Newton Kanhema

Newton Kanhema is an award-winning journalist for the Sunday Independent newspaper in Johannesburg, South Africa. A citizen of Zimbabwe who had resided in South Africa since 1991, Kanhema was visiting the United States in 1997 when the South African government announced that it would bar him from returning there. In the following viewpoint, Kanhema argues that his expulsion was politically motivated because of his critical articles about South Africa’s government under President Nelson Mandela. His deportation is but one example of how the government is harassing journalists and in other ways violating political and civil rights—making it similar to other African governments whose leaders ignore human rights with impunity, he concludes.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. How have the views of African National Congress leaders...