Anger over South Africa award to Burnham

by Rickey Singh, The Jamaica Observer

THE recent decision by the South Africa Government to confer on Guyana's late President Forbes Burnham its highest national honour designated for outstanding foreign citizens- — the Oliver Tambo Award (gold) — has drawn strong criticisms from two well-known Jamaican scholars and Pan-Africanists — Dr Rupert Lewis and Dr Horace Campbell.

Both have expressed shock and sadness in wondering aloud whether President Jacob Zuma's Administration had in effect posthumously rewarded the former Guyana head of state for the June 13, 1980 assassination of Walter Rodney, the internationally famous Guyanese historian and Pan-Africanist crusader for freedom and justice.

Is the ANC rewarding Forbes Burnham for the assassination of Walter Rodney?

by Horace Campbell, 21 April 2013

Walter Rodney was assassinated on June 13, 1980.

At the time of his assassination, Forbes Burnham was the President. Since the assassination, there have been numerous calls for an investigation into the circumstances of the killing. The brother of Walter Rodney, Donald Rodney, survived and told the world that the bomb that assassinated Walter Rodney was placed by Gregory Smith. Smith was an operative from the Guyanese Defense force and he was spirited out of the country to the colonial territory of Cayenne. He died there after more than twenty years. There has never been an inquiry into the assassination.