The ANC's 'People's War' struggle for Power & Hegemony, at any price...

People’s War: New Light on the Struggle for South Africa, by Anthea Jeffery, author of The Truth About the Truth Commission (PDF:379K)

In response to Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) granting Brandon Huntley, white refugee status, the Inkatha Freedom Party's press release, stated, among other things:

In SA, a major way of problem-solving is mob rule..... This use of mobs and the impunity of the anonymity of mass action lead to a breakdown in the rule of law. This, as academics have observed, is a direct result of the merging of militarised struggle politics with unions and community organisations.

Analysts chalk the violence up to lack of service delivery, levels of inequality and other standard epitaphs that are paraded out to explain every social problem. But this is only part of the story. I am sorry to say the genesis of the present unhappy state of affairs lies in the apartheid era.

The ANC and UDF had the strategy of ungovernability that was used to incite the youth and people of the townships to violently rise up against their oppression. The townships saw a lot of violence in recent times as apartheid began to unravel. The violence included mob justice in the form of necklacing, shooting and other violent acts against those deemed to be the enemy. The unforeseen legacy of the strategy of ungovernability is what we are seeing today.

Dr. Anthea Jeffery, Head of Special Research at the South African Institute of Race Relations, new book People’s War: New Light on the Struggle agrees. Dr. Jeffery holds law degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand and from Cambridge, and a doctorate in human rights law from the University of London. Her previous books include The Natal Story: Sixteen years of conflict and The Truth about the Truth Commission (PDF:379K).

Jonathan Ball Publishers describes People's War: New Light on the Struggle, as follows:

Fifteen years have passed since South Africans were being shot or hacked or burned to death in political conflict; and the memory of the trauma has faded. Some 20 500 people were nevertheless killed between 1984 and 1994. The conventional wisdom is that they died at the hands of a state-backed Third Force, but the more accurate explanation is that they died as a result of the people’s war the ANC unleashed. As the people's war accelerated from September 1984, intimidation and political killings rapidly accelerated. At the same time, a remarkably effective propaganda campaign put the blame for violence on the National Party government and its alleged Inkatha surrogate. Sympathy for the ANC soared, while its rivals suffered crippling losses in credibility and support. By 1993 the ANC was able to dominate the negotiating process, as well as to control the (undefeated) South African police and army and bend them to its will. By mid-1994 it had trounced its rivals and taken over government.

Since 1994, many books have been written on South Africa's political transition, but none deals adequately with the people's war. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission should have covered this, but largely overlooked it. This title shows the extraordinary success of people’s war in giving the ANC a virtual monopoly on power. It also shows, in part at least, the great cost at which this was achieved. Apart from the killings, the terror, and the destruction that marked the period from 1984 to 1994, the people’s war set in motion forces that cannot easily be reversed. For violence cannot be turned off ‘like a tap’, as the ANC suggested, and neither can anarchy easily be converted into order.

SAIRR Today: People’s War: New Light on the Struggle

SA Institute of Race Relations
4th September 2009

On Thursday 03/09/2009 a new book by Dr Anthea Jeffery, Head of Special Research at the Institute, was launched. Entitled People’s War: New Light on the Struggle for South Africa, the book has been published by Jonathan Ball Publishers. The book focuses on the political transition which brought the ANC to power in 1994.

Unlike other accounts, it gives full weight to the ANC’s strategy of people’s war, which went far beyond the simpler strategy of ‘armed struggle’ on which the organisation had embarked in 1961. The book shows the extraordinary success of the people’s war in giving the ANC a virtual monopoly on power. It also shows the great cost at which this was achieved. Apart from the terror, the destruction, and the 20 500 political killings which marked the period from 1984 to 1994, the people’s war set in motion forces that cannot easily be reversed. For violence cannot be turned off “like a tap”, as the ANC suggested, and neither can anarchy easily be converted into order.

Dr Jeffery’s speech at the launch follows:

‘One way of understanding people’s war is to look back at events in the Eastern Cape in 1985, for that was where the people’s war first escalated. In that year, there were prolonged school boycotts which many pupils disliked but nevertheless joined because of intimidation. There were also major consumer boycotts, which again had some support but were also unpopular because they required people to pay much higher prices in spaza shops. In addition, there was a three-day stayaway in March, which Azapo and the powerful Fosatu unions opposed because the stoppage would put jobs and pay at risk. But participation in the stayaway was nevertheless virtually total: partly out of support for the anti-apartheid cause, but mainly out of fear. Said Fosatu (the forerunner of Cosatu): ‘Our members will not go to work, not because they support the stayaway in principle, but because we know that violence will be the order of the day. Our members won’t go to work because they are intimidated.’

Twelve people were killed during the stayaway, adding to the fear. However, it was the rising incidence of necklace executions that sparked real terror. Necklace killings reportedly began with the murder of a black councillor in Uitenhage near Port Elizabeth in March. This councillor, the notorious Tamsanqa Kinikini, was trapped, together with his two sons, by a mob inflamed by recent police shootings at Langa, in which 20 people had died. Kinikini’s elder son tried to escape but was caught by the crowd and hacked and burnt to death. Moments before the mob took hold of Kinikini, the councillor took out his gun and shot his other son dead to save him from the same fate. Then the crowd dragged Kinikini away and hacked and burnt him to death.

Later in the year, in a two-week period in October, eight people were necklaced in Port Elizabeth. Two other men would also have been killed this way, but they managed to escape and told their story to the Sunday Times. Their ‘crime’ was that they had refused to help in the burning of a policeman’s home. For this they were sentenced by a people’s court to 25 strokes and execution by the necklace method. The two men were badly hurt by the beatings and were lucky to escape with their lives.

Less fortunate was a youth named Pakamisa Nogwaza, for he was the first (but by no means the last) Azapo member to be necklaced in conflict between the UDF and Azapo. Also less lucky was Nosipho Zamela, the 18-year-old mother of a three-year old child, who lived in the Mlungisi township in Queenstown in the Eastern Cape.

In December 1985 Nosipho was brought before a people’s court on charges of having collaborated with the police. An eyewitness claimed she had been seen climbing into a police vehicle, which she denied. But after a thorough whipping, she confessed her ‘guilt’ and it was decided to necklace her. Petrol and tyres were obtained and she was made to wheel one of the tyres through the township to the execution spot. There, the tyres were placed around her, covered in petrol, and set ablaze while youths danced around her flaming body, scattering only when they heard the approach of a police vehicle. By the time the police arrived, Nosipho was dead.

It was also in the Eastern Cape that security policemen killed Matthew Goniwe and three other men in June 1985. Goniwe was an underground ANC member who had been instrumental in setting up civic associations, street committees, and people’s courts in the region. The police had tried detaining him, but his detention had simply led to more boycotts and unrest, adding to the ANC’s strategy of making South Africa ungovernable and failing to calm the situation. ‘We had to chop off the head of the destabilising forces in the area,’ a security police captain later told the TRC. So the police intercepted Goniwe’s car, killed him and his three colleagues, and burnt and mutilated their bodies to make it seem they had been killed as part of the UDF/Azapo feud.

Both the earlier Langa shootings and the killing of Goniwe and his colleagues caused a huge outcry across the country and around the world. Despite police denials in relation to the Cradock Four, the government was widely blamed for these deaths, eroding its legitimacy still further. Matthew Goniwe and the Cradock Four became household names around the globe. By contrast, few remember Tamsanqa Kinikini, and fewer still remember the fate his children suffered. No one in the wider society has any recollection of Nosipho Zamele or Pakamisa Nogwaza. Their necklace executions were briefly reported and quickly forgotten, for the media seemed to have no interest in highlighting their deaths.

These events show the strategy of people’s war at work. This type of revolutionary war does not depend for its success on the clash of competing armies. Neither does it rest upon bomb attacks, though these provide one ingredient in the whole. People’s war has two main facets, the political struggle and the military struggle, and together they constitute the hammer and the anvil between which all adversaries are crushed. In this kind of conflict, no distinction is drawn between combatants and civilians. Instead all individuals living within the arena of conflict are regarded as weapons of war (hence the term, ‘people’s war’). This makes them all expendable in the waging of the war, in the same way as arms and ammunition are expendable in a conventional conflict. It also means that children are just as expendable as adults.

Political struggles take many forms: meetings, marches, boycotts, sanctions, stayaways, and strikes. But the most persistent element in the political struggle is the propaganda campaign. This involves the constant repetition of certain themes by the revolutionary organisation, the allied entities it helps to create, and many in the media. This constant repetition, endorsed from a host of seemingly diverse quarters, soon has great impact on public perspectives. The false (or incomplete) version of events becomes accepted as the truth; while contrary views are brushed aside as mistaken and uninformed.

The political struggles are vital because they reinforce the impression of a society in ferment. This gives cover to the physical attacks which would otherwise seem too brutal to be condoned. Among the key targets for attack are local councillors and policemen, for people’s war aims to create a series of local anarchies: to drive out third-tier administration, limit attempts at policing, and create semi-liberated areas under the control of street committees, civic associations, and people’s courts. Combat units are also formed to ‘defend’ these areas and bring the local population under further revolutionary control through a mix of agitation, coercion, and terror. As anarchy spreads, the economy stutters, poverty grows, the security forces frequently resort to draconian and/or illegal methods, and new grievances are created to spur on the people’s war.

The underlying aim at all times is not only to rob the incumbent government of its will to rule, but also to weaken or destroy political rivals. This is vital in order to ensure the revolutionary organisation’s hegemony at the time of the transition. Rival organisations are thus subjected to a barrage of physical and propaganda attacks, aimed both at crippling their operation and alienating their support base. Leaders within the rival group are particularly targeted, while supporters suffer repeated and often random attacks. At the same time, the rival organisation is constantly accused of being solely to blame for violence. The deaths of leaders and supporters of the rival organisation are generally ignored by commentators, but if the rival organisation begins to lash out at the revolutionaries, then the violence for which it is undoubtedly responsible is magnified and used to discredit it still further. A major aim in people’s war is thus to goad both the security forces and rival organisations into over-reaction, the more massive the better.

People’s war is very difficult to combat. P W Botha tried to end the people’s war in the 1980s through emergency rule and the promise of reform. F W de Klerk tried to end it through political liberalisation and a commitment to negotiating in good faith. But the ANC was able to turn both approaches to its advantage. De Klerk’s negotiations policy was particularly helpful to the revolutionary alliance, for it meant that all its constituent elements were unbanned while some 13 000 umkhonto insurgents became entitled to return to South Africa, thus overcoming the great difficulty the ANC had earlier faced in infiltrating them illegally. With these trained and armed men back inside South Africa, the ANC was able to expand its local combat units (termed SDUs) and increase its hold over a growing number of semi-liberated areas. For the ANC had never had any intention of giving up any aspect of the people’s war when negotiations began. Rather, despite its public commitments to peace, its plan was always to use negotiations as nothing more than an additional ‘terrain of struggle’.

From 1991, when 13 000 Umkhonto insurgents returned to South Africa, the number of policemen killed averaged 200 a year. Many of these policemen were killed either when they were off duty, or by luring them into ambushes via fake emergency calls to which they were bound to respond. Azapo and the PAC suffered a series of attacks aimed at driving them out of some of their remaining strongholds. In the first seven months of 1990, Muntu Myeza and four other Azapo or PAC activists were killed in unexplained car accidents, prompting an Azapo spokesman to comment: ‘We need to know what has suddenly gone wrong with the cars in this country that they are killing all the activists.’

In1993 Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi informed the press that 275 IFP leaders had been killed since 1985, and queried why this death toll was ‘of no consequence’ to the media and the broader society. He also asked how negotiations could proceed or a fair election could be held when ‘people were being shot for belonging to the wrong political party’. He repeatedly demanded that De Klerk disband Umkhonto and strip it of its weapons. But both De Klerk and Buthelezi had been so demonised for their alleged role in the Third-Force violence supposedly to blame for all the killings that De Klerk was reluctant to make such a move. Buthelezi withdrew from negotiations in protest and was dismissed as nothing but a ‘spoiler’.

The international community either failed to understand or chose not to do so. It put huge pressure on De Klerk to meet the ANC’s demands, while criticising Buthelezi and his allies for their ‘brinkmanship’. The ANC repeatedly accused Buthelezi of seeking to ‘rise to power on the corpses of black people’ and the IFP of wanting to ‘drown democracy in blood’. By the time of the deeply flawed election in April 1994, the IFP had become the eternal Other (the equivalent, as one commentator has put it, of the Jew in Nazi Germany). In addition, the PAC and Azapo had been neutralised, the NP and the DP had been barred from canvassing in black areas, and De Klerk had been thoroughly discredited.

The 1994 election was so chaotic that no accurate result could be computed. Hence, its final outcome was essentially the product of negotiation. The ANC was accorded 63% of the vote, but this might well have exaggerated its true support. Opposition parties initially wanted to challenge the election result, but in the end they chose rather to accept it. For to question the outcome or demand a re-run of the poll was to risk throwing the country into the vortex of the people’s war once more – and few people had the stomach for that. Most South Africans preferred to take comfort in the notion of a miracle transition and to hope that this would bring about the bright new future the ANC had long been promising.

However, much of the promise of that bright new start has been betrayed over the last 15 years. This is largely because the people’s war has had major and continuing ramifications. It meant, for one, that we began with a hollowed out democracy, stripped of any strong black opposition party and with inadequate guarantees against future abuses of power. The people’s war has also contributed to South Africa’s plague of violent crime, if only because it turned policemen into targets of attack, loosened moral constraints, drew youngsters into heinous acts of violence, and flooded the country with illegal weapons, many of which have never been recovered. The people’s war now also has its aftermath in the increasingly violent protests visible across the country, including the recent stand-off between policemen and rebellious soldiers at the Union Buildings. For once the techniques of ungovernability have been widely taught, that knowledge cannot be withdrawn. The genie cannot simply be put back inside the bottle.

Since the people’s war strategy was a Marxist-Leninist one, it also cemented the influence of communists over the ANC and gave added reason for Chris Hani, general secretary of the SACP, to say in 1991, ‘We in the Communist Party have participated in and built the ANC. We have made the ANC what it is today and the ANC is our organisation.’ Hence, it is also not surprising that, following a hiatus in the late 1990s, when the Gear strategy was in force, communist influence over the ANC has again come strongly to the fore. Nor is it surprising that the ANC, having won the first stage of struggle via its people’s war, refuses to become an ordinary political party. Instead, it continues to regard itself as a national liberation movement committed to a national democratic revolution, the ultimate goals of which have never been fully explained but which continues to influence almost every major policy decision the government takes.

This book helps to remove the veil which has been drawn across our past and enables us to see it more clearly. It equips us to understand the present by comprehending more fully the events of our recent past. It also seeks to acknowledge and bring back to our recollection the thousands of ordinary people, like Nosipho Zamele of Queenstown in the eastern Cape, who died brutal deaths because they were regarded as nothing more than pawns in a power game, a battle for hegemony.’

Source: SA Inst. of Race Relations :: Jonathan Ball Book Launch

Responses:
** Mac Maharaj, ANC: History 101, anyone?
** Prince Buthelezi, IFP: Buthelezi welcomes publication of "People's War"

Reviews:
** Volksblad: Jeffery Werp Nuwe Lig of SA Bevrydingstryd
** Tonight: People's War: New Light On The Struggle For South Africa

Purchase: Kalahari :: Amazon UK :: Amazon Germany

2010 terror plot: 'SA not ready' || Islamic Paramilitary Training Camps in South Africa

Voorburg, The Hague. Afrikaners with Dutch forebears are rushing to apply for Dutch passports, reports the daily Algemeen Dagblad on March 28 2009 from their Voorburg office -- located in the diplomatic section of the Dutch capitol The Hague. Afrikaners with proof of Dutch roots are eligible for Netherlands passports…

Islamic Militancy Expert Hussein Soloman, says Islamic Extremists have already set up cells in South Africa.

A report from Molotov Cocktail documents further Islamic Paramilitary Training Camps in South Africa, including an alleged National Intelligence Agency (NIA) report, submitted to President Thabo Mbeki in 2001, documenting the establishment of Islamic paramilitary training camps in South Africa.

In my letter to the Austrian Embassy, on the issue of Boycotting the 2010 World Cup, I asked

Imagine, Mr. Seitter, Al’Qaeda or one of the Islamic terrorists groups, commit a terrorist act during the World Cup? I imagine you are aware of how the ANC have been funded by among others, Gaddafi, Bin Laden, et al, with millions and millions. Is it possible a politicized National intelligence agency and Ministry of Intelligence, could create the ‘spark’ of diversion, to ‘eliminate whites from Africa’; by planting enough evidence on some ‘patsy’s’ that such terrorist attack was done by some disgruntled ‘Boeremag’ farmers? Think about it.

Excerpt from Why We Are White Refugees Petition to Federal Court Justices, Canada:

[4.14] Who are the ANC's Paymasters?

[4.14.1] During the 2002 Elections, it was common knowledge that Al'Qaeda had made significant funding contributions to the ANC.

[4.14.2] During the recent elections, a report in the Mail and Guardian, ANC's Dodgy Funders, states, that the election effort was heavily subsidised by the ruling parties in Libya, Angola, China and India.

[4.14.3] The ANC also received funds from oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, one of Africa's most notorious dictatorships.

[4.14.4] The Libyan dictator Moammar Gadaffi, has long been a major funder of the ANC's election campaigns. For example, when former president Nelson Mandela visited Gadaffi in 1994 he returned with $40-million in briefcases to fund the ANC's election effort.

[5] Is the South African Government committed to the Social Contract, with White South Africans?

[5.1] The South African Goverments Response to South Africans who complain about Crime in South Africa: In parliament, Safety and Security Minister, Charles Nqakula, informed "you whites", that complain about crime to 'get out of the country if you don't like the crime.'

2010 terror plot: 'SA not ready'

Peter Fabricius
October 12 2009 at 11:53AM

The most authoritative work on terrorism was the February 1986 Report of the Vice President's Task Force on Combatting Terrorism, chaired by Vice President George Bush, Sr. This report concludes that the root cause of terrorism is overpopulation. Memo to UNHCR: Refugee Issues....

An expert on Islamic militancy has warned that the South African intelligence services are "woefully, inadequately prepared" for the potential threat of terrorism during the World Cup next year.

Hussein Solomon, head of the International Institute of Islamic Studies in Pretoria, said militants had already established cells in South Africa.

He was commenting today on reports that Somali terrorists linked to al-Qaeda have been planning to attack US interests here.

The Weekend Argus reported that the US government had closed its embassy in Pretoria and all other US government facilities for two days last month because intelligence agencies had intercepted a call from Khayelitsha to the al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab extremist group in Somalia, discussing a plot to blow up American interests.

This was apparently to be in retaliation for the US military killing of an Al-Shabaab commander in southern Somalia. The US suspected the commander of having played a role in the fatal bombing of US embassies in Nairobi and Dar el Salaam in 1998.

“What is the greater danger - nuclear warfare or the population explosion? The latter absolutely! To bring about nuclear war, someone has to DO something; someone has to press a button. To bring about destruction by overcrowding, mass starvation, anarchy, the destruction of our most cherished values-there is no need to do anything. We need only do nothing except -- breed. And how easy it is to do nothing.” -- Isaac Asimov Memo to UNHCR: Refugee Issues....

The sources added that the efforts by local intelligence agencies to trace the Cape Town Somalis was disrupted when police commissioner Bheki Cele went on national television to say that the country's intelligence structures were on top of the situation. This prompted the Somalis to go further underground.

Solomon said today that he had been trying to warn authorities for some time about the threat of terrorist action during the World Cup.

He said international policing agency Interpol had already warned of such a threat but the South African intelligence services did not seem to be listening.

"Our intelligence services are extremely politicised," Solomon said, adding that they would rather spy on investigative journalists to discover their sources than spy on potential terrorists.

"When I interact with our counter-intelligence people, they are more concerned about the Boeremag than al-Qaeda... But they are acting from an ideological perspective which is fundamentally out of sync with reality."

Solomon pointed to several instances where he said the local intelligence and security leadership had ignored potential terrorist threats for ideological reasons. He said the Pakistan government was convinced that two South Africans arrested in Pakistan after a gunfight between security forces and al-Qaeda elements a few years ago were linked to al-Qaeda.

But they had simply been released on their return to South Africa. This also happened to two South Africans arrested in Uganda more recently.

A future Islamic planet is not a pretty picture. Islam does not believe in gender equality and the Koran say that men are in charge of women. Under sharia law and in custom, Muslim men have far more worth than women..... Religion: Does it matter if your African Refugee is black, or white?

"Everyone outside this country seems to know who is threatening South Africa. We must not think we are protected because we are far away. Often these things have nothing to do with South Africa. They are just an opportunity to attack America."

Other sources said that Somali terrorists devised the strategy to take on the US in South Africa because it was easier than fighting the superpower in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia.

NIA spokeswoman Lorna Daniels refused to comment on the weekend reports.

A source quoted in the Weekend Argus said: "What has been established is that the Cape guys are linked to al-Qaeda cells in Somalia, who are connected to the group in Afghanistan. We have established that most al-Qaeda operatives are relocating from Afghanistan to Pakistan, attracted by increased lawlessness in Pakistan.

"Our information is that there is a trail that links Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and, most interestingly, Mozambique where Somalis have formed an anti-US cell already. The interception revealed that these people plan to move en masse from Mozambique to here (SA) in 2010 to attack American interests. Their point is that SA is not a target, but if South Africans are caught in the crossfire, then that would be unfortunate.

"Part of the intercepted conversations are on how America was stronger elsewhere but could be vulnerable here in South Africa."

This in spite of the US boosting security at its new premises in Sandton and Pretoria.

US embassy spokeswoman Sharon Hudson-Dean refused to comment on the threat, saying: "We do not comment on intelligence matters."

An NIA official said yesterday: "This is classified information. If you publish it, this will jeopardise an operation already under way." However, the source said Cele had already said publicly that intelligence officers were on the track of the extremists.

"I do not mean to be alarmist, but the US was right to take these people seriously because, we now know that they have links with shady characters who have access to old military hardware in Eastern Europe," said the source.

This article was originally published on page 1 of Cape Argus on October 12, 2009

Source: IOL



Islamic Paramilitary Training Camps in South Africa

Molotov Cocktail, March 2007

Ronnie Kasrils recently declared that there were no ‘established training camps’ in South Africa associated with ‘Al-Qaeda or other such groupings’.

Molotov Cocktail can now reveal that the Minister of Intelligence has not been kept fully informed. There is one substantial training camp – Greenbushes – situated approximately 25 miles outside Port Elizabeth on the Old Cape Road and rumours persist that camps are also based at Vaal Dam, Camperdown, and Schaap Kraal in the Western Cape. In addition, sources within the Tamil community suggest that the Tamil Tigers also sponsor training within South Africa.

Greenbushes training camp has existed, on and off, for more than a dozen years. Trainees who have passed through the camp report that Greenbushes possesses an assault course and a shooting range. The equipment, is apparently removed after training sessions. Amazingly, the camp has been visited by the local police who requested that trainees keep the noise down: apparently, neighbours had complained about the sound of guns being fired. The police found nothing extraordinary about the existence of the camp.

Leaders of the Greenbushes camp have commented privately that members of their organisation are also reservist policemen, and there is therefore little the local law enforcement forces can do.

They also claim to have a productive relationship with the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).

Molotov Cocktail has evidence in its possession suggesting that the NIA, the Scorpions and the CIA have periodically kept the camp under surveillance during the past decade. Despite the obvious need to apply South African law fairly and firmly, it seems likely that both domestic and international intelligence agencies have preferred to permit the camp to continue functioning in order to gather information on the networks of Islamic fundamentalists. It is critical to recognise that the existence of the training camp has not yet progressed to terrorist activity within South Africa.

Nevertheless, sources report that trainees who have passed through Greenbushes later travelled to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.

An intriguing document ‘Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement) Al-Mujii Al Islamiyaj’, which claims to be the work of the NIA, is available on the internet. The report is dated 24 September 2001, less than two weeks after 9/11. The document reveals that Sheikh Abu Abdula[h], a representative of Hamas visted South Africa in July 1996 and ‘during a closed meeting ... stated that Hamas has decided to open an office in Port Elizabeth under cover of the Al-Aqsa International Foundation ... Abdula also paid a visit to the paramilitary camp at Greenbushes, where he mentioned that the facility was too basic and needed to be upgraded.’

Ronnie Kasrils recently said that: ‘We clearly need to continue to strengthen the capacity of our intelligence and law enforcement bodies. We need to know our societies well enough to predict threats and act against them.’ In this spirit, Molotov Cocktail attempts to unpack the complicated story and series of personalities surrounding Greenbushes training camp.

The family behind Greenbushes are the Desais of Port Elizabeth. In particular, Moulana Nazier Desai, who is described in the internet NIA report as the ‘Amir of South African Mujahideen’. One source reports that ‘the Desais walk around armed like cowboys’, another comments that although the Desais are wealthy in their own right, they also receive funding from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. Local people are said to be scared of the family and powerful figures from Middle Eastern countries are said to have visited the Desais in South Africa. The Desai family are in the process of building an Islamic Centre, Daru-Uloom in Malabar. Eventually the Centre will have the capacity to accommodate 72 young male students.

Two instructors from the Centre have been known to take the students to the training camp on Wednesday and Sunday mornings between 7a.m. and 10.30. Greenbushes training camp is known to the students and the instructors as ‘the Recreation Camp’. But it is far more than just recreation ...

In addition to learning archery and horse-riding – in respect to the favoured pastimes of the prophet Mohammed – the youths at the training camp are also being taught combat skills and how to handle firearms. The weapons being employed are high-calibre handguns, R1 rifles and AK 47s: all of which are illegal in South Africa.

Sources suggest that a former SANDF soldier, Trevor Nel, was at one point responsible for the military training of the youths. One source reports that optical ‘night-sights’ are being used at the camp. But it is also apparent that many members of the rapidly growing Muslim community of Port Elizabeth, and further afield, have at one time or another visited Green-bushes camp.

Nazier Desai explained a few years ago that the purpose of the camp is ‘to get our youngsters ready to fight if there is ever a need to. [The camp would] give the youngsters and grown ups the proper military training.’

There is a makeshift Mosque on the site.

The Desai family of Port Elizabeth is, apparently, at war with itself. A feud is said to exist between Nazier and his brother Salim and their cousins Ahmed Sadeck (also believed to be known as MI Ahmed) and Ebrahim. Although Ahmed Sadeck Desai controls the funds for the camp, Nazier is understood to be in charge of the training. Despite the feud, the funds continue to flow between the cousins in this extended family. In the late 1990s, Ahmed Sadeck Desai was arrested in Bangladesh; he was held for a year before his release. In addition, in the early 1990s one of Nazier’s sons attempted to build a bomb which exploded and disfigured him.

Ahmed Sadeck Desai is described by sources as an ascetic, whereas his cousin Nazier makes regular appearances on local Islamic radio and gives lectures on religious matters.

Reports from sources close to the Desai family reveal that the cousins regularly meet in a room at the back of Ebrahim Desai’s shop, Sufyaans Tiles. Visitors are scanned for recording devices and cellphones upon entering.

This is where the meetings with Pakistani, Afghan and Saudi Arabian visitors have taken place.

It is now common knowledge that al-Qaeda is not a functioning organisation but a shell which franchises its identity to militant Islamic groups around the world.

Are the Desais running the PE branch of al-Qaeda or is there a more simple explanation? It is difficult to be certain but Nazier Desai has clearly been running a training camp of sorts – it is certainly well-established enough to meet the criterion of the Minister of Intelligence. But numerous questions abound: Why has it taken so long so long to complete the Islamic centre in Malabar? Why does the camp appear to shut down for holidays? What is exactly are the Desais connections with extrem-ist groups in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Pakistan? Is there truth in the reports that the Desais are in the process of selling the Greenbushes site? The concept of a paramilitary training camp might appear to be fantastical and, perhaps, there is an aspect of self-delusion in the activities of the Desais. However, that does not mean that the paramilitary training that occurred at Greenbushes is entirely innocent or that militants have not travelled from Greenbushes to the Middle East. It should, however be reiterated that the majority of the people who have attended the camp have returned to normal life in South Africa and do not constitute a series of sleeper cells across the country. However, the security forces have certainly been lax in permitting the existence of the Greenbushes camp. It would only take one person to decide to put the training into practice in a major South African city and the repercussions would be felt all over the world.

The Muslim population of South Africa has prospered since the end of apartheid. It is well-represented in government and it has been successful in business. Despite the obvious sympathy and financial support offered to Muslims suffering in the Middle East and elsewhere, Muslim South Africans would not tolerate Islamic terrorism in this country. Ronnie Kasrils said during his recent speech at the Brenthurst conference on terrorism: ‘While all the evidence suggests that Southern Africa is certainly not a primary target, we remain vigilant, as no country can claim
invulnerability, nor can we rule out an opportunistic act against foreign targets on our soil. So far, the number of suspected operatives and supporters that have been identified are very small, with no infrastructure or established training camps to speak of.’

If only that was completely accurate.

Molotov Cocktail has made numerous attempts to contact Nazier Desai for comment.

Source: Molotov Cocktail: Ed.1 (PDF:14MB)
Note: The aformentioned "alleged intriguing document ‘Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement) Al-Mujii Al Islamiyaj’, which claims to be the work of the NIA," is available at Cryptome (PDF Copy)

Are White Africans Naïve utopian idealists?: Exporting Farmers -- From the South African Frying Pan Into the African Fire...

Climate change, energy depletion, food shortages, resource wars, species extinction - these are not the problem, they are only the symptoms. The singular root problem that causes all these horrifying threats to mankind is overpopulation.... The Population Elephant: The Problems with “The Problem”

Consider the following two articles on Farming in Africa, included below: (i) Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU SA)'s report Exporting Farmers -- From the Frying Pan into the Fire; and (ii) Is it a Trap? South African Farmers in High Demand Across Africa!

Add to that the Daily Mail's Special Investigation: The secret race war in South Africa that threatens to overshadow the World Cup.

Then consider the principles and advice in The Dark Side of Optimism; or the Bright Side of Bias. Are you also perhaps

reminded of Mike Smith’s allegations that South Africans suffered from ‘Buyers Remorse’ (How Good are Good Intentions?) and “Paradigm Paralysis” (Shifting the Paradigm of Multiculturalism); like naïve utopian idealists, we purchased the ‘Truth and Reconciliation’ Multicultural Rainbow Illusion; and slowly we are waking up to the Snake Oil Salesmen’s lies, and our own complicity in our blinkered refusal to confront reality. How complicit are we in allowing our thinking, to be misused, by remaining subservient to destructive beliefs? Why, and how, do we allow politicians, priests, professors and journalists, to tell us what to think?

EXPORTING FARMERS – FROM THE FRYING PAN INTO THE FIRE

South African Bulletin
From the Headquarters of TAU SA in Pretoria
Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU)

Declining respect for the instruments of collective government as they are used increasingly by the elites to preserve or increase their share of a declining resource base.Do you observe any of these symptoms in your "real world"? If you do, you should suspect that your society is in advanced stages of overshoot. 18July 2006 :: PeakOil_RSA Briefing Paper

The fact that South Africa has farmers to export is somewhat bizarre – the country’s population is 48 million and rising, while a small coterie of 37 000 farmers provides food not only for this number of people but for the surrounding African states as well. It is a very thin line.

This achievement is arguably unsurpassed in the developed world – as we have mentioned before, there is one farmer for 100 people in France, while one SA farmer feeds 1 500 people. Yet SA government encroachment on productive farmland continues – the deadline for the transfer of 30% of the country’s productive farms to blacks may be extended from 2014 to 2025, making it virtually impossible for any commercial farmer to look one generation ahead with tenure security.

This tenuous position has been capitalized on by a new venture under way- the proposed export of SA farmers to African countries where their expertise – well known throughout the world – is supposed to kick-start these countries’ agricultural economies, while offering SA farmers the opportunity to make money and/or set up farming operations on leased land.

This has been tried before – and in most instances it has failed. In some countries, it has failed spectacularly. Press reports have indicated that SA farmers have been invited to Libya, and other countries which have issued invitations include Congo-Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Sudan, Angola, Zambia and Uganda.

Minister of Agriculture Tina Joemat-Pettersson told a congress recently that government had “thrown its weight” behind the farmer export plan: “If we can’t find opportunities for white South African farmers in this country, we must do it elsewhere in Africa”, she declared.

Some years ago there were 65 000 commercial farmers in South Africa. Government policies of encouraging land claimants to make claims against farms (thus crimping the farmer’s ability to farm for his future), the continuous threats of expropriation made by ANC cadres, the farm murders, stock theft, outrageous taxes (with no service delivery) and tenure and labour laws have reduced farming “opportunities” so that going into Africa is now considered an option, something unheard of twenty years ago.


FARMING IN AFRICA

African countries cannot feed themselves, for a multitude of reasons. In sub-Saharan Africa, those now asking for help are basket cases, yet their agricultural potential is far superior to that of South Africa’s. The people make the difference, and the people don’t change.

TAU SA spoke to farmers who have been part of these “going into Africa” schemes before, and their stories are hair-raising.


FARMER FROM HOEDSPRUIT

“I was in one of the early groups which went to Congo (Brazzaville) to farm and after two years, we fled for our lives. Never again! Those farmers who are now thinking of going there have no idea of what they are letting themselves in for! Nobody speaks English, there are no schools, malaria is as widespread as the flu, and you must bring your own medicines because there’s nothing there. If you get really sick, you can go to doctors who don’t speak English or you must fly back to South Africa.

“Yes they have beautiful, fertile land – and this is why their situation is so tragic. With such soil, how do they fail so dismally? To start with, they are corrupt and the labour is bone lazy, especially the men. They “siesta” from 12 to 3 every day.

“The French nationals we found there were not there to develop the land. They were milking it dry – they ploughed nothing back, and they were extremely unhelpful to us, even antagonistic, because we wanted to help the local people learn how to farm!

“The roads are unbelievably bad. (They are virtually impassable from November to May, the rainy season). Flights between Congo and South Africa are expensive, so going backwards and forwards to see family is out of the question.”


FARMER FROM BRONKHORSTSPRUIT

“I left my farm in the Congo with R300 in my pocket. I spent three months in the Point Noire slums before I found a job in mining. The Congo government was parasitic and voracious – bribes were the order of the day, and I was stopped one day in my car by a policemen who ordered me to pay “pollution tax” of $100 before I could drive on!

“My new job in the DRC across the river meant I had to deal with state personnel. They disliked whites and saw them as walking banks, to be plundered using any excuse. A friend was fined because he drove a car in shorts!

“One day government soldiers came and closed the mine. No warnings, no negotiations, just get out! This when the mine was 100% functional! If the government can do that, it can take your farm at the drop of a hat. The plan is to invite white farmers to resuscitate the land and when it’s functioning, they will simply take it, as they did in Zimbabwe. (Italics ours). This is the real reason for importing white farmers, not to introduce farming for the benefit of the local population but to end up with something they can expropriate!

“Because they are incapable of creating anything, their whole modus operandi is to take what others create. An example of this is Black Economic Empowerment in South Africa where stealing the hard work of others is legal. It’s a mentality right throughout sub-Saharan Africa, and those who want to throw away years of their life should do so under no illusions – an African promise is like the morning mist! It disappears in the sun!”

Another TAU SA correspondent asks: why go to the Congo? It is more politically unstable than South Africa. He took a chance and went to the Congo some years ago, under another SA-engineered scheme. He spent seven years there, and farmed cucumbers and tomatoes, but there were not sufficient markets near the farm. To take his products to the cities was too expensive, and people couldn’t afford to buy.

Oil Company Shell had planted 40 000 hectares of bluegum trees, but eventually the company packed its bags and left because government promises and contracts meant nothing. Shell felt it better to leave rather than to throw good money after bad.

They talk of potential, he says. But the potential is unrealizable because of the people who live in those countries. Nothing is delivered, despite the myriad promises. Bribes must be paid at every corner. There was only one good European-style clinic in the country. Outside the cities, the government’s control is virtually non-existent. Warlords control various parts of the country, and what they say, goes. South African groups who want to help “have good intentions, but they are being led by the nose by people who do not share their values and do not appreciate their largesse”.

In 1997 rebel groups looted farms which had been established by SA farmers. The farmers had to flee with only the shirts on their backs. Some crossed the border to the DRC just in time! Another farmer’s life was saved by his satellite phone – he called and was rescued from the long grass next to an airfield. He escaped death by a rampaging mob by the skin of his teeth!

In 1973, president of the then Zaire (now DRC) Mobutu Sese-Seko seized 2 000 foreign owned enterprises – farms, plantations, ranches, factories and shops. There was no compensation. He acquired a vast agricultural empire which eventually fell into disrepair.

The country disintegrated and he invited foreigners to return in 1976, but few came back. Who’s to say this won’t happen again? And if it does, what is the SA Minister of Agriculture’s guarantee worth?


LIBYA

The Libyan proposition could be different, but it appears to be something of an Iraq scenario. People with skills are hired to do a job, but they do not establish their future there. SA farmers are being invited to resuscitate Libyan state farms – the Libyan government wants them revived through private sector partnerships with themselves. (Where is the Libyan private sector?) SA farmers are astounded at the unrealized agricultural potential, but why is this? Libya is a socialized state – after the Al Fatah revolution when Gadaffi came to power, he confiscated Italian-owned farms which were redistributed. The Gadaffi government’s policy since then was to prevent large private sector farming, and the country is now reaping the results of that decision.

There appears to be no talk of “privatizing” farmland in Libya – the government wants SA farmers to bring the current under-productive situation up to productivity, and then what happens to the SA farmers? They must in all probability go home.

Websites on Libyan agriculture show little activity in large-scale private commercial farming. Agriculture is still to a large degree state owned, and there is no Ministry of Agriculture. The effects of Libyan government policy is that 70% of the country’s food has to be imported. If SA farmers are to be paid handsomely, then this is their choice. However, there would seem to be no possibilities for long-term relocation there. Arabic is the national language, and where would SA children go to school?


ANGOLA

Angola is currently offering two farms totalling 140 000 ha in a “prime production area”, but in 2002 a South African farming group entered into an Agreement with the Angolan government to develop 2000 hectares in the Cunene Province to plant maize, wheat and other food crops “to improve the quality of life of the communities directly affected by the proposed agricultural project”. The terms of the Agreement were expansive, practical and of immense benefit to the local people. Funds were approved by the World Bank, with the SA farmers putting up seed money. An information center for farmers within a 300 km radius of the core farm was to be set up, with agricultural high schools for their sons proposed.

At the last minute, the Angolan government minister involved demanded 50% of the profits, and the transaction fell through. The lesson: the government and its ministers felt nothing for their own people, and this inherent corruption and lack of respect for the hard work necessary to build up and sustain commercial agriculture is the reason why South African farmers are being asked to “transfer their expertise” in these countries. Expertise is one thing, attitude is another, and unless the latter changes, the former will be a waste of time.

The SA government is reported to be “thrashing out” a policy framework for this latest proposal. This would include safeguards for property rights “independent of current political leadership”. “We will sign state-to-state agreements confirmed in international courts and you are guaranteed your land will not be taken away from you” said the SA Minister of Agriculture.

To which international court could Zimbabwe farmers turn when their property was stolen? To which arbitration body could the SA farmers report when their farms were looted by marauding thugs in the Congo and DRC? There are no guarantees, and those who live in Africa know this. Or should know this!

Source: PRAAG Newsgroup



Is It a Trap?: South African farmers in high demand across Africa

Today, 6.5 billion humans depend entirely on oil for food, energy, plastics & chemicals... Oil Factor: Behind the War on Terror

“If you control the oil you control the country; if you control the food, you control the population.”
~ Henry Kissinger ~

Population growth is on a collision course with the inevitable decline in oil production.... Oil, Smoke & Mirrors

To give the reader an idea of the energy intensiveness of modern agriculture, production of one kilogram of nitrogen for fertilizer requires the energy equivalent of from 1.4 to 1.8 liters of diesel fuel. This is not considering the natural gas feedstock.

In a very real sense, we are literally eating fossil fuels. However, due to the laws of thermodynamics, there is not a direct correspondence between energy inflow and outflow in agriculture.

Modern intensive agriculture is unsustainable. It is damaging the land, draining water supplies and polluting the environment. And all of this requires more and more fossil fuel input to pump irrigation water, to replace nutrients, to provide pest protection, to remediate the environment and simply to hold crop production at a constant. Yet this necessary fossil fuel input is going to crash headlong into declining fossil fuel production. ~ Eating Fossil Fuels, by Dale Allen Pfeiffer ~

Crude Awakening: Oil Crash

Consider the realities of Peak Oil on the future of industrial agriculture....

Then ask yourself 'Is it a Trap?'

Or don't these farmers know that the entire industry of industrial agriculture relies on cheap fossil fuels?

What will white people do for a bit of black 'appreciation' and 'acceptance'?

How long do these farmers wait to find out the 'appreciation' and 'acceptance' was just another 'Truth and Reconciliation' bulls*t story?

Or is it just an ingenious African-Madoff Ponzi Investment Scheme?

South African farmers in high demand across Africa

Ghana Business News | May 9, 2009
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi

South African farmers are now in high demand across the African continent, ghanabusinessnews.com has learnt.

Information available to ghanabusinessnews.com indicates that a number of African countries are inviting South African farmers to come over to their countries and ply their trade, and Libya is included.

Libyan leader, Muamar Gaddafi is specifically requesting for 80 South African farmers to come over to Libya to farm.

And the Financial Mail has reported that South African farmers are flocking to accept an invitation from the government of the Republic of Congo (Brazaville) to start commercial farming.

Recently ghanabusinessnews.com carried a story about an organization called GHANSA which is working with and encouraging South African farmers to come over to Ghana to do commercial farming, and the story has generated some debate, especially over land issues in the country.

The other countries that are inviting South African farmers are Uganda and Kenya.

In Congo Brazaville for instance, the government has offered free land, exemption from taxes and import duties for five years, and the freedom to repatriate profits to South Africa. The country is also offering the South African farmers the option of retaining the rights to sell the businesses or leave them to their heirs.

According to the reports, the South African farmers in return must establish a commercial farming sector that will ensure food security within five years. Congo Brazaille imports almost all of its food because the country’s agriculture sector is severely neglected.

The colonial masters of the Congo, France however appears unhappy with the development, according to a South African farmers’ co-operative, Agri-Braz.

Its chairman, Andre Botha was quoted as saying “Congo-Brazzaville is a dumping ground for third-grade French food products. The French, Congo-Brazzaville’s former colonial masters, are not happy with us. They know what South African farmers can achieve.”

As part of the enticement package, Congo Brazzaville has undertaken to help farmers with infrastructure such as roads, telecommunications and railways.

Fertiliser manufacturers and others have expressed interest in the venture, and logistical challenges are being addressed - such as the development of home-schooling packages for children of relocating farmers, Botha has said.

About 94% of Congo-Brazzaville’s people live in cities and towns, making it Africa’s most urbanised country. “The remaining 6% live in 90% of the country and there is almost no commercial agriculture taking place, despite abundant fertile arable land,” according to Botha.

Adding, “there is about 10m ha available in a country that straddles the equator and therefore has two summers. It is humid, hot and wet, better than Winterton in KwaZulu Natal, regarded as the best farming land in South Africa with its average annual rainfall of 1 100 mm. In the Congo it is 1 500 mm on average.”

Botha notes that SA’s two major maize-growing areas enjoy far less rainfall: the Nigel-Potchefstroom-Vanderbijlpark triangle averages 450 mm-700 mm, and Lichtenburg-Bothaville-Ventersdorp 600 mm-700 mm.

The South African farmers are attracted to this particular offer and others they are considering in Africa because of the acceptance and appreciation they are getting from these countries, which South Africa has failed to offer them.

While South African farmers would not leave the country permanently, they would accept these offers because of the good business opportunities that they offer.

Sources: Farm Land Grab :: Eating Fossil Fuels (PDF:138K) :: ILuvSA

SAPS Beyond the Brink of Collapse... ANC Don't Care....

The following news Report, DA: Govt unconcerned about problems at SAPS and DA Press Release, New 2009 police data shows rot has set into Police Service; provide further evidence to Ivan Myers Report The South African Police Service - An Organisation on the Brink of Collapse, which stated among others:

Many communities are not very cooperative with the police in the first instance as they perceive the police as a joke when they view the physical attributes of some police men and women, their inability to exercise literacy skills and the polices general reluctance to respond to complaints.

It is interesting to note that Ask Afrika’s Orange Index gave the S A Police Service a 0% rating whilst private security companies achieved a 60.71% rating. What is even more disturbing is that Chicken Licken outlets achieved a service rating of 53.57% which, if it was feasible would make it appropriate to report crime at your nearest Chicken Licken outlet.

By placing thousands of additional ill-trained members on the streets in so called sectors will not resolve the problem as these members merely drive around aimlessly without the communities’ interests at heart. A solution to the problem would be to recruit people from the communities that they are meant to serve who are of good character and standing in the respective community. This will entail members of the Service having a vested interest in the well being of their own communities as well as being known by the community who will in turn be more cooperative with the members.

Providing context to Huntley's allegations, that:

.... filing a charge with the SAPS is a waste of time; .... the state & security forces's inability or unwillingness to protect him.”

DA: Govt unconcerned about problems at SAPS

Cape Town, South Africa
Nov 17 2009 14:53

The South African Police Service: An Organisation on the Brink of Collapse, by Ivan Myers (SAPS)

New data shows the rot has set in at the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the government appears unconcerned to attend to the most fundamental problems, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Tuesday.

Replies to a number of parliamentary questions showed, among other things, that lost and stolen police case dockets were up 57% and sample backlogs at forensic science laboratories up by 105%, DA spokesperson Dianne Kohler Barnard said.

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa's reply to a written question regarding the newly established Hawks revealed that only 5% of Hawks employees had been vetted.

As many as 2 187 employees submitted applications, but only 118 so far had received clearance. At this rate of 24 per month, it would take seven years to vet all the applicants.

"While South Africa's crime rate is worsening, we cannot allow administrative inefficiencies to further compromise our safety."

On July 1, a total of 639 cases were transferred from the former Directorate of Special Operations to the new Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI).

It was reasonable to believe very little progress had been made on any of these cases if the staff compliment was this low.

The DA said police compliance with the recommendations of the watchdog Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) had dropped to 10%. The IDC made 1 212 recommendations to the SAPS last year and there was no response to 90% of these.

"Last year, the compliance rate stood at 58,1%, which means that we have witnessed a marked worsening of an already bad situation.

"Now we can see quite clearly that this administration has very little interest in ensuring proper police oversight," Kohler Barnard said.

Another reply revealed that the backlog at forensic science laboratories had increased from 11 907 samples in September 2008 to 24 375 samples by August 2009 -- a 105% increase year-on-year.

Chemistry sample backlogs were up 80,4%, the backlog in scientific analysis by 526%, and whereas no ballistics backlog was recorded at this time last year, it now stood at 2 846 samples.

"It now takes, on average, more than five months for a biology sample to be processed by our forensic science laboratories."

A total of 671 dockets were lost or stolen in 2008/09 -- up 57% from the 427 lost or stolen last year.

This, in turn, represented a 75% increase since 2005/06, when 382 dockets were lost or stolen.

Equally disturbing was the fact that in only five of the 671 cases, officers were dismissed for the loss of dockets, while only one-fifth of incidents resulted in any disciplinary action at all.

In sum, the figures showed the SAPS faced an array of severe challenges that simply were not being addressed.

Time and again safety experts, concerned citizens groups and the official opposition had raised concerns over the lack of action from the department in tackling basic problems in the police.

"What is quite clear is that the ANC government is totally unconcerned about sorting out the most fundamental problems in our SAPS," Kohler-Barnard said. -- Sapa

Source: Mail & Guardian



New 2009 police data shows rot has set into Police Service

Dianne Kohler Barnard, Shadow Minister of Police
17 November 2009

DA: SAPS in Crisis (PDF)

A series of replies to Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary questions released today reveal that lost and stolen police case dockets are up 57%, sample backlogs at forensic science laboratories are up 105%, compliance with recommendations from the police watchdog are down from 42% to 10%, and only 5% of Hawks applicants have been vetted, meaning that at this rate it will take more than seven years for all applicants to be vetted.

In other words, while the minister and his deputy have been busying themselves with turf wars, and while the police commissioner has been preoccupied with rabble-rousing speeches, the problems facing the Police Service have been allowed to spiral out of control.

(a) Hawks in crisis

A parliamentary reply revealed that only 5% of Hawks employees have been vetted. 2187 employees submitted applications, but only 118 so far have received clearance. At this rate of 24 per month, it will take 7 years to vet all the applicants.

Whilst South Africa’s crime rate is worsening, we cannot allow administrative inefficiencies to further compromise our safety. On 1 July 2009, a total of 639 cases were transferred from the DSO to the DPCI, the date on which the Scorpions ceased to exist. It is reasonable to believe that very little progress has been made on any of these cases, if the staff compliment is this low. Five months since the vetting started, the Department still feels that “there is no delay in concluding the process” and no action has been taken against those responsible for the vetting processes.

(b) Compliance with the police watchdog

A reply to a parliamentary question has also revealed that only 10% of Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) recommendations were adhered to by the Police. The police watchdog made 1,212 recommendations to the SAPS last year and there was no response to 90% of these recommendations.

Last year, the compliance rate stood at 58.1%, which means that we have witnessed a marked worsening of an already bad situation.

The DA submitted a Private Member’s Legislative Proposal in June of this year, which sought to empower this body and give it ‘teeth’, but so far all we have seen from the Ministry of Police is stalling efforts. Now we can see quite clearly that this administration has very little interest in ensuring proper police oversight.

(c) Forensic science laboratory backlogs

A parliamentary reply reveals that the backlog at forensic science laboratories has increased from 11,907 samples in September 2008 to 24,375 samples by August 2009.

This constitutes a 105% increase, year-on-year. Chemistry sample backlogs are up 80.4%, the backlog in scientific analysis has increased by 526%, and whereas no ballistics backlog was recorded at this time last year, we now have a backlog of 2,846 ballistics samples. It now takes, on average, more than five months for a biology sample to be processed by our Forensic Science Laboratories.

In the space of a year, we have seen a spiraling of sample backlogs, but absolutely no attention has been paid to the crisis within our FSLs: the shocking vacancy rates, terrible staff retention policies, and shortfall of forensic science laboratories. Forensic experts have raised numerous concerns over these issues over the past year, but again the police brass has been preoccupied with other more glamorous issues.

(d) Case dockets

A parliamentary reply reveals that a total of 671 dockets were lost or stolen in 2008/09 – up 57% from the 427 that were lost or stolen last year.

This in turn represents a 75% increase since 2005/06, when 382 dockets were lost or stolen. Equally disturbing is the fact that in only 5 of the 671 cases, officers were dismissed for the loss of dockets, while only one fifth of incidents resulted in any disciplinary action at all.

Missing dockets represent a severe impediment to any police investigation, and the failure to take action against offending officers means that there is no effective deterrent in place, and, thus, that the situation is unlikely to improve in future. It is also simply unconscionable in this day and age that we have handwritten dockets going missing. We have long called for automatic information backups to be made mandatory, and for a real-time crime information system, which would incorporate secure networked access to police case dockets, but the Ministry of Police have yet to give this proposal the attention it deserves.

In sum, these figures show that the South African Police Service faces an array of severe challenges that simply are not being addressed. Time and again safety experts, concerned citizens’ groups and the official opposition have raised concerns over the lack of action from the Department of Police in tackling basic problems in the SAPS. For instance, our SAPS in Crisis document, released earlier this year, identified many of the problems that we are talking about today, and set out detailed steps that need to be taken by the Department of Police to address them. They never did so, and now the situation is even worse.

What is quite clear is that the ANC government is totally unconcerned about sorting out the most fundamental problems in our SAPS.

Copies of each of the replies refered to in this statement are available upon request from rossv@da.org.za.

Source: Democratic Alliance: SAPS in Crisis (PDF)
Related: SAPS R150 Million Jet Scandal

Open Letter to President Jacob Zuma; from Ek is 'n BOER, en TROTS daarop! (Marietjie Smuts)

An Excellent Open Letter to President Jacob Zuma, posted to Facebook Group: Ek is 'n BOER, en TROTS daarop!, by Marietjie Smuts, that needs to be read by every South African

Let’s be honest. The apartheid system that was toppled in 1994 was NOT a good system, I agree with that. I personally have NEVER voted for the NP either, because for longer than I care to remember, they were busy with their plan to bury our country… Their plan was hatched when Dr. Verwoerd – a GOOD man - decided we will NOT become members of the Commonwealth, and everything that it would entail! The West could therefore no longer get their grubby and greedy paws on our country’s riches, and Dr. Verwoerd had to be eliminated! Why? Because what he planned on doing, threatened to WORK! It threatened to turn this country into a rich, thriving, AND INDEPENDENT country! A country that would not have had to listen to the orders or manipulations of other countries!

Why? Because ONLY by allowing EVERY ethnic group to govern himself in his own traditional areas, by investing the country’s riches in separate development ACROSS the country, and by supporting all these ethnic groups in their own areas, could you solve the problems we are faced with today! Over population, unemployment, crime, oppression of minorities! So they eliminated Dr. Verwoerd! And the process to break the country’s back was started! Apartheid was invented, and they made sure it was put into place at the same rate as it was being condemned across the world, so that sanctions could be brought in against the country…

Why did this happen, why did this succeed? Because it was carefully manipulated and DESIGNED to become a disaster… They designed our country’s downfall, and they did not care how they used us, its inhabitants! It was never meant to help the indigenous people of Africa! The West has never cared one bit about what happened in Africa! I lived in Europe for 5 years! I know what their attitude is!

“Let Africa rot! As long as we get the gold and the diamonds, the titanium, the platinum, the oil, whatever we need! And while they kill each other with the guns we are so kind to supply them with, while we fuel their ethnic fights, we even get them to mine the minerals - cheaply!” Yes, when it’s not black against white, it is tribe against tribe…

Open Letter to President Jacob Zuma

by Marietjie Smuts
Ek is 'n BOER, en TROTS daarop!

Dear Mr. President,

I will address you with the necessary respect, as President of South Africa, not because I voted for you, but because you were elected into a position of power, as President of my beloved country, and are therefore deserving of respect. This is however merely an official formality. That being said, I want to remind you what this position actually implies! What you need to do to be deserving of that respect!

You as the President of our country is RESPONSIBLE for this huge country of ours! For ALL its inhabitants, no matter what ethnic group! I will as far as possible refrain from using colour here, as this should NEVER have been an issue! It was TURNED into an issue – by people who only had their own best interests in mind! And they were NOT from here! They were not from South Africa, or even Southern Africa, they were NOT from Africa!

YOUR NAME will be recorded in history! History that you are still busy writing… You have the option of how you want to be remembered… The President who continued the downward spiral of the newest African country to bite the dust, while the West – and lately the East in the form of China too - applauded and continued to rape our country, sucking it dry of all its minerals and other riches? Like the rest of Africa? Will you be the president who will continue to be used as a puppet, happy to fill his own pockets, and that of his friends and family, happy to at least be one of those “previously disadvantaged” who can now benefit from the scraps left over by the World’s Money Markets… While the rest of your country gets poorer, and unrest bubbles up all around you, fuelled by those same people who are sucking it dry. With only one sure end, your own certain downfall?

Minority Rights in RSA @ Facebook

OR, can you pull the rug from underneath those puppeteer’s feet! You can show what you are really capable of, and you can help to rewrite history! You can turn the tide of destruction – IF you are willing and able to STOP being manipulated! I do not need to tell you by whom! You know that very well!

It is up to you to choose honour, to EARN a place in history, NOT because you were turned into a “god” by the media, by those people who wanted to cripple and suck our country dry, who thought the average person in this country would be pacified with promises of freedom, with a man-made icon that did NOT actually do anything for them! Because, let’s face it, the bulk of this country is worse off today than 15 years ago! The only difference, those people who helped build this country al these years, are driven from the country… By crime, by unfair practices, by reverse apartheid… And the whole country is SUFFERING because of that!

Vierkleur Wapper Weer! @ Facebook

You of all people should know why you were elected – the election was after all a carefully staged political farce filled with promises that could never be kept – like all elections before this one. But you do not need to feel guilty, because every single politician in that election did exactly the same! They had people doing their planning, deciding on what would be the most acceptable approach, what would people most likely fall for… What would move them to make their cross in the “right” place. Not ONE spent any time on thinking or planning how they will put their money where their mouths are! NO! It was all about the ultimate prize. Which party would win… And that’s it – until the next election. Once in the saddle, they would just have to ride the “rodeo” for as long as possible. And bad luck for the ones who do not make it…

I do know that at least to a certain extent, you of all people may have had at least a tad more honesty and drive, and to a certain extent you really wanted what is best for YOUR people… The Zulu nation. Because just like I am proud to be called a BOER, you are proud to be called a ZULU. Because we are both members of an indigenous African nation, I have the freedom to write this letter, because I have felt for many months that it is time that we face our country’s REAL enemies! To a certain extent I also feel sorry for you, because you inherited a political cesspool that is doomed, it can never work, it WILL never work. Because what you are doing, by continuing on the road you are, is like trying to hold on to water using a sieve… You and I know that the road the ANC is travelling today, can NEVER lead to any really free and flourishing country… Because that road was NOT designed to succeed, the idea was NEVER for it to reach a happy ending!

Boerevolk Trust @ Facebook

Let’s be honest. The apartheid system that was toppled in 1994 was NOT a good system, I agree with that. I personally have NEVER voted for the NP either, because for longer than I care to remember, they were busy with their plan to bury our country… Their plan was hatched when Dr. Verwoerd – a GOOD man - decided we will NOT become members of the Commonwealth, and everything that it would entail! The West could therefore no longer get their grubby and greedy paws on our country’s riches, and Dr. Verwoerd had to be eliminated! Why? Because what he planned on doing, threatened to WORK! It threatened to turn this country into a rich, thriving, AND INDEPENDENT country! A country that would not have had to listen to the orders or manipulations of other countries!

Why? Because ONLY by allowing EVERY ethnic group to govern himself in his own traditional areas, by investing the country’s riches in separate development ACROSS the country, and by supporting all these ethnic groups in their own areas, could you solve the problems we are faced with today! Over population, unemployment, crime, oppression of minorities! So they eliminated Dr. Verwoerd! And the process to break the country’s back was started! Apartheid was invented, and they made sure it was put into place at the same rate as it was being condemned across the world, so that sanctions could be brought in against the country…

KommandoKorps @ Facebook

Why did this happen, why did this succeed? Because it was carefully manipulated and DESIGNED to become a disaster… They designed our country’s downfall, and they did not care how they used us, its inhabitants! It was never meant to help the indigenous people of Africa! The West has never cared one bit about what happened in Africa! I lived in Europe for 5 years! I know what their attitude is!

“Let Africa rot! As long as we get the gold and the diamonds, the titanium, the platinum, the oil, whatever we need! And while they kill each other with the guns we are so kind to supply them with, while we fuel their ethnic fights, we even get them to mine the minerals - cheaply!” Yes, when it’s not black against white, it is tribe against tribe…

Making the World Aware of Atrocities in SA! @ Facebook

They only cared about their own pockets! You of all people, and in the position you are today, know what I mean! This “staged” toppling of an “apartheid government” that was firstly SHAPED to become a disaster was a weapon used by money-hunger powers OUTSIDE our country to get hold of our country! But it was put into place by those vile human beings, members of our own groups, our own leaders, who betrayed us! And all the different ethnic groups in our lovely country were incited against each other, the way you incite dogs to fight against each other by throwing a bloody piece of meat amongst them! So we turned on each other, and we forgot about what is really going on behind the scenes!

We forgot about the fact that we have a lovely country, filled with minerals. Minerals that are coveted by other countries! Whose envious eyes did not miss a single carat of diamonds, a single ounce of gold that they could not in some way or another lay claim to. Countries that have NOT STOPPED BEFORE to lay their greedy paws on what is rightfully ours! That belonged to ALL the people of Southern Africa!

Gelofte van Bloedrivier 16 Desember 1838 @ Facebook

I want you to be honest with yourself! Since apartheid has gone, things have NOT improved, BEE is NOT working, crime is getting completely out of hand, and it does NOT only affect the whites in this country!

Mr. Zuma, it is time that you face the facts! You DO NEED US WHITES! You can not continue to trample us, to push us down, to punish us for crimes we did NOT commit against your people! Those crimes were committed by a government that was also manipulated, the way you are manipulated today! The real criminals were the people in that government that knew full well what they did and why they did it! And the people who deserve to be punished, are those who helped stage this game of Monopoly! And yes, you may want to stone me, but this includes Mr. Mandela and Mr. De Klerk! They knew al along what the real intentions were! They were given parts to play in this grand farce! And they were promised a life-time’s glory for their part! You, Mr. Zuma, were scheduled to bite the dust… To be seen as a loser, like Mr. Mbeki… you will be made out as one of Africa’s losers because you did not have the “guts” that Mr Mandela had. BUT this would be because people would conveniently forget that Mr. Mandela was a man “made” by the media… That his so-called “guts” was nothing but a staged farce!

All those things he is still being applauded for, are in fact empty words, they are ALL based on the media’s careful creations, their “works of art”! If you do not believe me, then ask yourself – why would the West still sing all those praises, why would Mr. Mandela be important to them? What did he really do for the West?

Afrikaanse Blanke Boere Mag (ABBM) @ Facebook

Nothing! Except, South Africa rejoined the Common Wealth within weeks after the ANC came into power, effectively opening South Africa’s mineral wealth to the West, sharing it’s riches, allowing the big companies to milk every drop from our country. Yes, I think the West has reason to praise Mr. Mandela… But WE do NOT!

Mr. Zuma, isn’t it time that we also look at Zimbabwe, that we learn a few lessons there? You of all people should know that the West hate Mr. Mugabe. Why? Because he withdrew from the Common Wealth, and because of that, they have absolutely no hold on him, or his country’s riches, except to push for more sanctions, ESPECIALLY now that it has become know that Zimbabwe also has a huge amount of diamonds up for grabs in the east of the country. So, what do we learn from this? The West is definitely interested in Africa, yes, but not to help it… Only to line it’s own coffins!

But that’s not all – we all know that Mr. Mugabe’s track record and the way he has been treating his white citizens, especially his farmers, the people who has to feed his nation, is absolutely horrendous! I can understand that he has made the mistake to see all whites as “Colonists”, as a reflection of the “West”, of the people who tried to steal his country. But this has cost him dearly! Not only has he wrecked his country, he has earned a name that will go down in history as one to hate. As a murderer of his people… I know he has reason to feel the way he does about whites – I too feel that way – to a certain extent! Because I know there ARE people who try to milk our country, to milk Africa. But they are NOT the indigenous people of Africa! They are NOT the people who also love this country!

Genoeg is Genoeg! @ Facebook

South Africa is MY country too! I was away for 5 years and I hated every moment of it, because this country’s heart beat is MY heart beat too! It is my dearest wish, and that of hundreds of thousands of other South Africans, black AND white, to make a success of this country, to make it one of the best countries in the world!

And it IS POSSIBLE! But only if we STOP the influence other countries have on us, UNCLUDING the WEST and CHINA! Because those people have only one interest in this land, to fill their own pockets! Unless you are born in a country, you can never really have its best interests at heart! BELIEVE ME!

But the most important thing, Mr. Zuma, you will have to admit that which you know in your heart! Every ethnic group has a RIGHT to belong to an ethnic group. It is WRONG to force them all into one mould! Just like you are proud to be Zulu, I am proud to be called a Boer, just like others are proud to be called Xhosa, or Venda or Sotho, or which ever ethnic group they belong to!

We will ONLY become a UNITED and PROSPEROUS South Africa if we can live together, separated by our ETHNIC heritage! If EVERY ethnic group could be allowed to govern himself by his own Ethnic Council, in his OWN area or State, in his own language, his own culture, then those Ethnic Council’s, or “Volksrade” could govern our country together in a joint Council of States or whatever you want to call it! If the country’s riches could be used to support and develop each and every State, according to his population and needs, then our country will experience a fantastic growth rate, and places that were previously left undeveloped because people were flocking to the large cities in the hope of a miracle, will become repopulated and developed, with the entire country benefitting from this!

Volksbrandwag @ Facebook

Mr. Zuma, now I want to share the last and most important thing with you. Our country is in the mess it is because we were mislead by unscrupulous people, who wanted us to believe we can and have to live without each other! We all fell for this! Black and White, and that is why we are in the position we are today!

We should realise that a country is like a human body, and its people are its organs… EVERY SINGLE ORGAN IS REQUIRED FOR OPTIMUM HEALTH! The intestines are NOT less important than the stomach, the brain is NOT more important than the heart, and the liver can NOT replace the kidneys! Take a limb or an eye or any of the senses away, and the body will suffer, take an organ away, and it will die!

The ANC kicked off with BEE on the road to crush its “former enemy”, as it was lead to believe, its white citizens, and I still find it hard to believe that Mr. Mandela should deserve any praise at all for instigating this horrible injustice – not just to the white people, but to the entire country!

Mr. Zuma, lets face it and let’s admit it, every ethnic group has its own advantages and its own plus points. If you were willing to admit this, you will realise that by forcing white people out of their jobs, by filling those jobs with people who were NOT the best person for the job, but who were chosen based on skin colour, “apartheid” was basically continued, and the entire country suffered! Because everyone, black and white, felt it in his pocket!

Wit Suid Afrika! @ Facebook

I am not talking of those select few who happened to get the best positions because they knew the right people, or because they betrayed their own people, be they black or white, I am talking of the general public, those people YOU are responsible for, like a father!

Mr. Zuma, you have mentioned on numerous occasions that you are a Christian, and I believe one of your wives really is a practising Christian. I want to challenge you today. I want to make a call on your conscience! On your sense of justice.

I want you to sit back and block out the shouts of your advisors, those people who are manipulating you, who are basically running this country through you… I want you to listen to your own heart! I want you to think about what you want to see written in the annals of history. Do you - Zuma - want to be compared to Shaka – or Dingane? Do you want to be known as the saviour of South Africa, or as the one under whose guidance it all came tumbling down? Would it not be better to become known as the ONE African ruler who had the foresight to save his country - by tapping into the endless supply of brain power of his INDIGENOUS WHITE citizens? By thus being able to beat the West at their own game of Monopoly! By making a chess move nobody could expect in their wildest dreams, because it would be the ONE move that would foil all their careful moves! That they did NOT expect!

Because we have reached the crossroads, of that I am sure… You can only pacify people to a certain point before they start to take matters in their own hands, especially when they are being urged on by devious minds… And I have seen dark forces at work in our country, Mr. Zuma, and I am afraid it is NOT only from the right wing… And it is NOT just from outside either. I am sure you know exactly what I am talking about. This is also why you are loathe to make any decisions, any real moves, why you are still trying to keep everyone happy… Mr. Zuma, they will not allow you to keep this up for much longer, and because we both live in the same country, because your fall will indirectly also be my fall, and that of my dear ones, of my own people, and the rest of the people in South Africa who WILL be affected by this, I have to urge you here to think about what this country really need!

Verwoerd : Last South African President @ Facebook

I have an answer, but I am afraid very few people are interested in it. Because I cannot be bothered by party politics, my honour and my word can not be bought, and I am not dreaming or yearning for eternal fame or fortune for myself or my own people, my solution will not be acceptable to those only interested in feathering their own nests, those whose hearts are literally as dark as night, those who cannot feel the heartbeat of our beloved country. Because they can only see the sun shining on themselves. They want full and complete power for themselves. And these people are both black and white!

Mr. Zuma, the day our country will be governed by a council who only has the best interests of ALL the people in mind, consisting of Ethnic Leaders from EVERY indigenous Ethnic group, the day that a South African will be treated as a South African irrespective whether he is black or white, male or female, the day when a South African will be given a job because he is the BEST person for the job, THAT day will be a glorious day, and the beginning of a wonderful future for this country!

BEE is the worse thing that could EVER have happened to this country! It was only intended to bleed the country to death, slowly but CERTAINLY! Apartheid was only renamed and the tables were turned, it was called BEE, but it meant death for this country, because where apartheid still had financial growth of the country and ALL its inhabitants in mind, BEE effectively severed the economy’s main artery! It ensured that the best people to do the job, would be replaced by people who frequently did not have an inkling of what they did, and who quite often only wanted to get rich quickly – at the cost of our country! I do not need to go into detail… But let’s use the Rugby world-cup as an example… You know that if the quota system were enforced on the Springbok team, they would NEVER have won that cup! But the best players were selected…

Wake Up Whitey! @ Facebook

Why can’t we go for gold in our country’s economy too?

Apartheid should have been redesigned, restructured – it should have culminated in SEPARATE DEVELOPMENT, the way it was intended at the start! Not black and white being separated, but separated as ethnic groups, as Ethnic States. In comparison, just like Europe has its European Union, consisting of many different countries, or like America has its different States, some small, some large, all of them contributing to each other’s welfare and future, but each one still ruling himself. WHY DOES IT WORK FOR THEM? WHY WERE AFRICA STOPPED FROM DOING THE SAME?

THINK!

Thus, we can be kept in a constant state of anarchy! Constantly fighting each other! While they keep on feathering their nests with the spoils of Africa…

Because that which was initially planned by the NP, all those years ago, would have worked, with a few modifications, as with ANY evolution and invention process! Because it is EXACTLY the way the West is governing itself! But good, honest people should have worked on this planning, people who made decisions in the best interest of their own Ethnic group, elected by those people, and based on THAT, decisions should have been made for the entire country, and NOT manipulated and prescribed by outsiders! We should NEVER have allowed the forces from outside to fool us!

Mr. Zuma, if everybody in this country can accept that we all need each other, especially once those in power like yourself, would be willing to face those people who have been misleading us, and tell them in no uncertain words that South Africa will in future do what is best for ALL its people, without being manipulated, only then will we be able to become the successful first-world country we can be! A WORLD LEADER! But this can only happen when YOU realise that you sit with a country full of people with their own particular talents and skills! When you start LEADING in stead of being LEAD!

To do that, you need to remember that you have an Indigenous source of people who CAN make a difference! Just like it is a well-know fact that black athletes have the best stamina, it is time to accept that there are certain things that your white citizens CAN do better. They ARE good at building a first-world civilization! They ARE good at generating wealth and progress, in which EVERYBODY can share! And those God-fearing Christian citizens, (yes, there ARE many of those) will NOT stoop down to only line their own pockets, because this goes against everything they believe in!

Accepting this is not admitting defeat! It is just accepting facts! Just like a man has to accept that a woman was born to bring children into this world, he cannot do it himself, and it doesn’t make him a bad human being, a loser. On the contrary, because he also knows that she cannot conceive that child without his help!

Boycott 2010 World Cup @ Facebook

Mr. Zuma, it is time for us all to accept that we MUST work together to heal this country, SIDE BY SIDE! But NOT forced down each other’s throats! The LATTER would only be a recipe for disaster! As it has been to date!

Let’s take an example – our gold-resources. If the white people of this country did not discover it and develop the infrastructure all those years ago, those mines would never have been there! If the Afrikaners and Blacks did not work in those mines, breaking their backs, nothing would have come from it! But it made our country strong!

The sad example I can not leave out here, is the fact that we were unfortunately also then victims of other countries’ greed and need! Train loads of foreigners poured into our country like grasshoppers, devouring everything they could lay their hands and eyes on – black and white! And we all know what happened… This is happening once again… Zimbabwe’s problem is now becoming our problem, and our own people who already do not have work or enough to eat, once again are threatened…

Then came China, and Africa is blinded by the new wave of colonisation. Will we wake up too late, once again?

This country needs a TOTAL CHANGE! For the better!

And Mr. Zuma, you can do it, you can start it!

The future is in your hands. The question remains, will it be doomed to be a disaster? Or will it be the dawn of a new and brighter day for the whole of Southern Africa?

Because if we can make it work for South Africa, we can make it work for the rest of Southern Africa! IT IS POSSIBLE!

It is up to you!

Source: Ek is 'n BOER, en TROTS daarop!, by Marietjie Smuts

Magnet for Immigration: 3 - 6 million Illegal Immigrants in South Africa

Protest Sign: Land of Opportunity for Murderers, Rapists and Thieves. Lone Smallholders Protestor Against Crime

Perspectives on illegal immigrants as a source of crime and unemployment; World Cup as a source of illegal immigration; number of illegal immigrants in South Africa, etc.

South Africa: Africa's ‘Magnet for Migration’, M & G

South Africa, the strongest economy on the continent, has an estimated three million to five million undocumented African immigrants in a population of 47-million, according to the South African Institute of Race Relations, and their presence has already sparked violence.

Sitaka Shange, an office worker, said that until the government addressed crime and deported illegal immigrants already in the country, she wouldn't consider South Africa ready to host the World Cup.

"They come here and take jobs," Shange said. "They will agree to a salary that South Africans will never agree to."

Despite the government's promise to curb the flow, Khola, the Ghanaian, seemed to think the World Cup meant open borders. "For the World Cup, they give a visa to everybody," he said.

Home affairs in the dark about number of illegal immigrants, M & G

The Department of Home Affairs has no idea how many illegal immigrants are in South Africa: “I don't know. If somebody's here illegally, how do I know they are here? I do not know, that's an honest answer.”

The South African Police Service, in its 2008/09 annual report, said there could be as many as six million “undocumented” foreigners in the country: “According to various estimates, the number of undocumented immigrants in South Africa may vary between three and six million people.”

SA: Africa's 'magnet for migration'

Michelle Theriault, Mail & Guardian
Jul 23 2009 08:17

As South Africa gears up to host next year's World Cup, it is taking steps to make sure the fans go home when it's over.

South Africa, the strongest economy on the continent, has an estimated three million to five million undocumented African immigrants in a population of 47-million, according to the South African Institute of Race Relations, and their presence has already sparked violence.

Now some are predicting eased entry procedures for the month-long tournament will make things worse.

George Khola (36), a Ghanaian who sells fruit and vegetables at a Johannesburg market, is sure that the migrants' numbers will soar with the approach of the games.

"This is the chance," he said. "The whole of West Africa will come."

Others say that with or without the World Cup, migrants will keep coming in search of jobs, or as refugees from persecution and poverty.

"We know that South Africa is a magnet for migration on the continent," said Morne Fourie of the government agency that regulates immigration.

Dr Darshan Vigneswaran, a migration expert at the University of Witwatersrand, says migrants will keep coming because entry is easy enough by paying a bribe at the border.

The government says it is working on ways to balance welcoming the fans and making this an event for the whole continent, without compromising borders.

"This is Africa's World Cup, not just South Africa's," Fourie said.

South Africa is spending nearly $145-million to streamline entry for the games. It is the first World Cup host to offer an "event visa" for visitors from countries lacking visa-free arrangements with the host government. They will have to show a purchased match ticket, an address while in South Africa and a return ticket home.

Immigration officials will run spot checks on the addresses and deport over-stayers. But finding them could be difficult. Once inside South Africa, it should be easy to melt in among the illegal immigrants already here.

Fourie acknowledged that corruption at border posts is a problem, said it wasn't unique to South Africa, and believed that machine-readable passports would help to curb it.


'Powder keg'

Tensions were ignited in the spring of 2008, when South African mobs attacked townships where immigrants live, killing more than 60 people and scaring thousands into leaving the country.

"That powder keg is still there," said Vigneswaran. "In a year of economic downturn, as very wealthy people celebrate [the World Cup], there will be people being killed in townships for being foreigners."

Nde Ndifonka of the International Organisation for Migration, said such violence is one of its biggest concerns, but doubted many migrants during World Cup would stay.

Still, anti-migrant sentiment is evident, with many citizens blaming them for the 25% jobless rate and high crime.

Sitaka Shange, an office worker, said that until the government addressed crime and deported illegal immigrants already in the country, she wouldn't consider South Africa ready to host the World Cup.

"They come here and take jobs," Shange said. "They will agree to a salary that South Africans will never agree to."

Kevin Sithole, who said he had fled economically devastated Zimbabwe a few months earlier, believed the World Cup was bound to attract illegal migrants, and he didn't think the government could prevent it.

"When the time comes I want to be here," said Sithole (21), a street hawker of gum and cigarettes in Yeoville. "A lot of people will be making money."

Despite the government's promise to curb the flow, Khola, the Ghanaian, seemed to think the World Cup meant open borders. "For the World Cup, they give a visa to everybody," he said.

There are also those who apparently believe that Africa's borders, being the product of European colonial rulers, shouldn't even matter. On a wall near Khola's fruit stand, graffiti was scrawled on a wall: "Who Drew the Borders Anyway?" -- Sapa-AP

Source: Mail & Guardian



Home affairs in the dark about number of illegal immigrants

Nov 13 2009 08:25
Mail & Guardian

The Department of Home Affairs has no idea how many illegal immigrants are in South Africa.

Responding to a question at a parliamentary media briefing on Thursday, Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said providing such a figure was "difficult".

Asked to give her department's latest estimate of the number of people illegally living and working in South Africa, she replied: "I don't know. If somebody's here illegally, how do I know they are here? I do not know, that's an honest answer."

Tthe South African Police Service, in its 2008/09 annual report, said there could be as many as six million "undocumented" foreigners in the country.

"According to various estimates, the number of undocumented immigrants in South Africa may vary between three and six million people," according to the report.

The police go on to say most of these illegal immigrants "may belong to the economically-active age group, as well as the high crime-risk age group".

Asked to confirm whether her department had "absolutely no estimate" of the number of illegal immigrants, Dlamini-Zuma said the only figures she could offer were those of asylum seekers.

"What I can tell you is that [last year] there were about 110 000 applications for asylum. Only 10 000 were agreed to as genuine asylum seekers and those were then given refugee status.

"The rest would have had to leave by either deportation or voluntary ... But as for those who don't turn up at our offices, either as asylum seekers or permit seekers or anything, it's very difficult that I can give you a figure for that," Dlamini-Zuma said.

According to the South Africa Year Book -- a Government Communication and Information System publication -- her department's immigration branch is responsible for "tracing and removing foreigners who are considered undesirable or who are in South Africa illegally". - Sapa

Source: Mail & Guardian

Soccer as a Tool of Oppression: World Cup 2010: We Don't Need it! || “F**K The World Cup!”

Perspectives opposed to the 2010 Soccer World Cup:

The World Cup! We Don't Need It!, PoliticsWeb

Taxpayers will pay dearly for this act of national prostitution destined to bequeath a clutch of expensive, white elephant sports stadiums. Health, education, police and local government infrastructure budgets will continue to suffer. This is a new form of colonialism - never mind the Chinese, Sepp Blatter's FIFA has got here first with commodified sport on a grand scale. And to keep visitors safe, a new form of apartheid will have to be erected to protect them from the violence that prematurely ends the lives of 30 000 South Africans every year.

The ANC has effectively nationalised football and badgered the population with endless propaganda about the World Cup; to such effect that even mild criticism has been suppressed. The media has bought into the myth of nation building through sport (the mystique of the 1995 rugby world cup victory is constantly invoked) and any dissent from this view is equated with treason.

“F*** 2010 World Cup!”: Soccer being used as a weapon to cover oppression, Uhuru News

This 2010 will remain in memory as an extremely fancy dress parade that we were allowed to perform in with a vuvuzela as our soundtrack.

The end goal is to oppress us, and our so-called black government has come to the parade with blacks as a commodity. They are passing the test. We are helping them help us. This blatant truth is our public secret. It is these shared open secrets that uphold the social and political bodies that benefit from the silences about black life.

We fall silent, feed on denial and turn a blind eye to the repulsive state of affairs. To succeed in being soccerised is to sell out.

The World Cup: We Don't Need It!

Christopher Merrett
Politics Web

Peter Burgstaller, Austrian football goalkeeper Letter to Austrian Embassy, et al: RE: Boycott 2010 World Cup

Next year's Football World Cup is a classic example of international capitalism in action. FIFA is one of several branches of the sports department of globalisation, each of which wields the political and economic power of a small nation. It has hired South Africa as a theatre upon which to stage a highly lucrative media event and already departed with the profit.

The Cup is about a great deal more than sport, the crowds simply part of the backdrop - the cost of their tickets is almost irrelevant. But the political dividends for the ANC are significant and the nation's new elite will be disporting itself in front of the world's cameras. The rest of the country will be enjoying a long holiday and the brief opportunity to forget South Africa's enormous burden of socio-economic problems.

There is no evidence from previous mega-events, or South Africa's current circumstances, that the World Cup will deliver any major benefit. Politicians traditionally lie about the projected economic and social outcomes of such events in order to requisition the resources required for their own political ends. The best guess is a pitiful 50 000 jobs and growth of 0.94% of gross domestic product. The World Cup was never intended for the benefit of township or suburban residents.

Taxpayers will pay dearly for this act of national prostitution destined to bequeath a clutch of expensive, white elephant sports stadiums. Health, education, police and local government infrastructure budgets will continue to suffer. This is a new form of colonialism - never mind the Chinese, Sepp Blatter's FIFA has got here first with commodified sport on a grand scale. And to keep visitors safe, a new form of apartheid will have to be erected to protect them from the violence that prematurely ends the lives of 30 000 South Africans every year.

The ANC has effectively nationalised football and badgered the population with endless propaganda about the World Cup; to such effect that even mild criticism has been suppressed. The media has bought into the myth of nation building through sport (the mystique of the 1995 rugby world cup victory is constantly invoked) and any dissent from this view is equated with treason.

Contrast the recent uprisings over service delivery in several townships and it is clear which option the government has chosen in response to the politicians' classic dilemma over bread or circuses. But an imposed national consensus will not outlast 2010. In 2011 the cosy relationship between nationalist politics, corporate wealth and media and sporting globalisation will no longer have even a circus to offer a suffering people.

This scenario should be no surprise to anyone familiar with the history of South African sport in the dying days of apartheid. The South African Council on Sport (Sacos) had operated as the internal wing of the anti-apartheid sports struggle since 1973.

While its roots lay in the principles of the Unity Movement, members came from different political backgrounds and Sacos was determinedly non-aligned. Although its aim was to transcend tendencies in the overall interest of sport, it contained more than a trace of Black Consciousness in its encouragement of self liberation.

It rejected compromise with racist sports bodies through an unswerving commitment to the double standards resolution and to the international boycott. But its main strength lay in community development and, from the early 1980s, support for strikes and other local struggle issues. Discipline was harsh, but members were expected to adhere rigidly to principles.

The position of Sacos was uncontested - the ANC gave general support to the boycott, but had no detailed policy or consistent engagement. Sacos was particularly concerned about the context in which sport was played - political, social and economic rights - and above all the shared humanity of sportspeople.

For a while sport provided one of few areas of South African life (others were faith-based organisations and the universities) in which the divisive intentions of the apartheid regime could be challenged effectively. And because apartheid was, strictly speaking, rooted in legislation, short-term, irregular use of space proved hard to control even given South Africa's bureaucracy. By the time the government had turned to illegality, sport was the least of its worries.

The apartheid regime had begun to unravel following the 1976 Soweto Uprising, but the national State of Emergency declared in 1986 marked a new crisis point. Amongst liberation movements the prospect of imminent power meant that principle was sacrificed to pragmatism.

The weaknesses of Sacos - insufficient penetration of the African townships and a tendency to dogmatism - made sport a soft target for the ANC. Its client, the National Congress on Sport (NSC), emerged in early 1988 with a message about a mass-based sports organisation, but pledging recognition of Sacos as the authentic anti-apartheid sports body.

The NSC, it was agreed, would organise the unorganised in areas where Sacos had traditionally been weak such as rural communities; and in the townships where the government's National Security Management System (NSMS) had proved hard to crack. Sacos recognised the NSC, but its trust was ruthlessly betrayed.

NSC innuendo (about organisations ‘purporting' to be non-aligned) and rhetoric predominated and it was soon apparent that this was an arrangement of bad faith and power politics in which Sacos members were cynically recruited. The NSC reneged on its original undertaking and became a home for two kinds of opportunist: those anxious to establish a future within what they shrewdly assumed would eventually become the new political establishment; and pragmatists keen to achieve rapprochement with the old white sports establishment.

Conflict arose over the continued boycott, between regions (Sacos remained relatively strong in the Western Cape), and amongst sports codes (cricket and road running proved fertile ground for the NSC). It took Sacos a year, a year that was to prove fatal, to declare the NSC a rival organisation.

The NSC was simply part of the cultural desk of the ANC. It had little substance other than the promotion of a particular political party. Its leading lights included names, then largely unknown, that would later become famous - Gwede Mantashe and Kgalema Motlanthe from the National Union of Mineworkers (affiliated to Cosatu); Valence Watson, Makhenkesi Stofile, Ngconde Balfour and Danny Jordaan from Sacos-affiliated sports codes; and Smuts Ngonyama and Jakes Gerwel.

The ANC was interested in political power - sport was simply a useful tool to that end. Sacos was ruthlessly sidelined, abandoned by its external partner the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (Sanroc) whose president, Sam Ramsamy, flourished under the new order. Dennis Brutus appropriately described Sanroc as gutless. The principles of Sacos were dismissed as unrealistic and hardline. South African sport was to pay for this - and continues to do so to this day.

It was offered cynically, on a platter, to the white community for two reasons: as compensation for the loss of political power; and as insurance to underwrite cultural identity (along with guaranteed religious freedom.) The moratorium was tossed into the dustbin, unity was fast-tracked and sport handed over to the business interests that would quickly commodify and package it for lucrative profit.

These were the same capitalists who had sponsored the mercenary tours of the 1980s in defiance of World opinion, the United Nations and the anti-apartheid struggle.

With time, as the ANC's need for the rainbow nation myth wore off, sport was used to pursue other objectives. Under the regime of Thabo Mbeki, racial nationalism was advanced by a new form of apartheid in the form of quotas. And after he gave way to the post-Polokwane generation, the agenda became more clearly fixed on ANC political interests as the antics of Leonard Chuene (athletics), Irvin Khoza (football) and the relentless promotion of the World Cup demonstrate.

In many codes sport had become totally subservient to the pursuit by individuals and interest groups of power, influence and wealth.

‘No normal sport in an abnormal society' was the famous Sacos dictum. Since the fall of white nationalism it has largely been forgotten, but contemporary events suggest that it should be re-examined. Extremes of wealth indicate that South Africa remains one of the most abnormal countries in the World.

The fate of sport since the silencing of Sacos nearly 20 years ago has been one of relentless political and commercial exploitation. Sacos believed that sport belonged first and foremost to communities and their people. Now, in no small measure because of ANC cynicism and opportunism, it is little more than a packaged commodity.

And perhaps the worst aspect of the loss of the Sacos legacy is the fact that its sharp socio-political analysis is no more. Scarcely a word is raised in protest or criticism. The unholy alliance of party political and corporate power has persuaded South Africans that commodification of sport is a natural and acceptable state of affairs. It is an appalling outcome to a process of liberation.

This article by Christopher Merrett first appeared in APDUSA Views, November 2009

Source: Politics Web, via ILuvSA




“F*** 2010 World Cup”

Soccer being used as a weapon to cover oppression

Blackwash, Uhuru News
Published Sep 25, 2009

So enveloping, so ever present, the shirt of the fan. A child soldier in Sierra Leone (hardly ten years old) was captured in a television documentary with a blue number seven Chelsea shirt with the name of Lampard on the back. A Somali “pirate” with a Manchester United shirt was also seen walking in chains on a cargo ship after a failed attempt to reclaim African marine space. Such is the power!

The beautiful game of soccer, poetry in motion, returns to Africa — this time as a spectacle to entertain and make money. Soccer is not just a game with two teams of 11 players. It is not just about goal scores. This poetry in motion is a game that is brought out of deprivation. You need not buy special bats, rackets, complicated nets and the likes. A game essentially requires large numbers of people participating, a field and one ball.

This draws crowds of poor communities towards the game because with some imagination a soccer ball can be made out of plastic bags, the goal posts out of two stones and any dirt area can serve as a field.


Soccer forms part of a culture in poor African communities

Historically, black people are the poorest in South Africa, and this remains so. It follows then that the players, as well as its sport lovers, will be largely black. This is no secret to communities, the government and big business. And with the 2010 World Cup coming to our shores, it is important to tone down the vuvuzela blasts, silence the festive ululations and put down the big dark sunglasses for a moment. This is so that we can pay attention to the state of our soccerised land and what it means for the black majority in this country.

Soccer creates not just the black players and fans but entertainment. Who can deny the entertainment value of Pule ‘Ace’ Ntsoelengoe or the Maradonas of this world? Who can deny the entertainment of the soccer masses singing particular tunes in honour of individual players, a particular team or soccer in general? The entertainment is not exclusive to those who watch professional games at the stadium but also includes those who play and cheer at home, on the streets and in local drinking holes.

In this way, soccer also produces a culture. There are chosen greetings, songs, symbols of teams and the likes that must be learnt. A halfway decent Orlando Pirates fan will buy a t-shirt, a key ring, paint their house in the colours of the team, watch the games or at least listen to it.

They may have grown up in a particular community or gone to a certain school on the road to being a soccer lover or a fan. For others it is a chance love for a certain team or a great love that introduced you to the game. This creates the fantasy of a soccerised community, a bonding place outside reality where one has friends and enemies because of the competitive nature of the sport. It is not just the teams that compete but the fans as well. Soccer is Generations, Scandal, Days of Our Lives and The Bold and the Beautiful. It is the news, Jika-Majika and Cheaters all in one.

It has a partly honorable and partly heartbreaking routine. There are the great tragedies and the greatest moments. Soccer renders the service of moving the feelings of the public. Soccer produces those moments where adults readily cry tears of joy or beat each other up over a score.

For 90 minutes or more, one can be entertained and not have to think about the reality that they live. In this way, it acts very much like a narcotic drug such as opium. A narcotic is a drug that relieves pain and slows the body’s central nervous system (your brain and spinal cord). A narcotic may do a number of things. It may numb your senses. It can cause a little sleepiness in one person while putting another in a coma.

Narcotics also produce material and mental thieves; thieves who would take their last food money for an addiction. This can only happen if one essentially lies to self about the situation that will arise when food is needed. A person will know that they are in a kak situation but would rather not face it just yet.


Anything that keeps us from organizing for freedom is a problem

Soccer, being a choice drug of the masses, screws up our brains by keeping us away from thinking, planning and organizing to change our situation. It basically makes us spineless people who fear to challenge the big lie that has been force-fed on us as a collective truth. That obscene lie of our rainbow times that makes blacks the ultimate undesirables who must be exploited for the greater benefit of our oppressors.

This big lie makes as if it is natural for blacks in this country to build the stadiums that make the profits for a white minority. This white privilege is maintained of course with the help of the hired help who are given tenders and crumbs in exchange for a blanket suffering of blacks in this country.

This is not a secret because the visible scars of oppression mark black bodies in every other social, political and economic space. Soccer is then a useful tool in focusing our energies towards making a success of a “black” sport that has enjoyed little legitimization in the past. Was this same black sport not used in the 1970s in order to make the world believe that all was well in our “separatist” arrangement? We take such pride in our ability to have black sports that we are oblivious to the fact that it makes us complacent and lazy for our own liberation.

The black condition currently is a disaster zone. We have arrived here because of organised brutalization to create South Africa’s white modernity. Our country’s relative development is harvested from violence against blacks and sustained on the same logic and practice.

Soccer is more than just mental thievery. We know that soccer also instructs how the material conditions of blacks are. We know that soccer is largely about those money-grabbing gangs that operate efficiently from the sweat of black labour. It produces different lines of business. Why else would a bank want to sponsor a soccer tournament if there are no profits for it?


The 2010 Soccer World Cup will bring no relief for oppressed African masses

The 2010 Soccer World Cup is a great thing for big business but we are told the soccerised nation will benefit greatly. Radio stations, billboards, newspaper articles and television interviews tell us as much. Our politicians, teachers, Fifa and Danny Jordaan say so. Even your local cell phone giants are in on this feeling. This great Messiah that is 2010 will cement our arrival to what they call a global village.

The 2010 Cup is sold as a signifier of a fundamental cementing of South Africa’s arrival to whiteness. What it will also cement is the business as usual art of creating more and more anti-black and anti-poor tactics.

We will arrive in this village with our hardworking red ants who paved the way by evicting black bodies from property so that we can have our fancy stadiums. We will get there with our efficient BRT transport system that whooshes past matchbox houses that have been built to hide the filth of a squatter camp.

The global village will shake hands with the judges that sign eviction orders for blacks to be dumped into a squatter camp so that a golf estate can be built for foreign tourists. This blatant truth is our public secret. It is these shared open secrets that uphold the social and political bodies that benefit from the silences about black life. We fall silent, feed on denial and turn a blind eye to the repulsive state of affairs.

2010 will only do what the soccer industry has been practicing in South Africa for a long time. It will continue to put money in the pockets of Coca Cola and other big businesses (FIFA, of course, being the top beneficiary). The spotlight now is on South Africa being able to trade this commodity in the market. They are doing well so far for all the construction companies, financial institutions and those who own private property.

The security industry is thriving because the “crime-infested barbarians” must be kept away from the fearful tourists. Even some black South Africans are convinced that any measures necessary must be used to protect the white foreigners. Have you noticed how the government has increased its calls to the police to “shoot to kill” in recent months? And we know these are niggers they’re ordering to get killed.

So, we are open for business. We mimic what the Baas does with specific care. All of a sudden, we can take tourists on tours around our favorite taverns, and with the hope of money at the end of the deal. The 2010 deal is (from the biggest fan right down to those who feel indifferent about soccer per say) an opportunity for making money, caring much less about what soccer and 2010 mean for our daily struggle. A struggle that involves being able to confront the ingrained idea that black South Africans and Africans in general are imposters who must be tolerated and taught “the way.”

Nothing, not even the irritation of coming from having to share space or buses with tourists after your Mavis duties are up is beyond the reach of logic of money and profits. So the very thing that oppresses us in general also organises further oppressions within the black community carried out by other black people.

So we are not innocent by standers, we are agents of white supremacy by failing to fight it at all levels. We understand white supremacy to be at the very foundation of the world capitalist system yet we will open our homes for profit, wear the leopard skins for the benefit of colonialists who love to see us perform our native rituals, and serve our pap to the tourists at high prices.

We will blast our vuvuzelas, blowing hard as if our lives revolve around it because it does. We will be the BEE types then lead to large black masses who have been hanging on to this dream of it belonging and jumping to the capitalists and therefore anti-black practices. This is a wonder because even the BEE types bayanya in true rainbow nation style.

But even the peanuts we will earn from exploiting the so-called benefits of 2010 will not in any way change our situation — a situation that is needed for white capitalist interests to thrive. Evidence, from Latin American countries that have hosted world cups and other such mega-events, shows that in general these spectacles do not help the conditions of the poor. They are not useful measures to bring about the development that we have been lied to about because they tend to be anti-poor.

Does accepting that soccer robs us both mentally and materially mean that to succeed is to fail? If to be black is to bring your body, voice and labour to the soccer field for a minority to hold control over resources, ideas, and culture right down to how you spend your free time? If to be a soccer fan is to put a stamp on a society that organizes itself around the daily exploitation of a black majority while watching the FIFA types moving on with the circus show, bags bulging with cash?

Then it is time we re-imagined soccer and our future engagements with the sport. Because it seems that nothing is as common in South Africa as the repacking and the reselling of practices that are against the black and the poor. South Africa will still face its fundamental challenges that no amount of soccer tactics will have helped.

This 2010 will remain in memory as an extremely fancy dress parade that we were allowed to perform in with a vuvuzela as our soundtrack.

The end goal is to oppress us, and our so-called black government has come to the parade with blacks as a commodity. They are passing the test. We are helping them help us. This blatant truth is our public secret. It is these shared open secrets that uphold the social and political bodies that benefit from the silences about black life.

We fall silent, feed on denial and turn a blind eye to the repulsive state of affairs. To succeed in being soccerised is to sell out.

Source: Uhuru News

IMM-4423-09: 'Canada' vs. Huntley: Respondents Memorandum of Fact and Law

“Immediately following the positive decision, reaction from the South African government was swift and hostile, and that government threatened that diplomatic relations would be threatened, if the decision were not reversed. The decision was further termed “racist” and “in support of Apartheid.”

-- Stefanie Gude, Assistant of Mr. Rocco Galati, Huntley's Review Lawyer

“[H]ad it not been for the explosive, hostile, and “racist” - allegation - ridden pressure of the South African government, and the public diplomatic threats made, and allegations of “racism”, that the Minister would not seek judicial review of such a decision, which rests on anemic factual complaints on evidence and factual issue(s) of effective state protection, tied to the extreme, conceded facts of Mr Huntley's ordeal, in what he suffered by way of physical attack(s).”

-- Amina Sherazee, Barrister and Solicitor, practicing exclusively in Immigration and Refugee Law.

Court File No: IMM-4423-09

FEDERAL COURT

BETWEEN:

THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION

Applicant

- and -

Brandon Carl HUNTLEY

Respondent

RESPONDENT'S MEMORANDUM OF FACT AND LAW

PART I-THE FACTS

1. The facts regarding the surrounding circumstances of the within application are those as set out in the Affidavit of Stefanie Gude, of Amina Sherazee, and the Record herein.

2. The facts with respect to the Respondent, Brandon Carl Huntley, as found by the RPD, are as follows:

(a) the Applicant suffered seven (7) attacks, including three serious stabbings, two assaults, one of which included being burned with a cigarette;

-- RPD Decision, @ p.2
- Applicant's Record, @ p. 6

(b) during these attacks, by African South Africans, the Respondent was called such names as "a white dog", "a boor", "a settler" and a "witnai" ("white fuck");

- Ibid

(c) during these attacks, threats were also made to kill his family;

- Ibid

3. These physical attacks were triggered, instigated, and executed, in whole (or in large part), because the Respondent is a (poor) white South African.

- Applicant‘s Record, @ pp. 37-40; p. 6

4. The Respondent's evidence was:

(a) with respect to the Respondent's particular facts and ordeal, found credible by the RPD;

- Applicant's Record, p 8, @ paragraphs 28-33

(b) with respect to similarly situated white South Africans, corroborated by the viva voce evidence of Laura Anne Kaplan, a white South African, now living in Canada, whose brother suffered extensive, well-documented, widely-publicized torture, and near-death, in similar circumstances, for the same reasons, also found credible;

- Ibid, @ pp. 9-1 1, paragraphs 34-55

(c) the pointed documentary evidence further contained corroborating evidence as to South Africa's unwillingness and, moreover, inability to protect such persons as the Respondent, with respect to persecution based on race, which included some of the following:

-Ibid @ pp. 16-81; 53-54; 57, 65, 76, 83, 92, 93, 94 ,95, 101-3, 118, 121-2, 125-129, 130; 149-205

PART II - THE ISSUES

5. Whether there is any merit on the "substance" of this application for leave and judicial review?

6. Whether the bringing of this leave is:

(a) an abuse of process motivated by political pressure and motivation with respect to the Minister's statutory ‘right' to commence this application? And

(b) whether such executive action, in turn, taints the function of this Court, as enunciated by the Supreme Court of Canada in, inter alia, USA v. Cobb?

7. Whether, in the circumstances, the granting of leave itself would constitute a loss of constitutional jurisdiction on the part of this Court, by reason that there arise(s) a reasonable apprehension of bias which deprive(s) it, and the Applicant, of its status as a fair and independent tribunal and a removal of the independence of the judiciary as enunciated by, inter alia, the Supreme Court of Canada in Mackin, Quebec Secession Reference and Dunsmuir?

PART III: THE LAW AND ARGUMENT

A/ The "Merits' of the Application

(i) The Decision

8. The facts with respect to the Respondent, Brandon Carl Huntley, as found by the RPD, are as follows:

(a) the Applicant suffered seven (7) attacks, including three serious stabbings, two assaults, one of which included being burned with a cigarette;

- Decision, @ P2
- Applicant's Record, @ p. 6

(b) during these attacks, by African South Africans, the Respondent was called such names as "a white dog", "a boor", "a settler" and a "witnai" ("white fuck");

-Ibid

(c) during these attacks, threats were also made to kill his family:

- Ibid

9. These physical attacks were triggered, instigated, and executed, in whole (or in large part), because the Respondent is a (poor) white South African.

-Applicant's Record, @ pp. 37-40; 6

10. The Respondent's evidence was:

(a) with respect to the Respondent's particular facts and ordeal, found credible by the RPD;

- Ibid, p. 8, @ paragraphs 28-33

(b) with respect to similarly situated white South Africans, corroborated by the viva voce evidence of Laura Anne Kaplan, a white South African, now living in Canada, whose brother suffered extensive, well-documented, widely-publicized torture, and near-death, in similar circumstances, for the same reasons, also found credible;

- Ibid, @ pp. 9-11, @ paragraphs 34-55

(c) the documentary evidence further contained corroborating evidence as to South Africa's unwillingness and, moreover, inability to protect such persons as the Respondent.

- ibid, @ pp. 16-81; 53-54; 57, 65, 76, 83, 92, 93, 94, 95, 101-3, 1 18, 121-2, 125-129, 130; 149-205

11. During the course of the RPD's decision, while there is a "recital" of both the Respondent's and witnesses evidence,

- Decision, @ pp. 2-4; 5-10, paragraphs 2-23; 34-72
-Applicant's Record, pp. 6-7; 9-14

it is unfair, and inaccurate, as the Applicant has done, to confuse the recital of the viva voce evidence, with the RPD adopting some of the broad-sweeping statements, canvassed in the recital of the evidence, with the RPD as adopting those statements as "findings of facts". In fact, the RPD decision, when read properly and contextually, cannot be taken, as the Applicant would have it, that the RPD is adopting all statements made by the witness in the RPD's recital of her evidence.

12. It is submitted that this is made clear by the following:

(a) with respect to the Respondent's evidence, the RPD found:

[32] I find from all the evidence that the claimant is a credible witness and accept his evidence that the allegations of persecution where are described in his PIF narrative and which he related to me at the hearing occurred.

[33] Furthermore, the claimant's allegations of persecution of white South Africans by African South Africans and that is a common event today in South Africa was enhanced and supported by the oral testimony of a witness. I now refer to her evidence. I will have further comments on the claimant's evidence later on in these reasons.

(b) with respect to the witness, the RPD,

(i) firstly, when the RPD sets out her testimony of the facts and events of her family's persecution, the language of the decision is on the basis of credibility and accepting of the events as facts:

RPD Decision, e. paragraphs 34-37; 50-55

(ii) however, where the witness makes broad statements with respect to broad statements with respect to broad-sweeping generalizations and conclusions, the RPD is clearing "reciting" her evidence without making them findings of fact:

i. e. - "Most crimes, she alleges
- paragraph 48

- "Police, she believes .."
-paragraph 49

- "She believes the attack took place because
-paragraph 55

- "The witness wonders -.
-paragraph 67

- "She alleges
- paragraph 68

and lastly, the paragraph the Applicant misrepresents:

[73] This witness' evidence was the lifeline for the claimant's claim. She brought to the hearing, from her own personal experience, a vivid and detailed account of what is taking place in South Africa today vis-à-vis the African South Africans and the white South Africans and the indifference of the mainly African South Africans police force to protect them. White South Africans, she alleges, are no longer welcome in South Africa.

clearly indicates that the RPD is taking the witness' testimony of what has happened to her and her family as those similarly situated to the Applicant, and then goes on to analyze the documentary evidence;

(c) with respect to documentary evidence, as it relates to the claim, the RPD deals with it under the sub-heading "The Objective Evidence".

- Decision, paragraphs 91-118

engages in a substantial and comprehensive review and weighing of the evidence;

(d) then, the totality of the evidence found credible by the RPD is as follows:

[119] The evidence before me, which I find to be credible, is that:

[120] (a) The claimant was attacked personally by African South Africans on at least six or seven occasions because of his white skin (LL125-128 of his PIE');

[121] (b) He has scars on various parts of his body, stomach, right eye, right side of his body and hands;

[122] (c) Multiple attacks. The witness, Laura Kaplan, was attacked and threatened with guns by African South Africans on two separate occasions because of the colour of her skin and perceived wealth

[123] (d) Laura's brother Robert who was tortured and shot by African South Africans and miraculously lived, now has major physical and psychological problems;

[124] (e) Laura's brother Robert and her father survived only because of their wealth, being able to install electronic and guard protection for themselves both inside and outside their homes.

[125] The evidence of the claimant and the witness and the documentary evidence which I accept as credible show a picture of indifference and inability or unwillingness of the government and the security forces to protect White South Africans from persecution by African South Africans.

all of which does NOT include the broad-sweeping "beliefs", "wonderings", and "allegations" of the witness, at large, and her broad-sweeping "conclusions";

(e) and finally, the RPD's conclusion, on the heels of the accepted evidence, is as follows:

[127] 1 find that the claimant was a victim because of his race (white South African) rather than a victim of criminality and that he has estabiished a link between his fear of persecution and one of the five grounds in the Convention definition.

[128] I find that there is no viable IFA for the claimant in any part of South Africa. According to the most recent statistics, African South Africans make up about 80 percent of the population, white Europeans approximately 9 percent and the remainder are other coloured and Asians - the Europa World Yearbook 2008 (Exhibit A-I, Tab 1.2).

[129] I find that the claimant would stand out like a ‘sore thumb' due to his colour in any part of the country.

And it is submitted that, in conducting such proper fact-finding, weighing of evidence, proper application of the definition with respect to effective state protection, the RPD does nothing orbiting or akin to the distorting submissions of the Applicant.


(ii) Standard of Review

13. It is respectfully submitted that, while a "reasonable" standard applies to the decision as a whole, the Applicant must show, on any particularly singular finding of fact or weighing of evidence, that such particular finding was "patently unreasonable" or made in a "perverse and capricious" manner, without evidence, or in disregard to the evidence:

- s. 18.1 (3) (d), Federal Courts Act
- Owusu-Ansah v.MEI (1989) 8 lmm.L.R.(2d) 106, at pp. 113-114
- Jazxhiu v. MC.L (2000, IMIvt-481 8-99, Hansen, 5., @p5
- Horvath v. MCI (2001) FCT 398 FCTD)
- Hatami v. Canada (2000, LMM-2418-98, Lemieux, at pp. 12-13.)
- Gondi v. MCI (2005) FC 433 para. 16-17
- Jones v. MCI (2006) FC 405, para 14-18
- Su v. M.C.I. (2008 Imm-I 182-07, Lutfy CJ.)

and that in determining this leave application, with respect to those findings, the Supreme Court of Canada, Dunsmuir, instructs that a certain amount of deference must be paid to the RPD in its fact-finding, as an expert tribunal, wherein the Supreme Court of Canada ruled:

49. Deference in the context of the reasonableness standard therefore implies that courts will give due consideration to the determinations of decision makers. As Mullan explains, a policy of deference recognizes the reality that, in many instances, those working day to day in the implementation of frequently complex administrative schemes have or will develop a considerable degree of expertise or field sensitivity to the imperatives and nuances of the legislative regime": D. J. Mullan, "Establishing the Standard of Review: The Struggle for Complexity?' (2004), 17 C.J44.L.F. 59, at p. 93. In short, deference requires respect for the legislative choices to leave some matters in the hands of administrative decision makers, for the processes and determinations that draw on particular expertise and experiences, and for the different roles of the courts and administrative bodies within the Canadian constitutional system.

- Dunsmuir v New Brunswick [2008] 1 SCR 190

(iii) The Applicant's Position and Argument

14. With respect to the Applicant's state protection argument, contained at paragraphs 8 -19 of the Applicant's memorandum, it is respectfully submitted that the Applicant's argument is wholly without any merit, as the RPD properly applied the test in Ward, and subsequent jurisprudence, in light of the credible and unassailable credibility of:

(a) the Respondent's evidence, including the indisputable physical attacks;

(b) the witness' evidence of persons "similarly situated", namely Mrs. Kaplan, and the fact that the witness had gone to police to no avail which was accepted by the RPD; and

(c) the corroborating documentary evidence of (a) and (b); all of which squarely conforms to establishing the "rebuttable presumption" as set out by the Supreme Court of Canada in Ward, wherein the Supreme Court of Canada clearly ruled on how to rebut that presumption in ruling:

Moreover, it would seem to defeat the purpose of international protection if a claimant would be required to risk his or her seeking ineffective protection of a state, merely to demonstrate that ineffectiveness.

Like Hathaway, I prefer to formulate this aspect of the test for fear of persecution as follows: only in situations in which state protection "might reasonably have been forthcoming", will the claimant's failure to approach the state for protection defeat his claim. Put another way, the claimant will not meet the definition of "Convention Refugee" where it is objectively unreasonable for the claimant not to have sought the protection of his home authorities; otherwise, the claimant need not literally approach the state.

The issue that arises, then, is how, in a practical sense, a claimant makes proof of state's inability to protect its nationals as well as the reasonable nature of the claimant's refusal actually to seek out this protection, if the facts of this case, proof on this point was unnecessary, as representatives of the state authorities conceded their inability to protect Ward. Where such an admission is not available, however, clear and convincing confirmation of a state's inability to protect must be provided. For example, a claimant ,night advance testimony of similarly situated individuals let down by the State protection arrangement to the claimant's testimony of past persona! incidents in which state protection did not materialize...

- Ward v. Canada [1993] 2 S.C.R. 689 (SCC) @ pp.724-25

and as Ward has been further interpreted by this Court in the Balogh case:

"[41] Third, I agree with counsel for the applicants, the tribunal took the Federal Court of Appeal decision in Zaizali and the comment Justice La Forest made about that case out of context. As I see it, that case stands for the proposition, absent some evidence, nations are presumed capable of protecting their citizens and. Absent a situation of complete breakdown of state apparatus, it should be assumed that the state is capable of protecting a claimant.

[42] The capability of a state to protect its citizens is simply a presumption or an assumption which can be defeated by clear and convincing evidence led by the applicants of a state's inability to protect Justice La Forest indicated ho v that evidence may be advances. He stated:

For example, a claimant might advance testimony of similarly situated individuals let down by state protection arrangements or the claimants testimony of past personal incidents in which state protection did not materialize.
Balogh v. MCI (‘2002,) FCT 809

and further,

"[42] The principle governing state protection was established by the Supreme Court of Canada in Canada (Attorney General) v. Ward, [1993] 2 S.C.R. 689 ("Ward") where the Court held that the ability of a state to protect its citizens is simply an assumption which can be defeated when the claimants provide clear and convincing evidence that the state cannot protect them. The evidence that could help making this determination had been suggested by La Forest J. who stated at paragraph 50 that "... [f]or example, a claimant might advance testimony of similarly situated individuals let down by the state protection arrangement or [...] testimony of past personal incidents in which state protection did not materialize"
....
[56] It is also wrong in law for the Board to adopt a "systemic" approach which may have the net effect of denying individual refugee claims on the sole ground that the documentary evidence generally shows the Hungarian government is making some efforts to protect Romas from persecution of discrimination by police authorities, housing authorities and other groups that have historically persecuted them. The existence of anti- discrimination provisions in itself is not proof that state protection is available in practice: "Ability of a state to protect must be seen to comprehend not only the existence of an effective legislative and procedural framework but he capacity and the will to effectively implement that framework" (Elcock v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) (1999), 175 F.T.R. 116 at 121). Hungary is now considered a democratic nation which normally would be considered as being able to provide state protection to all its citizens (Ward, supra). Unfortunately, there are still doubts concerning the effectiveness of the means taken by the government to reach this goal. Therefore, a "reality check" with the claimants' own experiences appears necessary in all cases"

Mohacsi v. MCI (2003) FCT 429

and it is further submitted that this case is apt for the reminder in Ward that:

"Moreover, it would seem to defeat the purpose of international protection if a claimant would be required to risk his or her life seeking ineffective protection of a state, merely to demonstrate that ineffectiveness."

Ward, supra (SCC)

It is further submitted that this Court has recently ruled that:

[18] This case will be referred back to the Board for a new hearing. The notion of state protection requires that each case be reviewed on its own fads, using the relevant documentation about country conditions that are summarised in the encyclopedia of references, the diction aiy of terms, and a gallery of portraits demonstrating state protection in this type of case.

[19] It would seem to defeat the purpose of international protection if a claimant is required to risk his or her life seeking ineffective protection of a state, merely to demonstrate that ineffectiveness (see: Canada (Attorney General) i.'. Ward, [1993] 2 S.C.R. 689; also: Aranzburo v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), [1994] F.C.J. No. 1873 (QL)).

20] In Howard-Dejo v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), [1995] F.C.J. No. 176 (QL), the Court noted that, in that case, the evidence showed not only that the state had not always succeeded in protecting the targets of terrorism, but that the authorities were unable to provide protection proportionate to the threat.

[26] In the case before us, the state did not demonstrate that it had the capacity to implement a framework for the applicants' protection. It must be reiterated that, with respect to "state protection", each case turns on its own facts.

Hernandez v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and immigration), 2007 PC 1211

and further:

[18] In my opinion, Ward amends the decision in Villafranca in a particularly important respect. Ward makes a clear statement on the quantity and quality ofthe evidence which a claimant must produce to rebut the presumption of state protection; that is, a claimant is only required to provide some clear and convincing evidence. Therefore, in my opinion, the statement in Villafranca that "it is not enough for a claimant merely to show that his government has not always been effective at protecting person in his particular situation" cannot any longer be applied as a point of law."

De Araujo Garcia v. MCI 2007 FC 79

15. With respect to the Applicant's argument(s) contained at paragraphs 20 - 39 of the Applicant's memorandum, that the RPD's factual finding(s) were "perverse" and "unreasonable", the Respondent respectfully submits that:

(a) the Applicant has not raised one serious issue to the perversity of one factual finding not reasonably open to the RPD on the evidence before the RPD;

(b) the Applicant misstates and, with respect, misrepresents the "findings" of the RPD, with the recital of the evidence given by the witness(es), which findings must not be confused, as even credible witness(es), as to credible events, may sometimes draw conclusions which are not called for, nor warranted, however, that does not mean that their evidence as to the events and facts is not credible, nor does it mean that in the recital of all their evidence, the RPD is adopting the conclusions of the witness(es) as "facts" and it is submitted that this Court has seen many such decisions, where the RPD recites the evidence, then proceeds to analyze it, one way or the other, in the factual context of the claim;

(c) the Applicant simply attempts, as in paragraph 38, to want to re-weigh, or reassess, the evidence, by pointing to the fact that the Respondent couid not possibly be a victim of persecution, based on his white race, simply because whites, in certain urban centers, comprise 23.9%, 19.4%, 18.7% and 16% of the population, which is an Oz-bound submission not tied to any Kansas-reality, nor evidence before the Board, and begs the rhetorical question of: "how 80+% of African (Black) South Africans could have been subject to persecution in the days of Apartheid"? It alt depends on the particular facts of the claimant, his/her circumstances, instances of persecution, and the willingness/ability of the state to provide state protection, all of which the RPD properly analyzed and applied.

16. It is respectfully submitted that the tenor, texture, and weight of the Applicant's arguments are to have this Court rehear and re-determine the claim, based on misguided, politically correct notions and alarm of potential opening of (white) flood-gates from South Africa.

17. With respect to the Applicant's arguments, of equating purported acts of random violence with persecution, contained at paragraphs 40-44 of the Applicant's memorandum, a proper, complete, and contextual reading of the RPD decision, and credible findings, that during the stabbings and beatings of the Respondent, he was referred to as a "white dog", "boor", "settler", and "white fuck", that such attacks were not "random", which non- randomness was confirmed by the witness, and corroborated by the documentary evidence, and tied to the annotated groups of the definition of a Convention Refugee ins. 96 of the IRPA.

18. With respect to the Applicant's submissions that the RPD erred in its assessment of subjective fear and delay in making a claim, contained in paragraphs 45-52 of the Applicant's memorandum, the Respondent respectfully submits that:

(a) (i) the subjective fear was reasonably open to the RPD in the face of the credible evidence;

(ii) particularly in light of the seven (7) serious incidents of physical attacks; (iii) particularly in light of corroboration by the witness and documentary evidence of similarly situated persons;

(b) the issue of delay was again within the purview of the RPD to assess, on the particular circumstances, which again it did, as merely one factor in establishing well-founded fear, as set out by this Court: and

(c) moreover, the Applicant has not shown any serious issue as to the proper reviewability, on the evidence before the RPD, except to say that the Applicant does not like the result and wishes this Court to, willy-nilly, replace it with a different result.

B/ Minister's Application an Abuse of Process

19. It is further submitted that the Minister's application, in light of the "political pressure", and political nature of the decision, and allegations of "racism" arid support of "apartheid" by the South African government:

- Affidavit of Stefanie Gude

constitutes an abuse of process, contrary to s. 7 of the Charter, arid at common law, for which this application must be independently dismissed for the reasons set out by the Supreme Court of Canada in USA v. Cobb, in that., to allow a Ministerial abuse, even when that decision is a purely Ministerial one, into the Court, is for the Court to adopt and make the abuse its own and thus lose jurisdiction, as set out by the Supreme Court of Canada:

[36] Although s.7 of the Charter incorporates the abuse of process doctrine, it does not extinguish the common law doctrine, as was recognized by L'Heureux-Dube J. in R.  v. O'Connor, [19951 4 S.C.R. 411, at para. 70:

"I conclude that the only instances in which there may be a need to maintain any type of distinction between the two regimes will be those instances in which the Charter, for some reason, does not apply yet where the circumstances nevertheless point to an abuse of the court's process."

[37] Canadian courts have an inherent and residual discretion at common law to control their own process and prevent its abuse. The remedy fashioned by the courts in the case of an abuse of process, and the circumstances when recourse to it is appropriate were described by this Court in R v. Keyowski, [1988] 1 S.C.R. 657...

- USA v. Cobb [2001] 1 S.C.R. 57 at pp. 604-605

in that for a judicial body to adopt the executive abuse of a party such as the Minister, is for the judicial body to deprive itself of jurisdiction as allowing itself to be a conduit for that abuse, in that the Supreme Court of Canada in Cobb, supra ruled:

33 The respondent argues that any concern that the appellants may face unfair proceedings in the United States is a matter for the Minister, not for the extradition judge, whose sole function is to assess the sufficiency of the evidence. True as this may be, it misses the real issue here. The issue at this stage is not whether the appellants will have a fair trial if extradited, but whether they are having a fair extradition hearing in light of the threats and inducements imposed upon them, by those involved in requesting their extradition, to force them to abandon their right to such a hearing. The focus of the fairness issue is thus the hearing in Canada, to which the Charter applies, and not the eventual trial in the U.S., which it may be premature to consider pending the Minister's decision on surrender. Conduct by the Requesting State, or by its representatives, agents or officials, which interferes or attempts to interfere with the conduct of judicial proceedings in Canada is a matter that directly concerns the extradition judge.

34 Section 7 permeates the entire extradition process and is engaged, although for different purposes, at both stages of the proceedings. After committal, if a committal order is issued, the Minister must examine the desirability of surrendering the fugitive in light of many considerations, such as Canada's international obligations under the applicable treaty and principles of comity, but also [page6O4} including the need to respect the fugitive's constitutional rights. At the committal stage, the presiding judge must ensure that the committal order, if it is to issue, is the product of a fair judicial process.

Ibid., @ Paragraphs 33-34

and wherein the Supreme Court of Canada ruled, with respect to the administrative actions of a party to the proceedings, and how those actions, if left unchecked, amount to an abuse of the Court's process:

44 These concerns, and the remedies to which they give rise, properly belong to the judicial phase of the extradition process as they are not dependent on the ultimate outcome of either the committal or the surrender decision. Nothing the Minister could have done would address the unfairness which would taint a committal order obtained under the present circumstances The Minister is not the guardian of the integrity of the courts. it is for the courts themselves to guard and preserve their integrity. This is therefore not a case that must await the executive decision. The violations of the appellants' rights occurred at the judicial stage of the process and call for redress at that stage and in that forum.

Ibid., @ paragraph 44

and further:

48 As I indicated before, the existence of potential remedies at the executive stage does hot oust the jurisdiction of the courts to control their own process in cases such as here, where the courts are required to preserve the integrity of their own proceedings. For example, if the impugned statements at issue here had been uttered after the committal order, and any appeal there from, the appellants might have been left to raise their concerns with [page6 101 the Minister, who might have considered the appropriateness of a response ranging from refusing to surrender, to seeking the types of assurances that may alleviate legitimate concerns with the fairness of the foreign process.

49 It has also been argued that the impugned comments were not uttered by Canadian actors and therefore do not, in and of themselves, engage the Charter, This, in my view, mischaracterizes the issue. The present appeal is not a case of "foreign" conduct, which may not attract Charter scrutiny, but it is conduct attributable to a litigant before a Canadian court. This is sufficient to trigger the application, if not of S. 7 of the Charter, then of the common law doctrine of abuse of process, which, in the circumstances, rests au the same principles and calls for the same remedies: see O'Connor, supra. It is therefore unnecessary to decide whether the presence of the Attorney General of Canada exercising a statutory function on behalf of the United States, such as appearing before a Canadian court on behalf of the United States in a Canadian proceeding pursuant to the Extradition Act, would be sufficient to trigger the Charter protection requested here. Suffice it to say that pursuant to governmental agreements and arrangements, Canadian government officials acted as counsel and agent for a party litigant who attempted to dissuade Canadian citizens from asserting their liberty rights before a Canadian court

Ibid, paragraphs 48-49

20. In Cobb, although recognized that the actions complained of were Ministerial, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that to allow the Court to be tainted and infected by the Ministerial abuse is to have the Court implicated, which requires a judicial remedy in the course of the pertinent proceedings, in this case, the within leave application.

21. It is trite law that the Executive must act in accordance with constitutional constraints, as set out by the Supreme Court of Canada, pre-Charter:

14 I need not consider which of these views should prevail in ordinary cases. For whatever discretion there may be in a non-constitutional matter, in a case like the present) the discretion must be exercised in conformity with the dictates of/he Constitution, and the Crown's advisors must govern themselves accordingly. Any other course would violate the federal structure of the Constitution.

-Air Canada v. BC Attorney General [1986]2SCR 539

and post-Charter:

[72] The constitutionalism principle bears considerable similarity to the rule of law, although they are not identical. The essence of constitutionalism in Canada is embodied in s 52(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982, which provides that "[t]he Constitution of Canada is the supreme law of Canada, and any law that is inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution is, to the extent of the inconsistency, of no force or effect." Simply put the constitutionalism principle requires that all government action must comply with the law, including the Constitution. The rule of Law principle requires that all government action must comply wit), the law, including the Constitution. This Court has noted on several occasions that with the adoption of the Charter, the Canadian system of government was transformed to a significant extent from a system of Parliamentary supremacy to one of constitutional supremacy. The Constitution binds all governments, both federal and provincial, including the executive branch (Operation Dismantle Inc. v. The Queen, [1985] 1 S. C.R. 441, a/p. 455). They may not transgress its provisions: indeed, their sole claim to exercise lawful authority rests in the powers allocated to them under the Constitution, and can come from no other source.

- Reference re Secession of Quebec, [1998] 2 S.C.R. 217 @ para 72

and that the Applicant Minister cannot hide behind a privilege or right, such as any notion of solicitor-client privilege, in the context of a statutory right to bring this application, where it has been held, by the Supreme Court of Canada, that a right cannot be used to shield the alleged unconstitutional use or exercise of that purported right:

...it is my view that it is not open to the Crown, either in right of Canada or of a Province, to claim a Crown immunity based upon an interest in certain property, where its very interest in that property depends completely and solely on the validity of the legislation wh.ich it has itself passed, if there is a reasonable doubt as to whether such legislation is constitutionally valid. To permit it to do so would be to enable it, by the assertion of rights claimed under legislation which is beyond its powers, to achieve the same results as if the legislation were valid. In a federal system it appears to me that, in such circumstances, the Court has the same jurisdiction to preserve assets whose title is dependent on the validity of the legislation as it has to determine the validity of the legislation itself.

B.C. Power Corp. p B.C. Electric Co. [1962] SCR 642

22. It is submitted that the:

(a) timing and circumstances of this application:

- Affidavit of Stefanie Gude

(b) the tenor, texture, and non-existent weight or merit of this application:

- Applicant's Memorandum

makes this a politically abusive application,

- Affidavit ofAmina Sherazee

which not only breaches the Applicant's rights against abuse of process at common law and under s. 7 of the Charter:

USA v. Cobb, supra (SCC)

but further undermines Constitutional ism, Rule of Law, as it pertains to judicial review, as enunciated and elucidated by the Supreme Court of Canada:

27 As a matter of constitutional law, judicial review is intimately connected with the preservation of the rule of law. It is essentially that constitutional foundation which explains the purpose of judicial review and guides its function and operation. Judicial review seeks to address an underlying tension between the rule of law and the foundational democratic principle, which finds an expression in the initiatives of Parliament and legislatures to create various administrative bodies and endow them with broad powers. Courts, while exercising their constitutional functions of judicial review, must be sensitive not only to the need to uphold the rule of law, but also to the necessity of avoiding undue interference with the discharge of administrative functions in respect of the matters delegated to administrative bodies by Parliament and legislatures.

28 By virtue of the rule of law principle, all exercises of public authority must find their source in law. All decision-making powers have legal limits, derived from the enabling statute itself, the common or civil law or the Constitution. Judicial review is the means by which the courts supervise those who exercise statutory powers, to ensure that they do not overstep their legal authority. The function of judicial review is therefore to ensure the legality, the reasonableness and the fairness of the administrative process and its outcomes.

- Dunsmuir, supra, (SCC)

23. In summary, the Applicant's Minister's decision to commence "judicial review" constitutes an abuse of process which requires a remedy from this Court in that:

(a) it is more probable than not that the Minister made his decision to commence the application as a result of pressure(s) from the South African government (against whom the Respondent made his claim)> namely on improper political interference:

- Affidavit of Stefanie Gude
- Affidavit of Amina Sherazee

(b) the Attorney General, who constitutionally is the Chief Legal Officer, and represents the Minister in this Court, is bound to act in accordance with constitutional parameters and not simply on "instructions";

- Air Canada v. B. C Attorney General, supra (SCC)

(c) such political interference constitutes:

(i) an abuse of process and interference with the quasi-judicial function of the RPD, dealing with weighty Charter interests in the context of refugee determination; and

(ii) an abuse of process of this Court's constitutional role of conducting bona fide judicial review;

- USA v. Cobb, supra (5CC)
- Dunsmuir, supra (SCC)

(d) such abuse, if not remedied by this Honourable Court, taints, infects, and makes this Court adopt the abuse as a judicial excess and deprivation of jurisdiction which requires a remedy;

- USA v. Cobb, supra (SCC)

24. It is submitted that, above and beyond the abuse of process by the Applicant, what is at issue is this Court's function on judicial review. It is respectfully submitted that judicial review is what maintains the pivotal balance of the underlying constitutional framework, as enunciated by the Supreme Court of Canada, of Constitutionalism and the Rule of Law. Where the function of judicial review is thus abused by the Executive, or improperly exercised based on external political pressure, the effect is to gut the independence of the judiciary, in fact and/or iii reasonable apprehension, thus removing this pivotal safeguard of our constitutional framework. This is not only profound but deprives this Honourable Court of jurisdiction to do so as argued below in the within memorandum.

C/ Federal Court, in Circumstances, devoid of Jurisdiction

25. It is thus submitted that, in the particularly unique circumstances of the within application, this Honourable Court, for the argument and reasons set out above at paragraphs 19 to 24 of the within memorandum, is constitutionally devoid of jurisdiction, in that;

(a) the Minister's application is an abuse of process as set out above

(b) (i) given this Honorable Court's track record as between applications on behalf of refugee claimants/immigrants versus those by the Minister;

- Affidavit of Amina Sherazee,

(ii) and in light of the particular circumstances of this case;

to grant leave to the Minister would breach the Respondent's constitutional rights to a fair and independent judiciary, in manifesting a reasonable apprehension of bias, on the part of this Honourable Court, as set out and enunciated, time and time again, and as summarized by the Supreme Court of Canada in Mackin, in that:

¶ 37 The concept of independence accordingly refers essentially to the nature of the relationship between a court and others. This relationship must be marked by a form of intellectual separation that allows the judge to render decisions based solely on the requirements of the law and justice. The legal standards governing judicial independence, which are the sources governing the creation and protection of the independent status ofjudges and the courts, serve to institutionalize this separation. Moreover, the Preamble to the Constitution Act, 1867 and s. 11(d) of/he Charter give them afundamental status by placing them at the highest level of the legal hierarchy.

¶ 38 The general test for the presence or absence of independence consists in asking whether a reasonable person who is fully informed of all the circumstances would consider that a particular court enjoyed the necessary independent s/a/u.s (Valente, supra, a/p. 689; Committee for Justice and Liberty v. National Energy Board, [1978] 1 S.C.R349). Emphasis is placed on the existence of an independent status, because not only does a court have to be truly independent but it must also be reasonably seen to be independent. The independence of the judiciary is essential in maintaining the confidence of litigants in the administration ofjustice. Without this confidence, the Canadian judicial system cannot truly claim any legitimacy or command the respect and acceptance that arc essential to it. In order for such confidence to be established and maintained, it is important that the independence of the court be openly ‘communicated" to the public. Consequently, in order for independence in the constitutional sense to exist, a reasonable and well-informed person should not only conclude that there is independence in fact, but also find that the conditions are present to provide a reasonable perception of independence. Only objective legal guarantees are capable of meeting this double requirement.

¶ 39 As was explained in Valente, supra, at p. 687, and in the Provincial Court Judges Reference, supra, at paras. 118 et seq., the independence of a particular court includes an individual dimension and an institutional dimension. The former relates especially to the person of the judge and involves his or her independence from any other entity, whereas the latter relates to the court to which the judge belongs and involves its independence from the executive and legislative branches of the government. The rules relating to these dimensions result from somewhat different imperatives. Individual independence relates to the purely adjudicative functions of judges -- the independence of a court is necessary for a given dispute to be decided in a manner that is just and equitable - whereas institutional independence relates more to the status of the judiciary as an institution that is the guardian of the Constitution and thereby reflects a profound commitment to the constitutional theory of the separation of powers. Nevertheless, in each of its dimensions, independence is designed to prevent any undue interference in the judicial decision-making process. which must be based solely on the requirements of law and justice.

- Mackin v. New Brunswick [20021 1 S.C.R. 405

and as adopted, in the refugee context, by the Federal Court of Appeal, in Geza:

[53] First, the standard of impartiality expected of a particular administrative decision-maker depends on context and is to be measured by reference to the factors identified by L'Heureux-Dube J. in Baker v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration,), [1999] 2 S.C.R. 817 at para. 47. The independence of the Board. its adjudicative procedure and functions, and the fact that its decisions affect the Charter rights of claimants, indicate that the content of the duty of fairness owed by the Board, including the duty of impartiality, falls at the high end of the continuum of procedural fairness.

- Geza, et a! v. Canada [2006] F.C.J. No. 477, (FCA)

which doctrine equally applies to the Federal Court in its role of conducting Judicial Review.

26. In summary, it is respectfully submitted that:

(a) the Ministerial abuse and interference with the RPD's decision in bringing an abusive application to this Court, based on ultra vires, external political interference from the "agent of persecution" (government of South Africa in its unwillingness/inability to effectively protect) based on spurious allegations of "racism";

(b) the Minister's abuse of process in bringing improper judicial review to this Court, with the effect of:

(i) sending a message of political appeasement to the South African government;

(ii) sending a message to other RPD Board members, (who do not enjoy tenure in their quasi-judicial positions), that such decisions will be reviewed on national and international and spurious allegations of ‘racism', not only by foreign governments but, by implicit adoption, by the very Minister who appoints RPD members;

places this Court in the position that its constitutionally pivotal role of conducting the pivotal function of balancing and safeguarding Canada's constitutional structural imperatives of Constitutionalism and the Rule of Law, has been in fact, and/or in a reasonably apprehended fashion, stripped of its jurisdiction to do so, as to grant leave would:

(c) deprive this Honourable Court of jurisdiction of its status of a fair Superior Court, and thus breach the right to an independent judiciary, a core component of the Rule of Law:

- Quebec Secession Reference, supra; Dunsmuir, supra

and whether that loss of independence is in fact effected by the Minister's abuse of process, or only reasonably apprehended that this Court is acquiescing to the political interference of foreign government pressure, by alleging Canadian governmental racism through the RPD, is one and the same for the loss of the Court's jurisdiction.

- Mackin, supra (SCC)

D/ COSTS

27. it is submitted that, in the circumstances of this case, that the Respondent is entitled to his solicitor-client costs of the within application.

PART IV - ORDER SOUGHT

28. The Respondent therefore, respectfully, requests:

(a) that this application be dismissed;

(b) that the Respondent be granted his solicitor-client costs of this application; and

(c) such further or other relief as this Honourable Court deems just.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

Dated 2nd day of November, 2009.

ROCCO GALATI LAW FIRM
PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION
Rocco Galat, B.A. LL.B., LL.M
637 College Street, Suite 203
Toronto ON M6G 1B5

TEL: 416-536-7811
FAX: 416-536-6801

Solicitor for the Respondent

Source: Politics Web, via Henri La Riche
Original PDF: IMM-4423-09: Respondent (Huntley): Memorandum of Fact & Law & Supporting Affidavits (Gude & Sherazee) (PDF:1963K)