However, it seems strange to exclude Prof Adam Habib on either basis when President Ahmadinejad was recently given entry and a platform to speak at Colombia University.

Perhaps the real reason is more complicated. Prof Adam Habib has been influential in moulding South Africa’s foreign policy and this might be why The US has decided to exclude him from their shores. Following this logic, the US might, in fact, be informing South Africa that it does not, like most of the western world, approve of its close links to Iran and Hamas. After all, Minister of Intelligence, Ronnie Kasrils has recently done his best to foster good relations with these regimes on visits both to Tehran and Gaza.

Pretoria has inevitably made enemies in Washington and, like it or not, Prof Adam Habib has paid the price. It might be that The US believes that Habib has indirectly used his position of prominence within South Africa to endorse or espouse terrorist activity, emanating from Iran and Hamas, and as a result should be excluded.

Of course it would be wrong to fall for The FXI’s argument that this issue is really all about freedom of expression. The FXI is, once again, following a narrow political agenda; it recently backed Prof Abib as a nominee for The SABC’s board and it is evident that The FXI implicitly supports Prof Habib’s foreign policy ideas.

Would The FXI come to my aid if I ever had an opportunity to apply for an Iranian visa in order to attend public meetings in Tehran criticizing Ahmadinejad’s foreign policy? Would The FXI take the matter up with Aziz Pahad? And if I ever actually gained accessed to such forums (non-existent!) in Iran, and inevitably ending up in a Tehran Jail, would Jane Duncan and Na’eem Jeenah of The FXI fight at the highest levels for my release ?