South Africa P.I.G.

Identity fraud growing in SA

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIKyL1RYZDBWb8bU4mOBV9FbEdrgJUQku3Y1D3wZW4_DlIC_8Q3eVM9kZ-9M0aVbXppaq5TkW0I7mxJPGyj1uo0st2uVqDo0GkK7VD-4O2XTzw0h55PROB7cJhd7-HSZUcPLKgb6lt4L_o/s1600-h/creditcard-2aa.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218967414460796866" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIKyL1RYZDBWb8bU4mOBV9FbEdrgJUQku3Y1D3wZW4_DlIC_8Q3eVM9kZ-9M0aVbXppaq5TkW0I7mxJPGyj1uo0st2uVqDo0GkK7VD-4O2XTzw0h55PROB7cJhd7-HSZUcPLKgb6lt4L_o/s400/creditcard-2aa.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>Identity fraud has nearly doubled over the past year and is now approaching the R1 billion mark. What is even more disturbing is that this crime, which is almost impossible to prosecute, is likely to get worse, says Pat Cunningham, executive director of the Southern African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS). Figures released this week indicate a massive increase in the values of identity fraud and related crimes in the 12 months between June 2007 and July 2008. In 2006/07, the SAFPS recorded a total of 10 423 fraud cases worth R486 million. This year, even though only 11 086 cases were filed, the value jumped to R878,5 million. "This is extremely worrying. Although the number of filings has marginally increased, it is the value of attempted frauds that clearly indicate that criminals and fraud syndicates are targeting higher priced goods, such as cars, white goods, mortgage loans and the like," Cunningham said. He said there was a marked increase in the number of reports made by victims of "impersonation". Over the past 12 months, 1 010 people have suffered the trauma of having to claim back their identities and disown crimes committed in their names, a process that Cunningham says is both money- and time-consuming. He said one of the more disturbing recent trends is known as the Advance Fee Fraud scam. Criminals advertise anything from holiday homes to overseas employment to cellphones — and even dogs — on the Internet, luring gullible people into paying them upfront, only for them to find that what they purchased does not exist. He warned people not to give personal details to anybody they don’t know or trust, especially over the Internet. Cunningham also advised people to get regular copies of their credit profiles from credit bureaus and to immediately report the theft or loss of identity documents to the SAFPS.

Identity fraud growing in SA

Identity fraud has nearly doubled over the past year and is now approaching the R1 billion mark. What is even more disturbing is that this c...

5:59 PM

Judges vow to stand by Motata, will drive drunk and swear at witnesses

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkVES-H75GJWaQq6nhlNCSeMA2CAyz6Oi0M0VPwrA8hTeJjZpJpKfmu8sBqlE46L1LuiPWeA79CqjXi2PGy_y_sz6U4UhaxmIGxOHlgNzhv8Qo2i_A8aT53Jj4lFZ9ztk91g31-kCpRfYc/s1600-h/JUDGE.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218952127948572242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkVES-H75GJWaQq6nhlNCSeMA2CAyz6Oi0M0VPwrA8hTeJjZpJpKfmu8sBqlE46L1LuiPWeA79CqjXi2PGy_y_sz6U4UhaxmIGxOHlgNzhv8Qo2i_A8aT53Jj4lFZ9ztk91g31-kCpRfYc/s320/JUDGE.JPG" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>JOHANNESBURG. As investigators begin their inquest into the alleged drunk-driving case of Judge Nkola Motata, his colleagues have vowed to show solidarity by getting extremely drunk, crashing their Jaguars through suburban walls, and then swearing at and racially abusing any witnesses who happen to try to help them out of their wrecked cars. Chanting "Hakuna Motata!" and "Don't Jag Nkola's name through the mud!", Motata's friends in the judiciary told journalists outside the Supreme Court that they planned to stand by their colleague by re-enacting his exploits, to give the South African public a glimpse of "the man behind the steering wheel in the shrubbery". According to protest leader Judge Solomon 'Chopper' Vilakazi, about a dozen judges had agreed to take a stand for the reputation of their colleague "some time next week, probably in the small hours of Saturday morning, in the suburbs of Johannesburg". "Nkola's drunkenness is still only an allegation," said Vilakazi. "Nothing has been proved, so we will leave it up to each judge's discretion as to whether or not he wants to get completely rat-arsed on expensive whisky paid for by the South African taxpayer." However, he added, a quick show of hands had suggested that "most of the guys" would opt for this form of protest. He said that the judges would then drive their luxury cars through likely looking vibrocrete walls, and hurl slurred abuse at whoever came to their aid. "We will stand by our friend," said Vilakazi. "Or lie down next to him. Or vomit in the gutter beside him. Or whatever else he needs us to do." Judge John Hlope, currently embroiled in the Ginwala Commission, was not available for comment, but a spokesman said it was unlikely that he would attend the protest, or send a surrogate to drive through a wall in his place. "Judge Hlope is very busy at the moment, and while he stands by his colleagues in the judiciary, no matter which politician they answer to, he has more important matters to attend to at the moment." The spokesman said that these matters included "looking as if he's making an important call on his cellphone whenever a camera is on him, and preparing massive lawsuits against the whenwees in the media who keep calling him 'Shlorpee'." "It's Hlope, okay? Not Shlorpee, not Lorpy, not Huh-lorpee. Hlope." Source <a href="http://www.hayibo.com/">www.hayibo.com</a>

Judges vow to stand by Motata, will drive drunk and swear at witnesses

JOHANNESBURG. As investigators begin their inquest into the alleged drunk-driving case of Judge Nkola Motata, his colleagues have vowed to s...

5:14 PM

Disillusioned doctor says "South Africa: Go to hell!"

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEsvw-3gxA9PdrSGd-XBKe50G7piQ3hWSCYUj58GL-SxN3SZexYAXGoHL13efwMG_D7Esn7CQW_GvYfTguyUiPQ1JZqL9qk1g3LDwOxHRyToKEP5ZVjbRjpA626AT6oYTDWkA2-GR1iX4e/s1600-h/hospital_signs.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218939530665482018" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEsvw-3gxA9PdrSGd-XBKe50G7piQ3hWSCYUj58GL-SxN3SZexYAXGoHL13efwMG_D7Esn7CQW_GvYfTguyUiPQ1JZqL9qk1g3LDwOxHRyToKEP5ZVjbRjpA626AT6oYTDWkA2-GR1iX4e/s400/hospital_signs.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>I’m a northern European medical doctor. A senior surgeon, working in the public sector of South Africa. I have done so the last 5 years. I do not want to speak outside my discipline, so this will be about the medical demise of SA. Most visitors to South Africa, who encounter the public health sector, do so by visiting a hospital or a clinic in or near the big cities. What they get to see is a hospital or a clinic, which is working, but not up to Western standards. Before I came down here, I believed that pre-94 South Africa had a very good health care system for the white population, and nothing for the black. I soon discovered that was not the case. The Calvinistic white rulers of South Africa had built an elaborate network of public hospitals, reaching the outermost societies of this large country. We are talking about 5-600 beds hospitals far out in the rural areas. Before 1994, they were well manned and equipped, and complicated procedures were carried out there. I know this. I’ve been to these hospitals and spoken to the people working there. I have gone through old patient files and surgical statistics. These were hospitals that catered for the black population. This web of hospitals as I can see must have covered more or less 100% of South Africa’s population, including the former Bantustans or homelands. I know that the same situation was present as to schools. The ANC run a couple of campaigns like “Election before education” and “To make the country ungovernable”. As part of that, most rural schools were burnt down. Keeping in mind the traditionally very violent African culture down here, one perfectly understands why the hospitals built by the apartheid government, did not suffer the same fate. This has left us with a window to the past; we can clearly see that the apartheid government did not only care for their white population, but in fact, also took great responsibility for the black, at what must have been an enormous cost. Back to visiting South African hospitals… When doing so, the visitor will be shown one of a few hospitals, were not too many windows are broken, not all the equipment has been vandalized and not all the electric supply has been cut off. Now, go outside these hospitals, go to the former rural hospitals, and what do you find? You will find that the hospitals built for the black population, by the black ANC government, have been degraded and left unfunded. You will find hospitals with no doctors. Hospitals with no electricity. No X-ray equipment. No furniture. You actually will find old rural hospitals inhabited by squatters! It is for me a huge paradox that the black government seems to have zero compassion for their own population, as long as they can get away with it and no one can or will see it. The black population has not by magic become so much healthier after 1994 that these hospitals are not needed anymore. Au contraire, the black population is in dire need of these hospitals, but all they find are ghost hospitals. Many of whom I’ve visited, are beyond repair. I am leaving South Africa now. I have paid my duties, and I am forever marked by Africa in the form of an entry and exit 9 mm bullet hole in my right upper leg. I got it because my robber was not happy with me handing over my 10 year old or something, Nokia 6110 cellphone, and some small coins. No wallet, no rings and only amalgam fillings… Now, what kind of doctor is that? My last word to South Africa: Go to hell!

Disillusioned doctor says "South Africa: Go to hell!"

I’m a northern European medical doctor. A senior surgeon, working in the public sector of South Africa. I have done so the last 5 years. I d...

12:20 PM

South Africa P.I.G.

Identity fraud growing in SA

Judges vow to stand by Motata, will drive drunk and swear at witnesses

Disillusioned doctor says "South Africa: Go to hell!"

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