South Africa P.I.G.: BEE

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South Africa Falling Into Decay

By <a href="http://sarahmaidofalbion.blogspot.com/search/label/Poetry.%20Mike%20Wilson">Mike Wilson</a> South Africa – the name conjures up visions of white colonialism, riches of diamonds and gold, beautiful cities, beautiful people, rich farmlands and technical innovation. A strong and vibrant country with a modern army and air force and an air of expectancy, handed down from Afrikaner father to son, that their land would be the greatest in the whole continent. <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6Gm7IzfqWos" width="640"></iframe> Well it does to me and this is what the country used to be like when I lived there 40 years ago. Johannesburg was a thriving metropolis of great buildings and the frenzied rush of people going about their affairs much like any other major city in the world. It was such a powerhouse of people, ideas and innovations and the strong Boer mentality over rode all. Today Johannesburg appears to be a run down shanty town with decrepit buildings, boarded up windows, filthy garbage riddled streets and squalor everywhere. What happened?   <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LW6lOdxqSUE" width="640"></iframe> The infamous pass laws were rescinded in the early 90’s and the black man took over the country. This utopia, this land of riches, this gemstone in the crown of the continent is now like so many other African nations, a struggling mix of different tribes coming to terms with life in the 21st century. Unfortunately for these black Africans, they have not been able to rise above tribal culture and are cursed with a background that has not reached the stage which would enable them to mentally grasp all the requirements that are needed to administer a complex and busy country. From being the underdog to being the dominant force today has created major schisms within the overall South African society. There is an ongoing payback mentality that encourages blacks to take from the whites in many different ways. In one way the houses of white people are regularly burgled and effects stolen. This is not done covertly and gangs of blacks regularly threaten households. In another way there is what is now called ‘Black Empowerment’ or BEE where blacks are given preference over whites for available jobs. This stupid practice gives the unskilled African peasant direct involvement in manning the infrastructure support that runs the country. As a consequence the major power supply company Eskom is unable to maintain its equipment as most of the trained skilled white staff are no longer employed. This has caused frequent power supply problems so that they had to rely on power shedding or in other words maintaining power to select parts of their industry rather than all consumers who need it. The current youth leader of the ANC, Julius Malema, keeps telling his followers to kill the Boer, one man one bullet. He has recently been found guilty of inciting racial hatred and fined 50,000 Rand for his troubles. Not that this has changed his tactic one iota and on a recent trip to Zimbabwe he went out of his way to repeat the phrase to all who would listen. Over 3,000 white farmers have been murdered since the ANC took over in a deliberate government policy to get whites to give up their land. From being a rich farming country under white rule South Africa now faces the prospect of importing food to feed the masses. Many whites claim that there is now a policy of genocide levelled against Boer farmers as a result of the ANC policy to grab land. This is the same process that started in Zimbabwe and will have the same result. On a recent trip to Zimbabwe there were talks between Mugabe and Malema on how to take over the remaining land still in the hands of white minorities. Now there is also talk of the mining industry which made SA very rich, being nationalised for the benefit of the black politicians. Law and order is a thing of the past now. There is no law of protection for whites and no laws for the blacks to abide by. Even Jacob Zuma the current leader of the ANC had a number of rape and corruption charges levelled against him by the then law and order anti- corruption team called the Scorpions. The ANC had an easy answer to all this, they simply disbanded the unit and the charges were dropped! In fact many of the black policemen supposedly upholding what little law and order is left, are themselves involved in burglarising, raping and armed robberies. The number of deaths of whites has been unrecorded although the litany of deaths occurs on a daily basis. Many people felt that with the advent of black rule and empowerment blacks and whites would be able to sit together and maintain a strong and prosperous country that would continue to be the envy of Sub Saharan Africa. Today the situation is so bad that the country is becoming another Zimbabwe and whites are powerless to stop it but can only look on in horror as their once great country crumbles about them. Due to the political process of giving to the black at the expense of the white there are now 450,000 white people living below the poverty line in shanty towns around the country. The majority of these people are from Afrikaans backgrounds who would normally be the underclass looking after fairly menial jobs, railway workers, cleaners etc. Since those jobs are now taken by blacks these unfortunate men, women and children have no recourse but to become part of the homeless generation, forgotten by more affluent whites as well as the black government. Even some soup kitchens that were set up by well minded individuals have been closed by bureaucrats who say that the whites must fend for themselves. It’s only the help from other whites that keeps these unfortunate people with some form of subsistence. White liberalism is to blame for the problems affecting South Africa and the fall of the white Governments pre 1994. The world saw a country with blacks being oppressed and demanded change for the betterment of the black population. Just like Rhodesia several years earlier. Today, who has benefited from these changes? Certainly not the blacks as the majority of them are now far worse off than ever they were under white rule. Again, the classic example is Zimbabwe under the megalomaniac Mugabe who has robbed his country blind whilst 98% of his followers still live in shantytowns without the benefits of modern civilisation and in abject poverty. Every one of the ruling politicians in South Africa lives a life of wealth and privilege, with the latest cars, biggest houses in the best suburbs etc., yet their followers are very much worse off than they were when the whites ruled the country. Apart from the trashing of cities which have become sleazy rubbish dumps the hospital services are almost non existent. It’s hard to accept that the country that pioneered the first heart transplant under Dr. Christian Barnard has now a run down medical service which once used to be the envy of the world. Everything about the country today smacks of total incompetence with inmates running the asylum for the rest of the inmates who just have no idea what is going on. <a href="http://elliotlakenews.wordpress.com/2010/04/18/eugene-terreblanche-last-interview/">The murder of Eugene Terreblanche</a> may be just the last nail in the coffin of apathy that has affected the white liberals in this broken country. Indeed, apathy is probably the correct word to describe how the rest of the world views this former nation. It just seems that the power brokers amongst civilised nations are just sitting on the sidelines waiting for the continent to implode before they go back in perhaps 40 years time or so, and pick up the pieces once more. Although by that time the Chinese will have probably got in first and blacks will have a far stronger, stricter and nastier overseer than the whites ever were.

South Africa Falling Into Decay

By Mike Wilson S outh Africa – the name conjures up visions of white colonialism, riches of diamonds and gold, beautiful cities, beautiful...

8:05 AM

Only a matter of time before the bomb explodes

by Moeletsi Mbeki: Author, political commentator. <div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKglNi_iw3snTREMVqrRhKch1fxCkDDqseIXlTnX56gzhhiO_PiVr0GfEvDFAZRg3IoFIt7FZNBT-r77uYgftKe58_i_pBLBYNHVtUP_X9KlH95JuMsyqO3VnmpKPeUaJ54qaroMFiejFz/s1600/sa_burn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKglNi_iw3snTREMVqrRhKch1fxCkDDqseIXlTnX56gzhhiO_PiVr0GfEvDFAZRg3IoFIt7FZNBT-r77uYgftKe58_i_pBLBYNHVtUP_X9KlH95JuMsyqO3VnmpKPeUaJ54qaroMFiejFz/s320/sa_burn.jpg" width="320" /></a>I can predict when SA’s "Tunisia Day" will arrive. Tunisia Day is when the masses rise against the powers that be, as happened recently in Tunisia. The year will be 2020, give or take a couple of years. The year 2020 is when China estimates that its current minerals-intensive industrialisation phase will be concluded. </div> <div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">For SA, this will mean the African National Congress (ANC) government will have to cut back on social grants, which it uses to placate the black poor and to get their votes. China’s current industrialisation phase has forced up the prices of SA’s minerals, which has enabled the government to finance social welfare programmes. </div> <div></div>The ANC inherited a flawed, complex society it barely understood; its tinkerings with it are turning it into an explosive cocktail. The ANC leaders are like a group of children playing with a hand grenade. One day one of them will figure out how to pull out the pin and everyone will be killed. <div></div>A famous African liberation movement, the National Liberation Front of Algeria, after tinkering for 30 years, pulled the grenade pin by cancelling an election in 1991 that was won by the opposition Islamic Salvation Front. In the civil war that ensued, 200000 people were killed. <div></div>The former British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, once commented that whoever thought that the ANC could rule SA was living in Cloud Cuckoo Land. Why was Thatcher right? In the 16 years of ANC rule, all the symptoms of a government out of its depth have grown worse. <div></div><ul><li>Life expectancy has declined from 65 years to 53 years since the ANC came to power; </li><li>In 2007, SA became a net food importer for the first time in its history; </li><li>The elimination of agricultural subsidies by the government led to the loss of 600000 farm workers’ jobs and the eviction from the commercial farming sector of about 2,4-million people between 1997 and 2007; and </li><li>The ANC stopped controlling the borders, leading to a flood of poor people into SA, which has led to conflicts between SA’s poor and foreign African migrants.</li></ul> <div></div>What should the ANC have done, or be doing? <div></div>The answer is quite straightforward. When they took control of the government in 1994, ANC leaders should have: identified what SA’s strengths were; identified what SA’s weaknesses were; and decided how to use the strengths to minimise and/or rectify the weaknesses. <div></div>A wise government would have persuaded the skilled white and Indian population to devote some of their time — even an hour a week — to train the black and coloured population to raise their skill levels. <div></div>What the ANC did instead when it came to power was to identify what its leaders and supporters wanted. It then used SA’s strengths to satisfy the short-term consumption demands of its supporters. In essence, this is what is called black economic empowerment (BEE). <div></div>BEE promotes a number of extremely negative socioeconomic trends in our country. It promotes a class of politicians dependent on big business and therefore promotes big business’s interests in the upper echelons of government. Second, BEE promotes an anti-entrepreneurial culture among the black middle class by legitimising an environment of entitlement. Third, affirmative action, a subset of BEE, promotes incompetence and corruption in the public sector by using ruling party allegiance and connections as the criteria for entry and promotion in the public service, instead of having tough public service entry examinations. <div></div>Let’s see where BEE, as we know it today, actually comes from. I first came across the concept of BEE from a company, which no longer exists, called Sankor. Sankor was the industrial division of Sanlam and it invented the concept of BEE. <div></div>The first purpose of BEE was to create a buffer group among the black political class that would become an ally of big business in SA. This buffer group would use its newfound power as controllers of the government to protect the assets of big business. <div></div>The buffer group would also protect the modus operandi of big business and thereby maintain the status quo in which South African business operates. That was the design of the big conglomerates. <div></div>Sanlam was soon followed by Anglo American. Sanlam established BEE vehicle Nail; Anglo established Real Africa, Johnnic and so forth. The conglomerates took their marginal assets, and gave them to politically influential black people, with the purpose, in my view, not to transform the economy but to create a black political class that is in alliance with the conglomerates and therefore wants to maintain the status quo of our economy and the way in which it operates. <div></div>But what is wrong with protecting SA’s conglomerates? <div></div>Well, there are many things wrong with how conglomerates operate and how they have structured our economy. <div></div><ul><li>The economy has a strong built-in dependence on cheap labour; </li><li>It has a strong built-in dependence on the exploitation of primary resources; </li><li>It is strongly unfavourable to the development of skills in our general population; </li><li>It has a strong bias towards importing technology and economic solutions; and </li><li>It promotes inequality between citizens by creating a large, marginalised underclass. </li><li>Conglomerates are a vehicle, not for creating development in SA but for exploiting natural resources without creating in-depth, inclusive social and economic development, which is what SA needs. That is what is wrong with protecting conglomerates. </li></ul> <div></div>The second problem with the formula of BEE is that it does not create entrepreneurs. You are taking political leaders and politically connected people and giving them assets which, in the first instance, they don’t know how to manage. So you are not adding value. You are faced with the threat of undermining value by taking assets from people who were managing them and giving them to people who cannot manage them. BEE thus creates a class of idle rich ANC politicos. <div></div>My quarrel with BEE is that what the conglomerates are doing is developing a new culture in SA — not a culture of entrepreneurship, but an entitlement culture, whereby black people who want to go into business think that they should acquire assets free, and that somebody is there to make them rich, rather than that they should build enterprises from the ground. <div></div>But we cannot build black companies if what black entrepreneurs look forward to is the distribution of already existing assets from the conglomerates in return for becoming lobbyists for the conglomerates. <div></div>The third worrying trend is that the ANC-controlled state has now internalised the BEE model. We are now seeing the state trying to implement the same model that the conglomerates developed. <div></div>What is the state distributing? It is distributing jobs to party faithful and social welfare to the poor. This is a recipe for incompetence and corruption, both of which are endemic in SA. This is what explains the service delivery upheavals that are becoming a normal part of our environment. <div></div>So what is the correct road SA should be travelling? <div></div>We all accept that a socialist model, along the lines of the Soviet Union, is not workable for SA today. The creation of a state-owned economy is not a formula that is an option for SA or for many parts of the world. Therefore, if we want to develop SA instead of shuffling pre-existing wealth, we have to create new entrepreneurs, and we need to support existing entrepreneurs to diversify into new economic sectors. <div></div> <div></div>

Only a matter of time before the bomb explodes

by Moeletsi Mbeki: Author, political commentator. I can predict when SA’s "Tunisia Day" will arrive. Tunisia Day is when the mas...

9:27 AM

'Why I left South Africa'

There are views for and against SA as it stands now. Here is my 50 cents on the state of affairs. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjlnPT7vu_DScC03C57c09ae9za99JdWJkQGpWueYtE8jpnPrsTbGipl5I7UQR54nPs6Qlp20mX0eBC4YLuBO9Bcz8kXJ0bfHwUPryWTVpOrY7WsUc30hNhW8AEUZ4NiCQqGry1JKfgOZ9/s1600/EXPATS.gif"></a>Pros: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1xh144ieKf8YksdhWUrRjzj0L-eFMXhODscwHjus5wVvLzQrYOyQmprGSCQH5T-TbNNXa3XrRWuediyvU0ZRKZY5qTzHVKTnlgjHICKpOheA5kCXTq_7HTXarul9QMpK9BnuedLnEU2dJ/s1600/EXPATS.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550750283061566210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1xh144ieKf8YksdhWUrRjzj0L-eFMXhODscwHjus5wVvLzQrYOyQmprGSCQH5T-TbNNXa3XrRWuediyvU0ZRKZY5qTzHVKTnlgjHICKpOheA5kCXTq_7HTXarul9QMpK9BnuedLnEU2dJ/s400/EXPATS.gif" style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 250px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 170px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>1. Weather is generally great all over SA. 2. Freedom of Movement. 3. Great outdoors. 4. Big 5. 5. Huge opportunities. 6. Infectious SA humour and camaraderie. There are many more, and to each person they hold a different weighing of importance. Just so that you all know, I left SA, for these reasons... Cons: 1. Crime. Why is there a massive disparity between the police stats and the SAMA stats? Even so, the level of violence that goes with a house breaking etc. is off the scale, and don’t let them bull dust you, it is getting worse. (I have friends who own security companies, and their stats are all going up rapidly; why are the cops going down?) 2. Water. Why was the report by Dr Anthony Turton blocked by the CSIR? We have acid mine drainage and Government just set up a task team to “look into the matter” time has gone for this, action is required. 3. Sewerage. Government refused to release a report on the state of sewage, saying that it would cause panic amongst people, who didn’t understand. Yeah right. You have to love this minister, who says you only have a crisis when there is a country-wide outbreak of cholera. Just look to Haiti to see how well that idea worked! Read the <a href="http://www.dwaf.gov.za/Documents/GreenDropReport.pdf%20">report here</a>. 4. Corruption. There is almost zero appetite for tackling corruption. People get “redeployed” rather than fired and jailed. 5. Education. The highest per capita allocation in the world, and the results are dismal. I say no more. 6. Economy and social grants. People in SA need grants, that’s a fact, but you cannot have 4.5 million tax payers feeding 14 million (and counting) people. At some point, you have to give less to be able to give more. The tax base in SA is too small for all these election promises, SA has to become more prudent. 7. BEE. The idea was noble, the execution a disaster. For a white guy to get a shot at goals in SA he has to start a company. Once successful, he has to take on a BEE partner to get business, and the inevitable “SA handshake” Note, not all do business like this, but I have been around enough businesses to know this is de rigueur. 8. SARS at roadblocks. I have queried this with about 40-odd people who live in other countries, and they don’t know of any in those countries that have dedicated people from SARS/IRS etc at a roadblock. This tells me the fiscus is desperate for money. 9. Land reform. Why not use a partnership model? Who does Government expect someone to walk onto a farm and suddenly know how to run it profitably? The distribution plan is noble, and again, terribly executed. 10. Infrastructure. Not enough money to fix the roads. And oh yes, we pay taxes on our licenses, and then again on petrol, why then do we pay AGAIN for toll roads? Where is the money going to? 11. Plastic bags tax. Where is all that money people? 12. Quasi-militant unions. Utterances like, “we will make the country ungovernable” and “they will be war”, “we cannot guarantee we can control our members” wake up! This is a low-grade war. Since when do soldiers storm the Union Buildings? That is high treason people. We cannot afford to pay more for civil servants but they hold a gun to our head. Why do these people loot and trash the streets, cars and shops? Basal thuggery, endorsed by their handlers. There are many more points I can raise, but stand back a little and look at all the pieces of this jigsaw puzzle and SEE what your eyes and ears are telling your brain. It has been declining slowly for years. Forget the NP or the ANC. Who is running it matters not, how they are running it matters. Unless the so-called great unwashed realise they are getting a raw deal every 5 years, it will keep getting worse. I am grateful to my Father in heaven for the chance to leave. I will not throw stones when asked by people about my former country, but I will be candid about the facts. It is indeed, Cry The Beloved Country. I sleep now with open windows; don’t worry about the guy selling a paper at the traffic light (robot) or the lights behind me on the way home. SA citizens, you are going to have to stand up and demand accountability. Call me what you wish, but I am happier now than I have been in 20 years. My children have a genuine shot at goals. To those who choose to remain and those who cannot leave, I salute you.

'Why I left South Africa'

There are views for and against SA as it stands now. Here is my 50 cents on the state of affairs. Pros: 1. Weather is generally great all ov...

7:23 PM

Self-delusion and denialism within SA’s ruling and BEE classes

It is dawning on South Africa that there are two very separate and distinct mindsets at work in the country, and it seems never the twain will meet. Newspaper columns and letter pages, as well as talk shows and phone-ins, are replete with what “should be done” and ”why is this not done?” and the now over-used word “unbelievable”, from citizens aghast at the unfathomable behaviour of the ruling classes. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtWSiqc_Vkja2A8XUCS2__cSyJQoNlzG4TZ8n5H_QwdoVPCEAEIwfRrPcsNMVBD3hYxyt3Y33oVsTNOodr_4gpegsFSIaOLZz2ppRJ4jrEg1x-23Pzth8C8gVv5Q1HGLZYy54CF-uQ48xw/s1600/incompetence01.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5538844529326576226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtWSiqc_Vkja2A8XUCS2__cSyJQoNlzG4TZ8n5H_QwdoVPCEAEIwfRrPcsNMVBD3hYxyt3Y33oVsTNOodr_4gpegsFSIaOLZz2ppRJ4jrEg1x-23Pzth8C8gVv5Q1HGLZYy54CF-uQ48xw/s400/incompetence01.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 115px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 115px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>The logic of one mindset is not the logic of the other. Who would think that after the abysmal failure of the South African land redistribution programme, the government would continue with it, albeit under different guises? Who would believe that after wantonly destroying Zimbabwe and rendering his people to grinding penury, the South African government would ask the United Nations to lift sanctions against Zimbabwe’s president, a perpetrator of human rights atrocities? Who can fathom a government that month after month - indeed year after year - places advertisements for desperately-needed municipal staff, stipulating that they are “equal opportunity employers”, meaning skilled whites need not apply? <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVvENGzy20c2PemX-p2ZqdK3nqdQqfzecIac-ndgjZhHnQ8z3010hSXQk9NHJwOOBiISFKr4gI5kUMI2yVNvS1ZacLCyfBXJEBauoZ9OmithsM9TF7JVj2W8H_SwLZyUavuSGT5pLt3ht6/s1600/incompetence02.jpg"></a>How is it that despite embarrassing service delivery failures, the wholesale plunder of taxpayers’ money by tenderpreneurs and government employees, the nepotism, the lowering of standards in health and education, the failing feeding schemes and the abuse of the social welfare system, the miscreants simply carry on as if nothing happened. There is no shame, no sense of accountability to those who pay them and indeed to South Africa as a nation. Indeed, when many are fired for incompetence, mismanagement or fraud, or all three, they go to court to demand huge payouts that they believe are their due! Denialism is at work here, and this brings us to an interesting explanation of this phenomenon now doing the Wikipedia rounds: the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect">Dunning-Kruger effect</a>. THE D K EFFECT <img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5538849613055124050" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9wqjPYscBsBra90QiVogpW9sfqYkB_fWGdiJwwSC8kIyocCdBA7Vkux54JWEqxIaTRrqShEf-bY8Fyw1NX0sUmv2KFtHQ8Kl5_4V-XX5RQHR-bcr_sasc5VC7u1rpoudR1ms9REwtZp8e/s400/dunning-krugereffectwikipedia.png" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 372px; CURSOR: hand" /> The Dunning-Kruger effect is the phenomenon wherein people who have little knowledge (or skill) tend to think they know more (or have more skill) than they do. Wikipedia reports that Justin Kruger and David Dunning of the USA’s Cornell University first performed a series of experiments in 1999 which suggested that ignorance of standards of performance is behind a great deal of incompetence. One of their 2000 reports was entitled “<a href="http://www.damninteresting.com/unskilled-and-unaware-of-it">Unskilled and Unaware of it</a> : How difficulties in recognizing one’s own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments”. They say that, <ul><li>Incompetent individuals tend to overestimate their own level of skill. </li><li>Incompetent individuals fail to recognize genuine skill in others. </li><li>Incompetent individuals fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy. </li></ul>They conclude that poor performers do not learn from feedback that suggests a need to improve. Wikipedia gives numerous examples of others who have completed works in this field, including Bertrand Russell’s “The Triumph of Stupidity” (1933) and other more current academic writings about “the absence of self-insight among the incompetent” (Ehrlinger) and “among the inept, researchers discover ignorance is bliss” (Goode). Many of these findings have been widely published in the US national media, including the New York Times. <img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5538845405602465522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqLB5AJySz4kDsvK9X4AjDd8AfFbWT557IAZfRHRWJ7UDVOFIIAqjMnbB5KnsWZCor3vLn55pLHgFopeNb9RVDCQBW3OkcYB4qJLfv0bEnKwXHrvPmHbx9w-I6Un62puI56KQsz9Y9wkkH/s400/incompetence02.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" />These syndromes of denialism and self-delusion are pervasive within SA’s ruling and BEE classes. People blithely take on a job that everyone knows they cannot do, but which they themselves don’t seem to realize they cannot do! We see this in the land redistribution policy where beneficiaries agree to run productive farms when they know they are incapable of doing so. They then blame the government, or mentors, or each other. We see someone in an expensive suit perched on the corner of an expensive desk being photographed as the new CEO, or the incoming “human resources manager”, or the new chairman of an organization. In many cases, this person is a token, it is well known that he is a token, but the subject himself seems to think he’s entitled to be there! Self-delusion and denialism are not new in South Africa. A report in the magazine YOU of 12 October 1995 revealed the degradation of small towns that had once thrived in the erstwhile Transkei. After the ANC took over in 1994, the decay set in and the town of Butterworth, for example, was described as “a wreck, with littered garbage in the streets and potholed roads. The century old town hall is neglected and the parks are overrun with weeds and rubbish.” Corruption, bad management and political infighting had taken their toll, said the article. Municipal management was “abysmal” and a debt of R50 million had already accrued. Nobody was paying for municipal services. Shortly after he arrived, the town clerk gave himself a salary raise R126,000 a year - from R20 000. (This pattern of deterioration repeated itself all over the old Transkei, and has been replayed all over South Africa since then). SHAME AND APOLOGIES? Was there any public acknowledgement by the ANC that it was not on top of the job, any requests for help, any promises to mend its corrupt ways? <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifyGyzTrCOnhop7mcZuZLQiFMU4Ljd9pxQhjqzq6IZ-nlZuHrrdEw4BwZ2Y3FbtCLJ14EEb9f_yqQtGFu_y4BG0U5wuK38an8s-LZtZxylZcVMY2qTPU1NwmtZBpTBXkkvuP8G4W9Z0yQh/s1600/denial-eyes-pants.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5538846866618249186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifyGyzTrCOnhop7mcZuZLQiFMU4Ljd9pxQhjqzq6IZ-nlZuHrrdEw4BwZ2Y3FbtCLJ14EEb9f_yqQtGFu_y4BG0U5wuK38an8s-LZtZxylZcVMY2qTPU1NwmtZBpTBXkkvuP8G4W9Z0yQh/s400/denial-eyes-pants.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 256px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>On the contrary, denialism was the aggrieved reaction. Then President Nelson Mandela declared there was “no crisis” in the Eastern Cape. After a two-hour meeting with officials on 10 September 1995, Mandela declared there was “no crisis” and that in fact the problems of civil servants “were not discussed”, nor was a report to the parliamentary finance committee on the situation in the former Transkei. Provincial premier Raymond Mhlaba was “totally trustworthy”, declared Mandela - “Mahlaba had been involved in the struggle for more than 40 years”. So that was that! Problems in the Transkei were due to “untrained staff”, said another provincial report, despite evidence that there was wholesale theft of funds. (How do you train someone not to steal?) This was the mindset then, and this is the mindset now! (Interestingly, the Eastern Cape from where the ANC’s chosen emanates, is the most decrepit, corrupt and incompetent province in the country. They even steal from their own children – from the budget to feed 1,42 million E.Cape children, the government department involved cannot account for more than R180 million of this budget!) Even the most accommodating liberal supporter of the ANC’s South Africa has turned, and they have turned with a vengeance. Noseweek’s editor says SA’s leadership is “corrupt and delusional and irrational”. Others say the government is “out of touch” and a “bunch of mental midgets”. CABINET RESHUFFLE President Jacob Zuma’s recent cabinet reshuffle was simply a ploy to enhance his chances of being re-elected in 2012 by removing political antagonists and replacing them with acolytes. (Citizen editorial 2.11.10) His administration has now been further bloated by extra appointments, and really incompetent persons such as Lulu Xingwana have remained as they are loyalists. Zuma is simply re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic! The implications of this denialism are far-reaching. Erstwhile honest taxpayers are now finding ways to avoid paying tax for more wives, more overseas trips, higher salaries, larger luxury vehicles and summits at Sun City! Our farmers are under siege, farmland is being destroyed by coal mining because top-level ANC friends have shares in coal companies, BEE has resulted in nothing more than the self-enrichment of a few, our health services will be destroyed by delusional dreams of a national health service underpinned by a shrinking tax base, threats to nationalize mining are taken seriously by investors, school and university certificates are in many cases not worth the paper they’re written on, farmers are accused of shooting labour inspectors without a shred of evidence, our water is polluted, our police force is corrupt and untrustworthy, our defence force a shadow of its former self, but the denialism is so entrenched that no advice is taken by government to alleviate the problems, and none is sought.. On the contrary, those who speak up are racists who don’t want to see blacks succeed! If present-day South Africa is an ANC success, then their failures are too terrible to contemplate!Source:- <a href="http://www.tlu.co.za/">http://www.tlu.co.za/</a>

Self-delusion and denialism within SA’s ruling and BEE classes

It is dawning on South Africa that there are two very separate and distinct mindsets at work in the country, and it seems never the twain wi...

2:20 PM

SA's financial burden

by Ray Over the past few months the South African public has been informed of several additional financial and psychological burdens. We have the SABC, SAA, Water and sewage looming crisis, Eskom, Toll roads, NHI, to name a few. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitl3eYbY8of4t500uyZzI7uVlEueyXLXWZrdykYpCnfGNCzJIZGKyheTrSGNzd6Y5b4KHSXkZG5mHyfyn2_rigzGvBAlDExKTqDnE7u834MkNqWw_ASnUcz2YUV2pW-fMI2TiuGjezg5d2/s1600/zuma-dummie.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533975326183465426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitl3eYbY8of4t500uyZzI7uVlEueyXLXWZrdykYpCnfGNCzJIZGKyheTrSGNzd6Y5b4KHSXkZG5mHyfyn2_rigzGvBAlDExKTqDnE7u834MkNqWw_ASnUcz2YUV2pW-fMI2TiuGjezg5d2/s400/zuma-dummie.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 294px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>Please don't get me wrong. I love this country and think we have so much potential. My only two issues are that the people in power making decisions are not held responsible or accountable, and the general public is too apathetic. Let’s use the road death toll as an example as it can be applied to all the other failing areas. We appoint people into positions that generally fall into one or more of the following categories - no ability for the position, no work ethic, not sufficient management, not sufficient training, nepotism, political affiliations, skin colour, no experience or no moral fibre. The above may be a generalisation but they destroy the work of the few individuals that really try and make a difference in the average South African’s life. To those dedicated individuals we owe much because they carry the rest. Let’s apply the above to the example: where is visible policing on the roads every day, the ministers getting the TV crews there every so often to boost their image. Fines are seen as revenue and that appears to be the focus. Laws are not enforced - taxis, emergency lane driving, not using indicators, u-turns on highways, talking on cellphones and so on. The traffic officers standards are lower than a few years ago (thank goodness for Outsurance pointsmen). They openly ask for bribes, the anti-corruption call centre number just rings, how many officers get punished, and no a slap on the wrist doesn't count. The standards of driving schools are shocking, learners can buy licences for cash or sex, often the driving school is the broker. To get fines squashed pay the officer a portion of the fine. The booking call centres don't work. You can get the learners tests from the driving schools. Financial mismanagement is a given for government departments, but hey let’s throw some more money at them next year. Heads of department that aren't qualified for positions, managers that can focus on urgent things (and no functions and parties don't count), why don't we increase standards instead of lowering them. This decay hasn't just happened and it’s all over our beloved country, if we want the country to move forward, create wealth and prosperity for all then let’s put the right people in the right jobs, regardless of family relations, skin colour or political affiliations. At what point does the political rhetoric and self enrichment stop, so that the average citizen can be put first. While there appears to be no political will to rectify the situation (lip service does not count), a fish always rots from the head. When you enter public office you make the choice to serve South Africans, there is never any justification to steal, accept bribes etc. Ordinary South African citizens should start focusing on what’s important for our well being and that of future generations, actively take part to make South Africa great. You owe it to your children and other fellow South Africans. At what point does the financial and psychological burden become too great for the average South African and they stop seeing advantages in our country and look elsewhere?

SA's financial burden

by Ray Over the past few months the South African public has been informed of several additional financial and psychological burdens. We ha...

2:47 PM

'Dear Government'

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiixztUxfVNE4OL180rVcmKzdK51yJqtaYxB_-rB6bHfWcQkPTyJpUIISzozXgy5mKGxLUIXauOgb-WfyXme2ozyumG8f53RQHmYWFcyOmZWC0RQKNeXvGQ33IFveTwfzJ0-BC3rXcLn5Z1/s1600/garethcliff01.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531739878972046594" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiixztUxfVNE4OL180rVcmKzdK51yJqtaYxB_-rB6bHfWcQkPTyJpUIISzozXgy5mKGxLUIXauOgb-WfyXme2ozyumG8f53RQHmYWFcyOmZWC0RQKNeXvGQ33IFveTwfzJ0-BC3rXcLn5Z1/s400/garethcliff01.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 252px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>Radio jock <a href="http://www.garethcliff.com/chronicles.php?articleid=791" target="_blank" title="Read entire letter on this link">Gareth Cliff's "Dear Government"</a> letter may have been criticised this week, but the Idols judge has done what many ordinary citizens – and journalists – have been unable to do. Not only did he get a prompt response from the Presidency to his letter but he also secured a meeting with President Jacob Zuma at the Union Buildings on Tuesday. Now his scathing attack on the government has spawned more public letters to Zuma, including one from University of the Free State head Jonathan Jansen, as well as a website, <a href="http://www.deargovernment.co.za/">http://www.deargovernment.co.za/</a> <div style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" class="arcticle_text" align="left"></div><div style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" class="arcticle_text" align="left"></div><div style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" align="left"></div><div align="left"><a href="http://www.garethcliff.com/chronicles.php?articleid=791">Dear Government</a> OK, I get it, the President isn't the only one in charge. The ANC believes in "collective responsibility" (So that nobody has to get blamed when things get screwed up), so I address this to everyone in government - the whole lot of you - good, bad and ugly (That's you, Blade).</div><div align="left"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWobuvyWQNw5r47wnMWVHzHSa-kFqyeaaisDOcih9UeyTWRhXIcHc-Ftvb0wccu39hmncUfUTNqG4ZCoBolAY8OSt4gasenqJgelbMpZmIwJ4yYulB2vTleGVDPmxK3ECbJJ7bIaulTSBV/s1600/garethcliff01.jpg"></a>We were all so pleased with your renewed promises to deliver services (we'll forgive the fact that in some places people are worse off than in 1994); to root out corruption (so far your record is worse than under Mbeki, Mandela or the Apartheid regime - what with family members becoming overnight millionaires); and build infrastructure (State tenders going disgustingly awry and pretty stadia standing empty notwithstanding) - and with the good job you did when FIFA were telling you what to do for a few months this year. Give yourselves half a pat on the back. Since President Sepp went off with his billions I'm afraid we have less to be proud of - Public Servants Strikes, more Presidential bastard children, increasing unemployment and a lack of leadership that allowed the Unions to make the elected government it's bitch. You should be more than a little worried - but you're not. Hence my letter. Here are some things that might have passed you by: 1. You have to stop corruption. Don't stop it because rich people moan about it and because it makes poor people feel that you are self-enriching parasites of state resources, but because it is a disease that will kill us all. It's simple - there is only so much money left to be plundered. When that money runs out, the plunderers will raise taxes, chase and drain all the remaining cash out of the country and be left with nothing but the rotting remains of what could have been the greatest success story of post-colonial Africa. It's called corruption because it decomposes the fabric of society. When someone is found guilty of corruption, don't go near them - it's catchy. Making yourself rich at the country's expense is what colonialists do. 2. Stop complaining about the media. You're only complaining about them because they show you up for how little you really do or care. If you were trying really hard, and you didn't drive the most expensive car in the land, or have a nephew who suddenly went from modesty to ostentatious opulence, we'd have only positive things to report. Think of Jay Naidoo, Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi and Zwelinzima Vavi - they come under a lot of fire, but it's never embarrassing - always about their ideas, their positions, and is perfectly acceptable criticism for people in power to put up with. When the media go after Blade Nzimande, Siphiwe Nyanda and the President, they say we need a new piece of legislation to "make the media responsible". That's because they're being humiliated by the facts we uncover about them daily, not because there is an agenda in some newsroom. If there had been a free press during the reigns of Henry VIII, Idi Amin or Hitler, their regimes might just have been kept a little less destructive, and certainly would have been less brazen and unchecked. 3. Education is a disaster. We're the least literate and numerate country in Africa. Zimbabwe produces better school results and turns out smarter kids than we do. Our youth aren't usemployed, they're unemployable. Outcomes-based-education, Teachers' Unions and an attitude of mediocrity that discourages excellence have reduced us to a laughing stock. Our learners can't spell, read, add or subtract. What are all these people going to do? Become President? There's only one job like that. We need clever people, not average or stupid ones. the failure of the Education Department happened under your watch. Someone who writes Matric now hadn't even started school under the Apartheid regime, so you cannot blame anyone but yourselves for this colossal cock-up. Fix it before three-quarters of our matrics end up begging on Oxford Road. Reward schools and teachers who deliver great pass rates and clever students into the system. Fire the teachers who march and neglect their classrooms. 4. Give up on BEE. It isn't working. Free shares for new black partnerships in old white companies has made everyone poorer except for Tokyo Sexwale. Giving people control of existing business won't make more jobs either. In fact, big companies aren't growing, they're reducing staff and costs. The key is entrepreneurship. People with initiative, creative ideas and small companies must be given tax breaks and assistance. Young black professionals must be encouraged to start their own businesses rather than join a big corporation's board as their token black shareholder or director. Government must also stop thinking that state employment is a way to decrease unemployment - it isn't - it's a tax burden. India and China are churning out new, brilliant, qualified people at a rate that makes us look like losers. South Africa has a proud history of innovation, pioneering and genius. This is the only way we can advance our society and economy beyond merely coping. 5. Stop squabbling over power. Offices are not there for you to occupy (or be deployed to) and aggrandize yourself. Offices in government are there to provide a service. If you think outrageous salaries, big German cars, first-class travel and state housing are the reasons to aspire to leadership, you're in the wrong business - you should be working for a dysfunctional, tumbledown parastatal (or Glenn Agliotti). We don't care who the Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces is if we don't have running water, electricity, schools and clean streets. You work for us. Do your job, don't imagine you ARE your job. 6. Stop renaming things. Build new things to name. If I live in a street down which the sewage runs, I don't care if it's called Hans Strijdom or Malibongwe. Calling it something nice and new won't make it smell nice and new. Re-branding is something Cell C do with Trevor Noah, not something you can whitewash your lack of delivery with. 7. Don't think you'll be in power forever. People aren't as stupid as you think we are. We know you sit around laughing about how much you get away with. We'll take you down, either at the polls - or if it comes down to the wire - by revolution (Yes, Julius, the real kind, not the one you imagine happened in 2008). Careless, wasteful and wanton government is a thing of the past. The days of thin propaganda and idealized struggle are over. The people put you in power - they will take you out of it. Africa is tired of tin-pot dictators, one-party states and banana republics. We know who we are now, we care about our future - and so should you.</div><div style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none"> Source - <a href="http://www.garethcliff.com/chronicles.php?articleid=791">http://www.garethcliff.com/chronicles.php?articleid=791</a> </div>

'Dear Government'

Radio jock Gareth Cliff's "Dear Government" letter may have been criticised this week, but the Idols judge has done what man...

5:12 PM

Black billionaires count for less then 1% among world's wealthiest

Despite there being 937 dollar billionaires on planet earth according to the Forbes Rich List – among the high flyers are people of color albeit they count for less then one per cent. Only eight of the 937 dollar billionaires in the world reside on the African continent while only three of them are from South Africa. We take a look at Africa's richest people. <img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453844284705127522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6XKjlM-u2rnpz5GHKoyvMfalAjaPOCtJ98bgciK-Ociv_kCfH027lvywYQXiTtjS8FXa7Az2SZ2ea2mAmerp5KmU5pWoqpGDXzNIIFmSZ4XUNNBPkzRK9ZiwXOvzObTVrmtcXFR2s103K/s320/Top10CountriesWitrhMostBillionares.gif" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 278px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" />Number 8 Samih Sawiris, the 655th richest person in the world and eighth richest African is the middle son of Onsi Sawiris, the founder of the Orascom conglomerate a construction and estate and hotel business. Sawiris (53) is the chairperson of Orascom Hotel Holdings. He has an engineering degree from the Berlin Institute of Technology and is fluent in German. Orascom's hotel business has operations in Egypt, Jordan, Oman, UAE, Switzerland, Mauritius and Morocco. Shares in the Egyptian hotel company have gone up 150 percent over the past year. The hotelier's net worth is estimated to be around $1.5-billion. Number 7 Nigerian Aliko Dangote (52), the 463th richest man on the planet and seventh richest African became president of the Nigerian Stock Exchange in August 2009. Dangote's career spans over various industries including trading in sugar, flour milling, salt processing, cement manufacturing, real estate and oil and gas. His Dangote Group is currently expanding cement operations in Senegal and Zambia. The stocks of his cement firm Benue Cement doubled in 2009 helped by demand from China. He has previously boasted that he is much richer than US talk show queen, Oprah Winfrey. The Nigerian's net worth is estimated to be around $2.1-billion. Number 6 South African billionaire Johann Rupert (59) is the sixth richest person on the continent and the 421st richest person in the world. Head of his family business, Swiss luxury group Richemont, Rupert also owns Remgro, a local investment holding company. Rupert has interests in two prestigious wine farms as well as an exclusive golf club. Rupert holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Stellenbosch and is married with three children. His net worth is estimated at $2.3-billion. Number 5 South Africa's first black billionaire Patrice Motsepe (48) is the fifth richest man on the continent and one of only two self-made billionaires on our list. A qualified lawyer, the Johannesburg-based mining magnate was born in Soweto and started investing in low-producing gold mine shafts in 1994. The billionaire heads up mining conglomerate, African Rainbow which has interests in platinum, nickel, chrome, iron, manganese, coal and gold. Motsepe got a massive boost from the country's BEE laws which required companies to be 26 percent black-owned in order to qualify for a government mining licence. Motsepe also holds a 6.2 percent stake in Sanlam. He is married with three children. His net worth is estimated at $2.3-billion. Number 4 Eldest son of Onsi Sawiris and brother of Samih Sawiris (number eight), Naguib Sawiris (55) heads up Orascom Telecom, one of largest mobile providers in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. The fourth richest person on the continent and the 374th richest man in the world, Samih has investments in Italy's Wind Telecomunicazioni and Greece's Wind Hellas. The Egyptian holds a Master of Science degree and is married with four children. Samih's net worth is estimated at around $2.5-billion. Number 3 The third richest person on the continent, the second self-made billionaire on our list and father of fellow Egyptian billionaires, Onsi Sawiris (80) is the founder of Egypt's business empire, Orascom Construction Industries. Onsi studied agriculture but found it boring and opened a small contracting firm in Upper Egypt. He remains the chairperson of the Orascom Corporation — the share prices doubled in 2009. Onsi is married with three children. His net worth is estimated at $3.1-billion. Number 2 Local businessman Nicky Oppenheimer (64) occupies the third spot on the continent and is the 154th richest person in the world. Based in Johannesburg, Oppenheimer is the head of De Beers Diamond mines in which his family holds a 40 percent stake. He holds a stake in fellow mining giant Anglo American which was founded by his grandfather, Ernest, in 1917. Oppenheimer also owns the country's largest private game reserve, Tswalu Kalahari. He holds a Master of Arts degree and is married with one child. Oppenheimer's net worth is estimated around $5.0-billion. Number 1 The richest African and 127th wealthiest man in the world is the fellow Egyptian and youngest Sawiris son, Nassef Sawiris (48). Nassef took over leadership of Orascom's construction and fertiliser division in 1998. The Egyptian conglomerate's share prices doubled in 2009, while a tie-up with French heavyweight LaFarge three years ago gained Nassef a seat on the board and a 13 percent stake. A joint venture with Morgan Stanley to invest infrastructure in the Middle East and Africa gave the billionaire's net wealth a major boost. Nassef holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Chicago. His net worth is estimated at $5.9-billion.

Black billionaires count for less then 1% among world's wealthiest

Despite there being 937 dollar billionaires on planet earth according to the Forbes Rich List – among the high flyers are people of color a...

3:07 PM

'South Africa's Black Economic Empowerment Has Failed'

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5yOgTExOVGTSMamj7cqamQgCPW9V8zYCVTMeUKwf0u_VHjQN9TiCdU7SOmnPwE1_2nfDutrP4WAl8dSmWHodrIqGNSlxixuyOJb-2nLKRyThQqQ6DL1FDrSUsnkUwLz3ynzIWvQ1R9gQ/s1600-h/socialistheroes.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376554818755408514" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5yOgTExOVGTSMamj7cqamQgCPW9V8zYCVTMeUKwf0u_VHjQN9TiCdU7SOmnPwE1_2nfDutrP4WAl8dSmWHodrIqGNSlxixuyOJb-2nLKRyThQqQ6DL1FDrSUsnkUwLz3ynzIWvQ1R9gQ/s400/socialistheroes.jpg" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" /></a>INTERVIEW Cape Town — Moeletsi Mbeki, brother of former South African president Thabo Mbeki, believes that the government's centrepiece policy of black economic empowerment was in fact the creation of the country's white economic oligarchs to co-opt black leaders. In his book "Architects of Poverty - Why Africa's Capitalism Needs Changing", Mbeki criticises the ruling elite by saying that black economic empowerment (BEE) "strikes a fatal blow against the emergence of black entrepreneurship by creating a small class of unproductive but wealthy black crony capitalists made up of ANC politicians, some retired and others not". He argues that BEE policy, which is aimed at building black ownership of companies, was not the invention of the ANC but was created by the country's white economic oligarchs to co-opt leaders of the black resistance movement by buying them off with what looked like a transfer of massive assets at no cost. This would ensure the oligarchs seats at the high table of the ANC government's economic policy formulation and give the oligarchs and their companies the first bite at government contracts. The impression was created that all previously disadvantaged individuals would benefit from BEE. However, this is far from the truth as the political elite and their cronies have reaped the most benefits. Stephanie Nieuwoudt spoke to Mbeki, who is also deputy chairperson of the South African Institute of International Affairs, an independent think tank at the University of the Witwatersrand. Do you think BEE was a well conceptualised system that could have realised the goal of empowering the masses? It was never a good system. It was never intended to advance the masses. It was intended to buy off or co-opt the leaders of the resistance movement. BEE cannot work for the majority. It is only intended to advance the interests of a few. The masses are not happy with what is happening and we are beginning to see this in the service revolts (widespread community-level protests currently happening). People are beginning to react against the inequality and are turning on the municipal officials, who are regarded as part of the elite because they are elected by the ANC which is not delivering. And yet the ANC won a major victory at the polling booths earlier this year? The ANC has lost its two-thirds majority. It lost support in all the provinces except KwaZulu Natal (the country's president, Jacob Zuma, hails from this province and he has huge support there). The ANC is buying off the poor with social grants - 13 million people in this country are receiving social grants. Government's planned project (anti-recession rescue plan) to retrain those in the private sector who are at risk of being retrenched are merely attempts by the government to appear as if they are sorting out public service problems. What will these people be retrained as? And where will they be redeployed? The government realises the people are angry and they are trying to appease them with unsustainable promises. The country is dealing with a class conflict between black people. On the one hand there is the political elites and on the other the masses. South Africa is still a rainbow nation, but the emerging class conflict has the potential to escalate. South Africa is regarded by some as an example for other African countries. Is this perception of the country maintaining some kind of moral high ground justified? The South African private sector is extremely powerful. That is why you find companies like Shoprite, MTN and Standard Bank in many African countries. These corporations offer great service and quality whilst ensuring their brands are protected. But the South African state is declining - there are high levels of corruption, the health care system is on verge of collapse and the education system is under-performing. Between 2000 and 2008 South Africa has been downgraded by 20 places by Transparency International's Corruption Index -- from 34th to 54th. Corruption is increasing at an enormous rate and it impacts severely on the poor. Revenue destined for the poor is misappropriated, which means that there is a lack of service delivery. Some people allege that skilled white people are leaving the country because of a lack of opportunity due to BEE policies. Black and white people are affected. There is no incentive to stay in the country if you know the top jobs go to the elite and their cronies. Affirmative action and BEE policies have become the inside track for the elected few. At the moment there are 500,000 unfilled professional vacancies. Every professional who is employed, can create a job opportunity for others who are less skilled. South Africa is becoming a de-industrialised country. We depend on imports rather than exports. In 1985, 31 percent of our gross domestic product came from the manufacturing sector. Now it is only 16 percent. Thousands have lost their jobs. Our footwear manufacturing industry has collapsed and those who are skilled in making footwear have disappeared. We are going backwards. Yes, it is cheaper to import many products than to manufacture them, but it is a self-defeating argument. People are losing their jobs and people without jobs are anyway not in a position to buy those imported goods. The elite have become consumers who live off systems that were created before 1994. They do not see themselves as producers and they do not start new businesses. How does one address these issues? We need to reform the electoral system. MPs should not be elected on a proportional representation basis, but represent specific constituencies directly. This will improve accountability. At the moment there is no system of accountability. The education system needs to be overhauled. We need skilled workers. But money that should go into education is used for BEE purposes and given to politicians who build big palaces and buy expensive cars. The critical issues here are the rise in economic inequality and the rise in import dependence. The combination of these two factors is lethal. It is driving the unemployment trend in South Africa, causing conflict among black people. And in the process, foreign nationals get caught up in the conflict (as was seen with the xenophobic attacks in the past year).

'South Africa's Black Economic Empowerment Has Failed'

INTERVIEW Cape Town — Moeletsi Mbeki, brother of former South African president Thabo Mbeki, believes that the government's centrepiece ...

7:46 AM

Moeletsi Mbeki: Black empowerment has failed

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIatxl2z5t1qLKQ3hraEwrV_s0p8rOIJis3whILZ21Cx-OAOtwhENIpYZGiL_ztfpiv7Jjc_vQYhhm4Q4YUG2SNXCxVxGnebQoNHKjFfVD2NQAhO0soBLqaCLgRXMwKxgZY6Ts_MC-NgM/s1600-h/MBEKI-BROTHER.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349089980205837970" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIatxl2z5t1qLKQ3hraEwrV_s0p8rOIJis3whILZ21Cx-OAOtwhENIpYZGiL_ztfpiv7Jjc_vQYhhm4Q4YUG2SNXCxVxGnebQoNHKjFfVD2NQAhO0soBLqaCLgRXMwKxgZY6Ts_MC-NgM/s400/MBEKI-BROTHER.gif" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 228px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 230px" /></a> South Africa should scrap its drive to give black people a slice of the white-dominated economy because it stifles growth and spurs corruption, the brother of the country's former president said on Friday. Political commentator, entrepreneur, journalist and critic of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), Moeletsi Mbeki believes the affirmative action policies championed by his brother Thabo have entrenched the rich-poor divide in Africa's biggest economy and could lead to an explosion of violence. "If you made me president of South Africa, the first thing I would do would be to scrap everything to do with black economic empowerment [BEE]," Mbeki told Reuters in an interview following the publication of his book on economic policy in Africa, Architects of Poverty. "If we keep going with these policies, the question is what will collapse first, BEE or the economy, or the country?" As part of a push to right the wrongs of apartheid and give blacks a stake of the economy, South Africa requires firms to meet quotas on black ownership, employment and procurement. The government argues its policy offsets the racism of the past and stimulates the economy by creating a black middle class hungry for its own homes, cars and designer clothes. But the cracks are beginning to show. Several black empowerment deals have collapsed as the global crisis has caused the value of shares used as collateral to fall, and critics argue the drive has enriched a small black elite while doing nothing to boost South Africa's economy. Mbeki (63) goes further. He says the policy entrenches the country's shocking economic inequalities by creating a culture of cronyism and entitlement that discourages black entrepreneurship and education, keeping millions in poverty. "BEE tells blacks -- 'you don't have to build your own business, you don't have to take risk, the whites will give you a job and shares in their company'," he said. "I blame the ANC for buying into this story that instead of blacks working hard ... they should be given a free ride." Corruption Mbeki, who worked as a journalist and trade unionist before starting his own construction, media and agriculture firms, also argues that black empowerment has encouraged corruption, with lawmakers reportedly rigging tenders to benefit associates. He says white "business oligarchs" are complicit because they use the policy to keep a few members of the black elite happy while still dominating the economy 15 years after the fall of apartheid. South Africa's new president, Jacob Zuma, himself the target of a corruption case until it was dropped on a technicality just before the election that brought him to power in April, has vowed to tackle graft but has no plans to ditch empowerment. Mbeki argues that unless South Africa axes the policy in favour of a broader skills development drive, South Africa's underclass, crammed into vast settlements of rickety shacks with no water or electricity, will balloon and eventually turn on the elite. Rampant levels of crime and last year's attacks on foreigners in the townships are warning signs, he said. Asked if he discussed black empowerment with Thabo before he was ousted as president by the ANC last year, Mbeki laughed: "No, he was the driver of these policies," he said. "My brother knows I have been opposing this for some time, but this is what he decided to do." -- Reuters

Moeletsi Mbeki: Black empowerment has failed

South Africa should scrap its drive to give black people a slice of the white-dominated economy because it stifles growth and spurs corrupti...

10:14 AM

'Sad reality' of BEE

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqsvAX3OE3Z8lM_sz5R_e-6lxGoaoJfiyv55_z6l0pjlEfBltoV9SgTiibhtmaZHlIWQ_ql2r1pmbZYSTH7_Hmk6dP8yRAcf-64Ei-uYWmxHvWUmlHRP4XNcFmbormJ42U6-J223w3rF0/s1600-h/zuma-wtwcdm.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342131622304500706" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqsvAX3OE3Z8lM_sz5R_e-6lxGoaoJfiyv55_z6l0pjlEfBltoV9SgTiibhtmaZHlIWQ_ql2r1pmbZYSTH7_Hmk6dP8yRAcf-64Ei-uYWmxHvWUmlHRP4XNcFmbormJ42U6-J223w3rF0/s320/zuma-wtwcdm.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 298px" /></a>The current recession should offer the country a cause for sombre reflection on the need to do the right things, President Jacob Zuma said on Saturday. "We are required to do more in a climate unfavourable to us; a difficult economic climate not of our own choosing. "(This is) a cause for sombre reflection on the need to do the right things to get our country back on track," Zuma said at a National Union of Mineworkers gala dinner in Midrand. He said central to this was spending well over R700-billion allocated for infrastructure projects in the next decade. "We are going to use the task team made up of labour, government and business to forge a partnership that will make this country withstand the current global economic turmoil, as we did in the so-called emerging markets crisis in 1998." On transformation, Zuma said the mining sector must be a shining example of transformation in South Africa. Soldier on with transformation "It is clear that this fourth democratic government will have to build on the work of the previous administrations to soldier on with the transformation of the mining industry." He said government would work with key stakeholders such as Num, to ensure that people benefit from the exploitation of mineral resources. He said although Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment has taken place in the mining sector, the "sad reality" was that only a few have embraced its spirit. "We have to do everything in our power to ensure than millions of our people benefit from these transactions." He said one the biggest challenges that was highlighted during the party's election campaign was the role of communities in the mining activities that are taking place largely in Limpopo and the North West. "It is clear that a significant section of our people feel that despite progressive legislation, the mining industry and government are not doing enough to ensure that they too, fully reap the benefits of the mining activities that are taking place." The scrutiny of government Meanwhile, Zuma said there was a need to "vigorously support and entrench" a culture of zero harm in the mining industry. "The safety record of our mines has become a central issue that will be placed under the scrutiny of government. This situation cannot be tolerated anymore." He said all stakeholders must work even harder to put an end to the escalating number of mine deaths. A total of 68 miners have died since the beginning of the year, while 71 died at the same time last year. "This is not a good picture at all," said Zuma.

'Sad reality' of BEE

The current recession should offer the country a cause for sombre reflection on the need to do the right things, President Jacob Zuma said o...

1:07 PM

Going wrong

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGq0VCCzAuTgr1TweIVsT73PHXrMtGwpOFzFpZUXvdCqyrBvdoE9-JEOVtPCJksq1dv2AyR137lAt-5Lh2C30DmBg95sDAA_ItGN6r0KxkNhXhKPh7QGJnyJDzVa9DpfHGa8zinLwub239/s1600-h/mandela_afpgetty.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334792320429108850" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGq0VCCzAuTgr1TweIVsT73PHXrMtGwpOFzFpZUXvdCqyrBvdoE9-JEOVtPCJksq1dv2AyR137lAt-5Lh2C30DmBg95sDAA_ItGN6r0KxkNhXhKPh7QGJnyJDzVa9DpfHGa8zinLwub239/s400/mandela_afpgetty.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 293px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" /></a>Three books map, with varying degrees of anger and disappointment, the path chosen by the recent leaders of post-apartheid South Africa. FOR those who hoped that the rainbow nation emerging miraculously from the ashes of apartheid would bed down into a pluralistic and genuinely multiracial democracy, this trio of books provides a painful dose of disappointing scepticism. All three deem South Africa’s second post-apartheid president, Thabo Mbeki, a colossal failure. All, with differing degrees of certainty, consider Jacob Zuma, to be unworthy of the post. All of them, 15 years after Nelson Mandela led the country into its new era, bemoan the course it has taken. Yet they vary strikingly in tone. The angriest and most ambitious is the weighty tome of R.W. Johnson, a South Africa-born former adherent of the radical left who taught politics at Oxford for some 20 years before returning to his country to head the Helen Suzman Foundation, a liberal think-tank. His book is a relentless and pulverising polemic against the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and virtually all of its leading lights. Even Mr Mandela is scolded for “making poor use of his immense authority” and for “presiding over many blunders and lost opportunities”. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcBihMZW5MzQ1zb70xN4lBo6kT0HaiHPrLzzQaYJLzZ2pKDYLdga8cshacUdnzvgOhPtHy_Hi_Res0O5DFpyUq31lfI4eEjWe5Yvt3-jn842kCBiotIPIaRThfsNQyLBzcF-42Fq8TpaS0/s1600-h/anc-south-africa-story.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334752123700475890" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcBihMZW5MzQ1zb70xN4lBo6kT0HaiHPrLzzQaYJLzZ2pKDYLdga8cshacUdnzvgOhPtHy_Hi_Res0O5DFpyUq31lfI4eEjWe5Yvt3-jn842kCBiotIPIaRThfsNQyLBzcF-42Fq8TpaS0/s400/anc-south-africa-story.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 220px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 293px" /></a>The ANC, in Mr Johnson’s view, has become a nest of racists, thieves and hypocrites, who have done almost no good at all since they won power in 1994. Mr Mbeki is accused of “reracialising” South African politics, and the author supports this charge with a stack of evidence. According to Mr Johnson, the corruption which now permeates the party was most patent in the activities of its first minister of defence, the late Joe Modise, who is described as a big-time gangster. But most of the ANC’s lesser figures are accused of a host of venal sins too. A rapid conflation of party and state has led to the withering of independent institutions, a charge also levied by the authors of the other two books reviewed here. Mr Johnson hurls particular vitriol at the policy of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). As he describes it, this has merely enabled an ANC-connected elite to enrich itself fabulously in the name of affirmative action officially meant to tip more of the economy into black hands. He lists in remorseless detail a web of ties between ANC leaders and their families and the new rich and powerful. In Mr Johnson’s eyes, the ANC’s crude efforts to replace whites with its black supporters across the board has harmed the health service, served to “debase the entire educational system” and generally helped the black masses not a whit. “It is difficult”, he writes, “to find a minister—apart from Trevor Manuel at finance—who did not preside over a steep fall in standards.” Like the other two authors, Mr Johnson blames Mr Mbeki’s denial of links between HIV and AIDS for causing several hundred thousand unnecessary deaths. Similarly, Mr Mbeki is condemned for failing to squeeze Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe out of power. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPABufOFZ0Nmxwtdq7eCKdu3zAhSebQF-tgbJsl_aEry7K3FVATRcvjYiR7ZBrHQ1wkGqdbPz8zwj3Ib0q9vZhyphenhyphen-TfD6tPOrN4MH1mKeLUX7K9CV_Ckll3RvOIcUVNWHeRrJpyJZLnQt_W/s1600-h/anc-and-south-africas-uncertain-future.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334752125669624706" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPABufOFZ0Nmxwtdq7eCKdu3zAhSebQF-tgbJsl_aEry7K3FVATRcvjYiR7ZBrHQ1wkGqdbPz8zwj3Ib0q9vZhyphenhyphen-TfD6tPOrN4MH1mKeLUX7K9CV_Ckll3RvOIcUVNWHeRrJpyJZLnQt_W/s400/anc-and-south-africas-uncertain-future.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 293px" /></a>Andrew Feinstein, a former ANC member of parliament who headed a public accounts committee that required him to investigate a bunch of big arms deals, focuses mainly on corruption, both grand and petty. With wrenching anger and painstaking care, his book describes how graft has infected the new establishment. Many of the most respected figures of the liberation struggle placed loyalty to party above their responsibility to be honest with the people who had elected them. Mr Mbeki is again the chief villain, trampling on Parliament while manipulating and browbeating the party in his quest for personal power. His time in office was “a tragic failure defined by AIDS denial, catastrophe in Zimbabwe, widening inequality, persistent violent crime and growing corruption.” The ANC has “plummeted into a moral abyss…corruption is in the process of destroying [it].” The should-be-independent institutions of democracy “diminished” by Mr Mbeki include “the prosecutorial authority, the office of the auditor-general, investigative bodies, the intelligence agencies, the medicines control council, the medical research council, the human rights commission, the public broadcaster” and various others. Mr Feinstein’s account is sadder than Mr Johnson’s, because it starts from a position of hope and idealism that is painfully whittled away. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDSwmzAarojomUl9DDwnvMJyicbjqNYtlhjC6fV93yj-i_TZHezqRfoZ3cDzzyTcoTDmP5DY5uNRcyXjMhE4iNgGMNd3saz6PBeW0Hzmjae6qwcY-dgiotjlHHw5Xn1M6sGd_b-NytcEWg/s1600-h/anc-Bring+ME+My+Machine+Gun+The+Battle+for+the+Soul+of+SA+from+Mandela+to+Zuma.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRKfguDpVGfOPFaXEInfW1ay1HMQ-497M9tMm9RiubGk7lUMEODrB1CgPLKD1sSYSTauOy0aa9w1WJlp7-zZnBfhKE8RxQcKI2LlGxciP5loG7xai99zkZw0vxt8xjNqk-YbsYNgvTjY5w/s1600-h/and-_after-mandelastory.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwjB8ilMMdYEZdYe9Bb4dZ3_dWuBUD3b7awjwC-8HMgxtdNggwZqPOwcuPvGn2kZgI6sWrs-zsvNRTJ1sIdyFj2oDsJU5yQw2HqW3nWFcVtaXIRchvwJd49iWETwarkr0UyGg7Gnz2I2pA/s1600-h/anc-sa-book-bring-me-my-machine-gun.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334791848769408466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwjB8ilMMdYEZdYe9Bb4dZ3_dWuBUD3b7awjwC-8HMgxtdNggwZqPOwcuPvGn2kZgI6sWrs-zsvNRTJ1sIdyFj2oDsJU5yQw2HqW3nWFcVtaXIRchvwJd49iWETwarkr0UyGg7Gnz2I2pA/s400/anc-sa-book-bring-me-my-machine-gun.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 304px" /></a>It is a relief to view South Africa’s past two decades through Alec Russell’s gentler, insightful, sometimes humorous, sometimes bleak, but always kaleidoscopic prism. He robustly addresses the same doleful issues of governance as the other two. It would have been better, he writes, if both Mr Mbeki and Mr Zuma had stepped aside to let a new man take the presidency next month. But his portrait of South Africa, alive with delicious vignettes across a range of humanity, is more nuanced—and more readable—than those of his two counterparts. Perhaps, as an outsider (who now edits world news for the Financial Times in London) he could more easily step back, after two stints as a correspondent in Johannesburg, and still enjoy the beloved country in all its contradictions. Mr Feinstein, a persona too honest to be grata with the ANC, now lives in London too. As for Mr Johnson, it will be a test of Mr Zuma’s expected presidency whether he remains free to hurl his angry brickbats at all and sundry. See book reviews:-<a class="l" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/5164391/South-Africas-Brave-New-World-by-RW-Johnson-and-A-Legacy-of-Liberation-by-Mark-Gevisser-review.html" onmousedown="return clk(this.href,'','','res','2','&sig2=vJU5RE07J5TMhqhY7nCU_A')">South Africa's Brave New World by RW Johnson and A Legacy of ...</a> <a class="l" href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/after-the-party-corruption-and--the-anc-by-andrew-feinstein-1680664.html" onmousedown="return clk(this.href,'','','res','9','&sig2=0Yn4B8hAy7VlCSc73nctUQ')">After the Party: corruption and the ANC, By Andrew Feinstein ...</a> <a class="l" href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/89643312-1fe1-11de-a1df-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=383a6e06-2429-11de-9a01-00144feabdc0.html" onmousedown="return clk(this.href,'','','res','24','&sig2=rULIAwhD7HIQoR5kANakCw')">FT.com / In depth - After Mandela</a>

Going wrong

Three books map, with varying degrees of anger and disappointment, the path chosen by the recent leaders of post-apartheid South Africa. FOR...

12:21 PM

Affirmative Action is Ruthless Looting

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG0LcsLa95JoWVMvQa5IiMVM8GFBQxywV2HLRiuYHOmFe0djxB52CJCHTOytm2PYkrCIAcQrTSy9-MbRsHQTQxlbHw0SYkfbAXF6rJxpIlwafK1tviYX1ppL5nWobT1ONvdGu0EFILcLKr/s1600-h/welfare_motivator.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323826001099060146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG0LcsLa95JoWVMvQa5IiMVM8GFBQxywV2HLRiuYHOmFe0djxB52CJCHTOytm2PYkrCIAcQrTSy9-MbRsHQTQxlbHw0SYkfbAXF6rJxpIlwafK1tviYX1ppL5nWobT1ONvdGu0EFILcLKr/s400/welfare_motivator.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" /></a>"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it." The late Dr. Adrian Rogers Mamphela Ramphele’s attempt to give the so-called employment equity system some credibility should be deemed a failure. The damage has already been done and the civil service, public healthcare, the railways, ports and road infrastructure bear testimony to the insidious effects of racial preference on South Africa. The current system of race preferences in favour of blacks cannot be reformed — it can only be abolished. Employment equity is but an Orwellian euphemism denying whites employment, as well as educational and business opportunities, on the grounds of race. The ANC may be more subtle than Zanu-PF, but the ultimate goal is the same — getting rid of whites altogether. Most whites, English and Afrikaans, have seen the writing on the wall. They have either left the country or have become self-employed, waging a constant struggle for survival in small businesses run from homes and garages without pension schemes, medical aid or access to capital, which is largely reserved for blacks. According to economist Mike Schussler, 50% of all white males are self-employed. It is a staggering statistic. Not only are whites made to feel distinctly unwelcome at government departments, but banks and other private institutions have also transformed to the extent that one hardly sees a white face behind a counter. In fact, we would need an affirmative action policy for whites just to persuade large corporations to employ them at all, especially young ones, given the anti-white ethos that oozes from the very pores of this amazingly violent, corrupt society. Whites lacking in entrepreneurial and technical skills have been condemned to poverty and despair, despite being literate and hard-working. On the other hand, one-third of all municipal councillors controlling budgets in the billions are illiterate. To create wealth, one needs skills. To loot the wealth of others does not require any skill, except being ruthless and arrogant. The race-proud Africans of Zimbabwe and South Africa have shown themselves to possess an abundant capacity for both. ~ Dan Roodt ~ <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Insight/Article.aspx?id=837966" target="_blank">Original article</a> (Posted on September 9, 2008)

Affirmative Action is Ruthless Looting

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, an...

8:24 AM

ANC rubber-stamps R153m IT contract award for 5% kickback

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhREhO5or0o5VFMHKmiZ1OKddzN6QZC4aZgs-DzBqsNVQ2JUDn_dK9bvx89Js14FFAuNmDPJvFy4u1SKb4jgUue3_tPGaBmnHcz224IM34FdE_YZS_5wQlwIuXcvLaT_T0Xx0VwCLw7smuU/s1600-h/ANC-pic.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320925889379924770" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhREhO5or0o5VFMHKmiZ1OKddzN6QZC4aZgs-DzBqsNVQ2JUDn_dK9bvx89Js14FFAuNmDPJvFy4u1SKb4jgUue3_tPGaBmnHcz224IM34FdE_YZS_5wQlwIuXcvLaT_T0Xx0VwCLw7smuU/s400/ANC-pic.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px" /></a>A GOVERNMENT IT TENDER has been quietly awarded for an outrageous R153m – more than double the next-best tender – to a tiny, little-known company, on the understanding that 5% of the total (R7.65m) will be slipped into the coffers of the ANC. Curiously, there were only two bidders on the shortlist for the Department of Trade and Industry’s contract to upgrade the information technology system used by the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office, better known as Cipro. The favourite to win the tender was Faritec, an established, listed IT company employing a staff of 475. Faritec’s BEE credentials were presumed to be impeccable: Jay and Jayendra Naidoo, who earned their Party spurs as government consultants on the arms deal, are its BEE stakeholders. Its bid, in the circumstances, was a modest R60m. The other finalist, Valor IT, which claims to be wholly black-owned, is unknown in the market. Valor IT put in a massive bid of R153m – more than two-and-a-half times as much as Faritec’s price – and won the contract! Cipro did not follow standard procedures when evaluating the tender. When cautioned on the point, Michael Twum-Darko, Cipro’s Ghanaian head of IT and the organisation’s chief information officer, is said to have declared: “That’s no problem, Tshedi [Trade and Industry DG Tshediso Matona] will sign – because there’s five percent in it for the ANC.” The contract was eventually signed off by Cipro’s chief financial officer Renier du Toit – and Matona. Twum-Darko handled every aspect of the controversial tender, while remaining in close contact with Valor IT’s Josias Molele. Although the contract was awarded to Valor last December, there has been no official announcement – on the specific instructions of Cipro chief executive Keith Sendwe. But there has been an unreported uproar within Cipro over the controversial tender. Central to the rumpus is said to be the organisation’s No. 2, chief operations officer Melanie Bernard-Fryer. Bernard-Fryer was chief-of-staff to former Public Service and Administration minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi. She co-authored government’s anti-corruption legislation and was hired by Cipro chief executive Sendwe a year ago, with a specific brief to stamp out corruption within the kickback-riddled organisation. Late last year, before the tender was discreetly awarded to Valor IT, several staff members at Cipro reported their concerns about the “improper tender process” to Bernard-Fryer. The operations chief is believed to have ordered a quiet investigation into the unknown finalist, Valor, and was concerned when all her investigator could come up with was a “cryptic” website. Bernard-Fryer started asking questions – and last September she refused to sign off the contract, on the grounds that proper tender process was ignored. She told a friend that “fronting” was “very likely, because it’s just so murky”. (The term “fronting” is used to describe a black company using political connections to win a tender – only to pass the contract on to a “white” company for a percentage of the contract fee.) Chief executive Keith Sendwe responded by suspending her. Officially, the reason was something else: a staff member under investigation in another matter had sent a “very rude” email to Bernard-Fryer demanding to know what was happening. Bernard-Fryer copied this email to her husband as an example of what she had to put up with at work and this was considered a breach of confidence worthy of suspension. “Melanie reckons the real reason for her suspension was because she refused to sign off the Valor IT contract,” says an insider. At her internal disciplinary hearing last December, her labour lawyer, Dimitri van der Westhuizen, successfully argued that the offence did not merit suspension and the hearing’s independent chairperson recommended her reinstatement. That process dragged on for a good six weeks. By the time she returned to her desk in mid-January – to a cool welcome from chief executive Sendwe – the contract had been awarded to Valor IT, signed off in her absence for Cipro by chief financial officer Renier du Toit. What were Bernard-Fryer’s concerns? Usually tender bids at Cipro go first to a tender evaluation committee for a process of due diligence – which took place. They then go to a bid adjudication committee drawn from the Cipro executive team, which makes the final decision. Members of this committee include chief executive Keith Sendwe, chief financial officer Renier du Toit and Melanie Bernard-Fryer. On this occasion, however, the award was confirmed, not by the usual internal adjudication committee, but by an anonymous group of external individuals, completely flouting Cipro’s strict tender procedures. None of this would have leaked, had it not been for an unusual event at tender-loser Faritec’s presentation to analysts and the press of dismal half-yearly results on 16 February. Chief executive Simon Tomlinson announced that the company had lost a massive government IT contract to an unknown black competitor whose bid at R150m – he was R3m out on the price – was more than double his own company’s bid. Surprisingly, the attending hacks, including a representative from Business Day, chose to ignore this startling disclosure, preferring to concentrate on Faritec’s net loss of R21.4m, 40 staff redundancies and a share price plunge to new 52-week lows – down from 105c a year ago to just 11c. The analysts, however, were not so slow – and one of them tipped off noseweek. “It’s an astonishing waste of R90m of taxpayers’ money,” observed one of those present. “I’ve never heard of Valor IT – but then, IT companies are a dime a dozen, aren’t they?” The analyst added: “Tech awards are diabolical, the whole area is rich with scandal.” Tomlinson agreed to meet noseweek to tell all, but the 44-year-old chief executive was reluctant to set a date and finally called it off, saying he would require board approval to say anything. Faritec does a lot of work for government, and he could not risk jeopardising future tenders. Black empowerment issues are sensitive at Faritec; the company is 30% owned by J&J Group, the BEE investment holding and management company founded by former Cosatu general secretary Jay Naidoo and the union’s former negotiations co-ordinator Jayendra Naidoo. The latter sits on the Faritec board. Faced with Tomlinson’s change of heart, noseweek called Faritec’s IT director Peter Winn, who, initially, was a lot more forthcoming. Cipro’s tender, he explained, was for what is known as Enterprise Content Management, in this case, a combination of software and business consulting services embracing all aspects of document managing for the Registrar of Companies. “This company Valor IT is totally unknown in the industry,” said Winn. “In our 14 years in business we’ve never come across them. We’ve struggled to find out who they are and I don’t know of any other contract that they’ve won. “This thing stinks big time,” declared the IT director, adding: “I think we’re at a stage in our country’s life-cycle where awards are made under dubious rationale or circumstances.” After being told last December that they had lost the tender to Valor IT, Winn says that Faritec lodged its “official concern” about the tender process. Cipro promised to look into it and early in February wrote to Faritec confirming Valor IT as the winner. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGpiUZCeMgIMxGi1BnvjLOZZGK45YNpkClIJalPzkwWYRsAZ9VMRDE57uNCu8zobUr-AsrNO2CVvIDm9PuW4uIJFnEtqvmmIMNun2yHdZZAfHc1kNdF5QQ2Pv5RsetayqulTfl6wNzquwd/s1600-h/tshediso.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYack0zPlgZvbJ2Xf4YoHVYq3eiFTDHcaHkqNn5DWL2yzHmlHqzOcEE9Tt6_4Hyl2C_XrFuI_lrd07CUk3sdKYMikehguLDycTBW8tAIHQb6c_g7B-C6wwsNxhEr5gVcG7xIY1pYq4K1bN/s1600-h/tshediso.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321355503277213906" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYack0zPlgZvbJ2Xf4YoHVYq3eiFTDHcaHkqNn5DWL2yzHmlHqzOcEE9Tt6_4Hyl2C_XrFuI_lrd07CUk3sdKYMikehguLDycTBW8tAIHQb6c_g7B-C6wwsNxhEr5gVcG7xIY1pYq4K1bN/s200/tshediso.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 134px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" /></a>Trade and Industry DG Tshediso MatonaWinn says the contract award was then rubber-stamped by Sita, the State Information Technology Agency, which adjudicates and controls all government IT spend. Like Simon Tomlinson, Winn agreed to meet noseweek and give further details of Faritec’s bid and “the feedback we’ve had from the market”. However, an hour later (after discussion with Tomlinson?), he called back to cancel, saying: “From our perspective, the deal is lost. We don’t want to be perceived as being the partner that has sour grapes because we lost the deal. “We probably have 30%, 40%, 50% of our revenue coming from government through Sita. It would be suicidal for us to... You can draw your own conclusions in terms of price variation, and I think that government’s obliged to divulge the value of the awarded tender.” Cipro’s companies data base reveals that Valor IT is a close corporation registered on 22 June 2005. The register lists two directors/members: Josias Molele, 48, and Jamila Seedat, 41. Molele comes from the professional services area, selling professional services to government. He cut his teeth at the old Q Data, which, after merging with Persetel, became Comparex Africa, a leading integrator of business solutions based on Information and Communication Technology (ICT). In 2003 Comparex won an R11.5m contract to beef up service delivery in the Northwest Province’s department of finance. Molele, then a regional executive with Comparex, said at the time: “We are delighted to work with government to assist them in realising their strategic goals and objectives through the power of IT.” But around this time Molele resigned from Comparex. “He was an ambitious man,” recalls a colleague. “We appointed another black guy ahead of him and he didn’t like that.” Although Valor IT may not be well-known, it does have an impressive website, even if it is short on facts and figures. It says the company was established by experienced black IT professionals and is “wholly black-owned and managed”. It uses “best of breed” strategic partners and focuses on providing ICT professional services within both public and private sectors. “Within the organisation there is a vast wealth of expertise in terms of project management, change management and project implementation/support, crafting and implementation of Business Applications as well as other areas of ICT.” Under Latest News, it announces that Valor IT was recently appointed by Sita as “a preferred supplier of top calibre ICT contractors to the entire public sector” -- which should come as no surprise if one of the company’s functions is to share the take with the governing party. Surprisingly, there is no mention of its coup in winning the Cipro tender last December – or any other specific successes. Valor IT has modest offices at Waterfall Park, in Midrand’s Vorna Valley, identified with a modest handwritten sign. For the triumphant winner of a massive government tender, managing director Josias Molele is surprisingly reticent when noseweek calls him. What was the tender for? “It’s basically for what they call ECM – Electronic Content Management,” says Molele. “But I don’t want to be seen to be stealing the limelight from the client. Let Cipro be the one that goes to the media.” What was the tender price? “Shouldn’t we let Cipro divulge that? Let them be the ones to give you everything in terms of the process. You can speak to their CEO. Cipro is also supposed to go back to parliament and report.” Valor IT doesn’t seem to be very well known in the industry? “We’ve been in existence for quite some time, as early as 2005. We have been in the game for more than 25 years; individually we’ve got serious managers in the IT industry. My board, my management teams, we’ve all been in the game.” Is this your first big government contract? “You see, that is where, with journalists, I become very careful. On Cipro, I cannot give you much, because I don’t want to take the limelight from the client. I’ve won big contracts before, close [in value] to what this one is.” How many staff are there at Valor IT? “I do not want to sound hostile to the journalists, because I believe they’ve got a role that they’re playing. But let’s be honest, you are now already going for the interview.” When news of the 5% handout of taxpayers’ money to the ANC emerged, we belled Molele again to ask him about it. He did not return our calls. Neither did Cipro’s rebellious chief operations officer Melanie Bernard-Fryer. Silence reigned, too, from the DTI’s director-general, Tshediso Matona. However, Cipro chief financial officer Renier du Toit confirms that he and DTI director-general Matona signed off the Valor IT contract. He adds: “The tender was awarded and signed off in line with duly approved protocols and procedures.” Asked about the 5% to the ANC, Du Toit dodged the question, replying: “Cipro wish to confirm that the awarding of the tender to Valor IT was in strict adherence to the Supply Chain Management Policy governing the procurement of such goods and services.” Not much of a denial. A Cipro insider tells us that a worried trade and industry minister Mandise Mpahlwa called a crisis meeting to discuss noseweek’s investigation into the Valor IT award. This is not the first time that Cipro operations chief Melanie Bernard-Fryer has been in hot water. In 2007 she was suspended and fired as chief executive of the Media Advertising, Printing, Publishing and Packaging SETA, after blowing the whistle on alleged fraud and corruption within that organisation. Shortly before joining Cipro in March 2008 she received an undisclosed sum in compensation for unfair dismissal. Link - <a href="http://www.noseweek.co.za/">http://www.noseweek.co.za/</a>

ANC rubber-stamps R153m IT contract award for 5% kickback

A GOVERNMENT IT TENDER has been quietly awarded for an outrageous R153m – more than double the next-best tender – to a tiny, little-known co...

12:34 PM

South Africa P.I.G.