EVIL OR GOOD? Which Is Pastor Otabil’s Wish?

Pastor Mensah Otabil

Asks Ekow Mensah

Pastor Mensah Otabil may be a patriotic Ghanaian who wants the best for his country and its people.

However, he appears to have placed himself in a bind where only evil thoughts and wishes can thrive with his utterly unguarded prophecy.

After predicting dooms day for Ghana only a month away what can Pastor Mensah Otabil be wishing?

Given the fact that his fortunes are inextricably linked to the belief of his followers that he has divine telephone contact with God, he would not wish to be seen as a false prophet.

And if he does not want to be seen as a false prophet then his wishes for now are that his prophecy of doom for Ghana should come true.

This is the problem Pastor Otabil has brought upon himself.

 From now on, he cannot be easily counted on as one of the citizens of Ghana who wishes the country well.

He has joined the ranks of the mongers of coup and evil, praying hard for his prophecy to be fulfilled to enable him profit from his vocation as a man of God.

Unfortunately, his prophecy flies in the face of all Known theology which ascribe all goodness to God.

All theologies say that God does not plan evil and loves all people and all countries.

Indeed, evil visits at the behest of people and in the manifestation of the devil.

The God of Pastor Otabil cannot wish evil for Ghana, unless, he or she is not the true God about whom his holy prophet has given testimony on countless occasions.

The question is, if Pastor Otabil’s God wishes evil for Ghana, then what Kind of a God may he or she be?

Pastors should not put themselves in such ridiculous positions.

Please pity pastor Mensah Otabil! He is just another human prone to error.

Editorial

COMMENDABLE

Mr. Kofi Buah, the Minister of Energy has stated the Government position on a recent World Bank report which asked Ghana to stop capitalizing the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).

Simply put, the Government of Ghana disagrees with the World and intends to take prudent measures to maximize Ghana’s interest in her oil resources.

We fully support the stand of the Government as announced by Minister of Energy because we firmly believe that the time has come for the people of Ghana to derive maximum benefits from the exploitation of the country’s national resources.

Ghana’s interest in gold operations has been systematically reduced from about 55 per cent in the early 1980s to a mere two per cent now.

 The world Bank’s prescriptions can only lead to a situation in which Ghana’s interest in oil operations will either remain low or be reduced.

The Insight commends the Minister of Energy and the Government of Ghana for their courageous stand.

ENERGY MINISTER SPEAK

Statement read at a meet the press session in Accra

Mr Kofi Buah Minister of Energy

Introduction

Hon. Minister for Information and Media Relations, Hon. Deputy Ministers, Chief Directors, Directors, Chief Executives and Staff of Energy Sector Agencies,

Friends from the Media

Invited Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Hon. Minister and Chairman, this press encounter offers me a uniqueopportunity to share with the people of Ghana the progress we have made so far in the implementation of programmes and projects in the energy sector as envisioned by H.E. President John Dramani Mahama.

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me take this opportunity to emphasize His Excellency’s vision for the energy sector.

We promised, under the power sub-sector to:

 Increase power generation capacity to 5,000 megawatts by 2016;

 increase the proportion of renewable energy to 10% in the electricity generation mix by 2020;

 achieve gas-based generation for 80 % of the thermal power plants by 2015;

 develop a non-congested transmission system by 2015;

 improve and modernize distribution infrastructure for efficient service delivery and reduce system losses;

 achieve universal access to electricity by 2016;

 promote and facilitate private sector investments in the power subsector

 promote the use of energy efficiency and energy conservation technologies; and

 achieve comprehensive interconnectivity in the West African sub-region

In the petroleum sub-sector, Ladies and Gentlemen, we promised to:

 Sustain Exploration and Production (E&P) activities in the oil and gas sector;

 strengthen and maximize national benefits from the oil and gas resources;

 utilize Ghana’s gas endowment effectively;

 explore the use of other sources of gas for thermal plants;

 facilitate the Implementation of Petroleum upstream projects;

 manage our petroleum resources judiciously;

 strengthen our oil and gas downstream institutions; and

 provide security for our oil & gas infrastructure and installations

The Power Sub Sector

Mr. Chairman, since last August we have all had to endure a very excruciating load shedding exercise as a result of the damage caused to the West African Gas pipeline. I am happy to report that the repair work and testing on the pipeline have been completed and we expect the operators to resume the supply of gas in the coming days.

Ladies and Gentlemen, in our set targets, we have a very aggressive agenda to increase generation capacity to 5000MW and have formulated the following strategies to achieve this target:

Providing short to medium term annual generation road maps with specific planned projects;

 working to ensure VRA effectively delivers its mandate of ensuring generation sufficiency and reliability;

 debottlenecking the enabling environment for the participation of more Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in generation;

 taking steps to address the challenges of fuel availability for thermal plants;

 prioritizing and speedily converting simple cycle thermal plants to combined cycle;

 pursuing various renewable projects particularly solar, mini hydro, biomass and wind to augment generation;

 planning for alternative energy options such as nuclear, coal, etc.;

 leveraging funding for planned projects; and

 ensuring planned projects are completed on time;

Mr Chairman, we are happily on course with our electricity generation roadmap and thus have brought on stream a total 267MW of additional installed capacity by the close of May 2013. These comprise:

132 MW from the Takoradi 3 thermal plant, 133MW from one unit of Bui and 2 MW solar plant in Navrongo. The significance of the Navrongo solar project is that, it represents a major foray into grid connected solar system and also the second largest in sub-Saharan Africa.

By the close of 2013, Ladies and Gentlemen, we would have added a total of 534MW when the remaining two units of Bui come on stream bringing total installed capacity to 2,845.5MW. In 2014, we will add a total of 342MW with the completion of 220MW Kpone thermal power plant; 110MW Takoradi II Expansion project and another 12MW solar plant. This will bring total generation to 3,187.5MW. A total of 1,060MW is expected from 4 planned projects in 2015 increasing total generation to 4,247.5MW. In 2016, 1,711MW is expected from additional 7 planned projects, bringing aggregate generation capacity to 5,958.5MW.

These planned capacities will be provided by the Volta River Authority (VRA), Bui Power Authority (BPA) and Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

Accordingly, the Ministry is reviewing the enabling environment to attract prospective developers to the power sub-sector. These include addressing the issue of credible off-takers,availability of fuel and cost reflective tariffs

Transmission

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am very happy to state that the National Interconnection Transmission System (NITS) of Ghana is now more resilient than before. This is as a result of our commitment at always modernizing the system. I would like to assure you that the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum will continue to support the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) to expand and modernize the existing facilities by:

Developing a non-congested transmission system;

ensuring planned completion of on-going substation projects, on schedule;

 implementing the required grid extension and system reliability enhancement projects, in line with the transmission master plan;

 intensifying efforts to achieve comprehensive interconnectivity with Burkina Faso and Mali, under the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP) framework; and

 leveraging funding for planned projects.

Specific projects currently underway to enhance the integrity of our transmission system include:

 The construction of the 161kV Tumu-Han-Wa Transmission Line;

 the construction of a 330kV transmission line from Bolgatanga to Ouagadougou;

 the construction of a 330kV transmission line from Aboadze to link Prestea-Kumasi-Tamale and Bolgatanga;

 the construction of a 330kV transmission line to Togo and Benin;

 the construction of the 161kV Kpando-Kadjebi Transmission line; and

 bulk supply stations in Accra and Kumasi

Distribution

Mr. Chairman, I wish to stress our determination to strengthen and improve theefficiency and reliability of the electricity distribution grid of the ECG and NEDCo. We would do this by:

 Expanding the networks to meet rapid electricity growth demand;

 ensuring reduction of aggregate system losses (technical , commercial & collection); and

 addressing the challenges of supply availability and reliability.

In line with our desire to improve the distribution system, a number of projects have been completed and these include;

 Primary sub-stations, switching and secondary substations constructed and rehabilitated by ECG and NEDCO;

 High capacity sub transmission system;

 SCADA for Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi;

 Secondary automation for Central, Eastern, and Western regions;

 Replacement of obsolete protection equipment in the NEDCO operational areas;

 High Voltage Distribution System (HVDS) at Madina / Adenta and Suame magazine;

 35% of ECG customers and 83% of MDAs are currently on prepayment metering;

 28% of NEDCO customers and 90% of MDAs are currently on prepayment metering;

 Use of secondary substation metering and energy audit to address commercial losses;

 Automated Meter Reading (AMR) and billing equipment have been deployed for industrial customers;

 Split prepayment meters are being installed to avoid meter tampering and by-passing; and

 CCTVs are being installed for surveillance at ECG district front offices; and swift prosecution of illegal connectors.

Rural electrification projects under “Energy for All” program

The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum continues to vigorously pursue the Government’s flagship programme, the National Electrification Scheme (NES) which focuses on:

 Extending electricity to towns and rural communities through the national electrification scheme;

 Intensifying electricity supply to new households in already electrified communities;

 developing and using renewable energy sources for communities remote from the national electricity grid;

 promoting solar lanterns to replace kerosene lanterns in communities without electricity; and

 providing sufficient Energy Meters in support of the ongoing SHEP-4 Projects. Mr. Chairman, by our rural electrification schedule we are poised to connect over 5,315 communities by the close of Dec. 2016. This will increase the access rate from 72% to over 93%, thereby achieving universal access ahead of the UN stated world target of 2030.

RENEWABLE ENERGY

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me emphasize here the commitment of ourGovernment to the promotion of renewable energy utilization in this country.

The implementation of the Renewable Energy Act is on course:

 Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) has completed work onthe Feed-In-Tariffs and will soon gazette and publish Feed-in-Tariffs for Solar, Wind, Biomass, Waste-to- Energy and Hydro that will be allowed into the regulated market.

 Energy Commission (EC) has developed the Licensing Manual and Technical Guidelines for investment in the sector. Mr. Chairman, a 315kW Solar Park at Noguchi Memorial Institute which is the largest net metering solar facility in Ghana was inaugurated in April 2013.

The Ministry continues to deploy solar systems to households and public institutions in remote off-grid communities nationwide.

This year, a total of 177 solar facilities have so far been deployed to remote schools, clinics and security outposts. This sums up to 2,405 solar systems installed in remote public facilities since 2009.

Solar back-up systems installed in 9 health facilities in the country have been inaugurated.

About 1,742 households have also been supported to acquire solar systems with loans and grants through some rural banks this year.

In our bid to reduce the dependence on kerosene for lighting for off-grid communities, the Government in February this year launched the Kerosene Lantern Replacement Programme which seeks to introduce solar lantern as a preferred lighting option for these communities. So far, 20,000 lanterns have nbeen procured and are currently being distributed. Our target is to distribute

200,000.

Data collection on wind speed at locations along the coasts of Central, Greater Accra and Volta Regions is still on-going to establish the wind energy potential for power generation.

Feasibility studies are currently underway for the development of the Hemang and Pwalugu hydro power sites.

All these initiatives when completed will increase the contribution of renewable energy sources in the total generation mix.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Mr. Chairman, in our quest to ensure the efficient use of energy, the Refrigerator Rebate Programme is on course. The rebates on new refrigerators have been extended countrywide and can be obtained from some selected retail outlets Programme for the installation of Capacitor Banks is ongoing. Additional Capacitor Banks have been imported for installation in twenty –nine (29) public institutions. This is expected to significantly reduce electricity consumption in these institutions.

NUCLEAR POWER

Government continues in its quest for nuclear energy as a source of cheap and reliable energy supply in the foreseeable future. A Nuclear Energy Planning and Implementation Organization (NEPIO) has been established in collaboration with the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) with support from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

We are currently in an advance stage of certification towards the development of our first nuclear power plant.

Pricing of Electricity

Ladies and Gentlemen, recent developments in the power sub-sector clearly indicate that all of us have a critical role to play in our bid to provide reliable power supply that will promote job creation and also drive Ghana’s socioeconomic development.

We believe that any tariff adjustment by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) should be commensurate with the delivery of quality and efficient service.

The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum and its Agencies are mindful of the importance of energy to the Ghanaian economy and the lives of Ghanaians. We will therefore continue with the good policies, programmes and projects of our government headed by H.E. John Dramani Mahama with the aim of providing reliable and cost effective energy services to achieve our target of Energy for All.

The Petroleum Sub Sector

Ladies and Gentlemen, this country is blessed with abundant natural resources.

The discovery of oil in commercial quantities therefore calls for the need to ensure that petroleum activities are carried out in a safe, secure and sustainable manner, through the complete adherence to the laid down rules that guide the industry.

Our basins continue to attract very high interests from major oil and gas companies. We are proud to note that since Jubilee, 23 other new discoveries have been made and are at various stages of development.

Mr. Chairman, following remedial work by the Jubilee partners to reverse the decline in production, I am now happy to inform you that production has since increased from about 60,000 bpd to over 100,000 bpd. We are confident that it will reach the peak production level of 120,000 bpd by the end of the year.

From 2010 to the second quarter of 2013, production from the Jubilee field has amounted to over 69.64 million bbl with 12.84 million bbl as the share of the Ghana group. Ghana’s total petroleum production is set to further increase with the recent signing of the Plan of Development (PoD) for the Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme (TEN) project and on-going negotiations for the finalization and signing of the PoD of the Sankofa oil and gas field. The development of these two fields is critical to our long term gas security particularly for our thermal plants.

Ladies and gentlemen, the de-risking of the petroleum basins in Ghana has resulted in an upsurge in new investor interest in Ghana. Thus, apart from the 23 new discoveries there are 8 pending petroleum agreements, 2 of which are currently before Cabinet.

As part of our quest to increase reserves, we intend to drill 6 slim holes in the Voltaian basin by the end of 2013. This will be followed by the acquisition of 2D seismic data prior to licensing of blocks to prospective applicants.

Ladies and Gentlemen, there is now general consensus for GNPC to be developed into a strong, independent, competitive National Oil Company (NOC) capable of leading the exploration, development and production of Ghana’s hydrocarbons either alone or in partnership with other oil companies.

The Ministry shares this vision and would work assiduously to ensure that the corporation becomes an efficient world class operator as soon as possible. This will support the achievement of the national strategic objective of developing a vibrant oil and gas sector that is well integrated with the rest of the economy.

In our resolve to strengthen and maximize national benefits from our oil and gas resources, we continue to focus on:

 strengthening the legal framework;

 building institutional capacity; and

 building capacity of Ghanaian Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs)

Mr. Chairman, the Local Content Regulations are currently before Parliament.

Following stakeholder consultations, the draft E&P Bill is being finalized for submission to Cabinet.

We continue to build capacity of critical government and educational institutions like EPA, MoEP, PC, AG’s office, EOCO, MoF, GNPC, KNUST, Polytechnics, and technical institutions.

For the purpose of strengthening SMEs the Enterprise Development Center (EDC) has been established in Takoradi as promised by His Excellency, President John Dramani Mahama

DOWNSTREAM Mr. Chairman, the downstream sector should play a critical role in the oil and gas value chain. We are therefore determined to take measures that will strengthen their technical, managerial and financial capabilities.

Our focus on TOR is to restructure it to a world class refinery.

With respect to BOST, we are working to ensure that it performs its core mandate of holding strategic reserve stocks, infrastructure development for storage and transportation of petroleum products.

It is in this regard that the MoEP facilitated the signing of an MoU between BOST and VLTC for the effective transportation of petroleum products on the Volta lake to the Northern sector. .

Ladies and Gentlemen, the importance of early utilization of Ghana’s gas endowment in the face of the current gas challenges for our thermal plants cannot be overemphasized. We are therefore working to resolve all the funding challenges to ensure early completion of the western gas infrastructure projects. Currently, laying of the offshore pipeline is completed and awaiting

testing and commissioning; onshore pipeline works are 95% complete; some key components of the gas processing plant have arrived at the project site and the rest expected in August 2013.

Promotion of LPG Use

Ladies and gentlemen, I am happy to inform you that as part of the Ministry’s commitment to promote the use of LPG as a cleaner source of cooking fuel, the Ministry has procured 5,000 cylinders with cook stoves for distribution on a pilot basis. The Ministry considers this as a priority project and will soon roll out a mass scale distribution of the cookstoves. This is also expected to create an additional employment avenue for our youth.

To ensure continuous supply of LPG, a second facility for the discharge of the product is now in operation at the Takoradi port.

Conclusion

My friends from the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen, we have made a great effort to ensure that the current challenges we face in the energy sector are adequately addressed. We are going to continue working with dedication and commitment. We appreciate how anxious the people of Ghana are to see a speedy resolution of our current challenges. We understand the importance of adequate, reliable and sustainable power and its impact on our long term economic growth and prosperity. We are hopeful that together we can all work to bring this dream to a reality so that the next time we meet we will have more success stories to share with you.

Will Gbagbo Get A Fair Trial

President Laurent Gbagbo

The International Criminal Court ruled in June that it will proceed with its case against former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, arguing that no national-level case existed in Cote d'Ivoire regarding war crimes that Gbagbo is accused of committing. But in moving forward with yet another case against a prominent African, the ICC risks undermining whatever legitimacy it has left on the continent, argue Tom Zwart and Alexander Knoops.

The relations that the International Criminal Court (ICC) enjoys with the nations of Africa are testy at best. Already, the African Union has called on its member states not to cooperate with the ICC's prosecutor in the arrest warrant against Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir.

These African leaders are openly defying the ICC by offering hospitality to Bashir despite an indictment that has been brought against him.

In addition, by recently electing Uhuru Kenyatta as their president, Kenyans have rallied behind him in opposition to the court. The ICC should therefore watch its step in order not to lose its legitimacy in Africa.

The proceedings brought against the former Ivorian president, Laurent Gbagbo, who is currently standing trial in The Hague, charged with crimes against humanity, will serve as a test case in this regard.

In the latest development in Gbagbo's case, the ICC said June 11 that it rejected a challenge to the case's admissibility, arguing that there wasn't a national-level case under way in Cote d'Ivoire against Gbagbo.

"Therefore, according to the pretrial chamber, the case The Prosecutor vs. Laurent Gbagbo is still admissible before the ICC," a court statement said.

The U.S. State Department warned in May of the potential for violence in Cote d'Ivoire. Ivorian forces are able to secure the peace but the warning said the security situation could quickly change.

Human Rights Watch said part of the Ivorian recovery hinges on a credible investigation into the political issues that led to post-election violence. Both parties to the conflict are suspected of committing crimes against humanity.

When Gbagbo was still being detained in Cote d'Ivoire, prior to being transferred to The Hague, he allegedly suffered ill treatment at the hands of his guards.

Such a breach of fundamental rights should normally have led to termination of proceedings against him, but the court proved unwilling to go down that road.

Instead, the court made it clear that because it had no responsibility for Gbagbo's detention in Cote d'Ivoire, such alleged violations of his rights could not be attributed to it.

Difficult to defend But the ICC's position is difficult to defend, because its prosecutor at that stage was already cooperating with Ivorian authorities to secure Gbagbo's transfer to the ICC.

The alleged ill treatment to which Gbagbo was subjected reportedly caused a deterioration of his health. According to medical experts hired by the court, Gbagbo suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, which would render him unfit to stand trial. But again, the court did not regard this as a valid reason to discontinue the proceedings.

This raises the question of why the court is so eager to push for a trial.

Some will undoubtedly assume that politics plays a part.

This is hardly surprising, as Gbagbo is well known for standing his ground in relation to Western powers - in particular Europe and the United States, which has earned him credit among his supporters and leaders in the region.

Now he is facing a court, which - as author David Hoile recently explained - is mainly financed by EU countries, the same countries he has withstood during his term in office.

This may create the impression that the West is prosecuting Gbagbo in order to settle a score or get rid of a nuisance.

It is also highly questionable whether the court has jurisdiction to try the Gbagbo case at all, because it is relying on a declaration made by Cote d'Ivoire in 2003.

On its face, the declaration covers only those events that preceded its submission, and not acts that took place some seven years later.

But the court has been undeterred.

Preferring to be safe than sorry, Cote d'Ivoire's current government, headed by President Alassane Ouattara, has also submitted a declaration, which the ICC considers to be further evidence that the country has accepted the court's jurisdiction to try the Gbagbo case.

However, by accepting this declaration as being valid, the court may also have created the image of it being a tool of victor's justice, because Quattara clearly benefits from having his opponent and former rival under lock and key in The Hague.

The ICC has stressed that it will not allow states to use the court opportunistically, to serve their political purposes a position that, if taken seriously, should prompt the court to discontinue the Gbagbo case.

Evenhanded,or not?

Underlying prosecutorial policy, especially in cases initiated by ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, is the principle of evenhandedness, under which members of both parties in a conflict ought to be prosecuted. This is happening in the Kenya case, in which members of both political camps allegedly involved in ethnic violence are to stand trial.

The principle of evenhandedness was also reconfirmed in the Cote d'Ivoire case when the prosecutor stated that Gbagbo was only the first defendant, and that others will follow, regardless of their political affiliations. However, to date no arrest warrant has been issued involving members of the Ouattara camp.

This is surprising, since the evidence against Ouattara's associates has been mounting.
Nongovernment organizations (NGOs) such as Human Rights Watch have issued reports containing evidence indicating that the Ouattara side may have engaged in serious crimes. This evidence is backed up by academic assessments and also a report submitted by the Ivorian government-initiated Commission on Post-Electoral Violence, referred to as the Badjo Report, which implicates people on both sides of the political divide. Thus, by issuing an arrest warrant for Gbagbo's wife, Simone, while leaving the other side untouched, the ICC has done its legitimacy a disservice.

The court has also denied Gbagbo's request for interim release, while taking the objections of the prosecutor into account. Bensounda opposed interim release because, in her view, Gbagbo continued to maintain his claim over the presidency and had a desire to return to power. She submitted that at the time, Gbagbo still had national and international contacts and ties, which he could mobilize to abscond.

The high road

These, of course, are not legal but political considerations.

As these observations show, so many political aspects are connected to the case that trying it would be a challenge to any court. However, it is particularly risky for a prosecutor and a court who claim to be motivated by legal considerations only, and who should take care to keep the African states on board.

Most courts use a safety valve to stay out of political cases that may undermine their long-term legitimacy. If such a case comes up, the court will declare it to be non-justifiable, i.e., unfit for judicial resolution.

The ICC will not be out of the woods simply by discontinuing the Gbagbo case. In order to increase the court's legitimacy in Africa, it will have to do more to honor the African sense of justice and give room to it wherever possible.

Credit: Africawatch

Mandela’s Tarnished Legacy

Fmr President Nelson Mandela

By John Pilger

When I reported from South Africa in the 1960s, the Nazi admirer Johannes Vorster occupied the prime minister’s residence in Cape Town. Thirty years later, as I waited at the gates, it was as if the guards had not changed. White Afrikaners checked my ID with the confidence of men in secure work. One carried a copy of Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela’s autobiography. “It’s very eenspirational,” he said.

Mandela had just had his afternoon nap and looked sleepy; his shoelaces were untied. Wearing a bright gold shirt, he meandered into the room. “Welcome back,” said the first president of a democratic South Africa, beaming. “You must understand that to have been banned from my country is a great honour.” The sheer grace and charm of the man made you feel good. He chuckled about his elevation to sainthood. “That’s not the job I applied for,” he said drily.

Still, he was well used to deferential interviews and I was ticked off several times – “you completely forgot what I said” and “I have already explained that matter to you”. In brooking no criticism of the African National Congress (ANC), he revealed something of why millions of South Africans will mourn his passing but not his “legacy”.

I had asked him why the pledges he and the ANC had given on his release from prison in 1990 had not been kept. The liberation government, Mandela had promised, would take over the apartheid economy, including the banks – and “a change or modification of our views in this regard is inconceivable”.  Once in power, the party’s official policy to end the impoverishment of most South Africans, the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), was abandoned, with one of his ministers boasting that the ANC’s politics were Thatcherite.

“You can put any label on it if you like,” he replied. “ …but, for this country, privatisation is the fundamental policy.”

“That’s the opposite of what you said in 1994.”

“You have to appreciate that every process incorporates a change.”

Few ordinary South Africans were aware that this “process” had begun in high secrecy more than two years before Mandela’s release when the ANC in exile had, in effect, done a deal with prominent members of the Afrikaaner elite at meetings in a stately home, Mells Park House, near Bath. The prime movers were the corporations that had underpinned apartheid.

Around the same time, Mandela was conducting his own secret negotiations. In 1982, he had been moved from Robben Island to Pollsmoor Prison, where he could receive and entertain people. The apartheid regime’s aim was to split the ANC between the “moderates” they could “do business with” (Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Oliver Tambo) and those in the frontline townships who led the United Democratic Front (UDF). On 5 July, 1989, Mandela was spirited out of prison to meet P.W. Botha, the white minority president known as the Groot Krokodil (Big Crocodile). Mandela was delighted that Botha poured the tea.

With democratic elections in 1994, racial apartheid was ended, and economic apartheid had a new face.  During the 1980s, the Botha regime had offered black businessmen generous loans, allowing them set up companies outside the Bantustans. A new black bourgeoisie emerged quickly, along with a rampant cronyism. ANC chieftains moved into mansions in “golf and country estates”.  As disparities between white and black narrowed, they widened between black and black.

The familiar refrain that the new wealth would “trickle down” and “create jobs” was lost in dodgy merger deals and “restructuring” that cost jobs. For foreign companies, a black face on the board often ensured that nothing had changed. In 2001, George Soros told the Davos Economic Forum, “South Africa is in the hands of international capital.”

In the townships, people felt little change and were subjected to apartheid-era evictions; some expressed nostalgia for the “order” of the old regime.  The post-apartheid achievements in de-segregating daily life in South Africa, including schools, were  undercut by the extremes and corruption of a “neoliberalism” to which the ANC devoted itself.  This led directly to state crimes such as the massacre of 34 miners at Marikana in 2012, which evoked the infamous Sharpeville massacre more than half a century earlier. Both had been protests about injustice.

Mandela, too, fostered crony relationships with wealthy whites from the corporate world, including those who had profited from apartheid.  He saw this as part of “reconciliation”. Perhaps he and his beloved ANC had been in struggle and exile for so long they were willing to accept and collude with the forces that had been the people’s enemy. There were those who genuinely wanted radical change, including a few in the South African Communist Party, but it was the powerful influence of mission Christianity that may have left the most indelible mark. White liberals at home and abroad warmed to this, often ignoring or welcoming Mandela’s reluctance to spell out a coherent vision, as Amilcar Cabral and Pandit Nehru had done.

Ironically, Mandela seemed to change in retirement, alerting the world to the post 9/11 dangers of George W. Bush and Tony Blair. His description of Blair as “Bush’s foreign minister” was mischievously timed; Thabo Mbeki, his successor, was about to arrive in London to meet Blair. I wonder what he would make of the recent “pilgrimage” to his cell on Robben Island by Barack Obama, the unrelenting jailer of Guantanamo.

Mandela seemed unfailingly gracious. When my interview with him was over, he patted me on the arm as if to say I was forgiven for contradicting him. We walked to his silver Mercedes, which consumed his small grey head among a bevy of white men with huge arms and wires in their ears. One of them gave an order in Afrikaans and he was gone.

John Pilger’s film, Apartheid Did Not Die, can be viewed on www.johnpilger.com

How the G8 Joint Statement should read

By Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Suppose the G8, for once, suppose the G20, for once, suppose the United Nations Organization, for once, came clean and told us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but, without the verborrea, without the pompous verbosity which hides the fact that our world is as uncivilized as ever, while cloaked in a sinister cloud of pretense.

So let us for once spell out the truth and be done with it, let us for once face the facts and not continue to play games of musical chairs; let us once and for all face the music, tell it exactly how it is and not bother to elaborate further on the status quo of humanity until we have evolved into something worthwhile mention. Suppose the G8 statement read like this:

The fact of the matter is that Humankind has allowed itself to fall under the yoke of a corporatist elite which have managed to implant their system on the huge majority of the members of the international community, after spending decades investing trillions of dollars in sabotaging socially progressive models, which without a total internationalization programme, rendered themselves vulnerable.

For decades, an evil clique of nations controlled by the corporate elite whose goal was and is hegemony over the world's resources - its capital - either installed governments or else closed ranks around them, neutering any socially progressive vectors by nipping them in the bud. As it did so, it forged and assumed a false identity as sinister as it is cynical, skillfully manipulating public opinion, claiming the high moral ground.

As it did this, it was actively engaged in subversion, sabotage, terrorism, assassination attempts and acts of murder while blaming the socially progressive world (the Soviet Bloc and the countries it liberated from Imperialism) for the same thing, forcing Governments to become paranoid about their own security and adopt strategies to protect the State. It then accused the model it was fraught on destroying of being a police state.

With the leaders of the socially progressive model convinced that the market economy was the only way forward, this evil clique of corporatists then went on the rampage, shifting the frontiers of NATO eastwards after promising the contrary, starting energy wars outside the auspices of the United Nations Organization (the only valid causus belli against Iraq would have been if it posed an immediate threat to the USA and its allies, as they claimed, the problem being it did not).

 The media barrage serving as a smokescreen with active soundbites ringing in the ears of a dumbfounded population brought up on tasty tidbits of corporatist controlled disinformation, fed Big Brother type reality shows daily to massify and exponentially magnify idiocy so that the end result is an ignorant world population unable to discern the truth from fiction, one by one the enemies were targeted.

"Evil dictator" living in a "compound" "holding down his people", "brutalizing them" and ruling through an "evil regime" were the lexica used, synonymous in fact with "enlightened defender of a socially progressive model of government who educated his people, send them abroad to study but dared to challenge the authority of the corporate elitists and to deny them the possibility of milking his nation's resources dry".

This evil clique of nations, loosely denominated NATO, focused on the FUKUS Axis (France-UK-US), former Imperialist powers and including the only one to have practiced an act of nuclear terrorism, twice, continues to push eastwards after a sortie into Africa's most progressive nation and the one with the highest Human Development Index (Libya). Afghanistan was the first piece in the puzzle, Iraq the next, Syria follows and then there is Iran. The last stops on the station are Russia's Siberia region and the People's Republic of China.

The corporatist elitist model cannot tolerate a successful nation which calls itself Communist, now, can it?

For those who doubt the veracity of these lines, does anyone seriously doubt that the FUKUS Axis will attack Syria anyway, using cynical word-crafting in documents as justification, especially now with its special forces massed in Jordan? And why should they stop in Syria?

Syria is the line in the sand. It is a Syrian conflict for the Syrian people, to be solved by the Syrian people, who should choose what they want to do and how. Nobody else, not Qatar, not Saudi Arabia, certainly not the FUKUS Axis. If the unofficial weapons-selling channels are supplying lethal arms to bloodthirsty Islamist fundamentalist terrorists are already operating then it is only logical that the legitimate Government of Syria under international law, that of President Bashar al-Assad, should be supported by forces which counter the corporatist elitists and their FUKUS bully-boys.