Tag Archives: southafrica

Julius Malema should not have been convicted of hate speech

Julius Malema is a moron Let me be clear: I think Julius Malema is a complete tool. I can’t stand the man and I wish that the ANC would do something about him. He makes me afraid for our nation.

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.

How South African ID numbers are formed

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Everyone knows that South African ID numbers start with date of birth. If you were born on May 13, 1988 then your ID number starts with 880513.

This post details what the rest of the digits in an ID number mean.

The format is:

{YYMMDD} {G} {SSS} {C} {X} {Z}

{YYMMDD} is the date of birth
{G} is gender. 0-4 is female and 5-9 is male
{SSS} is a sequence number
{C} is citizenship. 0 for South Africans and 1 for other citizens
{X} is usually 8 or 9 – not clear what this is
{Z} is a check digit calculated from the other digits

So for the ID number 8909025012083 we know certain things about the person:

Born on September 2nd, 1989
Male
12th male born on that date to get an ID number
South African citizen

Not very useful, but interesting.

The Economist on corruption in South Africa

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The latest Economist has an article on corruption in South Africa. It makes for pretty frightening reading.

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”

Criticize Jacob Zuma, but not for polygamy

Unprotected Sex

By having unprotected sex with various women Zuma is setting a shocking example. He is selfishly risking the lives of his wives.

He deserves strong criticism because:

It shows terrible disrespect to his wives. Zuma has literally risked the lives of his wives so that he could have a shag.
It also sets a horrendous example to the men of a country plagued by rape and by HIV/AIDS.

For these reasons Jacob Zuma should be vilified.

Polygamy is not morally wrong

Many people are criticizing Zuma for practicing polygyny (one man with more than one wife).

But why is polygamy morally wrong? People assume polygamy is wrong but they seldom back up their conviction with reason.

If all parties are voluntarily entering the relationship I don’t see the problem.

Many people assume that polygyny is bad for women. In fact polygyny is beneficial for most women. Sharing half of the best man is often better than all of a bad man.

Monogamy benefits the average men, who would have no wives in a polygynous society. It does not help the average woman who could have a happier life in a polygynous society.

These women are voluntarily marrying Jacob Zuma. If they were unhappy then they would leave him.

Conclusion

Zuma should be criticized for unprotected sex
Zuma should not be criticized for having multiple wives

Ugandan poster about polygamy and AIDS

Economist on South Africa’s education results

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The Economist has an article on education in South Africa. Some of the facts from the article:

South Africa spends about 5% of GDP on education – more than any other country in Africa
About 50% of students drop out before achieving a Matric
Only 15% of Matrics get marks good enough to enter university
The Matric pass rate has fallen from 73% in 2003 to 61% in 2009

The results are drastically different for white and black students. For example, matric mathematics results are enormously different between the two races.

Graph comparing South African educational results for white vs. black students

The article goes on to speculate about the causes of these dismal results. Obviously the historical impact of Apartheid policies on black education is mentioned. The OBE initiative also cops some blame.

But why would results be getting worse even 15 years after Apartheid and despite affirmative action programs?

The Economist speculates that the appalling quality of teachers is also to blame. The article notes that teachers’ unions prevent teachers from being evaluated – a sure recipe for bad teachers. If someone isn’t evaluated on performance, then they aren’t going to perform.

Teachers really should be evaluated on their performance – just like the rest of us.