So I was pretty happy when I heard that he had been convicted of hate speech. But I’m conflicted. I disagree with the judgment…

Malema claimed that Jacob Zuma’s rape accuser was lying because she had not fled after the alleged rape:

“When a woman didn’t enjoy it, she leaves early in the morning. Those who had a nice time will wait until the sun comes out, request breakfast and ask for taxi money”.

I think that is an offensive, ignorant and downright deplorable statement to have made. If the ANC were at all responsible they would have fired him on the spot. They are not that type of organization and that is a problem for all of us.

That said, I really don’t believe that the state should be able to fine Malema for this statement. Anyone making statements like this should be judged by society.

When the state enforces what you can and can’t say then things start to go wrong.

There’s a little thing called freedom of speech. I think it is quite important.

The South African law on hate speech says:

No person may publish, propagate, advocate or communicate words based on one or more of the prohibited grounds, against any person, that could reasonably be construed to demonstrate a clear intention to -
(a) be hurtful;
(b) be harmful or to incite harm;
(c) promote or propagate hatred.

This is too paternalistic. Just imagine the impact on freedom of speech.

Malema should be ridiculed. The ANC should have fired him long ago. But he should not be fined by the government for saying something offensive.

Examples

The article mentions several high profile cases of corruption: Zuma, Cwele, Selebi, etc.

There is also discussion of several other examples of corruption.

• 400,000 civil servants getting welfare payments to which they are not entitled
• 6,000 senior government officials who failed to declare business interests and are awaiting disciplinary hearings
• 423 prison officials disciplined for corruption; 26 criminally charged
• 923 corrupt officials from the ministry of public works have been ‘brought to book’

Reasoning

Corruption among those in power is a human condition. However, it seems that ANC officials are especially prone to corruption.

Even Gwede Mantashe, the ANC secretary-general, explains that too many “comrades” regard election to office as simply a chance to get rich.

The Economist also mentions that corruption in South Africa is exacerbated by “a culture of entitlement to compensate for past suffering under apartheid”.

In other words many in the ANC feel entitled to take their fill because of our history. As I have blogged in the past, a feeling of entitlement has been shown to make corruption significantly worse.

Silver lining

The ANC claims to be working on several corruption busting laws and measures including:

• Laws to facilitate swifter and reliable prosecution of corrupt officials
• A review of the ANC’s deployment policies which currently put people into jobs based on having the right connections instead of the right skills
• Tougher rules and more openness on the awarding of public contracts
• Better protection for whistle blowers who are often suspended for “poking their noses into smelly areas”

The Economist has an article on Zuma, South Africa, and the recession.

Summary:

• The current recession means that many of Zuma’s grand campaign promises are falling aside
• This is causing serious problems among the impatient poor masses
• It is also causing problems among his powerful left leaning COSATU and communist allies
• The fact that Tito Mboweni is leaving (suspiciously timed) suggests that perhaps Zuma is giving in to pressure
• It will be crucial to see if Zuma is able to “hold his left-wing allies in check” during the recession

In short, my take is this:

South Africa is full of poor people (40% of our population is below the poverty line).

These poor masses are impatient to improve their lot. They also believe that this is their right and will happen fast.

• Many believe their current situation to be the direct result of past injustice
• They have all been promised quick and drastic change by the ANC

With good governance and hard work their lot should improve – but only over time.

This is a problem because:

• We do not have good governance. Especially at the extremely important municipal level we often have shockingly bad governance
• The ANC promises unrealistic and quick results. Zuma made lots of mad promises during the campaign which are now falling by the wayside

So we have an already impatient, poor and jobless population being continually disappointed you surely have a recipe for unrest and possible disaster?

Bull.

You should vote DA or COPE.

There. I said it… Whatever you do, vote against this guy and his party.

It’s true that you shouldn’t intimidate or force people to vote your way. But, in my opinion, you should try to persuade them to vote the right way. That’s democracy.

It’s their vote, but your responsibility to get them to use it wisely!

The ANC are a corrupt, inept and dangerous in government. However, because of our country’s history the ANC are assured of an election victory again.

There are several reasons why you should still vote against the ANC:

1. To stop them from getting a 66% majority! That would allow them to change our constitution – something they have already threatened to do
2. To make your voice heard against the corrupt and inept government of the ANC. Votes against the ANC won’t be ignored forever
3. In some towns and provinces the opposition has a very good change of winning control from useless ANC local or provincial government

As for which opposition party to vote for, choose one that has policies you agree with. Surely you can’t agree with the ANC and their policies? They are nowhere near the party they once were.

I have strong feelings on who you should vote for – suffice it to say that if you vote DA or COPE you are doing your country a favor.

Make sure that you get out there and vote accordingly. And tell other people to do the same.

Yesterday he was at my old university, UCT, threatening to remove the management of the university once the ANC comes into power.

I get angry when I read some of the things this fool says. I get sad when I see how many people in our country agree with his statements…

Quotes from his speech at UCT yesterday:

• “Forces that are opposed to our revolution are still here. We must change the management of this university and also the lecturers.”
• “Don’t provoke us, it is us (ANC) who brought the nonsensical apartheid regime down. No opposition (party) will ever defeat the ANC. We want them all to combine so that we can defeat them”

One of my point-form summaries:

• 27 Western Cape seats were recently contested in the Western Cape
  • The ANC had held all of them, but lost all but 3
  • The ANC didn’t contest 12 of the seats (through incompetence) so they outright lost 12 of the 15 that they did contest
  • COPE won 10 of the seats and the DA won 9

• The formation of COPE has much to do with “personal interests and ambitions”
  • It is observed that COPE was formed by those who were squeezed out of power when Zuma came in
  • These are the same people who thought the ANC was fine until they lost power

• Either way, COPE should benefit South Africa by:
  1. Offering black voters more choice
  2. Weakening the hapless ANC

Infrastructure is a tricky thing for politicians. It costs a lot to build and maintain infrastructure, but it’s normally one of those things that you don’t notice till it’s gone. Stupid politicians often don’t bother with infrastructure which won’t be noticed for years when they can use the money to win votes now.

That, to the dismay of many, has been happening in South Africa for a while. In 1994 the ANC took over and they did a great job as a transitional government – South Africa got through that little part of history wonderfully. But anyone who reads this blog will know that I think the ANC are rubbish at governing a running country.

One of the things that the ANC are worst at is maintaining our national infrastructure. So we are already in deep trouble with electricity, our rail networks are nowhere near what they should be, and our roads are falling apart.

Jeff Radebe (Transport Minister) has just released information (after being hounded by the DA) on just how bad things are with our roads – see the graph above. Basically he said that we are miles behind on road maintenance and that at current rates we will never catch up. In other words unless something drastic is done South Africa’s road network will completely collapse!

One of South Africa’s biggest problems is that the ANC can do anything without worrying about the results of the next election. They are a terrible government largely because they don’t have to worry. I wish that there was a possibility of them losing an election.

The article has scathing criticism of both candidates:

• “Mr Zuma should have been ruled out on several counts. His dreadful views on sex were revealed during his trial for rape last year. He was acquitted, but claimed that he could tell by the way a woman sat whether she wanted to have sex with him and that his Zulu culture demanded he should oblige her; also that he could avoid contracting HIV by taking a shower. He may soon be charged again with corruption.”
• “Mr Mbeki is standing just to stop Mr Zuma. But Mr Mbeki has shown by his own autocratic ways and weird views on AIDS—which he seems to think is not caused by HIV—that he too should no longer be leading the ANC”.

The real problem in South Africa is something that the articles do mention: there is no competition for the ANC.

“14 years of unbroken power have given way to corruption, factionalism, paranoia and arrogance” within the ANC. Although the ANC has “on the whole done a good job” since 1994, it is now no longer the party that should be leading the country. The ANC should spend a term in opposition so that it can “purge or renew itself”.

The problem is that the masses are an unthinking lot who blindly vote along historical lines despite the current problems in the ANC. If only they would see past race and think rationally they would know that there is a better, if imperfect, alternative – just look to Cape Town!

“South Africa deserves a lot better.”