US president Donald Trump thrives on causing divisions among people. It is what got him elected for his first term in 2018. This was at the back of an anti-immigrant campaign during which he promised to build a high wall at the border between the US and Mexico.
It is also his divide and rule that has helped him stage a remarkable political comeback – beating the Democratic Party’s candidate Kamala Harris – to return to the White House.
Since taking office in January, he has wasted no time in further sowing divisions both at home and abroad. It is in this context that we should see his current assault on SA. For it is an attack.
Trump’s executive order, signed on Friday, not only falsely accuses this country of confiscating private properties of white Afrikaners, it even paints one of the most historically privileged groups in our society as victims of a genocide who need to be provided refugee status in the US.
The tone and language of the executive order are highly inflammatory and, if left unchecked, its propaganda has the effect of causing tensions in an already racially divided society.
That is why it is important that the response from the government, civil society, organised business and our society as a whole should not only be measured but should reflect an absolute commitment to unity and nation-building.
Trump’s accusations and subsequent actions have little to do with any of our population groups, including Afrikaners. That is why the vast majority of Afrikaners who have spoken out since the executive order categorically deny his claims and say they have no intention of fleeing the land of their birth.
But that we do still have unsettled business arising from our painful apartheid past cannot be denied. Much of the tensions that continue to exist arise from the reality that, despite adopting an inclusive constitution in 1996, in many respects, SA remains a country where race largely determines one's ability for upward mobility.
That is why we believe that the most comprehensive response we can give to Trump and others, here at home and abroad, who seek to divide us is to push ahead with the national dialogue that has been suggested by several foundations to review the country’s first 30 years of democracy and to chart a vision for the future.
The vision emanating from those discussions will have to be all-inclusive and would have to be embraced by all so that, in the future, we are not subject to ill-informed and opportunistic attacks from Western populist leaders who have not fully accepted that Africa and our country are nobody’s colony.
SOWETAN SAYS | SA must have dialogue to chart vision for future
Image: Gulshan Khan/Getty Images/Reuters/Leah Millis
US president Donald Trump thrives on causing divisions among people. It is what got him elected for his first term in 2018. This was at the back of an anti-immigrant campaign during which he promised to build a high wall at the border between the US and Mexico.
It is also his divide and rule that has helped him stage a remarkable political comeback – beating the Democratic Party’s candidate Kamala Harris – to return to the White House.
Since taking office in January, he has wasted no time in further sowing divisions both at home and abroad. It is in this context that we should see his current assault on SA. For it is an attack.
Trump’s executive order, signed on Friday, not only falsely accuses this country of confiscating private properties of white Afrikaners, it even paints one of the most historically privileged groups in our society as victims of a genocide who need to be provided refugee status in the US.
The tone and language of the executive order are highly inflammatory and, if left unchecked, its propaganda has the effect of causing tensions in an already racially divided society.
That is why it is important that the response from the government, civil society, organised business and our society as a whole should not only be measured but should reflect an absolute commitment to unity and nation-building.
Trump’s accusations and subsequent actions have little to do with any of our population groups, including Afrikaners. That is why the vast majority of Afrikaners who have spoken out since the executive order categorically deny his claims and say they have no intention of fleeing the land of their birth.
But that we do still have unsettled business arising from our painful apartheid past cannot be denied. Much of the tensions that continue to exist arise from the reality that, despite adopting an inclusive constitution in 1996, in many respects, SA remains a country where race largely determines one's ability for upward mobility.
That is why we believe that the most comprehensive response we can give to Trump and others, here at home and abroad, who seek to divide us is to push ahead with the national dialogue that has been suggested by several foundations to review the country’s first 30 years of democracy and to chart a vision for the future.
The vision emanating from those discussions will have to be all-inclusive and would have to be embraced by all so that, in the future, we are not subject to ill-informed and opportunistic attacks from Western populist leaders who have not fully accepted that Africa and our country are nobody’s colony.
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