US Imperialism to Escalate Troops Presence in Syria and Iraq

WASHINGTON
BY ARSHAD MOHAMMED, PHIL STEWART AND PATRICIA ZENGERLE

The United States will deploy dozens of special operations forces to northern Syria to advise opposition forces in their fight against Islamic State, a major policy shift for President Barack Obama and a step he has long resisted to avoid getting dragged into another war in the Middle East.

The planned deployment, along with the U.S. decision this week to include Iran in diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, represents the biggest shift in the United States' Syria policy since it began a bombing campaign against Islamic State targets there in September 2014.

Announcing the measure on Friday, the White House said the troops would be on a mission to "train, advise and assist" and would number fewer than 50. Spokesman Josh Earnest declined to give details about their exact role.

The decision by Obama, deeply averse to committing troops to unpopular wars in the Middle East, would mark the first sustained U.S. troop presence in Syria and raise the risk of American casualties, although U.S. officials stressed the forces were not meant to engage in front-line combat.

"This is a dangerous place on the globe and they are at risk, and there's no denying that," said Earnest, who repeatedly rejected the idea that the deployment would constitute a ground combat mission, which Obama has long rejected as a solution in Syria.

"I think if we were envisioning a combat operation, we probably would be contemplating more than 50 troops on the ground."

Earnest said the special operations mission in Syria was open ended and did not rule out the possibility of sending additional special forces troops into Iraq. Obama spoke to Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Friday about the fight against Islamic State, Earnest said.

The Obama administration is under pressure to ramp up America's effort against Islamic State, particularly after the militant group captured the Iraqi city of Ramadi in May and following the failure of a U.S. military program to train and arm thousands of Syrian rebels.

The planned deployment adds to an increasingly volatile conflict in Syria, where Russia and Iran have increased up their military support for President Bashar al-Assad's fight against rebels in the four-and-a-half year civil war.

Russia said when it began air strikes last month that it would also target the Islamic State militant group, but its planes have hit other rebel groups opposed to Assad, including groups backed by Washington.

The new U.S. strategy against Islamic State in Syria will be accompanied by a new special operations force in Erbil in northern Iraq, "intensified" cooperation with Iraqis in retaking Ramadi and expanded security assistance to Jordan and Lebanon, a senior congressional source said.

The forces in Syria would be stationed in rebel-held territory, coordinate air drops to rebels and resupplying those forces as they move toward Raqqa, which is in the north of the country and is the declared capital of Islamic State, U.S. officials told Reuters. They could also help coordinate air strikes from the ground, the officials said.

The introduction of U.S. forces on the ground marks a shift after more than a year of limiting the mission in Syria to a campaign of air strikes against Islamic State fighters.

'TOO LITTLE TOO LATE'

Some in Congress applauded the planned deployment, although longtime Republican critics of Obama's foreign policy described it as overdue and likely not enough to change the course of the war.

"Absent a larger coherent strategy, however, these steps may prove to be too little too late. I do not see a strategy for success, rather it seems the administration is trying to avoid a disaster while the president runs out the clock," said Mac Thornberry, chairman of the Armed Services Committee in the House of Representatives.

Paul Ryan, the new House speaker, said the new U.S. commitment should come with a "coherent strategy" to defeat Islamic State.

The move reflects a wider strategy of strengthening rebels Washington sees as moderate even as it intensifies its efforts to find a diplomatic solution to end to the Syrian civil war in which at least 200,000 people have died.

To further counter Islamic State, Obama has also authorized deploying A-10s and F-15 aircraft to Incirlik air base in Turkey, a senior administration official said.

The news came as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was meeting at Syrian peace talks in Vienna.

The talks include the foreign ministers of Russia and Iran, which support Assad, and nations such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which are adamantly opposed to his remaining in power after a civil war that has driven millions abroad as refugees and displaced millions more inside the country.

ENCIRCLING RAQQA

The United States is helping thousands of Syrian rebel fighters as they try to encircle Raqqa and cut that city off from Iraq's Mosul, which the group also controls, U.S. officials say.

The most effective U.S. allies in northern Syria are Kurdish forces, who captured a swathe of territory from Islamic State along the border with Turkey over the past year with the aid of U.S. air strikes. But Washington has been cautious about publicly committing to helping the Syrian Kurds, who are mistrusted by U.S. ally Turkey.

Although the United States has dispatched special operations forces into Syria in the past, including an operation in May that killed an Islamic State leader, Obama’s decision paves the way for longer-term deployments of ground forces.

Joshua Landis, director of Center for Middle East studies at University of Oklahoma, said the U.S. moves were unlikely to fundamentally change the dynamics on the ground or to significantly accelerate diplomacy.

"This is tinkering around the edges and it does up America's role and it will allow America to go to the Iraqis and go to the Russians and everybody and say we are doing more, but it doesn't fundamentally change anything," Landis said.

(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed, Patricia Zengerle, Julia Edwards, Roberta Rampton and Mark Hosenball; Editing by Stuart Grudgings and Frances Kerry)

Africa, India Demand Reforms

October 30, 2015
Cletus Mushanawani in New Delhi, India
Zimbabwe Herald

President Mugabe, who is also the African Union chairman, yesterday said Africa and India should not accept being treated as dwarfs by the United Nations. In his keynote address as co-chairman of the third India-Africa Forum Summit held at the Indira Gandhi Stadium, which was converted into a makeshift convention centre, President Mugabe said the UN created a system where other countries were recognised as giants, while others were treated as dwarfs.

“Has the United Nations really united us?” he said. “Yes, it has brought us together in a kind of form where others are giants and others are dwarfs. “We were made dwarfs at the United Nations, but why should we accept that? We have India and us who are geographical twins and together we constitute a third of the world population, but somehow the third of the world population is treated as a little kid and we say no,” he said.

“The third of the world population must be respected. It is our right to be treated equally and with respect. That is why we say let us amend the United Nations Charter to have equal nations, as we are not equal.” President Mugabe said Africa had agreed to have two permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council with veto power and was also backing India in its quest to have a permanent seat.

“We, together with India, want equality,” he said. “Hear us you who call yourselves permanent members of the Security Council. We will only accept real and genuine equality. Let us be equal in everything,” he said.

“We say whoever you are and you call yourself Algeria, Guinea, Senegal, South Africa or whatever name, you are African and are all equal, hence we should speak with one voice. Together with India we are two continents with people who have the right of self-determination. As equal people we can work and develop together and see our people making progress together.

“We believe in humanity, equality and making the world have equal opportunities.” His co-chairperson of the summit, Prime Minister Modi of India, also called for UN reform. “Excellencies, this is a milestone year when we are setting the agenda for our future and celebrating the 70th anniversary of the United Nations,” he said.

“The world is undergoing political, economic, technological and security transition on a scale and speed rarely seen in recent history. Yet our global institutions reflect the circumstances of the century that we left behind, not the one we are in today.” Prime Minister Modi said institutions like the UN needed to adjust to the changing world or risk becoming irrelevant.

“We cannot say what will replace them in an uncertain future,” he said. “But we might have a more fragmented world that is less capable of dealing with the challenges of our era. That is why India advocates reforms in global institutions,” he said.

“This is a world of free nations and awakened aspirations. Our institutions cannot be representative of our world, if they do not give voice to Africa, with more than a quarter of UN. members, or the world’s largest democracy with one-sixth of humanity. That is why India and Africa must speak with one voice for reforms of the United Nations, including its Security Council.”

On the economic front, President Mugabe commended India for committing $7,4 billion in concessional credit and $1,2 billion in grants to Africa since the first India-Africa Summit in 2008. The assistance has helped in creating 100 capacity building institutions and developing infrastructure, public transport, clean energy, irrigation, agriculture and manufacturing capacity across Africa.

“We really appreciate this generous gift from India and it did not come from those who robbed and deprived us of our humanity,” said President Mugabe. “We now need a robust evaluation to ensure the effective implementation of programs and projects agreed by ourselves. We should have realistic targets. Let us be courageous enough to point out lack of progress to speed up the meeting of intended goals.”

President Mugabe said strategic partnerships had huge potential for the economic growth of India and Africa. “There is need for inclusiveness so that all member states enjoy benefits offered by our partnership,” he said. “We are two equal people who recognise each other as partners.” Prime Minister Modi and the African heads of State and Government attending the summit visited a business exhibition at the venue yesterday afternoon.

Mediators Try to Restart Burundi Crisis Talks

2015-10-29 16:37

Nairobi - Uganda's defence minister is in Burundi in the latest bid to kick-start peace talks between rival factions in the impoverished central African country, presidential officials said on Thursday.

Burundi has been rocked by violence linked to President Pierre Nkurunziza's successful but contested bid for a third term in office.

Opponents said his re-election breached the terms of a peace deal that paved the way to ending a 13-year civil war in 2006.

Regional heads of state appointed Uganda in July to lead efforts to end months of unrest, but attempts to broker a deal have made little headway.

Ugandan Minister of Defence Crispus Kiyonga arrived in Burundi's capital Bujumbura on Wednesday, Burundi's presidential communications chief Willy Nyamitwe said.

'It will not be easy'

"He met the presidents of the Senate and the National Assembly," he added.

Several round of prior talks, mediated by the United Nations, failed to resolve Burundi's political crisis.

"It will not be easy," a diplomat in Bujumbura said, asking not to be named. "The mediator arrived with the delicate mission of reviving talks.. to try to convince the government to sit at the same table as the opposition."

Tensions are high. Richard Sezibera, secretary general of the East African Community (EAC), the regional five-nation bloc, was "unceremoniously shoved" by a guard as he went into the senate, another diplomat said.

Sezibera, is from neighbouring Rwanda, who Burundi accuses of backing opponents of Nkurunziza.

The UN has warned that Burundi risks sliding back into civil war after a dramatic rise in killings, arrests and detentions, with over 200 000 refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries.

At least 200 people have been killed since violence broke out in April, with a third of those in the past month alone, the UN says.

UN Backs Tougher African Union Stance on Burundi

AFP
October 28, 2015 5:35 PM

A police officer runs in the direction of the old market in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura on August 2, 2015

United Nations - The UN Security Council on Wednesday backed an African Union decision to investigate human rights abuses in Burundi, and said it too was ready to take action over the continuing violence.

The 15-member council said in a unanimous statement that it was deeply concerned by the continued rise in violence in Burundi following the re-election of leader Pierre Nkurunziza.

Burundi has been sliding towards chaos since Nkurunziza announced in April that he would run for a third term, a move branded as unconstitutional by the opposition.

Some 200 people have been killed in the violence and 200,000 have fled the country, raising fears of a return to all-out war.

The African Union this month launched an investigation into rights violations, and called for travel bans and asset freezes on individuals found to be fueling the violence.

The Security Council welcomed the probe and expressed "its intention to follow closely and respond to any actions that threaten the peace, security and stability of Burundi."

Council members urged Burundian authorities to enter into a dialogue with the opposition and regional players "in order to find a consensual and nationally owned solution to the current crisis."

The adoption of the French-drafted statement followed some negotiations with Russia and China, which have maintained that the Burundi crisis is an internal matter and have resisted appeals for sanctions.

France and Britain have raised alarm over the deteriorating situation, with British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft warning last week of a "threat of genocide" in Burundi.

"The escalation of violence in Burundi is very worrisome," said French Ambassador Francois Delattre.

"The violence threatens to spread if left unchecked," he said.

Delattre said the Security Council statement is a "strong message to all sides in Burundi" to pull back from the brink and enter into dialogue.

Burundi Violence Leaves More Than a Dozen Dead, U.N. Worried

NAIROBI

More than a dozen people were killed in clashes in Burundi on Monday and Tuesday, police said, in the latest violence linked to the disputed third term of President Pierre Nkurunziza that has sparked concern by the United Nations Security Council.

Nkurunziza triggered weeks of protests and a failed coup when he announced in April he would seek a third term, plunging Burundi into its worst crisis since a civil war ended in 2005.

He won the disputed vote in July but tensions have remained high, and at least 198 people have been killed since April.

The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday expressed "deep concern about the growing insecurity and the continued rise in violence." In a French-drafted statement, it strongly condemned human rights abuses and unlawful violence by security forces and militias and pledged to seek accountability for such acts.

Activists and officials have reported a number of apparently targeted killings, while residents in opposition strongholds in the capital Bujumbura report frequent shootings and blasts.

Late on Tuesday, police in the central province of Gitega clashed with a group of about 24 people, several of whom were armed, and killed seven people, Gitega governor Venant Manirambona said.

There have been frequent clashes between security forces and citizens since April.

In a separate incident, a couple in a car in Bujumbura were killed by two gunmen on a motorbike.

"I heard terrible gunshots," a resident who witnessed the killing said. "The man was hit by bullets trying to escape as his wife was hit being in their car."

It was not immediately clear what was behind the killings, though the incident was similar to other recent attacks tied to the country's political crisis.

Deputy police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye confirmed the two deaths, and said another four people died in the capital on Monday.

(Additional reporting by Patrick Nduwimana in Kigali and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Edith Honan, Alison Williams and Marguerita Choy)

Judge Finds Austin Officer Immune From Manslaughter Charge

Larry Jackson, Jr. killed by cops.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal judge dismissed a manslaughter count against a former Austin police officer Thursday, ruling that an 1890 U.S. Supreme Court ruling shielded the ex-detective from prosecution for the fatal shooting of an unarmed man during a 2013 bank robbery investigation.

In a 30-page ruling filed Thursday in Austin, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel concluded that Charles Kleinert, who at the time of the shooting was a detective with the Austin Police Department, should be considered in court a federal officer because Kleinert was assigned to an FBI-led task force at the time of the shooting. Yeakel said that means the 126-year-old court ruling that protects federal officers from state prosecutions for official actions applies to Kleinert in this case.

That 19th-century ruling found that the fatal shooting of a suspect in California by a specially deputized U.S. marshal was immune from a murder prosecution because of the "supremacy clause" of the U.S. Constitution. That clause holds that the Constitution and federal laws trump any state law and ensure that states do not "retard, impede, burden, or in any manner control" the execution of federal law.

Kleinert has said his gun discharged accidentally when he killed Larry Jackson Jr. in July 2013. Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg expressed dismay over the ruling.

"With this federal court action dismissing the case, it appears that an Austin Police Department officer can be assigned to a federal task force and avoid prosecution in state court," Lehmberg said in a statement. Lehmberg said it was not yet clear if there are grounds for appeal.

Meanwhile, Adam Loewy, an attorney for Jackson's family, said he will ask the Justice Department to assign a prosecutor to begin a federal civil rights investigation and prosecution.

At the request of Leinert's attorneys, Yeakel took the case from state court in May as a series of graphic videotaped encounters between citizens and police focused national attention on police use of lethal force.

Authorities have said Jackson tried to enter the locked doors of a bank on July 26, 2013, while a robbery was under investigation. Security video shows Kleinert questioning Jackson briefly before the 32-year-old Jackson tried to flee. Kleinert, who is white, chased Jackson, who was black, on foot and grabbed his T-shirt with one hand. The gun in his other hand discharged, killing Jackson after a struggle.

Kleinert retired from the police force in October 2013 and was indicted on a manslaughter charge by a Travis County grand jury in May 2014.

Media Deception & U.S. Intervention: ProMosaik Interviews Caleb T. Maupin

Caleb T. Maupin with Marzieh Hashemi in Tehran.

Editor’s Note: Dr. Milena Rampoldi interviewed MintPress journalist Caleb Maupin to accompany the German translation of his article on the legacy of Zbigniew Brzezinski.

Caleb Maupin is a journalist and political analyst who resides in New York City, focusing his coverage on US foreign policy and the global system of monopoly capitalism and imperialism. This month we have published this article by Caleb because we think that understanding American strategies can help us see why there is no peace. And opposing to US-militarism, for ProMosaik e.V., means promoting peace building, in particular in the Middle East.

Originally from Ohio, Caleb studied political science at Baldwin-Wallace College. In addition to his journalism, analysis, and commentary, he has engaged in political activism. He was part of the Occupy Wall Street movement from its early planning stages in August 2011. He has worked against police brutality, mass incarceration, and imperialist war. He has appeared on Russia Today, PressTV, Telesur, and CNN.

In 2014, he participated in the voyage of Iran Shahed Rescue Ship, attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Yemen with the Red Crescent Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

We thank him so much for his time.

Dr. Milena Rampolda, ProMosaik: How did you find your path to engaged journalism?

Caleb T. Maupin, MintPress News: I am a political activist. I was involved in the 2011 Occupy Wall Street protests in New York, and prior to that I did a lot of work around the issues of prisons and police brutality in Cleveland. I studied political science at Baldwin-Wallace College.

The mainstream media in the United States is highly deceptive, and very unified in its message. People in the United States often have no idea whats really happening around the world. I began doing a lot of interviews with alternative media networks like Russia Today and PressTV during Occupy Wall Street.

I was able to travel to the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2014. In 2015, I accompanied the Red Crescent Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran onboard the Iran Shahed Rescue Ship, as they attempted to deliver humanitarian aid to Yemen, but were blocked by Saudi bombing. I find journalism to be a very meaningful and exciting way to live, and I am very happy to do what I do.

MR: Can you explain the method of destabilisation of the U.S. regime in the world?

CM: De-Stabilization is much better for the United States in terms of public relations than direct military attack. It can convince the world through media deception that the extremists its funds and arms are romantic revolutionaries. It can describe the regime it is hoping to destabilize as tyrannical. Human being, especially among the working class, are naturally altruistic. When they see other people suffering, their instinct is to try to come to their aid. The destabilization campaigns are slick means of manipulating these basic feelings of solidarity, in order to expand the profits of western banking institutions.

You have to think of what happened when the Roman empire defeated Carthage. They did not immediately put the people of Carthage to work, growing crops. Rather, they ground salt into the soil of Carthage so that no crops could be grown. The idea was to ensure that no source of strength or opposition could emerge. Poverty creates weakness. Weakness ensures enslavement. This is the strategy of colonizers and oppressors. Imperialism does not bring development. The British empire destroyed the textile industry of India.

Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America have all had beautiful vibrant beautiful civilizations. Imperialism keeps people impoverished, dependent, and subservient, and beats down any attempt to advance. Destabilization, and creating chaos and death, is a key method for doing so.

MR: What is the relation between drugs and exporting revolutions?

CM: Drugs are always a source of instability. Substance abuse and addiction is one of the most horrendous diseases that plagues the human race. The imperialists and colonizers have always used drugs against their enemies. Let’s not forget the Opium War, when Britain fought against China, because the Chinese leaders wanted to stop the importing of narcotics. The Contras in Nicaragua, the U.S. aligned forces in Afghanistan, were all heavily involved in the drug trade.

Before Afghanistan became the center of opium production in the 1980s, it was Hong Kong that was the heroin capital of the world. While China had a revolution in 1949, Hong Kong remained part of the British empire, and was the central base area for U.S. destabilizations throughout Asia. During the 1960s, when rebellions against war, racism, and capitalism, the FBI worked with Timothy Leary and other figures to promote drug use among dissident sectors of society.

This a long standing pattern of empire.

MR: Why is the example of Afghanistan so essential to explain USA plots?

CM: Afghanistan is perfect example, because it illustrates how phony and deceptive the claims of “rescuing people” from U.S. leaders are.

In the 1980s, the U.S. funded and armed Takfiri extremist elements, allegedly to “rescue” the Afghans from the Soviet Union.

2001, the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, claiming to be “rescuing it” from some of the very same elements they funded during the 1980s.

I heard so many U.S. commentators say that the U.S. was “liberating women” in Afghanistan. If the U.S. was concerned about women’s rights, why did it overthrow the People’s Democratic Party? The forces the U.S. sought to depose in the 1980s were some of the most advanced on the issue of women’s rights in the entire region.

2 million people died in the Afghan war. Millions more were forced to become refugees. U.S. media falsified battle footage, among other things. The U.S. public was duped into thinking that Osama Bin Laden was some kind of heroic freedom fighter.

It shows how dishonest our leaders truly are.

MR: How can we show people the need to protest against American imperialism?

CM: People in the United States need to be shown the track record of U.S. intervention. Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and now Syria … has life gotten better for any of these peoples? Have these interventions improved the situation? Have they stopped terrorism? Have they stabilized the region? It’s obvious that they have not.

U.S. leaders are highly deceptive, and anyone they promote as being a “revolutionary” or “freedom fighter” should be highly suspect. During the Occupy Wall Street protests of 2011, my friends who protested with me in lower Manhattan were portrayed as criminal and insane in the U.S. media for occupying public space. However, U.S. media frequently calls armed terrorists in Ukraine, Syria, and Libya “heroes” and “revolutionaries” as they kidnap children, murder people, and violently destabilize society.

People in the United States also need to understand that millions and millions of their tax dollars go to such efforts. The National Endowment for Democracy is not cheap. So much money is spent destabilizing other countries.

That money should be spent stabilizing our own country. We need to rebuild our infrastructure. We need schools and hospitals and all kinds of services that are being shut down. Imagine if all the money spent on arming terrorists were spent on some kind of new public works program as was done by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

That would be a much better use of public funds, than arming terrorists. I think most people in the United States would agree to that.

CCM’s Magafuli Takes Lead in Tanzania Elections

Ruling Tanzania CCM candidate for president John Magufuli.

October 29, 2015

Dar es salaam. – Tanzania’s ruling party’s presidential candidate appears set to win one of the East African country’s tightest elections, according to preliminary results announced yesterday.

John Magufuli  from the long-ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) had nearly 59 percent of the votes that had been counted in 143 out of a total of 264 constituencies in Sunday’s election, the electoral commission said.

Opposition candidate Edward Lowassa had nearly 40 percent.

The final results were expected by today.

Five candidates who had been ministers in the outgoing government lost their seats in parliament. They included agriculture minister Stephen Wasira, a prominent CCM politician.

Wasira was defeated by Ester Bulaya, a young female candidate from Lowassa’s Chadema Party, which heads a four-party opposition coalition.

The CCM has dominated Tanzanian politics since independence in 1961. Sunday’s elections were seen as the first time the opposition could win since a multi-party system was introduced in 1995.

Lowassa defected to the opposition in September after the CCM rejected his bid to succeed President Jakaya Kikwete, who was no longer allowed to run for office after serving two five-year terms.

Lowassa is seen as a candidate of the young urban middle class. Public works minister Magufuli campaigned on an anti-corruption drive in a stab at Lowassa, who was forced to resign as prime minister in 2008 after being implicated in a corruption scandal.


Tanzania counts votes amid opposition cries

October 27, 2015

DAR ES SALAAM. — Votes were being counted yesterday in what is expected to be Tanzania’s tightest election race ever, with the governing party set to win presidential and parliamentary elections on Sunday despite a challenge to its five decades in power from former prime minister Edward Lowassa, who has voiced concerns the poll may not be free or fair.

Opinion polls and analysts have forecast a presidential victory for John Magufuli, the ruling CCM party’s candidate. But many expect CCM’s parliamentary majority to dwindle after the opposition united behind a single candidate for the first time.

The opposition Chadema party have alleged fraud in Sunday’s presidential, general and local elections. “There are allegations of electoral fraud,” Chadema spokesperson Tumaini Makene told reporters late on Sunday.

Magufuli is seen as the narrow favourite to beat ex-prime minister Lowassa, a CCM stalwart who recently defected to Chadema, which is heading a coalition of opposition parties.

But analysts have warned that the unusually tight race could spark tensions, with the opposition providing the first credible challenge to the CCM since the introduction of multi-party democracy in 1995. While voting passed off largely peacefully, senior Chadema official Mwesiga Baregu told reporters they were concerned at reports of “a number of reported interceptions of stuffed (ballot) boxes”.

The opposition claims could not be independently verified, but Chadema said it was concerned.

“We seem to be heading to results that may not be credible, and therefore might not be accepted not just by political parties, but will not be accepted by the voters themselves,” Baregu said.

Election officials said they expect the results of the presidential race within three days, but some early results are expected to begin arriving yesterday.

Any dispute in the outcome of the election – billed as the tightest race in Tanzania’s post-independence history – could raise tensions in a nation which has been relatively stable since British rule ended in 1961.

Some officials and analysts have voiced particular concern about rising tensions in the semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar, where the opposition had accused the government of intimidation ahead of the polls.

But, voting was broadly peaceful across the East African nation of 47 million people, with a high turnout in many urban areas leading to delays.

Outgoing President Jakaya Kikwete, ordered the police to boost security to ensure calm in the country of 52 million people, of whom 22 million are registered voters.

“Anyone who tries to cause trouble will be dealt with,” Kikwete said at a CCM rally on Saturday. 

D-Day for Tanzania Election Results

Thursday 29 October 2015 05:29
Sarah Kimani, Tanzania
SABC

Tanzania's National Electoral Commission will announce the results of presidential elections in Dar-Es-Salaam on Thursday.

This is despite a decision by Zanzibar's Electoral commission to annul Presidential and Parliamentary elections on the island amid accusations of cheating.

The opposition UKAWA coalition has called for a recount.

The ruling party candidate Dr. John Magufuli was on track to win the polls by late Wednesday despite complaints by the opposition that the vote tallying process had been tampered with.

The missions however raised concerns about some aspects of the process and the electoral laws that they said needed to be reviewed
Foreign observer missions including Southern African Development Community , the East African Community, the Commonwealth and the European Union on Tuesday declared the polls free and fair.

The missions however raised concerns about some aspects of the process and the electoral laws that they said needed to be reviewed.

With results from more than half of the 264 constituencies out, opposition candidate Edward Lowassa trails Magufuli  by more than 10%.

Meanwhile, the United States says it is gravely alarmed by the annulment of Zanzibar elections, arguing that the commission halted a peaceful election.  It wants the decision recalled.


Vote annulled on Tanzania's hotspot region of Zanzibar - official

Wednesday 28 October 2015 17:23
REUTERS

The election in Tanzania's semi-autonomous region of Zanzibar has been annulled due to abuses, the regional election commission said on Wednesday, forcing a fresh vote in the area that has long been a hotspot of opposition to the ruling party.

"I hereby officially announce that this election and all its results have been annulled and there is a need to hold fresh elections," Zanzibar Election Commission Chairman Jecha Salim Jecha said in a statement citing "gross violations".

An official from the opposition Civic United Front branded the move a ploy to rerun a vote it had won. There was no immediate comment from the ruling CCM party, but CCM officials had previously said it was on track to win on the island.

We demand that NEC should do a verification of the results and recount the votes
Opposition calls for recount of presidential vote

Earlier, Tanzanian presidential candidate and opposition leader Edward Lowassa called for a recount of Sunday's presidential poll, saying he would not accept the result because of voting irregularities.

"We want the National Electoral Commission (NEC) to immediately halt the announcement of results of the presidential election," Lowassa, who leads the Ukawa opposition coalition, told a news conference in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

"We demand that NEC should do a verification of the results and recount the votes," he said.

The NEC had said it would announce the winner of the vote on Thursday, with preliminary results showing John Magufuli, candidate for the ruling CCM party, ahead of Lowassa.


Lowassa rejects presidential poll results

Wednesday 28 October 2015 14:14
Sarah Kimani
SABC

Presidential candidate Edward Lowassa has rejected the presidential poll results in Tanzania. Lowassa says the elections have been rigged.

He wants the electoral commission to stop the tallying process.

Meanwhile the ruling party has extended its lead. In elections held on Sunday, John Magufuli is contesting against opposition coalition candidate Lowassa in a heated election.

Despite reports of simmering tensions, police say the country remains calm. With every result announced so far the ruling party's presidential candidate has increased his lead. The latest tally shows a gap of about 400 000 votes with the main opposition candidate.

One hundred and twenty constituencies have been announced so far but with 144 to go, the picture could change. The opposition has accused police of raiding its tally centres, arresting its volunteers and hamstringing its independent results verification.

BRICS Global University Summit Ends in Moscow

Wednesday 28 October 2015 23:24
Julia Lyubova, Moscow
SABC

Photo: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov delivers a speech during the BRICS Global University Summit at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

The BRICS Global University Summit has ended in Moscow - with South Africa and fellow countries announcing a number of initiatives to promote higher education.

Hundreds of representatives from leading universities from BRICS countries participated in the forum.

The main objective of the meeting was to exchange experiences and practices in education systems around the world.

Moscow State Institute of International Relations, also known as MGIMO was chosen as the main venue to host the BRICS Global University summit that took place in Moscow.

One of its best-known graduates, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, gave a speech to open the talks.

“BRICS do not force anything on anyone. We do not have bloc discipline typical for military-political alliances.  We want to seek additional sources of developing and increasing the well-being of our people,” says Lavrov.

More than 400 representatives of leading universities from BRICS member states took part in various discussions and talks.  This year the forum was attended by a record number of educational institutions from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Founder & Chancellor, VIT University, Dr G. Viswanathan, says, “I hope the interaction will improve in the future. I would very much like the five countries exchanging students in the future so that we would learn from each other and also we would compete with each other.”

The summit closed with speeches and a concert by MGIMO students.

The leaders of BRICS will now meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Turkey in mid-November. The reform of the world monetary system, as well as economic and humanitarian cooperation will be high on the agenda.


BRICS Summit attracts top minds in education

Wednesday 28 October 2015 06:05
Julia Lyubova

BRICS Global University Summit convenes on the back of SA experiencing recent student protests against rising tuition fees

The Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) Global University Summit is underway in Moscow, Russia. It unites more than 400 representatives from leading universities of BRICS countries.

Ministers and rectors of leading institutions of the BRICS bloc have gathered to discuss global education. Over the next two days, they will report on education in their countries.

The Summit convenes on the backdrop of South Africa having seen recent student protests against rising tuition fees, a situation that has posed a dilemma for the country's education system.

According to Angina Parekh, Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Johannesburg, the bigger issue is about access to higher education and affordability.

Parekh says another major talking point is to tackle the issue of the vast majority of students who come from impoverished, low-income backgrounds, who find university education unaffordable. Parekh says these are issues that universities, the government as well as student organisations and the broader private sector will have to come together and start talking about.

The new BRICS Network University, which is up for discussion at the Moscow gathering, would offer opportunities for member-states to draw experiences from one another.

President and CEO at Evidence Based Solutions, Dr Olive Shisana, says coming into a global university summit tells us a lot about what is happening in other places, how people are handling the whole issue of education.

Chisana further says, "We are aware of the protests that are going on in South Africa right now because people want free education. And by talking to other people we are able to understand how they manage to get free education in their countries."

Each BRICS member will be able to discuss the most pressing issues concerning education in their respective countries. They will also share ways on how education could be made more affordable and effective.

It is the first time that an educational BRICS forum brings together so many universities, 18 from Brazil, 17 from India, 13 from China and eight South African institutions, with the host, Russia, represented by 69.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyxkBFYMs1vyfj7pXhmebsgJGWLW3BLWG

Apartheid-era SACP Martyred Activist Ahmed Timol’s Family Seeks Closure

Wednesday 28 October 2015 08:27
Busi Chimombe

Anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol died at John Voster Square police station in 1972 .

Forty-four years after the death of anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol, his family continues to search closure and the reopening of an inquest to uncover the truth around his death.

Timol, a teacher and a member of the South African Communist Party, was arrested at a roadblock in 1972 and taken to John Voster Square police station.

Police claimed he committed suicide while in custody, but medical records showed he was severely tortured. The family says the inquest ignored this evidence.

On Tuesday, they held a memorial service at the very police station to mark his tragic fate.

Documents provided to the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation by Advocate Mia Loonat, a lawyer representing the Timol family in the 1972 inquest, have now been digitised by Wits University's Historical Papers Research Archive and are available to the public online.

Timol's brother Mohammad says they need to know the truth

Although missing over 650 pages, the initiative has given renewed hope for closure for the Timol family.

They have rejected the police line that Timol committed suicide by jumping out of a 10th floor window during interrogation.

The police had claimed that he had just ratted out some of his comrades. Timol's brother Mohammad, says they need to know the truth.  

"We are working with the foundation for human rights to reopen the inquest and to reverse the findings of the inquest magistrate as we know that those that they claimed had committed suicide or slipped on a bar of soap, we all know were all brutally killed therefore we need to reopen the inquest and in a democratic South Africa set a precedent that those judgments have got to be reversed."

Advocate George Bizos, who was also part of the family's legal team during the inquest, says the truth was ignored by the Senior Magistrate. He says there are grounds for the case to be reopened.

"The signs and particularly the medical signs showed them to be bloody liars. No less than 14 injuries were identified by Dr Gluckman that showed that some were inflicted more than days, others fairly recently. The Senior Magistrate ignored the evidence of Gluckman supported by fellow doctors."

Bizos says he remembers the security branch members boasting after Timol's death that they had netted a big fish and managed to dismantle an extensive underground network in the province. More eerie were the words that the entire attorney had proved was that Indians cannot fly.

Timol's nephew Imitiaz Cajee has been relentless in his investigation about what happened to his uncle, authoring a book on the subject and running an exhibition to keep his legacy alive.

" For me government has to be commended for repatriating the remains of our fallen heroes abroad but surely it cannot stop there. We have to ask the difficult questions: What happened to Ahmed Timol? What happened to Suliman Babla Salojee? What happened to Neil Aggett? What happened to Steve Biko? And the irony that we expected during the TRC in 1996 was that we were going to find some forms of closure. We should not forget about the others who were not even granted an opportunity to testify at the TRC whose wishes were not even granted of having an institution named after them,  ho wait until today for financial compensation."

Wits University Historical Papers Research Archive's Michell Pickover says the post-apartheid state has not prioritised the recording of the archives that document the past regime's human rights violations, with intelligence and security documents kept a secret. Even now she says little is being done to open up these archives.

"The proposed Protection of Security Act , the so-called Secrecy Bill which I believe is still on the table in its current form is retrospective and will give protection to apartheid era documents and secrets. The archives of the TRC are not accessible even when using PAIA requests more than eight years after the TRC's final report was released. The records of the TRC remain unprocessed and deliberately buried in what is essentially an inaccessible and closed archive guarded by the Minister of Justice, by national intelligence and the Department of Arts and Culture."

While the digitised documents do not hold new evidence, the Timol family are hoping that what they contain may be looked at differently by a more objective court. The move to lift the veil of secrecy off the case is a step in the right direction, they say.

Nzimande’s Announcement Keenly Awaited

Wednesday 28 October 2015 23:52
SABC

Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande will on Thursday reveal the details of how R2,6 billion will be generated to cover the 0% fee increase at universities.

Nzimande made this announcement during the Higher Education Transformation Debate in the National Assembly on Tuesday.

Last Friday President Jacob Zuma announced a 0% fee increase for the 2016 academic year after he had met with student leaders and Vice Chancellors in Pretoria.

During the debate in the National Assembly, Nzimande said, “To resolve the immediate shortfall of an estimated R2.6 billion required to cover the 0% fee increase, we are working out exactly what different sectors will contribute together with the minister of Finance.”

Nzimande also said the wealthier universities have committed to make a contribution. He said more details would be given on Thursday following a meeting with the President.

Meanwhile, Wits University management has described as unreasonable the students' demand for the university to be closed until Monday. The demand was made when Vice-Chancellor Adam Habib came out to engage the protesting workers and students in the scotching heat at the main campus in Braamfontein, Johannesburg on Wednesday afternoon.

Incoming SRC President Nompendulo Mkhatshwa also faced the wrath of the striking crowd as she tried to address them

The students joined the workers in their protest against the outsourcing of workers.

Some lectures were disrupted.

Incoming SRC President Nompendulo Mkhatshwa also faced the wrath of the striking crowd as she tried to address them.

Several fires were started on campus in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Two cars were set alight.

Other acts of vandalism were also committed.

Some students say they were threatened and forced to abandon their lectures by their protesting counterparts.

South African Government Has Plans for Free Education for Poor But Hamstrung by Lack of Funds, Says Nzimande

Oct 28, 2015 | Bekezela Phakathi

Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande says government policy is there should be free higher education for poor, not for everyone

THE government has plans to provide free higher education for the poor, but it is hamstrung by the lack of financial resources, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande said on Wednesday.

"A plan without funds is sterile," Mr Nzimande told MPs during a briefing in Parliament on Wednesday.

Mr Nzimande said government policy is that there should be free higher education for the poor, not for everyone.

"The country cannot afford free education for everyone ... wealthy students must pay because they have an economic advantage. If there is money free higher education will be feasible," said Mr Nzimande.

Mr Nzimande briefed the higher education and training portfolio committee on his department’s intervention plan to address student protests over university fees.

Chaotic scenes played out on campuses across the country recently as students protested over proposed fee hikes for 2015 and called for a moratorium on increases, as well as demanded free higher education.

Following days of intense protests, President Jacob Zuma on Friday announced that tuition fees would not increase in 2016. Universities now face a shortfall of about R3bn and the government is expected to provide details on Thursday on how the funding gap will be plugged.

Mr Nzimande said that it would be difficult for SA to implement free education because of its "system". He said Cuba, for example, had managed to introduce free education because it is a socialist state.

"Unfortunately we are not a socialist state ... most capitalist countries cannot fund free higher education because of the nature of their system," Mr Nzimande said.

The government needed money to implement free higher education, said Mr Nzimande, adding that about R37bn was required over the medium-term expenditure framework to fully fund all poor students.

"At the moment we are funding 16% of all undergraduates through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). The indication is that 25.5% of students qualify for NSFAS," said the minister.

"The ideal scenario is that we increase the percentage of students we fund and (do so) at full cost ... We will need R37bn over the medium-term expenditure framework in 2011 rand value, which means this figure is higher now," said Mr Nzimande.

During a snap debate in Parliament on Tuesday Mr Nzimande suggested that the rich should be taxed to fund higher education.

Mr Zuma reportedly said on Tuesday that free university education is possible.

"It’s possible, but … you (cannot) do (it) overnight," the president was quoted as saying.

‘We Can Fight and Pass at the Same Time': Makhombothi

October 28, 2015
New Age, RSA

Photo: Speaking at the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) made up of Sasco, ANCYL and YCL and Cosas, Makhombothi urged students to return to class.

President of the South African Student Congress (Sasco) Ntuthuko Makhombothi says the struggle for free education has not ended but has been suspended and will resume after examinations.

Speaking at the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) made up of Sasco, ANCYL and YCL and Cosas, Makhombothi urged students to return to class.

“We are engaging with various stakeholders to restore academic programs,” said Makhombothi.

“We have begun to mobilize students to go back to class and libraries,” he said.

There has been numerous student protests at various universities across the country over proposed fee increases for 2016.

He further urged students not to listen to those who say they have achieved nothing last week Friday. This is after president Jacob Zuma announced last week that there will be no fee increase for 2016.

Makhomboti added that there are political agenda’s now dividing students for narrow political ends.

“We will not allow any forces to device students,” he added.

SASCO Retweeted
ANCYL ‏@ANCYLhq: @IamMakhombothi – We are determined to build on the struggles & success of the generation before us #PYApresser

SASCO Retweeted
ANCYL ‏@ANCYLhq : @IamMakhombothi – the 2016 increase of fees have fallen. Dates for examinations will be adjusted. #PYApresser

SASCO Retweeted
ANCYL ‏@ANCYLhq : @IamMakhombothi – We call on all students to return to class for examinations. #PYApresser

SASCO Retweeted
ANCYL ‏@ANCYLhq : @IamMakhombothi – the protest is not ended. It is suspended. It will resume post examinations. #PYApresser

SASCO Retweeted
ANCYL ‏@ANCYLhq : @IamMakhombothi – We will not allow any forces to device students. #PYApresser #FeesMustFall

Outsourced Workers Meet With Wits University Vice-Chancellor Habib in South Africa

October 28, 2015 0 29
New Age, RSA

Outsourced workers have gathered outside the senate house at the University of Witwatersrand, to meet with Prof Adam Habib to discuss their grievances.

Some students at Wits continue to block the university entrance saying that they reject the nine point plan, and they want outsourced workers to be heard, but a majority of students proceed with academic activities as planned to resume on Wednesday.

Meanwhile the university has on Wednesday dismissed allegations that part of the university was set alight on Tuesday night.

Wits Spokesperson Shirona Patel says two vehicles and tyres were burned close to the bookshop, but no building was on fire at Wits’ Braamfontein campus.

Patel says the university is looking into the case and that students who were around at the time of the fire will be questioned.

” We looking at our CCTV cameras and students who were around will be questioned.” said Patel.

The university has beefed up security in order to allow the day’s activity to continue as usual as classes are set to resume on Wednesday.

So far no injuries have been reported and no arrests have been made.

Students Evicted From North West University in South Africa

October 28, 2015 0 90
OBAKENG MAJE
New Age, South Africa

Situation was volatile this morning at North West University at Mafikeng campus after students were evicted at 8:00am.

The university’s vice-chancellor, professor Dan Kgwadi announced that they decided to evict students from the university because as the management, they want to prepare for examinations.

Kgwadi said this morning that students exams will commence on Monday.

“We want to inform all parents that the students will be evicted from the university this morning. The decision came about after we could not gain any access to the university because of the protests. President Jacob Zuma announced that there will be no increment in 2016, now our students raised other issues that they want transformation in all campuses.

“We can attest to that too. We want transformation and as a vice-chancellor, I will make sure that happens. However we cannot allow the students at Mafikeng campus to vandalise the institution’s resources. I believe there is a third force that influence them because I personally saw some of the people who participated in the protest were not students at the university,” Kgwadi said.

However some of the students refute Kgwadi’s claims and said they will return to the university later today.

A final year Political Sciences and International Relations student, Ofentse Pilane said: “We do not appreciate the way the message was communicated to us. We learnt through media that we will be evicted. What about other students who are from various areas and countries? How would they find an alternative accomodation in the short space of time.”

The North West University students want the council be disbanded because they alleged that it does not cater for their needs.

Currently the student leadership are busy with court interdict and campus remained closed as the police visibility intensified.

obakengm@thenewage.co.za

South African Parties Shape Their Narrative Using Twitter

October 28 2015 at 02:35pm
By Daniel de Kadt
INDEPENDENT MEDIA

An analysis of the tweets send by the ANC, DA and EFF tell a tale, writes Daniel de Kadt.

The student protests and the rapid changes in the political dynamics therein provide an opportunity to study the reaction of political parties to public protests in a dominant party democracy like South Africa.

Political response to the protests varied over the course of the week, and by political party. How can we know this?

By analysing the messages parties broadcast via their official Twitter accounts. Twitter allows us to study politicians’ real-time responses to events, which is particularly useful in countries where cellphones (and thus access to social media) are the primary tool for media consumption.

To analyse political response to the ongoing protests, I collected the tweets and retweets from official Twitter accounts associated with three major political parties: the ANC (ANC: @MyANC_), the EFF (EFF: @EconFreedomZA), and the DA (DA: @Our_DA).

The two primary opposition parties, the DA and the EFF, have unsurprisingly both jumped on the protests as a vehicle for their own agendas.

This makes much sense – the DA struggles to find support among young black South Africans, while the EFF’s manifesto is on the extreme end of redistribution, so calls for free education are a logical fit. Yet there are subtle differences in both the ability of the parties to respond, and the strategic approaches they take.

The DA, a wealthier and more institutionalised party than the EFF, had a faster and more co-ordinated public communication campaign. Further, the DA attempted to shape the Twitter narrative to target the ANC’s minister of education, Blade Nzimande. By contrast, the EFF appears to have simply shown solidarity with students, largely following the students’ narrative rather than attempting to shape it themselves.

What do we learn from Twitter about the ANC? Their response to the protests appears to be a quintessential example of patronage politics. While the protests were focused on university campuses and administrations, the ANC encouraged them very gently from a distance. Once the protests targeted the ANC, its president and its ministers swiftly changed tack, first adopting a stoic repressive silence, and then a rapid outreach to students and policy capitulation.

The frequency of public communications changed with the rise of the protests. The ANC out-tweeted its opponents dramatically throughout October (considering the whole month allows us to see contrasts in behaviour), though its communication frequency changed over time. For instance, the party did not tweet at all on October 16 or 17.

 In terms of frequency, the DA comes in second, with a lower, but fairly constant frequency of tweets per day throughout the month. The EFF appears to be the least prolific user of social media. Again, these patterns make sense – the ANC has by far the most resources of the three parties and has over 230 000 Twitter followers, a large market for it to address. The DA and EFF, by contrast, have fewer followers (170 000 and 82 500 respectively) to target, and the EFF, a relative newcomer to the political scene, lacks the organisational capacity that the DA has generated in the last decade.

 Although all three parties reacted to the protests on social media, the DA’s response was clearly the best co-ordinated and pointed. The DA’s frequency jumped three-fold from a daily mean of roughly 25 tweets to 75 on October 20 and 21. Once the mass protests were established, on October 22 and 23, tweets dropped to lower levels, though they were still above the monthly mean.

Likewise, the EFF’s frequency of communications on October 21 was far higher than the monthly average, but the party was slower on the uptake, and faded as the protests continued, suggesting that much less energy was committed toward communication by the EFF than by the DA. The ANC’s communications during the protest were systematically but not abnormally high, compared to the rest of October. They dropped notably on October 20, but the party was back to its prolific self on October 21, 22, and 23.

But what do the tweets actually say?

Message content gives a sense of the parties’ strategies in response to the protests. A simple way to visualise tweet content is word frequency clouds. Note, for instance, that on October 19, when the protests are just beginning to grip Wits and UCT, the DA is very quick to orient its public messaging around them. This maps well to the previous finding that the DA was the fastest party to move on the protests, where its tweet frequency jumped more rapidly than the other parties. Their tweets are almost exclusively focused on education, with the most prominent term being “blademustfall”, a reference to Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande.

The ANC, however, was busy elsewhere on October 19, focused on the Hamas visit to South Africa, and on Palestine. In fact, the ANC did make mention of the protests (eg “witsuniversity” and “freeeducation”). Recall that while October 19 was the start of the protests, they were at this point still focused on universities and not the government. The ANC, it seems, was happy to score points by endorsing the protests while the ire was not focused on them.

 The EFF, meanwhile, had little content of interest on October 19, with only a brief mention of fees. By October 20, however, it had a single-minded narrative – “feesmustfall”, and an exclusive focus on education. The ANC, on October 20, was again talking about “freeducation” (supporting the students who are making demands of universities), but still had time and energy to focus on other issues. The same day, the DA was exclusively focused on the protests, while also building in name recognition for its leader, Mmusi Maimane, who visited (and was rejected by) protesting students on UCT’s campus.

On October 21 – the day the students marched on Parliament – was when the strategies diverged most notably. The DA and EFF were then working the same angle – all education, with repeated demands for Zuma and Nzimande to address the students and their grievances. Note, however, that the DA and EFF were split in their use of key hashtags – the EFF was focused on “feesmustfall”, the primary hashtag of the student movement, while the DA was more overtly political, still demanding (and attempting to build a narrative around) the resignation/firing of Nzimande. Crucially, the ANC was then utterly silent on the issue of fees, free education, and students, and returned its focus to the Hamas visit to South Africa.

Come October 22, with students still protesting, threatening marches on the Union Buildings in Pretoria, the camel’s back was broken. The ANC capitulation beginsan, and it changed tune dramatically. Then nothing but education mattered, and, crucially, the communication strategy was focused directly on “students”. While the EFF was still talking exclusively about “feesmustfall” (and the DA had jumped on to this bandwagon and had left “blademustfall” behind, having failed to sustain the hashtag), the ANC was focused on welcoming students to Luthuli House, talking about the importance of education, and building a connection between the party and the students.

 We can see this as the ANC attempting to use patronage politics (its favourite tool) to de-escalate the situation. The students had made themselves known, they had demonstrated a legitimate threat, and then the ANC welcomed them in, would listen, talk and make commitments to them. The opposition parties, which control scarce resources themselves, could make no promises and had no counter to this strategy. Indeed, some of the ANC’s tweets had been remarkable. Consider the two below:

In both tweets, the ANC was clearly signalling it was the party students should trust, rely on, and engage with. In the first tweet, the purpose is clear: the ANC stands with students on the issue of free education (or lower fees). The second tweet is even more instructive: here, the ANC was attempting to merge itself with the student movement, blurring the lines between protesters and the regime.

On October 23, while students were marching on the Union Buildings in Pretoria, the DA pushed the same line as the day before, with added references to its leadership (who joined the march) and students. Curiously, the official EFF twitter account was silent, possibly because its resources were exclusively dedicated to the march. The ANC continued to place students front and centre of its communication strategy, legitimising their complaints and grievances, and attempting to establish itself as the party that cares for them, with words like “meetings” and “outreach”.

 Twitter data gives us insights into the communication strategies of parties. In South Africa, the ANC remains essentially all powerful. In the face of this month’s protests it seems to have adopted a strategy of patronage politics, including and compensating those who threaten their power.

But opposition parties, which don’t have those strategies available to them, attempt instead to score political points and shape public narratives in the face of mass protest. Whose approach is most successful remains to be seen.

Social media tracks protests

Thousands of protesters took to the streets this week, mostly students demonstrating against the rising cost of attending a university.

And the protesters are not without cause. Tuition fees (and, correspondingly, student debt) are high, universities remain exclusive and study conditions are often far from optimal.

The most recent wave of protests began in earnest on Monday with protests that had been simmering at the University of the Witwaters-rand rapidly gaining momentum. Although not well covered in the mainstream international media, inform-ation about the protests was shared widely in social media. Protesters and journalists provided updates, photos, and video of marches across the country. The corresponding hashtags #FeesMustFall and #NationalShutDown trended worldwide on Twitter.

From October 14-16, the hashtag #WitsFeesMustFall received roughly 20 000 tweets per day. On Monday #FeesMustFall had started to trend, with just under 50 000 tweets, and on Tuesday it was tweeted roughly 75 000 times.

Tuesday saw the protests spread to numerous other campuses, including the University of Cape Town, the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Stellenbosch, and Rhodes.

On Monday and Tuesday, protesters focused their attention on their universities’ administrations, demanding fee hikes be lowered for the coming academic year. On Wednesday, students marched to Parliament, attempting to disrupt the mid-term budget speech being delivered by Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene.

On Thursday, the protests became truly national, no longer isolated to campuses. The hashtag #FeesMustFall was featured in well over 200 000 tweets, and #NationalShut-Down featured in just over 100 000. (By contrast, the hashtag for the South Africa vs Wales world cup quarterfinal – #RSAvWAL – topped out at around 25 000 tweets on one day.)

The protesters, whose marches had been largely peaceful, were met by public order police, tear gas, stun grenades and Tasers.

On Wednesday, 29 students were arrested. Unsurprisingly, Thursday was another day of mass protest, and on Friday, students marched on the Union Buildings.

In the late afternoon, President Jacob Zuma announced the government’s response, a capitulation to the of the students’ demands of a 0 percent fee increases for 2016.

South African Former Opposition Leader Chased From Stellenbosch University: Helen Zille's March With Students – From Love to ‘Voetsek’

Helen Zille, premier of the Western Cape, gives a personal account of the day she spent with students last week. It was a busy day as she talks about student protests, an uprising in Masiphumelele near Kommetjie, and hosting the annual Better Games Together event. Given everything, she mulled cancelling the Better Games Together event all together as it was being hosted at Stellenbosch University but decided to let the people decide on the day. Given everything, Zille arrived at Stellenbosch and despite the heightened security, everything started off well. She was engaged in dialogue and even marched to the Administration building, despite the concern from her security detail. During the march Zille said a switch suddenly flicked and the group of students she was marching with turned and told her to ‘Voetsek’. “Rapidly evacuated from Stellenbosch in “a police vehicle” after being chased out of Stellenbosch by protesting students” lead the reports but Zille says the report did not reflect the nuanced reality of the entire situation. In the same way the media was focused on the University protests while a more violent uprising was taking place in Masiphumelele after police arrested alleged vigilante killers, “exceeded the storming of Parliament in both ferocity and collateral damage.” After it all, Zille looks at what she calls the substance of it all, with particular reference to the student protests. “If they serve to give notice to government across the board, that people will no longer tolerate corruption, and demand a capable state that devotes sufficient resources to creating the necessary conditions for growth and jobs, then the events of the past week will indeed have been catalytic.” A brilliant piece. – Stuart Lowman

By Helen Zille*

Sometimes, in government, the decisions we take about symbolic issues, are as important as the substantive ones. The past week was full of such decisions, as the #FeesMustFall uprising moved from universities to Parliament, then to the ANC’s Johannesburg headquarters, culminating in the march to the Union Buildings on Friday.

Friday also happened to be the day the Western Cape Government was scheduled to hold its annual sports day, known as the “Better Together Games”.

When I first became Premier, I scrapped the event, because I thought it a “waste of time”. But I was persuaded to reinstate it because it does so much to build team spirit and competitive camaraderie between departments, who field teams in a range of sporting events.  Preceding days are filled with tea time discussions about strategies to beat one’s rivals.

Participants and their supporters descend on Coetzenberg, outside Stellenbosch, in their various departmental colours, with all sorts of paraphernalia, from shakers to mascots, and join the parade before the contests begin.

But last week was unlike any other in the run-up to the Better Together Games. Apart from the campus crises, we were dealing with an uprising in Masiphumelele near Kommetjie after police arrested alleged vigilante killers. There were clearly not enough news reporters to get to all the hot spots, which is why Masiphumelele went largely unreported, although it exceeded the storming of Parliament in both ferocity and collateral damage.

When one is so involved in trying to keep track of rapidly changing events, tomorrow seems like another country.

So it was only late on Thursday night as I looked at Friday’s diary, that it hit me: How could we be holding a sports day on the Stellenbosch campus while students were calling for a #NationalShutDown and marching on the Union Buildings? Symbolism more callous and uncaring would be hard to conceive.

My instinct was to cancel the event, but how could I do so unilaterally, late on Thursday night, when it was impossible to convey the decision (or the reasons for it) to hundreds of participants? In the end, I decided that we would take the decision jointly, at the venue, after an open discussion of the events of the week, and their implications for the future of our country.

The combination of sports day participants descending on Stellenbosch, together with the student protest, resulted in a traffic jam so dense, that it took 30 minutes to negotiate the last 10 kms to the stadium. I arrived when the parade had already begun.

I was billed to give the opening speech. I used the opportunity to open the conversation about whether it was appropriate for us to continue with the games at all. I outlined the events of the week, and their significance for our country, and the seriousness of the funding crisis in higher education. I then called for participants to express their views.

The first participant had just finished speaking when my protectors grabbed my arms and pulled me backwards. I looked around and saw a group of people, dressed in black, approaching the stage. I assumed they were students. I could see they meant business and wanted to take over proceedings. My intention was to welcome them on stage, but my protectors had other ideas. At moments like this, their mandate is to get me out of the way of any potential danger, fast. I often want to respond differently. But it is impossible to have a discussion with protectors in a rapidly moving situation, which they believe to be risky. If I resist their instructions, they simply pick me up to get me out of the situation, and talk later.

With a vice-grip around my upper arms, they started frog-marching me across the field towards my car, pushing aside the growing melee of students. The symbolism of these actions were not lost on the students.  Because my protectors wanted me to leave, the students demanded that I stay and engage them. (I have no doubt, however, that had I come there for the purpose of engaging with the students, they would have demanded that I leave.)

A few started accusing the protectors of implying, by their actions, that students were “dangerous animals” who were putting my safety at risk. Eventually someone demanded the loudspeaker and announced that we would sit on the ground and that I would answer the students’ questions. That seemed to be the most rational way to proceed, and by this time the crowd was so dense that the protectors were having difficulty moving me through it. So we all sat down on the grass for what purported to be a discussion. But the students’ purpose was not to elicit answers;  it was to vent their rage and frustration. After a few futile attempts to respond, I concluded it was far better just to listen.

In a protesting crowd, symbolism always trumps substance; And in a leaderless crowd, decisions and commands change in split seconds. First they demanded that I remain in the stadium until university management arrived to address them.

Next someone demanded that I march with the students to the University Administration building. They wanted a response. I reflected on the request and agreed (because I believe university fees are unaffordable and place an excessive debt burden on students at the start of their careers; that government funding for universities is totally inadequate; and because peaceful protest is a right).

Then someone else proposed that we get out of the 32 degree heat and continue our discussion in a nearby hall. The protectors saw a potential hostage situation developing and were determined to use the moment, as we walked past my car, to bundle me in and get me away. But I explained, as best I could in the circumstances, how disastrous such a course of action would be, and that it was essential to follow through on my commitment to remain with the students.

In the hall, there was dancing and singing. There was an impromptu re-naming of the venue to the Albertina Luthuli (later corrected to Albertina Sisulu) Hall. Everyone cheered when someone announced that the hall would be occupied (and no-one would leave) until the university acceded to the students’ demands. By then I could also sense a potential hostage situation developing, as students sat closely around me, but the atmosphere was generally friendly and relaxed.

I cancelled a meeting back at the office with the Deputy Prime Minister of the German State of Lower Saxony. It was obviously not the time and place to use this as an excuse to leave!

Before too long someone announced that, if the Rector did not arrive at the Albertina Sisulu hall within ten minutes, there would be a march to the administration building, and that I would march with them. I am sure many of them were hoping I would refuse, so that they could “prove” I did not care about their plight. I agreed to walk with them, on condition that the march remained peaceful.

The symbolism of walking down the road with me was not lost on the students nearest to me, who wavered between wanting to engage me and shout at me. The difference between the two often depended on the proximity of a camera, which in such situations has the same effect as a burning match landing on dry grass. As one of them told me with disarming honesty:  “we are going to look like sell-outs by walking with you”.  Another one told me the protest was primarily about “decolonising education” but did not define what this meant. When I responded empathetically to another’s anger, I was told:  “Don’t commoditise my pain”. My protectors were continually looking for exit points, and trying to persuade me to leave, while avoiding having to drag me away in front of the cameras.

As we approached the town square, the mood changed. The three SASCO students walking next to me, in ANC regalia, had up till that point been engaging me in animated conversation. They were oblivious to the irony of wearing ANC colours to a rally protesting their own party’s policies in government. But they were very aware of the symbolism of walking next to me into a mass gathering on the university’s main square. Within a split second the atmosphere changed. They rounded on me and told me to Voetsek (having previously demanded that I march with them). This is how crowds in fluid situations work. The situation changes as quickly as flicking a switch. Despite the volatility around me, the rest of the gathering calmly carried on walking.

I judged it the right moment to leave and turned and walked to my car, with the small group of students still telling me to Voetsek! Inevitably, despite the events of the preceding two hours, the media only reported that I had to be rapidly evacuated from Stellenbosch in “a police vehicle” after being chased out of Stellenbosch by protesting students. This did not reflect the nuanced reality of the situation.

Back at the office I watched events at the Union Buildings unfold on television, and discussed the significance of the week’s events with colleagues. In the moment, one has to deal with the symbolism. In the long term, the substance becomes more important. And there was much of substance to take from the events of the past week.

If they serve to give notice to government across the board, that people will no longer tolerate corruption, and demand a capable state that devotes sufficient resources to creating the necessary conditions for growth and jobs (such as higher education), then the events of the past week will indeed have been catalytic.

Symbolically and substantively.

* Helen Zille, Western Cape Premier--She is a leading member of the official opposition party the Democratic Alliance (DA) having served as its leader in parliament.

South Africa: Did the PYA Betray Wits Students?

By The Daily Vox Team

Friday's announcement by President Jacob Zuma of a 0% fee increase for 2016 is less a case of #FeesHaveFallen, and more of a case of the revolution landing in a hot mess. THE DAILY VOX TEAM explains.

Wits University and the Student Representative Council (SRC) have agreed that students will go back to class on Wednesday but there are students who feel that they have not achieved the aims of the protest. One of the main demands, from the beginning of the Wits protest, was to end outsourcing. Students spent most of the weekend in meetings deliberating whether to continue protests to achieve the goal of ending outsourcing and free education or to resume academic activities and focus on exam preparation.

But the differences between those who saw the protest as a struggle for a 0% increase and those who see it as a struggle for free education have revealed deep, ideological differences among students.

There are those who saw the protest as a protest against fee increases alone, and then there are those who saw it as a protest against the structures of higher education, nationally, and against Wits University's governing structures.

What we now know for sure is that while it sure gave us the feels to see ANC- and EFF-aligned students standing together for a common cause, internal tensions had been brewing for days. In the early hours of Monday morning, the gloves came off.

1. The "bribe"

Page torn from SRC PRESIDENT diary. pic.twitter.com/wL5lPqk1ht -- WitsFeesMustFall (@WitsFMF) October 26, 2015

Ripped pages from SRC president Shaeera Kalla's notebook mention an amount of R40 000. According to dissenters, this was a bribe from the African National Congress (ANC) to the ANC-aligned Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA), to bring the protest to a halt.

According to the PYA, the amount in question refers to funds that Wits ANCYL representative Yamkela Fanisi said in an unofficial meeting that he could try to obtain from the ANC in order to pay for food, as hundreds of students have been relying on sponsored breakfast, lunch and supper throughout the protest due to dining halls not being in operation. The PYA says all money that was received in donations was received through the bank accounts of Wits academics, as Wits was not allowing the SRC account to be operational.

Professor Joel Quirk confirmed to the Daily Vox that his private bank account was used to receive funds for the protesters, specifically to purchase food and drink. He denies however that any money was received from political parties. "We circulated a specific injunction against accepting funds from any political parties," he said. "We wanted to remain non-partisan."

2. PYA held a secret meeting with the ANC

The moment when non-PYA students disrupted a private PYA meeting on Sunday night is this morning being referred to as #ANCCapture. The people present at this meeting included the current and incoming SRC presidents, Shaeera Kalla and Nompendulo Mkatshwa, incoming SRC member Lesego Mokwena, Yamkela Fanisi who is the ANCYL Wits Chair, Benedict Ntlai who is secretary of YCL Wits, SASCO treasurer general General Banda, SASCO national president Ntuthuko Manthombothi, PYA member Thuthukile Zuma and others. Kalla said on video that the purpose of the meeting was to talk about why Wits had refused to meet with Zuma on Friday at the Union Buildings.

Similarly, other PYA members say the meeting was an organisational meeting involving members of the national PYA and the Wits branch to resolve internal organisational disputes.

Let's be clear: nobody denies that a meeting was held. But remember, there's a difference between a secret meeting and a closed meeting. -- Beyoncé Pad Thai* (@PearlPillay) October 26, 2015

The meeting was a closed meeting of the PYA. There. Is. Nothing. Wrong. With. That. -- Beyoncé Pad Thai* (@PearlPillay) October 26, 2015

However, non-PYA aligned students, allege that the meeting was proof that the ANC had conspired with its affiliates in the PYA at Wits to abandon the protest.

3. The ANC running political interference in the protest

There have been several accusations of interference by the ANC in the Wits student protest. In a voice recording that was anonymously sent to The Daily Vox, one student says that the PYA meeting was proof that the movement had been infiltrated by the upper echelons of the ANC. Let's not forget that the ANC, after initially ignoring the protest, has now hailed the PYA for providing leadership in a protest that was aligned with the ANC's values. But the PYA - which is an affiliation between the ANCYL, Young Communist League (YCL), Muslim Student Association (MSA) and SASCO - is, above all, an ANC-aligned organisation. Analyses that hail the protest as a deligimitisation of the ANC tend to miss this fact.

As political analyst Ebrahim Fakir says, "Many of the PYA leaders, leaders of this protest, are aligned in one or other way with the ANC. So this protest has been quite particular, quite specific in its demands but once it goes beyond this, once it become about other issues,it will splinter. The PYA will continue in this vein to be perceived as anti-ANC when it comes to issues like fees, admissions, transformation and the like but broaden it beyond those issues and the PYA is unlikely to budge because they are already aligned with the ANC."

It must however still be noted that while the majority of the PYA-aligned SRC were pushing for the university to reopen, Kalla, the current SRC president, was still pushing for the protests to continue. On this, even EFF-aligned students agree.

Shaeera wanted it to continue. But her voice was suppressed. I just want to clear her name & then stay out of this. https://t.co/Rh902e64QD -- TimeTraveller (@Anele_Nzimande) October 26, 2015

4. The ANC engineered the protest to make JZ look good

7. The script for #FeesMustFall was for students to protest on fee increases & the Pres to 'save' the day like he did on Friday #ANCCapture -- Simamkele Dlakavu (@simamkeleD) October 26, 2015

As far as conspiracy theories go, this one is a mind warp. It is however the most damning of all the accusations levelled against the PYA. According to some students at Wits, the entire protest had been orchestrated from the beginning by the bigwigs at Luthuli House to make President Zuma look like the good guy.

PYA member and former Wits SRC president Shafee Verachia told The Daily Vox that claims that the protest was an ANC plot from the beginning were a gross fabrication. "It's ridiculous. If you look at the mobilisation for the protest, none of these people were there, doing door-to-door at residences or gaining support when we needed it."

And while the SRC statement commits to further action on the long term goals of free education and ending the outsourcing of labour on campus, the fact that government's commitment to no-fee increases has been hailed a victory by the SRC shows that, for the PYA at least, this was never about challenging the legitimacy of the government. If anything, it was about young people within the ANC struggling to have their voice heard, and requiring the support of their political foes to lobby for change.

Disclosure: The Daily Vox reporter Aaisha Dadi Patel is a member of the Muslim Students Association at Wits.