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Ranga Mataire-Group Political Editor

In his closing remarks at the ANC Lekgotla in Boksburg at the end of January, party President Cyril Ramaphosa warned of a “systematic fight back campaign” from those peeved by his country’s case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of committing atrocities in Gaza.

“As we reflect on this matter, we must be mindful that our success has exposed not only atrocities that have been carried out by the state of Israel, but it has also exposed the moral bankruptcy of those countries who, by their acts of omission and commission, are allowing genocide to take place in Gaza on their watch. We say this humbly, without pointing fingers.

“We are aware there will be systematic fightback campaigns, and I say this so that we are aware of it,” President Ramaphosa said as he addressed the ANC National Executive (NEC), highlighting the risks of his Government’s stance on the war in the Middle East.

Now that campaigns for the 2024 general elections have started in earnest, President Ramaphosa’s warning is coming to bear as reflected by the opposition Democratic Alliance’s (DA) written request to the United States to intervene in the domestic affairs of South Africa.

On March 7, 2024 DA MP Emma Powell, wrote a letter to the US Foreign Secretary, Antony Blinken through the US Ambassador to SA, saying the opposition party was uncomfortable with the ANC elite as it is likely to grow more desperate and attempt to rig elections in the upcoming May 29 elections.

The DA letter stated that, “It is our contention that as the ruling elite grow desperate to retain electoral support ahead of the upcoming elections, they may be willing to put their narrow political interests ahead of our country’s broader interests and sacred constitutional values.

Here, we are witnessing an increasing willingness by the ANC to forge alliances with malign international actors whose regimes are characterised by tyranny, terror and oppression.”

Anyone who has been following regional politics since the end of apartheid in SA and the end of colonialism in Zimbabwe would be amazed at the stark similarities in character and orientation of opposition political parties that have come into the fold in the advent of multiparty democracy.

While the DA decided to write letters to the United States Secretary of State and other European foreign affairs ministries, Zimbabwe’s local opposition literally did a lot of leg work by travelling to the United States first to lobby for economic sanctions and second to push for the stay of the sanctions after the coming in of the New Dispensation led by President Mnangagwa.

In a shameless display of puppetry, the opposition MDC sent its senior officials – Nelson Chamisa and Tendai Biti – to the US to lobby for what they termed electoral reforms ahead of the 2018 harmonised elections. 

Chamisa posted on his X account to let the world know what he and Biti were up to: “In the US, I’m with bro & Cde Biti on a vital global advocacy and diplomatic outreach. Our meetings are high level with the State Department, Congress, global business and US civil society. Our focus is repositioning the opposition and global coalition for free and fair elections in 2018.”

For long, this has been Zimbabwe’s gripe with local opposition political parties. The ZANU-PF led Government has for long advanced the view that local opposition were Trojan horses for imperial interests and there is no better way of such an example than that exemplified by that shameless trip coming on the heels of the coming into the fold of the Second Republic.

And now the ANC is confronted with a similar ignominy. The tactics are the same with the ultimate aim of effecting regime change and installing pliable regimes in two of the most significant geopolitical powers of the southern Africa region.

The ANC is not letting this lie low. It has robustly responded by reminding all and sundry that it was the former liberation movement that “fought for democracy and brought about constitutional democracy with all its defining characteristics.”

“The notion that an African country’s elections are only considered credible when observed by Europeans or Americans is a clear example of paternalistic imperialism. 

“Despite our impeccable track record of running free and fair elections in South Africa, we have never sought to comment on the elections in the West, even when their own citizens question the credibility of their electoral processes,” reads the ANC statement posted on its official website last week.

The ANC said the DA’s reactionary and inhumane agenda knows no limits and that it was not surprising that its leader once said “one man’s genocide is another’s freedom” when asked about the genocide actions of Israel in Palestine.

“It is beyond a coincidence that the very same nation which continues to arm Israel in pursuit of its genocidal agenda and blocks pleas for a ceasefire at the United Nations Security Council is now being called upon to “oversee” our elections.”

This was an unprecedented reaction from the ANC and shows the extent of foreign powers’ interference in the domestic affairs of sovereign nations. 

While the adversarial reaction of the United States emanates from the ANC government’s lawsuit against Israel, Zimbabwe’s crime is hinged on the land issue.

Both actions by the respective southern African countries are crucial in understanding global politics and in exposing America’s pretentious adherence to democratic ideals, freedom and equal treatment of all citizens regardless of race.

The ICJ lawsuit by South Africa was a huge moral victory for all people striving for an equal global status while the revolutionary land reform in Zimbabwe was the first of its kind in the world and sent an upsetting message to America, a country born out of European conquest of native Americans’ land. 

Both actions by South Africa and Zimbabwe and the Western reaction thereof had the effect of exposing the obduracy of the US and its adherence to principles of international fair play and democracy.

Angered by Zimbabwe’s quest to decide its own destiny, the United States imposed economic sanctions on the country to make “the economy scream”, which would result in citizens rising against their own government. 

This strategy has failed and it will likely fail again in South Africa.

Even in the just ended 2023 elections in Zimbabwe, the country had to contend with a number of hostile election observers who appeared to have had preconceived judgements on the outcome.

Some were publicly seen dishing out business cards to the opposition leader, Chamisa, an act that was described by analysts as not procedural. All the skulduggery came to naught as Chamisa lost the election to President Mnangagwa.

Gone are the days when the future of African politics and society were decided in Paris, Washington, Berlin or Tokyo. 

Africa is re-awakening and will not be cajoled into abdicating its responsibility in protecting the interests of its people. 

It is highly unlikely that a region with a painful history of liberation struggles would at any time accede the power of governance to individuals kowtowing to foreign imperial interests.