A meek salute as Museveni lowers flag of human rights
SOUTH Africa’s response to Uganda’s harsh new anti-gay laws shows again that although we may have the right convictions, we are not going to be making too much noise about them. “South Africa takes note of the recent developments regarding the situation of lesbians, gays, bisexual, transsexual and intersex persons worldwide.” So said a statement on Uganda by our government.
Apparently, this was an oblique reference to a Republican-backed bill in the legislature of the US state of Arizona that would have made it permissible for businesses to refuse to serve gay couples on religious grounds.
This feeble response to Uganda’s ill-fated move, presumably on the grounds that we are concerned about gay and lesbian rights around the world (and not just in Uganda!), backfired badly when the governor of Arizona vetoed the bill this week.
It makes our undertaking, given in the statement, that “the South African government will, through existing diplomatic channels, be seeking clarification on these developments from many capitals around the world”, look a little pathetic and transparent.
As the statement points out, our constitution enshrines the rights of all people to make their own choices. Perhaps what is good for the people of South Africa is not good for the people of Uganda.
In power for 28 years, and increasingly autocratic, President Yoweri Museveni is a stayer, if nothing else, with a sharp nose for the national mood. He has allowed right-wing Christian missionaries to whip up a fever in Uganda, promoting bogus “science” that claims to have discovered a link between crimes against children and homosexuality. It makes his claim that he is passing the law to preserve “African culture” all the more spurious.
It is rather typical that our government should play the old Western hypocrisy card in this fraught and unfortunate situation.
As for South Africa showing “leadership” on the continent, perhaps we should not hold our breath. After all, we have meekly fallen in line with Zimbabwe’s dictator for years now.
We seem to think Africa will respect us more if we play its game, as it was played for years when the “principle” of non-interference was a sacred creed of the old Organisation of African Unity — but it laughs at us. We have the top spot in the African Union, but there is silence from that quarter, too. We have in Uganda a high commissioner, Jon Qwelane, a former journalist never slow with an opinion, who is known to have opinions on gays and lesbians. But from him, this week, a thunderously diplomatic “no comment”.
So South Africa does its little two-finger salute at the flag of human rights — but over Africa this week, that flag is flying half-mast.