A Rainbow Nation Burns

By Gareth Cliff:

Between a rock and a hard place….

Thabo Mbeki was right: There really are two South Africas. Most people jump to the conclusion that we’re a nation divided along racial lines.
Others think it’s about the haves and the have-nots.
The events of the past few days have made it abundantly clear that the real divide is between those who want law and order; and those who see the law only as a means to make themselves more powerful.
Those are the two South Africas.

Before you read any further, let’s take a moment to appreciate context and perspective, because nothing happens in isolation: We have been living on a powder-keg of unsustainable, teetering and disdainful politics since about 2009 (the seeds of which were germinating in the ugly part of our pre-1994 history). While Jacob Zuma was a big part of the overall toxic mixture, he was not the only reason we have found ourselves in this situation. A combination of the ANC’s inability to bring itself to order; the constant public narratives used to divide us; an economy that has been mismanaged in a destructive alliance between unions, the ruling party and crony corporations; and ultimately a devastating and unpredictable pandemic have created a perfect storm that just needed an excuse to break.

Let’s be very clear: what we’re experiencing isn’t about Jacob Zuma, inequality and poverty, or a lack of vaccines. While those things may have contributed to the overall power vacuum, they’re symptoms, not causes. That all of this started in KwaZulu-Natal isn’t a surprise either: weak political leadership, confusion in the Zulu royal family and an overpopulated province of young people with no reason to wake up every day, no sense of purpose or hope, this was inevitable.

We’re witnessing the final unravelling of the ANC, and especially the elite criminal coterie who have been manipulating the institutions and authority of government for their own purposes for at least the last decade. Their reluctance to act against each other, abide by the law or do what is good for South Africa is a can that was kicked down the road until they ran out of road. Unimpressive and incoherent fools, promoted far beyond their competence in a system that rewarded greed, party loyalty and failed ideology have brought them to a breaking point. That’s what ultimately precipitated this orgy of looting, criminality, violence and stupidity. That has been predicted by much smarter people than me for much longer.

So if you stop reading here, you’ll probably wish you hadn’t read any of this at all – but fortunately that isn’t all.

The heartening and hopeful evidence of good people standing together, taking up arms and looking to protect each other from criminals and scum is everywhere. I saw a group of old and young; rich and poor; black, white and Indian neighbours on the news last night, determined to look after the suburb of Montclair in Durban. Their eyes betrayed not a spark of fear, but a resourceful, determined and strong sense of community – in the best sense of that word. Those men had something powerful to fight for, and they weren’t in it to steal a TV.

We’ve always had poor people in this country (sadly, far too many) who battle through every day – and none of them partake in arson and theft, even if they’re desperate. There’s a moral majority of granny-headed, religious and decent rural families who have as much disdain for the carnage they see as any angry taxpayer does. Together, they’ve watched crooks plunder the land Mandela promised them. Today, they stand united against the mob.

The great divide in South Africa is and will continue to be between those who want a future for themselves and their children, who believe we are a civilised people with enormous potential – and those who have given in to the chaos of destruction, hopelessness and self-loathing. On the one hand we have the steely resolve of the better part of our nature, and on the other the vacant yellow eyes of opportunists and monsters. The real looting (of some R500-billion or more) has already taken place. Those who took it are now deploying their vassals and playing the only card they have left.

It’s time you asked yourself which South Africa you want to be a part of, and what we need to clear out of the way in order to share our place in the sun. It’s always darkest before the dawn.

 

Guns kill people

Anti gun tirade.

One of the favored arguments of those opposed to private ownership of firearms is that guns kill people. However, while it is true that firearms were originally developed as a weapon of war, this argument ignores the fact is that firearms are inanimate objects that are simply not capable of taking action on their own.

Therefore, they require a conscious human operator with a clear objective in order to fire a projectile. Consequently, the truth is that it is not the firearm that kills people but, instead, the human operator who makes a conscious decision to take a life. The firearm is merely a tool to that end

So if the above is true, why do we have lawmakers and anti gun lobbies trying their best to ban guns? Or trying to make it practically impossible to get one.

We already have character checks, criminal record checks, competency checks in place to try weed out those who may inclined to violence or have some mental disorder that makes them unstable to actually handling a firearm.

When we were immature young boys leaving school, with tons of testosterone flowing through our bloodstreams, we were good enough to be armed with an assault rifle, handgun and hand grenades by the government. We were deemed good enough to go to war with the weapons provided and were hailed as heroes if we killed the enemies of the state. Those that didn’t shoot faster or more accurately than the people shooting at them, died. Survival was as simple as that

Now we have the government trying to say that we no longer have a right to protect ourselves or those around us by owning a firearm for self defence. It would seem that the government thinks that criminals are now going to throw their firearms into the sea,rivers or dams because the rest of the population has had to surrender their firearms? I seriously dont think so!

If ones looks at what the government proposes to do by saying that “self defense” is no longer a reason for owning a firearm, and that your current license is only valid for a couple of years, then you would not be in a position to reapply to renew your firearm license. Then you are illegally in possession of a firearm and would forfeit it to the state. You would also not be compensated for your previously legal firearm.

The government managed to disarm all the commandos as well as all police reservist without too much trouble. This has now created a veritable open season for criminals in areas where people are no longer protected. And the police have admitted that they are not in a position to stop crime, but can only react to crimes already committed. Plus the majority of armed police actually failed their competency tests for using a firearm!

If the proposed bill does go through, then the police and Gun Free South Africa who are pushing for the stringent new laws must also accept that the police and all the security companies that carry firearms aren’t doing it for self defense.  They would be carrying firearms to attack defenseless people with impunity. 

 

Dirty Diplomat?

It was in the news a short while ago, albeit on a very low key. So many people missed the article.

Now it has once again surfaced with additional information which means that more focus is now being given to the case of the dirty diplomat.

It seems that David Kweti Nkosi who represents South Africa as a diplomat, is leaving a trail of filthy, damaged rental premises behind him.

Previously he was stationed in New Deli where the costs of repairs and cleaning the unit he and his family stayed in, came to R53 612,20. The government paid the bill for the damage (with tax payers money) but this has not been repaid by Nkosi as yet.

Now Nkosi and family have outdone themselves. While staying in Vienna it seems that the cleaning of the rental flat they were staying in amounts to R714 000,00!

Now my question is, is this the caliber person we have representing South Africa? Why was no investigation done immediately after the New Deli damage was reported, and why wasn’t he recalled?

Now after the damages were reported to the flat in Vienna there should be big red warning lights going off that Nkosi isnt fit to hold any diplomatic position.

Once upon a time it was frowned on if any member of an embassy even got a parking ticket. If you did anything that would reflect badly on the South African government, or people, your career in foreign countries quickly came to an end.

Now I’m hoping that minister Naledi Pandor will do her job properly and ensure that Nkosi is recalled and never given a post outside of South Africa again. Our reputation overseas is already so besmirched that we dont our diplomats having no respect for other people’s properties.

 

Food for thought

According to the statistics for the year 2019 supplied by the South African police, there were 21,325 murder victims of which 49 were white farmers. Now for a small country like our those figures are horrific. This does not include violent assaults, torture or rapes. Only murders.

So if the government takes away self defense as a reason to obtain and own a firearm, what will our figures escalate to?

The current process for obtaining a firearm license is nearly as bad as applying for a security clearance to work for the government. Only problems is the police dont have sufficient trained staff to process the applications and do the required checks that they put into law.

Food for thought?

 

No Defense.

On Friday 21 May, the South African government published changes envisioned to the firearms act. If passed this law would no longer make it possible to use self defense as a reason for owning a firearm. It would also also make it illegal to reload any ammunition.

These changes are over and above the current draconian laws that are already in place.

The minister of police, Beke Cele, has already stated that the police are not able to fulfill their constitutional duties of protecting the population from previous bodily harm. So why are they trying to stop citizens from protecting themselves and their loved ones? The excuse of removing illegal firearms from circulation by making it impossible for law abiding citizens to own firearms is ludicrous. Criminals will always be able to obtain firearms on the black market. Whether obtained from the police, SANDF, or smuggled across our open borders these firearms continue to flood the market.

Could it be that the ANC is planning to move South Africa into a dictatorship? Then it makes sense to me to disarm the population. Then there would no uprising against the dictators and their armed forces. Or is it that the ANC still fears the few remaining whites in the country? Is it a legacy of what the old SADF did to the ANC during the Bush wars, are they scared that their arses could be kicked again by a few old men armed with handguns obtained for self defense, and a few rifles used for the annual hunting of meat for biltong?

It is also a concern that the police have admitted that there are nearly 250,000 applications scattered all over the floors at the Firearm Registry. Now by passing this new law the majority of the applications become invalid, because they are mostly for self defense. What an easy way to clear the backlog even though there are people out there that have been waiting for two or more years to hear about their firearm application.

The police have admitted that some firearms applications have been chewed by rats while being stacked in passages! Could it have been done by some large, two legged rats trying to reduce their work load?

 

Zuma’ Orange Suit?

Way back in history I was already asking why the then president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, was charged with corruption and sent to jail. It looks as if he is finally running out of maneuvers and may end going to jail first for failing to appear before the Zondo Commission. Then hopefully after that he can go to jail for corruption, state capture and whatever else he has done wrong

 

SUNDAY MURDER

On Sunday a 62 year old caretaker of a small holding in Brits, North West Province, South Africa, was murdered.

He was attacked outside his house and it seems that only the house keys are missing. His car which was parked nearby wasn’t even stolen.

This is the second attack on farmers this weekend where nothing was stolen, but they were still murdered. The percentage farm attacks that result in arrests or prosecutions in relationship to attacks is very small. The ANC did away with the local Commando forces which for years ensured stability in rural areas. The local SA Police dont have the manpower or expertise or tackle farm murders and are left floundering away without concrete results.

The attacks on legitimate white and black farmers seems to my view to be focused on removing the farmers from their farms and then distributing these farms to cadres of the ANC and the members of COSATU and the SACP. Brings back memories of what happened in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe.

 

Another Farm Murder.

Niel Mckay was 26 years old when he was attacked while working as a foreman on a farm. He was shot leaving him paralyzed from the waist down and in a wheelchair.

His late father helped him set up a farm about 3 years ago in Winterton, Kwazulu,  South Africa where he continued farming even while being in a wheelchair.

On Saturday 10th April 2021 Neil McKay was murdered on his farm.

His mother arrived at the farm late is Saturday and found him tied up in his wheelchair.  He had been beaten and allegedly strangled to death. From investigations it seems he had been attacked outside the house and dragged into the house where he was allegedly murdered.

This was no robbery. The television and other electronic equipment were not taken as happens in 100% of robberies here in South Africa. THIS WAS A SENSELESS FARM MURDER ON A HELPLESS PERSON

 

Jacob’s reply to the Nkandla scandal

In the last few weeks we have had the report issued by the Public Prosecutor’s office regarding the excessive amount of work done to Jacob Zuma’s private dwelling in KZN.
Apart from the ground not even belonging to the president, and being leased from the local tribal chief, it seems that an amount of over R260 million was spent on upgrading.
The president now claims he didn’t know what was being done to his private residence and therefore why should he have to pay any of the money back!
During my musings while travelling to and from work, I began to wonder how can it be that the person chosen by his political party to run the country, for the good of all citizens, cannot even keep track of what goes on at his own house?

I also thought it was pretty nifty of the president to state in Parliament that his family had paid for their own homes to be built. This is very noble of him. Yet it doesn’t explain how come the tax payers have had to pay for a visitors centre, cattle kraal and chicken run, swimming pool, amphitheatre plus a tuck shop for one of his wives. So the president makes a mistake and addresses parliament “in good faith” and conveniently forgets about all the other items that were being built.

The ANC as a liberation party was against the forceful removal of people from where they had lived for years. District Six is an example of this. Yet when Nkandla needed to be upgraded there were at least three neighbouring families that had to be relocated. The costs of relocating these families ran to R7.9 million!! For that type of money the State could have built a couple of houses for other needy people or even a much needed clinic.
And above all the relocation and setting up of some of the installations involved unlawful actions and constituted improper conduct and maladministration. These did not comply with section 237 of the Constitution.

Will the president stand up and with hand on heart declare that he was once again totally unaware that the very constitution that he swore to uphold, was being flaunted?

Now the president is saying that he should not be held responsible for the upgrade even though he tacitly accepted the implementation of all measures at his residence.

So, if the president doesn’t want to repay just over R240 million as “he didn’t ask for it”, why are we the motorists in Gauteng, expected to repay the funds that were wasted on the e-Toll system linking Pretoria and Johannesburg? The upgrade to the roads should have easily been covered by the BILLIONS that are made from the fuel levies for the purpose of funding road maintenance. The public has from the very start stated that they did not want the e-Toll system as it was not properly thought out and would hurt a lot of people when implemented. The Government has to get money from the e-Toll system as they need to pay back the pension fund the money that was used without obtaining the required permission to do so.

Another bit of my musing had to do with trying to reconcile how Zuma’s architect, Minenhle Makhanya, was paid R16.5 million. I cannot see anything that would justify being charged such a large amount of money. And now I hear he has got another government contract to do some more work for them !! This gravy train just keeps on steaming ahead with no sign of letting up.

 

President Zuma Behind Bars

Visiting Soweto – News24 photo

Not really but when I saw the photo my wicked sense of humour took a turn for the better!
But now that I have your attention here is my most favourite person in the news again.
After failing to take charge of Pretoria’s Metro Police after getting kicked out of Ekurhuleni Metro Police he is once again at it..

All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; (thanks to William Shakespeare – As You Like It: Act 2 Scene 7)
As I stand in the wings watching the play unfold in South Africa the often used quote by Shakespeare comes to mind.
We have a comedy in the making with the appointment of Robert McBride to be the next head of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).
In a time when the South African Police has such a tarnished image of corruption, brutality and a total disregard of basic policing, one is left to wonder why this appointment is being made.
I find it totally laughable that the ANC’s Western Cape chairman, Marius Fransman, has the gumption to state that McBride is “a hero, patriot and committed civil servant to the people of South Africa”. As far as my memory serves me, once upon a time, civil servants and especially those representing the government had to be beyond reproach with no criminal records, strong morals and impeccable ethics.
Our incumbent president Jacob Zuma has in the last while stated most categorically that he is trying to clean up the government (can he start with himself, I wonder?) and then we hear about McBride, once again surfacing like a rotten smell which just doesn’t want to go away.
When completing your application for employment in the government you are asked if you have ever been found guilty of any criminal act. Now even if we discount the Magoo Bar bombing in which civilians were killed because it was politically motivated (shouldn’t this ruling then also be applied to the Boeremag who accidentally killed a women while blowing up train lines?).
McBride and others members of his terror cell were granted amnesty for the attack. The Truth and Reconciliation commission actually stated that this act was a “gross violation of human rights”.
Or even if we by some long stretch of the imagination should agree that McBride was totally sober after his Christmas party celebrations when he crashed his car on the way home. And we would then also have to wonder how he was found not guilty of trying to defeat the ends of justice while the doctor who issued the results of the blood test without even seeing McBride was found guilty of misconduct. We would also have to ignore the bullying of witnesses by his security minions to a point where they and their families were to terrified to state anything in court. Mcbride was found guilty and sentenced to five years imprisonment. This was later set aside leaving many wondering who was pulling the strings.
Then we have a small incident of being arrested in Mozambique while doing some gun running. Was he just trying to smuggle arms and ammunition into places such as KZN where innocent victims were being slaughtered just to try destabilising the area? He was found guilty and sentenced to jail time but once again his powerful friends in the ANC pulled some strings and he was sent back to South Africa.
What about being involved in an assault case while in the company of underworld bosses at some escort agency? Wonder if he and the previous head of the police and Interpol, Jackie Selebi, were house friends?
In looking at the farce of appointing heads of police we must include Bheki Cele and Mangwashi Victoria Phiyega in this illustrious gathering of players. None of the previous appointments made any positive impact on crime in South Africa and it may be stated that crime actually got worse. Police brutality by far exceeds anything that the previous government did. Corruption is seen as an additional source of income to some police.
SO HOW DOES MCBRIDE EVEN COME INTO CONTENTION FOR THIS POSITION WHERE HE WILL BE INVESTIGATING PEOPLE FOR THE VERY SAME THINGS HE IS GUILTY OF?
1) President Zuma’s ANC are not serious about fighting crime or corruption. Is it far more lucrative to have it continue while they are in power?
2) Why did Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa support the nomination of McBride. Was pressure put on him by higher powers?
3) Does President Zuma want to avoid the possibility of having someone appointed from outside the ANC who would be independent of politics? Maybe Zuma learnt his lesson when he appointed Thuli Madonsela as public prosecutor!
4) According to the (Democratic Alliance) DA the advertisement for the post seems to have been tailored to McBride’s CV. Makes me wonder who was responsible for authorising the changes…
In a recent survey people were asked about problems in South Africa and it is not surprising that fear and mistrust of the police came second to being murdered during a robbery!!