<body><script type="text/javascript"> function setAttributeOnload(object, attribute, val) { if(window.addEventListener) { window.addEventListener('load', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }, false); } else { window.attachEvent('onload', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }); } } </script> <div id="navbar-iframe-container"></div> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> gapi.load("gapi.iframes:gapi.iframes.style.bubble", function() { if (gapi.iframes && gapi.iframes.getContext) { gapi.iframes.getContext().openChild({ url: 'https://www.blogger.com/navbar/14058325?origin\x3dhttp://croydonian.blogspot.com', where: document.getElementById("navbar-iframe-container"), id: "navbar-iframe" }); } }); </script>

Westminster MPs - /still/ rank amateurs when it comes to unethical behaviour

Monday, May 18, 2009
Note this from the Mail & Guardian (Jo'burg):

"The Minister of Transport S'bu Ndebele has accepted a R1,1-million Mercedes Benz S500 from a group of contractors with contracts worth more than R400-million in the department, the Star reported on Sunday....Among other gifts Ndebele received was a herd of cattle.

But Ndebele defended the gesture by the contractors and said it was planned long before he and the contractors became aware that he would be appointed into the transport portfolio".

At least he did not say it was an honest mistake.

Labels: ,

posted by Croydonian

Your chance to vote in the South African election

Monday, April 13, 2009
Well, virtually at least, as the Mail & Guardian has one of those 'who should I vote for?' quizzes.

As is so often the case with these things, many of the questions are focused on very specific local concerns rather than broad principles that might apply in these parts, and much of the time one has to make a decision based on pretty vague statements.

My result was 'FPP: a minority party focused on protecting the interests of the Afrikaner'. That sounded a little alarming, but probably came from my lack of relish for black empowerment programmes, rather than disclosing a hankering to hang out with Eugène Terre'Blanche.

Anyway, it has an English language website, and there is material in its programme that could be termed Classic Liberal:

We appeal to Afrikaners and everyone who identifies themselves with us, to stand up against
  • The ANC’s centralisation of power;
  • Marginalisation of Afrikaners and other minorities;
  • Unreasonable affirmative action and discrimination;
  • Crime, immorality and corruption; and
  • The undermining of property rights.

My next best match was the Democratic Alliance - the official opposition to the ANC - led by the tougher than nails and B/S free zone that is Helen Zille, and for which party I would probably vote for if I was out on the Rand. Azapo was a particularly bad match, which is heartening

Labels: , ,

posted by Croydonian

The trouble with broadcast election coverage

Monday, February 23, 2009
In much the same way that every party and his or her dog has a good old moan about the BBC's bias, lack of interest etc etc, AZAPO are not at all happy with the South African Broadcasting Corp:

"Funani ka Ntontela, Azapo's Eastern Cape secretary, said the manner in which the public broadcaster covers political parties, demonstrated bias in favour of the African National Congress (ANC) and its splinter group Congress of the People (Cope). "Azapo sent countless letters to the SABC complaining about this sad state of affairs. In all fairness, thus far nothing has changed despite commitment to the contrary," he said.


A bit of digging shows that the Azanian People's Organization secured a hugely impressive 0.25% of the vote last time, or slightly less than Respect did here in 2005, and slightly more than the Scottish Socialists. As such it was the 12th most successful South African part in terms of votes, on a par with the SDLP.

Azania as a name can provoke the odd stiffled snigger, what with it being the name of Waugh's fictional African state in 'Black Mischief'.

Labels: , ,

posted by Croydonian

Chutzpah corner

Friday, January 09, 2009
From the Mail & Guardian (South Africa):

"The Young Communist League (YCL) on Thursday said SABC's acting CEO Gab Mampone should take responsibility for the news division to counter any biased reporting during the election".

A root around the YCL's site shows it to be Marxist-Leninist, but to stand for 'freedom', inter alia.

Go tell it to the marines....

Labels: ,

posted by Croydonian

Great misunderstandings of our time

Tuesday, November 25, 2008
From South African daily, The Mail & Guardian (sounds like the merger to end all mergers, doesn't it?) :

"African National Congress Youth League leader Julius Malema has apologised for creating the impression that he was inciting violence with his "kill for Zuma" statements, a spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday"...."If we did sound like we're inciting violence, we are very sorry," Malema said".

How could anyone possibly think that "Let us make it clear now: we are prepared to die for Zuma. Not only that, we are prepared to take up arms and kill for Zuma" might suggest that Malema was committed to anything other than liberal democracy?

A little digging suggests that Malema is routinely as delightful.

Labels:

posted by Croydonian

Hubris

Monday, November 10, 2008
From ANC National Executive member Fikile Mbalula, commenting on the prospects of the new COP party and its impact on the ANC:

"We are not shaken, we are unbreakable and we are indestructible."

Whoever would have thought that Captain Scarlet was actually Jacob Zuma in disguise.

Labels: ,

posted by Croydonian

Remind you of anyone?

Friday, September 19, 2008
"The [...] plan to remove [...] from office is carefully crafted to ensure that his departure will not lead to an early election.

Insiders in the party are saying that although it is now imperative for [...] to get rid of [...], it must be done in a way that will not force the party to go the polls prematurely, as this will throw its planning into disarray". Source




Parentheses one and three actually refer to the ANC, and two and four to Thabo Mbeki...

Labels: ,

posted by Croydonian

A *complete* waste of time and money

Monday, July 28, 2008
From the Mail & Guardian, South Africa:

"The Cabinet has approved a draft framework for a national food-price agency, President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday...."This arises out of the concern about the high and rising food prices and their impact on the poorest in the country," he said. It was necessary to have some institutionalised way to respond to it on a continuous basis, rather than an ad hoc basis. The agency would study the phenomenon so that it could recommend to the government what could be done to produce the desired results".

Could it be that supply and demand are alien concepts to Mbeki? Cutting through the persiflage, this is a softening up ahead of introducing price controls, which sure as night follows day will lead to shortages. If he really wants to do something about the cost of living, he would be better off giving a loaf of bread to everyone he meets.

Meanwhile, they are trying the reverse approach some 100 degrees to the north:

"Preliminary conclusions from a new report show that the uniform price reform has given low income workers in the big towns more money in their pockets.

At the same time, middle-class residents in the smaller settlements and outer districts have seen a worsening of their finances. The conclusions are part of a soon to be published report from the Department of Infrastructure and the Environment, according to knr.gl".

Can't say I am surprised.

As a probably one off, 'only in Greenland' footnote, note this reference by Rasmus Sembach Olsen of the distribution department of the Environment Agency: 'the big towns like Ilulissat, Sisimiut or Nuuk'. Ilulissat - pop. 4,453, Sisimiut, pop 5965 and the great metropolis of Nuuk - 15,047.



Labels: , ,

posted by Croydonian

Democracy, South African style

Monday, July 14, 2008
In the words of the head of the ANC Youth League, Julius Malema:

"We must ... intensify the struggle to eliminate the remnants of counter-revolution, which include the DA and a loose coalition of those who want to use state power to block the ANC president's ascendancy to the highest office of the land...Our responsibility is to defend the ANC and its leadership with everything we have. We remain firm in our determination to unleash every resource at our disposal to obliterate this sham of a case and expose the counter-revolutionary agenda it represents".

Thought about trying persuasion first, Julius?

In other news, I'm moving house and in all probability blogging will be light to non-existent for the next day or so.

Labels:

posted by Croydonian

Even worse than giving your home town as Pratt's Bottom....

Thursday, August 23, 2007
..is living in the municipal area containing Durban, known these days as eThekwini.

This, apparently, translates from the Zulu as 'a pair of bull's testicles', and the Mayor of Durban thinks that "KwaKhangela, which translates as 'Watch Out' (for attackers) in Zulu" would be a better bet.

Labels:

posted by Croydonian

Hedging one's bets?

Friday, August 10, 2007
That is the only way I can make sense of the news of business figures making donations to the South African Communist Party, which, apparently has stopped using the slogan of "Workers of the world, unite and fight for a white South Africa!"

Over at the SACP's site, one can buy a t-shirt with the image of one Vladimir Ulyanov, and the slogan 'Quality never goes out of fashion'. Nice. Still, no watered down eurosocialism for the comrades in Jo'burg, eh?

Meanwhile, back at the plot, "Senior communists have raised questions about a total of R1,7-million in donations made to the South African Communist Party (SACP), which they say are unaccounted for. And they claim that the donations were made directly to SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande".

...

"The R1,7-million (a shade under £120,000) includes R500 000 which, as reported last Sunday, is the subject of complaint by controversial businessman Charles Modise to the South African Police Service. Modise claims he gave Nzimande the money in cash for salaries and that it subsequently went astray.

In addition, the SACP is alleged to have received three other payments that are not accounted for: a R600 000 donation by a Limpopo politician-cum-businessman, R360 000 paid over accidentally by the Banking Association and R300 000 from the Chinese Communist Party".

Could the comrades have had their fingers in the till? Heaven forfend......

Labels: ,

posted by Croydonian

The return of Mangosuthu Buthelezi

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Well, I suppose he never really went away, but it is the first time I have read about him in a long time, and what a lot of sense the leader of Inkatha (and, as every schoolboy knows, star of 'Zulu') speaks:

"The next object of liberation in South Africa must be the national economy, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said on Tuesday. "Our people have been given political rights, but they still lack the freedom to participate fully in the market economy". The labour market remained constrained by racially defined regulations resulting in skills shortages. Financial markets still bore the brunt of sanctions-busting strategies....For his part, Buthelezi said the argument had always been "more about wealth creation than wealth redistribution". The IFP had consistently advocated a free enterprise economy in which the fruits of growth were shared on merit". Source.

Alas Buthelezi is unlikely to be implementing a freeing up of the South African economy any time soon, as the IFP has seen its share of the vote fall in successive elections - to just 7% in 2004 - and is only the third party in SA after the ANC and the Democratic Alliance. Still, it is encouraging that a man in his late 70s is still fighting the good fight.

Labels: ,

posted by Croydonian

A novel approach to industrial relations

Friday, July 06, 2007
Remember strikes at household name private sector companies? I'm struggling to as well.

Anyway, Vodacom, Vodafone's 50% owned South African operation is suffering a strike at the moment, and in move of distinctly low cunning has blocked their cell phones on the basis of a '"no work, no pay, and no benefits" policy'. Seems reasonable.

Labels: ,

posted by Croydonian

Terrible news from South Africa

Monday, June 11, 2007
"Consumers should brace themselves for a shortage of their favourite beer in the next few weeks, Business Report reported on Monday...The shortfall has been caused by the shortage of glass, mainly the green and flint or clear glass".

And its all the fault of hypocritical green types: "[SAB sales and distribution director Wayne McCauley] said the high demand for brands in returnable bottles had put pressure on these packs' availability, and growth in demand for non-returnable bottles had resulted in temporary stock shortages of certain brands, which would continue intermittently over the next two to three months"

See what I mean?

Labels: ,

posted by Croydonian

The Skye / Eilean a'Cheo controversy turns nasty

Tuesday, May 01, 2007
"Shoppers fled and shop owners hurriedly lowered their shutters as several hundred stick- and knobkerrie-wielding protesters ran down Portree's Mill Road". Source.

OK, not really. Knobkerries are not that favoured in Scotland. The reference is to Durban's Broad Street, where in a spirit of reconciliation and the clear-eyed pursuit of common sense, "The council plans to rename the Mangosuthu Highway after African National Congress (ANC) leader Griffiths Mxenge, a lawyer killed in the 1980s, and Broad Street after former South African Communist Party chairperson Dr Yusuf Dadoo".

Buthelezi himself, after whom the highway is named reckons, "Renaming cannot be conducted in a manner befitting Mao's Cultural Revolution, in which names and events that do not fit into the ruling party's liberation narrative are disdainfully ejected".

He's right, isn't he?

Labels:

posted by Croydonian

A curious way of doing, and measuring, business

Tuesday, February 06, 2007
The Swedes contracted to sell Saab fighter planes to South Africa a few years back, and as part of defence offsetting between the two countries, Pretoria has counted incoming tourists as weighing in Saab's favour. Fairly odd, but odder still, all Scandinavians have been included. I cannot find any evidence that the planes are assembled anywhere other than Linköping. Possibly there are Danish and Norwegian subcontractors, but it would appear that the SA authorities could not split out the Danes from the Swedes, so they counted all of them. Worth bearing in mind that Hibernians, Gauls and Belgians could be included as Britons the next time one is doing business with South Africa.

Labels: ,

posted by Croydonian