ANC Fiddles over Malema while South Africa Burns

<p><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">By Michael Trapido</span></em><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">President Jacob Zuma is going to have to draw a line in the sand and decide where loyalty ends and common sense begins in his, as well as the African National Congress', approach to the ANCYL and its president Julius Malema.<br /><br /></div><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447116618899017186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqdCoGHpoRS2QVj78NSAwbqVMDtHr84Rf9ips44v4mkm5l4d-tHk_8J4CyOLPIbFncd7FH5eEPy3GHo9s8bFfVN4UZMVCBwm3nCuSHK1f849UICybj0B_Y_OPmldrhHH6731AXraoh-MSj/s400/Dr+Evil.bmp" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 259px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 306px; CURSOR: hand" /> <p align="center"><br /><strong><span style="font-size:100%;">First there was Dr Evil and Mini Me....<br />And now the new ....</span><br /></strong><br /></p><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447116627815046914" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG_nEj9v27lFfy2V-srG6_eBlHS_6XuRQsQ4LpFbwX1qcxanKblwLMigPsxaItoxndh-VW9BlypDqfCv14IvHoAclgcLq0TNZRUF4j7bWZbTkV2SIGfCMyewgF_Sd8yECDgGDMgAksheHw/s400/Dr+Evil+mini+me.bmp" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 311px; CURSOR: hand" /><br />After yesterday's racist tirade at the University of Johannesburg the ANC has yet to decide on whether or not to meet with its youth league president. Spokesman Ishmael Mnisi said on Wednesday that the party was always in touch with the league, but had not decided whether to talk to Malema about this particular matter.<br /><br />In layman's terms the ruling party that forms the government that is in charge of all South Africans can't decide whether racist attacks on certain of their citizens needs to be dealt with by them.<br /><br />Perhaps at the next election they may wish to clarify before the vote that if the ANC are elected as the next government then they see their role as strictly overseeing the needs and requirements of the ANC membership. This in turn will mean that the remaining 45 odd million South Africans are going to need a separate government to deal with their issues.<br /><br />Pursuant to a declaration along those lines the ANC will be more than welcome to focus on purely party matters from what will then be fewer seats than those currently held by the ID.<br /><br />In the meanwhile, as they are the government and ruling party in charge of all South Africans - while clearly in desperate need of a few tutorials on what distinguishes a constitutional democracy like South Africa from the anarchy that is Somalia - perhaps they might want to consider what the implications are going to be if everyone starts behaving like Malema and certain other leaders.<br /><br />He is after all a role model to the masses.<br /><br />If every interest group that goes to make up the aggregate of what we consider our masses starts calling for violence and resorts to name calling against the ANC or the government every time it feels so inclined what will be the response?<br /><br />As things stand you can't even scratch your ear with your middle finger if the President's convoy is passing by in case you get picked up, have a brown bag put over your head and interrogated to see that you aren't endangering our leader.<br /><br />Yet when the leader of one of the biggest groups in the country - the ANCYL - calls the leader of the opposition a Satanist and the head of the ID a woman that no normal man could marry the ANC can't work out whether to deal with it or not.<br /><br />The hypocrisy is overwhelming.<br /><br />When Malema called for white people to be shot and accused them of being rapists somewhere, somehow, someone surely asked the question of how much longer this is going to be allowed to carry on before it turns on those who don't deal with it.<br /><br />For example if, once again, other groups followed the youth league president's fine lead and called upon their followers to shoot other races would the government expect the police to have to go in and arrest them and if so how would they be able to distinguish it from Malema's case without arresting him?<br /><br />Or is Malema simply above the law?<br /><br />As we saw earlier today the police are changing to military ranks to try and instill discipline.<br /><br />That's nonsense.<br /><br />You fight corruption and crime by setting examples at the top and clamping down on slackness at the bottom. The same way that you ensure that a culture of lawlessness does not arise by giving example after example of leaders and politicians who disregard the rule of law as if it is some kind of irritant.<br /><br />A disregard which seems to permeate every level of our society.<br /><br />What is going to happen when South African society, using our leaders as their example, start disregarding the laws that they consider inappropriate to themselves? Is the government going to try another do as I say not as I do number?<br /><br />At that point in time the very system that maintains law and order will, as a result of their own conduct, become ineffective in dealing with the society that it is meant to regulate and the people who are responsible for undermining it by gross disregard, will be the ones calling out the military.<br /><br />In a country where so much anger exists over the perceived failure of service delivery coupled to a culture of violence that arises from way back when the last thing that anyone would expect is that those in charge of the country do anything to jeopardize a criminal justice system which they may well need in the not too distant future. </span></span><p><br /></p>

ANC Fiddles over Malema while South Africa Burns

By Michael Trapido President Jacob Zuma is going to have to draw a line in the sand and decide where loyalty ends and common sense begins in...

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Malema sings the Mokaba anti-boer tune "Kill the boer, kill the farmer"

<p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:#990000;">ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema yesterday invoked the spirit of Peter Mokaba by singing "dubulu iBhunu" - echoing the late league firebrand's trademark chant "Kill the boer, kill the farmer" after arriving to address a student gathering in Joburg.<br /></span></strong><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ZP-NYpweQaKCvZ2hj-3-N_IYUsWgeiu9U4N1zHOCGq2PXdlqbN5nnsRagvNuUjki8aAAfOe77Ud1HuegqiZw9Mnn1a6Pd9ctcY9244hnsqeFrCXH5g-6eOVtSJv8x3mmqDq-t4Sg-68I/s1600-h/malema%20009.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448973597480583986" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYHfoNa6w2-rEDfVnZ7LvCeis5rq3PsRzcLzKn1Ft9VhiVzuOJH38R1VjvX_plOErfBRakzAytVRutQEGJ8ncPWdzR6n7n-bJUQyZ9pTG39zz5HmF78OtJkJ5gj5x4FP1J6KEZRjmnj2pC/s400/ANC_HATE_SPEECHES.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 333px; CURSOR: hand" />Some of the crowd of about 500 students at the University of Johannesburg's Doornfontein campus - many of them there apparently out of curiosity - seemed taken aback at Malema singing the old struggle song aimed at white people who supported apartheid.<br /><br />Malema - who arrived in the back seat of a luxury white Range Rover urged black journalists to "close ranks" and not be critical of African leaders. He also made derogatory references to whites in the media, the opposition, and in commerce and industry.<br /><br />"I must never surrender to these Mickey Mouses, I must fight on," he said in reference to media probes into the R140 million in tenders awarded to businesses to which he was linked. He said he was motivated by the "ruthless killing by the whites on a committed revolutionary" (sic) - a reference to slain SACP leader Chris Hani.<br /><br />Daring the SA Revenue Service to send police to arrest him if it was found that he or his companies had not paid tax, as was recently reported, Malema said: "I'm a law-abiding citizen of this country. I am not above the law. If there is any crime that I have committed, let me be arrested.<br /><br />"But I can tell you now there is nobody who can arrest me, because I did nothing wrong.<br /><br />"I will never retreat. I will fight in the spirit of Peter Mokaba."<br /><br />Mokaba's repeated use of his signature chant in the early 1990s unleashed a storm of controversy as it was interpreted as inciting violence against Afrikaners.<br /><br />In a swipe at Cosatu and frayed alliance relations, Malema said he did not need general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi's permission to toyi-toyi.<br /><br />"Vavi doesn't hold permits for revolutionaries in South Africa," said Malema, who has been accused of being a tenderpreneur - getting rich through state contracts won through well-placed connections.<br /><br />He scoffed at Vavi, who last year said he would step down from Cosatu to make himself available for a leadership position in the ANC.<br /><br />"He (Vavi) said he was going to the national executive committee of the ANC... because he doesn't understand the ANC very well, he wants to start from the top.<br /><br />"We say to him, go to your branch."<br /><br />Only President Jacob Zuma - backed by the league - was guaranteed to have a second term in 2012, Malema said. Anyone "wanting to survive in the ANC" should support Zuma.<br /><br />Opposition parties weren't spared either. DA leader and Western Cape Premier Helen Zille - who once referred to him as inkwenkwe (an uncircumcised boy) - was a "monster" and presided over an "apartheid regime".<br /><br />She was "suffering from Satanism", Malema said - a reference to ANC claims that temporary structures used for church and Islamic ceremonies in Khayelitsha had been demolished by officials.<br /><br />"But we are glad because people will know they voted for a monster," he said.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfqN33ub_pwYwPrLRNLi1smGWSGN-aGS-N3Y2cydnlckIaBTb7APTBDx2bGID4DbsPxR1H80QKlSK8Pl2uTqVFUyvY7SloP9C4DqvtIJckMKSyBsaH0OCpSGZgUDPnxWPY2JeDeDV6z6eO/s1600-h/ANC_HATE_SPEECHES.jpg"></a><br />Independent Democrats president Patricia de Lille also came in for a tongue lashing after she told City Press that Malema had not paid taxes since being elected ANC Youth League leader in April 2008.<br /><br />"She must go and build her own family and be concerned about the taxes of her husband, if she's got a husband," he said, to wild cheering.<br /><br />Malema repeated his calls for mines to be nationalised, and said the R140 million he reportedly made on tenders should also be nationalised.<br /><br />Supporter Shane Motala, in a yellow league T-shirt bearing a young Nelson Mandela's picture, said Malema's race invective was aimed at individuals such as Zille and not whites in general.<br /><br />But first-year students Mbali Nkosi and Simphiwe Hlatswayo said Malema's playing the race card was not on.<br /><br />"We have friends of different races, and there's no use comparing black and white like that. He needs to become more positive, because so many people listen to him. He never quotes someone like Nelson Mandela on reconciliation," they said.<br /><br />Metallurgy final-year students Kgotso Tsoai and Anthony Mello said they supported Malema urging students to study hard and graduate, but did not agree with everything he said on race. </span><p><br /></p>

Malema sings the Mokaba anti-boer tune "Kill the boer, kill the farmer"

ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema yesterday invoked the spirit of Peter Mokaba by singing "dubulu iBhunu" - echoing the late l...

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'We'll toyi-toyi like the ANC taught us'

<p><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:#990000;">With only 93 days to go before the start of the 2010 World Cup, residents of Mamelodi-East near Pretoria during violent protests on Tuesday threatened to disrupt the tournament.</span></strong><br /><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><p align="center"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446772561659749090" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB0jqvdabRu5VW-SabCLTTG_HIA-3IeAOqVu8tctezTukbwLmb8eoIkruHfV_p3mNGhW-LN9zz-VzoKASOCIRVjGwD4NPZbWxCgwqEPEAXZIKZCjMti6vKU8n7Hx4IBlgXoRMqWOcnRghi/s400/mamelodi-toy-toy.jpg" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" /><em><span style="font-size:85%;color:#000099;">A schoolgirl armed with stones walks towards a police vehicle in Tsamayaweg, Mamelodi-East. (Deaan Vivier, Beeld)</span></em></p><p>They are demanding that the government immediately supply them with houses, electricity, running water and flushing toilets.<br /><br />"If the government could spend millions of rands and prepare for the World Cup so quickly, it's a disgrace that people are still living in squalor in squatter camps," Vusi Nkosi, a resident, said on Tuesday.<br /><br />"The soccer means nothing to us because we won't be able to watch it anyway, since we don't have electricity.<br /><br />"This time we will fight and toyi-toyi like the ANC taught us."<br /><br />Over 6 000 people live in seven squatter camps in close proximity to each other in Mamelodi-East.<br /><br />Riotous residents have been blockading Tsamaya Road, Hector Peterson Street and Hans Strijdom Avenue with burning tyres and rubbish since 20:00 on Monday.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#999999;">Live rounds</span></strong><br /><br />On Tuesday the police repeatedly tried to disperse the crowd by firing rubber bullets at them and firing live rounds in the air.<br /><br />Several people were hit by rubber bullets.<br /><br />Johannes Maheso, police spokesperson, said four men were arrested.<br /><br />This protest followed similar demonstrations in Hammanskraal, Soshanguve and Brits.<br /><br />Veronica Mphahlele, a community leader, said the government promised in 2000 that they would be given permanent houses and land of their own.<br /><br />"It's 10 years later and we're still in the same position. All they do is send police to come and shoot at us."<br /><br />The residents are accusing council members, the police and the metro police of illegally selling land and houses intended for the poor to enrich themselves.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#999999;">Land invasion</span></strong><br /><br />They recently invaded land in the east of Mamelodi and in Nellmapius, but were soon removed.<br /><br />Kgaogelo Lekgoro, Gauteng MEC for local governance and housing, said at the time that government is planning to build 5 000 houses over the next three years.<br /><br />He also admitted that they have a serious backlog because it's difficult to acquire land.<br /><br />Absolom Boroto, another community leader, called on Tokyo Sexwale, minister of housing, to meet with them so they can confront him with the proof of all the empty promises over the years.<br /><br />"We want things to happen now."<br /><br />Edwin Smith, director of the University of Pretoria's Mamelodi campus, said that students were informed by SMS that the campus nearby had been closed due to the protests.<br /><br />Shops were also closed for the day and vehicles were not allowed to pass certain points.<br /><br />At the corner of Hans Strijdom Avenue and Hector Peterson Street protesters stole the contents of a Pick n Pay truck. Rocks were thrown at cars from bridges.<br /><br />On Tuesday afternoon Lekgoro met with community leaders at the Mamelodi-East police station to discuss the problems.<br /></span><br />- Beeld<br /></p></span>

'We'll toyi-toyi like the ANC taught us'

With only 93 days to go before the start of the 2010 World Cup, residents of Mamelodi-East near Pretoria during violent protests on Tuesday ...

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