Address by Prof Chris Landsberg, South African National NRF Chair: African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy, University of Johannesburg, at the FW de Klerk Foundation’s Coalition Government Conference, 12 July 2024:
Madame De Klerk, good morning. Thank you for having me and may the soul of that stalwart rest in peace. Good morning to you all, colleagues, all protocol observed. Now, I’m going to do the unthinkable this morning: I’m going to take on Sizwe. (He’s actually a successor of mine in two respects. At Wits University, they decided they could get a better, younger, learned man to replace me. And Sizwe is also a successor of mine at that overrated university on that small island state there in the Atlantic, Oxford University. But he’s much brighter than I am.)
I’m going to talk about the GNU / grand coalition and foreign policy, but I want to make a few observations about just the lexicon of GNU and foreign policy. So, Ebrahim Fakir and I, a colleague of mine, two weeks before the election, we wrote a piece on the GNU and I can tell you, nobody gave us any inside scoop. There was not anyone at the time who could give us an inside scoop. We actually asked the question whether a GNU could be the solution to the malaise faced by South Africa. We dubbed it a “democratic governance malaise” that we faced.
Prof Gumede, I wish to state clearly, we’re not claiming any credit that the current head of state decided to take our idea and present it to the country. That would be arrogant. Let me fall with the door in the house. The representative of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung almost gave us an ominous warning and said this may be the calm before the proverbial storm. I wish to state to you, you don’t have to wait very long. Literally, I think in the next 18 hours, it’s about to happen, because we’re having the first cabinet Llekgotla tomorrow. And I can tell you on a very serious note, there are two parties entering those…continue reading this article HERE.
Adriaan Vlok: {1991 – 1994} Vlok served as Minister of Prisons during the apartheid era and was known for his controversial policies. He later became involved in various political and social initiatives post-apartheid.
Fatsy Bear
Fun South African Fact: South Africa is known as the “Rainbow Nation” thanks to its mix of cultures across the country. The status of being a cultural “melting pot” is evident in the fact that South Africa has a whopping 11 official languages: English, Afrikaans, isiZulu, isiXhosa, IsiNdebele, Sesotho, Northern Sotho, Setswana, SiSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga. Most South Africans speak more than one national language. IsiZulu is the most common first language and isiXhosa is second. Fun fact – did you know the people of Wakanda speak isiXhosa in Marvel’s Black Panther movie?
Indestructible Potato
USSR: You have two cows. But you wish this was not the case, because in Soviet Russia, cow milk you.