How Should South Africa Respond to American Sanctions?

Posted on February 11, 2025 by Paul Schlehlein

–– Paul Schlehlein

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

In 1662, Jan van Riebeeck and the first Dutch settlers arrived at South Africa’s Table Mountain. By the 1830s the descendants of their Dutch forebears, called Afrikaners, had tired of British rule and friction with the Xhosa. With pastoral life becoming harder to achieve and the broad hinterland increasingly tempting, Louis Trichardt and the trekboers began the Great Trek inland in 1837.

Since then, the Afrikaner has waged many battles, played both vanquished and victor, imposed her fair share of prejudiced legislation, borne the loss of power, shifted from oppressor to oppressed, and resettled to Britain, New Zealand, Australia, and every corner of the globe. Yet, South Africa has remained her treasured habitation.

Just under 200 years separated the van Riebeeck landing and the first exodus. Now, another two centuries demarcate today from the first wagon wheels rolling north. The question arises: Is 2025 the year of another massive Afrikaner departure from their beloved South Africa?

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Does Systemic Racism Exist in Africa?

Posted on April 30, 2024 by Paul Schlehlein

–– Paul Schlehlein

Audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Dis-Chem, the second-largest retail pharmacy chain in South Africa, has faced significant criticism over the past two years over a leaked memo that prohibited any further hiring and promotion of white people. Is this an example of racism or systemic racism and what’s the difference?

Systemic racism refers to laws and policies in a society that discriminate against people based on their race. The Cambridge Dictionary defines systemic racism as “policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society…that result in and support a continued unfair advantage to some people and unfair or harmful treatment of others based on race.”

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A Foreign Politician Gives Hope to South Africa’s ANC

Posted on October 17, 2023 by Paul Schlehlein

–– Paul Schlehlein

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In September 2023, at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in Washington D.C, Congressman John James examined the current status of the United States/South Africa relationship. His speech shows that American officials are keenly aware of some of South Africa’s disastrous policies.

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TARIF: The Rotten Fruit from Affirmative Action

Posted on July 14, 2023 by Paul Schlehlein

The Africa Review in Five highlights African current affairs from a Christian perspective. Listen and subscribe through Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Today is Friday, July 14th, A.D. 2023. This is The Africa Review in Five, written by Paul Schlehlein and presented by Yamikani Katunga

The Rotten Fruit from Affirmative Action

This month marks the 20^th anniversary that the Maputo Protocol was adopted, a women-specific document urging affirmative action on behalf of females in Africa.

This document lists a number of women’s rights, including the right not to be discriminated against, which according to this document, means that “states are required to integrate a gender perspective in their policy decisions.”

Here we see again the evils of affirmative action at play, this time not in relation to race but to gender. This is not about equal opportunity. It is about forcing equality.

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