I really do not want to confuse Paris Hilton – who this weekend was again held for the possession of dagga after she was reportedly found with a small amount of dope in her handbag as she flew into the French island of Corsica on a private jet - but I have to remind everyone (including ANC spokesman, Jackson Mthembu) that sometimes there is a difference between what is legal and what is morally right or defensible.
If one is invited into somebody’s home, for example, and then spits on the floor and insults the host, this would not be illegal but most decent people would frown on such behaviour. If one’s partner informs you that he or she is HIV positive and one then tells that partner that he became HIV positive deliberately to humiliate you and one then drops that partner like a sack of potato’s, this would not be illegal either, but most decent people would find such behaviour at best to be selfish and unkind and at worst morally reprehensible.
Responding to newspaper reports that several cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers stayed in the most expensive and grand Hotels in Cape Town and had meals at taxpayers expense that cost more than the average monthly salary of a domestic worker – all because they could not possibly stay in the houses allocated to them by the state because (oh, the horror!) the curtains were stained, some furniture were not up to scratch or the carpets were a bit frayed – ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu blew a gasket.
The biggest culprit is of course Communications Minister, Siphiwe Nyanda, who spent more than R500 000 on luxury accommodation at Cape Town’s most expensive and luxurious Hotels after spending almost R1.1 million each on two new official vehicles that included R150 000 of “absolutely essential extras”. Nyanda also just happens to be at the centre of a fight with Cosatu’s Zwelenzima Vavi after Vavi demanded that President Jacob Zuma launch an investigation into the widely reported claims that General Nyanda was a tenderpreneur who had unlawfully enriched himself through crooked government tenders.
The Times reported this morning on Mthembu’s statement as follows:
The ruling party said in a statement issued yesterday that the ”attack” on its ministers confirmed its long-held suspicion that ANC ministers were being ”targeted”. ”There is nothing immoral, illegal or unconstitutional in public representatives staying in hotels, as this is not a breach of the Public Finance Management Act, or the provisions of the Ministerial Handbook,” said the ruling party’s spokesman, Jackson Mthembu.
It reported that since President Jacob Zuma was elected president, government departments and state-owned enterprises had blown more that R1.5-billion on cars, parties, World Cup tickets and other luxuries. But the ANC said yesterday the media was ”failing” in its work to ”properly inform” the public about laws governing accommodation of public representatives. ”In line with the Ministerial Handbook and prescripts governing public representatives, cabinet ministers, MPs MECs and MPLs are entitled to stay in hotels while their permanent accommodation is not yet ready for occupation,” Mthembu said.
Mthembu’s statement is interesting for several reasons. First he blames the media for reporting – accurately, by the way – on the exorbitant cost of these jaunts in the most luxurious and expensive Hotels which caters for millionaires and others who have stolen money from the poor. This is all part of a dark plot, you see.
How dare the media report on the facts! The bloody cheek of it! That is obviously why we need a Media Appeals Tribunal: to stop the media from reporting accurately on proven facts if those facts might embarrass the greedy and immoral Cabinet Ministers. The allegations of a plot are so ridiculous that one fears for Mr Mthembu’s sanity. The kind of paranoia he exhibits have had lesser souls locked up in an insane asylum.
Mr Mthembu actually wants us to believe that members of the media sit in dark rooms and say: “Well, our readers will not really care about this wasteful spending, but because we are all Dr Evils (with our own Mini-Me De Vos as a sidekick!) we will use these completely irrelevant facts of no interest to anyone as part of our dark conspiracy to discredit the ANC. How clever we are!”
Second, Mthembu conflates what is legal with what is moral, revealing that he utterly lacks a moral compass. Because this kind of scandalous expenditure is allowed by the Ministerial handbook, he argues, it cannot be immoral. With respect, this line of reasoning displays a warped and perverted sense of morality. To argue that everything that is legal is also moral, is to show such a breathtaking and scary lack of understanding of morality, that it makes one believe the absolute worst of those who peddle this nonsense.
In South Africa it is not illegal to be a racist in your own home. According to Mthembu’s logic that makes it perfectly moral to be a racist. It is also not illegal to call Nelson Mandela a terrorist. So I guess that would also be a perfectly moral thing to do in Mthembu’s world. It’s not illegal to be cruel to your girlfriend and to call her all kinds of names because she refuses to wash your dirty underpants, so, once again, in Mthembu’s world that behaviour would be considered completely moral.
Let us think about this some more.
Every day, millions of South Africans go hungry because they have no food to eat. Millions do not have houses to sleep in and are cold and wet. Every day thousands of South Africans do not receive the medical care they need and some of them die. Many children do not receive even the basic education that could help them to succeed in life. Although not every single person who suffers like this could be assisted immediately, the state could do much to alleviate the plight of those who are suffering by wisely and effectively using our tax money to address problems of poverty and lack of service delivery.
Yet, Ministers stay in the most luxurious Hotels (while perfectly habitable accommodation is available elsewhere at no or little cost), eat Oysters and Caviar and drink the most expensive wines, drive around in cars that cost more than most South Africans earn in a lifetime. In my universe, this seems immoral. The fact that general Nyanda and Jackson Mthembu thinks it is not immoral, I would contend, reflects rather badly on their value system and poses questions about their humanity.
Maybe they are lovely people, but on the available evidence in the public domain I would guess they are callous, selfish and greedy and that they lack the basic decency one would expect from a servant of the people voted into office to serve the vulnerable and marginalised “masses of our people” (as President Thabo Mbeki used to say while surfing the Internet). They seem to have a completely perverted sense of morality, but like most people who lack compassion and have an overinflated sense of themselves, they do not have the necessary wisdom to reflect on who they are and how their actions might seem to appear to ordinary, decent, people.
Instead, they blame others for their bad publicity because if you are s-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o (self)important, you are never to blame yourself for anything you might have done. They should be ashamed of themselves. Pity, on the available evidence, they won’t. One needs a sense of morality to ever feel ashamed about what you have done and as they equate morality with what is legal, they obviously lack this very human trait that one requires to appear decent, caring and – well – moral.
In my books, Ministerial Handbooks, Parastatal Perks, Executive’s huge salaries & Bonuses are one and the same. The elites are driven by greed and disregard for the poor in both public & private office. Big business paralyses govt to create an environment where profits are maximised using price fixing and other anti-competitive measures whilst politicians are being pampered at the expense of the poor. If we want to challenge this greed then we must not limit it to public office. Why should an individual be paid more than R30M a year for running a business in a greedy anti-competitive way. Mine bosses and bankers have caused enough deaths and hardships to society with our governments watching on the sidelines.
Oil companies have been destroying environment in Nigeria and other areas and only when the US is threatened that we see some movement.
The formula is simple, “Wine,Dine & Bribe” local politicians and the country will be opened for business of greed.
@ Gwebecimele,
I completely disagree with you with regard to the private sector. In that sector, they are not using my money to fund their lifestyles, but the profits they generate through their business operations. If our politicians wish to earn salaries commensurate with the private sector, then they should leave politics and go into business.
But for a politician to use my money to fund a lavish lifestyle when people in my town do not jobs or food, is despicable.
I agree with Pierre that these individuals show a complete lack of morals, while wishing to justify it by railing against the media and citing ministerial handbooks.
In a similar vein, the government have announced plans to spend R 1billion on a town in Mozambique, which will include R 25million on a memorial to those ANC members who were killed during the apartheid struggle.
My question in this regard is twofold:
Firstly, is this not a conflation of party and state? By using taxpayers’ money to fund a memorial to fallen ANC cadres, our government is overstepping the bounds. The government is not only made up of ANC people and does not only speak for the ANC electorate, so how do they justify funding an ANC memorial with our money?
Secondly, how do they justify investing R 1billion in another country, to memorialise ANC history at the expense of their own people in SA? There is a great need for infratructural development in SA, so why are we spending R 1billion on it in Mozambique?
@ Samantha
As if profits do not come from the poor.
By the way there is plenty of politicians or their families following your suggestion and moving into business.
Politicians are drawn from society and we have a government that we deserve.
@ Samantha
Public money was used in the past to save the near collapse ABSA bank after the “Executives” had taken profits and bonuses.
Gwebecimele
Why must the corrupt be protected by someone always saying ” ….yes but …”.
One has to start responsibility somewhere. What at present is happening in government is nothing less than misappropriating the peoples money to such an extent that it is criminal; stealing from the most vulnerable, the sick, the old and the poor.
The most worrying of this sad affair is that this seems to have become the mortality of the ANC as a whole.
Is there any leading figure in the ANC that thinks this is immoral?
Where are the ANC members that are unhappy with this state of affairs?
The silence is deafening!
@ Samantha
Just like the world cup billions this R1bn will bring the ” Warm fuzzy feeling”
The majority voted ANC, they got what they voted for…
@ abidam
You say “One has to start responsibility somewhere”
Exactly my point, lets start at society level and then we will produce politicians and business people who have souls.
Morality governs the conscience, not on what seems natural or appropriate within a particular context. In the ultimate analysis, it derives from the purpose for which people were created, and not the rationale for the existence of the nation-state, or political parties, for that matter.
The nation-state is a political creation, which normally reflects the will of its creator – either a ‘revolutionary’ or, given the dominant nature of man, a dictator. It is a power repository for political parties, since the emergence of political representation. Politicians form institutions institutions, pass laws, and invoke traditions to prop up their needs and desires, rather than the needs of society as whole.
Conscience is the only weapon that people possess for use in the ballot box as a guide, hence the manipulation of language by politicians to determine all what we hold to be true or false.
Language structures all knowledge of the phenomenal world, and one who dominates the language rules utterly.
@ Gwebecimele,
The problem is not so much that our society lacks morals, but more that we do not hold people accountable to our collective morality. If more was done to ensure that those caught lying, cheating and stealing were held accountable, then there would be less of it around.
By attempting to regulate business, because our politicians are immoral, you are not addressing the issue. Business people are not elected to be the leaders of our country – they are normally there because they worked for it. Our politicians, on the other hand, are elected PUBLIC representatives. We should be demanding more accountability from them – they work for US, for goodness’ sake!!
Interestingly, Jacob Zuma once questioned which standards we SA uses to judge morality, and purposed to set up discussion group to determine this concept. This after he headed the ‘moral regeneration institute’ for years.
Given the nature of humanity, any moral institution based on what subjectively seems natural and appropriate, within a particular context, fails along with whatever social systems built on such a moral base.
@ Samantha
Politicians work their way up the party ranks and become eligible for elections. Unless then a friend appoint one to be a minister, envoy etc without reputation or credibility.
I fully agree with you, let us deal with cheats, theft and liars and these are found both in private and public office (from all races).
@ Samantha
I fully agree with Pierre on the matter as discuused by him in his post, but have to inform you that you are wrong to think that big bussinesses are not making their big profits out of your pocket. I will use a fictional example of a chain of events to try and show you just why you are wrong.
A well known banking group wants to get rid of their CEO because the board feels he is no longer ensuring that the bank makes enough profit for the shareholders to share in. They go ahead and fire him and he sues them for wrongful dismassal. Off course the board does not want the man back so they hire the best advocate and attorney in Johannesburg. The advocate loves the Porche 4×4 he drives but a new model has come on the market and he wants to upgrade. For him to afford this vehicle that costs more than most people earn in a lifetime and that he realy does not need to do his job or live a happy and comfortable life he has to charge upwards of R30,000.00 a day in court. The legal battle is long and drawn out and the bank losses. The legal bill is sent to the bank for payment. The money has to pay for it has to come from somewhere so the bank increase its banking fees by 10%. You (and many average citezens and many other businesses) unfortunately bank with this bank so you bank fees go up. You have less money to spend. Businesses who bank with the bank have to put up the cost of their gooods and services to you the customer to pay the extra banking fees and maintain the same level of profit. See how this is a snowball just because of one board decision and one man’s desire for a luxury item that I do not believe he deserves and which I do not believe I should be financing.
This is just one siily example of how real business works. Of every rand you spend every day on goods and services (public and private) a portion of that money goes to finance someone elses luxuary lifestyle, of that you can be sure.
Excellent post. Time to step up, Pierre, and to put your con law class online like Michael Sandel has …
http://www.justiceharvard.org/
@ George
You got it too.
Deloris Dolittle says:
July 19, 2010 at 11:35 am
========================================
Thank you for your posting. However, I am fully aware of the fact that my purchases etc. fund the lifestyles of the rich and famous. The difference is that if I do not like my bank charging me more, I can change banks. If I do not like the way a cellphone service provider is charging, I can shop around. I can even cancel my cellphone contract. In other words, for the most part, as a consumer, I have a choice about where my money goes.
The government, however, is a different matter. They are supposed to be the custodians of our taxes and ensure that these are used to the benefit of others. The government is not intended to be a profit-making enterprise. I also have no choice – I cannot pay my tax money to another government. I can’t change municipalities because I don’t like mine. Accordingly, there is more of a MORAL responsibility on the government about how they spend MY money, than there is on a business.
From the link above by montana
Immanuel Kant says that insofar as our actions have moral worth, what confers moral worth is our capacity to rise above self-interest and inclination and to act out of duty. Sandel tells the true story of a thirteen-year old boy who won a spelling bee contest, but then admitted to the judges that he had, in fact, misspelled the final word. Using this story and others, Sandel explains Kant’s test for determining whether an action is morally right: to identify the principle expressed in our action and then ask whether that principle could ever become a universal law that every other human being could act on.
Gwebecimele says:
July 19, 2010 at 11:40 am
“You got it too.”
LOL!
You’re on a roll.
Hey there’s something behind your suggestion “lets start at society level and then we will produce politicians and business people who have souls”.
Next elections it won’t be Stop Zuma or Fight back, but “Ah, souls!”
@ Samantha
You and others can vote out the government unless yours is a selfish interest that is not supported by majority.
Hear, hear, and a high five!
As Madiba warned back in 1997, and Mr Mbeki said many times thereafter, the liberal media’s attack on our leaders is based on RACISM. Thus is the liberal’s Afro-Pessimist narrative, played out again and again, with blacks portrayed as greedy, corrupt, consumers of luxury good, snouts deep in the public trough.
Of course, the carping liberals have nothing to say about “Madam” Zille, who lives in luxury in the City Bowl, while Tony Leon puts his feet up in our embassy in Buenos Aires …
@ Gwebecimele,
That’s an interesting statement – what you are suggesting is that if an idea is not supported by the majority, it must be a selfish interest. In other words, in the UK, those who support the Green Party do so out of a selfish interest, not supported by the majority.
The point is not that the government can be voted out, but that I have to watch them steal the electorate blind for 5 years while they operate with impunity and no accountability.
I don’t care who is the majority party as long as they act in the best interests of the country. Funding a lifestyle of parties, fast cars and extravagant hotels is not in the interests of the people. Justifying this on the basis that big business does the same, or that I can vote them out in 4 years time, is unacceptable.
@ Samantha
Hitachi and BAE would love to have you as a politician.
Because we have grown immune to immorality, the best yardstick one can use is that of your own next generation. Or, if this seems too far to prick your conscience, think of your own children, who may not support your ruling party. Ask whether you would like her to be on the receiving end of immoral actions of any future government, whichever it may be.
@ Samantha
I do not support corrupt politicians and I do not turn a blind eye on big business either.
As long as politicians are selected from society they will always reflect that society.
Unfortunately South Africa is not caring nation, hence it sustained apartheid for decades and is also capable of Xenophobic cruel activities. We need to heal and leave behind our selfish interests and embrace ubutnu.
Let us deal with our challenges irrespective of who is behind it. The current selective approach to discredit certain groups will achieve the opposite.
A corrupt Black Politician and a greedy/ruthless White Executives should be equally flushed out of powerful positions.
1. Can we agree that living in a hotel does not equal corruption?
2. Can we conclude that there is no standard where ministers should stay when their own accommodation is being refurbished or is not available?
3. Although we agree that the cost of the hotels is high where should the dear ministers then stay?
4. Can we conclude that the private sector cannot function without government spending? In the trip to Britain Zumas government spent R8million all in the name of trade.
5. Can we conclude that should private business be able to waste money on executives then these executives should bail out these cooperations in times of trouble?
Its one thing to say ministers are being insensitive by staying in 5 star hotels, its another to make this practice criminal except if a laws is passed saying such.
@Thomas,
You talk about whether the ministers staying in expensive hotels are doing something criminal or not. But that is not the point raised by Prof. de Vos. There is no doubt that buying cars within the limits of the ministerial handbook is legal – but it can still be immoral! Similarly, staying at an expensive hotel may well be legal but can still be immoral.
Of course, I read that minister Nyanda (or was it another minister?) had charged two cognacs for more than 600 SAR to his ministry – even though I can imagine that staying in a hotel for meetings if your residence is not habitable is according to the rules, I would be surprised if a minister can charge cognac to the ministerial account (if it it not for representation). Doint this might therefore be illegal.
@Pierre
You missed the cherry on top – Jackson Mthembu’s “interview” covering this very subject on ANC radio today aka SAfm this morning.
The question went like this “the DA have criticised ANC leaders for living the high life in luxury 5 star hotels at taxpayers expense whilst perfectly good accomodation is available and is not used, with spurious reaons advanced for their non-use” – what is your response – take your time, the floor is yours”
Amongst Jackson’s jaw-dropping answers were the folllowing pearls:
- Living in a Hotel is not luxury it is awful and the food in ALL Hotels is always awful.
-What do you expect them to do – live in the trunk of their car?
- The ANC members concerned were ENTITLED to do what they did (does the “culture of entitlement” spring to mind?)
-This once again shows the need to have a striong independant body that can monitor and rein in the press.
The one I liked the best was the use of hyperbole – “what do you expect them to do – live in the trunk of their car”?
As if the only two options were either:
1. Live in the trunk of your car
2. Stay in a 5 star Hotels eating Oysters washed down with expensive wine (see the Sunday times for details of Minister Nyanda’s diet!)
Of course there is no reasonable morally defensible compromise or option between these two extremes, is there?
This reminds me of Trevor Manuel’s defence of the ANC’s “quiet diplomacy” policy on Zimbabwe – “what do you expect us to do – invade them with our military forces?”
Yes, Trevor – that’s right – only two alternatives – milirtary invasion or sit on your hands and do absolutely nothing / covert support.
What is it with ANC spin doctors – can they all have zero logic, moral compass or ability to present sound, logical arguments, or are they just on a hiding to nothing trying to defend the indefensible?
First Carl Niehaus, Then Jesse Duarte, now Jackson DUI Mthembu.
Just how thick is the wood on the bottom of this barrel that keeps getting scraped?
@ Peter L,
LOL!!! Love your post!
Where can we get a copy of the ministerial handbook that regulates these big spenders?
The shamed ministers in the UK’s expenses scandal resigned or were voted out of office at the next polls.
The poor bugger in the UK who had the responsibility of reigning in the overspending politicians had to resign for his own sanity because of the levels of aggression that resulted in his disallowing certain expense.
Unfortunately I don’t think that the ANC will be voted out as they always had out food parcels to buy votes.
@ Gwebecimele…………Grow Up please
@ Gwebecimele,
I do not disagree with your sentiments expressed, however, I feel that you do not address the issue in Pierre’s post. Asking whether somebody is behaving in a fashion that is morally wrong should not be answered with a “yes, but…” answer.
And in seeking to address these issues of immoral spending by the government, it is insufficient to merely state that they come from society, so society must be immoral.
I know lots of people with solid morals who feel absolutely powerless to do anything about the abuse of state funds and the rampant looting of government resources that is happening at present. And to fall back on the old “you get the government you vote for” is, in my opinion, a cop out. Many of those who voted for the ANC truly believed in the promises that were made. Their votes were not made maliciously or out of a need to punish the whites. They voted because they bought into the whole ANC propaganda machine.
So my question is this: Rather than blaming society or transferring the culpability to big business, how do we make our “leaders” accountable? How do those of us who have an issue with the morality of this behaviour make our voices heard? Not in 4 years time, but now!
Maggs Naidu – maggsnaidu@hotmail.com says:
July 19, 2010 at 11:50 am
I am beginning to suspect that the DA will do better not because of any innovation on their side but mainly because of the unnecessary slip-ups in the ANC.
Can someone PLEASE stop this haemorrhaging.
Did you listen to Neville Alexander on “Judge for yourself” yesterday ?
@ Gwebe
I am not interested in the DA’s liberal policies. If they were in power, they would re-introduce CAPITALISM.
@ Thomas
Thomas is right. Pierre: Do you really expect our leaders to live out of the boots of their Mercs? (They did not join the struggle to stay poor.)
Thanks.
@ Steven
It is insulting to the Black people to suggest that their votes can be bought with food parcels. Black people have valid reasons to vote for the ANC not DA or PAC.
Go back to your hole.
Black voters are not bought with food parcels, but many of them are threatened that should they not vote for the ANC, they will no longer receive parcels and that their government grants will be cancelled. Furthermore, the ANC officials make sure that they are the ones responsible for handing out food parcels come elections, so they perpetuate the myth that food parcels are given by the ANC and not by the government. This is not rumour, but fact.
They are also told that they will be taken off housing lists, they will not be given municipal work etc.
I know this, not through hearsay, but because I work and live in a small community where I have witnessed these things happening.
Gwebecimele says:
July 19, 2010 at 13:35 pm
Dunno about whether the DA will do better.
But the ANC is doing very badly.
It would have been much better if the response to the critics was simply “bugger off” than the kak that is spewing forth.
@ Samantha
I am not supporting Mr Mthembu but I am merely suggesting a comprehensive way of dealing with the issue of greed amongst us.
Is it immoral that a university can send its lecturers to conferences overseas and stay in hotels while students in the same universities can’t afford university fees and food?
I think we are playing with fire when we talk about immorality. I have said this before on this blog. Where do we stop? Can a city use its money to build a monument when people defecate in public? Can a city have an internet bill when its inhabitants are hungry and without shelter? Is it immoral for a government employee to live in a R1m rand house? Where do we draw the line?
I don’t condone the extravagant use of our resources but to suggest that money meant for accommodation and running of a department will be used to build houses is naive to say the least. The least that will happen is that the money will be sent back to treasury.
People MUST be asked to account for the use of our Money. If there is corruption and inappropriate expenditure then drastic steps must be taken. That is all I can ask and I pray that this will happen.
@ Peter L
I missed this rant. How extraordinary. Why on earth is the ANC spokesman defending these ministers, and not spokesmen in the Presidency. How extraordinary …
@ Samantha
I campaigned for the ANC and attended more than 10 rallies just before elections and not once did any member made any of the utterances you are talking about.
Let us assume it did happen in one or two communities. Will that be sufficient to swing votes to 66% for the ANC. Again the poor and uneducated are not as dumb as you might think, jusk ask the DA. They will tell you that DA t-shirts keep them warm at night as pyjamas and they feast on the meat, pap and go home and vote ANC.
These communities that you claim are threatened, have chased incompetent councillors and staged effective delivery protests. They love their organisation but are disappointed by their government.
Aah, but this is surely exactly why a media tribunal should be created. To deal with the nasty anti- cabinet minister media.
I am afraid Jackson has lost any credibility he regained after pleading guilty to DUI.
These reports are getting so boring – every week another ANC government scandal with no reaction or the Jackson variety.
We need to deal with greed but when the President has such a tarnished rep in that regard, how are things to change if not from the top?
The more I see how our appointed leaders behave, the more I believe they prefer an undeucated mass electorate which does not question and will actually believe the chaff spewed by the JM’s of the world.
@ Thomas
“to suggest that money meant for accommodation and running of a department will be used to build houses is naive to say the least. The least that will happen is that the money will be sent back to treasury.”
Thomas, this is obvious a crude attempt to mock the earnest arguments of those of us who are defending the Ministers being hounded by the liberal media.
I beseech you not to abuse this blog for distractive parody.
Thanks.
A clear case of double speak. To the masses, the party says they have the moral high ground because they care for the poor, black majority. To the rich and famous, primarily white, they say that black politicians are also entitled to be rich and famous and share the life style. Otherwise, it would be racist. And they say to the rich and famous that they don’t have to be on the moral high ground because it is legal. Morality for the masses, legality for the educated.
President MALEMA is back
http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article558517.ece/ANCYL-expels-Masoga
You just have to love white poverty especially the talk about amenities such as bar and braai area on municipal property of all places.
http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=417865
@ Peter L:
Having had the good fortune to listen to the SAfm interview, I note that you didn’t even mention how the thing ended – with Jackson Mthembu (smoke audibly escaping from his ears) shouting at Florence Letwaba that the SABC was the DA’s mouthpiece and a member of the “Fourth Estate”, since they never questioned at which hotels the DA politicians stayed and what they consumed there.
Clara says:
July 19, 2010 at 15:50 pm
Hey Clara,
Was Jackson Mthembu in the studio at the time?
I sure hope he was not driving in that condition!
Nah, he learned his lesson and apologised to the nation for that.
Thomas says:
July 19, 2010 at 14:20 pm
“I think we are playing with fire when we talk about immorality.”
What’s gonna happen?
Will the sky fall on our heads?
Or will some Gestapo type force be unleashed on us?
There’s kak happening – it’s time to draw the line.
This information was not invented by some counter revolutionary, dark forces – it’s some ANC ministers who think that “freedom in our lifetime” means freedom to spend state funds.
No, Magg, the sky will not fall.
But harping on about hotel expenses – which are trivial in the grand scheme of things – does nothing to address the urgent needs of our people, service delivery, education etc.
What is worse, it lends encouragement to the liberal racists of the DA, and to the press, that has nothing better to do than publish Afropressimist rants.
tHANKS.
Thomas, first, you rather missed the point of the article which distinguished between illegality and immorality.
Second, your example of the university lecturer is not a good one. However, if a university lecturer attended a conference as part of her job and staid in the most expensive Hotel n New York, drank champagne and atet Caviar, flew first class and wasted money that could have been spent on bursaries for needy students, that lecturer would have acted in an immoral manner. Same with the Minister who was allocated a house but decided not to stay in it because – god forbid – it was not up to his Lordy standards. One does not expect the Minister (or a University Lecturer) to sleep in the boot of his car – just to act responsibly and with some sense of morality. Sadly this Nyanda has not done.
@ Thomas Blaser
Is that not what the western standards demands from our politicians. You must “look the part” drive German sedan , network at 5 STAR hotels, eat oysters and caviar and wash down with some cogniac. Walk on red carpets and have a first lady to host tea at the Presidential palace. Speak the business languange and open up the country for investment/greed and we will give you good ratings.
Thomas is right. Once we start talking about morality where will it end? Ministers will have to stay in 3 star hotels (or worse, the accommodation provided for them by the state) and will have to drive in R500 000 cars and might have to eat steak and chips instead of Oysters. If we start talking about morality and require Ministers to act in a moral way, many of them will have to resign! I mean really, we cannot allow this to happen. That is why morality is so dangerous: it will force politicians to do the right thing and we cannot allow that to happen because then we will have nothing to complain about!
Mikhail Dworkin Fassbinder says:
July 19, 2010 at 16:09 pm
Hey Dworky,
Still pushing the DA line I see – keep at it, someday you may convince someone.
In the meanwhile,
@ Pierre or anyone else who knows.
Is the Handbook available on the internet?
Funny how the racist biased white-owned media always interview leading members of the ANC coming off a weekend babbelas, never DA leaders!
Anyone heard of a radio station phoning Helen Zille first thing Monday morning? Or Dianne Koehler-Barnard? (She’d tell them to F.O.!)
We all spend endless hours blogging about this immoral behaviour on the part of some politicians. The fact is that despite all the negative publicity they continue to behave in this immoral fashion and it is clear that they have no intention of changing their ways.
What needs to be done is to use this behaviour far more effectively to discredit these people where it really matters. This means making the facts available to those voters who support them. In other words, having given the politicians more than enough rope try and find a way to tie a noose at the end.
A small quibble….”If one’s partner informs you that he or she is HIV positive” why would it be….”selfish and unkind and at worst morally reprehensible” if one “drops that partner like a sack of potato’s”. Did that partner contract the virus in an act of unfaithfulness and are you not comparing potatoes and kumquats
whilst i agree with the view that the level of corruption we currently see and read about is unacceptable, i do believe that the media’s genuine goal is to cast the ruling party in bad light. this is so because we kno that the majority of those running the media houses are of a particular race and they still believe that blacks cannot run this country. not so long ago there was a media storm relating to our inability to host the world cup, look what we did. my point is that behind the facade, there is an agenda.
@ Brett….maybe it is because the DA people are too busy working to spend time burnishing their egos on vacuous gab fests
mphahlele, your post, with respect, seems illogical. Example: If your logic is followed then the fact that the media reported (factually correctly) that Jackie Selebi was convicted of corruption means that the media’s genuine goal was to cast him in a bad light. Fact is, Jackie Selebi was the one who acted in a way that “cast him in a bad light”. The media reported on it. Blaming the media for the fact that Selebi’s reputation is now ruined would make no sense. Similarly, blaming the media for reporting factually correctly on issues that put some ANC members in a bad light makes absolutely no sense. It is a bit like blaming a dead man for having been murdered because he left his house.
Pierre, i did in my post acknowledge the fact that what the media reports is true but my point is they have an inherently racist agenda. if you dont see, a lot of people see it.
mphahlele, the “agenda” is and should be irrelevant. If I report Y because I saw Y committed a murder and because I do not like Y, that still makes Y a murderer and avery bad person. Mentioning the “agenda’ is a way of excusing at least partly the inexcusable. It reflects a kind of radical moral relativism that is in itself, I think, immoral. It also gives far too much power to racists as one in effect is saying that because racists report X (which is true) we are going to defend X no matter what. That means the racists determine how you act and what you think. They win.
@ mphahlele,
So where do the Black Editors’ Forum work? Essentially, the reasoning appears to be that because the media reports factually on the ruling party and their shenanigans, then they are racist.
Please, criticism cannot always be reduced to racial attacks!!
mphahlele says:
July 19, 2010 at 17:49 pm
“what the media reports is true but my point is they have an inherently racist agenda.”
These reports were carried in the Avusa brands including the Times.
“Avusa was independently assessed as a Level 4 contributor, with a B-BBEE recognition level of 100%.” http://www.avusa.co.za/aboutus/bee/default.aspx?pageid=589013
Even an ANC Minister is reportedly involved in Avusa :
“ANC heavyweight Tokyo Sexwale is now the lead shareholder in Avusa, the company which owns the Sunday Times. His Mvelephanda Holdings recently bought at least 25% of the listed company and put three representatives on the board.”
http://allafrica.com/stories/200808060487.html
How can it be that 100% Black owned entities will have inherently racist agendas??????
@Clara
You are right – I did not mention his “coup de grace” – I was too busy laughing and screaming at the radio in equal measure!
@MDF
RE-introduce captialism? When was it ever dropped?
It is alive and well in the ANC – ask Julius Breitling Malema, Minister Nyanda, Tokyo Sexale et al.
“Liberal racists” – an Oxymoron / contradiction in terms, surely.
So people like me have gone from “Kaffir boeties” when we were locked up in the Rondebosch Police cells during anti-apartheid marches to “liberal racists”, hey?
Dworky is right.
Of course we do not expect our leaders to live out of the boots of their cars.
Most of them are so obese, they would not be able to get more than a single leg in – they would need to drive a 3 ton truck as their company car!
@mphahlele:
The media the world over thrives on sensationalism – sex, scandals and skuldugggery of every kind – it is their stock-in-trade.
Rags like the M&G are “equal opportunity” critics – they lambast and lampoon the DA and other parties whenever they believe it is warranted (ever read Pearlie Joubert’s articles?)
The media houses in SA are black owned.
He who pays the piper calls the tune.
If your allegations that the media houses have a racist anti-black / ANC / whatever agenda, then why do the (black) owners not do something about it?
Perhaps you could subscribe to the Guptha’s new daily – SA’s own Pravda?
The Brazillian media are up in arms about the cost of the 2014 World Cup, and all the better alternative uses that the money could be put to.
Are they also racist?
Like so many apparent ANC apologists, you arguments seem to lack logic or facts to back them up.
Thabo Mbeki (remember him?) once lambasted the media for being “fishers of corrupt men”.
The big problem is that the SA political sea is such a fertile well-stocked sea in which to trawl – just dip your hand in the ocean and you are sure to pull out the catch of the day!
@maggs
Quote “How can it be that 100% Black owned entities will have inherently racist agendas??????”
Ah – a conundrum wrapped up in an enigma (sorry, for the mis quote, WC!).
I am sure that Dworky has the answer that you are looking for.
@ Maggs
With respect, Maggs, you are confused.
It is true that blacks are incapable of being racist towards whites. (If you doubt that, ask Pierre to explain; it has to do with racism as a structural phenomenon rather than a subjective psychological state.)
But it does not follow that blacks who have internalised white tendencies cannot be racist vis a vis a black government — within the structures of overall white economic domination and a hegemonic discourse that favours whitishness.
(As Pierre has explained, “coconuts” advocates may get private briefs. But not advocates who are REALLY black.)
Hope this clarifies things for you.
Just a question that is not really to the point. But why are the ANC’s spokesperson commenting on a GOVERMENT matter? One would think that a cabinet spokesperson should have commented on this issue.
Shows the false lines between goverment / party. Very much like the Nazis and Apartheid oppressors.
Mikhail Dworkin Fassbinder says:
July 19, 2010 at 18:58 pm
“Hope this clarifies things for you.”
Thanks Dwork,
That clarifies all.
Do you really think the guy was drunk?
Did he sing Juju’s Theme again?
Pierre De Vos says:
July 19, 2010 at 16:31 pm
My apologies Prof, but this feels flippant, Perhaps I don’t just understand it. Of note in my emotional life, my house cat companion of many years died today because of carelessness on my part. And on carelessness or indifference on the part of our government and service deliverers, a dozen of truly disadvantaged folks died in the past 4 years on a project I’m working on, most from crime (murder), the rest from TB and Aids. And dare I mention the rapes, mostly against teenagers, the elderly and children.
The issue is this. We have a government who is absolutely, totally absolutely, completely committed and not concerned with anything but their own self advantage. They believe whites and capitalist around the world have always acted this way, believing it best to emulate them, and its true, they have. Welcome to the global world, only here its done with much less intelligence, and eventually greater cruelty.
However, Democracy supported by the triply quality Constitution of the Republic of South Africa was designed to balance this, the unfettered natural greed of those who take power, to take, not to serve, to destroy and defeat fully those who sincerely struggle to serve. Answer, simple! Refuse to honor the Constitution, give silly, unbelievable but effective spin, undermine and defeat all that is good in its potential.
Whether a miracle, or for that matter a disaster of enormous proportions happens in our life time, well that’s the unknown. I think it 50\50. Possibly prayers will help, but no guarantee. I read so many malicious, racist, emotional, angry, threatening comments on various blogs I follow, My humble opinion is that we are in deep deep kak.
mphahlele, I just remembered those well known racists at Sasco demanded that Nyanda pay back his Hotel costs. Maybe this proves your point about a racist agenda. After all Sasco is mos basically a front of the Democartic Alliance and packed with old white racists! See http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article352406.ece/Sasco-wants-Nyanda-to-pay-back-hotel-money
Oh, but wait! Why did they demand this?
“We are enraged and in fact we are disgusted as the South African Students Congress by this opulence so brazenly enjoyed by comrade Nyanda at the expense of the population,” Sasco said.
“Thousands of students voted for the ANC out of the hope that it would deliver a better life for all and not a better life for its ministers.”
“The ANC must reign in on comrade Nyanda otherwise he will cost us badly as the movement in the coming local government elections.
“Government must deduct these hotel costs from Nyanda’s salary as punishment.”
I guess they are not old racists after all but young black men and women…..
Pierre, keep up with posts like this. The Good, the Bad & the Ugly is showing their true coulors.
McPhisto,
if you had to ask jackson thembu why it is that he is commenting on the matter, i am pretty certain that the answer would be words to the effect that a decision on initiating a “media tribunal” was taken at polokwane and thus the agenda is set: his defence is not so much a defence of the ANC cadre ministers, but rather an opportunistic next salvo in “delivering” on that aspect of the polokwane mandate
so for all his bluster, he is probably much less interested in the “superficial” matter of the cadre ministers’ behaviour, than the further extension of the ANC hegemony
pierre, how may this onslaught on media freedom and independence be nipped in the bud (i.e. from a constitutional perspective, which are the choke points that the ANC might try employ) ?
More counter revolutionary Blacks with inherently racist agendas.
Eish!
“An application to review tenders allegedly awarded by the Ekurhuleni municipality without following proper procedures was launched in the High Court in Johannesburg on Monday, the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) said.
Outsourcing municipal services to private providers promoted a form of exploitation of blacks by blacks, and was done in pursuit of selfish accumulation, Samwu’s Ekurhuleni secretary Koena Ramotlou claimed in a statement.
“Workers that are working under private service providers are paid a fraction of employees in the sector,” Ramotlou said.
Areas negatively affected by outsourcing included refuse removal, legal services, information and communication technology, meter reading, call centres, office cleaning, maintenance of sub-stations and repairs and staff recruitment.
“We cannot wait until the municipality is ruined, while there are other forms of struggles that we can engage on, to ensure that we protect the community and current jobs in the municipality.
“The municipality cannot be made a conveyer belt of money from the community to private hands of the so-called BBBEE [broad-based black economic empowerment elite] ,” Ramotlou said.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article558479.ece/Samwu-to-court-over-Ekurhuleni-tenders
Hey Dworky,
Now here’s some sober words sounding more like is expected from the ANC :
“Mthembu said the ANC would never attempt to influence the editorial decisions of the public broadcaster and never had any such an intention.
“We hold a view that every citizen, rich or poor, black or white, male or female, should have a right to access the public broadcaster, including Cde Thabo Mbeki.”
The ANC would never undermine the very democratic values that many of its members and leaders died fighting for, including the independence of the media and the public broadcaster.
“We will stop at nothing to protect such a right and freedom as enshrined in our Constitution,” Mthembu said. – Sapa
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20100719170943989C574691
@ Maggs
Well Phil Molefe must sue the journalist who broke the story.
Refresh my memory, someone: Is Phil Molefe that fat SABC slug who interviewed Tony Blair when he was here on a state visit and had the cameraman do loving C/U’s of himself all the time Blair was speaking?
Very professional, indeed!
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=114749
Nyanda in new storm over state tenders
THABISO MOCHIKO
Published: 2010/07/15 06:29:11 AM
COMMUNICATIONS Minister Siphiwe Nyanda is expected to suspend his
director-general, Mamodupi Mohlala, following repeated
disagreements over tenders she refused to sign.
It is understood that Ms Mohlala warned Gen Nyanda this week that
removing the administration of tenders from her would violate the
Public Finance Management Act.
On Monday Gen Nyanda instructed that all tenders for the
Department of Communications be cancelled until they had been
“discussed and approved by the minister”. He also changed Ms
Mohlala’s job description, effectively stripping her of some
powers, including the administering of tenders, for which she is
responsible as accounting officer.
Last night Tiyani Rikhotso, spokesman for Gen Nyanda, said the
minister preferred not to comment on the allegations.
“The minister does not wish to address administrative and human
resource issues of the department in the media. This is in
deference to the staff of the department including the
director-general. Any such matters shall be dealt with internally
and according to the applicable laws, regulations and public
service policies,” he said.
“The minister exercises political oversight over the department
and gives policy direction.
“The awarding and adjudication of tenders is the responsibility
of the executive management of the department and the relevant
state-owned entities,” Mr Rikhotso said.
A source close to the pair said Ms Mohlala had refused to approve
tenders because they were awarded to companies linked to people
close to Gen Nyanda and a private company, General Nyanda
Security (GNS).
Gen Nyanda is said to have given instructions to Ms Mohlala to
suspend all tenders by the department until they had been
discussed and approved by him.
A ministry source said that suspended tenders included one for
the appointment of a service provider to advise the department on
Telkom ‘s black economic empowerment status.
Others were for the appointment of a service provider for change
management agents to assist with the turnaround of the SABC, and
to investigate a suspected fraud case emanating from the forgery
of officials’ signatures and noncompliance with procurement rules
for a New Partnership for Africa’s Development meeting in May.
It has also been claimed that Gen Nyanda interfered with state
entities that fell under the department. He has told the South
African Post Office that the department should be part of the
evaluation and adjudication of a tender for the IT network
upgrade for the Post Office.
According to sources, Ms Mohlala had opposed changes to her job
description on the grounds that they constituted an unfair labour
practice.
She also warned of violations of the Public Finance Management
Act regarding tenders.
According to another source, the tension between Gen Nyanda and
Ms Mohlala was also related to potential delays in SA’s migration
to digital broadcasting from analogue.
The source said Gen Nyanda felt Ms Mohlala had given the
impression the government had decided to adopt Japanese digital
standards after it had started with European ones.
The government is evaluating whether to adopt the Japanese
technology standards or the European standards to be used for the
new broadcasting signal.
This has also caused uncertainty in the industry, which has
vehemently opposed the adoption of the Japanese technology.
Ms Mohlala has said the government has not made a decision and
will evaluate other technology standards. An industry lawyer said
last night that it was unfortunate that there was a rift between
the two, especially during this critical phase when state
entities like Sentech still needed the government’s assistance.
“They work well together and have achieved a lot in the short
space of time, especially reining in the mobile operators to
reduce the call termination fees,” he said.
“If this is true, it is regrettable. The industry will be happy,
especially if Mamodupi is suspended. I think the two of them
should resolve the matter and find a way to work together again,”
the lawyer said.
Ms Mohlala was seen as an enforcer of changes in the industry.
Last night, Ms Mohlala refused to comment on the matter.
Gen Nyanda has been embroiled in the tender saga that resulted in
the dismissal of the CEO of Transnet’s Freight Rail division,
Siyabonga Gama.
Mr Gama was found to have exceeded his authority in awarding a
security contract linked to Gen Nyanda’s GNS.
The public protector is also investigating a complaint by the
Democratic Alliance about a security contract one of his
companies has with the Gauteng roads and transport department,
because of an apparent conflict of interest.
The department has finalised the broadband policy that aims to
expand high-speed internet and other related communication
services to the poor. It is also planning to force telecoms
operators to sell shares to black investors.
@Maggs
The SAAMWU statement needs to be seen against the background of recent research by Economist Mike Schussler who found that govt employees in SA earn on average a 40% PREMIUM to those in the private sector.
In every other country that I am aware of (source: World Bank annual report 2009) other than Zimbabwe, government employees salaries are in general LOWER than those in the private sector, for all the usual reasons.
This trend is totally unsustainable in the long-term, and reinforces the concept of a small group of relatively well-paid unionised working elite “crowding out” the huddled masses of unempoyed that will never get a chance of participating in the formal economy.
As a student in the 1970′s, I frequently participated in marches and protests.
I am getting into the same mindset – time to dust off the placards and change the words!
http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article559152.ece/R580m-billing-nightmare
http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=34778:sap-fails-to-explain-award&catid=98
Well business stands comfortably next to Public officials in pulling wool over our eyes.
Union leaders and the Elites failing the workers.
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=115281
Peter L says:
July 20, 2010 at 9:42 am
It’s interesting that the unions and civil society formations, aligned with the ANC, are voicing concerns over what SAAMWU appropriately calls the conveyor belt of money from the community to private hands of the so-called BBBEE.
There are other indications of a revival in activism, all of which seem to signal a promising turning point – I have frequently, in the recent past few months, heard people whom I am in contact with raise the question of the kind of South Africa that they would like their children and future generations to inherit.
Before Dworky jumps into the anti-ANC tirade, it is unlikely that there will be a negative shift in support for the ANC in the next general elections. Rather the shape and character of the ANC is probably going to be interrogated more robustly, and it should be.
@ Peter L
Schussler is right. Teachers,nurses, Doctors, Police are paid more in public sector hence private sector is loosing skills to govt.
Gwebecimele says:
July 20, 2010 at 9:57 am
And then there’s the SAP award.
The tardiness is costing our country big time – and there’s an award given.
Eish!
@ Peter L
Well Mr Schussler is not telling us, what were the differences in public vs private sector wages before the increases were applied. I suspect his claims might only be true at entry level of unskilled workers and that makes sense because govt mantains minimum wages and benefits.
“Bikini effect” on statistics, how much u reveal vs how much u hide.
Read Below
Schussler said employment in the private sector had been crowded out because the public sector paid a premium for labour. Wages in the government sector rose 53 percent since 2006, while the private sector paid 49 percent more than that over that period. And he pointed out that, during this period, inflation rose 30 percent. “So real increases were 19 percent in the private sector and 23 percent for government employees.”
In addition, the government is increasing the size of its workforce. Since 2006, employment in the private sector contracted by about 2.9 percent, while jobs in the government sector grew by 13.6 percent. As a result, 20 percent of the work force is employed by the government, and 24 percent by the broader public sector.
Government wages now absorb more than 12 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) – one of the highest ratios in the world. Schussler said it was higher than the figure for the UK and the US and way above that of Japan, which was a little more than 6 percent. It is also higher than Greece, Italy, and Spain, as well as Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria. In the past it was only about 5 percent.
This situation created a negative environment for job creation, Schussler said.
@ Maggs
SAP wants more municipalities to buy their software and use JHB as a success story hence the award. This is also done to stroke the egos oof the decision makers in the municipality.
IMMORALITY IS AMONGST US
Gwebecimele says:
July 20, 2010 at 10:32 am
“SAP wants more municipalities to buy their software and use JHB as a success story hence the award.”
Indeed.
If Egoli, the economic powerhouse of the continent (maybe the entire developing world), can use SAP then others will be enticed to do the same.
If people are enticed by the “award” then they deserve to have it.
It’s a cheap publicity shot but worth the effort for SAP.
After giving Transnet, Eskom and others 9% the govt is expecting teachers to accept 6.5%.
If anyone wants to know how to create a strike there you have it.
When are we going to start holding managers responsible for creating strikes?
Gwebecimele says:
July 20, 2010 at 16:49 pm
Hey Gwebs,
Check this out :
“How did Mr Ngqula do this while under the watchful eye of the board?” Carolus asked as she unveiled a scathing report on KPMG’s forensic investigation into Ngqula.
Among the revelations is a finding that one director failed to disclose another member’s direct interest in a consortium that was awarded a key contract by SAA. …
Two years into Ngqula’s tenure the SAA board included: Jakes Gerwel, as chairman, Valli Moosa, Maria Ramos, Louisa Mojela and Marumo Moerane.”
http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5564032
Eish!
@ Maggs
These names are very, very familiar and not suprising at all. These individuals are labelled as best amongst us.
Gwebecimele says:
July 21, 2010 at 9:51 am
Gwebs,
The names sound vaguely familiar – not sure if it’s the same people though.
The other Maria Ramos was the super fixer – of the “wave a wand and sort the economy out in a flash” fame.
And of course the other Marumo Moerane is a SC – if he had been involved it’s likely that the matter would have been taken to the Bar thingy for wayward advocates (like Simelane II).
@ Maggs
What do you think of Jay Naidoo new book and his new found energy to be a social commentator.
I must confess that I have reservations about individuals who keep quiet when they are needed most and only speak out when they have extracted enough from the sysytem.
I honestly believe if you cannot be transparent and thruthful while u are in office, u might as well whistle into retirement like Mbeki.
http://www.thejustcause.org/
Well, it looks like the Chinese have a bigger plan. Let them in and squeeze them dry.
http://www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/view/mw/en/page292520?oid=496910&sn=2009+Detail&pid=287226
Inequality is a painful apartheid legacy that has come to define our society. Democratic SA has little to show in improved equality despite a huge investment in social infrastructure . Clem Sunter summed it up: “It is an ironic twist of fate that so far the real beneficiaries of the ending of apartheid are the people who were supposed to have benefited from it whilst it was in existence — the Afrikaners.”
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=115386
Lets get this guy to the Planning Commission.
gwebe,
the clem sunter quote in your posting becomes utterly meaningless when quoted outside of its original context
(particularly when quoting it from an article, of which, the author seems to have misinterpreted the core idea of the original thought)
the full article may be found here:
http://www.news24.com/Columnists/ClemSunter/The-economic-liberation-of-Afrikaners-20100324
p.s. for the record; i don’t necessarily agree with sunter’s hyberbolic characterisation
Whilst I cannot argue on behalf of the author than to say I see nothing wrong in quoting a fact that even yourself cannot dispute and revealing the source. The context is irrevelant at this point and it does not change the facts.
There is no contradiction between the author’s article and Sunter’s quote.
About 7 yrs ago we travelled the world looking for the best of breed grants management model and SASSA was born. Today, 5 yrs in existence it needs a turnaround and has lost more than a R1bn.
If SARS can mange our taxes so well what makes others fail.
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=115365
clem sunter says:
“it is an ironic twist of fate that [afrikaners are] so far the real beneficiaries of the ending of apartheid”
gwebe says:
“quoting a fact that even yourself cannot dispute” (in reference to sunter’s quote)
gwebe,
although sunter’s quote is cute in a slogan-ish manner, it is rather far removed from being a fact
it will take me no more than 10 minutes to compile a list of 1000 non-afrikaner benificiaries of “the ending of apartheid”
(i’m sure you could too)
now, i’m not saying that sunter is wrong for using the hyperbole illustrated above, but the article in which he is quoted fails to make mention of the exaggerating nature of the original quote, thereby reducing it to a contextless, and ultimately, inaccurate slogan
SKELETONS ARE COMING OUT OF THE WOODWORK.
http://www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/view/mw/en/page326289?oid=497169&sn=2009+Detail&pid=287226
Gwebecimele says:
July 21, 2010 at 15:24 pm
Eish!
So much for defending the constitution, as some would like us believe is their interest.
http://free.financialmail.co.za/06/1222/cover/coverstoryd.htm
Re Jay Naidoo’s book – ditto.
@ etienne
After compiling the 1000 non- afrikaners, what if it is proved that more than 75% of afrikaners are continuing to benefit from the new dispensation while 75% of Blacks are not.
gwebe,
“compiling the 1000 non- afrikaners, what if it is proved…”
then, by simple mathematics, you would (still) have disproved sunter’s unfortunate attention-drawing slogan
but you see gwebe,
we can agree, disagree, or agree to disagree about the slogan…it matters little; clem sunter’s argument (the context) is about his alleged innovative, pioneering nature of “the afrikaner” and how these might be positive qualities if transposed on the majority of our population…essentially he is saying: don’t wait around for hand-outs, do it for yourself…fine sentiments indeed, but not so easily motivational if you are a resident of a services-less shantytown
i guess what i’m trying to say, gwebe, is that mr sunter, for all of his cleverness and oracleness in the previous two decades, has lately become a bit of an also-ran: nowadays he hardly imparts any original wisdom beyond his original “fox vs hedgehog” business simile
look at where he is published these days: news24
when last did you see anything substantive from him in the M&G ?
so, mr sunter uses a crass slogan, which is unsupported in fact, in order to bring a “visionary” point across; in the process he slightly klaps one ethnic grouping, so at to make his “lesson” more palatable for another group, the intended audience of his “lesson”
i’m sure this plays well with his news24 readers, but it should not play well with you gwebe, nor for the author of your quoted article; at best his slogan enforces stereotyping, at worst it sends us in the wrong direction for solving the problem
“There should, of course, be political costs. Heads should roll. The architects of OBE are very much among us today – some left the department of education for the private sector; others run universities; a few have retired; and many simply shifted from one government department to the next. Here’s the sad news: the arrogance in our political system means that none of these people would be held accountable.”
Jonathan Jansen on “The enduring legacy of OBE”
http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/columnists/article563472.ece/The-enduring-legacy-of-OBE
What? Not a word about X? (Or should I say, not one mention of the X-word?)
Yesterday, I was diverted from my way home by the SAPS who were blocking off Princess squatter camp. There was smoke in the area (which is not indicative of much since the prevailing wind blows from the NW to the SE so that smoke could have come from anywhere.)
Point is, some of the predictions about X have come to pass. This time, the SAPS appeared to have nipped it in the bud. Well done to everybody in the chain – from the NGO’s gathering info on the ground to the intelligence gatherers to the SAPS saturating the hotspots. (Well done to whoever is keeping the SAPS so busy – the drop in crime in the suburbs and on farms is noticeable!)
This is no free-pass to the godless, shameless ANC: X is largely the result of the Emperor’s foreign policy disasters in Zim, and stupid touchy-feely-group-hugging moments that resulted in switching off the fence and denuding our borders….
Maggs, what Professor has never grasped is that OBE was a response to the hegemony of Christian National Education (CNE). The latter was premised upon the notion that those in power possessed “knowledge” that was imparted, selectively, to the masses, only to serve the needs of white capital.
Yes, OBE has its faults, as implemented. But it was immensely valuable in challenging the imperial arrogance of western liberal pedagogy. I have always said that the much-criticised mass layoffs of white teachers in the mid-1990′s opened up opportunities for transformation of our teaching cadres that might otherwise have taken a generation to achieve.
Thanks.
By “Professor” I mean Jansen, not De Vos.
Hey Dworks,
“that might otherwise have taken a generation to achieve”
Yeah.
The good alternative to a generation is several generations.
The solution to poorly performing teacher training colleges was to shut those down and sell of some of the property.
On another completely unrelated topic, have you any idea what has become of former Min of Education, Prof Asmal?
It does seem that he has excelled in taking credit and passing the buck.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/letters/article540817.ece/Architect-of-OBE-was-Blade-not-me
@Maggs and Fassbinder
Why does Jansen ask for heads to roll over OBE? The ANC introduced a policy that Jansen feels was a bad one. Surely the way to replace the policy is to change the policy within the party or to change the party in power. That is how accountability works in a democracy. Whose head should roll? Rensburg’s as the DDG who introduced the new curriculum? Asmal’s for modifying curriculum 2005? Chisholm’s for chairing the review panel? Pandor’s for not signing OBE’s death certificate between 2004 and 2009? Hindle’s for the same reason? Where will it end? Make them unemployed to atone for their sins in believing in a particular policy?
66 Outcomes? That sounds like the ANusClowns.
I am a firm Asmal fan, because he is
a) One of the drafters of the Bill of Rights
b) Although misguided about the loyal-and-disciplined-member thing he is one of a handful of ANC Ministers who could set out and achieve what was in the job description – or give it his best shot
c) One of the few people in the country who do not view every single little thing through racially-tinted specs. Remember how the bandiet-to-be trampled Asmal into the dust because Asmal thought it was cool that little black kids could compete in marksmanship at school just like little white kids?
Who would know better than Asmal that the most-equal pig was the architect of OBE?
I do not buy Asmal’s excuse. Anyway he never delivered in his entire cabinet life.
@ Montana
You re right the voters should hold the party responsible for its education policy but that does not take away responsibility and accountabilty on technocrats(experts) to exercise their independent thinking and provide expert advice to government. If an expert is ignored they should leave just like Ngalwana did at the Pension Adjudicator or throw in their integrity together with the failure.
Ideally flawed policy should find no support amongst genuine experts. Where mistakes are committed examplery leadership must be exercised early 1. admit 2. diagnosis 3. Identify root causes 4. Find solution 5. Implement corrective measures.
Instead we were fed arrogance ,excuses and run arounds.
Maggs, KA now has a Chair at UWC.
Mikhail Dworkin Fassbinder says:
July 22, 2010 at 10:14 am
“KA now has a Chair at UWC.”
Ok.
But does Min Nyanda have a bed yet?
Gwebecimele says:
July 22, 2010 at 10:11 am
Ja ne.
I wonder if Blade also caused the water disaster expected to hit us soon.
“Millions of litres of highly acidic mine water is rising up under Johannesburg and, if left unchecked, could spill out into its streets some 18 months from now, Parliament’s water affairs portfolio committee heard on Wednesday. ”
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-07-21-johannesburg-on-acidic-water-time-bomb
Gwebecimele says:
July 22, 2010 at 10:11 am
Blade to blame eh?
“CHANGING THE CURRICULUM
The reconstruction of the curriculum for schooling and for other contexts will be essential in order to rid the education and training system of the legacy of racism, dogmatism and outmoded teaching practices. Since curriculum change is always a lengthy process, it will be crucial that strategic entry points be found so that progressive transformation can commence in 1994. Institutes for curriculum development, associated with the South African Qualifications Authority, will be established at national and provincial levels in order to manage the development and approval of new curricula. The maximum participation of teachers and trainers in the design and trialing of new curricula will be crucial.”
…
“TEACHERS
The demand for new teachers is likely to increase sharply as a result of a number of policy initiatives proposed in this document. These include the introduction of a reception class for beginners, reducing class size to 40, the introduction of compulsory education and the consequent enrolment of out-of-school children, as well as the development of systems of provision for Adult Basic Education, Early Childhood Educare and Special Education. This increase in demand is likely to lead to major changes in the ways in which the preparation and development of teachers and other educators is structured. Distance education is likely to play a much bigger role in teacher development, and training courses are likely to include more extended periods of off-campus, in-classroom preparation and development.
Urgent attention will be given to a review of industrial relations legislation for the education and training sector in order to ensure that effective mechanisms for collective bargaining and dispute resolution are in place. The systems of teacher management and support, including the systems through which teachers are appraised, evaluated and supervised will also be revised.”
http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?doc=ancdocs/policy/educate.htm
Just how many times must the truth be repeated? Unlike some commentators, born out of the dominance on this one issue, I believe that the truth does not have to be repeated. You can tell it only once. As soon as you come up with many justifications to your statement, then you do not believe what you said.
The nice thing about the truth is that it is consistent, and does not require many explanations to make it “factual”
If you are misunderstood, so be it. To keep harping on one thing does not make it true to people of average intellect.
We’re to blame for poor state
Jul 23, 2010 | Redi Direko | 4 comments
THE maxim remains true: In a democracy you get the leaders you deserve.
How do you know a politician is lying? Answer: When his lips start to move
RELATED ARTICLESPolice brutality rears its ugly head again
It is a common enough phrase whose disastrous consequences have been documented in the history of all nations.
While we have every right as citizens to lament the disdain with which some politicians, businesses and other organisations treat us, the spotlight and blame should not just fall on them.
Elected – sorry deployed – officials fail the people they claim to represent at every turn and even private companies who make the insincere claim of putting the customer first have been exposed as peddlers of lies.
While this is obviously not acceptable, when are we, yes, you and I, going to take a long hard look at ourselves and stop this hypocrisy?
At some point we have to take responsibility and accept that we are key players in maintaining the corruption and lack of accountability that are pervasive in our society.
Politicians and businesses often succeed in misleading us precisely because we are willing to be misled.
Of course there are exceptions. History has presented us with individuals who have transcended the normal politics of “corrupt business as usual” and have risen to the top and stayed there because of their true commitment to creating a better world.
But in most circumstances the public is lied to with impunity.
Remember the joke: “How do you know a politician is lying?” Answer: “When his lips start to move.”
You can replace the word “politician” with businessman, journalist, advertiser but the difference with politicians is that every few years we dutifully vote for them and once they have been elected they are basically in charge of every area of our lives, be it the economy, sport, health or education.
Once they have misled us and have been exposed, they know that we are accepting of their pathetic justifications.
Powerful people in society lie, distort and mislead precisely because these techniques work.
And they work because most of the time, we, the public, are just lazy and complacent.
They know that very few among us are willing to separate the kernels of truth hidden in the layers of lies and distortions that most of them use to maintain their hegemony and privilege.
So it is not the politician’s fault that as a voter you are prepared to accept it when they continuously tell you “we are investigating”.
They should not be made to pay because you see their overnight stay at a squatter camp as a sign of their commitment to provide for the ordinary man and woman.
They have to sleep there to know that conditions at many of our squatter camps are macabre and unacceptable.
Please! The poor government official cannot be crucified because you are happy to applaud the planned visit to a hospital and live with the lie that they did not know the lifts didn’t work or that patients sometimes sleep on floors.
Whose fault is it that when an inquiry is launched the report submitted gathers dust without our demanding answers and closure?
Why must police perk up when we are prepared to praise them for their visible presence without asking: “Have you actually arrested anyone for the attacks – xenophobic or otherwise – on residents and shopowners?”
Has anyone been successfully prosecuted for burning a man alive two years ago?
Oh, my mind is racing – whatever happened to that poor woman who was put in a holding cell with males and gang raped? Bingo! The Independent Complaints Directorate investigated!
Let’s not forget the businesses that collude and fix prices. From milk to bread, fuel, cars and bank charges – the list is endless.
The companies involved should have suffered such losses by now because as vigilant citizens we would have voted with our feet and taken our money elsewhere.
But, oh no, we make a noise and continue doing business with them. So ultimately, we are their comrades in this dirty war.
It is too much to expect them to employ sound and ethical business practices when we are willing to help them maintain the status quo.
Until we demonstrate that for every lie they tell there will be consequences, we will continue to be the duped losers we already are.
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=115732
Spin by MEC Mahlangu did not win the day?
http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2010/07/23/parents-win-inquiry-into-babies-deaths-at-hospital
Mahabane’s article should be on everyone’s ‘better read’ list.
Well spotted, Gwebecimele.
Wasn’t the spin by MEC Mahlangu disgusting? Did the media mushrooms not ask questions? Dirty bottles not mentioned once.
Anyone remember the SABAX baby deaths? I read the claim files. The more things change….
Gwebecimele, I know you do not read Afrikaans:
http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Babas-is-onversorg-dood-20100723
According to this Beeld article some of the parents told the MEC they found their dead babies nappies unchanged, some lying in their own vomit, in the incubators.
Well Brett, I wonder what can we say now about the Professors, Doctors etc who were the members of the panel.
They should be reported to the professional body.
Not very often that our unequal society is laid bare in figures for all to see.
I have no doubt that the tussle between BMF and Mthoba had a bit to do with this reality. She has been at the helm of Deloitte for 10 yrs.
How do you empower 1600 black CA’s amongst 30 000 equals and achieve 40 % EE target?
Even if these blacks are made partners ( 25% shareholders) in these big fours the rarely receive 25% of profits and that should be classified as fronting. E&Y changed leadership recently and it is rumoured that after 10 yrs at the helm the previous CEO could not transform the firm.
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=115902
Just once I would like to see a meaningful prosecution of a healthcareworker where a patient has died. Knowing that one of their peers is on trial for culpable homicide for patient neglect will send shockwaves through all the state hospitals.
Anyone who has ever been in that hospital knows the parents’ complaint about nurses yapping or eating while they should have been taking care of those babies is highly probable. Once again, different standards for the poor – in this case, the babies’ lives are cheap to the prosecuting authority, the Dept of Health, everyone helping cover this story up.
The law should protect everyone equally.
Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge is exactly the right person to stick in her oar here?
What is the basis of that particular prob, Gwebecimele? It would be interesting to know how many township high schools have accountancy teachers. (Lets not even go to the rural areas…)
Accountancy teachers have a high degree of mobility.
@ Brett
It takes 5 to 6 to produce a CA , less for those who already have a degree and costs about R100 000. It seems as if we produced on average 100 for each year since 1994 and that is pathetic. High school Accounting pass is not pre -requisite for CA study.
It can onlybe that we never understood and prioritised what needed to be achieved.
I take your point, Gwebecimele, but one cannot focus on exceptions to the rule.
We need to know what is going on at the widest part of the pyramid. IMHO most problems in this country boil down to schooling, and policing. How many black kids are being introduced to accountancy properly in high school?
There is no prize for guessing on where that loot comes from.
Soon junior workers who had nothing to do with drilling negotiations/choices will have to go home empty handed, retrenched.
DO I HEAR GREED, IMMORAL, CALLOUS
http://www.news24.com/World/News/BP-boss-to-get-185m-to-quit-20100726
Audit: US can’t account for $8.7 billion in Iraqi funds
Jul 27, 2010 3:58 PM | By Sapa-AP
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The U.S. Defense Department is unable to properly account for over 95 percent of $9.1 billion in Iraqi oil money tapped by the U.S. for rebuilding the war ravaged nation, according to an audit released Tuesday.
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Current Font Size:
Iraqis gather at the site of the massive bomb attacks. File Picture.
Photograph by: Hadi Mizban
Credit: AP
The report by the U.S. Special Investigator for Iraq Reconstruction offers a compelling look at continued laxness in how such funds are being spent in a country where people complain basic services like electricity and clean water are sharply lacking seven years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
The audit found that shoddy record keeping by the Defense Department left the Pentagon unable to fully account for $8.7 billion it withdrew between 2004 and 2007 from a special fund set up by the U.N. Security Council. Of that amount, Pentagon “could not provide documentation to substantiate how it spent $2.6 billion.”
The funds are separate from the $53 billion allocated by Congress for rebuilding Iraq.
The report comes at a critical time for Iraq.
Despite security gains made since 2008, bombings remain near a daily occurrence that compound the frustrations and fears of Iraqis increasingly weary of the current political crisis – one many say reflects how the country’s politicians are more interested in their own interests than those of the nation.
Politicians have hit an impasse since inconclusive parliamentary elections were held March 7, unable to form a new government as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, appears determined to stay in office when influential Shiite parties want to see him go.
The audit cited a number of factors that contributed to the inability to account for most of the money withdrawn by the Pentagon from the Development Fund for Iraq.
It said most of the Defense Department organizations that received DFI money failed to set up Treasury Department accounts, as required.
In addition, it said no Defense Department organization was designated as the main body to oversee how the funds were accounted for or spent.
“The breakdown in controls left the funds vulnerable to inappropriate uses and undetected loss,” the report said.
The audit found that the U.S. continues to hold about $34.3 million of the money even though it was required to return it to the Iraqi government.
The audit did not indicate that investigators believed there were any instances of fraud involved in the spending of these funds.
The DFI includes revenues from Iraq’s oil and gas exports, as well as frozen Iraqi assets and surplus funds from the now-defunct, Saddam Hussein-era oil-for-food program.
With the establishment of the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran Iraq shortly after the start of the U.S. invasion in 2003 until mid-2004, about $20 billion was placed into the account.
The Iraqi government had agreed to allow the U.S. continued access to the funds after the CPA was dissolved in 2004, but it revoked that authority in December 2007.
The claim that grants cause “dependency” assumes that middle-class people get nothing from the public purse. But our middle class consists of people who were either beneficiaries of a very generous white welfare state — the World Bank estimated shortly before apartheid ended that subsidies to the urban middle class in SA were the highest in the world — or are benefiting from programmes that look after black business and professional people.
The well-off have received far more help than the poor ever have.
GREED IS AMONGST US.
This argument also ignores research evidence, which shows that most poor people do not fritter grants away but use them to generate economic activity . Social grants have boosted retailers in rural areas and have, although off a low base, ensured that economic wastelands have become places where people trade.
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=116211
@ Samantha
This how profits are made from me and you.
Politicians are yet to master this trade.
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=116313
Business does it better.
http://www.noseweek.co.za/
There is another irony: some of the same Australians who have criticised the deficits have also criticised proposals to increase taxes on mines. Australia is lucky to have a rich endowment of natural resources, including iron ore. These resources are part of the country’s patrimony. They belong to all the people. Yet in all countries, mining companies try to get these resources free — or for as little as possible.
Of course, mining companies need to get a fair return on their investments. But the iron ore companies have gotten a windfall gain as iron ore prices have soared. The increased profits are not a result of their mining prowess, but of China’s demand for steel. There is no reason mining companies should reap this reward for themselves. They should share the bonanza with Australia’s citizens, and a mining tax is one way of ensuring that outcome. This money should be set aside in a special fund, to be used for investment. The country will inevitably become poorer as it depletes its natural resources, unless the value of its human and physical capital increases.
Another issue playing out down under is global warming. If not a climate-change denier, the previous Australian government, led by John Howard, joined former US president George Bush in being a climate-change free rider: others would have to take responsibility for ensuring the planet’s survival.
This was especially strange, given that Australia has been one of the big beneficiaries of the Montreal Convention, which banned ozone-destroying gases. Holes in the ozone layer exposed Australians to cancer-causing radiation. The international community banded together, banned the substances, and the holes are now closing. Nevertheless, the Howard government was willing to expose the planet to the risks of global warming.
Rudd campaigned on a promise to reverse that stance, but the failure of the climate- change talks in Copenhagen last December left Rudd’s government in an awkward position. The failure of US leadership has global consequences.
Citizens should consider their legacy. It is two-faced to claim to care about the future and then fail to ensure that the country is adequately compensated for the depletion of its resources, or ignore the degradation of the environment. It is even worse to leave our children without adequate infrastructure and the other public investments needed to be competitive in the 21st century.
Every country faces these issues. Sometimes one can see them with greater clarity by observing how others are confronting them. Let’s hope Australians look to the larger issues at stake. ©Project Syndicate, 2010. http://www.project-syndicate.org .
- Stiglitz is at Columbia University and a Nobel laureate in economics
This strike may actualy achieve more than its target.
This message from Blade is a breath of fresh air and I hope our budget will pe prioritised with meaninful project and less on R130 million on World Cup tickets and parties.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article629096.ece/Nzimande–Freeze-government-ministers-salaries
This started long before 1994.
http://www.noseweek.co.za/
Gwebe
I think the point is the ANC is doing nothing to retrieve the money, or else it is benefitting from the original fraud.
Is the ANC protfiteering from Apartheid crimes?
Gwebecimele says:
September 1, 2010 at 11:35 am
Hey Gwebs,
There’s something rotten going on!
Thanks for pointing it out.
What’s the deal? Is ANC still cashing in on apartheid profiteering?
What’s the deal? Is ANC still cashing in on apartheid profiteering?
The ANC government was told in a secret report how apartheid-era government operatives stole hundreds of billions from the State – and how vast sums could be recovered from those responsible and the European bankers who helped them hide the loot. But mysteriously, the Mbeki cabinet and the Reserve Bank decided to do nothing about it. Why?
After a vitriolic disinformation campaign led by Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus, an amendment to the current Reserve Bank Act, tailor-made to silence the bank’s private shareholders, has hurriedly been tabled in parliament. Those shareholders, you see, have been asking the same question.
But, instead of silence, the shareholders have taken furious action – and brought to light an explosive secret document in which it is revealed how the Mbeki government was given a detailed account of the extraordinary extent of frauds on the state perpetrated by the Afrikaner nationalist elite in the apartheid era – frauds that their ANC successors have until now chosen to cover up.
If you want to watch 3D, get arrested.
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Dept-spends-R15m-on-TVs-20100901
THE MONEY IS ONLY GOING TO CHINA. I HOPE THIS IS A LESSON.
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s Standard Bank (JSE:SBK) has been disappointed by the revenue so far from its tie-up with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the head of Africa’s largest lender told Reuters on Wednesday.
Jacko Maree, Standard Bank’s group chief executive, also said in an interview at the Reuters bureau in Johannesburg that the bank was in “hiring mode” for skilled bankers, and aimed to double its Nigerian branch network this year.
Standard Bank, which is 20 percent owned by ICBC, is targeting the increasing trade flows between Asia and the resource-rich continent.
It currently has about 40 bankers working in China with ICBC, but has struggled to generate revenue from the fast-growing Asian country, he said.
“We definitely would have thought by now we would have converted more of those deals into revenue,” Maree said.
“So we are disappointed.”
TIM COHEN: Middle-class divisions are among SA’s big problems
HOW surprised would you be by a comparison between the Kyrgyz Republic and SA?
Published: 2010/09/09 07:20:11 AM
HOW surprised would you be by a comparison between the Kyrgyz Republic and SA? This week a former colleague pointed out a “Letter from Bishkek”, which appeared recently in Harpers magazine. There has been recent civil unrest in the Kyrgyz Republic (the country you might know as Kyrgyzstan, which is, as everybody knows, a different country from the much larger Kazakhstan immediately to its north).
The letter, written by Scott Horton, quotes an unnamed lawyer who made this comment about his country: “We are witnessing the process of ‘lumpenizatsiya’.” When asked what he meant by this curiously Marxist coinage, the lawyer explained, “It’s the process whereby the reins of government are seized by waves of people who are progressively less educated, less capable, and more brutish. Threats and intimidation take the place of moral suasion and law. Clan loyalties take the place of a sense of duty to the state.” Now what country does that remind you of?
The situation in Kyrgyzstan is much more intense than SA, perhaps for the simple reason that the country’s economy is weaker — it’s the smallest and poorest of the five independent Turkic states. Like many of the Turkic states that broke away from the Soviet Union, the country has been a notional democracy but was actually a single-party dominant system. The economy was not Soviet but the system of government was — at least until a kind of democratic revolution broke out earlier this year.
Horton writes that the elections to be held there on October 10 are expected to be free, fair and democratic — “the first in the history of the nation, or even the region, to genuinely warrant those labels”.
Reading his article I also got a sense of the differences between SA and other struggling countries that were essentially reconstituted in that heady period around 1990 — and also how much better our situation is. The fact that SA is at an odd point in its history is both truth and a truism. It strikes me, though, that it is at an odd point of a special type — it is complicated by some of the problems that countries such as Kyrgyzstan face, but also by some they do not face. At the broadest level, SA faces a rich/poor split, but also a split within the middle class.
So many of SA’s problems come down to the different states, outlooks, expectations and mentality of the different sections of its middle class. Unfortunately, this difference can be reflected racially, although I suspect it’s less racial than it seems.
Viewed positively, the middle class is divided essentially between people who want to preserve wealth and those who want to create wealth. Viewed negatively, the middle class is divided between those who have wealth and those who want it.
The wealth creationists are typically empowerment supportive, future-orientated, expansionist, supportive of government intervention in the economy, education-hungry and taxation-neutral. Wealth preservationists are tax-averse, against economic intervention, grumble about empowerment and are quite often free-market supportive.
This difference infects not only political choices, but even arguments about intervention to weaken the rand, for example. The expansionists crave intervention and a lower rand, since their existing savings are less significant in their minds than their future earnings. For the preservationists, a weaker rand means, effectively, their savings decline in value.
The debate is visible elsewhere too, especially in the debate about the level of interest rates. The expansionists want them lower because they are typically indebted, and the preservationists want them higher because they are typically cash-flush.
After the public sector strike, SA appears split between the working class and the middle class, whether “middle class” is represented by management within the government or the private sector. Yet this is something of a chimera. A good portion of the state employees who were on strike are technically part of the lower middle class. They might not think of themselves that way, but they are. The strike shows achieving a balance between the branches of the middle class is as important as achieving a balance between the working class and the middle class.
- Cohen is contributing editor.
Simon Susman admits he may have done wrong.
The story on Moneyweb entitled “Is Woolworths CEO hiding something? refers: ‘
The most damaging claim as it relates to Woolworths alleges that Thomas, repatriated money from South Africa to Australia for Susman’s benefit. When Moneyweb asked if this was true, a Woolworth’s spokesperson said, “this is a personal matter”‘.
Mr Susman has provided Woolworths with the statement below in response to the following paragraph in your story:
“I travel to Australia regularly and a small portion of my travel allowance was taken to Australia ahead of my arrival. I am advised that this may not have been the correct procedure and I will take the necessary steps to regularise the situation.”
A position on the rest of the claims remains as outlined in the attached announcement from the Australian Stock Exchange.
*Simon Susman is CEO of Woolworths
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=129575
BIG Business continue to rob the poor taxpayers.
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=133873