A lot of focus has been placed on how Manto sacrificed her life to walk to Tanzania and the go to Russia to learn Communism and Medicine. This supposedly shows her dedication to the ANC struggle cause but to me this seems like another nail in the coffin of her reputation. You would assume that this overseas experience should have made her more worldly but I posit this time overseas made her lazy, an alcoholic and a crony of Mbeki. Msimang spent her time overseas close to Mbeki and that is how we found her in the presidency, a friend of the president rather than a competent representative of the people and their needs.

There’s been plenty of debate about how her policies between 2000 and 2005 killed around three hundred thousand South Africans. While it’s difficult to run those exact numbers the human cost needs to be considered as well as the reputation cost. Quite simply, Manto made us look like fools on an international stage and regardless of the number of people that died directly or indirectly, this is unacceptable in my mind. Her Kleptomania, Alcoholism and preference for medical treatment was shameful. How many people died because Manto received their liver? Was Manto better than any other South African? I’d say she was worse off for her moral and intellectual failings.

Thabo Mbeki’s spokesperson has come out saying that Manto had never said anything about HIV not causing AIDS and how her promoting vegetables was merely a supplement to ARV’s. Sadly, this a lie and Manto acted like a mini dictator during her tenure. Her support of Mathias Rath, a doctor that promoted taking vegetables and vitamins proves her clear indifference to the suffering of her fellow countrymen and women. A lot of talk comes on how Manto tried to promote women’s rights but again this is patently wrong. If Manto has wanted to promote the rights of women, she’d have provided ARV’s to young mothers so that they could have seen their children grow up. This sudden statement that Manto never said HIV doesn’t cause AIDS is laughable, it was clearly a policy of the incompetence and pathetic “head in the sand” mentality of Mbeki and Msimang. Their legacy should be shamed and a massive black mark placed on both their heads.

I don’t in any way think it’s good that she died but lets stop pretending that she was anything but an incompetent minister that did cause the death of many people who could have lived longer on ARV’s and not beetroot. At the end of the day, if Charles Manson died you wouldn’t think “shame, he was a bit of a mass murderer but his aim in life was to empower the disenfranchised”. It’s just ludicrous to give Manto ANY positive comments.

Let the woman go peacefully and stop making a fuss over someone that doesn’t deserve it. If anything, you should be giving the same press time to the people that died under her regime.

If you think about it, the moral is absolutely shocking: fight your way into government through patience and some hard work you’re going to live the life of a fat cat. I can’t help but wonder whether the youth of today, affected by poverty and other socio-economic problems can’t help but think that this is the best way of getting that 7-Series BMW. Kids of today would rather be a rapper, football player or a politician than say a scientist or an entrepreneur. While I don’t think it’s a problem that kids want to be politicians, they need to do it so that they make a difference rather than being able to drive in a fancy German sedan.

Take for example the recently launched South African satellite. This week the the first South Africa satellite, SumbandilaSat was launched to very little fanfare. I can’t help but wonder how many of our youth even heard about the launch of this ground breaking scientific development let alone those who thought to themselves: “Instead of being the next minister of agriculture, I want to develop the South Africa space program.”

The same can be said for entrepreneurs in this country. Instead of focusing our attention on people that drive a fancy car on the sweat of their own brow, we promote people who have a 7-Series thanks to tax revenue. One can’t help but look at companies such as Massmart, Discovery, Thawte, Investec, Internet Solutions and many more to see how visionary entrepreneurs took the risks to create massive empires. Add in social entrepreneurs who are using their talents to uplift communities and you’ve literally got a massive pool of amazing people that should be admired for their hard work and tenacity.

However, why is it that scientists, entrepreneurs and the other hard working people of our country are hardly ever given media coverage they deserve? We value fashion and media more than hard work, so much so that we have channels dedicated to fashion and cars rather than education and information.

Unfortunately I don’t have a solution for this problem but I do believe that as a generation, we need to stop spending so much time promoting the wrong role models and make it acceptable to idolise an entrepreneur or a scientist rather than becoming the next 50 cent.

As an example, General Nyanda, the Minister of Communications spent over two million rand on two different vehicles, one for when he is in Pretoria and one for when he is in Cape Town. Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshegha, did the exact same thing this week when she bought over a million rands worth of cars to replace her current vehicles. The only reason Sbu Ndebele gave back the Mercedes S600 that he was given as a present was because he would be able to get an even better car through government car policies. Now the thing is, despite the outcry about Nyanda spending such a ridiculous amount of money on a car, he has done absolutely nothing wrong. The rules quite strictly state at what age and mileage a government car should be replaced and what value a vehicle can be replaced with. The question is though: shouldn’t we be changing the rules rather than reviling the ministers?

Here’s the reality about South Africa: We’ve got a huge unemployment problem, issues with the global recession and a wide range of other social and economic problems. Considering that there are sixteen ministers in this new government surely they could take a step down in car size and cut their costs in half? If every ministry bought a 5-series BMW rather than a fully decked out 7-Series or a new E-Class Mercedes as opposed to a top of the range S-Class we could save a whopping sixteen million rand. Now that money could be used for education, social grants, new businesses, housing and other infrastructure projects like roads. I’d rather that money be given to someone like Eskom to avoid their raising of prices that poorer members of our country cannot afford to pay for. If the rules were that national ministers were only allowed a five hundred thousand rand vehicle then deputy ministers and local ministers would have to spend less as well, possibly only affording them a 3-Series BMW or *shock* a VW or Toyota. Lets be realistic, if I had the option of where to put my tax money, it wouldn’t be towards someone I didn’t even vote for to drive a ridiculously expensive car.

Other financial benefits include a lowered cost in insurance and lowered monthly petrol bills and if everyone got bumped down one level in size (say from 7-series to 5-series) then we’d save literally millions every year that could be used very wisely. Not only would we have more money but from a green perspective, we’d be cutting down on carbon emissions and pollution.

The situation seems obvious here: ministers deserve decent cars (they work hard and have worked hard to get to where they are) but only within reason. A car over half a million is automatically exorbitant and unnecessary. If anything, there should be a rewards system based on work done where a minister gets a reward of an expensive car depending on how successful their ministry is over a certain time period.

South African Ministers, send your current vehicles back and buy a reasonably sized vehicle and sleep safe in the fact that your “sacrifice” helped to feed or education a fellow South African.

With the Egyptian soccer team under a cloud of speculation as to whether their rooms were burgled by prostitutes I thought I would take a look at the topic. With an event such as the World Cup approaching rapidly it seems like now is the best time to legalise the worlds oldest trade in the world. I can only assume that the reason prostitution is not allowed is a throwback to our god fearing Calvinist National Party leaders that ruled South Africa for forty odd years but we live in a new, more progressive society.

Let’s face the simple reality that prostitution happens and is something we cannot stop. However, in South Africa where we have the worlds strongest constitution protecting human rights, it seems odd that we’re doing nothing to protect the sex workers of our country.

The argument for allowing sex workers to be legalised is compelling. Not only does it offer a greater level of protection for the sex workers themselves but is also bound to lead to a whole new group of previously untaxed individuals contributing to GDP. Quite simply if a prostitute is attacked or robbed while working she has no legal recourse with the police as she was effectively committing an illegal act during the incident. From an economic point of view it makes sense to register sex workers as it leads to a new group being taxed as well as other pleasant oddities such as sex tourists. Not only is it good for the worker but potentially good for the client who can identify “quality” workers through a referral system.

It’s beyond the scope of my blog to debate the moralities of the sex worker industry. Personally I feel it’s perfectly fine but then again I’m not sure I’d feel quite as comfortable if a member of my family were in the trade. Either way, it’s safer and more economically productive to keep the sex trade above board.

With Sbu Ndelbele giving back his Merc S600L because he could “get a better car with the generous government car allowance” and Gauteng MEC for Agriculture Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko having to resign based on her Mercedes ML63 AMG being stolen before it was insured, I’ve been wondering something. What this does make me wonder is whether we’re actually in a recession in South Africa if we’re buying cars worth a million rand with taxpayers money.

You see, a second hand ML63 AMG costs close on a million rand and I cannot help but wonder why a minister in a provincial government requires such an expensive car? My issue is how does being appointed to the government (the local government at that) justify such an impressive car? Considering the fact that you’re looking at roughly a twenty five thousand rand monthly payment (over 60 months or the five years that the government will be in power) and maybe it’s just me but surely that money could be used better elsewhere? Considering the GDP per head in South Africa is roughly $5600 (or around R44000 per year) then every two months the government has paid for the average person’s salary for the year. Now bearing in mind that South African GDP distribution is horribly skewed (we have one of the highest GINI coefficient’s in the world) and thus there are very few people actually in this band you’re probably looking at paying ten people’s salary per month with the payment on a Mercedes ML63AMG. Now bear in mind that this is one MEC in one province then we’re looking at a fat monthly bill country wide.

Here’s my thought: why does anyone require a Merc ML63 considering they will be driving it from their office to their house? I cannot comprehend why an ML-Class 4X4 is required over something like a basic, entry level Mercedes C-Class? You could theoretically buy close on four C-Class C200’s for the same price as one ML63 AMG. All things considered, I don’t see how a MEC in a provincial government needs a top of the range vehicle, something reserved for only the most successful Entrepreneurs and corporate climbers.

Education, policing, housing and helping South Africa out of its recession could all be vastly more useful ways to allocate these budgets. While I applaud the fact that Ndebele gave his car back and Nkomo-Ralehoko resigned but frankly giving each member of a provincial government a million rand car allowance is a ridiculous extravangance.

As far as I can gauge the mood of the country is positive for the first time in ten years. Zuma is taking a tough line (at least verbally) on crime, has solved the Sbu Ndebele car indcident so efficiently that it made Sbu look like a hero and most importantly his government has expressed embarrasment for the poor behaviour of the ANC Youth League. While we’re hardly speaking sweeping changes this is definitely a step in the right direction. I get the impression that the country has already forgiven Zuma for his previous mistakes (he’s only human and we all make mistakes) and we’re willing as a nation to follow Zuma into a greater future. With global economies as well as our own economy tanking now is the time for a decisive leader to take charge and I’m beginning to wonder if good old JZ is not the man for the job. Creating a National Planning Comittee and getting Pravan Gordhan into the finance ministry shows me that at least our economy is in the right direction.

On the other hand the opposition DA has had a swing in sentiment after the elections when Helen Zille felt that it was acceptable to continue the pointless fight with Zuma despite him already being the president. The ANC have extended an olive branch and it seems a shame that the DA continues to be defiant when they could get involved to make some real (needed) change in this country.

I’m proud to say that I think South Africa is going to be just fine under the JZ presidency and I’m very proud of South African’s for putting their differences aside and being positive about the future. Maybe JZ isn’t going to be our Obama but the fact of the matter is that our country is changing and for the better. If there is any country in the world worth saving it is clearly South Africa and while our problems are numerous, I think it’s all going to work out alright.

First up, Democratic Alliance leader, Helen Zille decided it would be a good idea to attack Jacob Zuma with the quote: “Zuma is a self-confessed womaniser with deeply sexist views, who put all his wives at risk by having unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman.” Helen, Helen, Helen, that’s not the kind of thing you say in public if you want to keep your supporters. The elections are over and the fundamental problem with a Zille led DA is coming to the fore. I belive the DA received their 16% election results as they were considered the only option for many to Zuma. People voted for the DA to “Stop Zuma”, not necessarily the rhetoric spilled out by Zille. I really wish my dear Helen would stop being on the constant attack and use the next five years to talk about what an amazing job she’s done in the Western Cape now that she is the premier. The fact remains, if Zuma’s wives want to be part of his polygamist behaviour then surely they are also making a concious choice to deal with a potential AIDS infection? Unless it affects his ability to lead then it’s fairly irrelevant whether Zuma has AIDS or not. Yes, it’s unnaceptable that he’s given the message that a shower can stop the spread of AIDS but now if he’s got the disease then it’s to late and making a below the belt comment about his many wives is not productive. Speak with your actions Helen, the entire world will be impressed if you do.

And then the monkey came out to play

The ANC Youth League, with all their young wisdom decided that it would be a great idea to act like monkeys (for a change) and fling poo into the situation. The first ANCYL comment was fairly tolerable: “Zille has appointed an all male Cabinet of useless people, majority of whom are her boyfriends and concubines so that she can continue to sleep around with them, yet she claims to have the moral authority to question our president (sic).”

Then it degenerated into “militant action”. Apparently the ANC Youth League is breeding a large cadre of soldiers considering how often they threaten militant action:

“If the fake racist girl Zille continues to speak hogwash like she has been doing during elections, we will take militant action against her, and demonstrate to her that she does not have monopoly over the Western Cape (sic). The fake racist girl who was dropped on a head as child should understand that South Africa will never be a Mickey-mouse republic like she wants to portray it (sic). An absolute majority of South Africans support President Jacob Zuma and will find it very disgusting for a fake racist apartheid agent to continue undermining the highest office in South Africa (sic).”

It’s always racism (even if you’re black!) and it’s always militant action. Shame shit, different day. Today the ANC Youth League proved that Jacob Zuma is in fact a big softy with a heart of gold that is so upset with the comments of Helen Zille that he couldn’t even give a rebuttle. Shame, apparently JZ has been crying so much that the Youth League felt it was up to them and only them to make sure that his honour was defended!

There are two issues here:

Why does the local news feel the need to give the ANCYL a platform to speak on? It’s really pathetic that they let a bunch of infants dictate the news.

When is the ANC going to rein in the Youth League and educate them in manners?

All in all this situation shows that in South Africa, it’s not about intellectualism and it’s certainly not about a witty response that shows that your opponent is clearly an idiot. In South Africa it’s a case of who can throw the lowest blow. I eagerly await the day when a politician calls out a rival politicians mother for having children and calling her a whore.

Now that will be entertaining.

Jokes aside, there’s been a lot of perceived “black on black” racism in the past week. Fortunately, anyone with a double digit IQ (clearly not a lot of people in South Africa) knows that this is a rubbish statement.

Last week, ANC Spokesperson, Jesse Duarte had a mad tirade on a journalist from The Times. Somehow she thought the journalist insinuated that our lord and savior Jacob Zuma was unable to read. Saucy Jesse then went on to tell the journalist that “If you weren’t black I’d call you a racist. In fact maybe you are a racist”. See, clearly black on black racism happening here. I think Duarte went into crisis mode which usually result in her calling someone a “racist” then realised she was actually talking to a fellow “black” person. I say “black” mostly due to the fact that Jesse is pretty light herself. She’s about one skin whitening treatment away from having to change her name to “Tabitha Munroe” or something equally white.

If that wasn’t enough, (in my opinion) colourless 5FM presenter, DJ Fresh went and played a song called “Kaffir” (sue me) and got a terrible rap on the knuckles for it. Now in my little world I was always told that it’s okay for black people to call each other “nigger” (this is sarcasm) so did I miss the memo here? So ultimately Fresh has been fined ten thousand rand for playing the song. There’s no doubt that this word is an anachronistic throwback to a horrible past but surely context is important? It’s a song that is about not being called that name and being proactive. How on earth would a child born after 1994 know that if they get called a kaffir it’s a horrible word? Let’s be honest, this is more educational than offensive. Either way, it seems DJ Fresh is a less than subtle racist.

Finally, today the ANC Youth League has had a major apoplexy after a Nando’s advert featuring Julius Malema was screened. The advert parodies Julius and the Youth League has threatened “Militant action” if the adverts are not taken down and a full apology given. Ironically the man himself, Julius Malema is in good spirits about the advert, according to a report in the news this morning. Why is this considered black on black racism? The marketing manager of Nando’s is a one “Sylvester Chauke”, clearly an agent of colonialists. South Africa was built on satire and if we cannot laugh at ourselves then who can we laugh at? Satire follows people that do stupid things and if the Youth League can go so far as to threaten militant action then in twenty years voting for the ANC will be an even worse proposition than it is now.

If for some reason you’re still reading this you’re asking the important question: “What is Saul saying though?” Quite simply I ask this question: “Can we all chill out?” Stereotypes are fun and satire is one of the few forms of intellectual humour we have left today. Don’t go hating on Nando’s or DJ Fresh for trying to make you think, it just makes you look totally ignorant.

Here’s a thought though: “Vote for Nando’s for fast delivery and efficient service.

Anyway, after the ANC attempt at a Twitter debate yesterday I thought I’d give my position on the ANC. Let me state that the debate was one of the most useless attempts to woo voters in South African political history. All they did was choose the easy questions, it was unsctructured, filled with lies and even more rhetoric. I was not impressed. That said, good on the ANC for going into what is essentially a white boys club and holding their own. Jesse Duarte seems like a clever woman and this brings me to the ultimate point about the ANC:

The ANC have done good in the past 15 years.

There, I said the unthinkable for a white boy from the Joburg northern suburbs, I admitted that the ANC aren’t actually that bad. Despite a range of faults (which I will list off in a moment) I think it’s not all doom and gloom. This is not meant to be an ANC bashing post but more pointing out of what I dislike in the ANC. We live in a democracy and are a relatively wealthy country so I certainly cannot complain from that point of view. We could have easily devolved into a conversly apartheid state but here we are, with elections just four days away. As an example of good, on a grass roots level many people have been given housing and water, something they never had. That’s pretty decent if you ask me. Sure, they have no money or food but baby steps right?

The biggest problem, for me, though is the level of corruption and crime in our country. Lets not kid ourselves to think that corruption does not occur anywhere besides Africa but regardless it is extremely visible here and particularly endemic. In a country of such poverty it is not acceptable that money goes missing or is misapropriated. It is due to the fact that corruption in South Africa is so visible is reason enough to visibly fight it. The ANC seems to want to promote corruption and crime (I refer to white collar specifically here) by letting people like Tony Yengeni and Schabir Shaik free despite their convictions. In my mind saving your followers from prosecution over the rule of law and democracy is a massive, massive failing of the ANC government. This needs to end now. In the ANC Twitter debate yesterday a choice quote was that “everyone is equal before the law”, something I just cannot believe after the past few years.

The first news I saw this morning that Jacob Zuma was suing the U.K. newspaper The Guardian for an article that was written about Zuma. If Zuma goes around acting like a child, suing anyone that makes him look like a fool then isn’t it something of a self-fulfilling prophecy? The guy needs to “man up” and stop acting like a brat when someone says anything negative about him. You’re a politician, people are going to spin nasty things about you so deal with it. Do something correctly and people will remember you for the good rather than the bad. I’m happy to let go of the past and deal with the fact that Zuma was very likely wrong in the past but lets move on and go forward together. Stop acting like a fool if you don’t want to be seen like one.

Another major issue I have with the ANC is that of Cronyism. Were it not for Thabo Mbeki keeping Ivy Matsepe-Cassaburi at the minister of communication for ten years I’d be typing this on an 8 meg uncapped ADSL line rather than a prohibitively expensive 384K ADSL line with a 3 gig cap. I’ve written about this topic plenty of times before on my blog so I’m only going to touch on this but sufficed to say that the ANC’s pride and “comradeship” has invariably held this country back and that’s unnaceptable.

Jacob Zuma never got past Standard 4 and his youth league counterpart, never finished matric. While to many this clearly doesn’t seem like an issue it does to me. I want educated leaders that can lead me from some intellectual standpoint. I don’t need an Oxford educated leader such as Mbeki was (that didn’t end well) but the education level of a ten year old frankly does not appeal to me. I assume the likes of Jacob Zuma is a response from the cold, educated position of Mbeki but I based on the ten year olds I know I’m not impressed.

I hope they learn from their mistakes and finally admit to them. If the ANC had the balls to admit they’ve made mistakes and attempt to change these mistakes rather than continuing to make the same, simple mistakes then we’d be in an even stronger point than we are now. I think the ultimate politician would be one that admits they’re wrong, makes changes and rules for purposes other than their own. I can dream I suppose.

Either way, with four days left to the election I hope you all go vote and make a change in this country.

What a sexy minx

With communications minister, Ivy Matsepe-Casaburi going to the big dial up connection in the sky this week, a lot has been said about her tenure. You see, Ivy was part of ex (mercifully) president Thabo Mbeki’s so called “Dream Team”, a group of ministers more akin to a nightmare than anything else.

Ivy was a teacher by profession and spent many years teaching overseas while at the same time championing the anti-apartheid movement. When she returned to South Africa in 1990, after the release of Nelson Mandela, she found herself in cushy government service in the CSIR, Sentech and eventually provincial and national government. Ivy was appointed as premier of the Free-State before being made the minister of communication for ten very long years. In those ten years she took South Africa from a potentially massive Internet entrepreneur breeding ground to a backwater wasteland. The Internet is available for a privlidged few in South Africa and while no one knows the exact number we’ve got around a mere 1 million broadband connections. Not even death will allow the sins of this woman to be forgotten.

Here’s my issue though: what makes someone capable to be in an ANC led government? If someone like Ivy is to go by then if you have no previous experience in an area but you were a stalwart ANC supporter during the struggle then you are perfect for a position as a minister in government. Personally I blame Mbeki; if he hadn’t been so stubborn and willing to face criticism we might actually have had decent ministers rather than alcohol soaked incompetents. When will the government of this country realise that rewarding members of the struggle is only going to make our country worse?

I’m wildly optimistic about this years election resulting in decent people being put into power. With the likes of Barbara Hogan being put into power after the “recall” of Mbeki and his ministers quiting makes me hopeful. Once the disgusting agenda of cronyism gets put on the backburner I hope we can finally go forward as a country and develop rather than being held back by incompetents.

The irony is that I would much rather have put my tax money to the “Ivy in a cushy job tucked away” fund rather than have her ruin the development of the Internet in our country. Dear Ivy, may you be an example of how not to act in our country and can we please get some decent Internet here please?