A slap in the face

A New Zealander nominated to receive the highest honour from South Africa that a foreigner can receive, the Companion of OR Tambo Award asked for the nomination to be withdrawn. To put things in perspective, this award has been given to Mahatma Gandhi, Kofi Annan and Martin Luther King jnr.

As we say in South Africa: “Eish!” Typically this interjection is followed by raucous laughter after such a massive dis that secures the dissers obvious victory (as well as asserts his superior manhood) over the dissee.

John Minto was the national co-ordinator of the Halt All Racist Tours movement during the 1981 Springbok tour to New Zealand.

According to News24 Mr Minto told the Christchurch Press the following:

“(South Africa) was the democratic country with so much hope and I think for so many people it’s been the deepest of disappointments, and certainly it has been for me.

“I’m just deeply dismayed at what’s happened.”

In an open letter to President Thabo Mbeki, Minto also said, “When we protested and marched into police batons and barbed wire here in the struggle against apartheid, we were not fighting for a small black elite to become millionaires.

“We were fighting for a better South Africa for all its citizens. The faces at the top have changed from white to black but the substance of change is an illusion.”

Here’s hoping that if enough of the right people (such as old anti-Apartheid activists and the growing black middle class) keep complaining, someone will start listening. At the very least here’s hoping that enough people wake up in time to rock the vote.