Nelson Mandela 'proven' to be a member of the Communist Party after decades of denial

Nelson Mandela 'proven' to be a member of the Communist Party after decades of denial

A new book claims that, 50 years after he was first accused of being a Communist, Nelson Mandela was a Communist party member after all.

Colin Freeman and Jane Flanagan | Daily Telegraph | 8:00PM GMT 08 Dec 2012

For decades, it was one of the enduring disputes of South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle. Was Nelson Mandela, the leader of the African National Congress, really a secret Communist, as the white-only government of the time alleged? Or, as he claimed during the infamous 1963 trial that saw him jailed for life, was it simply a smear to discredit him in a world riven by Cold War tensions?

Now, nearly half a century after the court case that made him the world's best-known prisoner of conscience, a new book claims that whatever the wider injustice perpetrated, the apartheid-era prosecutors were indeed right on one question: Mr Mandela was a Communist party member after all.

The former South African president, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, has always denied being a member of the South African branch of the movement, which mounted an armed campaign of guerrilla resistance along with the ANC.

But research by a British historian, Professor Stephen Ellis, has unearthed fresh evidence that during his early years as an activist, Mr Mandela did hold senior rank in the South African Communist Party, or SACP. He says Mr Mandela joined the SACP to enlist the help of the Communist superpowers for the ANC's campaign of armed resistance to white rule.

His book also provides fresh detail on how the ANC's military wing had bomb-making lessons from the IRA, and intelligence training from the East German Stasi, which it used to carry out brutal interrogations of suspected "spies" at secret prison camps.

Why the TRC failed to bring about reconciliation - Mangosuthu Buthelezi

IFP leader says Archbishop Desmond Tutu's Commission is not a model to be followed.

I was a Minister in President Mandela's Cabinet when he informed us of his decision to appoint Archbishop Desmond Tutu as Chairperson of the TRC. Cabinet records will show that I objected even then, for the success and the credibility of the TRC depended on non-partisan leadership. Archbishop Tutu was aligned with the ANC and was a former patron of the UDF. How could the IFP expect fairness in the TRC process?

Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi MP | IFP | 07 October 2012

Dear friends and fellow South Africans,

I have tremendous respect for Mrs Graca Machel and for the work she is doing through The Elders to protect women and children in our country and on our continent. I was therefore intrigued by her thoughts on violence in South Africa and how we might benefit from a second Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Delivering the second annual Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture at the University of the Western Cape this week, Mrs Machel spoke of the TRC as a moment for victims and perpetrators to look each other in the eye, and face the painful truth. Perhaps, she said, we need a similar institution again to deal with the great hurt we are inflicting on one another through rape and violence.

The premise that such initiative would bring healing in our society is predicated on the assumption that the first TRC brought reconciliation to South Africa. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Mrs Machel pointed out how many of our people still carry the wounds and scars of Apartheid and "We are harming one another because we can't control our pain."

Zuma's State Leasing Billion Rand Corruption Clusterfuck: A R50 Million Bribe for Zuma's buddy; while Honest State Officials are Fired

:: Zuma's State Leasing Billion Rand Corruption Clusterfuck ::

Shabangu: my R50m bribe | Money could instead have covered the salaries of 260 constables for 10 years | 'Deal didn't come via Zuma friendship' - Shabangu | He lies, says Roux Shabangu’s former lawyer | State officials punished for applying rules | Taxpayers suckered in new police leasing deal | Public works 'bullied' ICD into lease

In a report in June 2011, the Public Protector's second report into the lease scandal, titled Against the Rules Too, followed an earlier one which stated that the Pretoria Police lease was "invalid". The second report said:

• Mahlangu-Nkabinde was guilty of "improper" conduct and failed "statesmanship" for going ahead with both leases after two legal opinions found them invalid;
  
• That Mahlangu-Nkabinde placed pressure on her director-general Siviwe Dongwana to sign the lease agreement, and he feared for his personal safety and that of his family;
  
• Cele was guilty of "maladministration" and "unlawful" conduct for driving the R1,1billion Durban deal;
  
• The Treasury should consider blacklisting Shabangu's company, Roux Property Fund, for its involvement in "unlawful and irregular procurement";
  
• Rentals for both buildings were inflated by up to 300 percent. In Durban alone, floor space worth R78 million was added without justification; and a new tender issued for the Durban lease in April but shelved after the Sunday Times exposed it last month was allegedly rigged to suit a previous offer by Shabangu.

A Malema future: Looking disaster in the face, by RW Johnson

A Malema future: Looking disaster in the face

RW Johnson, Politicsweb
29 June 2011

The opponents of the ANCYL within the ANC are greatly handicapped by their unwillingness to spell out why Malema's demands would lead to disaster. The truth, of course, is that the state diamond mine, Alexkor (repeatedly shut for infractions of safety rules, loss-making and an irregular payer of wages) and Aurora mines, owned by a Zuma and a Mandela (shut for months, wages not paid, at least one worker suicide, the mine looted, and major problems over acid mine drainage) give a terrifying foretaste about what nationalised mines would be like.

Almost certainly, with the departure of most key managers and technicians, the mining sector as a whole would at best, limp along. Moreover, expropriation without compensation would put South Africa in breach of major treaty obligations, would cause a cessation of all foreign investment and the cutting off of credit. This would be accompanied by enormous capital flight. The nationalisation of the banks would see something similar occur right across the financial sector and there would be a large scale exodus of foreign and domestic capital and of skilled labour of every kind.

Similarly, expropriation of the land would quickly lead to a huge agricultural slump and to mass starvation. Moreover, all African experience suggests that the skilled managers, business people, technicians, commercial farmers and professionals who would exit the country under such circumstances would not return even if all these policies were later reversed, thus making recovery from the disaster effectively impossible.

Eskom's Directors Paid R18.5 Million; Educ. Dept. Milk State for R50 Million

Eskom executive committee paid 109% more in 2011

Jun 27 2011 19:09
Moyagabo Maake, Mail and Guardian

State-owned power utility Eskom paid executive committee members 109% more than they were paid last year, according to its financial statements for the year ended March 31.

Eskom's directors' remuneration report reveals that R18.5-million was paid to executive committee members, compared to last year's R8.8-million. The biggest winner was human resources head Bhabhalazi Bulunga, who pocketed 507% more at R3-million, compared to last year's R501 000.

Of the two executive directors, chief executive Brian Dames was the highest paid at R5.7-million, a 0.9% increase. However, finance director Paul O'Flaherty took home 346% more at R4.9-million.

Releasing the group's financial results on Monday, Dames said his management had agreed not to take any bonuses if they could not keep the lights on or achieve targeted savings.

This was despite a public outcry over the pay and bonuses of state-owned enterprise executives, sparked by a high court claim filed by former Eskom chief executive Jacob Maroga for R85-million, which he said he would have earned had his contract not been terminated prematurely.

War for Economic Freedom: Expropriation without compensation - ANCYL24

War for Economic Freedom: Expropriation without compensation - ANCYL24

Political report by the ANCYL president to the League's 24th national conference

Julius Malema, ANCYL
16 June 2011

POLITICAL REPORT BY PRESIDENT JULIUS MALEMA TO THE 24TH NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS YOUTH LEAGUE, 16 JUNE 2011, GHALLAGER ESTATES, MIDRAND, June 16 2011

Introduction

1. We welcome all delegates and guests to the 24th National Congress of the African National Congress Youth League. We welcome the ANC Youth League back in Johannesburg, because it was here in Johannesburg, 67 years ago that the ANC Youth League was officially launched by one of the South Africa's most outstanding generations of revolutionary freedom fighters, who today are celebrated the world over. We welcome the ANC Youth League back to Johannesburg, particularly Midrand, because the ANCYouth League 1st National General Council happened here in Midrand to do, then, what the NGCis expected to do in August 2010.

2. The ANC Youth League 24th National Congressis South Africa's biggest Congressand one of the most important political gatherings, not only with regards to numbers, but also politically and ideologically. There is nowhere else in South Africa and the African continent where an autonomous youth formation can assemble more than 5000 delegated youth representing branches, regions and provinces in one meeting to discuss the future of their country, the continent and the world. More than 90% of delegates at this Congress come from branches of the ANC Youth League, all of which have a minimum of 100 members and were able to meet in Branch Congresses and General Meetings to mandate delegates to come to discuss and consolidate the programme towards total economic emancipation of the economically oppressed people of South Africa, Africa and the world.

ANCYL24: The war for economic freedom: Expropriation of Land without Compensation (02:20)

3. We welcome you, proud that the organisation we inherited and which is celebrating its 64th Anniversary is now stronger, more stable and ready to face all organisational, political and ideological battles in the war towards consolidation of political and economic freedom in our lifetime. We address this Congress with our heads held up very high, because we speak on behalf of a powerful, militant, radical and revolutionary youth wing of the ANC, which is unapologetically fighting for the working classand the poor of South Africa, Africa and the world. We address this 24th National Congress with our heads held up very high because we did not betray the mandate you gave us at the 23rd National Congress in April and June 2008.

Jacob Zuma who the hell do you think you are?

Jacob Zuma who the hell do you think you are?

It is like having a Bentley Continental GT being driven by a person with poor eyesight, no matter how great the safety features of the car, it is bound to crash.

17 June 2011
Lukhona Afika Mnguni, Cope Youth Member

Hello Zuma and definitely not Dear Mr Zuma

When you took office in 2009, I struggled to address you as President Zuma, however because I pledge enough respect to the office you hold – with time I was able to address you as such. Let me inform you that, as of yesterday (16 June 2011) I have stopped calling you President Zuma, I will address you as simply Jacob Zuma because you continue to abuse the respect given to you.

On the occasion of 16 June 2011 you dealt a heavy insult, dressed with arrogance and ignorance of the highest order from your part. You behaved like a true politician, the kind of politician that embraces politics before the welfare of the country. Many have tried to defend you to me; they say your actions were due to you trying to secure your bread and butter. They say that you acted in that shoddy manner because you are trying to buy favour with the ANC Youth League because you know exactly the kind of role they played in bringing you to power in Polokwane ANC Conference 2007. Apparently, you fear these so called ‘young lions’ that is why you are even unable to bring them to book. You are so scared of these children of yours you cannot even make them tow the line. If anyone suggested that your actions to arrive more than three hours late in Orlando Stadium was because you acted out of respect for the ANCYL, that would be a lie of the highest order. You are a coward, you cannot be trusted with delivering to the entire nation, and your blood is so devoted to the ANC it is sickening. I can already hear some people defending you, saying that you are a real comrade.

Forsaking Gandhian Non-violence, honour & character.. the ANC-Frakenstein spawned a Gov. of comrade-tsotsis, gangsters & kleptomaniacs

Racist, sexist, violent-peddling, Malema hate-talk dangerous for the future

By Mphutlane wa Bofelo
Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 10:47am

The tendency to project the racist, sexist, violent-peddling and hate-talk of Julius Malema as just a normal expression of the fervor, overzealousness and recklessness of youth is a deliberate attempt to take focus away from sober, critical, vigilant, intellectual, innovative and creative voices and faces among the youth.

Unfortunately the glorification of thoughtless action and the “diss-missing” of theory and marginalization of analytical minds have had dire and ghastly consequences for the country. The problems that the country has with regard to the violent nature of crime, apathetically low levels of respect of life, lack of appreciation of the self and indifference to parental guidance could be traced to the era in our history when we lionized youths who acted without first getting theoretical clarity of the situation facing them and weighing critically the strategic and tactical choices available to them.

Radical Honesty SA Response to ANC Sec. Gen. Gwede Mantashe & Afrikanerbond

Now if Apartheid had honourably expressed their justifications for discriminating against African poverty pimping breeding war cultures; and they are considered to be evil; what should we call the ANC who have not yet provided any justification whatsoever for its discrimination against Radical Honesty culture?

So, next time you wonder why your culture suffers from inferiority complexes; take a look in the mirror Sec. General Mantashe and ask yourself a few questions:

• Do you have the honour to acknowledge receipt of correspondence sent to you?
  
  
• Do you have the honour to be a man, who refuses to live a lie? (Pastor Manning: Seven Reasons why Black People Have no Honour)
  
  
• Do you have the honour to want – because of your commitment to searching for the truth, and holding yourself and your culture accountable – from the depths of your being, to do all in your power to enquire whether Apartheids justifications for their discrimination against your African poverty pimping breeding war cultures was justified? If not; what are you afraid of, Sir?

Destroying seeds of our future: SA's Welfare State of Moral Degeneration & Teenage Pregnancy & Educ. Mediocrity Tsunami

Destroying seeds of our future

We tolerate an education system that robs our children of opportunities, writes Mamphela Ramphele

Mar 5, 2011 11:42 PM
Mamphela Ramphele, Sunday Times

Successful societies focus on ensuring that future generations perform better than past and present ones. The crisis of underperformance of our education and training system lies at the heart of the growth of inequality, continuing poverty and dependence on welfare transfers.

We have descended into an unsustainable situation, with 15 million welfare grant recipients supported by six million taxpayers. The majority of these welfare transfers are child grants extended to those under the age of 18. Child grants amount to R35.6-billion - 16% of the social protection budget allocation, in 2011, of R146.9-billion.

Some analysts are warning that our society is being hit by a teenage pregnancy tsunami. The Times reported recently that, in Gauteng alone, 5000 schoolgirls are preparing to give birth in 2011. For every age cohort of 1.5 million starting school each year, just over 500000 end up sitting for final year examinations. Less than 70% of these candidates get a high school diploma - of which only 20% are good enough to give the pupil access to higher education.

‘Margaret Thatcher said whoever thinks that the ANC can rule South Africa is living in cloud-cuckoo-land’ - Moeletsi Mbeki

MOELETSI MBEKI: Wealth creation

Only a matter of time before the hand grenade explodes

Business Day
Published: 2011/02/10 07:01:41 AM

AFRICAN VOICES OF WISDOM: [01] [02] [03] [04] [05] [06] [07] [08] [09] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34]

I can predict when South Africa’s “Tunisia Day” will arrive. Tunisia Day is when the masses rise against the powers that be, as happened recently in Tunisia. The year will be 2020, give or take a couple of years.

The year 2020 is when China estimates that its minerals-intensive industrialisation phase will be concluded.

For South Africa, this will mean the ANC government will have to cut back on social grants, which it uses to placate the black poor and to get their votes. China’s industrialisation phase has forced up the prices of South Africa’s minerals, which has enabled the government to finance social welfare programmes.

The ANC inherited a flawed, complex society it barely understood; its tinkerings with it are turning it into an explosive cocktail.

Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher once commented that whoever thought that the ANC could rule South Africa was living in cloud-cuckoo-land.

Why was she right? In 16 years of ANC rule, all the symptoms of a government out of its depth have grown worse:

• Life expectancy has slid from 65 to 53 since the ANC came to power.
  
  
• In 2007, South Africa became a net food importer for the first time.
  
  
• The elimination of agricultural subsidies led to a loss of 600 000 farmworkers’ jobs and the eviction from commercial farming of 2.4 million people between 1997 and 2007.
  
  
• The ANC stopped controlling the borders, leading to a flood of poor people into South Africa.

What should the ANC have done? When they took control of the government in 1994, ANC leaders should have identified South Africa’s strengths and weaknesses and decided how to use the strengths to minimise or rectify the weaknesses.

A wise government would have persuaded the skilled white and Indian population to devote some time – even an hour a week – to train blacks and coloureds.

21 Years Ago: F.W de Klerk released a ‘Terrorist’; or a ‘Freedom Fighter’?

Guerrilla warfare, as fought by the Boers one century ago, is recognized internationally as the honourable defence by disciplined fighters against a superior, armed enemy. The Boers attacked classical military targets, even though outnumbered most of the time by overwhelming numbers. The so-called 'freedom fighters' of Southern Africa, however, be they Frelimo, Zanu, Swapo or the ANC/Communist Mkonto e Sizwe (MK), very seldom attacked anything resembling a military target, - on the contrary, they specialized in the callous bombing of Wimpy Bars, the cowardly laying of landmines on farm roads, the barbarian 'necklacing' of defenceless township dwellers, and even the brutal torture of their own dissident comrades. What makes these atrocities more despicable is that some of the organizations actually signed the Geneva Protocols, which explicitly forbid this kind of terror and cruel intimidation. Serious students who wish to get an unbiased and balanced picture of the kind of terrorist 'war' fought by terrorist organisations like the ANC/SACP, the PAC and others should read the book The Other Side of the Story by Herman Stadtler, Sigma Press, ISBN 0-620-21100-8.

The Church Street bombing was a car bomb attack on 20 May 1983 by Umkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing of the African National Congress, in the South African capital Pretoria. The bombing killed 19 and wounded more than 200, and was one of the largest attacks engaged in by the ANC during its armed struggle against apartheid. The attack consisted of a car bomb set off outside the Nedbank Square building on Church Street at 4:30pm on a Friday. The target was South African Air Force (SAAF) headquarters, but as the bomb was set to go off at the height of rush hour, those killed and wounded included civilians. The bomb went off ten minutes earlier than planned, killing two ANC operatives in the vehicle, Freddie Shangwe and Ezekial Maseko. At least 20 ambulances took the dead and wounded to hospital.

Stunning SA High Court ruling reveals SABC cranking up propaganda for Robert Mugabe

Stunning SA High Court ruling reveals SABC cranking up propaganda for Robert Mugabe


26 January, 2011 12:23:00
Zimbabwe Mail Correspondent

The judgment relates to Mr Zikalala’s 2006 blacklisting of analysts critical of former president Thabo Mbeki, and the SABC’s coverage of elections in Zimbabwe in 2005.

JOHANNESBURG – In stunning revelations that directly implicates former South African President Thabo Mbeki on the Zimbabwean political crisis, a South Gauteng High Court judgment ruling has revealed "unlawfully manipulating" of news items on Zimbabwe’s 2005 elections and blacklisting certain commentators perceived to be anti-Robert Mugabe.

Yesterday, a High court judge in Johannesburg ruled that the SABC was guilty of manipulating the news in 2005 and 2006, in a ruling that will boost criticism of the way the South African public broadcaster covers politics and cranked up the propaganda for Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe.

Judge Neels Claassen ruled in the South Gauteng High Court that there had been widespread manipulation of news under the SABC’s former head of news, Snuki Zikalala, and that Mr Zikalala had "dishonestly tried to cover up this manipulation".

With political interference and the hand of President Jacob Zuma clear in the appointment of Phil Molefe as Mr Zikalala’s replacement, Judge Claassen’s remarks are yet another reminder of how easily the SABC can be used as a political weapon by the government of the day.

Court affidavits by former SABC head of radio news Pippa Green and John Perlman, a former presenter on SAfm, documented interference by Mr Zikalala in day-to-day operations at the SABC.

Mr Zikalala went to Zimbabwe for the 2005 elections to negotiate the terms of SABC’s coverage, contrary to normal procedure. He warned reporters at a meeting the day after the elections he would "take action" against Ms Green and any reporter who expressed an "opinion" on Zimbabwe.

The judgment relates to Mr Zikalala’s 2006 blacklisting of analysts critical of former president Thabo Mbeki, and the SABC’s coverage of elections in Zimbabwe in 2005.

Proudly SA Magistrates: Respect Their: Assassination HitLists, Pornography addictions, SMS sex-texting, 22 children, fraud, bribery, et al

Magistrate arrested over hit list

Isabel Venter, Zoutnet
Date: 21 January 2011

Controversial regional magistrate Ronnie Rambau was arrested yet again over the past weekend, this time on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder.

Rambau’s arrest follows the discovery of a hit list compiled in his own handwriting. The list was handed to members of the police’s Counter Intelligence Unit for investigation.

Among the names on the hit list is that of district magistrate Chris Mthombeni, district magistrate Marie Viljoen, senior state prosecutor André Weideman, district prosecutor Reino Mostert, district prosecutor Hylke Janse van Rensburg, senior prosecutor Deon Laminga and three policemen, one a captain and two sergeants. All nine are involved in Rambau’s pending corruption case in Musina.

Two local witch doctors, who turned state witnesses, stated that they had already received payment from Rambau to murder the people on the list. The one told police that he had been paid R850 to kill all nine, while the other was paid R3 500.

The complainant in the case, whose identity is being withheld at this stage for her own safety, handed the list to the police, fearing the worst. In her police statement, she says Rambau repeatedly told her that his gun was not for shooting birds, but for shooting people who made him angry.

A warrant for Rambau’s arrest was issued on Friday (14th). Although he initially told police by telephone that he would hand himself over, police waited in vain outside his Louis Trichardt home. Rambau eluded police for several hours, but eventually surrendered himself at around 01:30 on Saturday.

[www.kaffir-lily-riddle.co.nr]: Understanding Masculine Insecurity Poverty Pimping: Population Production of Poverty & Violence Breeding Wars

The Malthusian Tragedy of the Kaffir Lily Riddle Commons

“With complete freedom in reproduction, conscientious people will be eliminated.”
-- Garrett Hardin, The Feast of Malthus: Living within Limits & The Tragedy of the Commons

“We must all understand that the most potent weapons of war are the penis and the womb. Therefore, if you cannot convince a group to control its population by discussion, debate, intelligent analysis etc., you must consider their action in using the penis and the womb to increase population an act of war.”
–-- Jason G. Brent, Attorney and author of Humans: An Endangered Species

French Riddle of the Lily Pond: Understanding Exponential Growth In this riddle, the lily pond has a potentially virulent lily that apparently will double in size each day. If the lily grows unchecked it will cover the entire pond in 30 days, choking off all other forms of life in the water by the time it covers the entire pond. If a skeptic waited until 50% of the pond was covered before taking any remedial action to save the pond, when would he act? The answer: on the 29th day of the month! But by then, it would be too late. [See also: World Pop. Balance: Understanding Exponential Growth: Bacteria in a Bottle:] Compound Interest on Judas Iscariots' 30 Pieces of Silver “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world.” -- A member of the Rothschild family

The Era of the Jackrollers: Contextualising the Rise of Youth Gangs in Sowetho

The Era of the Jackrollers: Contextualising the rise of youth gangs in Soweto


Seminar No. 7, 1991
Presenter: Steve Mokwena, former CEO of the Youth Commission.
Date: 30 October 1991;
Venue: University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Introduction

At 2:10am on Christmas Day 1990, a gang of approximately twenty to twenty-five boys broke into the Salvation Army Girls Home in Killarney, Soweto. After attacking the night-watchman they broke the doors of the home and proceeded to make their way to the girls' dormitories. Brandishing an assortment of dangerous weapons, the boys threatened to kill the matron who they then stabbed with a sharp instrument. Amidst the turmoil and the panic, the boys selected their victims, who were then taken to various venues where they were raped.

For the first time the "Zebra Force"[1] became known beyond the confines of its immediate neighbourhood. Until then the gang was but a group of delinquent boys operating in the Meadowlands / Killarney area. This was one of the more conspicuously horrific forms of youth violence which aroused fear and revulsion in the people of the township. This was adolescent bravado run riot, but still it was one incident amongst many equally horrendous acts of violence committed in the township streets.[2]

There has been a rapid increase in the levels of violence in black communities like Soweto. It is arguable that the black "youth"[3] have been depicted as central protagonists in this tragic social drama.[4] A more popular tendency has been to speak of a "youth crisis" or "problem", and sometimes even a "lost generation". This approach fails to locate the structural and historical problems rooted in apartheid. On the other hand the political role of the youth has been covered extensively by academic writers[5] and it is no wonder that the youth have been identified as having been in the forefront in the making of South Africa's political history. These works, amongst others, have raised some major questions which have been placed on the agenda of the scholarly and social debates in recent years. Bundy, following Manheim,[6] attempts to provide an explanation for the role played by this generation of youth in the South African context. Like Hyslop,[7] he points out that the crisis of capitalism has led to disaffection and has spawned a fervent youth movement of the 1980s. The arguments go on to point out that the social conditions afflicting the youth were indeed the fuel behind the radicalism of the youth-based political movement. Hyslop in his study of the development of education policy and its political consequences, touches directly on the crisis of capitalism and its implications for the developing student movement.

Wiki: CableGate: US Emb. meet ANC's child-soldier “Your Worst Best Friend” ANCYL Malema, who “can't understand anything [brilliant Motlanthe] says”.

When asked how the ANCWL and ANCYL work together at the provincial level given the ANCYL's outspoken support of Zuma, Semenya surprisingly asked what was wrong with Zuma. She added that "people should be willing to overlook certain qualities if someone was brought up in ANC culture and tradition. That is what is most important." To maintain and enrich this tradition, she told us the ANC is creating a policy institute to inculcate its members in ANC policies and that former controversial Limpopo Premier Ngoako Ramathlodi, who fell out of favor with Mbeki last year, is in charge of the project.

[..] YOUTH LEAGUE: YOUR WORST BEST FRIEND [..]

5. (C) ANCYL Provincial Secretary Julius Malema, who was frank and friendly, started the conversation with stories of his "young pioneer" days when the ANC taught him how to use a gun 17 years ago, at the tender age of 9. [..] In a subsequent aside, Malema admitted that ANCYL President Fikile Mbalula did not want to support Zuma during the rape trial but that the regional leadership insisted, arguing that if the YL defended Zuma on corruption charges, they could defend him on rape charges since both acts are immoral. He also hinted that Fikile was told his position depended on his support of Zuma. [..]

PolOff was shut down every time she tried to turn the discussion to other potential candidates. When asked about the possibility of a female successor, Malema dismissed the idea, saying South Africa needs a "man who is ahead on issues, but who can walk with the masses." He also dismissed Tokyo Sexwale saying he had his chance. When asked if Tokyo's involvement in big business soured the ANCYL, he said that he is not against the rich, just capitalists, but that Sexwale is not a capitalist "because he only owns shares of companies, not actual means of production." (COMMENT: Malema wore a sweatshirt with NIKE emblazoned on it and also complained about the bank's right to repossess his Audi if he does not make payments. END COMMENT) [..] However, he added that though "Motlanthe is brilliant, you can't understand anything he says."

The few who Benefit from ANC's 'Liberation Struggle' to Loot, Rape, Deceive & Pillage...

Wanted man's R500m ANC deal

Nov 14, 2010 12:00 AM
By Subashni Naidoo & Suthetira Govender
TimesLive

Nelson Mandela's fugitive son-in-law has landed a R500-million coalmining deal with the ANC's investment front, Chancellor House - which already benefits from Eskom's massive R385-billion expansion programme.

Isaac Kwame Amuah, who is wanted on rape and assault charges in Hartford, Connecticut, has evaded US law enforcement authorities for 17 years.

This week the Sunday Times can reveal that one of his companies, ORS Holdings, is central in a consortium that bought a coal mine in Swaziland from mining giant Xstrata Alloys, in a R500-million deal.

Chancellor House is also a member of the consortium, which plans to supply coal to several power plants - placing the ANC as a major player in Eskom's R485-billion expansion programme to meet rising demand for electricity.

In a previous, controversial deal, Chancellor House invested in Hitachi Power Africa, which won a R38.5-billion contract to supply boilers for Eskom's two new coal-fired power stations.

Opposition parties this week said Amuah's political connections and business dealings with the ANC had managed to keep him from being arrested and extradited to the US.

US authorities have issued an extradition request through the country' s embassy in Pretoria. The SA Police Service is aware of the warrant.

Triumph of African Cultural Stupidity: Cultural 'Anti-Racist' Demands to Deny Africans Honest Feedback, to Improve their Competence

Denialism, Self-Delusion and the Non-Delivery Factor

Administrator, TAU-SA/TLU-SA
Vrydag, 05 November 2010 15:31

It is dawning on South Africa that there are two very separate and distinct mindsets at work in the country, and it seems never the twain will meet. Newspaper columns and letter pages, as well as talk shows and phone-ins, are replete with what “should be done” and ”why is this not done?” and the now over-used word “unbelievable”, from citizens aghast at the unfathomable behaviour of the ruling classes.

The logic of one mindset is not the logic of the other. Who would think that after the abysmal failure of the South African land redistribution programme, the government would continue with it, albeit under different guises? Who would believe that after wantonly destroying Zimbabwe and rendering his people to grinding penury, the South African government would ask the United Nations to lift sanctions against Zimbabwe’s president, a perpetrator of human rights atrocities? Who can fathom a government that month after month - indeed year after year - places advertisements for desperately-needed municipal staff, stipulating that they are “equal opportunity employers”, meaning skilled whites need not apply?

How is it that despite embarrassing service delivery failures, the wholesale plunder of taxpayers’ money by tenderpreneurs and government employees, the nepotism, the lowering of standards in health and education, the failing feeding schemes and the abuse of the social welfare system, the miscreants simply carry on as if nothing happened. There is no shame, no sense of accountability to those who pay them and indeed to South Africa as a nation. Indeed, when many are fired for incompetence, mismanagement or fraud, or all three, they go to court to demand huge payouts that they believe are their due! Denialism is at work here, and this brings us to an interesting explanation of this phenomenon now doing the Wikipedia rounds: the Dunning-Kruger effect.

Fugard betrayed by lying, greedy corrupt intentions of ANC elite?

Playwright Athol Fugard lambasts modern South Africa

Veteran South African playwright Athol Fugard has issued a stark warning about the direction his country is going in - and has urged younger playwrights to tackle the widespread injustices he sees as undermining the post-Apartheid settlement.

By Dominic Cavendish, Telegraph.UK
Published: 10:52AM GMT 05 Nov 2010

Veteran South African playwright Athol Fugard has issued a stark warning about the direction his country is going in - and has urged younger playwrights to tackle the widespread injustices he sees as undermining the post-Apartheid settlement.

Currently rehearsing his latest play The Train Driver, at Hampstead Theatre, Fugard, 78, has spoken out about his growing sense of disillusion. Having written, and co-authored, a number of seminal anti-Apartheid plays in his time - including The Island (1972) and Sizwe Bansi is Dead (1972) - he revealed this week that the need to address South Africa’s ongoing ills is so urgent that he has no plans to retire.

“The truth is that the new South Africa needs committed playwrights who are prepared to bear witness to what is going on every bit as urgently as the old ones did,” he declares in an in-depth interview with the theatre podcast website www.theatrevoice.com. “The essential responsibility lies with young playwrights and I’m not sure I can see them rising to that challenge - that’s what disturbs me.”

He delivers a furious attack on the government of President Jacob Zuma. “I have to live with an appalling sense of betrayal in terms of the present government in South Africa. When I think of the moment when Nelson Mandela came out of jail, and when I think of that day I stood in a queue a mile long under a blazing sun to cast my vote in our first free general election… when I think of that day and the euphoria that swept through the country that we were going to really get it right and turn our back on the appalling past and be a truly open democratic society with compassion and a sense of justice - that’s not the case.”

“In a sense we have got to start again,” he continues. “It’s a very fluid - and a very volatile situation in South Africa. On my side there’s a sense of betrayal. I hate to name names but men who I thought would stand up and speak out against the degree of corruption and everything that’s going wrong in our country simply concern themselves with getting richer. Look at the degree of corruption in high places in South Africa. Desmond Tutu has gone on record time and time again and said to us fellow south Africans that we have lost our way. He is absolutely right.”

The Train Driver is based on the true story of Pumla Lolwana, who in 2000, stepped in front of an oncoming train with her three young children on the Cape Flats. Fugard has described it as “perhaps the most important play I’ve written... It’s the emotional journey I’ve travelled in dealing with my inherited legacy of South African prejudice and what you do with that blinkered vision of reality”.

» » » » [Telegraph.UK]

Fugard feels betrayed by his country

November 7 2010 at 11:32am
By Melanie Peters, Weekend Argus

Veteran playwright Athol Fugard, 78, has lashed out at President Jacob Zuma’s government for the high level of corruption and has said he feels “betrayed” and disillusioned by the direction his native country is heading.

He expressed his strong views in a frank interview – which has made headlines in British newspapers – with a podcast website www.theatrevoice.com.

He was talking before the UK premiere of his latest play, The Train Driver, at Hampstead Theatre.

Fugard, born in Middelburg in the Eastern Cape, was a key figure in the cultural struggle against apartheid and has often been referred to “the conscience of his country”.

In the interview he said: “In a sense we have got to start again. It’s a very fluid – and a very volatile situation in South Africa. On my side there’s a sense of betrayal. Men who I thought would stand up and speak out against the degree of corruption and everything that’s going wrong… simply concern themselves with getting richer.”

Fugard said: “When I think of the moment when Nelson Mandela came out of jail, and when I think of that day I stood in a queue a mile long under a blazing sun to cast my vote in our first free general election… when I think of that day and the euphoria that swept through the country that we were going to really get it right and turn our back on the appalling past and be a truly open democratic society with compassion and a sense of justice – that’s not the case.”


Veteran playwright and theatre director Nicholas Ellenbogen described Fugard’s comments as “naive”.

He said Fugard, who is now based in California although he still has a house in the Eastern Cape, had been out of the country was not fully aware of what was going on.


Author Zakes Mda said there was nothing new or even specific in Fugard’s “lambast”. He was not pointing out any specific problem.

“Playwrights, young and old, cannot be prescribed to by Mr Fugard about what to write or not to write.” - Weekend Argus

» » » » [IOL: Weekend Argus]

Fugard feels 'betrayed'

Saterdag, 01 September 2007 10:29 BBC
PRAAG

Victory, which premiered in the UK city of Bath, paints a bleak picture of modern South Africa. It centres on a violent burglary of an elderly white widower committed by two black teenagers, Freddie and Victoria.

Fugard told BBC World Service's The Ticket programme that he took the theme after his own home was burgled on four occasions in the last two years - the last of which involved someone he trusted.

"It gave a focus to a sense of betrayal I've had growing in me with time, as I looked at what South Africa was becoming and the direction it was heading in," he said.

"I compared it with what I had felt 12 years ago when, together with millions of South Africans of all races and creeds, we stood in long queues to cast our votes in the first ever democratic election.

"That was a moment of incredible euphoria, of hope, that South Africa would in fact - as it did - turn its back on the violence of its past and try to forge a new identity."

Fugard, who initially became famous through his works about South Africa under apartheid, has set a number of his recent plays in the same village as he reflects on how the country has changed since those first democratic elections in 1994.

He said that it showed how burglary, violent crime, drug abuse "and all the attendant horrors of what the world is made up of now" have reached even this remote place in the Karoo desert.

He added, however, there is a "slender note of affirmation" in the fate of the young woman, Victoria, at the centre of the play.

Fugard established his reputation when he worked extensively with two of South Africa's greatest actors, John Kani and Winston Ntshona.

Together they wrote three groundbreaking plays, including The Island and Sizwe Banzi is Dead - performed and workshopped in black townships.

He said that taking these plays into the townships, and talking loudly on stage "about things that were only whispered about" was, for him, "an absolutely defining experience of the potency of theatre."

And he said that, though he is now 75 years old, he still writes "with the same joy and the same sense of celebration.

"Underlying even the bleak in my opus is celebration - the celebration of theatre," he added.

"I was talking to the director of the Bath production of Victory this morning - and I just felt so proud to be a member of the theatre community.

"This community stretches all the way back to Shakespeare, and even earlier. Ours is a very noble profession, even though in many cases we've been the outcasts of society."

» » » » [PRAAG, via BBC]