Hope is a great falsifier -- Baltasar Gracian

The long and the short of it

    Jan Lamprecht has taken the time to reply to questions posed in the Debate Forum about Africa.  Mr. Lamprecht is currently working on a book about the rise of Marxism in Africa.  He can be contacted as pbs@iafrica.com 

Responses to Readers on Africa

Hi L. 
You pose some excellent and thoughtful questions. Let me try to answer as best I can:

    [L writes:] I feel that a specific thread on the present state and future of South Africa and other neighboring countries may not be out of place here. There are several prophetic insights that suggest that South Africa will play a key role in future international conflicts. How exactly this will come to pass is not clear, at least to me. Our understanding of South African issues in the West is very biased and sketchy, I am afraid. Would anyone in this forum care to address some of the issues below: 

    1. How does the majority of the white population in South Africa view the present government of Mr Thabo Mbeki? Keep in mind that the white population is split between liberals and conservatives and so they can easily look at the same thing and interpret it differently.

    Answer. A while back, Mr. Gibson of the DA, the official opposition in parliament, stated that most whites believe that South African President Mbeki hates us.  This is true. Most whites have reservations about Mbeki. With regard to his government in general, we feel that the country is run by a bunch of incompetents. On this liberals and conservatives agree. Liberals feel that these people do not know how to run the country on capitalist principles and that they ignore well-meaning advice from whites. Conservatives feel that the ANC only pays lip service to capitalist principles and is hell-bent on implementing socialism.

    2. Do white South Africans feel betrayed by the U.S. and the E.U.? To what extent would they be willing to support the West in the event of a conflict against China and/or Russia? 

    There are levels of betrayal here. Rhodesians feel South Africa also betrayed Rhodesia in the hope that America would not betray South Africa. South Africans in their own turn feel that they were betrayed. The people who feel most betrayed are of course the conservatives, and it is these same people who support the U.S.A. more than anyone else in the fight against Russian and Chinese communism.

    Having said this, most conservatives have such a deep-seated hatred of communism that I don't think that they would let past bitterness prevent them from assisting the U.S.A. You people have no idea how much whites in Africa generally dislike Marxism and communism. Even the word "socialism" is not something we like at all. For most of us, the dislike of communism stems to a large degree from our belief in God. For most of us, our dislike of communism is extremely deeply seated. As for myself, I am an irreconcilable enemy of it. I believe the only good communist is a dead one. It's that simple.

    3. How does the black population of South Africa view Mr. Robert Mugabe? Do they see him as a hero whose actions ought to be emulated? 

    Initially the blacks were split. Mugabe's actions caught everyone by surprise. I was stunned, for example, when some Trade Unions in South Africa (who are traditionally communist), actually criticized Mugabe and rallied blacks against him. But then Mbeki and the ANC stepped in. They gave speeches to these Trade Unions and the blacks did a 180 degree turn. Suddenly they supported Mugabe because Mbeki told them that he was their old ally and friend, and that was it. The radical blacks welcomed Mugabe's moves. Mugabe himself went to Namibia to tell the blacks there to follow his example. In Kenya, socialist blacks loved it too. 

    The ANC tried to hide the fact, from the international community that they supported Mugabe. But the ANC continually said that something will have to be done about our land problem and it can't wait. 

    There is no doubt in my mind that Mugabe's moves, rather than being an aberation, are but the beginning of something new which the other blacks will follow, probably in a more subtle manner. But, it's part of a general strategy of driving the whites out.

    To put things in perspective, only 8 white farmers were killed in Zimbabwe in this past year. But in South Africa a farmer is murdered every 2nd day - a total of over 1,000 farmers have been murdered in politically motivated killings in the past 9 years and so far it seems as if the rate of murders is increasing. It made the news here that a gang (probably sponsored by a political party) are offering to pay blacks a "bounty" of $250 to kill a white person. This came out a week or so ago and the government never even condemned it. Apparently a "training video" on how to kill farmers was found. I have not been able to get a copy of it - but I'm trying. In my new book I discuss the clandestine war being waged against us. There's a war but its undeclared.

    A professor who lectures on Revolutionary Warfare told me that part of the doctrine is to hide a war amidst crime so that you cannot tell which are politically motivated killings and which are just normal crime. A new book came out the other day which said that South Africa's murder rate is second only to places like Colombia and Russia. Many people here do not realize that we are under a clandestine attack.

    4. What are the chances that whites in So. Africa will have their property and assets seized by the government, as is happening in Zimbabwe? Do they feel threatened? How would they react? 

    Well some farms have already been marked for handing to the blacks. The farmers (like in Zim) are saying they are being paid well below the market rate for their property. They are fighting it in court tooth and nail. One farmer got his property back, but another lost half his land today. I do think that in the long run the Government can't pay for all this land and there will come a time in the future when they just seize it like in Zim. Many fear that and believe it will come. There have long been rumors among blacks, fueled by the ANC that there will come a time when they will take our houses and cars. Some weeks back, my mother spoke to a gardener who works for her. He claimed he heard it on the radio that the blacks will get our cars, houses, furniture, etc. They will just take what they want. 

    In my book I will make the case that the ANC, in its desperate efforts to combat its falling popularity among the blacks, will drive the country towards a race war. At every opportunity whites are being called racist and being attacked. I believe the charge of racism is among the key ingredients aimed at fomenting race hatred and driving the races apart in preparation for a general all-out attack on the whites in years to come. The ANC, like Mugabe will do this in order to remain in power. They will play the race card for every cent that its worth. It may surprise people, but its not the whites who can't handle a multiracial society, but the Marxists. The only way they will be able to stay in power is by pitting the blacks against the whites.

    5. Can we detect a clear resolve on the part of Mr. Mbeki's government to rid South Africa of whites in the near future? A friend is leaving South Africa with his family after living there for many years. He is a fellow Swiss who worked as a doctor. Though underpaid and overworked, he loves South Africa and would never leave if he didn't have to. After repeatedly applying for an extension of his work permit - and being systematically denied it - he regrets he will have to leave. He says he clearly understands he "is no longer wanted". On the other hand, we read that Cuban teachers are to arrive in South Africa in great numbers "to relieve shortages" in the country (BBC News). So apparently some foreigners are wanted while others clearly are not. 

    Firstly, I believe that Mbeki is slowly moving us towards getting rid of the whites. I think we should look at the time frame of five or so years. I think he wants to make it look spontaneous - he wants to motivate blacks to just generally kill whites. Your Swiss friend's story makes sense to me. The ANC does nothing to stop whites leaving. But I heard that whites from Zimbabwe were being refused entry here. Your friend, being white, is not wanted. The ANC wants and encourages: Cubans, Indians and Russians to come here. (Interestingly, Russians are actually quite a racist bunch. They're not here long and suddenly one hears them speaking out against the blacks. I find it quite humorous). There was also not a problem with whites from Eastern Europe.

    I have noticed an interesting trend among the black Marxists in Zimbabwe and here. They have no problem getting rid of local whites ("African whites") while encouraging whites from elsewhere to come here. They want liberal whites. They fear the local whites because we are so anti-communist and, because we've lived here all our lives we see through their trickery so much more quickly than foreigners. So I believe they want us OUT because we're standing in the way of their socialist plans for the blacks.

    6. I have another friend who has been living in Botswana for several years. He is German and he has mentioned that Botswana is surrounded by Marxist governments. He tells me he sees worrying signs that Botswana too may fall prey to a left-leaning government in the future. Is this likely to happen? 

    Botswana is the U.S.A.'s only true ally in the region. It is the only true pro-Western country here, and it is indeed surrounded by Marxists. Some whites have moved to Botswana. Many companies have relocated there to get away from the Marxists. But, from my viewpoint they were wasting their time because the ANC, Mugabe et. al. will try to meddle in Botswana's affairs. Botswana is pressured from time to time by its bigger and 
stronger neighbours. I also noted at times attempted uprisings against the government there which definitely seemed to have a Marxist origin. Botswana will go down one day. It will either be pressured to conform and go along with the Marxists or they will bring it down. In fact, Malawi, another small pro-Western country, fell like that. They sponsored pro-Western guerillas in Mozambique and some time later were overthrown by socialists.

    I'm trying to establish whether Mugabe and Mozambique were behind it. A chapter in my book is entitled "The Marxist Brotherhood." In it I basically make the case that these Marxists in Southern Africa are spreading their influence across Africa and they intend 
turning all of Africa into a Marxist hell-hole. They are working overtime at keeping corrupt Marxists in power and at toppling/influencing pro-Western countries. The Marxist Brotherhood has no interest in freedom, progress or prosperity. They are in it for power only and they are using all their resources to establish Marxism across the African continent. Mugabe has sent troops to Angola, Mozambique and the Congo to assist Marxists there. He has almost bankrupted his state in order to do this. The ANC cannot do it openly because too many people would notice. But that is where this thing is heading 
to, namely, the enslavement of all of Africa by black Marxists. And Africa is extremely wealthy. Africa is probably the richest continent on this planet.

    7. Is there a "grand design" on the part of Communism to gain control of the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa? If so, for what purpose? And how far have they succeeded in their strategy?

    I think it was Brezhnev who said that the Russians wanted to control the world's oil and the world's mineral storehouse. The mineral storehouse was specifically mentioned as being Southern Africa. Since most of the countries in this region are now under Marxist rule - sponsored either by Russia or China or both - I'd say that they've largely achieved their aim.

[Editor's note. Richard Nixon related in his book, The Real War, that Brezhnev's plan (as described by Mr. Lamprecht above) was testified to by the president of Somalia after Somalia broke with the Soviet Union.]

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