Sibusiso Nxumalo
When a small group of Zaireans marched through central Johannesburg this week _ protesting against the pending visit of their country’s leader, President Mobutu Sese Seko _ they showed they had adopted not just South Africa as a refuge but also its culture of protest.
Shouts of “amandla ngawethu” from the Zaireans greeted PWV premier Tokyo Sexwale, who came down to receive a memorandum on behalf of President Nelson Mandela. The crowd, supporters of the Zairean opposition party Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), sang anti-Mobutu slogans and carried banners imploring Mandela not to speak to the man they described as “the last African dictator”.
Sese Seko was due to arrive for the peace summit called by Mandela as part of a bid to end the Angolan civil war. UDPS representative in South Africa Jean-Louis Kalambaie said Mobutu could not be part of a solution in Angola while he was part of the problem in Zaire.
The UDPS memorandum charged Mobutu with retarding moves towards democracy in Zaire and involvement in the “genocide” perpetrated in Rwanda.
When he addressed the protestors, Sexwale met silence when he said it was not government policy to interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries. But the crowd cheered loudly when he added that the government could not stand aside when human rights were being trampled on.