South Africa
In 1996 the national unity government, led by the African National Congress
(ANC) with the National Party (NP) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP),
continued its policy of transformation. This policy included the introduction
of a new growth, employment and redistribution strategy, as well as drastic
reforms of housing and education policies. Affirmative action gained impetus
as the nation tackled past injustices. Nonetheless, huge discrepancies in
wealth and living conditions remain.
In the face of growing labour unrest the government enacted new labour laws
that promoted centralized bargaining and provided new mechanisms for dispute
resolution. During the year there was a substantial reduction in political
violence across the country as a whole, although violence in KwaZulu-Natal
continues.
Criminal violence increased against a backdrop of high unemployment, estimated
at between 22 and 40 per cent. The economy grew by 3 per cent and inflation
decreased marginally to 7.4 per cent, the lowest in twenty-four years. Foreign
investment remained unsatisfactory, notwithstanding the announcement by
the government of new economic policies, including substantial privatization,
fiscal discipline and endorsement by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The NP withdrew from the government in mid-year, thereby terminating the
position of Deputy President F. W. de Klerk.
Local government elections were held in the metropolitan area of Cape Town
in May and in KwaZulu-Natal in July. In the former the NP won 43 per cent
of the seats, maintaining a marginal superiority over the ANC. In the latter
the IFP gained 39 per cent of seats, confirming its position as a largely
rural organization with little significant support in the urban areas.
Following lengthy negotiations, the constitutional assembly ratified a revised
draft constitution in December that was due to come into effect in February
1997.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission began its task of investigating
crimes committed under the apartheid regime. Under its provisions, individuals
will be able to apply for amnesty. Investigative units made inroads into
uncovering apartheid crimes. A database of more than 11,000 human rights
abuses was compiled and thousands of victims received acknowledgement, counselling
and support.
The ban on Jewish settlement in the Cape, introduced during the rule
of the Dutch East India Company (1652-1795), was abrogated by the Batavian
administration (1803-6) and the British. In the South African Republic (Transvaal),
established by the Voortrekkers in the mid-nineteenth century, non-Protestants,
including Jews, remained disenfranchised until the British occupation in
1902. Jewish immigration, mainly from Lithuania, following the discovery
of diamonds and gold in the late nineteenth century, generated considerable
antisemitism.
During the First World War, antisemites accused Jews of shirking military
responsibilities and, in the inter-war years, tried to associate Jews with
bolshevik subversion. Antisemitism in the 1920s culminated in the 1930 Quota
Act, which virtually ended Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe. Popular
antisemitism during the 1930s and 1940s was evident among the "Shirt"
movements, most notably Louis T. Weichardt's Greyshirts, the Ossewabrandwag
(Oxwagon Sentinel) and Oswald Pirow's New Order. The Afrikaner nationalist
movement was also influenced by Nazi ideology. Antisemitism prompted the
governing United Party to introduce the 1937 Aliens Act, curtailing German
Jewish immigration. NP publications during the Second World War were also
influenced by European fascism.
Antisemitism declined rapidly after 1945, although Prime Minister Jan Smuts
opposed large-scale Jewish immigration. The Greyshirts and New Order disbanded
and, in 1951, the ban on Jewish membership of the Transvaal NP (the NP was
structured along federal lines) was lifted. Nonetheless, the NP, in power
after 1948, resented disproportionate Jewish involvement in liberal and
communist activities and Israel's support for the African bloc at the UN
in the early 1960s.
Close ties between South Africa and Israel developed in the 1970s, engendering
favourable attitudes towards the Jews on the part of the white population,
although antisemitic outbursts, including expressions of Holocaust denial,
were prevalent among elements of the white far right.
The majority black population felt betrayed by Israel's close relations
with South Africa and sympathized with the Palestinian cause. Although black
leaders clearly distinguished between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, there
are indications of some anti-Jewish attitudes among black élites.
Since the "normalization" of South African politics, antisemitic
incidents have been relatively isolated and largely confined to the far
right and Islamist groups. In 1994 there was a spate of industrial disputes
that involved protests against "Jewish capitalists".
The South African government has outlawed all forms of racial discrimination
with the adoption of the new constitution, the Bill of Fundamental Rights
and the repeal of the race-based statutes of the apartheid era. It has also
begun reorganizing the educational, housing and health care systems to benefit
all racial and ethnic groups equally.
South Africa has attracted a great number of illegal immigrants from neighbouring
countries, particularly Mozambique, generating substantial resentment and
xenophobia. Amendments to the Aliens Control Act have been introduced to
control illegal entry and, in particular, residence status. By the end of
the year, 10,000 had taken advantage of a new amnesty bill, passed in June,
which allowed certain illegal aliens who had lived in South Africa for five
years to become legal residents. Over 16,000 asylum-seekers were registered
by the government in 1996.
ln 1969 the Herstigte Nasionale Party (HNP, Reconstituted National Party)
was formed to counter deviation from apartheid philosophy. The party's official
organ, Die Afrikaner (circulation 8,000), has featured numerous anti-semitic
articles.
The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB, Afrikaner Resistance Movement) led
by Eugene Terre'Blanche, kept a low profile in 1996. The movement, which
was founded in 1981, pursues exclusivist, racist and antisemitic policies.
It includes a paramilitary wing, the Storm Falcons, and a crack guerrilla
unit, the Ystergarde (Iron Guard). Since the 1994 elections, however, its
operations have been limited. In March, nine AWB members were found guilty
of murder in connection with a series of bombings before the 1993 elections.
Antisemitic views were expounded in numerous, small white supremacist groups
and neo-Nazi cells including: the Israelites; the Church of the Creator;
the Kultuur Studie Groep (Culture Study Group); the Blanke Bevrydingsbeweging
(BBB, White Liberation Movement); the World Preservatist Movement; the Afrikaner
Nationalist Socialist Movement; the Kerk van die Verbondsvolk (Church of
the People of the Covenant); the Boer Republican Army; and Orde Boerevolk.
The membership of these groups remain small and their influence is not significant.
In 1996 the British anti-fascist magazine Searchlight exposed the
involvement of British neo-Nazis in a plot to overthrow the new government
in South Africa. Members of the British neo-Nazi League of Saint George
reportedly co-operated with neo-Nazis throughout Europe to send mercenaries
on a mission to South Africa in 1993. The strategy consisted of the assassination
of South Africa's leaders and sabotage of its economic infrastructure. The
co-ordinating body was the Afrikaner Volksfront (AVF), the right-wing umbrella
group combining the AWB, the Conservative Party, the HNP and the Boerestaat
Party, under the former military leader Gen-eral Constand Viljoen. The plan
failed through the actions of the South African security services and a
change in strategy by Viljoen, who withdrew from the project and led the
Freedom Front (FF) in the 1994 general election.
The formation of the Muslim-dominated, community-based organization People
Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) and its intimidation campaign against
gang leaders in the Western Cape has caused considerable concern. The group,
which held meetings at the Gatesville Mosque in Cape Town, announced in
August that it opposed the media because it was controlled by Jewish groups.
A member of Pagad reportedly claimed that Jews were exercising financial
control in South Africa.
In October, Pagad led a protest march to stop a housing development planned
by Neil Bernstein at Oudekraal outside Cape Town on the grounds that Muslim
graves were scattered around the area. Several people waved placards with
slogans such as "One Muslim [grave], One Synagogue", "One
Brick, One Jew". They also displayed swastikas and Stars of David with
the word "money" printed in the centre.
Other Islamist groups that have been established in recent years in South
Africa include: Al Jihad; Da'wah Foundation of South Africa; Environmental
Mazaar Action Committee; Foundation for Islamic Tarbiya; Hizbullah South
Africa; Lebanon Alert Action Group; Islamic Unity Convention; Islamic Propagation
Centre International; Muslim Alert Network; Nation of Islam; and People
Against Drugs and Violence (Padav). In terms of influence most of these
groups are of little consequence among the wider population, although their
impact on the Muslim community cannot be discounted. Many express hostility
towards Israel and use antisemitic motifs.
A report in the South African Jewish Times by two Israeli journalists,
Uri Dan and Dennis Eisenberg, in May, claimed that Iranian mullahs, backed
by Libyan and Muslim extremists, were spearheading a major effort to bolster
a militant Islamist movement in South Africa. They charged that Louis Farrakhan
(see MAINSTREAM POLITICS) had donated $50 million to the leftist Pan-Africanist
Congress (PAC), which reportedly had close ties with Qibla, an Islamist
movement in Cape Town.
Amid criticism from the South African Jewish community, President Mandela met with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan (see United States of America), in January (see PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA).
Advocate Kuper received documents from an unknown source containing extracts
from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion that claimed Jewish control
of the legal system. This occurred following Kuper's initiation in January
of a new scheme at the Johannesburg bar to improve the process of arbitration.
In March swastikas were painted on the highway from Johannesburg airport
to Irene, outside Pretoria. A swastika was painted on a picture of Tony
Leon, leader of the Democratic Party (DP), in Durban.
Graves were damaged in the Pretoria Jewish cemetery. In April, 125 graves
were vandalized in the old Bloemfontein cemetery but since the Christian
section of the cemetery was also damaged, the motives for this particular
incident remain uncertain.
In February, a teacher at Pinelands North Primary School, Cape Town,
told pupils that Hitler was "a nice man who had treated everyone well".
He also claimed that Jews had grossly exaggerated the number of people killed
in the Holocaust.
A senior lecturer at the Cape Technicon in Cape Town repeatedly made antisemitic
statements, for example accusing Jews of theft. The lecturer resigned following
complaints by Jewish students.
In the May edition of the monthly journal Living Africa , Jon
Qwelane published an article entitled "The Lynching of William Makgoba"
that blamed Jews for the removal of Professor Makgoba as deputy vice-chancellor
at the University of Witwatersrand. Qwelane maintained that because Makgoba
was pro-Arab, the "powerful Jewish lobby" at the university, including
academics, students, administrators, financial benefactors and Jewish-led
corporations, had forced his removal.
In September a City Press editorial responded to a press release
from the South African Board of Deputies about the visit of the Iranian
president with the following statement: "The Jewish community in South
Africa must begin to owe allegiance to this country and start to think like
everyone else in this country. They must not support President Mandela when
it suits them and turn their backs when they think of lsrael."
A cartoon appearing in the Sunday Times next to a statement by the
University of the Witwatersrand on 15 September suggested that negative
criticism of the university came predominantly from the Jewish community.
The cartoon, a grotesque parody of a dinner-table scenario that made obvious
allusions to the Jewish community, also appeared in the Financial Mail,
Business Day and Sowetan .
Antisemitic remarks were only occasionally broadcast on radio. Radio 702,
a Johannesburg station, aired an advertisement in which reference was made
to the pogroms in Russia and that ridiculed South African Jews, using sexually
explicit imagery. Chat-show host John Berks faced a number of antisemitic
callers while discussing the proposed visit to South Africa of the Libyan
president, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, on Radio 702. Callers claimed that Jews
controlled Radio 702 and that the Jewish lobby was attempting to stop the
visit.
Louis Farrakhan's visit to South Africa aroused much discussion in the media.
When questioned about Jews in an interview in the Johannesburg daily Star
, Farrakhan answered that among them "are those who did involve
themselves in the slave trade and unfortunately there are those who concocted
the falsehood that black people were the children of Ham, doomed to be hewers
of wood and drawers of water, servants of white people."
The August issue of Hustler, a pornographic monthly that has featured
various antisemitic articles in previous years, condemned the prospect of
a "hate speech" clause in the new constitution and defended its
right to question the authenticity of the Holocaust. The article also accused
the South African Board of Deputies of attempting to control all statements
about the Holocaust.
In July a letter in the Natal Witness, a Durban newspaper, denied
that there had been a Nazi plan for the mass murder of a Jews. The letter,
entitled "Where is the Proof of the Nazis' Plan?", related to
debates on whether apartheid should be considered a "crime against
humanity".
In March a pamphlet was distributed by the Ash-Shaheed organization entitled
"The Common Roots of Apartheid and Zionism".
In April at an international Muslim conference in Pretoria, "Creating
a New Civilization of Islam", speakers cited Jews as "a powerful
economic force" and blamed Zionism for "all evils in society".
Also in April the owner of the San Colioni Italian restaurant in Sandton,
Johannesburg, refused to take a booking from a Jewish woman because of "what
Israel is doing".
In July the KwaZulu-Natal Committee of the South African Jewish Board of
Deputies received a package of articles with the words "anti-Christ"
and "Neo-Nazionists" written on them. The materials also compared
Israel's treatment of the Palestinians to Hitler's treatment of the Jews.
In September, anti-Israel and antisemitic mailings were received at the
Union of Orthodox Synagogues in Cape Town. The letter condemned "Israel
Nazionist barbarity" and quoted the following Qur'anic text: "Strongest
among men in enmity to the believers wilt thou [Muhammad] find the Jews
and the Pagans."
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies monitored antisemitism and
responded to incidents and offensive statements where appropriate. In particular
it attempted to dissuade President Mandela from meeting Louis Farrakhan
(see MAINSTREAM POLITICS).
The board also promoted dialogue with opinion-makers in the wider community.
Jews have had high-profile representation on inter-faith forums.
Antisemitism was of marginal significance in public life in South Africa.
Ultimately the fate of South African Jews is tied up with that of the white
population as a whole. Given the ANC's opposition to racism, the climate
for opposing antisemitism in South Africa publicly is more favourable than
it has been in the past. The quick repudiation of occasional and individual
expressions of antisemitism by various organizations and institutions bears
testimony to this.
Nonetheless, there are disturbing signs that anti-Zionist sentiments, particularly
those emanating from the Muslim community, are often conflated with antisemitism.
© JPR 1997