Africa News blog
African business, politics and lifestyle
Was it right to grant refugee status to white South African?
Canada’s decision to grant refugee status to white South African Brandon Huntley has drawn anger from the ruling African National Congress, which described it as racist, and has again stirred the race debate in South Africa 14 years after the end of apartheid.
Huntley had cited persecution by black South Africans as the reason why he could not return to the country of his birth. The chair of the Canadian panel that granted his request said he had shown evidence “of indifference and inability or unwillingness” of South Africa’s government to protect white South Africans from “persecution by African South Africans”.
“I find that the claimant would stand out like a ‘sore thumb’ due to his colour in any part of the country,” the chair of the tribunal panel, William Davis, was quoted as saying.
In his application for asylum, Huntley said he had been a victim of multiple crimes by black South Africans and added that white South Africans were a target.
He pointed at the country’s Black Economic Empowerment policies as institutionalised reverse racism that has ensured that he has no opportunities.
The Ottawa Sun described how Huntley first came to Canada to work as a carnival attendant on a six-month work permit in 2004, came back in 2005 and then stayed on illegally until he made a refugee claim in 2008.
Anyone visiting South Africa will certainly see plenty of evidence of white South Africans doing extremely well and generally having a higher standard of living than the majority of black South Africans. White South Africans head many top firms while the highest crime rates are not in the suburbs of the affluent, but in the poor black townships.
I like MJ I think he is the greatest musican of all time! I feel that MJ was bigger than Elivs or the Beatles or anybody else. He defitnely was the most recongized musican around the world, but didn’t all black people around the world disown MJ. I remeber other black people say on TV when he was alive that they hated the fact he tried to change his skin color(Which MJ denied and he said he had a skin disorder, and was never proven that he bleached his skin). Africans are the darkest people in the world so why would all of Africa now like MJ? Why would all the black people now after his death all like him so much?
Was white Kenyan aristocrat’s conviction fair?
It’s been almost three years since the son of the 5th Lord Delamere, Thomas Cholmondeley, first hopped down from a police truck and entered into Kenya’s High Court to face murder charges over the death of a local poacher on his estate.
Cholmondeley sat as impassively this week as he did that first day in court as the judge convicted him of a lesser charge of manslaughter.
Although the death penalty is off the table, he still could face life in prison.
It appears to me that this trial was blatantly turned into a race issue by certain Kenyan politians and the Judge was under huge political pressure to ensure a conviction no matter what the evidence produced. For the Judge to completly deregard the defence was a scandal in itself. In my opion this man did not get a fair trial and reflects the deep seated corruption in Kenya. Possibly the politians are trying to distract from the fact that they themselves are partaking in a land grab of their own.
I, myself grew up in a country that is predominatly black and was once ruled by the white man, as Kenya was, and I find the black man always seems to dwell on the past. To which the black politicians, who rule, are only too happy to remind him mainly to hind their own greed and misgovernment.
I think Kenyans should be ashamed of their Judicial system and the trial this man received. SHAME ON KENYA.
Can Zuma live up to unity pledge?
Pledging to work for national unity is pretty much a formality for any election winner, but in the case of South Africa’s Jacob Zuma it may be more than a platitude. It may need to be.
“The new President of the Republic will be a president for all, and he will work to unite the country around a programme of action that will see an improvement in the delivery of services,” Zuma said after the African National Congress won its sweeping victory.
“We may disagree on how to bring about a better life for all, but what unites us is the fact that this country belongs to all of us, black, white, coloured and Indian equally. We will need to work together on issues that are in the national interest, on which there is no need to compete or permanently bicker.”
Despite the strongest opposition challenge since the end of apartheid, the slick ANC campaign delivered the vote and persuaded a majority of South Africans that the party that has ruled since 1994 could also be the one to deliver change – more action against poverty, crime, AIDS and other concerns.
But unity is always going to be tough in a country with as many divisions as South Africa. The formerly monolithic ANC itself split last year after it ousted former President Thabo Mbeki.
The vote clearly showed up the racial divide 15 years after the end of rule by the white minority.
The vast majority of black Africans had clearly voted for the ANC, whose credentials are still strong for ending apartheid. The voters included those in KwaZulu Natal province, where the Inkatha Freedom Party used to be dominant. Zuma, a son of the soil, definitely helped the party win more votes there.
I think Mr Zuma is a very capable leader and there’s really no need for anyone to believe that he’s going to destroy the country. His only problem is his personal life which is so messed up. If he can keep his personal life clean andout of the media spotlight, his work will be made a lot easier.
My opinion is this… any nation Canada, UK, Australia, USA etc… should re-write there immigration laws to include persecution for racisim.. they allow it for religion? So why not? These changed laws should specifically be geared to any African national, that isn’t really African, but caucasion, Asian, etc. Once all the whites are safely removed from SA, and other places… just watch how quickly they collapse. From everything I have read, and saw… the evidence is clear. It just doesn’t seem like these native blacks have the same goals, and abilities that Euro, and Asians have… that is to progress in a civil society… why those SA people natives alone have tribal differences… and will eventually rip the area apart. I just don’t like reading and hearing about my white brothers and sisters being abused in the process… so please all of you, get smart like Brandon did… figure something out…now before it is too late.