South Africa P.I.G.: MBEKI.

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Constitutional Court new battleground for Mbeki and Zuma

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguZMwOQWzvMsVTqBk4D1xrl8vDkZ_7T9cz3F5IAYxhQwj5K5T03yKAMV9OZE2tul3uDcy0N2hjQJ0u-wXOTsW4WxFaeGtwwxSO1kGuveBZn6VdpDCABtz8faHP7j4g16BNUXIfO0qcjOc/s1600-h/Mbeki-thabo.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264548372248172210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguZMwOQWzvMsVTqBk4D1xrl8vDkZ_7T9cz3F5IAYxhQwj5K5T03yKAMV9OZE2tul3uDcy0N2hjQJ0u-wXOTsW4WxFaeGtwwxSO1kGuveBZn6VdpDCABtz8faHP7j4g16BNUXIfO0qcjOc/s400/Mbeki-thabo.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 229px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 251px" /></a><a href="http://blogs.thetimes.co.za/hartley/2008/09/30/how-judges-are-deciding-sas-political-future/" rel="bookmark" title="Article Link (Permalink)">How judges are deciding SA’s political future</a> FORMER President Thabo Mbeki, his arch-rival Jacob Zuma and the National Prosecuting Authority will fight one final mighty battle in the Constitutional Court over the Judge Chris Nicholson judgment. Mbeki has already submitted an affidavit contesting the judgement and today the NPA did the same. Two judges - Hillary Squires and Chris Nicholson - have already given judgements that led to the unseating of the country’s two top politicians. Squires famous judgement in the Schabir Shaik case sealed the fate of Zuma, who was fired by Mbeki. Then Nicholson’s “inference” that Mbeki interfered in the Zuma prosecution led to the ANC firing Mbeki. Here is the full text of the NPA’s 16 point assault on Judge Chris Nicholson’s ruling setting aside charges against Jacob Zuma: <a href="http://blogs.thetimes.co.za/hartley/files/2008/10/npa-appeal-against-nicholson-ruling.pdf" onclick="javascript:urchinTracker ('/downloads/hartley/files/2008/10/npa-appeal-against-nicholson-ruling.pdf');" title="npa-appeal-against-nicholson-ruling.pdf">npa-appeal-against-nicholson-ruling.pdf</a> See also: Judge Chris Nicholson’s judgment on Zuma: Full text<a href="http://blogs.thetimes.co.za/hartley/files/2008/09/zuma-verdict.pdf" onclick="javascript:urchinTracker ('/downloads/hartley/files/2008/09/zuma-verdict.pdf');" title="zuma-verdict.pdf">zuma-verdict.pdf</a><a href="http://blogs.thetimes.co.za/hartley/2008/09/24/mbekis-affadavit-to-the-constitutional-court-full-text/">Mbeki’s affidavit to the Constitutional Court: Full text</a>

Constitutional Court new battleground for Mbeki and Zuma

How judges are deciding SA’s political future FORMER President Thabo Mbeki, his arch-rival Jacob Zuma and the National Prosecuting Authorit...

1:26 PM

ANC 'majority will be slashed' and allow for investigations into arms deal & Travelgate

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQZ6M2MKyMg-d8pAJJ9RtrxQ3B2TNJI92X1NKoHTYTjv5aZzFZFNq9andnfHEmyxjmD4cJZ1J46skpW1XfCfYmLF6ZMfdb_PorvJ6Ch3dUPuXAjb733ArrQ11682ffruQlkQ32ld6lH_Q/s1600-h/zuma6.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263067891060642642" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQZ6M2MKyMg-d8pAJJ9RtrxQ3B2TNJI92X1NKoHTYTjv5aZzFZFNq9andnfHEmyxjmD4cJZ1J46skpW1XfCfYmLF6ZMfdb_PorvJ6Ch3dUPuXAjb733ArrQ11682ffruQlkQ32ld6lH_Q/s400/zuma6.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 203px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 250px" /></a>While the ANC might win the elections next year, United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa is adamant that the party will no longer have a two-thirds majority in parliament. He was addressing a lively audience at the TUT/Pretoria News Public Lecture Series at the university's Pretoria campus on Tuesday night. According to Holomisa, the loss of the two-thirds majority will allow for the opening of investigations into the controversial arms deal and Travelgate, as the ANC has used its majority to block inquiries into the two issues. Holomisa described this as a healthy situation for the country's democracy. He said the rebellion that has occurred within the ruling party had not only divided the ANC, but had divided the country as well. "If they think Terror (Lekota) would be targeting only within the 600 000 card-holding ANC members, they are (fooling) themselves. "There are about 18 million voters out there and many of them are not happy with what has been happening," said Holomisa. He did not rule out forming a coalition with the breakaway movement led by the Lekota and former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa. "Whether we will go into a coalition with them will of course depend on how well they perform in the elections. "We have formed coalitions before, even with the ANC in Kwazulu-Natal because they were struggling to form a provincial government," said Holomisa. He attributed the current political crisis within the ANC to the controversial multi-billion rand arms deal that has seen ANC president Jacob Zuma fighting corruption charges. "Is it not ironic that both Zuma and former president Thabo Mbeki never got to finish their terms in office because of issues related to the arms deal? "It was controversial from the start because the White Paper by the parliament's defence review had made it clear that there was no immediate necessity to channel resources into arms. Instead it recommended that these resources be channelled towards the RDP," said Holomisa. Holomisa said the ruling party had justified the arms deal by saying it would create 65 000 permanent jobs and generate at least R4-billion in offsets and counter-trade. In reality, the cost of the deal had skyrocketed from an initial R29-billion to over R60-billion and costs were still mounting. "If this was the way of creating employment, why were poorer countries not just striking arms deals to create employment for their people?" he asked. Holomisa castigated ANC leaders like treasurer Mathews Phosa for making reckless statements about the country's economy. "He is not even in government but he was already assuring banks that they would be bailed out by the government if the current global economic crisis started to take its toll on South African banks," said Holomisa. Asked whether Zuma would be suitable as head of state, Holomisa said he could do well if he surrounded himself with better advisers than the ones he currently had. Holomisa asked why the ANC wanted a political solution to Zuma's legal woes while they maintained his innocence. "He even travelled to Mauritius to stop the use of evidence from documents against him, including a diary that does not even belong to him," he said.

ANC 'majority will be slashed' and allow for investigations into arms deal & Travelgate

While the ANC might win the elections next year, United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa is adamant that the party will no lo...

1:10 PM

Mbeki, master of his own fall from grace

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijbaPrfsj795yozl53L0aAO3jBDxKI2TiWIBLHozo7Sf6WzRnUhoCZW9Zm4GKsn6KPYX7kV3n0mlxEWWi5qI2_l3KbdC7hw45OLKrqEsql6cSt7g5AJOnLV6StXf1XQOpjsKBhydWoKYM/s1600-h/mbeki-out.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248616143474388114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijbaPrfsj795yozl53L0aAO3jBDxKI2TiWIBLHozo7Sf6WzRnUhoCZW9Zm4GKsn6KPYX7kV3n0mlxEWWi5qI2_l3KbdC7hw45OLKrqEsql6cSt7g5AJOnLV6StXf1XQOpjsKBhydWoKYM/s400/mbeki-out.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>He was not afraid to use the country’s institutions against his political rivals THABO Mbeki was the architect of his own political demise. His leadership style, as both president of the ANC and of the country, was autocratic. Mbeki did not take kindly to being challenged, neither on social issues such as HIV-Aids, nor politically. In a televised tirade by the late minister of police, Steve Tshwete, i n April 2001, Tshwete accused Cyril Ramaphosa, Tokyo Sexwale and Mathews Phosa of plotting to topple Mbeki at the ANC’ s 2002 national congress. The three leaders actually became the subject of a criminal investigation, simply because they dared to challenge Mbeki for the party top spot. Remember too the out-of- the-blue press statement issued by Jacob Zuma on April 3 2001. Mbeki’s then deputy made it clear he had no ambitions for higher office . “I have felt it important to state publicly that I have no intention or desire to stand for the position of the president,” Zuma said in that statement. Referring to rumours and “unverified, so- called intelligence reports” that he would challenge Mbeki for the ANC presidency, Zuma told the world of his undying love for, and loyalty to, Mbeki. What Zuma also unwittingly told the world was that Mbeki was someone to be feared. The events of 2001 foreshadowed the titanic battle that was to come. It was clear that Mbeki was not afraid to use state institutions against his political rivals. Mbeki governed, or rather ruled, the country through fear. He created the conditions that would enable, as one commentator put it, people who “share a collective pain” to take their revenge against the man who wronged them. So, scores have now been settled. But at what cost to the 40-million or so South Africans who just want to live in a stable and prosperous democracy?

Mbeki, master of his own fall from grace

He was not afraid to use the country’s institutions against his political rivals THABO Mbeki was the architect of his own political demise. ...

2:39 PM

Zim is a bitter lesson for South Africa

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPrh0xvaAQfRlF0EiI6W3pKahL7RrkIyil3rnwsgTF3Bcq0GKdITuxjUHTmVEFxhI0remhViKm0ilft8O_3c4EH_B7sual6aZz20cHXUXvptUY_kxXIBkdTkb0ddxg2IaWEbw1GI61VWs/s1600-h/panicebutt.bmp"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234753797682365810" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPrh0xvaAQfRlF0EiI6W3pKahL7RrkIyil3rnwsgTF3Bcq0GKdITuxjUHTmVEFxhI0remhViKm0ilft8O_3c4EH_B7sual6aZz20cHXUXvptUY_kxXIBkdTkb0ddxg2IaWEbw1GI61VWs/s200/panicebutt.bmp" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>There are murmurs in many quarters concerning signs that the gloss on our democracy, and therefore our country, is fading fast. Some say we have cause to worry, while others say we should be alarmed and another group believes we should press panic buttons. It is observed that the promise we held as one of the beacons of hope on the continent in terms of our democratic constitution, supporting institutions and legal arrangements, is receding; that the efforts made by many in the past 14 years to entrench democratic processes and practices in our country are being undermined by others in pursuit of dishonourable goals. Those expressing concern about the fast-deteriorating state of our democracy, point to the following: <ul><li>The embarrassing shenanigans at the SABC and attempts by parliament to control the public broadcaster in an intimidatory manner. </li><li>A section of the police service breaking the law by blockading roads and engaging another section of the police in a shooting skirmish that left the country shocked, while to date, no arrests or disciplinary measures have been instituted. </li><li>Determination to reconfigure the law-enforcement agencies even against the fierce opposition of the citizens. </li><li>The frequent attacks on the judiciary in a manner that suggests intimidation or erosion of its dignity and integrity. </li><li>The apparent developing tendency to shut down dissenting views. </li><li>The timid and servile manner in which the Human Rights Commission (HRC) handled the several public utterances about "killing" and "eliminating" people. </li><li>Frequent cases of corruption published in the media relating to the public sector. </li><li>The frightening spectacle of soldiers marching in full uniform in the streets, demanding more pay. </li></ul>Concerned South Africans contend that all these point to a gradual and cumulative undermining of state institutions that will have dire consequences if not arrested. Shortly after independence, Zimbabweans enjoyed a vibrant political environment in which political discourse took place on radio, TV, the university and other public forums. Zimbabweans of all shades of opinion walked tall, secure in the knowledge that they were truly free in their own country. But gradually, the political space reduced in inverse proportion as intolerance on the part of the ruling party increased. The party, state and people were conflated. Criticism of the party became synonymous with counter-revolution and therefore enmity to the people of Zimbabwe. Incidents of corruption increased in tandem with the party and the government taking the masses for granted. The attitude seemed to be that it did not matter what the party or the government did or did not do, the people will always give their support. After all, Zanu-PF is the revolutionary party that brought liberation to Zimbabwe. The party was destined and entitled to rule Zimbabwe forever. Nothing else was conceivable. We all know how dearly the ordinary masses paid for this mindset. The people of Zimbabwe, who fought for their freedom, are now reduced to extreme poverty and are teetering on the brink of failed statehood. Millions of them have fled their country to seek survival in other lands. Instead of progressing towards prosperity and an improved quality of life of the people, the country is fast sliding into an economic wasteland. Some South Africans say, correctly, that we would be amazingly stupid if we did not learn the bitter lessons from beyond our northern border. Without functioning state institutions, South Africans have at best nothing, and at worst, chaos and mayhem. Somalia is the best example of what happens when organs of state collapse almost completely. You have a lawless society where the rule of the jungle takes over.

Zim is a bitter lesson for South Africa

There are murmurs in many quarters concerning signs that the gloss on our democracy, and therefore our country, is fading fast. Some say we ...

2:16 PM

Nkomo's ghost haunts Zimbabwe talks

<div align="right"> </div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAFPGfNYiJ11MZJ0Xs_-51e-kl5QAcBwrl8lqULDJsdsCBvVnt73r0XaqPw0UnPuy8rOOh1nxiEh4GDbn-SA-6kzABlSfIYX8We1m5pROmatKTD1_FUXBOtP06oxm94gkbeQ1Okk9OQ4A/s1600-h/mugabenkomo_getty466b.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234099080008852898" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAFPGfNYiJ11MZJ0Xs_-51e-kl5QAcBwrl8lqULDJsdsCBvVnt73r0XaqPw0UnPuy8rOOh1nxiEh4GDbn-SA-6kzABlSfIYX8We1m5pROmatKTD1_FUXBOtP06oxm94gkbeQ1Okk9OQ4A/s400/mugabenkomo_getty466b.jpg" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" /> </a>There is a ghost at the table around which the four principal negotiators have been sitting these last three days, trying to resolve Zimbabwe's political crisis. The talks are haunted by the spirit of the late Joshua Nkomo, whose fate stands as a warning to anyone trying to strike a deal with President Robert Mugabe. Joshua Nkomo was, broadly, Mr Mugabe's contemporary, and a Zimbabwean liberation leader of impeccable credentials. In 1980, at independence, he emerged as an alternative leader to Mr Mugabe. His support base was in Matabeleland in the south and west of the country. Ruthless campaign Mr Mugabe fought him for five years. He destroyed him in two ways. First he sent into Matabeleland the ruthless, North Korea-trained Fifth brigade. Thousands of Mr Nkomo's supporters were murdered and their bodies dumped in mass graves in a two-year operation known as Gukurahundi. Then - and this was a master stroke - Mr Mugabe reached an agreement with Mr Nkomo: a power-sharing agreement. Mr Nkomo was brought into the government as vice-president. Officially, the two political parties merged to form Zanu-PF, but in reality Mr Mugabe's party swallowed Mr Nkomo's Zapu party whole. Mr Nkomo was neutralised, destroyed. Mr Mugabe used what, on the face of it, was sold to the world as a power-sharing agreement to consolidate his own one-party state. It entrenched his dictatorship for 20 years. If Mr Nkomo - who died in 1999 - could speak from the grave, would he warn the opposition Movement of Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai not to walk into the same trap? Deadlock <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEQ-OM1u0YRgdse_pEcrT3C5eB8BNtj4xyEcW0frf2L2dn05rJVA5z1L7jCcMp2L_5T12WurRa9o0PtK9yjQOdvSvT3z_5OmsQ4JeTjXQ5N8sFzfsUb64bYqV-MVu9_V8byaf5uMJ9ptY/s1600-h/mug_tsvangirai2_afp226b.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234099675817964994" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEQ-OM1u0YRgdse_pEcrT3C5eB8BNtj4xyEcW0frf2L2dn05rJVA5z1L7jCcMp2L_5T12WurRa9o0PtK9yjQOdvSvT3z_5OmsQ4JeTjXQ5N8sFzfsUb64bYqV-MVu9_V8byaf5uMJ9ptY/s400/mug_tsvangirai2_afp226b.jpg" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" /></a> Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai have agreed on the need to share power. Mr Mugabe stays as president, Mr Tsvangirai becomes prime minister. But they are deadlocked on how much and what kind of power Mr Mugabe should retain. Mr Mugabe has in mind what you might call the Nkomo solution: he retains control of the military and security services that he has used so successfully to terrorise his way to successive election victories. In other words he retains the coercive instruments of real executive power. Mr Tsvangirai gets the economy to sort out. Mr Tsvangirai is not weak enough to have to accept this poisoned chalice. For one thing the European Union and the United States have both made it clear that they would not help fund a recovery package under a deal like this. Mr Mugabe makes hay with this, accusing his rival of being the candidate of Western interests, of resurgent British imperialism. This plays well in much of Africa, but it no longer plays well in Zimbabwe, where there is now real economic privation. On the contrary, the evidence is that there is immense pressure on the MDC from below, from the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans who have risked much and endured more. If they are afraid of anything now it is that Mr Tsvangirai will be tempted to settle. Many would see such a deal as an unforgivable betrayal. 'Bullying' <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYD13VFlOChsCvK38wACenq2B6lCiqnuzhCkqewaExc-aKKRcAAGmE7NQ2GnZnrTpqdvwBvc7bCrsl-M114LJGY0F9cwEmvX-sj74uzGs793wnFK1-k0MMhmV-99RHhEz3RAlOgRENQQw/s1600-h/mbeki_afplongb.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234101745187565490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYD13VFlOChsCvK38wACenq2B6lCiqnuzhCkqewaExc-aKKRcAAGmE7NQ2GnZnrTpqdvwBvc7bCrsl-M114LJGY0F9cwEmvX-sj74uzGs793wnFK1-k0MMhmV-99RHhEz3RAlOgRENQQw/s400/mbeki_afplongb.jpg" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" /></a> At the negotiating table it has been three against one - with Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Arthur Mutambara, who leads a minority faction of the opposition, joining forces with Mr Mugabe to put pressure on Mr Tsvangirai to accept the Zanu-PF power-sharing plan. Brave as he is, constancy is not one of Mr Tsvangirai's virtues. The talks have hung on whether he would bend to this pressure. There is much dark talk in MDC circles of intolerable bullying. But Mr Tsvangirai has not caved. He has shown more backbone than the other three had hoped. What he wants is the transfer of real executive power from the president's office to that of the prime minister. Mr Mugabe would stay on as head of state in a largely ceremonial role. The odds are stacked against that. The hardliners who run the military and security services are implacably against it. Mr Mugabe is negotiating for them as well as for his party. But Mr Tsvangirai has two strong cards: the first is that he holds the key to an internationally funded recovery programme, which cannot happen without him; and time is on his side. In South Africa, Thabo Mbeki has less than a year left in office. His likely successor, Jacob Zuma, has been much more critical of Mr Mugabe, and his party, the African National Congress, has openly accused Mr Mugabe of bringing the liberation tradition into disrepute. It is in Mr Mugabe's interests to strike a deal before Mr Zuma takes over. The parallels are not exact - this is not 1987. Joshua Nkomo did not, then, hold the cards that Morgan Tsvangirai holds now. Robert Mugabe is finding that it is no longer so easy to swallow the opposition whole and go on governing, unchallenged.

Nkomo's ghost haunts Zimbabwe talks

There is a ghost at the table around which the four principal negotiators have been sitting these last three days, trying to resolve Zimbab...

1:09 PM

Official: Mugabe and Mbeki are hottest new celebrity couple

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnocBb5BNvFQmuWqyeIxdWt1dVC7xEYHS0sHX1a3OK4PsVuWNmoWZ9OR5p1rjTva87jzi8_6Eji21Pc6Zuv8oPITmI5g2knsPCHcuXYIJ907aA6BoNUUKLB2NqzO_1imzu1uYk6zADjOo/s1600-h/mugmbeki.jpg"></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtSejnSFnimF4Uo_xlV8arbSRT1G0wn-xs5fArQKME6CIM8jA_USqON6q18KxdzPIAUKzGNKlwnwNkYJgKuIK0vv0dlVAVgrruF-S2vUePmFXQHawkEvTBIoaSJhdWRXRY4N_arWMLlLw/s1600-h/mugabe_mbeki.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233363919633248402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtSejnSFnimF4Uo_xlV8arbSRT1G0wn-xs5fArQKME6CIM8jA_USqON6q18KxdzPIAUKzGNKlwnwNkYJgKuIK0vv0dlVAVgrruF-S2vUePmFXQHawkEvTBIoaSJhdWRXRY4N_arWMLlLw/s400/mugabe_mbeki.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>PRETORIA. After months of speculation Robert Mugabe and Thabo Mbeki have confirmed that they are in fact an item, and have been seeing each other privately "for years". Holding hands shyly in their first public appearance since Mugabe's attempt at rigging last month's general election, 'Mubeki' said they hoped the world would respect their wishes. Asked what those wishes were, Mugabe said he hoped that "the whites and the gays" would stop trying to enforce "gay whiteness masquerading as democracy" on Zimbabwe's heterosexual black serfs. Mbeki said he neither supported nor rejected Mugabe's views on whites and gays. "It's not for me to say," he said, beaming proudly and looking radiant in a new black suit. "Robert is his own man. We love and respect each other. If he wants my opinion on an issue, he gives it to me. "Otherwise my role in our relationship is to look good, and to wipe the spit off his glasses when the whites and the homosexuals make him angry, and to bring him his slippers before bedtime." Asked what their plans for the future were, the celebrity couple said they were looking forward to some quality time on a game farm outside Harare. "I'm going to sleep for ten hours a day with cucumbers on my eyes," giggled Mbeki, giving Mugabe's hand a squeeze. "Robert says he's got some errands in the main vote-counting station in town, but I don't pry." And after that? Will there be a honeymoon for 'Mubeki'? "A world cruise," said Mbeki. "We're going everywhere!" "Except England," added Mugabe. "And the International Criminal Court in The Hague." <a href="http://www.hayibo.com/">www.hayibo.com</a>

Official: Mugabe and Mbeki are hottest new celebrity couple

PRETORIA. After months of speculation Robert Mugabe and Thabo Mbeki have confirmed that they are in fact an item, and have been seeing each ...

1:36 PM

South Africa in a State of Disintegration

<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230923112281822994" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWPKIDdxujgKMCnsGggtkszED7syBLY5WFARUIQqjMawD4TEWwRnrisw0E6JyeHKqhlVPmiiCue6GT7Dx53l176tshrX1XOo4_j7RTNlnabZwm5QdJNx8uaV6jYo4piAUUzLCxElsBdVA/s400/Monkey-Mad488%5B1%5D.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" />Discussions about the recent violence against foreigners have largely centred on the possibility of a third force, criminal elements and various government failures. What has not received adequate attention is the fact that the violence together with other signals, like rampant crime, corruption and the whole range of institutional failures - ESKOM being an example - are worrying signs that South Africa is in an advanced stage of disintegration. The Manuel-Mboweni boom, fuelled by tax cuts, low interest rates and a favourable commodity market, has for some time hindered us from giving due attention to the termites eating away at our institutional fabric. It is not surprising that these signs of disintegration are increasingly coming to the fore as the boom is coming to an end. The fact that the poor, for some years already the main victims of institutional breakdown, should be the first to show their frustrations should not surprise us either. To them the Manuel-Mboweni gamble, of going for growth at all cost, meant very little, because it hardly put a dent into unemployment. However, they are certainly feeling the hangover through rising inflation. Just the spark needed for frustrations to boil over, which were unfortunately directed at foreigners. The roots of South Africa's slide towards disintegration can ultimately be traced back to the ideas of the ruling elite and poor leadership. The ideas have been in head-on collision with the realities of modern South Africa, since the start of majority rule. The most prominent of these ideas are the doctrines around workers' rights, free trade, pan-African nationalism and transformation. The realities on the other hand are more complex. The ANC inherited from the Apartheid regime the most advanced economy and infrastructure on the African continent. These were held together by sophisticated systems administered and maintained by public and private institutions in which senior civil servants and businessmen carried with them the values, knowledge, skills and experience passed down from previous generations. These were their inheritance from their cultural links with the West. So although South Africa is on the African continent, as a modern state,"it is in fact the cultural product of the Western imagination that was for decades developed and held together by a tiny elite within the white minority. With fears of being numerically overwhelmed and belief in their cultural superiority, the white minority, for much of the 20th century, restricted the access of blacks to this advanced economy. Those that did participate were merely instruments within systems rather than the designers and controllers of systems. While the roots of the black majority harks back to the traditional economy with its limited division of labour, poverty together with the complex wants created by the information systems of the market meant that all the restrictions could not withstand the magnetism of this advanced economy. Ideas of segregation were finally thrown onto the scrapheap of history with the advent of majority rule. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_VVpIL-t8AHTHOm7fAmvW-00OpU5ngMQ0_Vyw9h4XBlmSc1bxgOz5wcH5ekrCgliXdaZC3hMos8EOHskZaPMggneIH-P1AUdxBFYCSAjdjHF-K-I_7xVq8WJSlbD-_aiPgmop9vO2eLE/s1600-h/banana-republic.JPG"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9mqVcxOf6cMIAONl2-CNiDl14K4IyluTde1lpQLVPZVYnCAUsVEgsOkhKbb7gtlIK-GrQ8NVTWoCHhkfr0Ro1Swbd9EEq280isgr36jLXaTvI9_KgLIpdMtUJsDHBYcU7WLSiiioUFuo/s1600-h/monkeybeer.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230928758958408610" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9mqVcxOf6cMIAONl2-CNiDl14K4IyluTde1lpQLVPZVYnCAUsVEgsOkhKbb7gtlIK-GrQ8NVTWoCHhkfr0Ro1Swbd9EEq280isgr36jLXaTvI9_KgLIpdMtUJsDHBYcU7WLSiiioUFuo/s400/monkeybeer.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>The millions of black South Africans that have made their way to urban centres, in effect trying to integrate into the white man's world, were however faced with an extraordinary adjustment. Coming from rural areas with limited division of labour arranged around personal attachments, they were suddenly required to navigate a complex and impersonal economic system. In addition, this world, because of its extensive manipulation of nature, requires systematic responses to man-made stimuli. The new entrants were therefore expected to quickly acquire the values and skills, which normally takes years to acquire and only through the effective involvement of strong institutions. What was and still is required of them is nothing short of a revolution of the mind without the aid of effective support systems. The main task that befell the ANC in 1994 was to try and create the environment and support systems to help integrate the black majority into this advanced urban based economy. The ultimate barometer of their success was to be the unemployment rate. Effectively integrating the bulk of the population into urban areas is a task with which no political and economic elite in post-independence Africa has succeeded. Indeed, the disintegration of Zimbabwe can ultimately be traced to the inability of that country's elite to integrate the black majority into the urban economy after independence, despite massive spending on education. Things came to a head when unemployment passed the 60 percent mark. The ANC has failed dismally. The expanded unemployment rate hovers around 40 percent and is set to rise as the boom turns into a recession. It has also become increasingly clear that the ANC leadership never understood their task in the first place. The ruling elite have instead entertained the nation with ideas and policies that do not only hinder integration, but is destroying the very institutions that should be at the forefront of that integration. Just a year after coming to power the government in its infinite wisdom passed the biggest barrier to entry for the new arrivals, the Labour Relations Act of 1995. Convinced by vested interest about the need for exclusive rights for workers and the supposed exploitative tendencies of white business, the government, with little regard for the millions pouring into urban areas, decided to protect those already in work from the new competition. In a strange way some within organised business also benefited, because the Act gave ample scope for grand collusion. Not just does it provide for uniformity in wages and benefits within sectors, smaller firms can also be squeezed out by agreements unaffordable to them. The outcome is that big business became hesitant to hire and small business, being at the mercy of bargaining councils, struggled to survive. Firms that should be at the forefront of integrating the new arrivals were instead forced to become capital intensive thus reducing labour input. The architect of all this madness was of course Tito Mboweni then Minister of Labour. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUTzc6a2siCZLT3ddZ8x_q6xWTZnLmbpxyHNJ47L1_Zp70QwzvBix-C4Q9JR7ncp18cWrrTn4HfRrpG2a0Oyv1hZEiQ41dzpxsvZbfP6wTy-3tGLpB_dt_EGnmp9CNLlbgcIvPHd66t_0/s1600-h/made_in_china2.jpg"></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaAg8yHzjAUp1YneCtldniVoqI5B5cDI4HrgtRF9RYoPHtOrTkXn-eyN2cvmuQakfBM9HOIF0szSxpRVJwObe8Phj9r_0SK8VAGlc4BXOie49cNVogp5CntugxZXMvFiSEtrcOZw5Gzlg/s1600-h/china-africa.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwvPur4ojNErEC4wxnKcwHX5pGGARxNwzDhkXV3D216mlRsd6jTzObeGRldVT266x1dIKrVAVYzYKDcq9G6fA92flS32Ix8r6o46_lrzMqS-JJ5a5IcFw7Ae9n1w0fNyaPoti77neLVDw/s1600-h/made_in_china1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230929265925881330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwvPur4ojNErEC4wxnKcwHX5pGGARxNwzDhkXV3D216mlRsd6jTzObeGRldVT266x1dIKrVAVYzYKDcq9G6fA92flS32Ix8r6o46_lrzMqS-JJ5a5IcFw7Ae9n1w0fNyaPoti77neLVDw/s400/made_in_china1.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>While Mboweni was putting up barriers to entry, Trevor Manuel, Minister of Trade and Industry at the time, came under the spell of free marketeers. After decades of protection, Manuel decided that some of South Africa's most labour intensive industries, like textiles and footwear, should feel the heat of international competition. With little time given for adjustment and a hostile labour regime these industries were simply thrown to the wolves. Foreign and especially Chinese competitors took over the domestic market with massive job losses. Industries that since the dawn of industrialisation have been at the forefront of integrating rural migrants into urban economies were left devastated. While these ministers were falling for ideas that restricted the demand for labour, Thabo Mbeki's accession to the presidency brought a renewed intoxication with African identity and solidarity, which were to have an impact on the supply of labour. One of the results of this intoxication was that national borders came to be seen as little more than colonial creations. First the electric fencing was removed then it was the turn of the Army who were replaced by an already overstretched and incompetent police. Protecting the borders was in effect left to crocodiles in the Limpopo River and lions in Kruger Park. Already unable to absorb South Africans into the formal labour market the country was soon faced with the prospect of having to absorb millions of refugees and economic migrants fleeing institutional break-down within their own societies. Of all the calamities that could have befallen South Africa's poor none is comparable to the range of policies that falls under that ideological umbrella called transformation. Sadly, while the poor is trying to enter the white man's world transformation is destroying it. When the ANC came to power they looked upon the sophisticated state left fay the Apartheid regime as though it was the product of nature and thus their African inheritance. They simply failed to acknowledge that this advanced state was not the product of the African imagination, but that of a small elite within the white minority. Like a village chief distributing land among his closest relatives and supporters the ANC under the slogan of transformation deployed cadres to public institutions with little regard for the values, knowledge, skills and experience on which these institutions depend for their survival. White managers were simply hounded out and with them went stores of institutional memory, acquired over decades. It did not take long for institutions, which use to function almost mechanically, to operate like patients with Alzheimers. Vital institutions, like the police, soon found it difficult to perform even basic functions. Within this environment statistics became a curse. Transformation's emphasis on quantity instead of quality means that institutions are in need of transformation if blacks are underrepresented, particularly at management level. Institutions dominated by whites should therefore be transformed. With transformed institutions lacking the conservative restraint normally accompanying experience they soon became the hotbed for the most off-the-wall ideas imaginable. Nowhere was that more prevalent than in the Education ministry. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgV3xJ8ROPWAnuEImqiKwWJBf_haDEJws6uflQMCWmCpyd78yMxkYuH6xAs9ZyhKloJx7ATKL0-JfIRZ8CmJh1IwfunGuwJd9_Ubh2bIonznwL__3TbnHr-QHxQiaZXSVdkUF7DQZ1DN4/s1600-h/libb4ed.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230787827152231666" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgV3xJ8ROPWAnuEImqiKwWJBf_haDEJws6uflQMCWmCpyd78yMxkYuH6xAs9ZyhKloJx7ATKL0-JfIRZ8CmJh1IwfunGuwJd9_Ubh2bIonznwL__3TbnHr-QHxQiaZXSVdkUF7DQZ1DN4/s400/libb4ed.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>For nearly two decades prior to majority rule black education, already the victim of Apartheid, was marred by unrest and a philosophy epitomised by the slogan "liberation before education." What was required after 1994 was to restore order and discipline as well as policies that would raise standards to levels already present at white schools. The main policy objective should have been to instil the values, knowledge and skills needed for an advanced economy, especially for the first generation of black South Africans With full access to it. These institutions should have been the main instruments catapulting the children of rural migrants into the white man's world. Tragically the transformed Ministry of Education became the hotbed for radicals. Lacking understanding of realities on the ground Ministers Bengu and Asmal introduced reforms, advocated by liberals whose faith in human nature meant that their ideas were founded on the belief that values are subjective. In other words, individuals should decide their own values. Instead of values, knowledge and skills - the products of centuries of human ingenuity -, being instilled with almost military discipline, pupils, it was argued, must discover it themselves within an environment devoid of authoritarian pressures. It did not take long for schools to ask for metal detectors and security guards. Sadly, most schools in the townships have been further ruined by these reforms. Parents, who can afford it, simply send their children to former white schools for a decent education. However, even these are starting to feel the heat of transformation. Higher education also became the victim of radical ideas. Teachers' Training Colleges, for decades important vehicles to catapult those from poor communities up the social ladder, were simply closed down. Instead, of dealing with dysfunctional black institutions the ministry simply decided to merge many of them with previously white institutions, thereby spreading their problems like a disease. Even in higher education statistics became a curse. Pressured to increase black participation, institutions, fearing huge failure rates and thus losing subsidy, simply forced academics to increase the "throughput" rate. Pass rates in higher education, as is the case with the matric, have become gigantic exercises in deception. Transformation wherever it has been applied has been an unmitigated disaster. Much of the sophisticated systems that used to be administered and maintained by that tiny elite within the white minority seem to have simply evaporated. Formally respected institutions, like ESKOM and the Land bank, have been ruined by incompetence, corruption and maladministration. Not a day goes by without South Africans being informed about corruption in some public entity, The complete lack of accountability in effect means that migrants trying to integrate into this sophisticated society are seeing it disintegrate before their very eyes. All that they hear from the politicians is that there is lack of capacity and thus service delivery, while the rich simply turn to the private sector - still controlled by the white minority - for security, education and health care. The millions that have tried to enter the white man's world have been left desperate. Daily glimpses of it on television have merely added to their frustration. Job scarcity has devastated family life, already left fragile by Apartheid. Not only are parents unable to transfer values and skills needed for an advanced economy, they have been unable to acquire it themselves. Family life also has to cope with the destructiveness of modern popular culture with its emphasis on the gratification of the senses. With a range of institutions, like the family and schools, malfunctioning, together with the devastating impact of AIDS. 'urban life for these migrants has become a Hobbesian world in which life is "nasty, brutish and short." <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoLkT8jVAVQIWe9WRwf8M3Jccq9f6xm02sxyvyCPj-CT4yqR2Nnt7cvWatVjkmblNk97_V9UU7_DMZV5GGyAejzV7U3ufVTTSjybkHg57BCzC2ksNik94r8oCZL3-zlGtxlig7xqW-7Ac/s1600-h/monkey_thinking.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230935077722682978" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoLkT8jVAVQIWe9WRwf8M3Jccq9f6xm02sxyvyCPj-CT4yqR2Nnt7cvWatVjkmblNk97_V9UU7_DMZV5GGyAejzV7U3ufVTTSjybkHg57BCzC2ksNik94r8oCZL3-zlGtxlig7xqW-7Ac/s400/monkey_thinking.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>There can be no doubt that Thabo Mbeki is in an intelligent man, indeed some boast that he is blessed with native intelligence. Nevertheless his behaviour in office has put great doubt about the way that intelligence was cultivated. It seems as though, like many of the migrants to urban areas, he has yet to undergo that revolution of the mind so as to efficiently navigate and protect an advanced and impersonal society. President Mbeki it seems is unable to distinguish between a person - who within the history of a nation is but like a fly of a summer - and a principle on which institutions and ultimately the future of nations depend. When forced to in effect choose between President Mugabe and the principles of private property and democracy on which the whole of Zimbabwe depend, he settled for his friend Mugabe; when forced to choose between Manto Shabalala-Msimang and the principles of accountability that underpin the health system, he chose his friend Manto; and when he had to choose between Police Commissioner Jackie Selebe and the principles that arc the foundations of the justice system, he chose his friend Selebe. All these, coupled with his questioning of mainstream scientific views around HIV and AIDS, put serious doubt about the way that native intelligence was cultivated. His alma mater Sussex University has a lot to answer for while South Africans can only hope and pray for leadership that will stop this slide towards total disintegration. Devon Windvogel Lecturer in Economics and Economic History University of KwaZulu-Natal

South Africa in a State of Disintegration

Discussions about the recent violence against foreigners have largely centred on the possibility of a third force, criminal elements and var...

2:14 PM

Mbeki and Zuma in Billion-Rand arms-deal bribes

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ1KVaZ1J7Sug8KVqUWbwpevuiBob5kDj6M1DfSsVng1e4VjF-3rE1-JyTtlwLqr9eifTypqXgew8LcMPH_oqi5fg33R3SJxA0C_JP04lIsncvxrMUyGoCtPNRxH979DmIJ-SY_aVnlx8/s1600-h/zuma-mbeki.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230274906010665618" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ1KVaZ1J7Sug8KVqUWbwpevuiBob5kDj6M1DfSsVng1e4VjF-3rE1-JyTtlwLqr9eifTypqXgew8LcMPH_oqi5fg33R3SJxA0C_JP04lIsncvxrMUyGoCtPNRxH979DmIJ-SY_aVnlx8/s400/zuma-mbeki.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>The Billion-Rand Dud Secret report fingers both men in arms-deal bribes. President Thabo Mbeki is alleged to have received R30-million from a German industrial giant to ensure it won the submarine contract in democratic South Africa’s first arms deal. He allegedly gave R28-million to the ANC and R2-million to former deputy president Jacob Zuma. This shocking allegation has surfaced for the first time in a highly secretive investigation by a UK-based specialist risk consultancy. The cloak-and-dagger world of big business, greedy opportunists, dodgy dealings, outrageous promises, explosive reports and expensive gifts ... the Sunday Times encountered them all in a six-month investigation into the submarine deal. We interviewed arms dealers, military experts, economists, politicians, lawyers, industrialists and academics, and scoured highly confidential reports. We also uncovered the suspect practices that helped favour the German company during the fiercely fought bidding war, including the irregular practice of using correcting fluid to alter documents. We further reveal warnings in several authoritative reports at the time that the exorbitant cost of the deal could severely impact on the economy and that South Africa could ill afford to pay billions for weapons it did not need. Mbeki brushed these aside. In another twist, we found that the first of the three submarines has spent most of the past six months out of the water, plagued by serious defects, and that the navy has neither the money nor the resources to run the vessels. Secret report fingers both men in arms-deal bribes Mbeki took R30-million and gave some to ZumaSix-month Sunday Times investigation reveals: <ul><li>A bit of Tipp-Ex helped Germans clinch winning bid </li><li>Mbeki ignored warnings country could not afford deal </li><li>First of navy’s three new submarines has serious defects </li><li>New navy deal now on cards for arms we should have bought in the first place </li></ul>

Mbeki and Zuma in Billion-Rand arms-deal bribes

The Billion-Rand Dud Secret report fingers both men in arms-deal bribes. President Thabo Mbeki is alleged to have received R30-million from...

6:55 PM

Dud Sub Germans sold to SA in shady Arms Deal

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQabHV_lWYBCSVpke8DOZBDWcMoWKLAvy6vaAiqj3Mdy_z92IzkqCv9pwd3zhm90KTm9VG8p2MDlZtMSXnryXXNQPs69UiZam2MUcOYCfNNB7uSkFzM0mo0Wn49W_L0uR67b7mT9bsWsw/s1600-h/armsdealdossier.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230101793233261698" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQabHV_lWYBCSVpke8DOZBDWcMoWKLAvy6vaAiqj3Mdy_z92IzkqCv9pwd3zhm90KTm9VG8p2MDlZtMSXnryXXNQPs69UiZam2MUcOYCfNNB7uSkFzM0mo0Wn49W_L0uR67b7mT9bsWsw/s400/armsdealdossier.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>The first of the three German Type 209 submarines bought in South Africa’s notorious arms deal has spent most of the past six months out of the water. SAS Manthatisi S101, delivered to Simon’s Town in April 2006, has been plagued by serious defects, including hull valve problems, and the vessel has languished in dry dock for months. Problems are not new to this vessel. On its maiden journey to South Africa from Germany, its snort-mast (air intake for diesel engine) housing imploded, putting the boat and its crew at risk. Some weeks ago, on returning to the water, S101’s batteries were flat. Contrary to correct procedure, the boat was connected to an onshore power supply, causing an implosion. As a result, the submarine is back on land again. The Sunday Times has also established that: <ul><li>The SA navy has only enough crew to man two of the three submarines; </li><li>As quickly as the navy trains submariners, they’re poached by the private sector for higher salaries; </li><li>The navy doesn’t have enough money to fully or properly operate more than two frigates and one submarine, and even less money available to maintain four frigates and three submarines; </li><li>When SAS Queen Modjadji S103, which arrived in Simon’s Town a few weeks ago, had to undertake its first safety dive in Germany, the South African crew refused to take part as they were too afraid; </li><li>A new navy arms deal is on the cards to acquire the kind of vessels that should have been bought in the first place; and </li><li>Cabinet has approved the purchase of a fifth corvette, an option built into the 1999 arms deal. </li><li>Yesterday, Department of Defence spokesman Sam Mkhwanazi sai d that the S101 submarine had had “normal” problems, including “hull valve challenges” that had been rectified. </li></ul>“Additional engineering changes for the entire class are planned to be carried out as the boats are being optimised for local conditions,” he said. He confirmed that crew numbers were a problem, saying that after spending a lot of money training submariners for the 209s, they had been lost to the private sector. “We want to ask the private sector to recruit and train their own people and to stop poaching ours,” said Mkhwanazi. Submarine allowances to retain crew were in the pipeline, he sai d. South Africa’s military strategy, he said, was to operate two submarines in peacetime and only bring in a third in the event of war. He denied that the crew of S103 had been afraid to do safety dives in Germany, saying they were not “contractually allowed” to complete sea acceptance trials prior to the handover. In the new arms deal, the navy wants to include at least six offshore patrol vessels, costing around R280-million each, and one or two helicopter landing vessels , capable of carrying troops, equipment, jeeps, helicopters and even a mobile hospital. These carrier vessels were designed specifically for peacekeeping and disaster relief work. Tenders for this new equipment could go out as early as next year. Mbeki’s justification for spending R30-billion on the arms package was so that South Africa could become the dominant peacekeeping force in Africa. But navy experts and inside sources say submarines are offensive weapons, not designed for peacekeeping purposes, and that the four frigates also do not meet the navy’s pressing need for vessels to protect SA’s fishing rights, gas resources and to deter the growing incidence of piracy and smuggling. Mkhwanazi said no final decisions had been made on new purchases and that the department was “engaged in internal processes” aimed at implementing a cabinet decision to buy the fifth frigate. Here’s what the Germans sold us <ul><li>The three Class 20 Type 209 1400MOD diesel-electric submarines have eight armament tubes and 14 on-board torpedoes. </li><li>They can stay at sea for 45 days, plus seven days’ emergency. </li><li>Each submarine has a complement of 30 crew. </li><li>The overall length is 62m, breadth is 7.6m and the sub can dive up to 200m. </li><li>Submerged speed is up to 20 knots, with a typical surface cruising speed of 10 knots.</li></ul><ul><li>The total cruising range is 10000 nautical miles. </li></ul><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230092048673553042" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ1vsoFA4bNz9KuyxyBQ3qkKOpp_C6UeSBBEmSBmxjdCrpLm4Yp3Fdf3gjiwY0QextGupcbCkAFJ3-uNRPK8nET2cfO6hffc4GISz4q8MgeCrsS0CzQceCG45BvdC51Oo5ZJFuvKlfU48/s400/armsdealS101.jpg" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" />SAS MANTHATISI (S101), the navy’s first Meko class 209 submarine arrives in Simon’s Town in April 2006 to a large welcome. The third and final submarine of this order, SAS QUEEN MODJADJI was handed over officially to the South African Navy last week and will arrive home in May, a little over two years after the first. Image: SA Navy<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230097573277436674" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDvTXKoTQDykQOzZiaP5kyx7J5EMgujP22rGzUJOYevItOiKXp0ETA1hEocAkYB3_mSOAWf_heCvkOeas8YvQNF2S-r4r2inzXL67c-nTPvucW2UhrF6fn1Lp8Y3KsBjubVRZ_zQOmQgM/s400/armsdealThe+SAS+Manthatisi+S101" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" /> Then and Now <img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230092969913793458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM3l3BmZcYV4loL2TGpsducB2Exal5H7vmAzy7hXM4HM9zq4RC818v0OZHosjr6rGjzH9iHmGCoTPBs5n1e1yirYaWn51fah5hcaeMq26nd3A0BCJ25S3uEZPB0RZwWvdxVWdnjvlchGM/s400/arms+deal+SAS+Manthatisi+S101.jpg" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" />The once-proud submarine languishes in a dry dock at Simon’s Town where it has spent most of the past six months, plagued by various problems.

Dud Sub Germans sold to SA in shady Arms Deal

The first of the three German Type 209 submarines bought in South Africa’s notorious arms deal has spent most of the past six months out of ...

6:49 PM

Voters ditch ANC

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUf-xfwO3mpIV5ofu4BEREBGrDAkv_phPprklNfEXma0r2k1e_O7jaIHv0LsbQkt7Ez8E9q87ZsKPe7OODPxFVVgfOzM8lpuws0ULVguqrGtbESrGGcVxmFPzCw8QSFzPT1PxmzrohNfY/s1600-h/mbekiLOSER.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5225242622448029394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUf-xfwO3mpIV5ofu4BEREBGrDAkv_phPprklNfEXma0r2k1e_O7jaIHv0LsbQkt7Ez8E9q87ZsKPe7OODPxFVVgfOzM8lpuws0ULVguqrGtbESrGGcVxmFPzCw8QSFzPT1PxmzrohNfY/s400/mbekiLOSER.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>South Africans fed up with party infighting and leadership vacuum. The ANC fears losing control of at least three provinces in the next general election, following the results of an internal survey that has revealed a decline in support for the ruling party. Party leaders who attended last weekend’s national executive committee meeting have told the Sunday Times that the survey shows that the ANC is in danger of losing the Western Cape in the next election. Other ANC officials said there were also concerns that the party might lose the Northern Cape and is no longer sure of majority support in Gauteng. The ANC fears losing those provinces, as well as KwaZulu- Natal, to coalition governments. Losing Gauteng would be the biggest blow to the ANC as it is South Africa’s political and economic heartland. Several ANC officials have confirmed the existence of an internal ANC survey but said they were under strict instructions not to talk about it. This development comes as public confidence in President Thabo Mbeki and his government is plunging. ANC president Jacob Zuma’s popularity has remained stagnant. On Friday, ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe warned that the party faced the risk of “alienating voters” if the infighting in the party continued. Motlanthe — who was sworn in as minister in the presidency on Friday — said the party risked “dashing the hopes and aspirations of the masses”. Addressing delegates at the ANC’s Limpopo conference in Venda, Motlanthe said greed was destroying the party’s values and practices. “In many parts of our movement there seems to be a greater interest in contracts, tenders and government appointments than there is in the mobilisation of the motive forces. “We have noted that in many cases this has got nothing to do with political differences, but... access to positions in government,” he said. The secretary-general of the Inkatha Freedom Party, Musa Zondi, said there was a shift in South African politics, which was now “more about bread and butter issues”. He pointed out that the IFP had won eight of nine by-elections, making serious inroads in areas dominated by the ANC. And in the Northern Cape, Patricia de Lille’s Independent Democrats have swept all the by-elections in the province. Although there is traditionally low voter turnout in by- elections, they are seen as indicators of voter sentiment. De Lille said the decline in the ANC’s support base was a result of ANC factionalism and its impact on service delivery. She said the ANC could lose the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, North West and Northern Cape. The United Democratic Movement leader, Bantu Holomisa, claimed his party was gaining more ground against the ANC in the Western Cape and in some parts of the Eastern Cape. Opinion poll results due out today show that fewer than a third of South Africans and well under half of blacks think Mbeki is doing a good job as president. Just over a third of all South Africans and slightly more than half of blacks think Zuma is doing a good job as president of the ANC, the TNS Research Surveys poll found. A separate Ipsos survey of support for premiers and provincial governments showed a matching loss of confidence in ANC rule in most of the nine provinces. The biggest falls were in the Eastern Cape, the Western Cape and Mpumalanga. According to the TNS Research Surveys poll, Mbeki’s approval rating has fallen steadily from peaks of 66% ahead of the 2004 election, which marked the 10th anniversary of democracy, and again around mid-2005, when he sacked Zuma from his cabinet because of allegations of corruption linked to the R42- billion arms deal. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Z3o6KofqafI_ZIcJQrmCbCcz3aJE85LynbWpQob9ywhgV-ENi3m7SAEJ9Oeh4Cqv2uNXe42lEf-bnEzUgpwnUdGwV0w5V_3l38UnFxjmqr6dQJtRNF76zVqf8xoeWRVJCsQczHD3uio/s1600-h/ZUMATHUG.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5225257461392165106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Z3o6KofqafI_ZIcJQrmCbCcz3aJE85LynbWpQob9ywhgV-ENi3m7SAEJ9Oeh4Cqv2uNXe42lEf-bnEzUgpwnUdGwV0w5V_3l38UnFxjmqr6dQJtRNF76zVqf8xoeWRVJCsQczHD3uio/s400/ZUMATHUG.jpg" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>“As the president’s approval rating continues to fall, it is clear that, as yet, Jacob Zuma’s rating is not rising to fill what might be becoming a perceived leadership vacuum,” TNS Research Surveys pollster Neil Higgs told the Sunday Times. He said the poll showed coloured support for Mbeki at an all-time low of 15% and white support back down to its 2001 low of around 10%. The collapse of coloured confidence in Mbeki and that group’s failure to back Zuma could open a window for political change in the Western Cape, the country’s second-richest province. Asked whether Zuma was doing a good job in the ANC, 37% of all South Africans said yes, up from 36% in the February and April surveys. Approval among whites was up from 8% in February to 9% in June, a statistically insignificant change. Zuma’s approval rating among coloureds was steady at 11% in February and in June while among Indians it was down to 13% in June from 18% in February. Among blacks, 58% of men and 46% of women said Zuma was doing well. The survey shows that people are beginning to form opinions about Zuma, however. Those who answered “don’t know” were down from 26% in February and 24% in April to 19% in June. Democratic Alliance strategist and MP Ryan Coetzee said the figures highlighted the leadership crisis facing South Africa, but did not point to any easy gains for the opposition. Coetzee said the fall in support for Mbeki was partly a response to the crowd effect of kicking the loser, but it was significant that support was not swinging to Zuma. “They’ve got a loser in Mbeki and someone widely seen to be corrupt in Zuma,” he said.

Voters ditch ANC

South Africans fed up with party infighting and leadership vacuum. The ANC fears losing control of at least three provinces in the next gene...

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South Africa P.I.G.