EDITORIAL: SA’s leadership record in Africa a dismal one
Having shielded former president Omar al-Bashir from an international warrant of arrest Pretoria cannot be counted on to help usher in democratic change in Sudan
If one had to go through the period of Jacob Zuma’s rule and name the things that shamed SA, the list would be a long one. From the Nkandla scandal to all the corruption and mayhem being exposed in the state capture commission, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s reference to “nine wasted years” does not do it justice. Considering that, as head of state, Zuma was found to have violated the constitution, it is not a big shock that one of his most egregious failures of judgment included giving the finger to the judiciary and the rule of law, in order to protect a dictator and international rogue who would not have risked travelling to any country that took its democratic and moral responsibilities seriously. That would be the decision in 2015 to shield Sudan’s former president Omar al-Bashir from an international warrant of arrest for crimes against humanity, allegedly committed in the western region of Darfur. The New York Times reported in 2017 that the UN estimated that the violence k...
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