A draft loyalty pledge has plunged South Africa into a new identity crisis as it mulls its common values 14 years after discarding apartheid to forge a united society under a single flag.
As the motley "Rainbow Nation" quibbles over a government proposal to introduce a pledge of allegiance in schools, some ideological battle lines are being redrawn.
The oath has been described as an attempt at fostering social cohesion and as ideological abuse.
One newspaper columnist said it would do little but remind children that "the little white ones among them are evil seed."
"This oath is nothing more than an attempt by the ANC [African National Congress] to indoctrinate vulnerable school children with a permanent guilt complex," said Jaco Mulder, a provincial parliamentarian of the white minority Freedom Front Plus opposition party.
Some object to the fact that besides the expected commitment to such values as human dignity and justice, nearly half the pledge has to do with injustices perpetrated under the erstwhile white minority apartheid state.
Education Minister Naledi Pandor defended the move, telling the weekly Mail & Guardian newspaper it was a bid to promote "national unity where ideals are not expressed only by those who participated in the struggle."
"We hope that young people ... do come to have an appreciation of the struggle that was centered on certain principles of humanity," Pandor said.
The proposal has been welcomed by the youth league of the governing ANC.
"We are of the opinion that the pledge will go a long way to imbue the youth with a sense of pride, patriotism, nation building and a caring society," it said in a statement.
South Africans of different hues and political backgrounds have been trying to forge a common national identity since the decline of the apartheid state and the ascension of the former liberation movement ANC to the helm of government in 1994.
The nation adopted a symbolically multi-colored flag that same year, a widely negotiated Constitution two years later, and a hybrid national anthem in 1997 that contains the ANC's freedom song Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika (isiXhosa for "God bless Africa") as well as a portion of the apartheid era anthem Die Stem (Afrikaans for "The Voice").
A new coat of arms was introduced in 2000 with a motto that translates as "diverse people unite" from the Khoisan language of South Africa's indigenous Bushmen.
But the nation is intermittently faced with issues that challenge the notion of a diverse nation unified in purpose.
Contentious issues include the ANC-led government's drive to change place names to which Afrikaners claim historic allegiance, and the racial make-up of the nation's rugby and cricket teams that fall far short of reflecting the 80 percent black majority demographic.
Newspaper editorials, too, were divided on the idea of a pledge.
"Just as no farmer would plant a young sapling in the eye of the storm, no nation as young as ours can be expected to overcome its growing pains without some help," said the daily Star, welcoming the initiative.
But the Business Day said it was a good idea badly executed.
"The text ... contains much about the injustices of the past but little about what's important now," it said. "This is a troubled and fragmented society and we could do with some unifying values and rituals. But this pledge doesn't quite make the grade."
President Thabo Mbeki told lawmakers on Thursday it was important to keep in mind that both black and white citizens had contributed to today's South Africa.
Yet recent national debate, he said, had illustrated a clear division "between those who believe South Africa is experiencing the worst of times and those who assert that this is the best of times."
He quoted a recent newspaper editorial by columnist William Saunderson-Meyer stating: "The darkies mutter self-indulgently about past injustices. The whities opt loudly for the ... theory of the universe [that] the sky is about to fall down, at least over the southern part of Africa."
Mbeki said: "Surely all of us have a duty to encourage all our `citizens to be politically and emotionally engaged in their country,' precisely to create the possibility for us to unite in action and act in unity."
Analyst Sipho Seepe, president of the SA Institute for Race Relations, said while the pledge was flawed, the debate should be welcomed.
"This is an opportunity for the nation to be in conversation. That is very important," Seepe said.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
RSS