A former South African ANC government minister, Tokyo Sexwale, was reportedly detained at a U.S. airport because he was on a terrorism watch list, despite the fact that the ANC is no longer considered a terrorist group by the U.S. The African National Congress (ANC) was listed as a terrorist organization by South African Apartheid regime in the 1970’s, until 1990.
Sexwale, who was visiting the U.S. on business, spent years in prison on Robben Island with the likes of Nelson Mandela for his opposition to white minority rule. Despite the ban being lifted in the U.S. after the end of the apartheid, some names, including Nelson Mandela’s, remained on the terrorism watch list. Commenting on Sexwale’s experience, an unnamed former US diplomat said; “…It was difficult to get [ANC names] removed [from the U.S. terrorism watch list] because of various senatorial pressures. I was not aware there were still people whose names are specifically listed on such an index.”
A statement released from the ANC called the detainment an “affront on the rights and dignity of Comrade Tokyo Sexwale,” that “necessitates an unconditional apology to him and the people of South Africa from the US administration.”
The U.S. government has stated that Sexwale was only “stopped for further screening.” However a lawyer for Sexwale said that an immigration official present at the airport had “alleged he posed a threat to international security.”
The incident has sparked questions and fury from the ANC. Jackson Mthembu, the party’s national spokesman said that, “You could have other people fall afoul of this terrible law of the United States of America. It’s a wake-up call: we must take the matter up. We wouldn’t to see another leader of the ANC going through something like this.”