Eyewitness to America Betraying Mandela's South Africa: The Gore-Mbeki Commission

[marmar]

Eyewitness to America Betraying Mandela's South Africa: The Gore-Mbeki Commission

Saturday, 14 December 2013 09:43
By Dr Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, Truthout | Op-Ed


At the dawn of the Nelson Mandela administration, I had the extraordinary privilege to sit at the table with the new African National Congress leadership as the Environmental Protection Agency-White House liaison to the South African government. My job was to work with the new ANC leadership to design and provide US technical environmental expertise to assist the majority population's recovery from the environmental and public health disaster the apartheid system imposed on it. This process took place through the flagship foreign policy vehicle, the US-South African BiNational Commission, commonly called the Gore-Mbeki Commission, or the BNC. All bilateral foreign policy activities between the United States and South Africa took place through this commission. A detailed account of these events can be found in my book, No FEAR: A Whistleblower's Triumph over Corruption and Retaliation at the EPA.

As a graduate student and professor, I had been an anti-apartheid activist who marched with my colleagues in the Southern Africa Support Project and TransAfrica in front of the South African Embassy to "Free Mandela" and to express our solidarity with the South African revolution. When I was offered the position of executive secretary to the BNC in 1995, I made it clear to the EPA - citing racist US foreign policy in other African countries - that I would not be a part of any diabolical scheme against the South African people. I was a supporter of the South African Freedom Charter and excited about helping the Mandela government implement environmental policies that would reverse decades of harmful and, at times, fatal policies toward the black majority. Soon after assuming my position, I realized that something had gone terribly wrong. In a 1996 letter to my mentor, professor Noam Chomsky, I wrote: "The Freedom Charter is not on the table. I'm heart broken to report that despite the blood sacrifice of so many activists, South Africa is entering a neo-colonial phase."

Vice President Al Gore said of the BNC: "I affirm that the people of the United States of America are committed to the strongest possible partnership with the citizens of South Africa." His counterpart, Thabo Mbeki, then deputy president of South Africa, proclaimed that he appreciated "this relationship of support and engagement for creating a better life for the people of this country."

At the time, CNN's description of aspects of the BNC's mission was closer to the truth: A further goal of the BNC was to hold regular trade talks and cooperate in the fight against international terrorism. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/20597-eyewitness-to-america-betraying-mandelas-south-africa-the-gore-mbeki-commission

[Wilms]

1. It makes me sad.

There's a lot I like about Al. And there's a lot I don't.