Tutu Calls for Wealth Tax for Whites

Cape Argus
Murray Williams
August 12, 2011.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has called for a “wealth tax” to be imposed on all white South Africans.

The former archbishop of Cape Town and former head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) also called on members of President Jacob Zuma’s cabinet to sell their “expensive cars”, “to show you care” about the poor in South Africa. 

Tutu said apartheid had left South Africans riddled with “self-hate”, and it was directly to blame for the country’s vicious crime rate and road carnage. 

He made the calls last night during a book launch at Stellenbosch University’s Institute for Advanced Study. The book, The Humanist Imperative in South Africa, contains 26 essays by leading academics and public figures and is edited by Professor John de Gruchy. 

As guest of honour, Tutu recounted the myriad ways apartheid had dehumanised South Africans.  “Apartheid damaged us all; not a single one of us has escaped.” 

In a break from his prepared speech, Tutu said a “wealth tax” had been suggested during the TRC process, and had enjoyed support at the time. 

Moments earlier, he had told the whites in the conference room: “You all benefited from apartheid. Your children went to fancy schools, you lived in posh suburbs.” 

He stressed, however, that this did not mean all whites had supported apartheid. 

Read the rest of the article here.

Comment: In my thinking this is just posturing of the delirious kind because such a tax will not stand up to constitutional scrutiny.

If the sellouts that sold our skins intended real change they would have sought greater restitution before they just handed the apartheid regime a get out of jail for free card.

But it did not roll that way.

What we got was not revolutionary change.  Rather it was a Frankenstein compromise with historical warts thrown in À la carte.

Onward!