South Africa P.I.G.: CORRUPTION

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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 The infamous pass laws were rescinded in the early 90’s and the black man took over the country.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

South Africa "just another country" in Africa

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsRfxFSgieXBcKeLYG2wPXL6WZTVX8Gm69iDF5jAwrRT8nYjwnzPOKj1gfjPcqLF90_usSg680Duf45s5VLDVm2Xc5JBT2f6xUBfT8MofKcDp429rbLLVp07La-WcvV8GUmATCOP8WzRvH/s1600/boilingfrog.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634904617678309154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsRfxFSgieXBcKeLYG2wPXL6WZTVX8Gm69iDF5jAwrRT8nYjwnzPOKj1gfjPcqLF90_usSg680Duf45s5VLDVm2Xc5JBT2f6xUBfT8MofKcDp429rbLLVp07La-WcvV8GUmATCOP8WzRvH/s400/boilingfrog.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 266px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 400px;" /></a>There are lots of South African articles doing the rounds, this is one of the best. I have always tried to understand why Africa has not prospered with all the mineral wealth and available labour. This is without a doubt the most plausible explanation for me. I do hope I am completely wrong. I expect, like me, you are aware that there has never been a prosperous black-led country, but perhaps it’s just because of “bad luck”, or whatever, for that incontrovertible fact. Take Haiti as an example. Before the black slaves revolted and killed all the whites and half castes Haiti had a GNP greater than most of what is now the USA . It supplied 60% of all the sugar used in Europe. Today it is a wasteland. Apparently if you Google Earth the place you see is a sere, brown coloured landscape compared to the neighbouring Dominican Republic which is green and verdant. Twice the USA has occupied Haiti , building roads, ports, hospitals and schools while putting in a functional society. The moment the Americans left they reverted to dictatorship, voodoo, witchcraft, corruption and barbarism. They did not stagnate, they regressed to the primitive savagery of their forefathers Since the 1960s, when the Congo expelled the Belgians this has been a mirror of African regression, moving steadily southwards until the example of Zimbabwe . Once a prosperous, well educated exporter of food the population now eat rats to survive. Will SA go the same way? There are those optimists who say “No, we have such a strong economy, such sophisticated infrastructure, such a talent pool, that we can never sink”. My belief is that they have not considered the root cause of Africa’s failure. A cause that is not spoken about as it is fearfully politically incorrect, and probably illegal to speak about. That cause is the deficiencies of the black ”mentality”, for want of a better word. Are there differences between races, or is race just a meaningless social construct? Until recently, I believed all races were the same under the skin variations, and that perceived differences were only the result of cultural differences. I believed in a common and equal humanity. But things did not always ring true, observable anomalies were inexplicable if all men are the same. Why, under apartheid, did the Indians prosper, become doctors, scientists, educators, merchants and professionals while the vast majority of the equally oppressed black Africans remained hewers of wood? Why can black Africans run, jump and throw better than honkies, but why, out of a billion of them, have they never invented a single thing of any worth? Why have they, collectively, contributed absolutely nothing to the advancement of humanity. Well the physical thing, the running, throwing bit is easily and uncontroversial answered. Simple, people of African descent (especially the Jamaicans) are genetically better equipped in this regard. Their muscle fibres are different and the typically have 15% more free testosterone than other peoples. Acknowledging this is regarded as racism. Unfortunately, racist or not, that is proven and a fact. Google it and you will find that for over 70 years, in test after test, done by dozens of university professors and Nobel laureates plus USA government studies, most people of African descent trail other races by a wide margin. Of course I.Q. tests have been attacked, especially by those who perform badly at them, as one might expect them to do. Detractors claim cultural bias, dysfunctional families, past oppression, poor schooling and a host of other reasons for poor black performance, but the professors defend their contention that I.Q. is largely an inherited trait; that differences are inherent, built into a person’s inherited DNA. For every argument attacking the validity of these tests they have a host of results confirming their accuracy and typicality. Fascinating stuff if you are interested in reading up on it. The effect of high/low I.Q. has also been studied in depth, with fairly predictable results. Low I.Q. individuals performed badly in social class, family stability, income, educational levels, illegitimate pregnancy, single parent families, rate of prison incarceration, rape, violent crime etc. etc. etc. I.Q. measurement measures different facets of intelligence and mental competence. Sadly it is in the absolutely vital sphere of cognitive ability that blacks score worst. This means they score abysmally in things like forward planning and anticipating the consequences of their actions. It is this I.Q. (and testosterone) disparity that is blamed for the fact that African Americans are 5 times more likely to be imprisoned than white (including Hispanic) Americans, 9 times more likely than Americans of Asiatic descent. All in line with I.Q. distributions. Once imprisonment for violent crimes are computed the numbers become stratospheric. These are American government collated statistics, so pretty accurate. Our government in SA do not, for obvious reasons, publish similar stats, but a pound to a pinch of salt they are even more astounding. So why the lecture on I.Q.? Well for a start you must understand that our ruling party are voted into power by a largely moronic plebiscite. I choose the word moronic intentionally. If the cut off point for moronic is an I.Q. of 70, half the voting population would be classified as such. Only one in 40 black South Africans achieves the average I.Q. of his white fellow citizens. One in a hundred have the I.Q. to achieve university entrance requirements. That is why only one in ten blacks pass our dumbed down Matric (with a pass percentage of 30% in many cases). One in 6000 black grade one learners will pass Matric with both Maths and Science. Simply put, they are bloody stupid, and they rule us. Furthermore Zoooooma says they will rule us until the second coming. I believe him. This explains why the ANC have such idiots in their positions of power and influence, the likes of Zuma, Malema, Khomphela and Cele. They are, unfortunately, the best they have! Well, they are the best blacks they have. All the critical positions in government are held by Indians, coloureds or whites, something I am grateful for but which pisses Malema off big time . Will this last? I doubt it. The black/white polarisation is growing and the rhetoric is becoming more extreme. Listen to the pub or workplace chatter, read the blogs and comments sections of the newspapers and it becomes obvious. Whites are gatvol at the waste, corruption and stupidity of the black elite. Blacks are demanding, as their right, the wealth of the whites by means of redistribution of assets. No matter that they have not worked for those assets, they claim them as the spoils of war. Just in the past week the Mayor of Pretoria, Malema, a minister and Winnie have gone on record as blaming whites for sabotaging redistribution and exploiting blacks. Malema calls out “Kill the boers for they are rapists” to thunderous applause by university students Four influential ANC opinion makers who are echoing the groundswell of mutterings in the ghettoes. The natives are getting restless. Things are not going to improve. They cannot, there is no reason to believe our slow slide into a failed state can be reversed with our current regime, and there is no prospect whatsoever of there being a change to governance based on meritocracy. Anyone who believes otherwise, or that the ANC can mend their ways, is living in LaLa land. They do not have the intellect. Like the proverbial frog in the slowly heating pot we have become inured to the slow collapse of our hospitals, schools, courts, water supplies, roads, civil service and service levels. They will become totally dysfunctional shortly. Inevitably so. Those in charge do not have the mental capacity to organise things. Our economy and Rand is reliant on short term “hot” funds from overseas that can flee at the touch of a computer button, and probably will if our Rand weakens. Conversely we need a weaker Rand to encourage exports. 6 million taxpayers support 12 million recipients of social grants, and that figure is set to rise this year. The National Health Insurance scheme will happen, no matter how unaffordable. That will push our social grant costs up to four hundred billion Rand. Four hundred billion Rand which produces absolutely no product. Inflation is set to stay and worsen. The consequence of being the biggest socialist state on earth. I do not believe the ANC has the intellect to conceptualise how big a billion is, let alone 400 billion, or what effect this will have on the economy. You do not believe Malema’s call to nationalise the mines? This guy articulates what the hoi polloi are thinking, but the ANC leadership will not say yet. The tactic is to set the bar high, then lower it and the victims will sigh with relief and say it could have been worse. So perhaps it will not be total nationalisation but rather 51%, a’ la Zim. Just look north for revelation, Zuma does. Who would have believed that this country would ever be headed by an unschooled, rape accused, adulterous, corrupt, sex obsessed bigot like Zuma. Anything is possible with the ANC. Summary. You have few years left to enjoy what is left of the glorious SA lifestyle, especially in the Cape , but understand it is not permanent. The end could be sudden as the tipping point is reached, just as it was sudden for those Zim, Zambian, Mozambican or Angolans whites. It could, conceivably, be as bloody as the Hutu/Tutsi uprising when primitive tribal bloodlust overcomes a thin veneer of inculcated civilisation. Enjoy it while you can, and enjoy it in the Cape where the population mix is more favourable, but be aware that change is inevitable. Your children must get a world class education, because they will not be adults in SA. Get assets stashed offshore, you and your children will need them there.

South Africa "just another country" in Africa

There are lots of South African articles doing the rounds, this is one of the best. I have always tried to understand why Africa has not p...

3:37 PM

An open letter to SA’s leadership...

<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; CLEAR: both" class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAgJC-o3pB6FRLZWGjm6E2XBs8nSffUZXMgoW3qXlE5vH6mzgthgR0y-FCcJCHNI3rAMnvnrcxN_z1IGJPlvK1d5ngibRQlQfEjWZ3HfD0J4OSRmAMa28S-M65RYtLUl_I7Emrqe0T7_le/s1600/anc-running-water.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1em; MARGIN-RIGHT: 1em"><img border="0" height="378" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAgJC-o3pB6FRLZWGjm6E2XBs8nSffUZXMgoW3qXlE5vH6mzgthgR0y-FCcJCHNI3rAMnvnrcxN_z1IGJPlvK1d5ngibRQlQfEjWZ3HfD0J4OSRmAMa28S-M65RYtLUl_I7Emrqe0T7_le/s640/anc-running-water.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> I will try to answer three questions; 1. Which way are we going? 2. Why? 3. Can we find a better way forward? Apart from racial policy, the institute I head has been documenting almost every aspect of South Africa since our foundation in 1929. It was inevitable then that when the ANC came to power in 1994, people asked us why South Africa should not become just another African disaster. I gave the usual list of advantages: a greater pool of skills, good infrastructure, a resilient private sector, our strong international economic linkages, a tradition of political pluralism, independent trade unions, a free press, and the vigour of our NGO sector. Since then the country has won golden opinions for macroeconomic policy management, reflected most recently in a heavily oversubscribed 30-year government bond. Despite this, we now learn almost daily of things that prompt the question once again: are we headed for the list of African failures. Recently an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease occurred because a vital border fence with Mozambique had been neglected. Such problems are not isolated. We have slipped further down global tables as a destination for mining investment, police behaviour seems to be increasingly lawless, maternal and infant mortality rates are rising, millions of schoolchildren have started another year without textbooks, and the country's commercial capital is run by people who are out of their depth. We also have much higher rates of youth unemployment than countries to the north that recently chased away their rulers. Specific problems aside, among the main reasons we are going wrong are the following: •Affirmative action, which has denuded the State of both skills and institutional memory •Labour laws which protect unionised workers at the expense of the jobless •The cadre deployment policy, making loyalty to the party a key criterion for appointment to offices of state, and •Use of a model of government which makes elected institutions more accountable to party headquarters than to voters. Apart from policies and practices, the problems confronting us arise in part from assumptions and attitudes that affect the policy environment. These include: •limited understanding of what entrepreneurship requires •ideological hostility towards business •poor appreciation of how markets work or even antipathy towards them the belief that the pockets of our small number of major taxpayers are bottomless, and •too much faith in the efficacy of the State, leading to more and more regulation To these harmful factors must be added others: •corruption said by the deputy president to be "worse than anyone imagines" •lawlessness on the part of the State •a love of the grandiose, such as new bullet trains to Durban while we can't fix commuter rail services •the callousness towards ordinary people found all too often in service departments, and •no accountability even for preventable deaths of mothers and babies in public hospitals Then there are two key problems in the way policy is made. One is a habit of putting the cart before the horse - for example, embarking on ambitious education or health schemes without first fixing the basics such as training enough teachers and reversing the decline of public hospitals. The second is failure to apply the lessons of admitted mistakes. To its credit, the Government has admitted the failings of outcomes-based education but the ANC nevertheless plans to forge ahead with a national health system without considering the State's capacity constraints. These various aspects of our problems show that we are facing not just a few wrong-headed policies, but a challenge arising from the very nature of the Government and how it runs the State. Most of them have a direct impact on business. Part of that challenge arises from the fact that the ANC is not a normal political party. When a party with a two-thirds majority in Parliament is still committed to a "national democratic revolution," we must ask what it is that they wish to stage a revolution against. The economic system? Probably. Democracy? Perhaps. The rule of law? Very likely. The Constitution? Possibly. The Press pays little attention to the national democratic revolution, but the ANC is committed to it. This is one of the risks we face. Another is that tougher affirmative action requirements lead to a drain from the country of the most skilled segment of the population. Yet another is that public spending gets out of control as the ANC promises more free things to more people and puts more of them on to the public payroll, including now members of Umkhonto we Sizwe. We might also see a more rigid labour market, destructive interventions in agriculture, attenuation of property rights, damage to private health care, more malfeasance with mining licences, further corruption of the criminal justice system, and more local governments collapsing. It is ironical that we are expanding our social security commitments at the very moment when rich countries are having to cut back. It is also ironical that we are seeking to extend controls of the labour market while Europeans are trying to make their labour markets more flexible. A further piece of irony is that we are lengthening the arm of the State at the very time when China and India are continuing to liberalise economically, when parts of Africa are liberalising, and when even Cuba is showing signs of liberalisation. I have painted some dark clouds and the challenge now is to find the silver linings. Like a contrarian investor, we must look for signs of change that may not be obvious. One of these is the very fact that the Europeans, the Chinese, the Indians, and the Cubans have been here before and are having to reverse thrust. The international context in which we make policy has changed. Africa is also having to pay more attention to good governance than in the past. Already, some African countries are more attractive as mining destinations than we are. If we don't look out, we may find that our lead as the most important economy in Africa is shrinking. Despite the ANC's close historical ties with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, it was unable in 1994 to follow a communist path because the USSR had in the meantime imploded. As welfare and dirigiste states elsewhere come under pressure, so will the ANC have to recognise that those role models are also unworkable. Despite this country's achievements since the advent of democracy in 1994, we are pursuing an unworkable political model. This model will have to be abandoned just as communism and apartheid had to be abandoned. How long this will take I do not know. The evolution of liberal democracy can be a slow and difficult business. But we need to find ways of helping the process along, while also trying to minimise the fearful human and economic damage that may be done in the interim. Among the reasons why apartheid disintegrated, two are relevant today. One is that its contradictions - notably the belief that you could run a modern economy without exploiting the skills of the whole population and granting them political rights - became unsustainable. The second reason was that, as the policy crumbled under the weight of critical scrutiny and its own contradictions, the ruling elite began to lose faith in it. Disillusionment spread from the Dutch reformed churches, to the Afrikaans Press, to academia, to business, to the ruling party, to the Cabinet, and not least to the Broederbond. This made Mr FW de Klerk's bold actions on 2nd February 1990 both necessary and possible. Parallels between the last 25 years of National Party rule and the first 15 years of ANC rule are becoming quite striking. The most obvious is on racial policy. The NP thought it could run a successful economy without fully exploiting the skills of the black population. The ANC thinks it can run a successful state without fully exploiting the skills of the white population. The evidence that this cannot be done is apparent all the time at all levels and in all branches of government. And it is beginning to cause instability at local level and hurt the party. Unfortunately, however, one of the parallels with our past is that failed policies are sometimes intensified rather than abandoned. This happened with the pass laws, for example, before PW Botha finally repealed them in 1986. It may also happen now with the Employment Equity Act, with its provisions for heavier fines to enforce racial quotas upon all employers - when the Government cannot even get Denel, or Eskom, or SAA, or Transnet to meet its racial targets at management or skilled levels. But there are other parallels. Just as the National Party steadily lost support among the intelligentsia, the same is happening with the ANC. Some black newspaper editors and journalists are at least as critical of the ANC as their white counterparts. In discussions with black business leaders over the past few months, my Institute has been struck how some of them have become very critical of the government - more so than most of their white counterparts. Moeletsi Mbeki probably speaks for more people than we think. Some of the squabbles in the ruling tripartite alliance are about spoils and patronage, but others are about policy. There are divisions over whether "decent" jobs should be placed above the need to generate more jobs. A growing minority is beginning to question the deployment policy. Others would like to have a professional civil service instead of one subject to ministerial whim. Racial policies are now also becoming a source of division, as we saw last week with Trevor Manuel's public attack on Jimmy Manyi. This spat is causing the ANC to tie itself into knots. When my Institute pointed out that forcing employers in the Western Cape to conform to the national racial breakdown would necessitate the (illegal) dismissal of thousands of coloured workers, President Jacob Zuma said companies would have flexibility to conform to national or regional demographics. This, however, is not what the proposed amendment to the Employment Equity Act says. Now the general secretary of the ANC, Mr Gwede Mantashe, has weighed in to the effect that national companies will have to use national demographics and provincially-based companies provincial demographics. This is the opposite of the flexibility of which Mr Zuma speaks. In November last year the minister of finance, Mr Pravin Gordhan, told an audience in London that economic empowerment policies designed to improve the standard of living of the black majority after 1994 had not worked. After all the employment equity, labour, and land reform legislation, not to mention hundreds of billions of Rands in BEE deals, this is quite an admission. In the short term it may lead to an intensification of failed policies, but in the long term these policies will have to be abandoned. The new constitution ushered in democracy in 1994. Ironically, however, the ANC's model of government - based on the Leninist idea of "democratic centralism" - in terms of which party headquarters dictates to local communities whom they must elect - is causing growing dissatisfaction at local level as the municipal election on 18th May approaches. Though many officials are hostile to white farmers, others recognise that no one else has the expertise to reverse the failures of land reform. Despite antipathy to the private sector, some of the ruling elite see a growing role for it in getting our ports working more efficiently, in electricity generation, in the rescue of local government, in AIDS testing, and in sorting out the problems of further education and training colleges. Indeed, as the failings of the State become more and more apparent, thanks in part to a critical media, more and more people in government will turn to the private sector for help. Even Cosatu wants private sector involvement to be mobilised when Postbank gets a banking licence. These inconsistencies will multiply as the ANC continues to pursue mutually contradictory policies. Promises of creating millions of new jobs are incompatible with key components of official policy, among them affirmative action, the deployment strategy, restrictions on immigration, tightening up the labour market, and adding to the regulatory burden on business. Eventually the contradictions will become unsustainable. Either some of these key policies will have to be jettisoned, or the quest for millions more jobs will fall by the wayside. In the meantime, what do we do? The first thing is to keep exposing the contradictions, so providing arguments for those in the ruling alliance who wish to see more realistic policies. Arguments for the liberalisation of our damaging labour laws need to be refined and intensified. The climate to do this is now more favourable than at any time since 1994. I suspect that affirmative action and cadre deployment policies have also done more damage to this country than most people care to admit. Can you really run a modern industrial state if you would rather leave posts in the public sector vacant than appoint whites to them? The major victims of this folly have been blacks rather than whites. The connection between these policies and lost growth and investment, high unemployment, shoddy RDP houses, inability to obtain social grants or medicines, preventable maternal and infant deaths, high crime rates, perilous roads, poisonous rivers, mismanagement of flooded dams, fraudulent passports and IDs, and a great many other problems needs to be repeatedly pointed out. The ANC's economic objectives simply cannot be achieved while everything is subordinate to racial ideology and the imperatives of the "national democratic revolution". This message needs to be hammered home without reservation or apology until a critical mass of opinion within the ruling alliance comes to recognise it. Secondly, it is necessary to stand firm in the defence of vital practices and institutions as they come under increasing threat, not only the rule of law but also academic freedom, independent civil society, a free Press, an independent legal profession and prosecution service, and independent courts. It is also necessary that organisations other than business come to the public defence of the free market system, private enterprise, and entrepreneurship. Not for a second should anyone in the ruling alliance be allowed to forget that the money the Government spends on education, health, housing, child support grants, and everything else - including its lengthening list of promises to its constituents - arises from taxes extracted from the private sector and private individuals. This is a point that needs much more emphasis than it gets. Business might wish to think of ways of getting the point across more strongly in public as well as to parliamentarians, civil servants, and other members of the ruling alliance. Thirdly, keep proposing alternatives to present policies. Business may not necessarily see a direct role for itself here, but it is nevertheless essential that alternatives be put forward. Here is my list of a dozen: 1. Cut back on the size of the State 2. Put inspectors back into schools 3. Systematically extend private education 4. Radically redesign land reform 5. Democratise Parliament 6. Liberalise the labour market 7. Make economic growth rather than redistribution the topmost priority 8. Change our welfare state into one that promotes entrepreneurship 9. Direct all state interventions at helping the poorest of the poor regardless of race 10. Replace the deployment system with a professional civil service 11. Increase our global competitiveness as a destination for foreign direct investment 12. Repeal all racially discriminatory laws Some of these may seem fanciful right now. However, given growing contradictions, policy failures, and paralysis in government, the climate is in fact auspicious. Detailed policy work on alternatives will of course be necessary. But the main point at this stage is to undertake a tenacious campaign to change ideas, preparing the soil, as it were, for new policies to be planted. This will be a long haul and a hard slog, so the sooner it is stepped up the better. The ruling party must be a prime target, both direct and indirect. Don't forget that ideas predate policies and that their power, for good or ill, should never be underestimated. It was after all, that great incendiary journalist and armchair revolutionary, Karl Marx, who produced some of the most powerful ideas in history. Despite their murderous consequences some of these ideas still have an iron grip in South Africa. They need constantly to be countered by the ideas that underpin liberal democracy. In particular, we need to keep on propagating the idea that the real alternative to apartheid is not another form of social engineering designed to promote an impossible equality of outcomes but an open society committed to equality before the law, political and economic freedom, corruption-free and proper democratic government, and rising living standards for all. Social and racial engineers failed in South Africa last time around, and they will fail this time too. That is cause not for despair but for eager anticipation. - John Kane-Berman - CEO of the South African Institute of Race Relations.

An open letter to SA’s leadership...

I will try to answer three questions; 1. Which way are we going? 2. Why? 3. Can we find a better way forward? Apart from racial policy, the ...

8:26 AM

If I move overseas, must I shut my mouth?

It seems there is a prevailing opinion that once you have emigrated, you lose your right to read the news in South Africa. And God forbid you dare comment, which has become a popular feature of most news websites. Should you do so, you are frequently met with hostility, ridicule, threats and insults which range from the hilarious to the downright disturbing. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcjIagZKoFCClNtgtdgdBu3a-nJzb4ccveOD0ABYWe2ADQJvZP3r1qsQ-oXsutE3PVTmPKk4SyFbHIgjF_GRs_pbQIWB1sKnFS1xQju9Brvm7thavj0I4vQFXQjAj2pNnqrEy97to_Byc-/s1600/World-Map1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="344" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcjIagZKoFCClNtgtdgdBu3a-nJzb4ccveOD0ABYWe2ADQJvZP3r1qsQ-oXsutE3PVTmPKk4SyFbHIgjF_GRs_pbQIWB1sKnFS1xQju9Brvm7thavj0I4vQFXQjAj2pNnqrEy97to_Byc-/s640/World-Map1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> Now, why does one leave a country? Is it because you’re a coward? Is it because it is easy? Is it because it is financially advantageous? Who knows? Leaving, for me, was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do. And I say “had to do”, because I have this very well honed sense of self-preservation. I no longer felt safe in SA. I didn’t like living in a prison called home. The hijackings of cyclists really put me off. Erratic bills from the Joburg City Council and zero recourse (I had to pay R32 000 for a “clearance certificate” on selling the house, promised a refund, nothing six months on), we’ve been victims of crime too many times, crumbling roads, deteriorating water quality (we used to wakeboard on the Vaal river – no more), absurd police force, even more outrageous and absurd “government”. You know all the reasons; having experienced them in person, and increasingly understanding that there was a gaping chasm in my personal moral and ethical makeup and that of South African society, it was clear that getting out was the only option. Why is it hard? Emigrating is very disruptive. More than that, it is a mountain of admin and paperwork. And it is expensive. It requires commitment, perseverance and nerves of steel. And lots of money. Once you arrive on the other side, you want to look forward and get on with it. However, if you are someone who likes being informed, plugging in takes time. The political landscape is murky, the issues are almost trivial compared to what we have become accustomed to in SA, the personalities are unknown. And, frankly, the news here lacks entertainment value - it is comparatively boring. Add to that the fact that no matter who you are, you will have plenty of friends and family in South Africa. If you are like me, you feel strongly about why you had to leave (you’d have to – see the paragraph about why it is hard). When I feel strongly about something, I tend to want to proselytise others into my way of thinking. To me, getting out was a matter of life and death. So if I think it is in your interests to look at emigration because it might improve your chances of living to be an old coffin dodger, believe me I will try and convince you to do it. Then there is the issue of confirming to oneself that the right decision has been made (who wouldn’t want to, right?) Well, that’s not difficult, now is it? Look at top stories in SA news right now: TheTimes, News24, Moneyweb, City Press. You get the idea – hell, of course you do, you live there. And this is before we start digging into the shenanigans of government, you know, Bheki and the lease, Jacob and the 783 charges, Schabir and the “terminal illness”, Nomvula and her now deceased son, Shiceka and the fake degree, Motshekga and whatever the hell she is doing with education, Kgalema and the dodgy deals, the Guptas, Radovan Krejcir, Lolly Jackson, Joey Mabasa, and on and on it goes. And yes, it is a psychological reality that individuals will seek out information which confirms their world view (and their drastic decisions). It is comforting. There, I admit it. People, what you are accepting IS NOT NORMAL. It is NOT ACCEPTABLE. None of it. But it becomes the norm and acceptable in SA. You are a part of that society which permits it, like it or not. I am no longer, because I found myself incompatible with that society. Are you compatible with it? Do you like what you are becoming as a consequence of being a member of that society? Anyway. What are your thoughts? Now that I have left, is reading and commenting on SA news verboten? Should we prevent people from commenting on, say, USA news if they aren’t resident? Should I not share with the world, in this age of social media, the things that I find here which I find strange and wondrous? (You know, like getting your phone line connected in less than two hours, electricity connected in a two minute visit to the power company, having no fence or burglar bars around my house, and, yes, having to do my own dishes and mow the lawn.) Or should I refrain from comparing, shut the hell up, and let the South Africans I love carry on thinking that they have it the best in the world. Go on then. Over to you.

If I move overseas, must I shut my mouth?

It seems there is a prevailing opinion that once you have emigrated, you lose your right to read the news in South Africa. And God forbid yo...

1:38 PM

A Promise to the South African Government

Hacktivist group Anonymous has released a video calling on the people of South Africa to rise up and “take their country back” from corrupt and inept rulers. <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/53tCd4jusxo" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe> The video, posted to YouTube on March 18, begins with grainy footage of wind sweeping over Table Mountain, evoking the famous Winds of Change speech by Harold Macmillan which foreshadowed the end of the colonial era. The now-infamous Anonymous mask breaks in and a computerized female voice begins to list off a set of injustices being done to the people of South Africa; how the country has one of the largest rich-poor gaps in the world while Anglo-American and the Oppenheimer family have gotten wealthy from the country’s mineral resources; how, over the last six years, more people have been murdred in South Africa than in the Iraq War; and how crime runs rampant “while the police are rendered impotent by the very laws that govern South Africa.” “Throughout all of this, Jacob Zuma and the rest of the South African government are telling the rest of the world that South Africa is a Rainbow Democracy,” Anonymous says. “How long, people of South Africa, will you allow this to go on?” “The winds of change are blowing across mother earth and the time is now to take a bold stand against the government because they lost all legitimacy the day the first child was killed under their watch,” Anonymous says. Anonymous then calls on the people to “take their country back.” “We are Anonymous and we support you. We are Black and we are White, we are Coloured and we are Indian.”

A Promise to the South African Government

Hacktivist group Anonymous has released a video calling on the people of South Africa to rise up and “take their country back” from corrupt ...

3:59 PM

Police call for tax boycott as taxpayers become accessories to crime

<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><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/AVvXsEhqbSFOlLYTOL5TreGZVIaY4giL7-uZ839wWAM0do7d00bOtL_Xw_JWSrpQ_vT_G_J_4ITWSS0-Qbp4_EUoiyejojCbTS-ASaWA0PdjnWaEwERngmZ8QS-hf4FRBGkb97mA7u4u-avgI6A-/s1600/parody.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqbSFOlLYTOL5TreGZVIaY4giL7-uZ839wWAM0do7d00bOtL_Xw_JWSrpQ_vT_G_J_4ITWSS0-Qbp4_EUoiyejojCbTS-ASaWA0PdjnWaEwERngmZ8QS-hf4FRBGkb97mA7u4u-avgI6A-/s1600/parody.jpg" /></a>The police and other corruption-busting organisations have warned South Africans to stop paying tax, saying that citizens are knowingly becoming accessories to crime by funding a shady gang of confidence tricksters, fraudsters, embezzlers and petty thieves known throughout the criminal underworld as “the South African government”.</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/AVvXsEhHyevB1GFW6otibdpM22pVNYrpiIdd2C9dQ8QZ3bqHjAH9xtvwwjgsHQMJnQgelE1IjZuGNVhXqXjm5LnKc77kDD9OM5ulRq2CIUMfwQxOTqs6E7wk_A_aEvBf_XhGtQt19TSN2ROZJ6ov/s1600/newsweek_cover+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHyevB1GFW6otibdpM22pVNYrpiIdd2C9dQ8QZ3bqHjAH9xtvwwjgsHQMJnQgelE1IjZuGNVhXqXjm5LnKc77kDD9OM5ulRq2CIUMfwQxOTqs6E7wk_A_aEvBf_XhGtQt19TSN2ROZJ6ov/s400/newsweek_cover+copy.jpg" width="240" /></a>According to recent estimates, around R100-billion is stolen by corrupt public officials every year, thanks largely to a massive annual heist known to government criminals as “tax season”. “As far as we can tell there’s a front operation, fairly legit, they’ve got offices and everything,” explained lead investigator Colombo Phiri. “There’s a big blue sign over the door that says ‘SARS’, and every year during the ‘tax season’ heist they rake in about R350-billion of swag.” He added that once the loot was safely in SARS’s vaults, the “Government Gang” usually stole between 25 and 30 percent of it, depending on the current price of BMWs, the amount of patronage they needed to buy from regional ANC Youth League commissars, and the number of political opponents they needed to assassinate in Limpopo and Mpumalanga. Phiri conceded that up to R100-billion was also being stolen in the private sector every year, but said less fuss was made of this for one major reason. “The main difference is that citizens are not required by law to hand over 30 percent of their earnings to patently corrupt companies,” he said. “It’s not like you go to jail if you refuse to shop at your friendly neighbourhood arms dealer.” However, he said, the law was the law and taxpayers who willingly funded organised crime – or extremely disorganised organised crime, as in the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga – could expect no mercy. “When you fill in that tax return and write that cheque, you know that 30 percent of your money is going straight into the slush fund of some self-entitled mouth-breather with a Grade 9 education and a cousin in the Youth League,” he said. “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.” He added that those who flouted the law by paying tax would be prosecuted, unless prosecutors accidentally shredded and then burnt their dockets after being bought off with tax revenue. “Do the right thing. Stash your salary under your mattress and if you see anyone who works for the government, from a local councillor right up to cabinet ministers, do not approach them but rather go to a safe place, keeping your money well out of sight, and call the police immediately.” source: hayibo.com </div></div>

Police call for tax boycott as taxpayers become accessories to crime

The police and other corruption-busting organisations have warned South Africans to stop paying tax, saying that citizens are knowingly beco...

6:10 AM

Cele and his SAPS criminals vs Jesus and His 12 Apostles

No this is not an April Fools joke <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwnXIAZ1V4lQjZzy08lLT4EenZqm2GG7Bln5wn2mPfTMQy_piAVkAxrPsH99FpEFsFE8bezCkp8p5wm19OxCQ1aj8ncW_7w3rKVrTjnWD5y9Qj4dZeAAc3_Z07Omnmndr4iPDD5AVI4Dms/s1600/shitforbrains+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwnXIAZ1V4lQjZzy08lLT4EenZqm2GG7Bln5wn2mPfTMQy_piAVkAxrPsH99FpEFsFE8bezCkp8p5wm19OxCQ1aj8ncW_7w3rKVrTjnWD5y9Qj4dZeAAc3_Z07Omnmndr4iPDD5AVI4Dms/s400/shitforbrains+copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">National police chief <a class="tips" hoverintent_t="undefined" href="http://www.whoswhosa.co.za/bheki-cele-8977" jquery1509375304565641562="15" rel="/Handlers/WhosWhoTooltip.ashx?url=http://www.whoswhosa.co.za/hover.php?uid=8977" title="">Bheki Cele</a> has likened the SA Police Service to Jesus Christ and his 12 <strike>apostles</strike> disciples. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">(The term apostle means one who is sent forth as a messenger while a disciple is a follower or a student who learns from a teacher. Is the blundering,  loose-tongued, self-styled "general" police <strike>clown</strike> chief Bheki Cele even aware of the difference?)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">He said that if even Jesus and God had criminals in their midst, it was to be expected that there would be criminals in the 193 000-strong police force. "Jesus Christ had an organisation of 12 people... among those 12 there was a criminal who sat with Jesus every day," Cele was quoted saying at a police cars handover ceremony in Pretoria on Friday. "Even when Jesus berated him [Judas], he denied that it was him who was a criminal. "In the Garden of Eden, there were two people. God himself did an inspection every morning. One day, He could not find them. They were hiding, because they had committed a crime," he said. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">(Which begs the question what did God do? Did He condone corruption within the organisation? Did He reward the criminals with a promotion, big bonuses, deployment, suspension with full pay? Adam and Eve chose the way of disobedience and were banished from the Garden for one mistake-just one <strike>crime </strike>sin, no second chances.  We all understand choice and consequence. God warned them that if they should eat the fruit of this tree, in the same day they would die. Sure enough, this is what happened. All of creation was subject to death as a result of their choice.) </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">"If you will find criminals amongst two people, then you will find criminals in an organisation with 193 000 members," Cele said. Beeld said that in the past seven months, some 254 police members in Gauteng were arrested for alleged involvement in robberies and corruption. Top cop <a class="tips" href="http://www.whoswhosa.co.za/richard-mdluli" jquery1509375304565641562="19" rel="/Handlers/WhosWhoTooltip.ashx?url=http://www.whoswhosa.co.za/hover.php?uid=48558" title="">Richard Mdluli</a> and several of his colleagues were arrested this week for their alleged involvement in a murder that was committed in the late 1990s. This is not the first biblical comparison used in SA politics. President <a class="tips" hoverintent_t="undefined" href="http://www.whoswhosa.co.za/jacob-zuma-927" jquery1509375304565641562="20" rel="/Handlers/WhosWhoTooltip.ashx?url=http://www.whoswhosa.co.za/hover.php?uid=927" title="">Jacob Zuma</a> was criticised a few years ago for saying the African National Congress will rule until Jesus comes. In 2008, a provincial ANC leader likened Zuma's suffering in the then corruption case against him to what Jesus had gone through.</div><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="http://www.blogger.com/" id="ctl00_ctl00_MainBodyPlaceholder_Column1Placeholder_articlePaged_lnkArticleAccreditationName" target="_blank">- SAPA</a></div><div align="center" class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>

Cele and his SAPS criminals vs Jesus and His 12 Apostles

No this is not an April Fools joke National police chief Bheki Cele has likened the SA Police Service to Jesus Christ and his 12 apostles ...

8:04 PM

SA’s "Tunisia Day" Our 'Burning Man revolution'

Only a matter of time before the hand grenade explodes. The African National Congress is in a furious huff because Moeletsi Mbeki posited that a Tunisia-style revolt could happen in South Africa<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580043353490522466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEeTG-nPiGEZ5CPEkpuwUM5lNd06khMZ_dlvhSSt1U94URznRpsQakEwKkhIfnn0pbzK8LE1G3XXJQI482SC034eJo3O757_xQlzYGZj6G9H-eul54dxeCWjaxa2B_OmEk3u23vC8Z8dGX/s400/tunisia-protest.bmp" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 281px; CURSOR: hand" /> The Tunisian Revolt - is it contagious?As the flames of revolution and dissent spread from Tunisia across the Maghreb and into the Middle East it is natural for everybody to take a look at their own countries and wonder whether or not they are next. Bahrain, Jordan, Yemen, Algeria, Libya and even parts of Iraq have seen uprisings. There are tremendous rumblings in Iran and Saudi Arabia. No country, it seems, is safe. The question of “who is next” has sprung up as far afield as England (struggling painfully with a buckled welfare state) and America. As the people of Ermelo and the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union took to the streets, even as the memory of last year’s public servant’s strike and the riots in Mpumalanga lingers – it seems natural to consider the likelihood of revolution in South Africa. Political analyst <a href="http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=133902">Moeletsi Mbeki reckons</a> it will be around 2020, when the industrialisation phase that China is undergoing ends. A slowdown in Chinese industrialisation will lead to a drop in demand for Africa’s commodities, leading to a drop in prices, which will eat into the GDP of commodity-rich countries like South Africa. At that point, South Africa’s welfare state will collapse and the poor will revolt against a government that is no longer able to feed them, predicts Mbeki. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7KPsWvhjXV1JwhGTip8mj2kXSoRTJCSs7oJBNFNJV2LL-FDPZbQ0Y1zS8IWhQOa6khe-BwfYVtiQElrpmvhhy-fa60Dg_h4fZLFb6PhfmDd8VNU2FxJYNM96z9LWmDSK4oLadNw5YbPtJ/s1600/tunisia-game+over.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580044996071230914" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7KPsWvhjXV1JwhGTip8mj2kXSoRTJCSs7oJBNFNJV2LL-FDPZbQ0Y1zS8IWhQOa6khe-BwfYVtiQElrpmvhhy-fa60Dg_h4fZLFb6PhfmDd8VNU2FxJYNM96z9LWmDSK4oLadNw5YbPtJ/s400/tunisia-game+over.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 265px; CURSOR: hand" /></a> The ANC is <a href="http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=134436">not amused</a> in the least by this. ANC spokesman Brian Sokutu told BusinessDay, “Our fledgling constitutional democracy, which continues to make inroads in redressing decades of apartheid, cannot be equated with tyranny or stagnation in our growing economy, as Moeletsi insinuates.” The peanut gallery also had something to say. The ANC Youth League issued a statement of its own, saying, “The Tunisia-like protests will not happen in South Africa, because the ANC government has made profound progress in placing institutions, structures and virtues of democracy, which allow the people of South Africa to freely and fairly choose public representatives after every five years. “Besides entrenched democracy in South Africa, the ANC government is at the forefront of the attack in the battle against poverty, unemployment and starvation. The ANC government has since 1994 provided basic services to the people of South Africa, including water, electricity, sanitation, houses, roads, access to free education, healthcare, safety and security and many other basic social services needed for sustainable livelihoods,” the ANCYL statement said. Which is completely beside the point. Moeletsi Mbeki was referring to the fact that the ANC is using the welfare state to keep the poor at bay, not insinuating that we don’t have free and fair elections in South Africa, or a police force which kicks down dissidents’ doors at night. “People don’t eat democracy,” Mbeki is reported to have retorted. But since Mbeki raises several important points, which the ANC has so spectacularly failed to address, it is worth exploring the matter a bit. The government has been able to provide people with critical resources because of an erstwhile booming economy, aided greatly by high commodity prices. But it has largely failed to diversify the economy and, should the massive commodity price slump occur in 2020, we will be in serious trouble. In all likelihood the welfare state would collapse. But at no point in his analysis does Mbeki allude to the fact that South Africa, unlike Tunisia or Egypt, is actually a democracy where people get to vote out the parties they don’t like. We are seeing the trend towards that today. The ANC has already lost Western Cape. The people did not revolt there, they simply voted for another party. Its time to remind people that they need to go out on 18 May and Vote. It's our chance to end high unemployment, corruption, rising prices and, and ... Do it at the ballot box! Last Weekend to Register to Vote May 18! 2011 SA Municipal Elections- Register to vote this weekend 5-6 March There are local elections all over the country on May 18 and voters like you are going to make a difference. Every single vote counts, especially in the municipal elections. Make full use of the last voter registration this weekend, 5-6 March 2011 to ensure that your names are on the voters roll.

SA’s "Tunisia Day" Our 'Burning Man revolution'

Only a matter of time before the hand grenade explodes. The African National Congress is in a furious huff because Moeletsi Mbeki posited th...

4:12 PM

SA Govt repeating past mistakes...Again, Still, Whatever!

Govt's <strike>TOP-10</strike> TOP-15 serious blunders that caused extreme alarm in 2010 <ol><li>The water crisis,<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQZdguT7C2IEhpOcuMhTZM-JkOa5CzZX5etWtx12zwtksfhi3ZTd1FTB6Z_VOBsCIOEK_PXlZMP2e7E5mdH1k6_IQ4sCUtjbA4gALNAZRZF1x_M09U6DcisZg18Iu8-YeylPRATyo5Oh86/s1600/anc-logo.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556269021058784578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQZdguT7C2IEhpOcuMhTZM-JkOa5CzZX5etWtx12zwtksfhi3ZTd1FTB6Z_VOBsCIOEK_PXlZMP2e7E5mdH1k6_IQ4sCUtjbA4gALNAZRZF1x_M09U6DcisZg18Iu8-YeylPRATyo5Oh86/s320/anc-logo.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 256px; CURSOR: hand" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIGGWfVaUkOdaDCWdD3_Zm5sJgnwnLGMkmD1KxE6zUp5T95x3tQf5X54TzfZI3Q4Qu70WxQCUe0qauHutgMF8fVDHEGeAXWBf9ocW0aFsXaxUOeB28Yug8FLAPyASciTKV4hKlWiifR99g/s1600/anc-logo.jpg"></a></li><li>Misappropriation of state funds, </li><li>Efforts to gag the media,</li><li>The ongoing fiascos at semi-government institutions, </li><li>The government's handling of youth matters, </li><li>Road maintenance and potholes, </li><li>South Africa's military readiness, </li><li>CRIME, </li><li>The widespread housing scandal </li><li>Labour problems, </li><li>Hosting of the R69m World Youth Festival by the NYDA; </li><li>Poor service delivery from parastatals; </li><li>The failure to create sufficient jobs; </li><li>A housing scandal involving 2 000 government officials, </li><li>The failure to crush South Africa's "internationally feared" criminals.</li></ol>***Corruption is present in most of the aboveWater crisis state's worst blunder 1. Water crisis Government's denial of the worsening water problems in South Africa in 2010 must rate as one of its more serious blunders. In the same year that Trevor Manuel, minister in the presidency, shrugged off as "ridiculous" predictions that toxic mine water could seep out at various locations in Gauteng before long, government for the first time ever acknowledged its failure to maintain municipal sewerage plants all over the country. The latter issue is a matter of grave concern. According to government's so-called Green Drop report for 2009, only 32 of the 449 plants tested managed Green Drop status. (Only 449 of the country's 852 plants were tested.) This means that millions of litres of insufficiently purified water daily find its way into our rivers. In a country afflicted by a scarcity of water, a fast-growing population and ageing infrastructure, our water predicament has now become a ticking timebomb. 2. Youth One of the most expensive government blunders without a doubt was the 17th World Youth Festival presented by the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) in December. The festival cost almost R69 million, of which R29 million was funded by the treasury. In view of the current unemployment rate of 35,8% among South Africans in the age group 15 to 34 (according to the narrow definition of unemployment), such extravagance flies right in the face of our youth's aspirations. However, a critical 2010 blunder with more far-reaching consequences flows from government's continuing inability to solve our nation's education woes. The matric pass rate for 2009 was 60,6%. Owing to the prolonged teachers' strike in particular, the 2010 figure could hardly be an improvement on last year. Still failing to prepare our youth for the labour market, the education system generally produces merely mediocre school-leavers. 3. Misappropriation Here are just some of this year's shocking blunders regarding state spending: <ul><li>The disclosure in November that the bodyguards of the leader of the ANC Youth League, Julius Malema, had already cost the taxpayer more than R880 000. </li><li>In October it was divulged that R3,7 million had been transferred from the South African Police Service (SAPS) budget to pay for the residence of police chief General Bheki Cele. </li><li>Some R130 million was spent by government and several semi-government institutions on tickets for various matches in the Soccer World Cup Tournament. </li><li>In November the auditor-general revealed numerous government departments' "irregular" spending of approximately R2,3 billion (i.e. spending incurred outside stipulated guidelines). </li></ul>As to the management of municipal funds the picture is bleak indeed. Financial statements of South African municipalities published by the treasury disclosed that consumers of municipal services were overdue by more than R62 billion at the end of September 2010 - with close to R3,4 billion due by the state itself. 4. Potholes keep government stumbling While South African roads face a construction backlog of almost R100 billion, motorists are spending some R50 billion annually to have pothole-related damage to their vehicles repaired. The maintenance of our secondary roads in particular has become a veritable nightmare thanks to the fact that, to a large extent, road maintenance has simply stopped. The Automobile Association of South Africa (AA) issued a warning in October that our roads were fast becoming irreparable. The AA conducted a study in 2008 by measuring road conditions on a scale of zero (worst condition) to 100 (best condition), according to the so-called visible-condition index (VCI). The index dropped to 46 in 2008, as against 65 in 1998. Minister of transport, S'bu Ndebele, admitted in October that bad roads increase the risk of accidents. 5. Media tribunal It would seem that a transparent society, investigative journalism and media freedom are to make way for more corruption and deeper murkiness. This scenario, among others, awaits South Africa if the proposed media tribunal and the Protection of Information Bill were to be adopted. Already experts are describing eventual state control of the media as a disaster. The proposed legislation is aimed at, among others, empowering the authorities to classify information and to prosecute contravening opinionmakers such as journalists and editors. It is highly ironical that the ruling party who clamoured so vociferously for the freedom of speech during apartheid should now be trying to convince South Africans that a free press was indeed a threat to democracy! 6. SANDF Disturbing rumours were again doing the rounds this year that the defence force was nowhere near fighting trim. The low morale in the SANDF is alleged to be very serious; in fact, in November an MP warned that it could even endanger state security. The publishing of a comprehensive report on the combat status of the SANDF is awaited with apprehension. 7. Semi-government institutions Many semi-government institutions are continuing their negative tendencies. Some of these institutions are hampered by thousands of vacancies, weakening their service delivery. In May 2010 Transnet had some 4 500 vacancies, Eskom had 1 200, while SAA lacked 600 workers. Solidarity cited affirmative action as a probable contributing factor behind the vacancies, with service delivery its ultimate victim. 8. Labour Government's target of creating five million new jobs in the next decade is commendable; however, if this initiative was not left to the private sector, it cannot succeed. The failure of the Essa project (Employment Services South Africa) seems inevitable. Essa is a centralised database which is supposed to match jobseekers and employers. Since its inception four years ago, only 2% of the more than 1,2 million jobseekers have been placed successfully. Close to 170 000 jobseekers were registered in 2007/08, of whom only 3% were successful. More than 420 000 people were registered in 2008/09 - the lucky ones came to only 3,5%. And a meagre 1% of the more than 630 000 people registered in 2009/10 are now employed. 9. Housing scandal The housing corruption involving some 2 000 government officials is one of the most disgraceful public sins of 2010. Minister of human settlements, Tokyo Sexwale, said in August this year that syndicates selling and leasing government housing were to be investigated. Numerous government officials, notably in Gauteng, North West and KwaZulu-Natal, are allegedly benefiting underhand from these deals. The authorities' housing promises pose another fiasco. Sexwale announced in April this year that the housing backlog even exceeded the backlog in 1994: the figure has swelled from 1,5 million in 1994 to 2,1 million at present. Meanwhile the need for housing is growing daily; the number of informal settlements has already reached the 2 700-mark, of which at least 70 are inhabited by white people in shanty towns. 10. Crime and law enforcement The authorities are still failing to crush South Africa's internationally feared criminals, despite a growing police force. According to data released by SAPS in September, 16 849 murders, 68 332 sex-related crimes and 64 670 muggings (robberies with violence) were recorded as at 31 March 2010 when the 2009/10 financial year ended. Residential and business burglaries increased by 1,9% and 4,4% respectively. Experts are moreover concerned that a growing percentage of crime victims no longer even bother to report the misdeeds they have suffered. And in March it was revealed that one out of three police stations lacked suitable victim support facilities. Successful policing by police members with a sense of duty is further hindered by affirmative action as well as poor law enforcement and ill-considered strategic planning. Solidarity emphasised the gravity of the crisis, saying that extensive and permanent damage had already been done and that merely pulling up its socks is not good enough for 2011.

SA Govt repeating past mistakes...Again, Still, Whatever!

Govt's TOP-10 TOP-15 serious blunders that caused extreme alarm in 2010 The water crisis, Misappropriation of state funds, Efforts to ...

3:03 PM

Spitting on the faces of the corrupt

Zapiro may be facing yet another lawsuit from Zuma, but if his latest cartoon is anything to go by, the famed cartoonist is not going to be silenced any time soon. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjez31GwWgKrA_5aZ4NWYtka0gYgaCl2YF123rX3lBzy76FEWp9-dHg57xn7sFjdC9Hxkp9m_KsvWsKfDeXkPEYQgFw1mFU1dwnJPl08OM-jal1b1Ll2Paco5dak9SsDabRxtXLt5HSH5Eb/s1600/lastsupperweb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1em; MARGIN-RIGHT: 1em"><img border="0" height="418" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjez31GwWgKrA_5aZ4NWYtka0gYgaCl2YF123rX3lBzy76FEWp9-dHg57xn7sFjdC9Hxkp9m_KsvWsKfDeXkPEYQgFw1mFU1dwnJPl08OM-jal1b1Ll2Paco5dak9SsDabRxtXLt5HSH5Eb/s640/lastsupperweb.jpg" width="640" /></a> Zapiro takes aim at corrupt politicians and businessmen in particular ex-convict turned businessman Kenny Kunene, whose R700 000 birthday bash in October saw sushi being served on half-naked models. It speaks about excess and decadence and public figures who have been reaching unashamedly for that -- even when confronted they're not embarrassed. Cosatu General Secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, lambasted Kunene for "spitting in the face of the poor" -- a challenge Kunene brushed aside in a public statement. The cartoon shows leaders of the left, Gwede Mantashe and Vavi shunning the proceedings. The rest of the cast of 13 are made up of various politicians and businessman -- from Zuma to his nephew turned tenderpreneur, Khulubuse Zuma. Former top cop Jackie Selebi, who was jailed for corruption in August, is also included. The prisoner's window to the right of the table shows Selebi looking out licking his lips. "He'd like to be at the table," said Shapiro. And if you think the sushi platter looks familiar you'd be right -- it's South Africa's self-styled "Paris Hilton" Khanyi Mbau, who pulled her own sushi stunt shortly after Kunene's. "In a way she's only there for excess but she's not a big player like any of the others are -- corruption. She's just a lightweight," said Shapiro.

Spitting on the faces of the corrupt

Zapiro may be facing yet another lawsuit from Zuma, but if his latest cartoon is anything to go by, the famed cartoonist is not going to be ...

6:19 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

SA – Big Question Time

By Iain Robertson South Africa is at a tipping point. We have a Government that seems to have lost the plot. It is fighting paper tigers in the media while we head towards an economic Armageddon with increasing rapidity. The rapacious plundering of the economy by the not-so-good in Government, their relatives and friends looks more and more like rats deserting the sinking ship. <img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5538403977150930290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib_F56Lvm1MSgYMWXq9-RcE6Tm9jF1XKjpkXRWN8t2nr6leXwP2JUnmK7_gyyqwoMPAVZAaS1OLc4SFTS3m4fMx5YzAIBcuFe2ovHzsQs_WlPZ_yfTCw1eRXvaPoXdZqwuVCg8zDYYUivB/s400/anc-fail.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 122px; CURSOR: hand" />But the real story is even worse. We do not have the skills to turn our economy around, we do not have an education system that can provide us with the skilled people in sufficient time, and even if we did, we do not have the warm bodies of a suitable age to receive that education. Point 1 – a people crisis: <ul><li>A population of 52 Million or so, plus an estimated 10 Million legal and illegal immigrants. </li><li>The official unemployment rate is given as around 25%. Unisa calculate 45%, and the advertising industry use a figure closer to 65%. </li><li>About 20 Million people are dependent on welfare grants </li><li>5.7 Million people are HIV positive, dying at a rate of about 1000 per day, mostly in the economically active 15-45 age group. </li><li>Average life expectancy has tumbled from 60 in 1990 to 40 today </li><li>Disengaged, functionally illiterate, innumerate and uneducable individuals in youth and middle age </li><li>By 2015, 32% of all children will be AIDS orphans </li><li>There are about 5.3Million registered taxpayers, of whom 1 Million or so are Government employees, thereby just moving tax income from one pocket to another. Of the remaining 4Million or so, about 1 Million provide 75% of the tax income. According to Mike Schussler and others, an unsustainable economy.</li></ul>Point 2 – an environment crisis <ul><li>Dysfunctional electricity reticulation and generation </li><li>An unmaintained and disintegrating physical infrastructure. Most roadway bridges have not been maintained for the last 15 years </li><li>Less than 5% of the sewage plants in the country (around 30 out of 930) operate correctly </li><li>Just over 10% of all municipalities (30 out of 280) can provide clean and safe drinking water </li><li>Water with the acidity of lemon juice will flood central Johannesburg and poison the Gauteng environment in about 18 months time, the legacy of gold mining.</li></ul>Point 3 – a governance crisis <ul><li>A wholesale loss of skills and expertise from 1994 onwards as experienced and competent civil servants were replaced with deployed ANC cadres. A simple replacement, no handover or skills transfer </li><li>The concept of “a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay” has gone out of the window. </li><li>Relocation (theft) of state funds by tampering with contracts, tenders and pay-offs has become an acceptable secondary income stream </li><li>The result - large areas of society are governed by thieves and incompetents</li></ul> What is suddenly different ? While the gradual erosion of government could be hidden a facade could be maintained, but as soon as the electricity crisis hit, followed by the admission of a forthcoming sewage and water crisis, the inadequacies in governance were literally brought home to citizens. Questions were then asked about missing RDP homes, RDP homes that fell apart after a very short period, and the general appalling level of service delivery. The Emperor then had no clothes. The outcome of the realisation that governance is failing is already being seen. Self-help is now the order of the day as citizens bypass formal government structures that are unable to deliver. Communities repair roads themselves, pay for additional teaching and medical staff in their schools and hospitals. Black communities are demonstrating and physically attacking local and national government buildings. Voices are arising in all communities that they are paying at least twice for everything, once as tax, and a second time to provide paid-for services that are not delivered. At some point very soon, they will stop paying the first time and let the Revenue know in no uncertain terms. We are now beginning to see Government react. It is trying to close down avenues of information, by preventing the media reporting on it, by attempting to close off areas of the Internet, and by adopting the philosophy that everything is secret unless deemed otherwise. Local Government is becoming increasingly dysfunctional and irrelevant. Where do we go from here ? Towards an increasingly autocratic society as we slip into the “African” model of a polarised economy of an ultra rich minority and a subsistence level majority. Unless something changes that is what will happen. It all depends on how we manage our Human Capital as individuals and as small businesses. Without adequate intellectual and human capital in ourselves, our businesses and our customers, we will not be able to regenerate our society. The next year is critical.

SA – Big Question Time

By Iain Robertson South Africa is at a tipping point. We have a Government that seems to have lost the plot. It is fighting paper tigers in ...

12:39 PM

JMPD cops probed for bribery, assault, and, and, and ...

TWENTY percent of the Joburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) are corrupt, with cops soliciting bribes of R1 000, and others stealing R1 million. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMEJWe3J9UDP1N2iWbT0iSPZ-fxxw4oqIGZQsoypOPOy_plRHoY02WAibA4q3VqZ_Bieas5gj0W68EaryegoZKk8pUm7rCmmqa3q5o1uz0TZszcLQjiz5FW8JxP7mPJ1T6wT_9FGoNB57K/s1600/cops-jmpd.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535857825488683458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMEJWe3J9UDP1N2iWbT0iSPZ-fxxw4oqIGZQsoypOPOy_plRHoY02WAibA4q3VqZ_Bieas5gj0W68EaryegoZKk8pUm7rCmmqa3q5o1uz0TZszcLQjiz5FW8JxP7mPJ1T6wT_9FGoNB57K/s400/cops-jmpd.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 197px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 255px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>A REPORT before the City of Joburg shows that between April and June, 116 officers were investigated and though several cases have been concluded, not one officer has been dismissed or suspended. The charges include: officers insulting motorists; pointing a firearm at a motorist; and unnecessarily issuing fines; victimising, harassing and stalking motorists; and punishing motorists for not paying bribes. JMPD chief Chris Ngcobo has admitted the rampant problem in the ranks, and vowed that officers caught will be dismissed. Despite this, a report before the City of Joburg shows that charges brought against 116 JMPD members four months ago have not resulted in one dismissal or suspension. A report seen by The Star reveals that from April to June this year, 116 JMPD officers were probed by its internal affairs unit. Among the most serious complaints are allegations of bribery by on-duty metro police officers, soliciting kickbacks of between R200 and R4 000 from motorists. Other transgressions range from corruption to theft, fraud, negligence, assault and unbecoming behaviour, being drunk on duty, going Awol on a shift, negligence and causing damage to council vehicles....and, and, and In a status report, presented to it by the JMPD’s internal affairs director Abel Nkosi on October 6, the document states that of the 116 cases, 60 have been finalised, 31 were still under investigation, 16 were being prosecuted and six were unsubstantiated. A further three cases were registered under “duplication”, “undetected” and “referred to other municipalities”. There are 86 allegations of “unbecoming behaviour” against officers, making up the majority of the cases. 476 Metro Cops probed for bribery, assault MORE than 10 percent, or 476, of the Joburg metro police department’s (JMPD) staff complement have been investigated internally in the past year for allegations ranging from theft to bribery, assault and misconduct. But, of the 476 metro police officers probed by the service’s internal affairs unit, less than 4 percent – or a mere 19 officers – were dismissed. The disclosure by the City of Joburg policing service’s management follows exposés into what seems to amount to criminal conduct and abuses by JMPD officers. The cases were reported in the JMPD’s latest annual report. There are currently 4 326 JMPD staffers employed in the city. Of the 476 cases investigated, the majority of the allegations against the officers were of “unbecoming behaviour” (373 cases) and 20 cases of corruption and assault. The figures indicate that 205 of the cases had been resolved without the need for a disciplinary hearing. About 30 percent, or 149, of the cases initially laid with the JMPD were unsubstantiated when investigated further, and at least 10 cases were withdrawn. Of 43 officers who had gone through disciplinary procedures, 19 had been dismissed, charges against 12 had been withdrawn and four officers had been found not guilty. The remaining eight officers had received written warnings or an unpaid suspension ranging from two to 10 days. The offences covered in the annual report range from fraud to bribery, theft, assault, unbecoming conduct, going Awol, insubordination and damage to council property. The annual report covers the period from July last year to June this year. Ngcobo’s acknowledgement came just weeks after his internal affairs director, Abel Nkosi, reported to the council that at least 116 officers had been investigated internally between April and June this year. In the past year, the police’s internal complaints directorate had investigated nine cases of bribery, corruption, fraud, theft, assault and misconduct against the officers. About a month ago, members of the internal affairs division had handed a motorist a R4 000 bribe to drop corruption charges against a senior metro police officer. The motorist had gone to the JMPD’s Loveday Street offices in the Joburg CBD to complain formally about being forced to pay a R700 bribe to an officer at a roadblock – a conversation which he had recorded. The officers had then tried to make the case go away. In the latest case on October 10, Soweto resident Sibusiso Ntimba was allegedly beaten up and burnt on a hot engine by metro police officers because he had failed to produce his driving licence. Then, on July 28, a carpenter from Linden was allegedly assaulted and arrested by a group of metro officers after he had asked them why they were destroying a rock feature in his neighbourhood.

JMPD cops probed for bribery, assault, and, and, and ...

TWENTY percent of the Joburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) are corrupt, with cops soliciting bribes of R1 000, and others stealing R1 milli...

2:05 AM

South Africa P.I.G.