South Africa P.I.G.: SA STATS

Showing posts with label SA STATS. Show all posts

Good stats, bad stats

by George Annandale Seems we are really making progress in this great year that saw the great African event of the century, the Soccer World Cup, taking place right here in our country. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigrGMTrMY-dmIm4isjuOyaMRCDi4JAb8K8VKniEHzkismE-AUihxbWtAjLbSz2d3NbrwUDozDrMwv9NsYrAw58YvT_Bn39Timo9RkBamecSbxUke4FddTGTlN_4NDiUMMxAt46hsU2Yn-X/s1600/crime-statistics.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515363438867978066" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigrGMTrMY-dmIm4isjuOyaMRCDi4JAb8K8VKniEHzkismE-AUihxbWtAjLbSz2d3NbrwUDozDrMwv9NsYrAw58YvT_Bn39Timo9RkBamecSbxUke4FddTGTlN_4NDiUMMxAt46hsU2Yn-X/s400/crime-statistics.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 385px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 296px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>Hot on the heels of the World Cup, we are told that our murder rate is down. We now, collectively, murder only 46.3 people per day compared to 50.7 in the previous year. That is not all. According to the Minister, all but one of the top ten violent criminals are in prison, the only exception being one Msilikathsi WaAfrica, a violent man who, according to the Minister, fought off an army of policemen and was only subdued once the Hawks, Budgies and Parrots stepped in to lend a hand in subduing him, after which he was brought to court where, unfortunately the case collapsed, probably as a result of corruption in the National Prosecuting Authority and he was released. Happily it is not only the murder rate that is dropping; it seems life expectancy is also dropping rather sharply, from 65 years in 1995 to 47 years currently. It is no wonder then that health workers had to take a few days off, to celebrate this milestone and to demand a bit of monetary recognition for their efforts in controlling a rampant population growth rate. Talking about flagging fortunes, our Universities are putting in some stellar performances in the race to achieve African standards with the highest ranked SA university, The University of Cape Town, dropping in world rankings from number 146 to position 164. No wonder a local professor inferred that, given the current deterioration rate, we should soon have our universities competing with the top high schools of the world. Whilst the universities are making solid progress our basic education system has arrived. We are now officially ranked as the worst in Africa. No mean achievement I have you know. We should however not rest on our laurels. If we can stop the striking teachers from sending their children to functioning former Model-C schools, we can still aim lower. Let us however not deny these teachers their just deserved praise; without their dedication to cultural pursuits such as strikes and boycotts and the commitment of several education ministers and the ANC to transform to African standards, we would never have reached this great point in our history. However, like all great champions, this title should not be allowed to go to our heads. If we can get rid of the remaining Model-C dinosaurs and the private schools with their haughty teachers and all we can plunge depths never seen before. As in all things, everything revolves around money. Money obtained from selling and trading things; things that have to be manufactured and produced competitively. Well; we shall not be disappointed. Our efforts over the last 15 years are also being rewarded with the exhilarating, but not unexpected, news that South Africa has dropped nine places, from position 45 to 54, in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Ratings. For a few years now we have just seemed to have gotten ourselves stuck around 45; unable to achieve that critical break through. Now finally – thanks to our remarkable education system, the relaxed disposition of our workers and a shift away from old western styled business leadership, we have finally dropped through that barrier that, to some, must have what seemed like a solid wall of burning tyres.

Good stats, bad stats

by George Annandale Seems we are really making progress in this great year that saw the great African event of the century, the Soccer World...

10:41 AM

Idle minds, social time bomb

Nearly three million of the 6,7-million young South Africans in the 18-to-24-year age group were unemployed or not receiving education and training in 2007 -- and they pose a threat of “serious social disruption”.<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364591148609679506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEKKHcqZJ1vZFuZfE7OgV3sRvyeJCaQ60rEg4K4Jx7uzKcJSVFuJu7CS7YmbJKKMbZcRd-dL2_LAuA5Znk_MxL3sfdiOoHVsW8uj1izL0M-roCs1PtaL-IXSFOyf5vqobvUgcnV2j8-1o/s400/BLACKS-sudansmoke.jpg" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 258px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" />These facts have been revealed by research funded by the Ford Foundation and undertaken by the Cape-based Centre for Higher Education Transformation and the University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) Further Education and Training Institute. Youthful protesters have been central to the current wave of service-delivery unrest, notably in the East Rand township of Thokoza. Conducted last year using Statistics South Africa’s 2007 Community Survey and education department statistics, the study, “Responding to the educational needs of post-school youth”, says that of the 2,8-million who were unemployed and not in education institutions, 44% are African and 41% coloured.” Reasons for young people not being in education or jobs include: <ul><li>Lack of a diverse post-school public or private college sector; </li><li>Reduction in educational opportunities because of institutional mergers; </li><li>Failure of the sector education and training authorities to provide adequate learnerships; </li><li>Less labour market absorption because the government is not meeting the Asgisa target of 6% annual economic growth; and </li><li>The uncontrolled introduction of more than two million relatively well-educated foreign workers into the labour market. </li></ul>John Butler-Adam of the Ford Foundation speculated that most idle youngsters are “at home, or wandering the streets, or both. Joining gangs will be an option -- a social security blanket” -- and crime is an option. “They could be a social time bomb and could start taking social action. They are a lost generation and need to be found,” he said, referring to recent looting by beleaguered unemployed people at a protest in Durban. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdf56RptmIMoX5RIKAJHRQaW_BYKP2X1FrdMRQvxwXpaNtdBbP8WYCPG8Y1g0R3PK0V893K7rjKfvxwhOMzRc649B25rnTGM7AcOCfQX6U6PNhYPRj8lpe4X9SW37MGYKTezXxX5JcaLk/s1600-h/crime-society.jpg"></a>The study examined attendance at educational institutions in the 18-to-24-year age group for 1996, 2001 and 2007. While South Africa’s population grew and more learners were studying, in real terms there was a decline in the number attending educational institutions. While 46% of 21-year-olds were studying in 1996, this dropped to 36% in 2001 and 32% in 2007. At the same time, the number of learners in secondary schools has grown. In 2007, 508 600 youths had not reached grade 10; and almost a million left school after completing grade 10. “This is not only an enormous waste of educational resources, but it is also the group that seems the most vulnerable to unemployment,” the study points out. They warn that “the decrease in participation [in educational institutions] for the 18-to-24-year age group severely affects the life opportunities of young people”. Butler-Adam believes learners could be dropping out before reaching grade 10 for financial reasons, or because they are “frustrated that schools are not serving them well and could drop out, ” he said. Pointing out that the number of unemployed youths not receiving education or training has increased since 2007, he warns that the number will continue to grow each year as young people leave school without completing grade 12, grade 12 leavers fail to find jobs or gain access to universities and university students drop out. The report of the study argues for the expansion of educational and training and internship opportunities and special youth-service programmes. In particular it recommends that the existing Further Education and Training (FET) vocational college sector be enlarged and strengthened. One option is for some FET colleges to be franchised by universities to offer programmes and award credits towards university degrees. Seamus Needham of the University of the Western Cape said public FET colleges are running three-year programmes, but learners needed to earn an income. “It’s not a realistic option,” he said, adding that shorter courses are needed. Butler-Adam agreed that a wider range of educational institutions is required to absorb the youth. But he said: “We can’t afford to continue like this. We need people with skills, who pay taxes and strengthen and enrich society.”

Idle minds, social time bomb

Nearly three million of the 6,7-million young South Africans in the 18-to-24-year age group were unemployed or not receiving education and t...

4:30 AM

While fatcat politicians splurge on luxuries ...

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXmcn2jITy-AhYKQpP3A8NzjHl-BFi2eOGZNvYDW0vK2nABto95SyMfHUIxNsyOTYs86k3SNC__AZuAObfJr6lkWuYwHtmGG2CXmKDK_dS2GpQzkDdLA0MFwhF3u4AW2dif1XuDjcdqmU/s1600-h/nig_image71.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364456936497815090" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXmcn2jITy-AhYKQpP3A8NzjHl-BFi2eOGZNvYDW0vK2nABto95SyMfHUIxNsyOTYs86k3SNC__AZuAObfJr6lkWuYwHtmGG2CXmKDK_dS2GpQzkDdLA0MFwhF3u4AW2dif1XuDjcdqmU/s400/nig_image71.jpg" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 298px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" /></a> Black politicians deserve to live in luxury and to be treated like billionaires, because it sends a message that their subjects are worthwhile people. Only white people really moan about black politicians' expensive habits, because deep down they feel only white people should be entitled to such privilege. How am I doing so far? Wait, there's more. For decades of apartheid and centuries of colonialism whites took it for granted that they should live like kings. Well, white rule was overthrown by the revolution of 1994, and now it is the turn of black people to enjoy the fat of the land. To deny them that is to desire a return to the era of apartheid. It sounds obscene if you put all these excuses for the vulgar materialist excesses of the ruling fatcat politicians and public servants in one place. But I have heard these excuses and versions of them many times from the likes of ANC Youth League jokers, Luthuli House apparatchiks, ANC-aligned intellectuals, BEE beneficiaries, journalists and columnists in the pockets of ANC millionaires and even from propagandists of the Communist Party. But I've been around the block a few times. I've heard many variations of these excuses before, uttered in defence of the politician thieves of the old Zaire, Angola, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea. I have also heard accusations that whites don't criticise the American or European politicians who also get paid vast amounts of money and live in luxury, they only criticise African leaders. Having considered all these excuses properly, I still want to make a few remarks about the way the present government and ruling party are flashing their ultra-luxurious lifestyles, homes, cars, clothes and parties in the faces of millions struggling to feed themselves and their children and put a roof over their heads. And yes, I am classified as a white person. It is my considered opinion that if the president of the ruling party and the country, Jacob Zuma, was indeed serious about his concern for the welfare of ordinary South Africans, he would not have allowed the presidential residence in Durban to be renovated at a price of R150 million; he would have scaled down the cavalcade of expensive new 4x4s and luxury sedans accompanying him wherever he goes from in the 30s to four or five; and he would have slashed his own lavish expenditure on inaugurations, official receptions and parties. Instead, Zuma asks for more patience from service delivery protesters and striking workers, saying it is unfair to criticise the new administration as it is still finding its feet. No, Mr President, it is unfair of you to ask workers and the unemployed to be patient while you and your party and your ministers and senior public servants spend tens of millions on extravagant luxuries. While your comrades in government, including those from Cosatu and the Communist Party, buy the most expensive cars and live it up like royalty, the number of citizens who have given up looking for work has risen to 1.52 million - that is on top of the 4.13 million people registered as unemployed. That means a minimum of 5.65 million South Africans who are potential breadwinners no longer have a regular income. That translates to many, many millions of people when one takes these people's families into account. How do you, Mr President, and your comrades sleep at night when you look at these figures? Just this week the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs declared six district municipalities in the Eastern Cape disaster areas due to "ailing water and sewerage infrastructure". These areas include the birthplaces of national icons Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela. The municipalities are not a lot worse off than many others. Do you close your ears when people tell you these things, Mr President? Do you quickly turn the page when newspapers report on them? If you reject my criticism because I'm white, let me tell you what one of Africa's leaders of the past, President Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso, said more than 20 years ago in Ouagadougou. Sankara said the problem with Africa was that Africans had gained formal political power but their minds were still colonised. They were Africans but really wanted to be like their former colonial masters. Too many Africans suffered from self-loathing, he said. They are in perpetual conflict: they know and honour their own culture and ancestors, but part of them agrees with the European view that perhaps these are inferior and primitive. That was Sankara's take on why so many African leaders were "bathing themselves in gold". By the way, President Sankara's official presidential car was an ancient Peugeot 404 with a cracked windscreen.

While fatcat politicians splurge on luxuries ...

Black politicians deserve to live in luxury and to be treated like billionaires, because it sends a message that their subjects are worthwhi...

3:37 PM

30 percent want to leave South Africa

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkMQj4eHm9aEfp0doRemw-kOWg4vDDhwc1VUAa3Ro0gKQXRy1G9RD7BOO2A_ht7dUPO63U7maRjdMKmwFlD4OVK0bMCzLCedJSSiuBWr1S9RUqlui0gbSyjKkt7aPtCK9FJH_2oGZcKLqW/s1600-h/EMIGRATION-WHEREVER.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333254633239070146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkMQj4eHm9aEfp0doRemw-kOWg4vDDhwc1VUAa3Ro0gKQXRy1G9RD7BOO2A_ht7dUPO63U7maRjdMKmwFlD4OVK0bMCzLCedJSSiuBWr1S9RUqlui0gbSyjKkt7aPtCK9FJH_2oGZcKLqW/s320/EMIGRATION-WHEREVER.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" /></a>There is a clear link between political uncertainty and emigration, according to Grant Thorton's International Business Report survey released on Thursday. "This uncertainty needs to be resolved quickly so that business owners can play the major part required of them to ensure the economy remains strong," Leonard Brehm, national chairperson of Grant Thornton said. According to the survey, 30 percent of respondents had given serious consideration to leaving South Africa permanently. When asked why, 72 percent cited political uncertainty, which significantly increased from 15 percent last year, the survey found. A regional analysis revealed that political uncertainty prompted 81 percent of respondents in Cape Town to consider emigrating (15 percent in 2008) and 71 percent in Gauteng (three percent in 2008). In Durban and the Eastern Cape, 67 percent of respondents cited political uncertainty. In Durban this was 15 percent in 2008 and the Eastern Cape it was six percent in 2008. The survey found that 23 percent of businesses surveyed felt that political uncertainty impacted on their decision-making process.

30 percent want to leave South Africa

There is a clear link between political uncertainty and emigration, according to Grant Thorton's International Business Report survey re...

1:13 PM

Aids casts long shadow over Zuma presidency

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCdINUeI55smCLlcCNe6cyz6e_TG8zQASVyE8gsN13UOSYEZVxYsN57bJ_coP8aCfOjPqYv-8uwi5FGral6H2FVYOUMODa0Wq9ZwCC60r43USzsKiSEofRJ1fA1nHIOnvCZJr0sEyj4hHy/s1600-h/ZUMA-AIDSzapiro.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328575060094566818" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCdINUeI55smCLlcCNe6cyz6e_TG8zQASVyE8gsN13UOSYEZVxYsN57bJ_coP8aCfOjPqYv-8uwi5FGral6H2FVYOUMODa0Wq9ZwCC60r43USzsKiSEofRJ1fA1nHIOnvCZJr0sEyj4hHy/s400/ZUMA-AIDSzapiro.gif" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 275px" /></a>When Jacob Zuma is sworn in as president on May 9, he will not only inherit power and prestige, he will also inherit a country crippled by HIV and Aids. While opposition parties are anxiously waiting for the final results, some facts and figures remain unchanged. About six million South Africans are HIV-positive and 60 percent of those who desperately need ARV treatment still have no access to the drugs that could save their lives. This week marks 25 years since scientists discovered the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). At the time, the US secretary of health hailed the discovery as a major turning point in the battle against Aids and predicted it would take as little as two years for a vaccine to be available. Twenty-five years later there is little to celebrate. Optimists point out that at least the country's HIV infection rates have finally stabilised, but the harsh reality of statistics like these is that for the 1 000 South Africans who are infected with the virus every single day, another 1 000 die too young and with little dignity. The ANC describes South Africa's ARV treatment programme as "amongst the best and most comprehensive in the world", and with 700 000 people on treatment, South Africa does have the largest treatment programmes. At the moment, though, only four out of 10 people who need ARVs have access to them. This is despite the fact that the government approved the rollout of ARVs to all HIV-positive South Africans more than five years ago. The government's National Strategic Plan on HIV and Aids aims to provide 80 percent of HIV-positive South African with treatment by 2011. But lately no one has been feeling very optimistic about the government's ability to deliver on that promise. "As we're rolling that out we're coming up against massive constraints," says Lance Greyling, chief whip of the Independent Democrats. "Even rolling out to 80 percent will be hard, because we're experiencing massive difficulties now. We don't have enough health professionals and we don't have enough funding." Funding the Department of Health's ballooning ARV costs is a problem most political parties have been reluctant to tackle. But department director-general Thami Mseleku has made it clear that the Zuma government won't have the luxury of putting off the decision, saying earlier this year that "the numbers (of new patients) are very huge and are rising fast". He added: "As a country, we will get to a stage where we will never be able to afford the figures required for treatment." In the Free State that point has already come and gone - 15 000 people who were due to start treatment in November were told they would not get ARVs because the province had already used up its ARV budget. Last year the health department asked the Treasury for an extra R1 billion to meet the rapidly increasing number of HIV-positive South Africans who immediately need treatment; it got R300 million. "From a human rights perspective, we cannot even allow such a choice that because of constraints we are going to leave some people without treatment," says Deputy Health Minister Dr Molefi Sefularo. "But there is an element of realism in the government's targets and we have to accept that we won't be able to reach everyone. "People will always fall through the system." Reckless spending by the health department has been devastating in the past and the new Zuma government will be under pressure to show that it is as tough on corruption as it claims to be. The DA, for one, has raised questions about how the Kwazulu-Natal health department could afford to spend R824 586 on the opening function for a clinic in Greytown that cost R600 000 to build. The new health minister, Barbara Hogan, and her deputy have promised that under their leadership there will be "fewer parties with freebies and caps" and more focus on spending where it's needed - training nurses to distribute ARVs and supporting home-based care projects. The ANC has also promised to cut new infection rates by 50 percent through an aggressive awareness campaign. South Africa has a long history of ineffectual and misguided campaigns to raise awareness about the risks of unprotected sex and multiple partners, and both the ANC and opposition parties agree that in the future less needs to be spent on glossy magazine ads and more on face-to-face interactions in communities. Unfortunately, awareness campaigns are often overshadowed by political leaders and prominent celebrities who provide a never-ending list of people who "forgot to play it safe". The question is whether president-in-waiting Zuma can provide the leadership necessary to change the country's endemic attitude problem towards HIV/Aids. Cope says Zuma's statements during his rape trial are proof that he should not be trusted to bring a change in attitude among South Africans. "The fact that the ANC has chosen a man who does not take the issue of HIV/Aids seriously is something very devastating," says Cope spokesman Palesa Morudu. "We need to be serious about HIV/Aids and our views on women. "And we are not convinced that he can provide that kind of leadership." One suggestion put forward by almost all opposition parties is for government ministers and members of parliament to undergo public HIV tests, to encourage ordinary South Africans to get tested. "I hope more and more prominent leaders in government would step forward for voluntarily tests," says Sefularo. "It has always been the ordinary people who have taken the lead with many epidemics, but the elite do need to narrow the gap."

Aids casts long shadow over Zuma presidency

When Jacob Zuma is sworn in as president on May 9, he will not only inherit power and prestige, he will also inherit a country crippled by H...

3:21 AM

South African Governments 'publicity stunt convenience'

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaaasFWEhW76rCvYy3vQjEo2duYzJu3gFBrPGDhU0Z6Qfbhi-Boa4hl2ARjcgejlNm64RWhoEAuUQ696eC25QQj5Pr60gELa1BjLThoP1e-X00z0Z_d1ZtUzC2YO3tE0dWxi8ZdWXzFgKm/s1600-h/aa-road-deaths-sa.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326125643763855842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaaasFWEhW76rCvYy3vQjEo2duYzJu3gFBrPGDhU0Z6Qfbhi-Boa4hl2ARjcgejlNm64RWhoEAuUQ696eC25QQj5Pr60gELa1BjLThoP1e-X00z0Z_d1ZtUzC2YO3tE0dWxi8ZdWXzFgKm/s400/aa-road-deaths-sa.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 282px" /></a>Here you go... more fudging of statistics by this pathalogical lying Govt of ours. I also noticed the drop in the annual Easter road death toll. But I thought it was because there were fewer motorists travelling due to petrol pumps running dry at filling stations because of the truck driver's strike. Fortunately the Johannesburg Attorneys Association has spotted another cunning lying move by the ANC. The ANC is running around trying to pretend they're governing this country properly. This is no doubt the reason for pretending the road death toll dropped. The ANC are pathalogical liars who lie about EVERYTHING. So none of this comes as a surprise. More of the same. ANC LIES - Government's "disingenuous massaging of the facts". Attorneys question Easter road death toll The Johannesburg Attorneys Association on Friday called into question the Easter road death toll announced earlier this week by Transport Minister Jeff Radebe. It was "impossible" to calculate real fatality numbers so soon after the fact, said the association's Michael de Broglio. "Deaths resulting from serious injuries could not have been included yet," he said, adding that numbers always increased as some of the victims succumbed to their injuries. Radebe announced on Thursday that the 197 Easter road traffic deaths this year were 34 percent down on the 297 in 2008. He said 13 people died in two major accidents this year, while 45 people died in eight major crashes last year. However, the attorneys' association questioned the "publicity stunt convenience" of the announcement. "It makes for a great story at the end of every holiday period to compare total fatalities from the same period, the year before, to the quick-win positive-spin that the premature release of the number of fatalities so soon after the fact provides to Radebe," said De Broglio. The government had announced declines in road fatalities for several years now, but the reality, in retrospect, showed a "disingenuous massaging of the facts". In his announcement, Radebe said there had been a downward trend in road deaths over the past five years, explaining that: "Despite the apparent increase in the national death rate between 2004 to 2007, there may still have been an underlying long term downward trend." De Broglio said he failed to understand why - if fatalities, motor vehicle accidents and related injuries were down and there should naturally be fewer claims - the Road Accident Fund (RAF) needed legislative changes to reduce what it was paying out. "If the Minister's figures are correct, there should be a decrease in claims." Spin would not solve the long term problems increasingly making road safety a challenge in South Africa, he said. "Corruption in licensing departments, the failure of the RAF to adequately insure South Africans against third party claims and continued failure by the government to make a real difference in road fatalities spells disaster. "These days one can connect the dots across South Africa simply by marking the vast number of potholes on any map. It remains unacceptable." THE FACTS AA Road Accidents - Report Bad road maintenance and lack of law enforcement are the main causes of the high number of accidents on South African roads, the AA said on Wednesday. AA spokesperson, Gary Ronald, said about 5% of the accidents on South Africa's roads were caused by bad signage and road conditions. "The lack of road maintenance has led to a complete deterioration of the roads, pushing this number up significantly," he said. Law enforcement was one of the larger problems, he said, with taxis and motorists alike displaying a flagrant disregard of simple traffic laws. "In almost every case, a crash is preceded by a traffic violation," he said. In 2008, there were 9.2 million cars on South African roads and 900 000 accidents, Ronald said. "This accounts for a staggering 10% of vehicles on the road, with a cost to the economy equalling 3% of the national GDP (gross domestic product) and over 42 fatalities each day." 'As big a problem as Aids' Ronald said road accidents were as big a problem for the country as issues such as Aids and crime. "It is estimated that, by 2020, road accidents will be third in the leading cause of unnatural deaths, ahead of Aids," he said. Along with the state of the roads and law enforcement, Ronald said other areas of concern were public perceptions and awareness, corruption, community involvement, road user education and broad education and communication. <a href="http://www.wheels24.co.za/Content/News/General_News/5/c172d0fda9be4e4c9da34eb116fcdbe8//SA_road_deaths_unacceptable" id="ctl00_ctl00_MainBodyPlaceholder_Column2Placeholder_ArticleRelatedLinks1_repArticleRelatedLinks_ctl01_lnkArticle">SA road deaths 'unacceptable'</a> Road fatalities in South Africa are unacceptably high said the newly formed Retail Motor Industry Road Safety Foundation. "We are very concerned about the safety of road users on our roads," said Retail Motor Industry Organisation chief executive officer Jeff Osborne. "With an estimated 800 000+ road accidents, 15 000 fatalities and several hundred thousand injuries per year, the accident and fatality rates on our roads are unacceptably high." Related article:-<a class="articleheadline" href="http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=181&art_id=vn20090419103719976C110466">Holiday road toll higher than stats show</a> Holiday traffic death statistics are skewed, because the government's figures don't include the number of people who died of their injuries. <a class="storylink" href="http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=181&art_id=vn20090419103719976C110466">Full Story...</a>

South African Governments 'publicity stunt convenience'

Here you go... more fudging of statistics by this pathalogical lying Govt of ours. I also noticed the drop in the annual Easter road death t...

12:36 PM

South Africa in 2020

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbufBLrPQ0oBCQqKCJwcDAzxeJm4hsFMN6piZkMB0cHfJxjoGk9o3w-Yl_GT3lN23WgGD61b2aeLPhSjzWBQIPmCSIWewuEqZfAohRKxOeuIzooIfHs89eepJsrMgto2x-YKhX0P2KGi0Z/s1600-h/hunger-goatsintrees.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323824175875211426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbufBLrPQ0oBCQqKCJwcDAzxeJm4hsFMN6piZkMB0cHfJxjoGk9o3w-Yl_GT3lN23WgGD61b2aeLPhSjzWBQIPmCSIWewuEqZfAohRKxOeuIzooIfHs89eepJsrMgto2x-YKhX0P2KGi0Z/s400/hunger-goatsintrees.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 330px" /></a>A key point of the forecast is that South Africa will be unable to reach the levels of economic growth necessary to make serious inroads against unemployment and therefore poverty and inequality. The SA Institute of Race Relations presented data to show how the economic growth booms of the post-Boer War and post-Second World War periods set the foundation for the Afrikaners to escape poverty. In both periods economic growth rates of between 5%-6% were sustained over significant periods of time. Present day South Africa struggled to maintain a growth rate of over 4%-5% per annum during one of the greatest commodity booms that the world has known. For 2009 it is unlikely that the economy will see a growth rate of much over 1%. A growth rate of 4% by 2011 is seen as optimistic. High levels of unemployment are therefore set to remain a defining characteristic of South Africa in the period to 2020. While StatsSA puts the official unemployment rate at under 25% their definition requires that unemployed South Africans actively look for work in order to be classified as unemployed. The proportion of Africans who want to work but cannot find a job, or make no effort to find one, is closer to 45%. As a result poverty and state dependency are two features of South Africa that will feature prominently in the period to 2020. Statistics show that the proportion of South Africans living on less than R3 000 per annum has fallen from just over 50% to just over 40% over roughly a decade. In large part the rollout of perhaps the biggest social welfare programme in the developing world must get the credit for this. Today three out of ten African households get their single largest source of income from the state while a quarter of all South Africans receive social welfare. Many of these welfare recipients have become heavily dependent on the Government. They are people who live from hand to mouth on the productivity of other South Africans. Any reduction in welfare funding, whether caused directly through declining tax revenues, or indirectly through the effects of inflation, will directly erode the living standards of a quarter of the population. In the absence of an effective public education system such dependency is forecast to continue in the decade to 2020. Only half of the roughly one million children who were in grade 10 in 2006 wrote their new Outcomes Based Education matric exams in 2008. Of the original 2006 cohort only 30% passed while 8% passed the new mathematics exam. The Department of Education refused the Institute access to a racial breakdown of these results although we expect that such a breakdown would show that white children in public schools continue to receive far better education than black children. The result of a failing school system is in turn reflected in university graduation figures. While African students are now a significant majority of university graduates, white graduates still make up roughly half of all engineering and business graduates. The implications for employment equity and other empowerment policies should be obvious. The Government and certain employment equity advocates, however, continue to pursue the narrow minded view that the failure of employment equity can only be a reflection of a resistance to transformation. Data is presented from one of these organisations, the Black Management Forum, to show the extreme extent to which white and Indian South Africans are ‘overrepresented’ in senior management jobs in South Africa. This data shows that 90% of all senior management jobs in South Africa are still held by whites. Rather than being used to promote more stringent enforcement of current employment equity policies the statistics should indicate the need for a change in policy direction. Closely related to the question of employment equity is that of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). Despite the value of BEE expenditure beating the value of foreign direct investment into South Africa for almost every year of the past decade, the black middle class remains disappointingly small. The term ‘black diamonds’ is often misused as being synonymous with the term ‘black middle class’. It is not. Many of the 2.6 million ‘black diamonds’ earn such paltry incomes that it is dishonest to suggest that they are even lower middle class. Even if the black middle class were 2.6 million strong, that would only mean that the small white middle class has now been joined by an equally small black middle class. It is not completely surprising therefore that white households today earn ten times more than their African compatriots. If that situation is ever to be mended it will require a major rethink of the policy environment tasked with improving the lives of poor South Africans. The inequality inherent in the overall empowerment and employment equity picture will hang as a Damoclesian sword over race and social relations in South Africa in the years to 2020. This is not a warning only to white South Africans. The new black elite who have joined the middle classes, even as their fellow countrymen remain in poverty, should be equally concerned. The Afrikaner economic upliftment of the early 20th century saw most Afrikaners becoming richer – not a small elite. Societal instability resulting from inequality will not take cognisance of the colour of the middle classes. It is perfectly possible that future resentment towards the new ‘black rich’ may come to rival that towards the historical white elite. Service delivery will not serve as an antidote to poverty even though this project has been one of the ANC’s most successful interventions. While the numbers of every kind of government provided ‘service’ are up – housing by 2.6 million units – the proportion of households without certain services remains fairly constant. Household size in South Africa has fallen by a quarter over a decade meaning that new demand simply outstripped what might otherwise have been a service delivery success. It is unlikely that the Government will be able to build any more houses or toilets any faster or any better than they have to date. Continued reliance on state led service delivery must therefore translate into the maintenance of living standard inequalities. On the health front the Government’s efforts have not been successful. The proportion of pregnant women testing positive for HIV increased from 1% in the early 1990s to close on 30% by the mid 2000s. As a result life expectancy has fallen from 63 in the late 1980s to 50 today. In KwaZulu-Natal the figure is 43 - on a par with the world’s poorest countries. The reluctant roll out of ARV drugs in the last days of the Mbeki administration may have some effect on life expectancy. The ghosts of the estimated 300 000 people who died unnecessarily as a result of the decisions made by the Mbeki cabinet will haunt South Africa to 2020 and beyond. That haunting will include the social fallout resulting from over 1 million AIDS orphans. Crime is expected to maintain levels out of all proportion with the country’s history or present social and economic conditions. You are 50 times more likely to be murdered in South Africa than in Germany. Therefore even though most crime levels peaked in the period around 2002/3 it is scandalous for the Government to call their efforts at fighting crime ‘successful’. South Africa would need to see a 95% drop in violent crime levels for its criminal justice indicators to begin matching international, or for that matter, African norms. The Institute suspects that much of the explanation for South Africa’s social ills can be found in family relations – the State of which are themselves a social ill. Comparing family structures and relations of African children to those of white children makes for alarming reading. White children are so much more likely to grow up in stable two parent families, where one or both parents work, that it is wishful to think that African children can be expected to compete equally with whites later in life. More than any crime prevention strategy or black economic empowerment policy, simply, working to fix a crisis in the South African family will serve our future well. Unfortunately many of these concerns do not receive the attention they demand. South Africa’s political leadership has spent 18 months prioritising infighting over the governing the country. This included a period of global turmoil and slowdown that appeared to play second fiddle to party politics in the minds of South Africa’s political leaders. Unfortunately it is also likely that the model of government we are likely to see emanating from this process is one where Parliament and the Government as a whole are regarded as a sub-committee of the ANC. It is too much to hope that such a model will be either effective or responsive to the challenges facing the country. The forecast played down economic ‘quick fixes’ including the possibility of using monetary policy to boost growth through lowering interest rates. The Institute said that it was expecting too much of the Reserve Bank to think that monetary policy could overcome the numerous other constraints on economic growth. With a poor public education system, inappropriate labour market policy, and empowerment policy that curbed the free flow of capital, aggressively cutting interest rates simply risked runaway inflation. This would have a devastating effect on the incomes of poor South Africans dependent on social welfare. The Reserve Bank had little choice but to err on the side of caution until such a time as the education system, labour market policy, and empowerment policy worked to remove, not introduce, hurdles to future economic growth. The current cutting of rates even as inflation increased could be seen as reckless politicking in the run-up to an election. It is through effective government, good public education, and promoting the free flow of capital that much of the developing world will experience a halving of poverty levels in the 25 years to 2015. It is arguable whether any of these three conditions exist in South Africa today, although it is probable that their introduction is the only likely formula for South Africa to grow out of poverty. Where they are introduced it has now been shown that poor countries can become lower middle class countries in only 20 years. Even where current policy failures are reversed the lag time to implementation of better policy may only come to pass midway into South Africa’s third decade of democracy. The forecast to 2020 must therefore be one of maintenance of the current status quo, qualified only by the risks of social instability.Source - <a class="l" href="http://www.sairr.org.za/sairr-today/news_item.2009-04-03.4114291811" onmousedown="return clk(this.href,'','','res','14','&sig2=0SxBE_8OHLdc2c656t3D4A')">SAIRR Today: A view to 2020 - 3rd April 2009 — SAIRR</a>

South Africa in 2020

A key point of the forecast is that South Africa will be unable to reach the levels of economic growth necessary to make serious inroads aga...

6:48 AM

Affirmative Action is Ruthless Looting

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

Affirmative Action is Ruthless Looting

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

8:24 AM

Aids killing African politicians

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm7Vl_cdBntYn7dd7wZICSHYJPboySLm2aqcy2h8elcRY4MNc3qsGrJzl7a1e90Ph6MBP3pUdkaxpH_RqyBl6NYtMm3pwZm4TtWR82LDdLXRqI0OFkTwn9wyY8dVzwK1MCqH6Td3AvYlU/s1600-h/AIDS%2520dayBM2381847.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314176670642657410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm7Vl_cdBntYn7dd7wZICSHYJPboySLm2aqcy2h8elcRY4MNc3qsGrJzl7a1e90Ph6MBP3pUdkaxpH_RqyBl6NYtMm3pwZm4TtWR82LDdLXRqI0OFkTwn9wyY8dVzwK1MCqH6Td3AvYlU/s320/AIDS%2520dayBM2381847.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 288px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px" /></a>Aids is killing so many politicians in southern Africa that their deaths are threatening the ability of governments to function properly, a researcher said on Tuesday. Kondwani Chirambo, the lead author of a new study on deaths among local councillors in South Africa, told AFP he had studied six other countries where unnatural numbers of deaths of lawmakers could be attributed to Aids. "If you look at the statistics, MPs have been dying relatively young and dying in large numbers. These trends are not dissimilar from the general population," said Chirambo, of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa. Over the last eight years, South Africa has seen nearly half of its elected local councillors dying before the age of 50. Chirambo said this "does not bode well" for South Africa, where the poor government services are a major public complaint. In the whole of southern Africa, the study found only one elected official who openly disclosed her HIV status, and Chirambo attributes the failure of these officials to seek help to a fear of stigma. "It is not a very healthy profile. Councillors are not the poorest people in the world," he said. "It is clear a great deal of them feel to disclose your status is a form of political suicide." South Africa has one of the world's highest Aids prevalence, with 5.4 million people affected. Eighteen percent of them are in the work force. According to Chirambo, 2.6 million registered voters have died since 1999, the majority of them still young. In Senegal, with a national Aids prevalence of one percent, there were only three vacancies in parliament caused by death of the politician. By comparison in Zambia, where the first Aids case was noted in 1995, death is the most common cause for parliamentary vacancies.

Aids killing African politicians

Aids is killing so many politicians in southern Africa that their deaths are threatening the ability of governments to function properly, a ...

7:55 AM

South Africa's worst ministers

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYy3nWgsx-9cRB_BQ2P34scdfCShGMPZXIhKOMw8goqqweuJEDbRFWP5mNtZDx1GNU5w38Ya7_yuAIFeMsoOIgqLx5Lei5NI03Tj7ZXqGijpV4-3V65nS__-QzAw8bFRBo01hziSYtsnU/s1600-h/A_N_C_Cabinet.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311675898824976018" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYy3nWgsx-9cRB_BQ2P34scdfCShGMPZXIhKOMw8goqqweuJEDbRFWP5mNtZDx1GNU5w38Ya7_yuAIFeMsoOIgqLx5Lei5NI03Tj7ZXqGijpV4-3V65nS__-QzAw8bFRBo01hziSYtsnU/s400/A_N_C_Cabinet.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" /></a>The ANC (think: Alcoholics, Nepotism, Cronies) Cabinet is all about "A better life for all". More particularly, a better life for all those who happen to be sitting in Parliament... The Cabinet is littered with underperforming ministers who have been in office for over four years and each year they fail to pull up their socks. As the government is obviously oblivious to these inadequacies, here is a list of the worst ministers to help point them in the right direction. These ministers have failed to do their jobs and should be 'recalled' from office. Lulu Xingwana Position: Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs In power since: 2004 Previously: Deputy Minister of Minerals and Energy Struggle cred: Member of UDF Connections: None Education: Bachelor of Science, Diploma of Econ Principles, Diploma of Rural Development Reason for recall: Staff favouritism and fiddling the numbers Xingwana made headlines in March last year when she was accused of breaking up a marriage after she allegedly had an affair with one of her senior officials Phil Mohlahlane. The wife of the official wanted R100 000 in damages, but Xingwana denied the allegations. It is alleged that Xingwana protected Mohlahlane from the consequences of acts of misconduct which he committed at work and she gave him "undue privileges" including overseas trips and "positions of undue power". Xingwana was accused in July of meddling with the running of the Land Bank. She fired the Land Bank's chairperson Themba Langa who was believed to have been working hard to turn the bank around following a series of scandals relating to the misappropriation of funds. Langa was dismissed for disregarding a collective decision of the board and because of "unilateral decision making". She also squashed findings of forensic audits into the irregularities at the bank. Following all these shenanigans, Xingwana was removed from the business affairs of the Land Bank and Trevor Manuel took over. But she still runs the Department of Agriculture. Charles Nqakula Position: Defence Minister In power since: 2002 Previously: Minister of Safety and Security Struggle cred: Exiled from 1976 to 1981, underground operative for the ANC, member of Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) Connections: Married to Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula (Home Affairs) Education: Matric Reason for recall: Promoting emigration As Minister of Safety and Security (up until October 2008) Charles Nqakula's job was to protect the citizens of South Africa. Instead of doing that he became fed up and told those who were "whining" about high crime levels to just go to Australia. Many people took offence to his statement because, as tax payers and voters they have every right to complain when they are dissatisfied. His comments were highly insensitive to the victims of crime. Nqakula refused to step down when he came under fire as the rate of violent crime increased. In 2007-2008 house robberies increased by 13.5 percent. Robberies at business premises rocketed by 47.4 percent and truck hijackings went up by 39.6 percent. When President Kgalema Motlanthe came into power he removed Nqakula from the portfolio of safety and security and appointed him as the defence minister. Luckily, South Africans have spread so far and wide, that an attack on our country (from the outside, at any rate) doesn't seem imminent. Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula Position: Home Affairs Minister In power since: 2004 Previously: Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Struggle cred: Activist (political military structures) Connections: Married to Charles Nqakula (Defence) Education: Diploma in Project Management, Diploma in Primary Teaching Reason for recall: Making it harder for South Africans to travel Home Affairs has to be the worst department ever. If they are not taking the whole year to issue an identity document (yes, one), they are failing refugees. Thousands of refugees have been sleeping outside the Lindela offices due to Mapisa-Nqakula's department's incompetence. South Africans are now required to obtain a visa in order to visit the UK. This is because there were concerns from the UK that South Africa was being used as a transit point by al-Qaeda representatives to gain entry into that country. Fraudulent South African passports were confiscated during anti-terror raids. Home Affairs was warned six months ago to improve their passport security system or face new visa requirements, as usual the department did nothing. As a result, South Africans are now required to obtain visas to visit the UK. The move will affect 420 000 South Africans who enter Britain every year. Naledi Pandor Position: Education Minister In power since: 2004 Previously: Chancellor at Cape Technikon Struggle cred: Exiled Connections: None Education: Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, Certificate in Education, Certificate of Civil Engineering Reason for recall: More than 200 000 students failed matric in 2008 Naledi Pandor's department is chaotic. Since Pandor took office, the matric results have declined every year. In 2005 the pass rate declined to 68.3 percent compared to 70.7 percent the previous year. Things went from bad to worse, in 2006 the pass rate dropped to 66.5 percent and it has been declining ever since, last year's pass rate was just 62.5 percent. To make matters worse the department failed to release the 2008 matric results in time and many students could not register for higher learning as they were left in limbo. OBE has not done well, although, admittedly, you cannot judge an education system on its first year. The level of literacy in this country is very low despite the huge amounts of money that the government keeps on pumping into the department. The level of violence in schools is alarming. Learners are frequently shot or stabbed on school premises. According to Centre of Justice and Crime Prevention 40 percent of educators do not feel safe in their schools while teaching. They also revealed that 20 percent of students were victims of some form of violence inside their schools. Fair enough, she isn't her department, but Pandor is responsible for running the department. That makes her accountable. Poor leadership and an inability to realise a vision for the department is reason enough to 'recall' her. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang Position: Minister in the Presidency In power since: 1999 Previously: Health Minister Struggle cred: Responsible for the health and well-being of ANC militants whilst in exile Connections: Married to Mendi Msimang (former ANC treasurer) Education: Bachelor of Arts, Master of Public Health, MD, Diploma in Obstetrics and Gynaecology Reason for recall: She's Manto When she was the Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang failed her department dismally — if it were up to her, all the HIV positive people would be stuffing themselves with beetroot, garlic and the African potato. The 'Beetroot minister' promoted vegetables over ARVs. There were calls for her to step down over incompetency, which she (and her buddy Thabo) ignored completely. In 2007 Msimang received a liver transplant and it was revealed that chronic alcoholism was the real reason why she needed a new liver. It also emerged that in the 70s she was convicted of theft at an Athlone Hospital in Botswana. She was found guilty of stealing a patient's watch, hospital blankets, linen and heaters. When President Kgalema Motlanthe took over from Thabo Mbeki (who was accused of protecting Msimang) he did the noble thing by removing her. She was appointed as the Minister in the Presidency. We are still trying to figure out what exactly the Minister of the Presidency does. President Motlanthe recently said: "The ANC never gives up on anyone." That may just explain the Manto phenomenon. So what do we have to look forward to in Jacob Zuma's Cabinet? Schabir Shaik for finance? Winnie Madikizela-Mandela for Social Welfare? Carl Niehaus for the Communication Department? And Julius Malema for... well... pretty much everything else.

South Africa's worst ministers

The ANC (think: Alcoholics, Nepotism, Cronies) Cabinet is all about "A better life for all". More particularly, a better life for ...

2:26 PM

Fleeing South Africa — exodus reaching crisis levels

Fourteen years after apartheid, why are the best and the brightest leaving Africa's most successful state? <img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305209396109200690" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim1jOsHMtvTW1QO9K7WFciL681wE4ZGQuM7Huw6pMhRXsodF4InGp3eGcL_zVIAhmkfWCShkNENLL3cDAcj8_ghQzSONwif1A5_CDxshb2cD9_12JtFxItgrRFnTfHqRwaPqwzs4flmz8/s400/south-africa-exodus.jpg" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 239px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" /> A razor-wire fence in Yeoville, South Africa, a common sight due to an increasing crime rate No one should be surprised to read that <a class="related" href="http://www.newsweek.com/related.aspx?subject=Zimbabwe">Zimbabwe</a> has suffered massive emigration in recent years, especially among its white minority. But much less expected is the fact that next-door <a class="related" href="http://www.newsweek.com/related.aspx?subject=South+Africa">South Africa</a>, the continent's wealthiest and most developed country, is suffering a brain drain of its own. The South African government doesn't keep reliable emigration statistics. But even as the global financial crisis has caused emigration from most other countries to slow, a number of recent independent studies show that mass departures from South Africa are ongoing and are sapping the nation of its skilled and best-educated young citizens. The most dramatic figures can be found among South African whites, who are leaving at a pace consistent with the advent of "widespread disease, mass natural disasters or large-scale civil conflict," according to a report by the South African Institute on Race Relations. Some 800,000 out of a total white population of 4 million have left since 1995, by one count. But they're hardly alone. Blacks, coloreds (as people of mixed race are known in South Africa) and Indians are also expressing the desire to leave. In the last 12 years, the number of blacks graduating in South Africa with advanced degrees has grown from 361,000 to 1.4 million a year. But in that time the number of those expressing high hopes to emigrate has doubled. This wasn't supposed to happen. In many ways, the new South Africa has lived up to its promise of racial harmony and equitable development; its enlightened Constitution, progressive economic policies, and wealth of human and natural resources have all kept it relatively stable since apartheid was swept away in 1994. But that stability could be jeopardized if its human capital keeps leaving at the current rate. South Africa has undergone massive swings in emigration for decades, including since the end of white rule. The shifts can be linked to changes in political stability and economic opportunity, as well as less worrisome factors like simple wanderlust. And all these same factors are at work now, but they've been accentuated by a violent crime epidemic, serious political upheaval and economic globalization. A poll conducted last May among 600 people of different races, ages and genders found that 20 percent were planning to leave the country. "We are now seeing a new tipping point for an exodus," warned another report from Future Fact, a polling agency. "But this time [it's] across-the-board in terms of race." The primary driver for emigration among all groups, but especially whites, who still retain the majority of South Africa's wealth, is fear of crime. With more than 50 killings a day, South Africa has one of the highest per capita murder rates in the world. The same goes for rape—ranking the country alongside conflict zones such as Sierra Leone, Colombia and Afghanistan. Future Fact polling indicates that more than 95 percent of those eager to leave South Africa rate violent crime as the single most important factor affecting their thinking. Lynette Chen, the ethnic-Chinese CEO of Nepad Business Group, is the only member of her family left in South Africa. Her parents departed in 2002 after being carjacked—twice. Her brother, also a victim of crime, followed suit shortly thereafter. "They're always getting homesick," she says. "But they won't come back unless the crime is reduced." Another largely unnoticed problem is the growing number of attacks on South Africa's white farmers. As in neighboring Zimbabwe, some of the attacks appear to be racially motivated. Others seem simply opportunistic, but the result is that white farmers' numbers continue to decrease, leading to fears that despite the government's good intentions, a Zimbabwe-style crisis—where the flight of skilled farmers led to an agricultural collapse—is possible here too. Then there's the problem of affirmative action, which many whites feel limits their opportunities for advancement and which keeps many émigrés from returning. "You can attract people home, but there are still the same concerns when they get here," Chen says. "Crime and lack of job opportunities if you're not the right color." Still another factor driving out citizens of all races is the country's political crisis. National elections are due in April, and the likely next president, Jacob Zuma, faces a battery of serious corruption charges and accusations of autocratic behavior. Zuma's ruling ANC party has been split by a rebellion of former loyalists, and increasing numbers of South Africans express concern with the health of their young democracy. The leadership vacuum has also distracted attention from pressing national concerns like energy. Last spring the country was engulfed in rolling "brownouts" as the electric grid ground to a halt because of mismanagement. For all these reasons, even the global economic slowdown hasn't been enough to keep qualified South Africans at home. Of the country's 25,000 registered accountants, fully a quarter now live overseas. Engineers, doctors, nurses and accountants are all in increasingly short supply. In February, Health Minister Barbara Hogan said South Africa's doctors are "constantly being poached" by places like Canada, Australia and the United States—among the most popular destinations for wealthy white émigrés. Banks and investment companies are forced to look for talent overseas, and Eskom, the disgraced national electricity provider, has recently begun scrambling to attract electrical engineers back home, but with little success. The long-term effects of this exodus are already being felt in other critical ways. The vast majority of South Africa's emigrants are also the country's best and brightest. Compounding the problem is the fact that while South Africa has lenient policies toward admitting refugees from elsewhere in Africa, the import of skilled labor is still quite onerous—meaning that as more and more trained workers leave, there are fewer and fewer replacements. Pretoria needs new policies to balance these flows, says Debbie Milner of Future Fact. "Africa has a huge amount of skilled people in it, and many other African countries have better education systems than our own." To succeed, post-racial South Africa also needs to move nonwhite professionals quickly up the ranks in all sectors of its economy, and the government's black-empowerment plan centers on ensuring that more of its citizens get advanced degrees. But as growing numbers of these graduates express a desire to follow their white colleagues out the door, the prospects for continued economic empowerment are dimming. "We were dumbfounded by the incredibly high numbers of people who claim they're seriously considering leaving South Africa," Milner says. While unemployment for whites has increased more than 100 percent since the end of apartheid, it remains as low as an average European country, between 7 percent and 8 percent. Joblessness among blacks, on the other hand, is hovering at around 50 percent. "If the qualified nonwhites are leaving too, that is pretty dire for black economic empowerment," Milner says. To be fair, not all the signs point in one direction. The global economic downturn has led to anecdotal reports of South Africans returning from the once hot economies of Europe and North America. Others who were recently on the verge of leaving have now decided to stay put, in some cases when their offers were rescinded at the last moment. "I don't dispute that people have left—I just dispute the high figures," says Martine Schaffer of the Homecoming Revolution, an NGO that helps returnees with logistical difficulties and to get reacquainted with a country that may have changed significantly in their absence. "Nothing indicates that they've all emigrated permanently." That may be true. But if Pretoria hopes to drive development, it needs to act fast to keep the South African exodus from gaining momentum. For starters, the new president should make fighting crime a priority. South Africa's affirmative-action program should also be re-examined and tweaked, perhaps to emphasize economic status rather than race. Whites between the ages of 20 and 35—currently the group most susceptible to emigration—should be allowed to compete more forcefully for jobs. Such measures won't stop emigration entirely, certainly not while the country's leadership crisis continues. But South Africa faces no great new natural disaster or a war. Its vital statistics need to begin to reflect that. By <a href="http://services.newsweek.com/search.aspx?q=Author:^" sortdirection="descending&sortField=pubdatetime&offset=0&pageSize=10'">Scott Johnson</a> NEWSWEEK issue dated Feb 23, 2009

Fleeing South Africa — exodus reaching crisis levels

Fourteen years after apartheid, why are the best and the brightest leaving Africa's most successful state? A razor-wire fence in Yeovil...

8:17 AM

Class struggle...

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihOFrVPIa3KC2-xJWnCd_laNCoa-E2v1jjd8x2lGIkm537KHa4NjR468Ip2EcK2_Vnri3ODorrmJPg67KuBEdUJAztl-SGhMTcV7-r5lHIctXrAPJittHMSIUuIfVFQR_MlO-x3RMLPds/s1600-h/libb4ed.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296097050042524146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihOFrVPIa3KC2-xJWnCd_laNCoa-E2v1jjd8x2lGIkm537KHa4NjR468Ip2EcK2_Vnri3ODorrmJPg67KuBEdUJAztl-SGhMTcV7-r5lHIctXrAPJittHMSIUuIfVFQR_MlO-x3RMLPds/s400/libb4ed.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 302px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" /></a>As the school year begins in earnest, the long-standing secretary general of the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu), Thulasizwe Nxesi, admits that the education system is in crisis. Yet he refuses to accept that teachers are partly responsible for failing the country's pupils on a daily basis. Nxesi says it is all too easy to point the finger of blame at the country's 390 000-strong teacher population, arguing instead that theirs is a sorry lot in this day and age. With a low starting salary of about R120 000, with benefits included, teachers cannot be expected to perform like other professionals if their work is not rewarded and recognised like that of their peers, the 49-year-old unionist argues. "It's a joke," he says. "We've been living in a denialist country." Consequently, there's been an exodus of young teachers to the private sector, "where they can earn two or three times as much", leaving behind an ageing teaching population "of people who are looking after their pensions". The teaching population should be somewhere in the region of 420 000 today to cover the needs of South Africa's 27 000 schools, but instead it's steadily declining and is not helped by the steady crawl of HIV/Aids into classrooms. "And when someone leaves or dies, you can expect to wait six months or a year to get a replacement teacher in some places," Nxesi claims. Those who stay behind are left to grapple with a crumbling infrastructure. Many of the country's schools are not up to standard. Just how many, the union chief does not know. "But many, many schools are not in good shape." It's a problem that's exacerbated by overcrowding. Although the average student-to-teacher ratio is 32:1 in government-funded schools, and 17.5:1 in private schools, Nxesi says it is not uncommon for classrooms to swell to "40, 50, even 70 in some cases". They are statistics that feed into a staggering 50 percent drop-out rate. "If one accepts estimates that every year 1.1 million children start Grade 1, then why did we have only 589 912 pupils writing matric in 2008?" former academic and activist Mamphela Ramphele recently asked. "But teachers are not to blame," Nxesi insists. "The problem is government," he argues. But not only are they not listening, "we don't think they are taking education very seriously". Year-on-year government has repeatedly allocated the greatest chunk of the budget to education. However under Naledi Pandor's watch, Nxesi says he has watched the Department of Education take on a more liberal line which he fears is the death knell for free education. "And the problem with that is that it will be the survival of the fittest" which will drag the poor black classes back to the dark days of apartheid, in education terms. Although Nxesi talks up a good line, he would do well to look over his shoulder once in a while at the ranks he represents, if improvement of the system is what's really driving his agenda. Today, Sadtu membership stands at 240 000, the largest union of educators in this country. Yet the union has still to do a basic audit of its members to see who actually holds the appropriate qualifications to teach. "The debate of the qualification is a difficult one," Nxesi argues, but offers an estimate of about 30 000 people who are not qualified to stand in front of classes, a grim statistic for the one in 12 classrooms subjected to sub-standard teaching. Yet it is Sadtu which is lobbying for government at the same time to equip each teacher with a laptop to keep abreast of the new Outcomes Based Education system. "You can't expect us to teach in the dark ages," he says, seemingly unaware of the contradiction he throws up. With so many unqualified teachers, Sadtu is unable to impart basic education without conflating the problem with technology. The union has been equally lax about getting tough with teachers who repeatedly bring the profession into disrepute. Last year 18 teachers were struck off the national roll for sexual harassment, of a total of 30 or so cases that were brought before the South African Council for Educators, according to chief executive Raj Brijraj. It has to be asked how many rapes and sordid incidents of sexual misbehaviour will have to be committed before Sadtu will begin to act. The glaring contradiction, however, is that Sadtu is shameless in its support for the ANC, yet it is an ANC government which, in Nxesi's words, "has failed the children of South Africa when it comes to education". "Government is not the ANC," he insists. "Most of the policies that were implemented in the past few years were not ANC policies," he argues, jumping on the bandwagon that has become the ANC get-out-clause in the wake of Thabo Mbeki's recall from office. "(The Mbeki administration) came up with their own thing. Gear was never an ANC policy, but they implemented it anyway." In the run-up to the general election, the union has begun to campaign hard for the ruling party. "Sadtu is not going to be apologetic that we are organising for the African National Congress," Nxesi says. Yet it begs the question why the likes of Sadtu does not leave politics to the politicians and focus instead on education, which Nxesi himself admits is in crisis. The better the performance of teachers and the greater return they provide for tax payers' money spent on education, the stronger they would stand in the eyes of the government. Which, in turn, would lead to greater bargaining power. Surely it's in Sadtu's interests to raise the bar for its membership and improve on its basic bread and butter issues. "Never," is the answer. "We cannot abandon (politics) to someone else. We refuse to be confined to the shop floor. We feel that we have not liberated South Africa fully and we will continue to struggle in politics." Nxesi has been with the union since it was formed in 1990 and has served as its secretary general since 1994. He will step down when his fourth term ends next year and suggests that he will follow in the footsteps of his predecessors and join the ranks of parliament when it does. "There are many people who argue that I was at the start of the struggle for education and that there is a need to push me into parliament to take it forward."Not a bad reward for someone who has yet to deliver on his part of the struggle. See also <a href="http://www.zasucks.com/?p=1566" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Wasting precious Western education on primitive savages">Wasting precious Western education on primitive savages</a>

Class struggle...

As the school year begins in earnest, the long-standing secretary general of the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu), Thula...

12:38 PM

Illiteracy higher in SA than Zim

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbh712Hmao13ta7sDR8b9cXLByTGzyu_Gqh6jMvn8Go9W6kqi0M_JRQA6i3FQB0Ur0AHfo_Y1GGDWCCphXp9J_o_e2TW5Usd6bvz2igg55_pvW8mMNF1nvSItjH-T_IzRCpaKFvZU595Q/s1600-h/wireless-medium.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5267900492506533890" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbh712Hmao13ta7sDR8b9cXLByTGzyu_Gqh6jMvn8Go9W6kqi0M_JRQA6i3FQB0Ur0AHfo_Y1GGDWCCphXp9J_o_e2TW5Usd6bvz2igg55_pvW8mMNF1nvSItjH-T_IzRCpaKFvZU595Q/s400/wireless-medium.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 257px" /></a>Johannesburg - The level of illiteracy in South Africa is higher than Zimbabwe's. And the life expectancy of people in South Africa is lower than Africa's average and even that of war-torn Iraq. These are some of the statistics contained in a report released on Wednesday by the United Nations Population Fund on the state of the world population in 2008. Illiteracy among South African men and women over 15-years-old is 16% and 19% respectively. This is significantly higher than Zimbabwe's, where the figures are 7% and 14% respectively. Presently, the average life expectancy of men worldwide is 65.1 years and that of women 69.6 years. In Africa as a whole, the life expectancy of men is 51.9 years and that of women 53.9 years. But in South Africa, it is a mere 48.8 years for men and 49.6 years for women. In Iraq these figures are 58.4 and 62.1 years respectively, and in Australia 79 and 83.7 years. The report also shows that underdeveloped countries are responsible for most births in the world. In developed countries, 23 babies are born for every 1 000 girls between 15 and 19. In less developed countries, 57 babies are born per 1 000 girls in this age group, and in underdeveloped countries as many as 116. The report also reveals that South Africa's HIV infection rate of 14.5% among men and 21.8% among women is still among the highest in Africa.

Illiteracy higher in SA than Zim

Johannesburg - The level of illiteracy in South Africa is higher than Zimbabwe's. And the life expectancy of people in South Africa is l...

2:16 PM

Black Rule Brings Inevitable Destruction To South Africa

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvpi3Xfq9XhKm0VUxGHJGgAF2qFNjzUUXZIOom0jvtY3BZ_bYNWRrEvuyb5ronLXqtnBqvwYyDp6KIhdkbNJyw2ViYQT_lPDBCWKF7aUWJHWItBwRupLmKB2OJTMEFvURjdAoITFNLImU/s1600-h/black_rule_ANC.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259718902752535570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvpi3Xfq9XhKm0VUxGHJGgAF2qFNjzUUXZIOom0jvtY3BZ_bYNWRrEvuyb5ronLXqtnBqvwYyDp6KIhdkbNJyw2ViYQT_lPDBCWKF7aUWJHWItBwRupLmKB2OJTMEFvURjdAoITFNLImU/s400/black_rule_ANC.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>Fourteen years and approximately 300,000 <a href="http://www.ilanamercer.com/TheUglyTruthAboutDemocraticSouth%20Africa.htm">murders</a> after black rule devastated my homeland, the New York Times is shocked to discover that South Africa is fast disappearing down the same hole into which Rhodesia, <a href="http://www.rhodesiawassuper.com/">rest in peace</a>, was dropped. [<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/world/africa/06safrica.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin">Post-Apartheid South Africa has entered an Anxious Era</a>, by Barry Bearak , October 5, 2008)I guess some latitude is in order. It took decades and piles of dead bodies before <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Avdare.com+%20Robert+Mugabe+">Robert Mugabe</a> lost <a href="http://www.vdare.com/francis/zimbabwe_guilt.htm">luster </a>in the eyes of the American MainStream Media [MSM]. By the time the megalomaniac Mugabe was conferred with honorary doctorates (<a href="http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=p2p64c789y4wbscbbjrkc42yl4sqkxs8">1984 and 1986</a>) and a <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4213800.ece">knighthood</a> (1994), he had already done his "best" work: slaughter an estimated <a href="http://www.globalpolicy.org/intljustice/general/2002/0106z.htm">20,000 innocent Ndebele in Matabeleland (1983)</a>, with whose leader, <a href="http://www.vdare.com/francis/zimbabwe_disaster.htm">Joshua Nkomo</a>, he refused to share power. Western <a href="http://www.vdare.com/epstein/080116_libertarians.htm">conventional wisdom</a> was, well, no wiser.Soon the sainted <a href="http://www.vdare.com/francis/africa.htm">Nelson Mandela</a> was released from jail. (I was on <a href="http://www.capeetc.com/nostalgia/grand-parade/">Cape Town’s Parade</a> on that day; it was a riot, literally.) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela">Madiba’s</a> posse—the African National Congress [ANC]—were now the West’s new pet revolutionaries, and their next best hope for an African Renaissance.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sideshow_Bob">Sideshow Bob</a> Mugabe’s epic villainy to date was, evidently, nothing but a detail of history. An anomaly in the annals of <a href="http://www.vdare.com/Sailer/060319_cameroon.htm">Africa south of the Sahara</a>. There were no lessons to be learned relevant to averting the <a href="http://www.vdare.com/francis/white_genocide.htm">destruction</a> of another—this time the last—western outpost in Africa.These days the NYT agonizes over the "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/world/africa/06safrica.html?_r=1&oref=slogin">regicide</a>" "the governing African National Congress" committed by "deposing one of its own, President Thabo Mbeki, and replacing him with a stand-in for Mr. Mbeki’s archrival, Jacob Zuma."The ANC may have behaved abruptly compared to the gentlemanly manner in which the Afrikaner National Party ceded power to it. <a href="http://middleeastfacts.com/guests/arnold_25mar05e.php">"Surrender without defeat"</a> is how (liberal) historian Hermann Giliomee termed that extraordinary leap of faith. The same people, in the same spirit, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=DtiJVtJBzvcC&pg=PA120&lpg=PA120&dq=dismantled+Pelindaba&source=web&ots=bMoBSe-qFP&sig=CPsfg8igSrVB42LaxZ6AoUbThoA&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result">peacefully dismantled</a> the six nuclear devices they had built at Pelindaba. (My good friend Afrikaner intellectual <a href="http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2005/03/help_dan_roodt.php">Dan Roodt</a> analyses that magnanimity in his closely-argued, deliciously titled, "<a href="http://barelyablog.com/?p=406">You Can’t Have Your Banana and Eat It</a>.")But otherwise, the ANCniks are living up to their reputation—and that of all other strongmen in strife-torn sub-Saharan Africa.The NYT’s Bearak calls Jacob Zuma, who is about to usurp Mbeki as president, "polarizing". He hasn’t seen anything yet. This from the introduction to my upcoming book, Into the Cannibal’s Pot: Lessons For America From Post-Apartheid South Africa:"Having spent most of his adult life abroad <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thabo_Mbeki#Exile_and_return">in exile</a>, Mbeki’s mannerisms are those of an English gent, [VDARE.COM note: Specifically, he graduated from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Alumni_of_the_University_of_Sussex">Sussex University</a>, the same one <a href="http://www.vdare.com/pb/index.htm">Peter Brimelow</a> went to] not a man of the people. But the baton has been passed from the pukka proper Mbeki to the <a href="http://blog.vdare.com/archives/2008/01/05/the-new-south-africa-and-womens-rights-anc-head-adds-a-fourth-wife/">populist polygamist</a> Jacob Zuma, who dances half naked in <a href="http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/charlenesmith/2008/01/22/tribalism-is-the-word-that-must-now-be-spoken-to-avoid-its-perils/">tribal</a> dress. In one of his <a href="http://washingtontimes.com/news/2003/aug/16/20030816-105047-3673r/">Noble-Savage</a> moments, Zuma promised, disarmingly, after forcing sex on an <a href="http://www.vdare.com/allen/hiv_africans.htm">HIV-positive</a> acquaintance, that <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4879822.stm">he took a shower</a> as a prophylactic against AIDS."The NYT claims that "The country’s power company <a href="http://www.vdare.com/misc/rushton_african_iq.htm">unfathomably </a>ran out of electricity and rationed supply."Not quite. I’ve lived through Highveld thunder storms and Cape, South-Easter, gale-force winds. Few and far between were the blackouts. (I purchased a generator in the US, after experiencing my first three-day power outage.)No, Eskom, the utility that supplied most of the electricity consumed on the continent, did not run out of juice. It just ran out of experienced engineers, expunged pursuant to <a href="http://www.labour.gov.za/download/9478/Act%20-%20Broad-Based%20Black%20Economic%20Empowerment%20-%202003.pdf">Black Economic Empowerment</a> policies. (Known in South Africa as "BEE", these are the equivalent of the <a href="http://vdare.com/mercer/080918_ucla.htm">racial quotas</a> Barack Obama champions, only with many times the sting.)Another "unfathomable" occurrence that helped disrupt South Africa’s electricity supply: the decision to <a href="http://bbbee.typepad.com/paul_janisch/2008/02/eskom-is-an-exa.html">buy coal from the spot market</a>. Driven by BEE policies, here’s the sequence Eskom buyers followed: buy first from black women-owned suppliers, then small black suppliers, then large black suppliers, and only after all of these options had been exhausted (or darkness descended, whatever came first), from "other" suppliers.The NYT reporter is half-right about one thing: "Since 1996, the black population has risen to a projected 38.5 million from 31.8 million." Unmentioned is the fact that the same population has been increasing since Europeans settled South Africa. Then again, "the crucial factor in South African politics was a much more rapid black population growth than anyone had anticipated," writes (liberal) historian (<a href="http://www.stellenboschwriters.com/giliomee.html">Hermann Giliomee </a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FAfrikaners-Biography-Reconsiderations-Southern-African%2Fdp%2F0813922372&tag=vdare&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">The Afrikaners</a>, p. 519).Indeed, demographics were the raison d’être for apartheid. Demographics and a fear of communism and crime. (At least two of which have come to pass; Africans have overwhelmed Europeans numerically and criminally. Does that mean the Afrikaners were prescient?) These, so far, are some of the NYT’s half truths. Now to the outright lies:"The white population," writes Bearak, "has dropped to a projected 4.5 million from 4.8 million," since 1996. This is an astonishing underestimate. In my book, I report the estimate of the ultra-liberal <a href="http://www.sairr.org.za/">South African Institute of Race Relations</a>: the white population had shrunk from 5,215,000 in 1995 to 4,374,000 in 2005. Almost a fifth.Chief among the reasons cited for the exodus is <a href="http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2000/03/28/south_africa/index.html">violent crime</a>. South Africa has one of the <a href="http://www.usaid.gov/policy/budget/cbj2005/afr/za.html">highest murder rates and lowest conviction rates</a>—the latter has risen recently to approximately <a href="http://www.mnet.co.za/Mnet/Shows/carteblanche/story.asp?Id=2265">ten percent</a>—in the world.Not that you’d know it from <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/world/africa/06safrica.html?_r=1&oref=slogin">Bearak’s report</a>, but even though whites make up less than ten percent of the total population, <a href="http://www.vdare.com/francis/south_africa2.htm">Afrikaner farmers (Boers</a>) are being culled at the genocidal annual rate of 300 per 100,000 inhabitants. "Four times as high as is for the rest of the population," <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S71PbichSw">attests</a> Dr. Gregory H. Stanton of Genocide Watch.Yes, professional <a href="http://www.vdare.com/stix/070113_duke.htm">racism spotters</a> like the NYT are ever so cavalier about this <a href="http://www.stopboergenocide.com/186147.html">scandal</a>, reporting amusedly that all that "people here one-up each other with tales of scalding and <a href="http://www.defense-training.com/quips/2001/2Apr01.html">shooting</a> and slicing and garroting."The MSM is equally cavalier about the culprits: a thriving <a href="http://www.vdare.com/francis/safrica.htm">black criminal class</a> and a <a href="http://www.transparency.org/publications/newsletter/2008/january_2008/in_the_news/south_africa">corrupt black government</a>.And, of course, their enablers in the West.Remember that when the MSM endorses Obama.By: Ilana Mercer Source URL: <a href="http://vdare.com/mercer/081019_inevitable.htm">http://vdare.com/mercer/081019_inevitable.htm</a>

Black Rule Brings Inevitable Destruction To South Africa

Fourteen years and approximately 300,000 murders after black rule devastated my homeland, the New York Times is shocked to discover that So...

1:19 PM

South Africa P.I.G.