GPSA Weekly Views

Thought I'll have to scrounge around for some interesting stories for this week but Thursdays Star newspaper had plenty. And quite by accident most of it revolved around what I wrote last week.

The DA was attacked during the budget vote by an ANC member "of being the most backward and reactionary defenders of racist capital in South Africa", as the Star reporter put it. Of course DA leader Tony Leon wants Goniwe disciplined but with the ANC's record in that field he'll probably get promoted.

Mbeki again tried to ensure everyone that the government will not stand "for the accumulation of personal wealth at all costs" by it's members. We heard it before Thabo.

Ethnicity was another point raised during his budget vote regarding attempts to mobilise Afrikaners "on the basis that the democratic order was focused on denying them their identity and legitimate rights". He also warned of the mobilisation of the Zulu nation who believes that "government is seeking to destroy or undermine traditional leadership as an institution", amongst other. This could spell real trouble for the ANC.

It is not surprising that people start feeling unwelcome. Familiar surrounds are being destroyed slowly but surely. Our capitol city is in the process of loosing it's name, in spite of the historic value to the Afrikaner. The Freedom Front Plus' Pieter Mulder concluded the reporters story with a quote from the Freedom Charter that "all national groups shall have equal rights and shall be protected by law against insults to their race and national pride". He said that "changing places names named after my heroes is an insult to my national pride". Come-on Pieter, we know that what's good for the goose is a no-go area for the gander.

It amazes me that our political parties wait so long before they realise that something has to be done. With the ANC majority in all aspects of government we never had a chance. But there's another threat looming.

The people on the ground is getting tired of promises. Eleven years later and not much has been done about poverty and the jobless. Cosatu has called a general strike in protest of exactly this. Now it does not make sense to me. No work no pay. Do they really want to impoverish their members further by not only taking them away from their workplace and also making their employers suffer? A mine group is busy laying off some 12 000 people. They are not profitable and haven't been for the past couple of years. What to do? Does government have an obligation here?

Job creation is not governments' job, it's up to the private sector. But government must ensure that the incentives are there and should reward companies instead of punishing them with black economic empowerment threats.

In the meantime the people are demonstrating in the streets. Lack of housing and poor service delivery being the main reasons. And the police is there, shooting rubber bullets at demonstrators. The PAC leader asked "Should those expressing their pain of poverty be treated as criminals?" Or is this just the ANC way of making the "people" understand who's in charge?

The budget vote at least had some positive contributions. For Johannesburg there were lots of promises (as is common with the ANC). Emergency services will get a 100 new members with R3 million being spent on communication between control centers and ambulance crews. 326 New Metro Police will be trained (these are the guys we love to hate purely because of their inability to do their job properly except for hiding in bushes with their speed cameras) and 100 new cars provided. At least some money is being spent on power outages (R200-million) and Soweto dirt roads will be tarred. About time that an area much bigger than Johannesburg and surrounds get uplifted with the rest of the country (or at least the promise of it).

Of course there's a price to be paid - electricity will go up by 6,2%, water and sanitation by 7,7% and refuse removal by 4,7%. Well, we're used to that by now, as long as these people apply the additional funds where they say they would and please, train the Metro Police properly in all matters of traffic!

Because I'll be away from next week I've posted some extra humor. Remember the upset farmer? Download the follow-up on that - three soundclips including the original in one compressed file (rar). Then there's a movie-clip (mpg). A song (zip-mp3) bringing back memories of the old Hillbrow (Afrikaans) and the previous soundclip on the Institute for Learning to speak Afrikaans (or something like that).

Weekly View
	26 May 2005
Thought I'll have to scrounge around for some interesting stories for this week but Thursdays Star newspaper had plenty. And quite by accident most of it revolved around what I wrote last week. The DA was attacked during the budget vote by an ANC member "of being the most backward and reactionary defenders of racist capital in South Africa", as the Star reporter put it. Of course DA leader Tony Leon wants Goniwe disciplined but with the ANC's record in that field he'll probably get promoted. Mbeki again tried to ensure everyone that the government will not stand "for the accumulation of personal wealth at all costs" by it's members. We heard it before Thabo. Ethnicity was another point raised during his budget vote regarding attempts to mobilise Afrikaners "on the basis that the democratic order was focused on denying them their identity and legitimate rights". He also warned of the mobilisation of the Zulu nation who believes that "government is seeking to destroy or undermine traditional leadership as an institution", amongst other. This could spell real trouble for the ANC. It is not surprising that people start feeling unwelcome. Familiar surrounds are being destroyed slowly but surely. Our capitol city is in the process of loosing it's name, in spite of the historic value to the Afrikaner. The Freedom Front Plus' Pieter Mulder concluded the reporters story with a quote from the Freedom Charter that "all national groups shall have equal rights and shall be protected by law against insults to their race and national pride". He said that "changing places names named after my heroes is an insult to my national pride". Come-on Pieter, we know that what's good for the goose is a no-go area for the gander. It amazes me that our political parties wait so long before they realise that something has to be done. With the ANC majority in all aspects of government we never had a chance. But there's another threat looming. The people on the ground is getting tired of promises. Eleven years later and not much has been done about poverty and the jobless. Cosatu has called a general strike in protest of exactly this. Now it does not make sense to me. No work no pay. Do they really want to impoverish their members further by not only taking them away from their workplace and also making their employers suffer? A mine group is busy laying off some 12 000 people. They are not profitable and haven't been for the past couple of years. What to do? Does government have an obligation here? Job creation is not governments' job, it's up to the private sector. But government must ensure that the incentives are there and should reward companies instead of punishing them with black economic empowerment threats. In the meantime the people are demonstrating in the streets. Lack of housing and poor service delivery being the main reasons. And the police is there, shooting rubber bullets at demonstrators. The PAC leader asked "Should those expressing their pain of poverty be treated as criminals?" Or is this just the ANC way of making the "people" understand who's in charge? The budget vote at least had some positive contributions. For Johannesburg there were lots of promises (as is common with the ANC). Emergency services will get a 100 new members with R3 million being spent on communication between control centers and ambulance crews. 326 New Metro Police will be trained (these are the guys we love to hate purely because of their inability to do their job properly except for hiding in bushes with their speed cameras) and 100 new cars provided. At least some money is being spent on power outages (R200-million) and Soweto dirt roads will be tarred. About time that an area much bigger than Johannesburg and surrounds get uplifted with the rest of the country (or at least the promise of it). Of course there's a price to be paid - electricity will go up by 6,2%, water and sanitation by 7,7% and refuse removal by 4,7%. Well, we're used to that by now, as long as these people apply the additional funds where they say they would and please, train the Metro Police properly in all matters of traffic! Because I'll be away from next week I've posted some extra humor. Remember the upset farmer? Download the follow-up on that - three soundclips including the original in one compressed file (rar). Then there's a movie-clip (mpg). A song (zip-mp3) bringing back memories of the old Hillbrow (Afrikaans) and the previous soundclip on the Institute for Learning to speak Afrikaans (or something like that).	Past Views Current Joke Past jokes Gallery Links Current Exchange Rate Daily News Headlines Articles
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