A fight is on for political scraps after South Africa's former apartheid party announced its demise over the weekend, almost a century after it was founded to promote white supremacist rule.
New National Party (NNP) leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk announced a merger with the governing African National Congress (ANC), the former liberation movement that it fought for decades in a brutal campaign of repression.
The announcement effectively means the end of the apartheid party, which was established in 1914 as the National Party (NP) and ruled for four decades until 1994, when it lost to the ANC in South Africa's first multi-racial elections. Van Schalkwyk has urged members to follow suit and join the ANC, which the NP banned in 1960 and which took up an armed struggle a year later against white minority rule.
But other opposition parties are speaking out, also urging members of the NNP -- which will formally cease to exist in September next year -- to make their new political home with them.
"South Africa now faces a clear choice between the ANC and the DA (Democratic Alliance)," said opposition leader Tony Leon. "In this contest, every vote counts," he added.
Pieter Mulder of the small, conservative and white Freedom Front Plus party called the NNP's decision "an embarrassment for anybody who has ever been associated with the party."
The Freedom Front Plus called on the NNP's seven members of parliament "to retain some of their political integrity and cross over to the Freedom Front instead of the ANC," Mulder told the SAPA news agency. Observers have also said other small parties, like the newly established Independent Democrats would benefit from the NNP's demise. For South Africa's struggling opposition, the NNP's decision to join those it could not beat bodes ill for democracy and political diversity.
"The excuse the NNP has given to justify this merger -- that the debate about the future of South Africa can only take place inside the ANC -- is absolutely misplaced," said Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille.
"Parties do not need to be swallowed by the ANC in order to debate the future of our country. The debate about the future of South Africa must take place amongst all South Africans including many who are outside the ANC," she said.
Despite praise from President Thabo Mbeki, who called the move to the ANC "historic," the decision has been greeted with much scepticism, with many accusing Van Schalkwyk of selling out his party for a cabinet post.
"Van Schalkwyk's defection to the ANC is a ploy to keep his cabinet job," said the Johannesburg-based Business Day newspaper in its satirical back-page column "The Third Umpire."
The Afrikaans newspaper Beeld said it believed Van Schalkwyk would serve a successful term as environment and tourism minister in Mbeki's cabinet.
"But chances are rather that he would be remembered for the ignominious end to the NNP.
"It's an ignominious end because it looks disturbingly like a career move by Van Schalkwyk and his lieutenants rather than somebody serving a representative democracy," the paper said.
The NNP's decision followed a disastrous showing in elections in April that saw support for the party dwindle to less than two percent.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
PINEAPPLE DEBATE: While the owners of the pizzeria dislike pineapple on pizza, a survey last year showed that over 50% of Britons either love or like the topping A trendy pizzeria in the English city of Norwich has declared war on pineapples, charging an eye-watering ￡100 (US$124) for a Hawaiian in a bid to put customers off the disputed topping. Lupa Pizza recently added pizza topped with ham and pineapple to its account on a food delivery app, writing in the description: “Yeah, for ￡100 you can have it. Order the champagne too! Go on, you monster!” “[We] vehemently dislike pineapple on pizza,” Lupa co-owner Francis Wolf said. “We feel like it doesn’t suit pizza at all,” he said. The other co-owner, head chef Quin Jianoran, said they kept tinned pineapple
RSS