South Africa P.I.G.

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

The country’s most famous polygamist, father for the 22nd time - pregnant fiancée, wife N0.6, bride-in-waiting! Taxpayers (“suckers”) to foot the bill

<div align="left">South Africa's polygamous president, Jacob Zuma, is to become a father for the 22nd time following news that his fiancée is pregnant. </div><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513123496377770866" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2hrjHmZ701o_lGjzHycyIF4xj80GerIlx6DvQJLWmNHk2RRt9kWqoI4YXPi0BvasSClxJJMJ3r1ryBoGWVSGrlHN6HuxKipiMfc7Ka3W9xPabydReS4s2LN1BHfPCnDztruRDFoL_6ETj/s400/nompumelelo-ntuli-jacob-zuma.jpg" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 354px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" /> Jacob Zuma, Gloria Bongi Ngema.Bongiwe Gloria Ngema, who recently accompanied Jacob Zuma on a state visit to China, is expecting a child early next year, according to media reports citing her close friends. The pair already have one child and are due to marry in December, which will bring to four the number of South Africa's First Ladies. Reports of the pregnancy comes only a fortnight after the arrival of Mr Zuma's 21st child, which was born to the second of his current wives. The boy, named Manqoba Kholwani which means "believe it", arrived amid claims that he could be the result of an affair between his mother and her bodyguard. The president has dismissed the claims as malicious rumours. Now aged 68, Zuma has faced repeated calls to live a quieter life and devote more of his energies to leading his country out of the griding poverty which confronts the majority of the population. Zuma's advisers insist that, as a proud Zulu, his culture permits him to have as many children as he wants with as many partners as he likes. However, the president was forced to make a humiliating apology earlier this year following the birth, out of wedlock, of his 20th child to the daughter of a family friend. While polygamy is accepted in South Africa, the spiralling cost to the taxpayer of Zuma's cultural observance has led to bitter clashes between the president's ruling African National Congress and the leading opposition party. News of yet another child and another marriage is bound to reignite the debate. Taxpayers are already spending more than R15.5m a year to support Zuma's current wives and some of his children. Generous friends are also known to help "sponsor" additional costs which do not have to be declared in public. The "presidential spousal budget", which had doubled in the space of a year, was condemned as "exorbitant" by the opposition leader, Helen Zille. This prompted a sharp riposte from the ANC which accused Zille of "cultural intolerance". The spousal office, which organises access to the president for his wives and fiancée, also pays for the women's personal support staff, such as secretaries and researchers, as well as domestic and international air travel and accommodation. Mobile phones for the consorts and their secretaries, laptops and printers and a special daily allowance for "incidental" expenses are also covered. "It is impossible for anyone, even on a president's salary, to look after a family of the size of Zuma's without relying extensively on private benefactors and the taxpayers' money," Zille said.Source: <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/">www.telegraph.co.uk</a>

The country’s most famous polygamist, father for the 22nd time - pregnant fiancée, wife N0.6, bride-in-waiting! Taxpayers (“suckers”) to foot the bill

South Africa's polygamous president, Jacob Zuma, is to become a father for the 22nd time following news that his fiancée is pregnant. J...

11:10 AM

Where to next, South Africa?

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIk8JZU9uQ2T_Ye86lQlbPfpCyzEZXy74ulDVppGUDhj9Q1T7ffJ9lITjIpAwuhK7CVFKEjL8WJKQitqh1ZWxRIqW8DSPyxwelkjc-hmTH3CSDMDy1ZGFSFx8RgKhSpkXZa-nXXzOm9Rwz/s1600/Alliance+-+strikes1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIk8JZU9uQ2T_Ye86lQlbPfpCyzEZXy74ulDVppGUDhj9Q1T7ffJ9lITjIpAwuhK7CVFKEjL8WJKQitqh1ZWxRIqW8DSPyxwelkjc-hmTH3CSDMDy1ZGFSFx8RgKhSpkXZa-nXXzOm9Rwz/s640/Alliance+-+strikes1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> Barely seven weeks have passed since the end of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, and South Africa feels as though it has transferred into the twilight zone. From what was arguably one of the greatest triumphs of sporting capitalism in the world, the country is increasingly being squeezed between groups that either believe Marx, Lenin and Trotsky were right or that Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is the world's greatest living man. And being bullied into believing these are only two options on the table. By BRANKO BRKIC. The last full week of August 2010 brought firm displays of power and determination by two antipodes within the ruling tripartite alliance: At one pole, the public servants' strike raged across the country, accompanied by ugly scenes of dehumanising stupidity, and being greatly strengthened by Cosatu's Zwelinzima Vavi's threat to stop SA's heartbeat. At the other pole, safely ensconced behind menacing bodyguards and security officers, ANC Youth League officials and national general council delegates plotted their way to greater influence of their own; influence that would result in changing of SA's Constitution to bring their Chavez-like plans to reality, as well as to ensure hastening their own ascent to power. As we are writing this, President Zuma has ordered his relevant ministers to return to the negotiating table to break the strike deadlock, a move that may have been designed to bolster his weakened decision-making credentials. Still, sitting somewhere in the middle, almost nobody believes he would be asked by his own people to lead them for another term. It appears that we are about to hit a fork in the road, and both directions offer a lousy future. And yet, not everything is necessarily definite. Depending on how the events of the next 30 days or so play out, SA could be in for a surprise or two. The picture of our future is still developing. But before we continue talking about what will paint that picture, and perhaps to understand the process better, let's look at the events that led to the destruction of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, whose long-time leader, Broz Tito, died in 1980 after leading the country and his party since 1945. In 1985, the communist cell of Belgrade elected a new boss, a little-known banker named Slobodan Milosevic. And as had been the case many times before, Milosevic became leader of Serbian communists in 1987, as his best friend and mentor, Ivan Stambolic ascended to the post of president of Serbia. But in the same year, Milosevic, a career communist until then, turned nationalist, split with the official line and demanded an urgent and forceful resolution of Kosovo's Albanian separatist problem. Where he encountered a problem at party level, he steamrollered the opposition, including his own boss and best friend, Stambolic. In the best populist tradition, while controlling the press completely, he stoked up people's feelings of righteous anger and then organised so called “people's revolutions” to replace the leadership of the provinces he needed to put into his column. (You are completely free to draw parallels with one Julius Malema's consolidation-of-power tactics) His plan was pretty sound: He was to mobilise and organise his forces to become a majority compared to the “enemy faction” from Croatia and Slovenia, before the 14th Congress of the Yugoslav Communist Party in January 1990. He completed his master plan well before that date. And his domination of the party's congress was total. His people came to power, his policies became federal policies. At that moment, he thought, he was in control of the whole country. Except that Croatian and Slovenian communists simply couldn't and didn't want to stay in the party dominated by the polarizing and uncompromising figure Milosevic was. So they pulled out of the Federal party, effectively ending its existence. By the end of the 1990, there were free elections in every Yugoslavian province and the communists were still clinging to power only in Serbia, after an election campaign marred by violence and intimidation. Suddenly, Milosevic's master plan, so brilliantly executed, meant nothing anymore. His only way of thinking, through communist party apparatus, was simply outdated and no longer applicable to the entire country. So he turned to his last set of friends, the heavily-ideological Yugoslav Army for help in stopping the secession of Croatia and Slovenia. The result was the bloodiest war in post-WWII Europe. So why, you may ask, do we dedicate so much space to a loser politician in charge of a perpetually losing nation? Well, history is there to teach us something rather painful in this case. The ANC and its partners are built very much in the same way, and on the same understanding of the liberation movement's moral righteousness and total infallibility as was the Yugoslav communist party. As any communist party, for that matter. The same system of deployment wrought incalculable damage to country's economy. The same near-total blindness to global developments and civilisational gains. The very same claims of exceptionalism. Especially where communist parties are concerned, history can teach a lot. The current antagonism within the tripartite alliance is a sure sign of a party that was running the country having gone unchallenged for way too long. So long, in fact, that the original idea around which the organisation was built has been long-relegated to largely fictional self-congratulatory statements about how great the country is and how well everyone lives. (Repeat after us: We have successfully completed the SABC's transformation from the state broadcaster into a public broadcaster.) No, the glue that holds every organisation that has near total power is just that, total power. And if one side in the ruling alliance does not enjoy that power, the organisation will eventually have to undergo a major, sometimes crippling and always painful make-over. So it is important to understand current events in the Cosatu – ANC – Youth League maelstrom through this historical perspective. Cosatu and the Youth League are motoring in completely opposite directions at full speed. Cosatu wants more socialism, Youth League chooses to follow an even worse path of cheap populism. But what is important to understand is that what happens within the ANC proper in the following weeks will substantially define the future of South Africa. By orchestrating his total domination over the Youth League and with his renewed push for his own agenda, Malema has pulled the wires to the point of breaking. And if his allies in the ANC leadership use the national general council to pull ever so slightly more in the same direction, it may render the alliance null and void, very much the same way as Milosevic did in 1990. In other words, if successful in taking over the ANC, Malema and company will probably win the battle, but lose the war. Still, it is not an easy task being a Cosatu leader these days. On one side, one has to satisfy the raging members regardless of the waning popular support, and on the other, one has to find another way of attacking the ANC without explicitly stating that the alliance is no more. Vavi and company have a painful choice to make these days, one of becoming the power themselves or not. And if Malema's line wins at the national general council, that choice will probably be made for them. The only remaining question would be whether to go it alone, or attempt a takeover of the ANC itself. Source <a href="http://www.thedailymaverick.co.za/">http://www.thedailymaverick.co.za/</a>

Where to next, South Africa?

Barely seven weeks have passed since the end of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, and South Africa feels as though it has transferred into the twil...

8:15 AM

South Africa P.I.G.

Good stats, bad stats

The country’s most famous polygamist, father for the 22nd time - pregnant fiancée, wife N0.6, bride-in-waiting! Taxpayers (“suckers”) to foot the bill

Where to next, South Africa?

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