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Since the Sub-Saharan Africa thread is way too broad, I'm getting a lot more interested in politics back home, and there's an election coming up in May, here's a South African Politics Megathread. South African Citizens overseas who want to vote and don't know how, skip to the bottom of this post Some history in very few words: 1600s--1910: Colonialism. Europeans, mainly Dutch (and a handful of French Huguenots), then later British, steadily overtake the country. Dutch-descended farmers ("boers") move inland, form independent republics, get conquered by the British. Native Africans get treated pretty shittily but have a measure of independence. Gold and diamonds discovered. 1910--1948: Late empire/Commonwealth. Democratic elections begin to be the norm, but only for white people. British rule begins to soften, some non-whites given the vote. The Dutch-descendants create a unified national identity as "Afrikaners", and establish a nationalistic party (literally called the National Party) using softer versions of political tactics copied from Hitler. The labour movement rises, but in a whites-only democracy mostly ends up with the creation of racist laws preventing non-whites from holding skilled jobs. Organised resistance to oppression of non-whites begins -- Gandhi, establishment of the ANC, establishment of the South African Communist Party. 1948 -- 1990: Apartheid. The 1948 election sees the NP gain a majority in parliament with only 38% of the vote due to lovely voting ward boundaries. They remain in power until 1994, and produce vast quantities of racist legislation. Laws restrict where non-whites can live, what jobs they can hold, what education they can receive, which beaches they can go to, etc, etc. "Morality" laws forbid sex and marriage between races. In response, resistance to oppression stiffens. Mass protests sweep the nation in the 50s; these are met with government bullets (see the Sharpeville Massacre). At the same time, the government cracks down on resistance movements, and attempts, unsuccessfully, to put their leadership on trial for treason. The ANC decides, since the government is trying to kill them anyway, to begin armed resistance. This takes the form of a non-lethal sabotage campaign (which, today, would be called terrorism, even though nobody was hurt  ). The ANC is banned, and its leadership (including Nelson Mandela) rounded up and sentenced to life in prison. The ANC goes underground and into exile in neighbouring countries.Things get worse. Millions of black people are forcibly removed from their homes and relocated to "Homelands" (think Indian Reservations). Armed resistance changes to bombings that actually kill people. The government introduces a law allowing for three months' imprisonment without charge, which is abused heavily to silence journalists and leaders of mass movements. In Soweto, there is an uprising by high school students against proposed changes to the education system (to make it even worse for blacks); 176 people are killed and over 1,000 wounded. Most are kids. Meanwhile, the white electorate continues living its happy middle-class lifestyle and voting the NP back into power election after election. By the 80s, parts of the country are in a permanent state of emergency. Guns have flooded the countryside, provided by Communist countries to the ANC and its allies, and by the Apartheid government to black nationalist groups with counter-interests to the ANC. The army is regularly used for crowd control. Major terrorist incidents begin occurring more frequently. The government begins using actual secret death squads to kidnap, torture and kill political opponents. The Congress of South African Trade Unions begins holding nation-wide general strikes. The writing is on the wall for Apartheid. 1990 -- 1999: Democracy and reconciliation Starting in 1990, the government begins repealing the racist legislation, releases Nelson Mandela from prison, and begins negotiations for holding a fully democratic election. Outbreaks of violence mar this process, but a date is set for an election in 1994. As the election nears, two nationalistic groups threaten to cecede: Afrikaner nationalists headed by Constand Viljoen (an army general who could take a chunk of the army with him), and Inkatha (a Zulu nationalist organisation) headed by Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who also have an organised armed wing. Civil war looms, but through a process of delicate negotiations handled primarily by Mandela, is averted, and both organisations agree to instead run in the elections as political parties and allow the people to decide. This crisis heavily influences the writing of the new constitution, which includes clauses protecting the (many) cultural identities of South Africans. The election happens, and the ANC (allied with the SACP and COSATU) sweeps to victory, with Nelson Mandela as president. Steps are taken towards creating a welfare state -- housing is built, healthcare is made free to all, the previously squalid neighbourhoods where black people are forced to live are provided with electricity and running water. A truth and reconciliation commission is created to try to air some of the worst of the atrocities committed during Apartheid. The country walks a fine line between neoliberal economic policies and its socialist domestic leanings. 1999 -- 2009: The Mbeki Years The ANC is voted back into power with a strong majority in 1999 and 2004, with Thabo Mbeki taking over as president. His presidency is mostly competent, apart from his courting of HIV-denialists and obstruction to providing antiretroviral therapy to the very large proportion of the country (maybe 10% of the population) with HIV. Crime is high, but steadily decreasing. The middle class is diversifying as some black people start to earn money in government and business, but the dirt poor underclass remains mainly black. Unemployment remains steady in the 20% range. 2009 -- now: The Zuma Presidency Jacob Zuma wrests control of the ANC from Mbeki, and stands for election in 2009, while also standing trial for rape and for corruption. He is acquitted in both cases, but makes an absolute fool of himself in the rape trial, and politicises the corruption trial, getting off because Mbeki interfered in it. Regardless, he rides a wave of populism to victory, assisted in part by ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema. However, the ANC shows the first signs of fracturing, with a breakaway party, Congress of the People (COPE), forming and despite terrible disorganisation and infighting, gains 7% of the national vote. In recent years, Julius and Zuma have a falling out over Malema's radical opinions. Malema is expelled from the ANC and forms his own political party, the Economic Freedom Fighters. Meanwhile, the massacre of striking platinum mine workers by police in 2012 has begun to drive a rift between the ANC and Cosatu, its trade union base. Some Ethnology South Africa is very culturally and ethnically diverse. We have eleven official languages. The least-spoken of those has over a million native speakers. So that's eleven ethnic groups right off the bat, but not the whole story. Here's a rough listing of the major ethnicities around today. Some of these I'm phoning in, because I actually don't know too much about them. Population numbers are fudged together from census categorisations of ethnicity and first language. Zulu (11.5 million): Zulu people are the most numerous ethnic group in South Africa, and, due to the establishment of the Zulu Empire under Shaka in the early 1800s, one of the more cohesive. The Zulu monarchy and aristocracy still exist as community leaders with some political power. The Inkatha Freedom Party is a Zulu nationalist party, under Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who is also a Zulu prince. Jacob Zuma, the current president (of the ANC and the country), is also a Zulu lord. Zulus are originate from northern KwaZulu-Natal, but significant populations went to Johannesburg to work the mines and stayed. Xhosa (8.1 million): Xhosa people are the second most numerous, but far less cohesive than Zulus. Much of the ANC leadership, both during and after Apartheid, was Xhosa. This included Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki. Xhosas originate from the Eastern Cape, but are represented in Johannesburg as well as Cape Town. Pedi (4.6 million): I don't actually know much about the Pedi people. They are found mostly in the Limpopo Province, and they are somewhat culturally related to the Sotho (their language is sometimes referred to as Northern Sotho). Coloured(4.6 million): A classification describing people found mainly in the Western Cape, descended mainly from a combination of the non-Bantu native peoples there, European settlers and Malay peoples historically brought in as slaves and exiles. Coloured people are primarily Afrikaans speaking. Those with stronger ties to their Malay roots tend to be Muslim. Tswana (4 million): Found mainly in the Northwest Province. Sotho people (3.8 million): The Sotho people actually have an independent nation (Lesotho) enclosed within South Africa, but there are more in South Africa than in Lesotho. They are mostly found in the Free State Province. Afrikaner (2.7 million): White people speaking a language very closely related to Dutch. This is the national identity around which the National Party and the Apartheid system was built. Afrikaners are found throughout the country, with slightly less presence in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. Tsonga (2.2 million): Found mainly in Mpumalanga, but also found in Mozambique and other neighbouring countries. Related to the Zulu, Xhosa and Swazi. British South Africans (1.6 million): White people speaking English. Found throughout the country, but more so in the urban centres, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. Asian (1.3 million): In the South African context, this primarily refers to descendants of South Asians, mainly Indians, who arrived primarily as indentured labourers in the late 1800s. Many speak Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati and Urdu, but most are native English speakers. Found mainly in KwaZulu-Natal around Durban, there are also significant numbers in and around Johannesburg. Swazi (1.3 million:) Like the Sotho, Swazi people have an independent nation (Swaziland), but many live in South Africa in the Mpumalanga Province. Venda (1.2 million): Found in the eastern Limpopo Province. Ndebele (1 million): Historically a recent offshoot of the Zulu people. Found mainly in northern Limpopo (and southern Zimbabwe). Racial categories: Under Apartheid, people were classified as either white, black, coloured or Asian. Leaving aside the absurdity of trying to form hard boundaries around human ethnocultural groups, these categories remain imprinted in South African culture and politics today. The current make-up, according to these categories, is 79% black, 9% coloured, 9% white and 2.5% Asian. (Census 2011). Phew, maybe not so few words. So where are we now? There is an election coming up on the 7th of May. An ANC victory is pretty well assured, but predictions are for a much narrower margin of victory than ever seen before, probably less than 60%. Mostly, the question is where the electorate will turn to instead, and whether we could see the ANC lose in 2019. The players: The ANC, under Jacob "Jayzee" Zuma: Cosatu still stands with them, and people still remember them as their saviours from Apartheid. Victory is assured, but watch for rifts. Election manifesto here (pdf). The Economic Freedom Fighters, under Commander-in-Chief Julius Malema (literally The Democratic Alliance under Helen Zille: the remnants of the only officially-sanctioned opposition to Apartheid, South Africa's liberal party, and the official opposition since 1994. Although they only got 16.7% of the vote in 2009, this is the most any opposition party has held since 1994, and was a 50% increase over 2004. Crippled slightly by being the party rich whites vote for, the DA remains strong in the Western Cape, where they are also the party of coloured voters, but has been making gains in rural areas country-wide through focused campaigning. COPE: Although COPE gained 7% in the 2009 national election, their showing in the 2011 municipal elections was much poorer at around 2%. Regardless, they held their first national congress in January, and can maybe pull it together to make a showing. Agang SA under Mamphela Ramphele: Mamphela Ramphele was the life partner of Steve Biko, who founded the Black Consciousness Movement and was martyred by Apartheid police. Also new kids on the block, having formed in February of 2013. Agang had a brief moment of fame in late January 2014 when they announced a merger with the DA, with Ramphele standing as presidential candidate. This move, which had the potential to give the DA appeal among black voters and to give Ramphele access to the DA's electoral base fell apart five days later. In case you missed it, "right wing" in South African politics is an epithet, and the political spectrum has liberals on the right, social democrats in the centre, and actual socialists and communists on the left. Non-tabloidy Newspapers http://www.iol.co.za/ http://mg.co.za/ http://www.timeslive.co.za/ Useful Links http://africacheck.org/ -- like PolitiFact but for (South) Africa What this thread is for: Talking about South African politics, political history, and the upcoming election. What this thread is not for: Bitching about crime in South Africa with terrible personal anecdotes. If you're gonna discuss crime, come with facts and figures please. Whining about your lost white privilege. By every measure, white South Africans are still the most advantaged group in the country, so  South African Citizens overseas who want to vote, read here Yes, you can vote, but if your nearest consulate is thousands of km away and you don't feel like booking time off work so you can travel that distance on elections day, you are SOL. What you need 1. A green, bar-coded ID book. (If you don't have one, you can apply at a consulate.) 2. An SA passport 3. To be registered on the voters' roll (If you are not, you can register in person at a consulate.) 4. To have indicated on the VEC10 system that you will be voting at a consulate 5. To show up in person at the consulate you indicated, on the day designated for overseas voting, to cast your ballot Important dates 25 February: Election is officially called; voter registration closes; VEC10 system opens 30 April: Overseas election date (yes, on a Wednesday) 7th May: Official election date within SA Sources of information: Unofficial but quite helpful Facebook group Official but actually slightly less helpful IEC page Info from the SA Embassy in Washington DC List of SA consulates where you should be able to vote VEC10 system to register to vote overseas Lead out in cuffs fucked around with this message at 23:24 on Mar 3, 2014 |
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Feb 17, 2014 19:56
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Good meaty OP you got there, I was contemplating writing something up for the dormant Africa thread but  You forgot to mention the other new party Agang SA, another centrist party built around the reputation of anti-apartheid activist Mamphela Ramphele. They were considered a major player until recently. At the end of January they announced that they had agreed to merge with the DA, with Ramphele as the joint presidential candidate. Naturally this caused a big buzz, the DA have struggled to win Black voters in large numbers and an alliance with Ramphele could have made them into a real threat to the ANC in provinces the DA has historically been locked out of. Alas, It was all too good to be true and the merger collapsed. After 5 days. Naturally a lot of people were baffled by all of this, why exactly was the merge announced if it so fragile? It now appears the merger was masterminded by unnamed foreign donors who made it clear they would not bank roll both Agang and the DA, they wanted a united opposition to seriously threaten the ANC. With Agang being the younger party they were set to be isolated from the opposition donor base so they begrudgingly agreed to merge with the DA. It seems the bad blood between the leadership was a bit too much though and it all collapsed after a few short days. Ramphele is now a laughing stock and expectations for her party have been seriously downgraded. It goes to show though how hotly these elections are being contested, the ANC are weaker than they've ever been and the factionalism that has a tendency to split every opposition party in SA is finally being acknowledged as a liability by those challenging them.
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Feb 17, 2014 22:04
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Thanks, I've amended the OP. It's interesting with all these newer, smaller parties running to look at poll figures (which are actually pretty hard to dig up). http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71654?oid=507537&sn=Detail&pid=71616 ANC around 55%, DA around 18%, EFF 4%, COPE and Agang with 1-2% each. It really is a pity about that merger. It could've been a game changer. It's also a relief to know that Malema's appeal isn't too massive. What I'm really interested in is where the unions end up standing, especially with the ongoing strike. For outsiders: the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union was formed two years ago, and rapidly displaced the Cosatu-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers as the dominant union in the platinum sector. They now represent around 80,000 workers. They are currently on strike, shutting down roughly half the world's platinum production. So far they have declared themselves "apolitical and noncommunist", but the timing of the strike right before the election feels anything but.
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Feb 18, 2014 01:32
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Maybe this is nitpicking, but you might want to avoid starting a historical overview of an African country with: 'and then the white man came.' Anyway, considering those poll numbers, isn't it a bit early to even be thinking about ousting the ANC from power? The ANC's main opponent seems to be apathy, not another party. That's fine, but it won't cost them the election any time soon without a worthy alternative. R. Mute fucked around with this message at 10:41 on Feb 18, 2014 |
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Feb 18, 2014 10:36
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R. Mute posted:Maybe this is nitpicking, but you might want to avoid starting a historical overview of an African country with: 'and then the white man came.' I understand the concern but I'm not sure how relevant the pre-colonialism era actually is to a discussion of modern politics. You don't start a discussion of Egyptian politics talking about the Pharaohs and the Romans. If someone has some info on the different ethnic groups that make up the black African population that could be useful.
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Feb 18, 2014 16:07
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Mauser posted:I understand the concern but I'm not sure how relevant the pre-colonialism era actually is to a discussion of modern politics. You don't start a discussion of Egyptian politics talking about the Pharaohs and the Romans. Thanks, I think that's a reasonable response. When we're talking South Africa, it can be a question of how far back you want to go. The Bantu expansion? The Khoisan peoples? Hominids? Australopithecines? That said, yes, an ethnological breakdown of the country is probably in order. When I get some time, I'll see what I can do. It's kinda complicated, though. The Apartheid government divided people into four ethnic groups -- European, Asian, coloured and black. Another way of looking at ethnic diversity is by languages -- South Africa has 11 official languages, two of which are European in origin, the other nine of which are native African. The least spoken, Ndebele, has over a million native speakers. The diversity of the country is pretty substantial, and that does inform and influence the politics. Meanwhile, here are some Wikipedia links for the curious: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_South_Africa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_South_Africa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantu_expansion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coloured http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_South_Africans http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoisan
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Feb 18, 2014 19:25
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R. Mute posted:Anyway, considering those poll numbers, isn't it a bit early to even be thinking about ousting the ANC from power? The ANC's main opponent seems to be apathy, not another party. That's fine, but it won't cost them the election any time soon without a worthy alternative. You know, personally I support most of what the ANC's done, albeit less so under Zuma. I just worry when one party retains power for so long, and I'd much rather see the country get a political system where parties actually have to compete with each other. And yes, a worthy alternative is a problem -- so far the strongest opposition parties have been quite racially based, with the NP and later the DA garnering most of the white and coloured vote, and the Inkatha Freedom party garnering most of the Zulu vote in 1994, but vanishing into obscurity today. Given that 80% of the voter base is black, the only strong opposition to the ANC would have to have non-racial appeal. For a long time, I've been convinced that that would only happen via a rift in the ANC itself. Last election saw the first rift with COPE, although it seems they were a flash in the pan. This election has the EFF, who are hampered by the their leader being fairly obviously a megalomaniac would-be dictator. Nobody's talking about the ANC losing this election, but the breaking away of parties and the brief but failed suggestion that the DA could run a black presidential candidate are definitely signs that they could in the next or the one after. Even a majority of less than 60% would be the lowest the ANC had ever received. There's also the possibility of opposition parties forming coalitions. And there's the fact that the poor are pretty unhappy. The figure cited in the title is from a statement the police have been putting out in response to concerns about them shooting protesters -- there were over 12,000 "crowd-related incidents" last year, nearly 2,000 of which were violent. There is definitely room for change, and 5-10 years can be a long time in politics.
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Feb 18, 2014 19:34
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R. Mute posted:Maybe this is nitpicking, but you might want to avoid starting a historical overview of an African country with: 'and then the white man came.' Apathy isn't such a big issue, voter turnout is something like 75-80 percent. I would say the issue is more that a growing number is looking for some sort of change, but what that change consists of nobody seems to know. You're definitely right that the ANC won't lose a majority for some time, but they've been steadily losing support. To add to Lead out in cuffs, it seems to me the DA is moving in the direction of attempting to be less of the white party by promoting black members to prominence, but we'll see how it goes from there. I think there's a poster on the forum who works for the DA in some capacity, I would be curious to hear his thoughts.
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Feb 19, 2014 00:35
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Dopilsya posted:Apathy isn't such a big issue, voter turnout is something like 75-80 percent. http://www.elections.org.za/content/Voters-Roll/Percentage-registered-voters--Summary/ Dopilsya posted:I think there's a poster on the forum who works for the DA in some capacity, I would be curious to hear his thoughts. That would be great! I was kinda worried this thread would just be me talking to myself.
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Feb 19, 2014 05:45
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A big part of this election is whether or not Zuma will survive as the leader of the ANC when the dust has settled, if the ANC loses a substantial number of votes the pressure to force him out will increase within the party. Zuma is immensely scandal prone and going into each one that has plagued his career would take far too long so instead I thought I would just type a bit about the ones that are still haunting the headlines (If you want to read about the ur-scandal of his career check out the wiki article for The Schabir Shaik Trial) Nkandla Jacob Zuma's private homestead is just outside Nkandla, a town in the Zulu heartland of KwaZulu-Natal. In 2009 the government announced that, following a state security assessment, they would be carrying out a series of security improvements that would cost around R28 million. In 2012 a report was published revealing that the cost had spiralled to over R203 million, this naturally sparked public outrage. Zuma defended the works saying they were necessary to met requirements for strategic installations under SA law and made statements before Parliament saying he was not aware of the specifics of the improvements. In late 2012 a Public Protector investigation was launched headed by Thuli Madonsela to look into the affair, the Department of Public Works also announced an investigation. In the middle of last year the Department of Public Works abruptly announced they would not be publishing their report, declaring it Top Secret. Following the announcement the government filed a court motion trying to block the publication of Madonsela's report, unsurprisingly there was a massive outcry and the government were forced to retreat a few days later. Shortly afterwards, ministers made statements saying that the media were forbidden from publishing any images of Zuma's homestead (as they compromised national security) and threatened legal action against any newspapers that did so. That lead to some rather memorable headlines:  Again the Government were forced to retreat, they said the statements had been misunderstood and the press had not been banned from publishing the images. Then, in late November of last year, the Mail & Guardian got their hands on a copy of Madonsela's provisional report and leaked the details. The report found that many of the improvements personally benefited Zuma; the upgrade's included a visitor's lounge, amphitheatre, cattle enclosure, housing for Zuma's relatives and (most infamously) a swimming pool that was justified as being a water store for firefighting purposes. As outrage grew the big question was whether Zuma was aware of the nature of the improvements, he had made statements to Parliament claiming he knew nothing of the details of the works and if it could be proven he lied then there would be sufficient grounds to impeach him. To counter calls for Zuma's resignation the government decided to publish the shelved Department of Public Works report which exonerated Zuma, it indicated he knew nothing of the details of the improvements. However, There is now a move to investigate the public works minister Thulsa Nxesi. His department's report had been classified Top Secret as it supposedly contained information that would endanger national security. Now that the report has been made public this does not seem to be the case. The allegations are that Nxesi deliberately misled parliament to suppress a document embarrassing to the administration - A motion to investigate Nxesi was tabled in Parliament yesterday by the DA so this scandal is still definitely not over. Guptagate On April 30th last year a private jet performed an unauthorized landing at Waterkloof Air Force Base, a military installation run by the South African Air Force. On board were passengers bound for the nearby wedding of Vega Gupta, a member of the incredibly wealthy and influential Gupta family who have widespread interests across various sectors of the South African economy (their exact personal wealth is a closely guarded secret). When details of the flight became public knowledge there was outrage, the SAAF had bent over backwards to accommodate the Guptas and had turned over a military installation to one of the wealthiest families in the country for their own private use. The government denied authorizing the landing and suspended figures in the police and military, an inquest was also launched to investigate the landing. The whole affair is incredibly embarrassing for Zuma. He has an immensely close relationship with the Guptas, one of his wives works for one of their companies as does one of his sons (his daughter also used to work for them and was hired shortly after Zuma became president). The press smelt blood in the water and launched a series of investigations into the Gupta family that yielded some startling results: the passengers were escorted from Waterkloof to the wedding by a private security firm who used flashing blue lights and false plates to masquerade as a police escort, the Guptas had demanded diplomatic passports from the SA government for their personal use, the Guptas sprawling Joburg estate had been deliberately undervalued to reduce their rates bill, the Guptas had helped Zuma's wife pay off a multi-million rand loan used to pay for a luxury mansion. Meanwhile at the inquest an SAAF officer gave evidence saying he was told in no uncertain terms by the Head of State Protocol that the landing had been authorized by the president. The government denied this, blaming the state official (who they claim was in collusion with a figure in the Indian High Commission) and demoted him - though it seems he is still drawing the same salary as he did in his former position. The inquest is still dragging on and prosecutions are still pending so this story isn't finished yet either. kustomkarkommando fucked around with this message at 15:42 on Feb 19, 2014 |
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Feb 19, 2014 15:40
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If nothing else, Zuma is also in his 70s. By 2019, he'll be 76, and quite possibly looking to retire from politics if the scandals don't catch up with him first. I'm guessing Cyril Ramaphosa is next in line, but I think his credit with the working class is pretty limited after Marikana. News from COPE: Their chief whip in the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature publically defected to the ANC four weeks ago, but kept coming in to COPE offices, sitting in the legislature, and trying to direct COPE MPLs until yesterday, when the Mail and Guardian called him on it. Oh, COPE.  News from EFF:  for Policy and Research, Floyd Shivambu, began outlining EFF policy positions. Some of these sound pretty reasonable -- increasing the autonomy of the public protector and the auditor general in carrying out corruption investigations, and nationalising various things the government currently contracts out, like school text books and road building. And some of them sound ideologically noble but likely to crash the economy (especially if carried out over less than a multi-decadal time scale), like nationalising all land ownership and agricultural production. They describe their ideology as Marxist-Leninist Fanonian.
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Feb 21, 2014 19:59
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I'm South African and have a valid SA passport although I left to see the world 11 years ago (london, of course, like all south africans) in 2003 and by strange circumstance ended up in the USA, where I'm living now. Can I vote? If I do I will make sure to educate myself and think about it, of course, instead of just pressing the "DA, since I am white" button. edit: lol never mind, I need an id as well as a passport, and I don't have that. redreader fucked around with this message at 21:04 on Feb 21, 2014 |
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Feb 21, 2014 20:35
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redreader posted:I'm South African and have a valid SA passport although I left to see the world 11 years ago (london, of course, like all south africans) in 2003 and by strange circumstance ended up in the USA, where I'm living now. Can I vote? If I do I will make sure to educate myself and think about it, of course, instead of just pressing the "DA, since I am white" button. There's a pretty good (unofficial?) Facebook page giving out advice for voting overseas, and I recommend you read up there. Here's the official but actually slightly less helpful IEC page. You can get your ID book at a South African consulate. It doesn't cost much, but you do need to get fingerprints done. However ... if you never got your ID book back in SA, I'm gonna guess you also never signed up on the voters' roll, If you are on the voters' roll already, there's an online system on the IEC website which will be made available for a period of 15 days from 25 February. If you want to vote, you have to indicate so, and select a consulate via that system while it is available. After that, you actually have to get to a consulate (a full consulate, not one of the honorary ones) on the day designated for overseas voting (which hasn't been announced yet). In the USA, your options are New York, Washington DC, Chicago or Los Angeles. I'm basically SOL since there isn't a full consulate within 3,000km of me  I'll amend the OP to put this info in.
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Feb 22, 2014 00:12
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Lead out in cuffs posted:If nothing else, Zuma is also in his 70s. By 2019, he'll be 76, and quite possibly looking to retire from politics if the scandals don't catch up with him first. I'm guessing Cyril Ramaphosa is next in line, but I think his credit with the working class is pretty limited after Marikana. It seems almost certain now that Cyril is going to be the ANC's choice for deputy president after the elections at least. I'm still uncertain if the party will completely accept him as Zuma's replacement when he does decide to step aside, he is far too close to the business sector (Hell, he is the business sector) and he was only chosen as the deputy leader of the party after Motlanthe decided to challenge Zuma for the leadership. He is a popular figure but his years in the political wilderness means that he lacks a real base in the party, at the moment he is relying on the support of Zuma's faction but they might chose one of their own to fill the big chair (Zuma's ex-wife Nokosazan Dlamini-Zuma seems to be the favourite candidate among the KZN faction of the party). Malusi Gigaba was third on the leaked ANC candidates list so he might be able to angle himself into a more powerful position post-Zuma (deputy maybe?) - His youth and reputation as an energetic policy maker are definitely assets to the ANC and elevating him to the upper echelons may help them revitalize the image of the party. I'm curious who the anti-Zuma factions will coalesce around. Motlanthe seemed an obvious choice but he's declined nomination and seems to be set to retire after the elections, and Tokyo Sexwale looks dead in the water. Bizarrely, the Guateng branch of the party (often considered one of the most anti-Zuma factions) are trying to draft Mbeki for a parliamentary seat and Mbeki has picked up his public attacks on Zuma in recent months. A return of Mbeki would be a loving disaster so hopefully he will be sensible enough to steer clear of the leadership. quote:News from EFF: The EFF launched their manifesto today. Some other policies include a R12,500 minimum wage for miners (where have we heard that before?), abolishing contract work and temporary employment, establishing a government controlled company to produce pharmaceuticals, imposing strict import tariffs to stimulate the economy, doubling all social grants, increasing the salary of civil servants and introducing a minimum sentence of 20 years for corruption charges (cause you know Malema really hates corruption  ). They've also promised to provide all South Africans with electricity and running water within 5 years. You can't fault them for being ambitious...This thread needs some pictures so here's some photos from the EFF's manifesto launch:     Also the EFF would like to say Happy Birthday Mr Robert Mugabe: Economic Freedom Fighters posted:The Economic Freedom Fighters extends its revolutionary salutations to the People’s President Robert Gabriel Mugabe on his 90th Birthday. kustomkarkommando fucked around with this message at 21:28 on Feb 22, 2014 |
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Feb 22, 2014 21:13
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 At some levels, the EFF seems like a pretty solid (socialist) party. And then you see the giant paintings of Malema and the fawning over Mugabe. I'd like to actually read that manifesto, though. The more reasonable sounding stuff (like a national minimum wage of R4,500/month) is basically ANC policies but firmer. The ANC's proposal is only to "Investigate the modality for the introduction of a national minimum wage", with no guarantees that they'll actually implement it. The DA's manifesto comes out tomorrow. E: Also, if anyone from the US wants to know what real socialists look like (not liberals being called socialists in acts of naked ignorance/trolling), you have socialists.jpg right there. Lead out in cuffs fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Feb 22, 2014 |
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Feb 22, 2014 23:48
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kustomkarkommando posted:establishing a government controlled company to produce pharmaceuticals
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Feb 23, 2014 00:01
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R. Mute posted:This is such a good idea, I'm amazed I don't see it pop up more often. Because most of DnD deals with countries that are firmly in the grip of neoliberal economic policies and corporate influence in government, so stuff like actually nationalising things that should be nationalised rarely comes up? But yes, that, along with other actually smart ideas like nationalising resource extraction along with any monopolistic industries (telcos, utilities, etc), are very good ideas. To be honest, the ANC are pretty much in bed with corporations, but they walk a fine line between corporate interests and the interests of their alliance partners COSATU, who represent more than half the unionised workers in the country. COSATU are strongly in favour of both nationalisation of industries and of a national minimum wage. Apparently the R4,500/month figure comes from them. It'll be interesting to see how things develop within COSATU as the EFF, (ostensibly their political opponents), keep aligning with their demands while the ANC (their alliance partners) keep equivocating on them.
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Feb 23, 2014 02:38
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Lead out in cuffs posted:
The way I see it the utility of the manifesto is that it seems to present a firm left position within South African politics, on the other hand, I don't think I would trust the EFF to be the one that gets it done. I am interested in hearing the DA manifesto to see if it is also going to move leftward. Anyone have a good summary of the factions within the DA, since it does seem to be a open-tent sort of party? How is the left wing of the ANC fairing at this point? Ardennes fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Feb 23, 2014 |
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Feb 23, 2014 03:33
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Ardennes posted:I am interested in hearing the DA manifesto to see if it is also going to move leftward. The DA have launched their manifesto today and uploaded it to Scribd. Not much of a leftward tack. The main points (on a first read through) are expanding the Public Works program to create 7 million jobs, investing at least 10% of GDP in infrastructure development works, rolling-out a youth wage subsidy, breaking down government tenders into smaller units to allow small businesses to compete, a promise to tackle corruption (and save R30 billion in the process), employing 100,000 more police officers and transferring government controlled land in the ex-homelands to those that live on it. The more right-wing/liberal elements include a promise to break apart "inefficient" government monopolies, a promise to keep income and corporate taxes low, tax incentives for job creators, creating "Job Zones" with greater labour flexibility, reforming the labour laws to insulate small businesses from labour agreements hashed out at collective bargaining councils and a commitment to "democratise labour relations" by strengthening the position of small unions (and weakening the position of the larger ones in the process). On Black Economic Empowerment (the SA version of Affirmative Action), a major area of disagreement within the party itself, there is a token acknowledgement that the DA supports it. However the manifesto rejects quotas, and punitive measures for companies that fail to meet them, and instead suggests incentives to encourage economic empowerment. They also suggest relaxing the scorecard system currently used to monitor businesses compliance with BEE for small businesses. There's also a bit about reforming the electoral system by adding a constituency based element to compliment the current PR/Party list system. They also make a commitment to increase the powers of provincial governments. Ardennes posted:Anyone have a good summary of the factions within the DA, since it does seem to be a open-tent sort of party? I can't find a single article laying it all out neatly, but this short piece explains some of the tensions within the party between the "old guard", composed of party stalwart liberals, and the "black caucus", largely composed of up and coming black legislators who are trying to push the DA to some slightly more left leaning positions. They had a big argument about the DA's stance on BEE at the end of last year when the old guard liberals forced the party to withdraw it's support for the Employment Equity Amendment Bill. The "black caucus" responded by forcing the party to make a token statement in support of BEE at their policy conference at the end of last year. Since then there has been some indications Lindiwe Mazibuko, the leader of the DA in Parliament and firm Zille ally, has been drawing closer to the pro-change faction in the party led by Masizole Mnqasela and Khume Ramulifho. The attempt to merge with Agang SA seems to have riled the old guard faction with Athol Trollip, the man who challenged Zille for leadership of the party and the DA's candidate for premier in the Eastern Cape, giving public interviews blasting Zille and Ramphele. There are definately some knives being sharpened. A lot of focus is on the DA's candidate for premier in Gauteng, Mmusi Maimane. He has been groomed by Zille and is seen by many as her heir apparent, the pro-change faction have been courting him but he seems to have reacted cooly to their advances so far. The Daily Maverick did a good piece about him recently, he's being positioned as the Obama of South Africa as you can see by this subtle campaign poster:  Ardennes posted:How is the left wing of the ANC fairing at this point? I think it's fair to say that the left wing of the ANC is in absolute crisis at the moment. Zwelinzima Vavi, the charismatic general secretary of COSATU (the largest trade union federation and close ally of the ANC), has been suspended for sexual misconduct. This is largely been interpreted as a politically motivated move designed to reign in the unions who are growing increasingly frustrated with the pace of change in the country. The suspension has prompted an open rebellion from the left against the ANC and the SACP. Here's a short article giving some background into current crisis in COSATU. There is a serious war brewing between the left wing factions that propelled Zuma into power and Zuma himself, the left wing have grown restless and Zuma is trying to tame them. That piece is a bit out of date though because NUMSA, the largest single union in the country, has since openly rebelled against the ANC and has refused to support them in this election. They continue to lead the renegade faction in COSATU but are quietly working to create a broad based coalition deliberately reminiscent of the anti-apartheid United Democratic Front. They recently held a "political school" and have made movements to align themselves with community groups involved in service delivery protests. The possibility of NUMSA creating a Labour Party is a greater threat to the ANC than the EFF could ever be. kustomkarkommando fucked around with this message at 19:32 on Feb 23, 2014 |
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Feb 23, 2014 17:11
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Thanks for all the info, I don't think it would be that easy to piece otherwise. I could see there being tension in the DA since on one hand it is trying to grow itself into an opposition force but in many ways it seems like a liberal (white) middle class party. If anything it sounds like a break in the ANC would actually what would be needed since at this point the EFF (mostly due to being way too personality centered) nor the DA really provide a more grounded left-wing position which South Africa needs at this point. That said, I guess the DA willingness to invest in infrastructure and public spending is at least moderately hopeful but it doesn't sound like they are going to be attracting many Black voters at this rate. There is also the issue with the Rand which at last check continues to devalue(up to 11 to USD). One real worry I have is that capital outflows from emerging markets, including South Africa are going to put a sizable hit to their economies much farther in advance than the first world. Ardennes fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Feb 23, 2014 |
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Feb 23, 2014 19:17
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Oh wow, I hope EFF gets lots of votes in the election! This is a great thread and thanks for posting it!
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Feb 23, 2014 20:34
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kustomkarkommando posted:I can't find a single article laying it all out neatly, but this short piece explains some of the tensions within the party between the "old guard", composed of party stalwart liberals, and the "black caucus", largely composed of up and coming black legislators who are trying to push the DA to some slightly more left leaning positions. How does the wider black community in South Africa view the black members of the DA? Also in regards to the ANC left, is the SACP basically moribund at this point? It seems like if anyone should lead a left rebellion, it should be them, but I haven't heard anything about them.
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Feb 23, 2014 21:16
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It's interesting that the DA is calling for a massive public works programme and a youth wage subsidy. Both of these are carbon copies of ANC manifesto promises (though the DA claim they can create 7 million jobs vs the ANC's 6 million). It's worth noting, though, that based on the definitions from the last major public works programme, by "job" they mean "temporary work opportunity". They're not really proposing to employ 6-7 million people, since a lot of those will likely take up multiple temporary jobs in succession. Still, given how much of the country lacks infrastructure, and how many people are unemployed, this kind of thing is sorely needed, and it's good to see the top three political parties more or less agreeing on that.Ardennes posted:Thanks for all the info, I don't think it would be that easy to piece otherwise. I could see there being tension in the DA since on one hand it is trying to grow itself into an opposition force but in many ways it seems like a liberal (white) middle class party. Every time I see the words "job creators" in DA messaging, I cringe. Ardennes posted:There is also the issue with the Rand which at last check continues to devalue(up to 11 to USD). One real worry I have is that capital outflows from emerging markets, including South Africa are going to put a sizable hit to their economies much farther in advance than the first world. This is a tricky one. The South African economy has a pretty good balance of trade (close to parity), and GDP has almost tripled over the last decade. Yet, the Rand continues to depreciate. I'm fairly convinced that both capital outflow and the currency devaluation have everything to do with speculators manipulating public perception. It's not actually too hard to do that, since investors in the developed world have some pretty major negative preconceptions about African countries already. Hell, every time Nelson Mandela visited a hospital, even years after he had retired from politics completely, newspapers would rush out stories about his death and the certain collapse of the country being imminent. And the Rand would devalue. And somebody would make a lot of money. It gives you some sense of the popular appeal of nationalising large chunks of the economy. The country has been getting screwed by foreign speculators for two decades now.    Badger of Basra posted:Also in regards to the ANC left, is the SACP basically moribund at this point? It seems like if anyone should lead a left rebellion, it should be them, but I haven't heard anything about them. In 2012 the SACP announced a threefold increase in membership to 150,000 from around 50,000 in 2007. I think they're definitely part of the pressure on the ANC within its own alliance. Just for context, however, the EFF passed the 400,000 member mark last month after less than six months' existence. E: http://www.sacp.org.za/main.php?ID=3679 SACP following their 2012 national congress posted:Our disciplined unity in the midst of an Alliance facing many challenges; our Marxism-Leninism; our principled commitment to Communist values of solidarity and to fighting all negative tendencies – including individualism, self-enrichment, and corruption – all these attributes of the SACP and its cadres place an enormous vanguard responsibility upon us, now more than ever. Lead out in cuffs fucked around with this message at 22:18 on Feb 23, 2014 |
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Feb 23, 2014 22:14
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Lead out in cuffs posted:It's interesting that the DA is calling for a massive public works programme and a youth wage subsidy. Both of these are carbon copies of ANC manifesto promises (though the DA claim they can create 7 million jobs vs the ANC's 6 million). It's worth noting, though, that based on the definitions from the last major public works programme, by "job" they mean "temporary work opportunity". They're not really proposing to employ 6-7 million people, since a lot of those will likely take up multiple temporary jobs in succession. Still, given how much of the country lacks infrastructure, and how many people are unemployed, this kind of thing is sorely needed, and it's good to see the top three political parties more or less agreeing on that. So what's the differences between the EFF and SACP they seem pretty close ideology wise? IS it methods or speed of hypothetical changes?
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Feb 24, 2014 04:12
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The SACP has historically served as a shield on the left flank for ANC neoliberal policy. I wouldn't be looking to it for any sort of leadership in a "left rebellion".
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Feb 24, 2014 04:19
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SirKibbles posted:So what's the differences between the EFF and SACP they seem pretty close ideology wise? IS it methods or speed of hypothetical changes? Affiliation, mostly. The ANC and the SACP go way, way back (at least to the 1940s), so: Rogue0071 posted:The SACP has historically* served as a shield on the left flank for ANC neoliberal policy. I wouldn't be looking to it for any sort of leadership in a "left rebellion". To be honest, this goes right back to the 1940s, although in those days the ANC was somewhat more left. The Freedom Charter illustrates this, especially the parts about land and wealth). Both the SACP and COSATU regularly cite the modern ANC's non-fulfilment of the Freedom Charter in their grumblings, but they're not ready to break ranks just yet.
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Feb 24, 2014 18:34
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Lead out in cuffs posted:In case you missed it, "right wing" in South African politics is an epithet This particular feature of South African politics is especially fascinating to me. I wish this were true about politics in the United States!
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Feb 24, 2014 21:30
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-24/lamb-for-12-on-400-monthly-shows-south-africa-welfare-addiction.htmlquote:Sprawled on a faded black two-seater couch covered with cigarette burns, Eva Matthys, 72, is instructing her 13-year-old granddaughter on how to cook minced lamb -- for 12. That’s how many family members share the government-subsidized house in Brandvlei, a town in South Africa’s Northern Cape province. Here is the first bit of the article, the bias is evident but I am interested to see a South African interpretation of it.
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Feb 25, 2014 02:35
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Ardennes posted:http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-24/lamb-for-12-on-400-monthly-shows-south-africa-welfare-addiction.html There's probably some reasonable economic points to be argued over in terms of paying for social grants. It's kinda lost under the "welfare queens!" bullshit. Everything wrong with every US poor-baiting article is amplified here by the fact that they are literally trying to say that a family of 12 is coddled for getting $400 in welfare grants as their sole source of income. Admittedly that's not the entirety of the article, but the subeditor who chose that headline should be sent to live the rest of their life in a tin shack on $33 a month. PS: here's a mugshot of the journalist. Care to guess what her salary and living situation are like?  Anyway, what's interesting about it is the permeation of right-wing US talking points into the South African political consciousness, at least among rich white South Africans. Extensive and more thoughtful edit follows: To articulate this a little, supermarket price for lamb mince seems to be around R110 per kilo (~US$10). They're obviously a Coloured family, so quite likely making bobotie (just for reference, minced lamb is a huge part of Coloured people's traditional cuisine). Checking up on a few recipes, 2kg of mince would serve 12 people. Add in the cost of the other ingredients, and the meal probably comes to over R300, about 1/15th of the family's monthly income. What this article has done is to take the family's Sunday meal, the one time in the week, and possibly the month, when they can afford to eat meat, and made it sound like they're eating loving caviar every day. Rene Vollgraaff posted:Over three days following the lives of those in the Matthys house, two young family members expressed the unhappy truth: They need the payments to survive -- yet they would look harder for jobs if they had no such income. "Find a job or die, you scum." Oh, there's also a video to go along with this story. Listen to the narrator's £100,000 British public school accent wobble up a note or two whenever government spending is mentioned. Terrible Bloomberg video posted:
Um, what proportion of Canadians, Brits or Americans receive child tax benefits? Care to take a bet on whether more of them receive aid than have jobs when you include every tax credit and other benefit? Terrible Bloomberg video posted:
Guess what proportion of the US Federal Government's budget goes to social security, medicare, medicaid, unemployment, other welfare spending, other health spending, and education? About 60%! Welfare Dependency Near Danger Level in US of A! And that obvious bit of hyperbole brings us back to the fact that this is a) typical US right wing small-government bullshit and b) a way to assuage Bloomberg readers/users' guilt as they screw the country with their trading practices. Lead out in cuffs fucked around with this message at 06:10 on Feb 25, 2014 |
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Feb 25, 2014 03:56
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More South Africans receive aid than have jobs
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Ardennes posted:http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-24/lamb-for-12-on-400-monthly-shows-south-africa-welfare-addiction.html The real problem is not that welfare exists, but that there's really no means for these people to do without it. Jobs are so scarce that they don't have an opportunity to get one and whatever education they received is so poor that when limited opportunities do become available, they simply don't have the means to take advantage of it. In a lot of theses communities, things like basic literacy are in scarce supply and because of things like that, a good chunk of these people aren't just unemployed but completely unemployable. I suppose they could just be kicked off and then they would be forced to find work in the exciting growth industries of prostitution and drug muling, but it seems to me that improvements in education and the economy would crater the amount of people on welfare extremely quickly, since they would have the opportunity and ability to work for a living. Of course, I'm saying that like it's a simple fix; the reality is that things are so hosed for people that poor, that I'm not even sure where to begin. Actually, on that note, if there's any educators here, how have the no-fee schools done? I can't help but think making school free would really help out a lot of people in these sorts of situations. I'm assuming nobody on this forum is poor enough to actually take advantage of fee exemptions, but if anyone did have a kid in one of them, I would be interested to hear about it.
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Feb 25, 2014 05:57
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(Yet) another thing that bugs me about the whole Bloomberg thing is that they picked a soon-to-be ghost town in the middle of the loving Karoo* and tried to pass it off as being typical of the national situation. The bustling metropolis of Brandvlei. Notice how two thirds of the town has already been swallowed by the desert (see the remnants of the road grid pattern on the satellite image). If the people there are being supported by the government while they decide to move to a town that isn't moribund, I'm totally OK with that. Apparently the surrounding area is actually pretty not too badly off, with only 11% unemployment. (Brandvlei isn't even typical of its local municipality). *The Karoo is basically like the Arizona desert, for those not familiar with South African geography. We don't tend to call it a desert because we have an actual desert that's drier. Dopilsya posted:The real problem is not that welfare exists, but that there's really no means for these people to do without it. Jobs are so scarce that they don't have an opportunity to get one and whatever education they received is so poor that when limited opportunities do become available, they simply don't have the means to take advantage of it. In a lot of theses communities, things like basic literacy are in scarce supply and because of things like that, a good chunk of these people aren't just unemployed but completely unemployable. I suppose they could just be kicked off and then they would be forced to find work in the exciting growth industries of prostitution and drug muling, but it seems to me that improvements in education and the economy would crater the amount of people on welfare extremely quickly, since they would have the opportunity and ability to work for a living. Actually, one of the aspects of them having chosen a Coloured family, and not, say, a rural Black family, is that the education aspect is downplayed. I totally agree about the need for education (something else which Bloomberg doesn't seem to like). At the same time, both welfare grants (to keep people alive and able to send their kids to school), and labour-intensive jobs for the less educated seem like the right solution.
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Feb 25, 2014 07:10
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Lead out in cuffs posted:
I somehow managed to skim over the fact that they were coloured. I guess I'm the real illiterate  fake edit But that actually brings up a tough question in terms labour intensive jobs being available for them. We're not going to be able to undercut places like India so manufacturing exports is probably not going to be an option. Agricultural work might be available, but isn't nearly av ailable enough and generally doesn't pay well enough, so it's difficult for me to come up with an industry that would work for them. Admittedly, I'm white/middle class so perhaps my perception of what's available and pays decently enough is skewed and those may be work-able options. Dopilsya fucked around with this message at 20:22 on Feb 25, 2014 |
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Feb 25, 2014 20:12
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A large, labour-intensive public works programme could do that, and that's probably why that's an election promise of all three of the top-running parties. There's good historical precendent, too, in such schemes as the New Deal. In fact, there's been a public works programme over the past decade, which has almost certainly helped to bring down the unemployment rate: http://www.epwp.gov.za/
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Feb 25, 2014 22:47
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kustomkarkommando posted:The EFF launched their manifesto today. Some other policies include a R12,500 minimum wage for miners (where have we heard that before?), abolishing contract work and temporary employment, establishing a government controlled company to produce pharmaceuticals, imposing strict import tariffs to stimulate the economy, doubling all social grants, increasing the salary of civil servants and introducing a minimum sentence of 20 years for corruption charges (cause you know Malema really hates corruption I'm curious, how does Malema reconcile his corruption scandals and his fleet of luxury cars with that ideology?
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Feb 26, 2014 12:45
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3peat posted:I'm curious, how does Malema reconcile his corruption scandals and his fleet of luxury cars with that ideology? Deny deny deny. His corruption trial has been postponed until later this year so the current party line is that this proves Malema is innocent and the prosecution is politically motivated. If he was guilty surely they would have convicted him by now  Something that hasn't been mentioned yet in this thread is that Malema is currently scrambling to raise R16 million to pay back-taxes he owes the Revenue Service. The bling lifestyle that defined his days in the Youth League has largely disappeared as a result, he's already sold off two multi-million rand properties to try to cover the debt. The Revenue Service have requested Malema be declared insolvent and a sequestration order be placed on his assets so they can recover the debt. Malema is currently fighting this in court insisting that he only owes R4 million, the initial debt before interest and penalty fees, and that he was tricked into accepting the R16 million figure. The court is due to rule on May 26th (19 days after the election). If he loses and is declared insolvent then, per SA law, he will be barred from sitting in parliament which will be a serious blow to the EFF. The EFF are currently setting up an "independent" fund to try to raise the money to pay off Malema's debts so he can sit in parliament if his appeal fails. The EFF are already tight for cash though, as a new party they are entitled to no government funding as they hold no seats in the National Assembly or any Provincial Assemblies.
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Feb 26, 2014 18:10
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/\/\/\/\/\/\ The thing is, this all plays into a political narrative of Malema as having lived the corrupt, bling lifestyle of an ANC politico, but now being a reformed EFF Marxist. It may even be true.3peat posted:I'm curious, how does Malema reconcile his corruption scandals and his fleet of luxury cars with that ideology? From that interview with Floyd Shivambu I posted earlier: Floyd Shivambu interview posted:Your promise to fight corruption is tainted because your leader is himself facing corruption charges. Why should voters believe you? It seems from the charge sheet like the link to Malema in that case is pretty tenuous -- the most they can accuse him of is that he benefited indirectly from a misrepresented tender. It's entirely possible that, even if the tender turns out to have been fraudulent, he was just strung along by his friends without any personal knowledge of that. http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/malemas-money-laundering-charge-will-it-stick/ Pierre De Vos, constitutional lawyer posted:Judging from the charge sheet, the state does not have sufficient evidence to link Malema directly to the payment of a bribe to anyone involved in the granting of tenders to one of the companies in which Malema has a stake. While several of Malema’s co-accused are indeed charged with corruption for offering or accepting bribes to secure tenders, Malema himself is “only” being charged with money laundering in terms of POCA. If he was indeed involved in criminal activity, he was astute enough to place some distance between himself and other perpetrators more closely involved in the offering of bribes. But yeah, the EFF manifesto talks about protecting the independence of the Public Protector -- the very institution currently pursuing charges against Malema, and for the elimination of tenders, which Malema is accused of corruptly benefiting from. That's either hypocritical or incredibly ballsy. There are various possible stories. He could just be cynical and corrupt, happy to find some other means to enrich himself if a hypothetical (and deeply unlikely) EFF election victory could come about. He could be sick of having to be caught up in the corrupt tender game (which is probably about as difficult to avoid as the revolving door is in US politics), and looking for a way out by eliminating the game entirely. He could be a completely innocent and naive idealist. I suspect it's some convoluted blend of all three. http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2013/12/22/hours-late-for-fund-raising-dinner-malema-jokes-can-t-risk-another-speeding-fine Julius Malema posted:Tenders are not sustainable business
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Feb 26, 2014 19:23
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I know NUMSA was mentioned before but they're worth mentioning again. At around 350k members they're the largest union in South Africa, and they recently broke with the ANC and the SACP. Now they're trying to find a new socialist movement to join up with:Resolutions adopted at Numsa Special National Congress, December 16-20 2013 posted:3.1.1. That our members and shopstewards must be active on all fronts and in all struggles against neo-liberal policies, whether these policies are being implemented in the workplace or in communities. (bolding theirs, not mine) and have emphatically stated that it is not the EFF: NUMSA's assessment of the EFF posted:The most disturbing issue, for us as a working class organisation, is that the President and Commander and Chief of EFF has been a Director of companies which do work for government on the basis of tenders. This is relevant since it is EFF policy to rebuild the capacity of the state and thus do away with ‘tenderpreneurs'. When asked about alleged payment for tenders in Limpopo, the EFF President said "There is no money that came to me or any of my entities." Court cases are still pending on whether Malema committed any illegal acts, but 2 things are clear:
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Feb 26, 2014 20:56
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I'm not South African but I'm really glad this thread exists, I've been kind of fascinated with SA for a long time and it's definitely enlightening. Anyway, a totally random question: I know the SA constitution guarantees freedom of speech, but how does this apply to hate groups or anti-democratic parties? Is it like Germany where the AWB would probably be banned and Terre'Blanche (when he was alive) probably convicted of hate speech, or more like the US where they can organize/say whatever they want until an actual crime occurs? Also, I'm sure in polite company no one would say they want apartheid back, but is this something that you'd hear from reactionary whites (think the SA equivalent of Freepers) or have even they moved on? I hope this isn't breaking the thread rules by bringing this stuff up. I of course don't advocate any of those points of view.
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Feb 28, 2014 03:51
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The Haitian posted:I'm not South African but I'm really glad this thread exists, I've been kind of fascinated with SA for a long time and it's definitely enlightening. Anyway, a totally random question: I know the SA constitution guarantees freedom of speech, but how does this apply to hate groups or anti-democratic parties? Is it like Germany where the AWB would probably be banned and Terre'Blanche (when he was alive) probably convicted of hate speech, or more like the US where they can organize/say whatever they want until an actual crime occurs? Also, I'm sure in polite company no one would say they want apartheid back, but is this something that you'd hear from reactionary whites (think the SA equivalent of Freepers) or have even they moved on? Hate speech is definitely illegal, both under the constitution and in common law. In fact the laws against it were around even in the later days of Apartheid, but good luck to you if you were black and wanted to bring that to court. And no, I don't think you're breaking any rules by bringing this up. Yes, it's definitely relevant, in as much as white people still hold a good portion of the economic power in the country. Eugene Terre'Blanch (and the rest of the AWB) were granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for their crimes under Apartheid. He did, however, spend three years in jail (in 2001) for beating the poo poo out of a black security guard and a petrol pump attendant in 1996. Being one of three white guys in the whole prison he came out transformed (for the better). The AWB actually isn't banned, they've just filtered out the racism and transformed into an Afrikaner nationalist/cultural group (cultural expression, where it doesn't infringe on other people's rights, is OK and even encouraged under the constitution). But sadly, yes, there are definitely the equivalent of Freepers. And yes, there are also whites who will, in polite (white) company, say that they want Apartheid back, and use horrific racial slurs. I don't think it's much worse than, say, the Deep South, but that's not saying much. They wouldn't say those things in public, though. I'd also guess that a lot of the people joining the AWB (or, say, voting for the Freedom Front Plus) would fall into that category. Our constitution is a sometimes strange but mostly wondrous thing. For instance, we were fairly ahead of the curve in legalising same-sex marriage in 2005, despite South Africa being mostly quite staunchly Christian and often socially conservative. What this took was a Constitutional Court judgement, rigorously interpreting Section 9 of the Constitution, and giving parliament a deadline to pass the law, failing which they would have amended it themselves. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minister_of_Home_Affairs_v_Fourie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Union_Act_(South_Africa) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_Nine_of_the_Constitution_of_South_Africa
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Feb 28, 2014 11:00
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Specifically related to hate speech, though, here is the relevant section of the constitution:South African Constitution Section 16 posted:16. Freedom of expression Hah -- I'd forgotten about that ban on war propaganda. Back to hate speech, though. Here's a bit of legal analysis (from a constitutional lawyer's blog): http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/hate-speech-versus-free-speech/
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Feb 28, 2014 22:32
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