Madiba said that human rights would be the guiding light of South Africa’s foreign policy. So what the hell, Mr. Mbeki, is your government doing giving a cheesy thumbs-up to Myanmar, Iran, Libya, Haiti and Zimbabwe?

As the leader of South Africa’s official opposition, Tony Leon, puts it – there is human rights discourse, but no actual action to support that discourse:

It is consistent with a larger pattern, in which South Africa through its deeds if not words eschews human rights issues and shores up undemocratic regimes worldwide.

Our foreign policy, if we separate actual resolutions from occasional professions in favour of democracy and human rights, appears to be a fitful but sustained apologia for some of the world’s most odious authoritarian regimes.

Expats and Afrikaners love this stuff in a lovingly loathful way – it convinces them, in one way of expressing it, that the rulers of the New South Africa are just as gross and morally corrupt (if not more) than the governments of the Old South Africa. It will be interesting to see how the new generations born of the apartheid supporters and benefactors will inherit the legacy of Nelson Mandela as they increasingly fight the ANC on issues such as human rights violations at home and globally.

I just recently received an article published by a small South African newspaper. It reports that the official policy for all new judicial appointments to the Supreme Court specifies a skin colour requirement.