Crimes against humanity

Few South Africans would disagree with the UN that apartheid was an evil and obnoxious system, but it is important to note that the UN did not single out apartheid SA as the only perpetrator of crimes against humanity. It also included the various forms and manifestations in the world of apartheid-like policies and actions.

According to the 1973 UN Convention the definition applies to “all forms of racial discrimination ... and to prevent, prohibit and eradicate all practices of this nature ... certain acts also qualified as acts of apartheid constitute a crime under international law”.

Following the guidelines of the UN Convention it is clear that “acts that qualify as acts of apartheid and crimes against humanity” remain widespread in the world.

Due to international intervention and internal reform, SA has been sanitised of this evil. Yet in a blatant display of moral pretentiousness and hypocrisy the SA government turns a blind eye to crimes against humanity committed outside its borders, treating them in the same way as in the international struggle against apartheid.

Indeed, some of SA’s best friends and partners in world politics are purveyors of apartheid-like domestic policies, routinely committing “crimes against humanity”. President Nelson Mandela’s energetic foreign policy in favour of the promotion of human rights was shamelessly abandoned by his successors. SA’s voting track record on human rights at the UN, and its chummy relations with dictators of the ilk of Robert Mugabe and Omar al Bashir, made it clear that it did not care a hoot about these criminal acts, a far cry from its relentless demolishment of the views of former president FW de Klerk.

The government acts more Catholic than the pope on these matters, hiding behind denialism and anti-Westernism. No wonder the country’s image, role and status in the world have reached a low. Surely, the chickens will come home to roost. Gerrit Olivier

Somerset West