed by reporters again later in the morning when police opened fire on a crowd including old people, children and women with a mere 20 second warning, and wounded many more. As of today, the police are still occupying Joe Slovo and arresting people at will.

On Tuesday, two leaders in Joe Slovo were arrested on charges of 'public violence' for daring to ask the police for permission to hold a general meeting! This too was a constitutional violation. There is a police-state atmosphere of intimidation in Joe Slovo, which is in no way compatible with the democracy talked about by MEC Fransman.

Sisulu’s refusal to meet Joe Slovo residents makes her responsible for these injuries and actions. She now has the blood of women and children on her hands.

She claims that Thubelisha, project manager of N2 Gateway, is responsible for interacting with residents and that she has 'the fullest confidence' in them. Thubelisha was established to build houses, and lacks people-management skills. Residents of Joe Slovo have met with Thubelisha management several times; to no avail.

At the same time as these complaints from Joe Slovo, the N2 Gateway phase 1 residents also have their grievances. Selected as beneficiaries, at preparatory workshops they were suddenly told that rent would be increased from the R350-R600 advertised, to R650-R1,000. Desperate for housing, and given no time even to read the long contracts, they signed. They moved into the flats - only to find cramped accommodation, serious structural problems, cracks in the walls and hopelessly defective plumbing.

Later they discovered that some people were paying the old rents, which, even Thubelisha admits, is an ‘anomaly’. Thubelisha has not addressed their problems to their satisfaction. They have launched a rent boycott in protest, and also marched to parliament on 17 July to present a memorandum to Sisulu – to which she again responded only in the media. They also are threatened with eviction.

The N2 Gateway ‘flagship’ project has become a fiasco.

The high-handedness of Sisulu in all this is reminiscent of old apartheid ministers. Her behaviour is a symptom of the arrogant, aloof, and self-satisfied unwillingness to listen to ordinary people that increasingly characterises the Mbeki government. Sisulu talks of frequent 'consultation' with communities over N2 Gateway. But this 'consultation' has not involved listening, but rather telling communities what they should do.

Minister Sisulu must come to her senses. By delegating the handling of her pet project to others, she has acted like a coward. Instead of issuing ultimatums from afar, she needs, above all, to meet with and listen personally to Joe Slovo residents (as well as those of N2 Gateway phase 1). Then it will become clear to her that both communities are united in their demands, and that they can suggest answers to their problems. Both communities are insistent that any attempt to forcibly evict them will be challenged in court, and, if necessary, physically. But there is a way out of this conflict, if Sisulu lives up to her responsibilities.

This article was originally published on Abahlali baseMjondolo -

Martin Legassick is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of the Western Cape. For pictures of the blockade and the police attack, as well as a small archive of Joe Slovo task team press statements click here.

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