{{Johannesburg}} – {Most people would be reluctant to pick a fight with a revered Buddhist holy man and 14 other Nobel peace prize winners, but that’s just what President Jacob Zuma has done.}<\/p>\n
When the Dalai Lama asked for a visa to attend next week’s first ever summit of Nobel laureates in Africa, Zuma’s government demurred and the Tibetan cancelled his trip.<\/p>\n
It’s the third time Zuma’s government dragged its feet on a visa for the bespectacled monk, so the president knew exactly what to expect: public opprobrium and a pat on the head from Beijing, which calls the Dalai Lama a terrorist.<\/p>\n
But this time the backlash was tougher and more damaging.<\/p>\n
Zuma’s decision resulted in the embarrassing cancellation of the Cape Town Nobel event, which – as if to underscore the contrast of the ANC’s idealistic past and its hard-nosed present – had been scheduled to mark the 20th anniversary of apartheid’s collapse and the election of Nelson Mandela.<\/p>\n
South Africans of all stripes who remember the pain of being the “polecat of the world” accused Zuma of rubbishing the image of Nelson Mandela’s “Rainbow Nation”.<\/p>\n
The party of Nobel prize-winner Mandela, of the anti-apartheid struggle and the moral high ground had become a party in hock to dictatorships and authoritarians in Beijing and Moscow.<\/p>\n
It’s true that Mandela also wanted better relations with China.<\/p>\n
Beijing aided the ANC while it was fighting apartheid and they still enjoy close ties. Many leading members of the ANC are communists, including powerful secretary general Gwede Mantashe.<\/p>\n
But since taking office in 2009 Zuma – a former communist who once received leadership and military training in the Soviet Union – has gone further than Mandela, who after all allowed the Dalai Lama to visit on numerous occasions.<\/p>\n
‘Hostility to western democracies’ <\/p>\n
Zuma has made relations with Brazil, Russia, India and China (the so-called BRICS) the bedrock of his foreign policy.<\/p>\n
His policy is founded in a “hostility to western democracies”, according to Frans Cronje, head of the South African Institute of Race Relations.<\/p>\n
“Government is making a statement here that it stands with the China-Russia nexus.”<\/p>\n
ANC members frequently travel to Beijing for exchanges reportedly covering subjects such as how to build a political school and prevent party divisions.<\/p>\n
Cronje also wonders “to what extent is China bankrolling ANC and individual ANC leaders? That gives it a grip over the party”.<\/p>\n
Some have argued Zuma may have pragmatic as well as ideological reasons for sucking up to China. Tens of millions of South Africans are out of work and Beijing holds a very large chequebook.<\/p>\n
It is not a view shared by Iraj Abedian, chief executive officer of Pan-African Capital Holdings.<\/p>\n
“The issue is not economic at all, it is all politics and related to the support China gave to ANC during the struggle years.<\/p>\n
“From purely economic point of view, China needs South Africa more than South Africa needs China.<\/p>\n
“China needs South Africa for its mineral and broader resources needs. Geopolitically, China uses South Africa for its African strategy.”<\/p>\n
But accepting China’s embrace so readily may be a dangerous gambit for Zuma, one that could kick away the cornerstone of his domestic support.<\/p>\n
Plagued by corruption scandals, he recently won a landslide election leaning heavily on the ANC’s past glories.<\/p>\n
The party’s first election after Mandela’s death doubled as a celebration of his life and of 20 years of democracy, helped handily by a government-funded programme.<\/p>\n
Shedding Mandela’s ethical mantle might take away the very thing that keeps the ANC in power.<\/p>\n
– AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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