[Shadow_Group] Tutu warns of poverty 'powder keg' - South Africa

[shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca]

Tutu warns of poverty 'powder keg'  
 
Tutu says poverty is the biggest threat to South
African security 

FROM:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4035809.stm<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4035809.stm> 
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has warned that South Africa
is sitting on a "powder keg" because millions are
living in "dehumanising poverty". 
The Nobel Peace laureate said attempts to boost black
economic ownership were only benefiting an elite
minority. 

And he cautioned that political "kowtowing" within the
ruling ANC was hampering democracy. 

The archbishop was speaking at the Nelson Mandela
annual lecture in Johannesburg on Tuesday. 

We cannot glibly on full stomachs speak about handouts
to those who often go to bed hungry 

He attacked the black economic empowerment programme
for further enriching already wealthy blacks. 

"What is black empowerment when it seems to benefit
not the vast majority but an elite that tends to be
recycled?" he asked. 

He warned the system could be "building up much
resentment which we may rue later." 

"Gruelling, demeaning, dehumanising poverty"
experienced by millions of South Africans was the
biggest threat to the country's security, he said. 

"We are sitting on a powder keg." 


Security 

The archbishop criticised politicians for debating
whether to give the poor an income grant of $16 (£12)
a month and said the idea should be seriously
considered. 

"We cannot glibly on full stomachs speak about
handouts to those who often go to bed hungry," he
said. 

"It is cynical in the extreme to speak about handouts
when people can become very rich at the stroke of a
pen." 

He called on ordinary citizens to "adopt" a poor
family by giving them $16 to $32 a month or to pay
their school fees. 

While listing South Africa's successes since the end
of apartheid, he warned against a tendency towards
stifling political debate. 

"Truth cannot suffer by being examined or challenged,"
he said. 

"Unthinking, uncritical, kowtowing party line-toeing
is fatal to a vibrant democracy," the archbishop
added.




 



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