Nelson Mandela, the historic leader of the African National Congress (ANC), and his political party are still black-listed by the American authorities.
During the apartheid era, the political party which now governs South Africa was considered a terrorist group.
A law to put an end to this situation, qualified as “embarrassing” by the US Secretary of State this Wednesday, Condoleeza Rice, will soon be effective.
On Wednesday, the US secretary of state said that although South Africa and the US now enjoy excellent relations, it is rather “embarrassing” that she still has to intervene personally to allow the US authorities permit her counterpart, the foreign minister of South Africa or even the “great leader, Nelson Mandela” into the United States.
Freedom of movement of members of African National Congress (ANC), now the South African Government, is still restricted on American soil. The ANC was considered a terrorist group in the United States during the Apartheid era.
Embarrassing and archaic.
The Secretary of State also strongly supported the Foreign Affairs commission of the Senate that introduced a bill last week, which aims to remove these restrictions.
The ANC and it’s leaders will be cleared from the US black-list as soon as the law is passed. No precise date has been given so far.
The State Department is expected to support this outdated law, some 16 years after the end of Apartheid, 15 years after Nelson Mandela received the Nobel Prize for Peace and and 14 years after heading the South Africa executive.
And who said America is the world’s most modern country ?