Mr. Zuma, you don’t represent me

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“Mr. Zuma, you and your government don’t represent me,” he told a news conference, protesting the authorities’ failure to issue a visa to the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan religious leader, whom the archbishop had invited to his 80th birthday party.

“You represent your own interests. I am warning you out of love, one day we will start praying for the defeat of the A.N.C. government,” he said, referring by its initials to the governing African National Congress, which casts itself as the custodian of the nation’s moral aspirations as much as the core its political legitimacy.

The archbishop’s remarks provoked some sharp reactions. “In the scheme of things, who is Bishop Tutu? A prelate who was won honors because he raised his voice against apartheid? Who did not?” said Thula Bopela, a veteran of the A.N.C.’s military struggle against apartheid.

via South Africa Slips From the Moral High Ground

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The state of the WCape economy

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Speaker, we stand today at the halfway point in the term of this government. In the short time that we have governed this Province, we have devised and begun to implement a 12 point strategy to deliver an open, opportunity society for all in the Western Cape.

The objectives outlined in our draft strategic plan and upon which we determined our policies were not picked at random. Rather, they were devised after a thorough investigation of the most pressing challenges that we face today, with poverty being the most critical of these.

As we look back on the achievements of the past years, we remain mindful of the challenges that lie before us.

South Africa today is comprised of over 50 million people. Of the total population, just 3,3 million people earn between R50 000 and R500 000 a year, and only 150 000 earn over R500 000 a year. These few earners, and the contributions that they make to tax, are far outweighed by the 4 million unemployed persons and 10 million discouraged job seekers that are not able to contribute to the South Africa that our first democratic president, Nelson Mandela, dreamt of. Instead, a large percentage of our population are dependent on the national economy.

There are two distinct schools of thought on how we should address the deepening poverty in our country. The first, held by the ANC government, talks of nationalisation, expanding our social welfare system, redistributing assets and land, and increasing government’s staff base to absorb the unemployed, whether fit for the purpose or not. In this view, South Africa’s economic pie is fixed, and all that remains for us to do is divvy it up. The result is poverty displacement short term alleviation for the lucky few who are swept up in the net and remain dependent on it for the rest of their lives. The remainder are abandoned with little or no recourse to help themselves.

via Politicsweb – The state of the WCape economy – Alan Winde – PARTY.

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Painful to see hawkers robbed by ANC youth

IN 2008, the Small Business Project, a research agency that focuses on small business, released research that showed the extent to which small businesses were victims of crime.The research revealed that low-level retailers and professional services have above-average incidents of robbery. These low-level traders are entities with annual turnovers of less than R100000 a year — about R8000– R9000 a month.They are mostly in the inner city and are run by individuals who eke out an existence in the shadows of the economy.These people leave their homes in the early morning, buy stock for the day and stand on street corners selling fruit, sweets, shoelaces and other paraphernalia. Attacking these people is destroying their businesses. At least 30% will be out for the count after such incidents. After all, some would have borrowed R2000 from microlenders.

via BusinessDay – THAMI MAZWAI: Painful to see hawkers robbed by ANC youth.

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