South Africa

"... its an horrific circumstance that [the South African farmers] face and Australia has a refugee and humanitarian program – as well as a number of other visa programs – where we have the potential to help some of these people that are being persecuted. So Ive asked my Department to have a look at options and ways in which we can provide some assistance because I do think, on the information that Ive seen, people do need help and they need help from a civilised country like ours and more importantly than that, the people that we are talking about want to work hard, ... abide by our laws, integrate into our society, ... not lead a life on welfare ..."

"The Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Cuban, Nicaraguan, and Iranian revolutions aimed to overthrow dictatorships, foreign imperialism, and unjust economic systems. Efforts for social change in southern Africa, however, confronted the further obstacle of institutionally and culturally embedded racism. In the late twentieth century only one major nation claimed the distinction of awarding political rights on the basis of race: the Republic of South Africa. The white minority had confirmed its control of the mineral-rich country through the passage of a set of laws during the years 1948–1960 reinforcing race separation under the label “apartheid.” In the 1950s peaceful protests against white minority rule were severely repressed, as were attempts at rebellion from the 1960s on. In the 1990s movements opposing apartheid finally achieved access to state power through the national elections of 1994. But after the death of Nelson Mandela, the legendary leader of the antiapartheid movement, inequality and widespread poverty remained enormous problems that challenged a new generation of South African activists and leaders, despite the end of white minority rule and apartheid, and even though significant progress had been made in some areas."

"Here are wide tracts of fertile soil watered by abundant rains. The temperate sun warms the life within the soil. The cooling breeze refreshes the inhabitant. The delicious climate stimulates the vigour of the European. The highway of the sea awaits the produce of his labour. All Nature smiles, and here at last is a land where white men may rule and prosper. As yet only the indolent Kaffir enjoys its bounty, and, according to the antiquated philosophy of Liberalism, it is to such that it should forever belong."

"When [Nelson Mandela] was in prison I admired him for his moral strength... Of his period in power I can see few results. Apartheid no longer exists, at least to all appearances, but no one understands what the new government in South Africa is doing."

"None of the articles of faith of the South African Constitution is plausible. The Constitution is not supreme and entrenched. Vulnerable to potent socio-economic forces it changes continuously and often profoundly regardless of stringent amendment requirements. The trite threefold separation of powers is more metaphorical than real and therefore unable to secure effective checks and balances. Though institutionally separated with their own personnel and functions, the three powers are ordinarily integrated in a single dominant political leadership."

"South Africa’s religious communities deserve better than a regulatory system that treats them as subjects rather than partners. Professor Xulu’s resignation, whatever one thinks of his approach, serves as a reminder that the first casualty of overreach is always the freedom to speak, to dissent, and to govern one’s own faith without fear of bureaucratic retribution."