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.

 

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

 

What a Cheek!

Former National Crime Intelligence boss Richard Mdluli, has said he wants to apply to the state to pay his legal expenses in a case where he is accused of multiple counts of fraud and theft and corruption.

Mdluli’s legal says they are going to apply for the funding as Mdluli worked for the state at the time that these crimes supposedly were to have occurred.

The bottom line is that South African taxpayers end up paying all these legal costs for government officials who are ending up in court due to wrongdoings.

We are already supporting a non-performing ANC government, and an economy that is now worse off than the great depression of 1933. As to why we as taxpayers are made to pay for court cases involving state employees (Jacob Zuma is another costing us millions in costs), remains a mystery.

Personally I feel that if you are charged with theft, corruption or anything else you can apply for legal aid if you can’t afford legal representation. If you want expensive advocates to represent you, then pay for them yourself. If this trend continues then every crooked policeman, soldier, politician and who knows who else, will be standing in court being funded by our taxes.

 

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.

 

NKANDLA

 

Apology to Dr Zeus and the Cat in the Hat

 

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!!

 

Future happenings?

 

ANC Election sticker

 

Dear Employees:

As the CEO of this organization, I have resigned myself to the fact that

Jacob Zuma is our President and that our taxes and government fees will

increase in a BIG way.

To compensate for these increases, our prices would have to increase by

about 10%.

 

But, since we cannot increase our prices right now due to the dismal state

of the economy, we will have to lay off sixty of our employees instead.

This has really been bothering me since I believe we are family here and I

didn ‘t know how to choose who would have to go. So, this is what I did.

I walked through our parking lots and found sixty ‘ANC ‘ bumper stickers on

our employees ‘ cars and have decided these folks will be the ones to let

go.

I can ‘t think of a more fair way to approach this problem. They voted for

change… I gave it to them.

 

I will see the REST of you at the annual company picnic…….which WE can

now afford….!!

 

We have used 4% of this year

 

Now we have only used up 4% of the year at this stage but it seems to me that we are rushing headlong into a mess once again. The year 2012 will be remembered by many as a year when corruption, cover ups and general mayhem were the norm.

 

In many prosecutions, the cases were thrown out due to dockets going missing or tampering with evidence. Our esteemed president, Jacob Zuma, had barely uttered the words “we need to stamp out corruption” while in Durban this week, that we read about the docket in a very suspicious case going missing.

 

We have one lot of police saying it isn’t missing and that it had been sent to another section (specialized provincial police investigative unit) to investigate. Then we get this other section which is actually the directorate or police watchdog, saying it hasn’t got it and that they are waiting for it so they can start the investigation.

Unless this is cleared up quickly, the public is going to lose what little faith they have in the police. If the very people who have sworn to protect us are up to wrongdoings once again, who can we turn to in times of need?

 

Picture: JAMES OATWAY

Audi R8 crash docket ‘gone’

GRAEME HOSKEN | 16 January, 2013 00:076

The remains of an Audi R8 on Oxford Road, Rosebank, in which a motorist and a policeman died early yesterday. The driver had raced away while the policeman was in his car searching for drugs. Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said two police officers had stopped the vehicle and found a small amount of dagga inside. The second policeman gave chase in a police van when the driver sped off. The Audi driver eventually lost control and hit a tree, a wall and a lamppost. He and the policeman were declared dead at the scene Picture: JAMES OATWAY

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The following was sent to me this morning:

The Independent Police Investigative Directorate says it has been unable to locate the police docket relating to the car crash that claimed the life of a policeman and a businessman during the early hours of Thursday on Oxford Road, Johannesburg .

The police insist that the docket is being handled by a specialised provincial police investigative unit and is under lock and key – but the directorate, the police watchdog, says it has been unable to locate it.

The directorate investigates high-profile crimes committed by the police, such as corruption.

Its spokesman, Moses Dlamini, said: “Up to today we have not been given the docket. We have made inquiries but have not received it. We don’t know where it is.”

The docket contains details of the mysterious car crash that killed Constable Goodman Lubisi and businessman Areff Haffejee. They were killed when Haffejee lost control of his Audi R8 supercar and crashed into a lamppost and a wall in Oxford Road.

At the time, police claimed that Haffejee had tried to escape officers who had found dagga in his car when they stopped him at a roadblock in Sandton, northern Johannesburg.

They allege that Haffejee, pursued by Lubisi’s partner in a police van, crashed his car during a high-speed chase.

But the police’s version of events has been rubbished by witnesses, police officers close to the investigation and investigative directorate detectives.

The police have failed to explain:

• Why Lubisi did not use his service pistol to force Haffejee to stop his car;
• Why the policemen did not call for backup;
• Why Lubisi’s colleagues at the crash scene waited nearly 10 minutes before calling for ambulances;
• Why the police van’s vehicle monitoring device shows that the vehicle was not speeding, braking hard or rapidly cornering, as it would in a high-speed chase;
• What happened to the dagga said to have been found in Haffejee’s car;
• Why there was a delay in notifying the investigative directorate about the crash; and
• Why the statement of witness Selaelo Mannya, who was driving alongside the police van and the Audi, had not been taken.

The police have yet to name a third policeman involved, who was travelling in the police van.

An IPID investigator said there were “major” discrepancies between the police’s version of events and what other evidence suggested.

“There is no technical evidence to support the theory of a chase. If there was [a chase], why was the police van driving slowly – in some parts of the ‘chase’ no faster than 40km/h,” the investigator said.

“If Haffejee was not trying to get away, we need to know why the policeman was in his car. We need to know why it took so long for the police to contact the IPID.”

He said the investigation would look into the policemen’s service records.

“So far we have not been able to question the other policemen as they are on sick leave.” (Why would they suddenly be on sick leave – a bit convenient I think)

Mannya said claims by the police that they were chasing Haffejee were rubbish.

“When I stopped at a traffic light both the Audi and the police stopped next to me. Why would they do this if they were chasing?”

Mannya said that though he had given the police all his contact details, he had not been asked to provide a statement.

“What I saw happening was highly suspicious . those policemen were not chasing that car . they were not in a hurry to phone for help.”

Police spokesman Brigadier Neville Malila said the docket was not lost.

“It is with the provincial investigative unit, which is tasked to investigate high-profile crimes,” he said.

“They are investigating this incident because one of our own died and because of the allegations.

 

South African banks are also corrupt.

Now that Jacob Zuma has been elected to run the country for the next five years one has to wonder if the banks helped fund his election campaign? If he had been kicked out, would they have to call up all the money he owes them.

Some interesting reading in an article published by Stephan Mulholland which makes one wonder about banks who are supposed to be pillars of moral standing – and they deal with our money…..

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THIS IS THE BUSINESS: Our banks sink into a pit of corruption

by Stephen Mulholland, 16 December 2012, 08:53

BANKS have three basic sources of cash: shareholders’ funds, depositors’ funds and other loans and the revenue they earn on these.

This is aided and abetted, of course, by those endless, complicated schedules of exorbitant fees which no one, including those who design them, appears to understand.

Banks are licensed by the state to accept, and safeguard, our deposits and are expected to abide by high standards of probity and responsibility.

Theirs is a sacred obligation, one which is a pillar of any modern economy and whose balanced and moral behaviour is essential if society is to function efficiently.

It was thus disturbing to learn in the brilliant Mail & Guardian report on the KMPG investigation into the financial affairs of President Jacob Zuma and others how some of our major banks played fast and loose with shareholders’ and depositors’ money to curry favour with our political elite.

These bankers ladled out millions to a proven and reckless spendthrift with an appalling credit record, a known defaulter notorious for spending well in excess of his means on properties, cars and so forth while consistently dishonouring his obligations, like any common schlenter.

They advanced him money for one reason only: to buy political capital.

Those banks – Standard, Absa and FNB – are as guilty as sin of influence peddling, a crime in the US and other jurisdictions.

In the full knowledge that Zuma was a totally unreliable borrower, this is what Absa business centre manager Raymond O’Neil put in writing to his colleagues and superiors: “[Zuma’s] bank balance was the last item on his mind, with more important matters regarding the country and the province to deal with.”

O’Neil went on: “We recommend the opening of the Unique package account for Minister Zuma based on his strategic positioning and importance to the group.” This was after O’Neil acknowledged that he was aware of Zuma’s bad credit record with Standard and Nedbank.

It gets worse. O’Neil then told his bank that Zuma was likely to be elected deputy president and that Nelson Mandela was going to settle his debts. Mandela did come to the party with R2-million for Zuma, which then disappeared into various corners but for a paltry R100000 left in the permanently overdrawn Zuma account.

Absa went further and signed Zuma up as a “private client”, a status then reserved for those with at least R1-million spare for investment. Zuma never had R1 to spare, never mind R1-million.

His private client status was noted in the bank’s records as a political decision, which the M&G says was “seemingly in line with [then] chief executive Nallie Bosman’s view, stated in bank records, that ‘in terms of all financial matters’ Zuma was considered a strategic client”.

This “strategic” client immediately plunged into a huge overdraft which elicited this comment: “The conduct leaves much to be desired, but we have little option but to live with this client in view of his position.”

Standard Bank, which apparently escaped unscathed from Zuma’s shenanigans, cancelled his much- abused credit card and obtained a court order against him.

This did not deter FNB from approving a R900000 bond against the fabled Nkandla compound, chicken feed, of course against the R240-million odd of taxpayers’ money now sunk into that remote hideaway.

In support of this bond an FNB official wrote: “I am sure that the powers that be will assist where we need to bend the rules a little.”

Asked for comment last week FNB responded: “When evaluating risk in a loan application there are cases where we apply management discretion and judgment to determine lending decisions.

There are some loan applications that require discretion and our objective remains to ensure we are making the correct decision in determining the likelihood of repayment of the loan. Reference to bending the rules should be interpreted as management applying its discretion.”

It is sad to see our great institutions sinking into that stinking pit of corruption that many of our ruling political elite inhabit. What a sad example they have set.

* This article was first published in Sunday Times: Business Times

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Just a passing thought – what do the banks tell their shareholders when the arrears figures go up, and it is due to the high profile political players not paying what they owe?  And 10 out of 10 to Standard Bank for cancelling his credit card and taking it to court!!

O’ yes, I was told to include a bit about the above views being expressed are those of the author / blogger and that is is not the view of the banks mentioned, and that although it may be acceptable to me it does not represent the views and policies of my employer.