Please excuse me while I crunch the latest by-election result numbers – I love this geeky kind of stuff. I decided to have a look at the results after the ANC seemed to have gotten a big fright this week, losing two by-election in the Western Cape to the DA.
The most interesting results came out of Cape Town in a ward which encompasses the traditional “African” suburb of Gugulethu and the traditional “coloured” area of Heideveld. The DA won 60% of the vote in this election compared to the 38% of the ANC. In the previous local government election the ANC won 53% of the vote and the DA 26%. There was therefore a huge swing towards the DA in the by-election.
There seems to be at least three reasons for this dramatic swing towards the DA.
First, the ANC’s support amongst “coloured” voters in the constituency collapsed dramatically. In the local government election the ANC attracted about 15% of the vote in these traditional working class communities. This collapsed to below 1% at some voting stations this week. The racial nationalism of Julius Malema and Jacob Zuma obviously holds no attraction for coloured voters in the Western Cape.
Second, the Independent Democrats (ID) did not contest the election and its voters did not stay home but voted for the DA. One can probably assume that this means support for the ID is collapsing and that its voters are now supporting the DA. Based on the results of this by-election the DA seems to have consolidated its support amongst working class coloured people in Cape Town.
Third, many people who voted for the ANC in the previous local government election, decided not to vote at all. At the two Gugulethu voting stations the ANC obtained 3244 votes in the previous local government election. This week only 2214 people voted for the ANC at these two stations. One third of the voters in Gugulethu who voted for the ANC in the previous local government election therefore decided to stay at home.
What did not happen, was a significant surge in support for the DA amongst voters in Gugulethu, where the party made only very small gains. In the previous local government election the DA polled 22 votes – less than 1% – at these polling stations. In the by-election this week it polled 79 votes, which is about 3 % of the votes cast at these polling stations.
This means that the party has not yet managed to convince significant numbers of African voters in Cape Town to vote for it. Faced with a choice between the DA and the ANC, many African voters simply stayed at home. Helen Zille has a lot of work to do to convince “African” voters that the DA is not fundamentally opposed to their interests.
What does this mean for the local government elections next year? Well, it might mean very little, as by-elections are notoriously bad indicators of how voters would vote during an election fought nationally. The Western Cape is also unique in other ways: Support for ousted President Thabo Mbeki is particularly strong here and distrust of Jacob Zuma probably higher than elsewhere. So it would be premature to extrapolate these results in Cape Town and to assume they would be reflected nationally.
But the by-election results this week in other parts of the country do suggest that the ANC is in some trouble and that many of its traditional voters are disillusioned with them and are prepared to demonstrate this. In Groblersdal the ANC candidate lost to an independent candidate who polled more than 50% of the vote. In the previous election the ANC candidate had polled almost 60% of the vote.
In Greater Tubatse [Burgersfort/Ohrigstad/Eastern Tubatse] the ANC candidate won with 65% of the vote but the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania candidate obtained almost 30% of the vote. In the previous local government election the ANC had polled almost 90% of the votes in that district. Only in KwaZulu/Natal is the ANC’s vote holding up well.
If these trends continue and many voters who voted for the ANC either stay at home or cast a protest vote for one of the smaller parties, the ANC could face massive losses at the next local government election in 2011. Although it would probably retain control of most metro councils, it could become a close run affair in places like Pretoria and Johannesburg.
These results suggest that the corruption, arrogance, nepotism and mismanagement that is rife at local government level in Municipalities controlled by the ANC is finally beginning to affect the voting behaviour of the voters who traditionally voted for the ANC. However, because the official opposition is still perceived as a “white” party who may not represent the interest of the African majority, smaller parties may benefit disproportionately from a protest vote cast by “African” voters.
If the DA slightly improves its performance along with improved performances for smaller parties like the PAC, and if the ANC fails to convince voters to come to the polls and to vote for it (even after spending obscene amounts of our money), 2011 might just be the year in which the ANC gets the wake-up call it so badly needs. That would be a good thing for democracy and for South Africa.
But the ANC has made so much money through crooked tenders that it might yet be able to buy off the electorate this one more time. Only time will tell.
My heart aches when black voters tick the DA box.
Yes, one understands that many are frustrated by the ANC. But we can address that by working WITHIN the party’s structures. (That is the beauty of the ANC rigorous internal democratic protocols.)
Why vote for party lead by liberal whites that, if it took power, would re-institute capitalism? A party that subjects blacks to flimsy toilet partitioning?
@Pierre
As a fellow geek / nerd, I also enjoy scratching beneath the surface and interpreting the stats.
I think that you analysis is spot-on in the sense that disgruntled or disillusioned ANC voters would rather abstain or post a “protest” vote for a smaller party than vote for the DA at this time.
The DA’s share of the vote in the Black African communities is very low indeed, BUT it has quadrupled off a tiny base, and seems to be moving in the right direction.
As a lawyer, you probably look at the nominal number of DA votes in the black areas and conclude that 3% does not constitute a “significant surge in support” .
A statistician might conclude that a 200% increase – even off a low base – is fairly significant.
By the way, there were 2 “Black” wards in the Hiedveld / Gugulehtu district – in one, the DA polled 3%, in the other, 6%.
Interesting that you selectively mentioned the 3% ward only.
The only way the DA will continue to improve their share of the vote in this black community is to materially improve the lives of the residents and adopt clean, efficient and corruption-free governance.
Opinion polls have in the past put white support for the ANC at 3%. Has this also quadrupled, or perhaps rather reduced by 75%?
I have yet to meet a white person that admits to voting ANC, or argues on their behalf (apart from Jeremy Cronin, who by the way is a wonderful human being, if a bit misguided)..
Who ARE this 3% and where are they?
The fact that the DA appears to have consolidated support in the coloured and Indian communities might indicate that this party is cutting across racial lines and attracting support based on policies.
I am ready to be savaged by Maggs and the lunatic fringe (this excludes Maggs of course!)
I know many white people who openly supported the ANC before Zuma became president, and before Malema arrived at the scene. At the moment, if they are still supporting the ANC, they are too ashamed too admit it.
Eish Prof, is this the best you can do to please the DA supporters? Your analysis is correct but there is nothing new in it. In fact, it is expected that the DA will get a fair share during by elections and the up-coming local elections. The thinking among Africans, whether logical or not, is simply that we have put ANC in power both in national and provincial government, and therefore there is nothing preventing them from fulfilling their election manifesto. As expected, large percentage of African voters will always abstain from the aforementioned elections. It is a silent protest to ANC to jerk up its actions. I am sure by now you are aware of the ANC’s intention to combine local govt election with both provincial and national elections. By so doing, the ANC will beneftit from the excitement of voters during national elections. P Leon, enjoy your celebration while it last.
It is not the ANC that needs a wakeup call. It is the country as a whole that needs a wakeup call and ejects this inept, corrupt and racist ANC regime.
A good assessment, Pierre. Peter L, the 3% (or is it 3?) whites supporting the ANC are Kortbroek van Schalkwyk, Pik Botha and Roelf Meyer.
Peter L says:
May 28, 2010 at 10:31 am
Hey Peter L,
I see you tried to exclude me from the lunatic fringe and the opportunity to savage you – racist, tjatjarag, blady agent!
It’s not, in my view about policies – the ANC has excellent policies (thou shalt not steal, not kill, … But you can covert your friend’s daughter).
At local government level, the ANC has allowed candidates of really, really poor quality yet this is probably the most important sphere of government iro service delivery.
Maybe someone will catch a wake up and realise that at least at the level of mayors it can deploy some of its best people.
I expect, as I said several times on this blog, that I anticipate the ANC losing a lot of support during the LGE – I am not sure whether I will be active in campaigning for the ANC then.
2014 – that’s another matter entirely!
Mikhail, how much more will it take for you to be dissuaded of the view that you can change the ANC from the inside? If you believe that that is a viable strategy, then you must be able to point to some evidence of it working. Where is that evidence? Instead, there is plenty of evidence to suggest the ANC is getting systematically worse – it is increasingly belligerent, increasingly intolerant, increasingly power hungry, increasingly unconstitutional.
Wake up – the only thing that will change the ANC ‘from the inside’ is five years in opposition. That’s what they need.
@ Geordin
ANC is experiencing birth pains and the good will prevail over the evil.
The foundation of the organisation is strong but the temporary leadership is weak. I have no doubt that a new direction will emerge with or without the current leadership.
To sum up then:
[i]The Malema/tenderpreneur/self-enrichment factor/faction repels Coloured voters, who see through them;
[ii] African voters are getting disillusioned with the ANC but would only vote for another “Black” party/candidate.
So, the ANC is simply becoming its own biggest enemy [but can do nothing about it - with corruption spiralling out of control], creating large latent potential for the emergence of other/new Black parties.
Cope ?
Eish.
Isn’t Lekota the [only] fly in the ointment?
@Mikhail Dworkin Fassbinder
sorry not picking on you or anything … but what are these ANC party structures? I’ve heard this term numerously, but nobody can explain them to me? Do people mean party heirarchy? what makes the ANC different from other party’s /organizations/companies???? is it cause its not the norm in the culture? can someone explain this to me? its not that clear from the ANC website
“Why vote for party lead by liberal whites that, if it took power, would re-institute capitalism? A party that subjects blacks to flimsy toilet partitioning?”
We dont live in a capitalistic/”freemarket” system now???? as far as I know, and please correct me, we dont have a socialist/communistic goverment yet???
@ Peter L
You are correct, that as far as the percentages go 3% is actually very significant! the DA well, or as Pierre would suggest the ANC did badly…
What is interesting for me is the distinctions drawn here from similar results ! clearly
So, let’s assume that next year we have a “clean sweep”, and the ANC gets annihilated at the local level. Then what? Would anyone seriously suggest that it’s the politicians who block the delivery? That another batch, from some other persuasion, would do this better?
I’m all for acknowledging that the ANC crop is about as stupid and heartless and incompetent and criminal as you would find in any random set of South Africans. And it didnt surprise me to learn that some 90% of ANC parliamentarians don’t know how to use a computer, email or all that jazz. They’re simply fodder.
Having recently had the displeasure of seeing some Joburg municipality department at work (so to speak), and this was one of the main departments. Where I come from (the private sector), these guys would (maybe) run security and coffee services, but would get nowhere near anything involving significance or responsibility. They were not up to the task, rank and file. Simple, and no need for racist stereotypes.
So, some wonderful new local politician is going to show up, and do what? Dig holes themselves? Sort our the revenue and billing problems themselves? Roll up sleeves and start building some houses, close some potholes, that sort of healthy heavy labour? Who are we kidding?
Zille is lucky that the kind-of remaining-in-tact Cape Town municipality gets confused with DA politicians. Go look in the Southern Cape of you want to see the DA “at work” (or just read the new Noseweek for a reasonable expose). So, Zille benefits from being associated with simply better-quality municipal employees.
And I can already hear all the moaning about how it was the ANC that got rid of the quality employees (presumably, they were white), and and and. And yes, the level of stealing by the politicians here, at the moment, is embarrassing. So, at the moment they’re like Malema: they’re making things worse without any ability to make them better. Things will be better without them (if we found a better crowd), but no one would deliver anything of significance with the current level of municipal employee in Joburg, I don’t care who you are.
It’s not until Jesus comes. We might need him to show up just to sort this bunch out though. It’s not causal, it’s co-occurance.
EUSEBIUS MCKAISER: The Congress of the People: a political obituary
EUSEBIUS MCKAISER Published: 2010/05/28 07:47:55 AM
Eusebius McKaiser
emckaiser@gmail.com
I NEED to collect my black suit from the dry cleaners today because I am attending a funeral service tomorrow. I am still feeling a bit tender, however, so I am not sure I’ll have the strength to attend. But it is going to be a huge funeral service and as someone who was not very close to the deceased, I might, at the risk of sounding macabre, get away with not being missed.
The 18 -month-old toddler, who passed away recently due, officially, to spontaneous combustion, was known as the Congress of the People (COPE). His birth was a popular affair in December 2008, so you too might have known a little bit about him through occasional press coverage. It is only fitting to write my own political obituary of this unexpected passing, considering I may not be able to attend tomorrow. But before I do so, I sadly have to berate the various family members for their unnecessary squabbling, at the time of writing this column entry, about the funeral arrangements. It seems that COPE’s family cannot even find dignity in death.
Usually, one would expect family members to set aside differences during a time that should be devoted to mourning. If necessary, you should fake family unity for the sake of giving the loved one a dignified send-off. Not so with COPE’s parents.
COPE was very much a New SA black boy. He was a would-be coconut complete with two middle-class fathers, Mosiuoa Lekota and Mbhazima Shilowa , proud to be in a same-sex political union with joint custody over their son. This rainbow, and rainbow nation, story went south very quickly, however.
The family is now split into two camps. Some support daddy one (the angry one), while others support daddy two (the calm one). Things have turned so nasty that they are even disputing when to bury little COPE’s lifeless body. There are three different family views on how long to wait before releasing COPE to the ancestors.
Some think they should keep the corpse until December. Others think it should happen tomorrow. Others, in their turn, are in such denial they think that COPE has not actually died but will live to see through both the 2011 and 2014 national political festivities that are called our local and national elections. This last group includes, as you might have expected, people who also remain convinced that rumours of Elvis Presley’s death are grossly exaggerated. They are in denial. But something like AIDS denialism is one thing, but to imagine that death itself is a social construct … that’s so not ayoba.
My advice to the family is that they ask an ancestor to help them confirm, first , whether COPE really is dead and, second , when an appropriate date for burial will be: tomorrow, December 2010, some time in 2011 or maybe even in 2014. The family would do well to put these questions to one of their most learned ancestors, the politically late Thabo Mbeki .
So where did it all go wrong? I, for one, am not convinced that COPE died of spontaneous combustion. That’s a family cover-up. But, of course, we all resort to little lies once someone is no more. Brutus, you will recall, was an honourable man. If I was forced to offer a pithy but, despite social convention, brutally honest obituary tomorrow , I would perform the following soliloquy:
On November 1 2008, surrounded by the promise of upward mobility in Johannesburg’s posh northern suburb of Sandton, COPE’s imminent birth was announced. The birth itself only happened weeks later in Bloemfontein. Bloemfontein was chosen by COPE’s parents in an attempt to cover up the elite family’s Living Standards Measures bracket. Everyone was excited. While some believed that the seeds of one Thabo Mbeki would be evident in the newborn’s face and mannerisms, this was not the case.
For one thing, the new kid was very friendly to all and sundry; even Mbeki-averse white aunties gave up their business careers to help raise the new Messiah. There was much promise of a bright future with an instant personality thrust upon the youngster: progressive, nonracial, social democrat, liberal, a force for good….
The early days were that of a happy childhood. But soon the kid fell ill. Problem? He was not allowed to grow into a personality of his own. Far from spontaneously combusting, the vivacious little youngster was secretly dying a slow death due to getting an overdose of this and that medicine, all of which made him sick. One dad wanted nonracialism to the point of scrapping affirmative action. Another wanted to retain the feeding trough for black tenderpreneurs. Some wanted a left-of-centre state that does not tell Nozipho in Diepsloot to pull herself up by her white madam’s old bootstraps. Others wanted a smaller state that gives Nozipho the incentives to make her own bootstraps. Simply put, the youngster died because everyone forced themselves on to him. And so things went. In the end, asphyxiation did him in.
COPE is survived by two feuding daddies and 1,3-million orphaned voters.
- McKaiser hosts a weekly politics talk show on Talk Radio 702.
While I think it is ludicrous for a Black person not to vote the ANC(and I say this with utmost arrogance!), I find it hard to see reason in the cast of a vote by a Black(‘Black’ here is used in it colloquial sense to denote the erstwhile, perhaps still, victims of racial segregation in South AFRICA)person for the Democratic Alliance. Perhaps if we are to accept as a dichotomy and for purposes of an argument that the ANC is corrupt, arrogant and so on, then we are left with one question. That is: whether we want to be governed by people ACCUSED of corruption, nepotism and arrogance or by those who we know through experience, have subjected black people to the most violations of human rights and racial segregation? The answer to this question is however subjective, I for one would suport the former, but black individuals are welcome to choose the latter. If they do so, they themselves are asserting their right to vote, a right that most people seem to undermine if exercised in support of the ANC.
Pierre,
Two things:
My experience on purely anecdotal basis is that it seems the black voter feels ambivalent towards the DA. On the one hand s/he finds himself attracted towards the apparent order and service delivery capability of the DA in comparison to the disillusionment with the DA. On the other hand s/he perceives that it is a “white” party and given our history is not sure that s/he ever will be able to trust a “white” party with political power.
The more likely scenario in the long run is Cosatu contesting an election itself and a mass defection of the electorate in that direction.
I do not think that the “wake up call” for the ANC will make any difference. It seems to me that the reality has already sunk in with the service delivery riots. JZ has already admitted party failure in that regard and there has been much talk of “perform or get out”. Yet, we all seem to see nothing more than “business as usual”. I am deeply doubtful whether the ANC is capable of reinventing itself. Even more am I doubtful whether even in extremis they can effect service delivery. Their model is and has been to deploy political cadres instead of a professional civil service (it reminds one of the old Soviet model) and in so doing they have in effect destroyed the service delivery capability. The people who represented that capability have moved on and many have become well paid consultants. That does not mean that the service delivery capability cannot be re-established but firstly it takes a long time to rebuild and I am doubtful whether the time exists. Secondly, it would mean a fundamental change in the business model and psychology of the ANC and I really think that the house divided against itself is unable to change that; amongst other things it would necessitate an end to the system of political patronage and I do not know whether the organisation is capable of surviving and retaining its coherency (such as it is) in the absence of that. Sadly, this once noble organisation which bore the hopes and aspirations of so many of our people has become a vehicle for profiteers, nepotism and corruption and there is a real question as to whether it can ever return to the roots from which it came.
Let me ask one question that may put it in perspective: do you think that Nelson Mandela would have countenanced a Julius Malema when he was in control of matters? Where we are now tells you what the ANC has become.
Sorry. Disillusionment with the ANC.
S’phamandla Mchunu:
The explanation to this conundrum (why Blacks would vote DA) is actually simple. The DA has shown in the Western Cape to be loyal to the coloured voters. These voters get the crumbs from the DA. They get better service delivery than the Blacks. The assumption is then: since coloureds voted DA they are being rewarded. Therefore the only logic will be to vote for the DA and hope you will get the same attention. We need to wait and see if this strategy works. If it works the DA might get more votes in the coming elections. If they don’t get any attention its back to the devil you know.
@ S’phamandla Mchunu
You write that it is ludicrous for a Black person to vote anything but ANC. What about parties like IFP, ACDC, AZAPO, COPE etc?
And when you write about the DA (I presume) that they have “have subjected black people to the most violations of human rights and racial segregation”, what do you base that on? To my knowledge, Helen Zille was involved in anti-apartheid matters pre-1994 – and according to wikipedia “The modern day Democratic Alliance is in large part a product of the progressive anti-Apartheid movement of the 1970s and 1980s, during which time it was known variously as the Progressive Party and Reform Party, the Progressive Reform Party, and the Progressive Federal Party. During that time, the party was led by some of the most celebrated anti-apartheid activists, including Helen Suzman, Harry Schwarz, Colin Eglin, Frederik van Zyl Slabbert and Zach de Beer.”
@ Ricky
“To my knowledge, Helen Zille was involved in anti-apartheid matters pre-1994″
Zille and others you mention – Suzman, VZ Skabbert – etc, were all LIBERALS.
These were people who, though they claimed to oppose apartheid, stoutly resisted the ANC’s indispensible insight that apartheid and capitalism were two sides of the same coin — that to fight one, you had to fight the other.
(Also, the liberals fastidiously set their faces against prescient ANC/UDF slogans like “LIBERATION NOW EDUCATION LATER.”)
How foolish.
@ Unknown
It is true that there remain islands of inequality, and certain characteristics of the capitalism, even under the ANC government. What you must understand, though, is that, under the program of the NDR, we are on an inexorable trajectory towards equality and total redistribution, per the Freedom Charter.
We are just not going to make the mistake of Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Korea — by trying to change everything overnight.
Thanks.
Mikhail Dworkin Fassbinder says:
May 28, 2010 at 16:31 pm
Hey Dworky,
There’s peace and friendship now that the DA has snatched two wards from the ANC.
Imagine that, eh, two whole wards!
Who would have expected the ANC to lose two wards in the WC?
S’phamandla Mchunu says:
May 28, 2010 at 14:50 pm
What gives you the impression, apart perhaps from occasional bitterenders in their ignorance, that the white population hasn’t changed. I don’t know a single white person (perhaps my extensive activities are selective with the folk I work with) that would even consider returning to an apartheid venue. I think what Black people don’t recognize is how significant the majority of whites have changed.
Whites in my impression deeply desire a non racial, non sexist, honest government which is committed to raising up the poor. Take my word for it, or not, but whites realize the gap between rich and poor is an even greater threat to their survival and well being than the ANC.
If you listen to whites on this and other blogs critical of the ANC, it’s because the ANC are wasting the opportunity to serve all the people and especially the poor (16 years and counting) for their own elitist self advancement. Clear thinking is required here.
You may have no idea how many whites are working their butt off to improve the lives of the poor. Just check out the NGO’s, NPO’s, and various forums.
What pisses whites off is that the ANC government is much like an unscrupulous car salesmen who cares only about selling his product for his own wealth, and not a hoot whether their customer receives a reliable vehicle. Great sales pitch but no substance.
Peter John says:
May 28, 2010 at 15:01 pm
I agree with your sentiments whole heatedly. Having interacted with many government department officials I know its not just their incompetence but their intense self serving. There is a culture in the ANC that persists throughout all its levels. “We deserve to take back what we think was taken, and money is that take back”. I have experienced in a decade of NGO service to my various communities pretty much an attitude not at all caring, and not at all thinking and creatively planning how they can fulfill a service role. It appears to me to be totally absent.
Being a cadre means you are there to reap for your own, far beyond your pay cheque. Truly sincere civil servants are few and far between. Compassion, empathy and the desire to serve are simply not there.
Thomas says:
May 28, 2010 at 15:37 pm
I don’t agree with you at all that the coloreds get the crumbs and the blacks nothing. You still haven’t grasped, I feel (just an opinion that you are cynical) that the DA and the people they cultivate within their party (I am not a member) do actually care about all the people regardless of culture and color. They have a strong desire to supply services which will be meaningful in the lives of the many.
Think of the challenges, the complexities, and how well the DA is doing so far. There really are people who care about others. I for one see them in the DA and ID, and thus welcome their advancement.
Mikhail Dworkin Fassbinder says:
May 28, 2010 at 16:21 pm
Do you really believe what you say within your intended irony? Perhaps some intensive meditation on the meaning of life, compassion, empathy and mortality is in order.
Sorry Fass, but as you intend, hitting my funny bone isn’t funny, it hurts.
@ Sirjay
It saddens me that you mistake my earnest attempts to contribute to the discourse on this blog as “irony.” If you do not agree, tackle me on the merits; just do not doubt my sincerity.
Thank you.
Does anyone here care whether or not the insufferable Maggs will be active in campaigning for the ANC during the LGE?
Fass: I don’t for a moment doubt your sincerity, and unquestionably your posts are a valuable and interesting part of Prof’s venue. They just annoy the hell of out of me. cheers.
Brett Nortje: the question is, who is the more insufferable, Maggs or Fass? Should we have a vote? Perhaps they are lovers, or rather a comedy duel well familiar with each other and having us all on.
The difficulty for me, a serious oak (my women have always complained about that), is whether what they speak is truth or illusion.
I found it interesting to read how ANC supporters motivate their support for their party on this thread:
“. . . there is nothing preventing them from fulfilling their election manifesto”
“Maybe someone will catch a wake up”
“. . . a new direction will emerge”
” . . . it is ludicrous for a Black person not to vote the ANC”
If this is the best reasons people can come up with to support a political party, then I’m not surprised that the leader of the party has to resort to telling people that any member who dares to leave the party will be exposed by the ancestors and will get sick.
Chris:
“. . . there is nothing preventing them from fulfilling their election manifesto”
…. selfish, self serving greed perhaps
“Maybe someone will catch a wake up”
… aggh shame, too much expensive liquor, bling, tendership and ‘party on’.
“. . . a new direction will emerge”
… its emerged, Malema, all downhill
” . . . it is ludicrous for a Black person not to vote the ANC”
… thats to suggest Blacks can’t think beyond their skin color.
… its emerged, Malema, all downhill
“… any member who dares to leave the party will be exposed by the ancestors and will get sick.”
That choice tidbit – pronounced by President Zuma himself – is a good indication of how desperate the ANC is becoming. That said, I don’t believe for a moment that – even should the ANC be voted out of office some time in the future – they will just go quietly.
Chris says:
May 28, 2010 at 19:27 pm
Nice try!
Why is it that people think the DA is the remnant of the Apartheid party? The Nats, in all their incarnations as Herstigtes, Hervormde, or New, were the ones who made Apartheid a legal reality. And where are they now? They joined the ANC!
@ sirjay
mdf does not do irony; he/she does satirical parody
thanks
c’mon people smell, the roses, too much interpretation of the facts,,, the people chose out of their own will,,, live with it
eagleowl says:
May 28, 2010 at 20:50 pm
“Why is it that people think the DA is the remnant of the Apartheid party?”
It’s the nature of the rhetoric and many of the actions.
It was all going fine till “But the ANC has made so much money through crooked tenders that it might yet be able to buy off the electorate this one more time. Only time will tell.” – as if to affirm your allegiance to “all-things-black” are corrupt…
Anyway, on to more pressing matters.
1. White people will never rule this country. It is but a few confused Western Cape coloured folks who seem to provide this exaggerated glimmer of hope for disillusioned Afro-pessimists.
2. I am surprised no investigation or analysis has been delved into on the blatant perpertuation of factionalism by Zille i.e ensuring the divide amongst coloureds and blacks in the Western Cape is sustained to ensure splits which yield votes in her favour.
3. Fact of the matter is that the DA is but one insignificant ant in the theatrics of South African politics. It is further true that many people have relegated themselves to not participating in voting events. It would be ill-advised though to impose your dissullionments with ANC-governance onto innocent bystanders (so-called apathy-riddled black voters?). Theirs is a different gripe and is exacerbated by such elections taking place while they’re out hustling jobs or trying to figure out what next they can eat, whilst arm-chair critics lambast via keyboards ‘ANC is corrupt!’
4. A large majority of Gugulethu residents had no idea such elections were taking place. Which begs the question of what underhanded tactics Zille is playing here. Intentionally marginalise black voters and ensure coloureds vote. Heck if Zille could employ that know-nothing Dan Plato; then any coloured folk can go high up in governance so it seems.
No, no prof… let’s keep a level-head on matters pertaining to SA politics – THEY ARE ALL DIRTY, CORRUPT AND TAINTED BY THE GREED TO LEAD. No party is immune to that – yes, even the immune-in-eyes-of-whites DA.
“… any member who dares to leave the party will be exposed by the ancestors and will get sick.” – JZ
Funny you should raise this, Clara.
Last night, having scanned Pierre’s tirade about service delivery, I briefly felt my loyalty flagging. This morning, I awoke to a sore throat and a bit of a headache!
Ever had this happen, Maggs?
Maggs is right. G_d forbid the DA take the reins of national power. Black schools and hospitals would go down the toilet. Land redistribution would stall. Service delivery would fall into crisis. And a small group of the hyper-privileged would grow obscenely rich — while the mass of our people were mired in poverty!
(Unathi is equally right in pointing out that “the DA is but one insignificant ant in the theatrics of South African politics.” By contrast, the ANC is a mass movement. )
Hey Dworky – sore throat, headache and flagging “loyalty” – heavy night?
Don’t worry about what will happen if the DA takes the reins of national power – it’s not going to happen anytime soon.
@ Peter L
“The only way the DA will continue to improve their share of the vote in this black community is to materially improve the lives of the residents and adopt clean, efficient and corruption-free governance.”
Peter, there are two reasons I do not see this as a realistic possibility in the forseeable future:
1. National govt holds the purse strings. And material improvement is largely dependent upon national funding.
2. Contra Marx, most people most of the time do not vote their material interests. The pull of ethnicity and symbolic affiliation overwhelms rational economic calculus. (See the U.S. middle class, which votes again and again for a Republican party intent of cutting services and giving tax breaks to the very rich.)
Sirjay says:
What gives you the impression, apart perhaps from occasional bitterenders in their ignorance, that the white population hasn’t changed. I don’t know a single white person (perhaps my extensive activities are selective with the folk I work with) that would even consider returning to an apartheid venue. I think what Black people don’t recognize is how significant the majority of whites have changed.
I say:
Please be HONEST.
Gwebecimele, you need to be honest too. What prompted Apartheid? The notion that we could not live together in peace and harmony, but that black South Africans had to be kept out of areas where whites lived if need be by identification documents and curfews?
For 350 years whites have been murdered in their beds if they do not hear the dogs bark by people who wanted the shiny things that whites had but did not have an iota of an idea how to get them exept violently.
As has already happened to 1% of the white population since 1994.
Have you seen anything on this blog that suggests we can live together in peace and harmony?
We all know that the foundation of the legitimacy of the constitutional state is the history of settlement between two peoples engaged in a life and death struggle which could not be won but which was destroying multitudes of lives.
A popular election ratified that settlement and power was handed over to the most ineffectual liberation movement in history as the legitimate representative of the larger group.
What has been the result?
In its first serious test – and crises test character, whether it is the mettle of a person or an animal or a political movement – the new rulers where confronted with a pandemic. In what would come to seen as ‘true to form’ that ruling party’s response was typical – care=less, completely irresponsible, sub-adult. Prevarication, self-indulgent, dishonest, you name it – the godless, shameless ANC did it as 7 million of this country’s people were condemned to a lingering painful death/
What normal people in a normal society would continue to support such a party, such leaders? Who should all be put on trial for genocide?
So, really, who would want their change-agents, their activists?
Who here would want to share a political home or even a T-shirt with S’phamandla or Kenneth or Maggs or Unathi or Thomas?
If they belonged to a political party I wouldn’t!
And, we have covered only the ANC’s unintended AIDS consequences! Not even started on the pillaging and corruption. mismanagement or the hundreds of thousands of South Africans who were murdered and whose families will never know the closure of a perpetrator prosecuted, tried, convicted and locked away!
Have you no shame?
@ Brett
“For 350 years whites have been murdered in their beds if they do not hear the dogs bark by people who wanted the shiny things that whites had but did not have an iota of an idea how to get them exept violently.”
Brett, for those who harboured any lingering doubts, your genius is thus confirmed.
Thanks – and God Bless.
To “materially improve the lives of the residents and adopt clean, efficient and corruption-free governance”, it will certainly help to cut out the corruption element: there will be more money for welfare grants. But this is not the answer; our biggest problem is unemployment.
We all know by now that modern economies are becoming less labour-intensive, while on the other hand the number of unemployable people in South Africa is increasing unabated, thanks to our abysmal education system. Unemployable people tend to have large numbers of children because the child grant is their only source of income. South Africa’s relatively very small tax base can’t possibly sustain 25% or more of the population who are either unemployable or receive welfare payments. This becomes a vicious circle.
It is almost past time for the government to begin to strongly encourage people to reduce the size of their families. But one isn’t holding one’s breath: it is in the interest of our ruling party to increase their voting fodder. Which is myopic, to say the least, because ultimately this strategy will lead to anarchy, and everyone in this country will lose.
That’s nice, dear little Dorky. Glad you had somewhat of an epiphany, although I would have told you long ago about my clairvoyance if you had asked.
Clara, you make a very good point about the taxbase being too small to sustain any kind of meaningful social security but with COSATU in the ascendancy the manifestation of a small employed elite in a sea of poverty in a country that has bought into middle class values in a big way is not likely to change.
Expecting people to change their voting patterns because of catastrophic governance when they continue to vote for the ANusClowns who condemned 6-7 million of their friends and family to a painful lingering death is unrealistic.
So, what is to be done?
Gwebecimele says:
May 29, 2010 at 12:39 pm
“I say:
Please be HONEST.”
Gwebecimele, this is either the most dishonest post I have ever seen on this blog, or you are ignorant beyond believe.
Brett, your comments are comments are interesting, but you may have forgotten one crucial element: Voter Stupidity! Look what happened to the Americans with George II. We have the same problem. Our people keep voting for the same lot and still expect things to change. It won’t! And what is worse is NOT voting; this happened a few days ago in the Western Cape. So many people have died so people CAN vote, then they don’t! Is there a word for that kind of stupidity?
Andre, you say: “Look what happened to the Americans with George II. We have the same problem.”
What did happen to the Americans with George II?
” . . . it is ludicrous for a Black person not to vote the ANC” and “… any member who dares to leave the party will be exposed by the ancestors and will get sick.”
It is ludicrous for a Black person of intelligence to continue voting for the ANC. Someone said that in Africa there’s no true liberation until one is liberated from the liberators as they inevitably become the new oppressors. But then we have the ancestors and Jesus (the latter a colonial import, ironically) which is being used to oppress people even more and trading handsomely on people’s gullibility. Religion, especially in Africa it seems, in whatever form is worse than the skirch of HIV as it kills the mind. Religion changes intelligence into idiocy.
One of your best ‘satirist” Fass.
As for whites never being in position of ‘participating’ in ruling decisions, (note I don’t say the RULERS) don’t count on it. The times are a changing. Even if it takes years, the times are a changing. Sanity will prevail eventually, the thieves exposed, the well intended revealed, even to the loyalist ignorant. Daq vir daq
Gwebecimele says:
May 29, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Actuall, Gwebecimele, I am being honest. Who do yo associate with?
Gwebecimele says:
May 29, 2010 at 12:39 pm
I sit on a forum, Health and Welfare, made up of various representatives from all pertinent government service bodies and the real players in the communities we represent.. About 1/2 white, the other half half black and half coloured. I don’t recognize any racists there, only folk committed to their communities and more than willing to work with each other to improve the conditions of the majority.
May I ask, what exactly do you do?
Mikhail Dworkin Fassbinder says:
May 29, 2010 at 14:37 pm
Ahh, finally Fass, I’m gobsmacked by your comment this date. Recognition that the damages of Apartheid haven’t just affected the black. It damaged all of us, and it’s horrid reign continues to damage all of us, partly because there are those who for personal gain exploit the past.
And what do we who are empathic and compassionate want, well justice for one, but following that peace and harmony between the races. The past is past, the present is present and the future is ours to make. The question is what future do we want, and who is willing to commit to making it.
Games on. I’m gone.
Gwebecimele says:
May 28, 2010 at 14:22 pm
“A vote of no confidence in COPE president Mosiuoa Lekota, was unanimously passed at the party’s national conference in Pretoria on Saturday.”
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20100529172601705C641841
Eish!
It’s cold out there!
Chris says:
May 29, 2010 at 16:03 pm
Hey Chris,
Why do you think that Gwebe is dishonest or ignorant?
Maggs Naidu – maggsnaidu@hotmail.com says:
May 29, 2010 at 20:24 pm
May I answer with a question – why do you ask, you know the answer as well as I do.
Maggs Naidu – maggsnaidu@hotmail.com says:
May 29, 2010 at 18:18 pm
Well Maggs, I’m sorry to here that. Like most folks in SA, its challenging to know what COPE is or what they truly represent, considering all their infighting. Personally, my gut feeling was for Terror, not sure why. Feels like a loss to me. But then, what do I know.
They may however, just have caboshed their movement. However, good for the DA. Time will tell. Terror should join the DA and make it a truly non racial party, something I believe they want and are striving for.
Chris says:
May 29, 2010 at 20:39 pm
Gwebe responded to initially Sirjay’s “I think what Black people don’t recognize is how significant the majority of whites have changed”.
It’s serendipitous that Sirjay says “Terror should join the DA and make it a truly non racial party”.
It answers your question of me!
@ Chris – now perhaps you will say why you think that Gwebe is dishonest or ignorant?
If the shift by traditional ANC voters to the DA is a gradual process rather than a sudden event then this would be a very good thing. It would mean that these voters have given real thought to the matter and that their new political loyalty will stand the test of time.
It will be a sure sign of political change if any one of the following events takes place:
1. Significant blocks of ANC voters break away from the ANC
2. ANC voters stop voting
3. ANC voters vote for any independent standing against the ANC
4. ANC voters vote for one of the smaller opposition parties
5. ANC voters vote for the the main opposition DA
The task of the DA is encourage one or more of these voting behaviours with a view to educating voters over time to support the DA. This will not be an event it will be a process.
The only way for the ANC to prevent this process from escalating is to deliver as a fully functional government. This is not going to happen because the ANC lacks political and administrative ability, and where this ability does exist it is being steadily undermined by cadre deployment
@ Anton
It is a pre-condition for the rotation of political ppwer that is routine in some multi-party democracies that each party view the others as fundamentally legitimate. But the DA is viewed by many South Africans as the party white domination; hence its accession to national power would be, quite literally, intolerable. (Even so sophisticated and informed a voter as Maggs could not, I suspect, ever accept the bona fides of the DA.) It is for that reason that I suspect that no party bearing either the name or the general profile of the DA has any prospect of taking the reins of national government.
@ Michael Osborne…..I hope that you are wrong and I take comfort from the fact that right now nobody is “taking the reins of national government”. The ANC might be in power but for all practical purposes they are not governing.
Or put it another. The ANC are sitting in a buggy behind a team of 5 horses all pulling on the reins in different directions…..the nags being the ANC, the ANCYL, the SACP, COSATU and Luthuli House. This buggy is out of control and some of the nags would find better use in a glue factory.
anton kleinschmidt says:
May 31, 2010 at 7:07 am
Just as well too.
If the ANC were organised a bit better, ours would be nearly a one party state.
@Michael Osborne
You make an interesting point re: The apparent pull of symbolic affiliation to voters – the US situation is a case in point. The real kicker is the phenomenon of the dirt-poor working class white rednecks from the deep south that vote Republican (whose tax breaks for the rich and foreign military excurions do not do much to improve their lives).
@Clara
You are right that two of the keys to our future success as a country are universal quality education and the reduction of unemployment.
The urban legend that young girls deliberately get pregnant in order to access a child suppport grant is not supported by any credible research.
(If you know of any, please cite your sources).
The quantum of the grant is simply too low (marginal benefit < marginal cost).
Fertility rates naturally comes down through education and urbanisation – the fertility rate for urban township black people is not much higher than for other race groups. Ergo – improve education, raise living standards, and the birth rate will look after itself.
There are literally hundreds of studies that have confirmed this phenomeneon – I can e-mail you some if you wish.
Recent research into the details of ANC voters (Ipsos markinor) confirms that a large proportion are unemployed, poorly educated and poor.
Does this mean that the ANC would deliberately keep the massess impoverished and uneducated in order to secure their proportion of the vote?
I really do not think so.
Some leaders in the ANC appear to be incompetent and others are clearly corrupt, but I do not believe that they are evil or ill intentioned.
People like Malema probably genuinely believe that they can speak for and try to uplift the poor, whilst at the same time abusing (they would see it as "using", not "abusing") their position to enrich themselves. This attitude is summed up in the phrase "I did not join the struggle to be poor".
I will resist the temptation to name a few whites who have not changed and some are present in this blog.
I have in the past engaged whites who wanted confirmation from black people to check if they are racist or “still clinging to the past” and I always throw it back.
Brett says:
“What normal people in a normal society would continue to support such a party, such leaders? Who should all be put on trial for genocide?”
I say:
Lets assume the Brett is right in everything he said including the above.
We can only deduce the following, Blacks(particularly ANC supporters) are abnormal and murderers ( for 350 yrs).
I have no doubt that there are many people who think like Brett, hence we have large numbers of people re-grouping around farms with ammunition as covered by eTV.
These people are also fairly represented in the workplace, surburbs, churches, pubs and NGO’s (yes Sirjay) Afriforum and the likes.
Read the constitutions of the SACP and ANC ,with particular reference to the clauses pertaining to their so-called ” National Democratic Revolution “, to appreciate why many people in the minority group have not ” transformed.”
Gwebecimele, are you saying Thabo Mbeki should not be put on trial for genocide for dithering while six million people became infected with AIDS?
Please do not put words in my mouth, Gwebecimele. I did not say all blacks are abnormal, murderers.
If we can not be honest about other peoples’ subjective reality how do we ever move to an objective truth?
sirjay jonson says:
May 28, 2010 at 17:47 pm
“Take my word for it, or not, but whites realize the gap between rich and poor is an even greater threat to their survival and well being than the ANC.”
Except Sirjay, they (read: white people) want this change without any downward shift in their own material condition. To mask their actual selfishness and that they truly did benefit from colonialism and apartheid, they would exploit any small bit of corrpution or mismanagement so as to not to ensure that there is the necessary wealth redistribution or support.
The idea that the DA is the natural successor of the PFP, is ahistorical. It is true that the Democratic Party was formed out of the Progressive Federal Party. But even the DP was more right wing than the PFP, that is why progressive liberal people like Van Zyl Slabbert left the PFP, just before it became the DP. The DA was formed out of a merger between the New National Party (NNP – successor of the old National Party) and the DP. Although the old Nats, like Marthinus van Schalkwyk left the DA to the ANC, that does mean that his core constituency also left with him. Todays Helen Zille’s DA is not even liberal, it is a conservative party formed from the bowels of the National Party. White liberals, with limited political knowledge are once again (like they never supported apartheid) part of a conservative reactionary project that is dressed as being reasonable and intellectual. That is why people like Bret Nortje can mumble about white people being afraid for 300 years, yet not acknowledge the 350 years of oppressive colonialism. Then go on to claim deliberate genocide.
White people are not at fault. But neither are Black people. Nor are Black people ignorant, supporting the ANC blindly or because of tribal or ethnic tendencies. But they do know of all the parties across the political spectrum, it is only the ANC that really is committed to transformation. They equally recognise that some in the ANC have lost their way and have become both individualistic in their approach and expected outcome. They will punish the ANC and remind them during by-elections, but not at the important time. There is no political party that pronounces itself or shows that it is committed to transformation. And there is none pushing for even greater or more radical transformation. Why should the majority change their vote when it will not result in a better life for them, and chances are they will be even in a more worse position.
PS, Prof, as a legally bias blog, pray please reveal, ‘What is a coloured person?’
Gwebecimele says:
May 31, 2010 at 11:18 am
LOL!
People got up on the morning of 28 April 1994 and said “From today onward we will not be racist!”.
Donovan, by deflecting you’re pissing on the graves of 6 million people.
Since you fail so miserably on this country’s defining moral question I suppose it is pointless to inquire how anyone with integrity justifies impoverishing another race.
@Peter L:
“The urban legend that young girls deliberately get pregnant in order to access a child support grant is not supported by any credible research.”
Who does this “credible research”? Some bleeding-hearts NGOs? As for my sources, I get them at grassroots level, living as I do in one of the poorest parts of the country.
“… the fertility rate for urban township black people is not much higher than for other race groups.”
That may or may not be so, but what about the informal settlements? Here in the Southern Cape, which is being swamped by people not only from the Eastern Cape but people from throughout Africa, it is becoming a big problem. There are no jobs, you see. Alcoholism is a big problem. In the poor communities, you will find a sea of children with foetal alcohol syndrome. These are supposed to benefit from child grants, but their mothers (no fathers anywhere in sight) spend it on more alcohol. Ultimately, their children will need to be supported by disability grants. How unsustainable is that?
Clara is right.
The legacy of apartheid continues to impose an intolerable burden on the tax base.
That is why I have welcomed Cmd Malema’s proposal to nationalise the mines. Our mineral wealth must benefit all of our people!
Thanks a lot.
Donovan:
“Except Sirjay, they (read: white people) want this change without any downward shift in their own material condition. To mask their actual selfishness and that they truly did benefit from colonialism and apartheid, they would exploit any small bit of corrpution or mismanagement so as to not to ensure that there is the necessary wealth redistribution or support.”
SMALL bit of corruption? SMALL bit of mismanagement? You have to be joking! The wheels are falling off the bus! Go ask the good folks who are using state hospitals and state schools. Not to mention those who want just a basic roof over their heads and some clean drinking water (y’know, those folks throwing stones at times).
But you put your finger on it. This is not about race. It’s about economics dressed up as race.
Do you really think that the taxes imposed on the wealthy in this country do not amount to a wealth re-distribution and surrendering of value? Who do you think is paying for the RDP houses (even though they are occupied by Nigerians), the toilets, the clean drinking water. Who is creating jobs? Who pay a transfer tax and CGT every time they buy or sell a house? I can promise you, it isn’t the poor.
You want more money out of the wealthy? Just amend the rates in the Income Tax Act. Simple. It’s done every year anyway.
The problem is not the money. It never has been. It is the complete and utter incapacity of the our government to deliver to the poor. The health system has more money in it than it ever has had but you see the complete disaster the state hospital are (especially when compared to what they once were)?
Open your eyes man! See what’s really happening around you. This has nothing to do with the colour of anyone’s skin but everything to do with the character (or lack of it) of those running the show.
Maybe you start by asking why those in government are wearing Rolex’s and driving Mercedes Benz’s. The answer is simple: the entire system is based patronage and not the best interests of the country.
This is the old, old African story. It’s been repeated any number of times.
The only question is whether people here wake up in time to avoid a re-run of the episode.
@Clara
Credible research is done by academics, research institutions and the like and is subject to peer review.
Check on the Statistics SA and World Bank sites for details of fertility rates.
The relatively low fertility rates for urban blacks includes the informal settlements.
I grew up in W Cape and am acutely aware of the damage done by alcoholism and drug addiction.
Single parent (almost always the mother) households are another major problem, as you have pointed out.
The “Dop” system on the farms also made a contribution to this scourge.
The social probelms that you refer to are the EFFECT of a lack of decent education, decent nutrition etc, not the cause.
These NGO’s for whom you seem to have disdain do a great deal to alleviate poverty and suffereing, and to empower people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
Why do you not try doing some voluntary work with these NGO’s and get to learn a little about the work that they do, there by actually DOING SOMETHING to help fix the mess that you so bitterly complain about?
@ Peter John
“Do you really think that the taxes imposed on the wealthy in this country do not amount to a wealth re-distribution and surrendering of value?”
You are right that the progressive tax rate imposed upon the burden is a form of redistribution. The problem is that it is based upon income, not race. The result is that black people who have managed to move into the higher brackets end up having to fund the poor.
What we demand is specifically a race-based system of redistibution; it is whites, the beneficiaries of apartheid, who must pay!
Clara says:
May 31, 2010 at 15:30 pm
What do you think government should do about poverty?
@Maggs: “What do you think government should do about poverty?”
Hmm … ha-ha, search me … maybe government should just continue to ignore it, like they’ve been doing all along. Maybe it will go away on its own.
Clara says:
May 31, 2010 at 20:34 pm
Ok – I accept the invitation to search you!
@Mikhail Dworkin Fassbinder:
You either have a very wierd sense of humour (off-the-wall satirical parody), are on drugs, or are suffering from some kind of delusional disorder.
…or some combination of all three!
Peter L, it pains me that, when I try to engage in serious debate, I am so often accused of parody, addiction or delusion. I may not be an intellectual giant – as are Maggs, Gwebe and Brett. But I expect my humble insights to be treated with respect.
Mikhail Dworkin Fassbinder says:
June 1, 2010 at 11:11 am
Aw Dworky,
That’s below the belt – Brett is going to be terribly insulted.
But Peter L is wrong – none of those nasty things that he said about you are true.
But he did rather carefully leave out racist, which if he had would have made his entire surmise difficult to dispute.
Thank you, Dorky!
I am humbled. A prophet is often not recognised in his own country.
It is of concern, though, that your strike rate is 1:3…
@MKF
Sincere and genuine apology – there is never an excuse for being disrespectful, or for engaging in Ad hominen attacks.
I just cannot take most of your comments at face value – I find it difficult to believe that you are actually being serious, and even more difficult to accept the implied logic (or lack thereof).
Assume that your nome de plume is an aggregation of Mikhail (Gorbachev?) Ronaald Dworkin and Reiner Werner Fassbinder?
Mikhail Dworkin Fassbinder says:
May 31, 2010 at 17:35 pm
“What we demand is specifically a race-based system of redistibution; it is whites, the beneficiaries of apartheid, who must pay!”
pray tell dear sir, where do you come up with this logic?
i actually studied at varsity, instead of joining some student union that demands free this and that every year.
i actually did exceptionally well due to dilligence and grey matter.
i run a succesfull engineering company and my services are needed by big corporations.
and now you say i, as a white man, must distribute my wealth to people that have no education (due to your lovely anc, or just due to plain laziness – and i will agree also to dire conditions that they were born in) ; to people that have not done a stich for themselves in any way?
white people are leaving in droves ; black people are just not taking up the slack ; education, health (actualy all services are crumbling) ; wealth creation is being taught as only accumulated through politics and their connections. do you see something wrong here?
you really know nothing about wealth creation do you?
go see a financial adviser or something. but dont expect me to give anything away.
allready, i see the writing on the wall. and its your black governemnt that is creating chaos. not because they are black, but because they believe in this devine right that they now are the chosen few. and you believe it too.
and thats why in 10 years this country will have collapsed in terms of anything that resembles a prosperous and democratic state.
it allready is collapsing under its own weight.
@ Peter L,
I’m afraid that a number of the NGO’s who are supposedly in place to assist the poor, are nothing more than an additional means of corruption and pocket-lining for the politically connected and their families.
In our very small town, I have requested that Social Development investigate 2 creches and a home-based care organisation for mismanagement of funds and abuse of resources.
In terms of the creches, the teachers are taking the majority of the food allocated for the children’s lunches and eating it themselves, while providing minimal meals for the children. Toys that should be provided for the children are only taken out of the cupboard when visitors come or site visits are done. The rest of the time they remain locked away.
The home-based care organisation has a board which takes a stipend every month but refuses to pay the caregivers. They have also failed to adequately account for the monies they have been given. They rent the house of the Chairperson for their offices at R 3500 per month. He, in the meantime, is a local school principal who lives in the hostel for free. The school has tried to get him to pay for his board and lodging, but he refuses. Just to give you an idea of the extent of this extortion, we currently rent a massive house in the middle of town for R 1320 per month. This is a high rental. The house he rents to the organisation is situated in the so-called coloured part of town and is about half the size of our house – at more than double the rental!!
We have tried on numerous occasions to hold meetings with them, which they do not attend or cancel at the last minute. They were given in excess of half a million rand.
Everybody is aware of what is going on in these organisations, but there is no political will to change things. The funds that they are abusing should be there for the upliftment of the poor. Instead, it is feeding a few of the ANC leadership and their families.
@ Samantha…..heartbreaking stuff particularly as this is probably being replicated in every town and city across the nation.
Your story is manna from heaven for a good investigative journalist. How about eNews or Noseweek
Interesting take By John Kane Berman on how the ANC got democracy exactly wrong with its “national democratic revolution” – and is now facing revolution because of it:http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=109734
@Samantha
That is sad, outrageous and discouraging all at the same time.
As Anton says, the only way to put a stop to such blatant abuse is to expose it in the public domain, and to work with the community leaders.
Despite having a secular disposition, I do voluntary weekend work with a Christian NGO in my little seaside dorp – they do excellent work and enlist the services of local and overseas students.
We check the accounting records regularly and this particular NGO is above board.
We tried initially to work through the ruling political party in our dorp (no names, no packdrill!), but, alas the only help they were prepared to accept was cash donations!
Peter L says:
June 2, 2010 at 9:21 am
“We tried initially to work through the ruling political party in our dorp (no names, no packdrill!), but, alas the only help they were prepared to accept was cash donations!”
Eish, Peter.
Don’t you know that people did not join the struggle to be poor?
@ Anton Kleinschmidt,
The problem is that we live in a very small community (10000 people) and despite everyone being aware of what is going on, people are too nervous to speak openly about corruption etc. There are people who have physical evidence of corruption but will not pass it on to authorities because of the fear of retribution.
I addressed corruption last year with job allocations on a large project in our town and ended up with nails in my tyres and a screwdriver through the bonnet of my car.
In a small rural town, everybody is related to everyone else in some way, including the police, so trying to root out corruption is a minefield. In addition, everything is politicised.
Currently, we have our ANC councillors and mayor supporting 5 local “sub-contractors” who are demanding that they be given half of a roads contract for which they neither tendered, nor have the requisite skills or qualifications. They have physically threatened the main contractor, as well as those who wish to work for the main contractor. The ongoing conflict has put 100 jobs in jeopardy in a town where our unemployment is at 86%.
The biggest problem that we are facing in this country is an entitlement mentality where a few people believe that they are entitled to self-enrichment at the expense of the masses. While many people like to talk about “redistribution” of wealth and transformation, these processes are being severely hampered by the politically connected who espouse the “Freedom Charter” while embracing capitalism at its worst.
Samantha says:
June 2, 2010 at 10:48 am
“I addressed corruption last year with job allocations on a large project in our town and ended up with nails in my tyres and a screwdriver through the bonnet of my car.”
It’s unsurprising.
Vavi, as the General Secretary of Cosatu, who has behind him over 2 million workers, what seems to overwhelming evidence of corruption, the ANCs Polokwane resolutions and the election manifesto, our president and Cabinet’s anti-corruption stance as well as the support of the SACP is reportedly facing disciplinary action for publicly raising COSATU concerns over corruption.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article483109.ece/SACP-condemns-Vavi-disciplinary-reports
SHAPA DA SHAPA
@ Samantha…..thanks
What this really means is that even in the (extremely unlikely) event that ANC “leaders try to stamp out corruption they will fail because they cannot control their supporters at local level.