Is South Africa Going The Way Of Zimbabwe?

Excellent article Steve, although very scary and very sad. Didn't I just read or hear somewhere were that make believe president with a fifth grade education is resigning at the end of the year? Maybe there is hope for South Africa.... let's pray that wildlife will continue to flourish there and hunters for future generations will be able to enjoy it as we have. I think Zimbabwe is in much more immediate dire straits. I've pretty much given up my personal dreams of hunting their one day unless the political climate changes drastically.
 
You have to drive around Zimbabwe to understand what is happening .You see old rich farms that look like they never were farmed and garbage everywear.Very sad,I hope this never happens to SA.
 
Sorry, but S.A. is already there....it's just the Rhodesia has gotten worse (amazing it could, but Mugabe is evil enough to do it).

Who's to blame for Rhodesia? The United States...Henry Kissinger was one of the big destroyers and quislings of the Rhodesian government, who were trying to survive and keep the communists from destroying the country. Chinese communists were training the local thugs to be good little terrorists...and the S.A. stopped supporting the Rhodesian's fight. S.A. is lost, active genocide against whites, murder and rape endemic, think of it like Detroit...the whites left (tired of crime and violence plus having to pay the taxes).

A true pity...
 
The hope for South Africa is seen on the press. Articles like this one pull no punches. People recognize the destruction done by Zuma and want change:

https://www.timeslive.co.za/ideas/2017-09-26-no-saints-in-anc-contest/

No saints in ANC contest

There are no saints in this extremely dirty war that's unfolding within the ANC. Many, such as former president Kgalema Motlanthe, cling onto the vain hope that the "good guys" will set the party right, but they are wrong.

That sort of naive hope mimics exactly what happened in 2007, when even with the malodorous pus pouring out of the Jacob Zuma campaign (stalked by rape and corruption allegations) some still said the "man of the people" would turn out good. Zuma was no man of the people and his tenure has been a nightmare.

Care should be taken this time around, for there are very few or no saints and angels in the pack that's running for the ANC office now.

Take Lindiwe Sisulu, for example. She has crisscrossed the country promising better governance, more focus on the people and a return to ANC values. That's rich given that this is someone who fought vociferously for Zuma to get into power. Once Zuma was installed in Mahlamba, Ndlopfu Sisulu never once raised her voice as Zuma slept on the job, killed the economy and handed taxpayer billions to the Gupta family and his relatives.

A coup happened right in front of Sisulu and she never once said a word as her illustrious family's legacy was trampled upon. Her vows to clean up the ANC and government now are just about as believable as the rattling of an empty can.

Then there is Baleka Mbete, an ANC leader who, for the past 10 years, has failed comprehensively to make Zuma accountable on any issue. One really need not waste time on this candidate - every outrage the Zuma executive has carried out has her fingerprints all over it. She totally eunuched the legislature. The prospect of an Mbete presidency should make every South African quiver with dread.

Jeff Radebe says he will clean up government and set us all on the road to prosperity. After 10 years in the Zuma administration (he has been in government for 23 years) we are expected to believe that, miraculously, Radebe will deliver. Oh, by the way, what exactly has he had to say about ANC policy towards those like Zuma who have brought this "glorious movement" of Mandela and others into disrepute? Nothing. Instead, he has been a willing and even enthusiastic praise-singer of Zuma.

"They ululated and
celebrated as a corrupt Zuma danced and giggled his way to power"


Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has embraced the Zuma administration's ideas, policy outlook and encouragement of corruption. By all means ANC members should vote for her in December. At least they know exactly what they are getting: Zuma with a medical degree - and the Guptas.

Zweli Mkhize also got Zuma into power in 2007. He found his backbone only in March this year after Zuma's chaotic and criminal cabinet reshuffle. For the past 10 years he has been part of the cabal that has suckled Zuma's corrupt presidency. His response to his role in the Zuma rape matter last weekend was mealy-mouthed and lacked credibility and authenticity. His only credit is that he is the man who got Des van Rooyen bundled out of the Treasury in December 2015.

The biggest disappointment of all is Cyril Ramaphosa. This former mineworker leader has an incredible history - trade unionist, democracy negotiator, astute businessman, dealmaker and philanthropist.

In the run-up to the 2012 ANC conference it was clear that many wanted Ramaphosa - but they were not enough to unseat Zuma - who had essentially rigged the 2012 ANC elections by ensuring provinces and branches that supported him were dominant at conference.

Ramaphosa dumped principle and joined in with Zuma. By doing so he gave Zuma legitimacy. The period between January 2013 and now - when Zuma returned from Mangaung - has seen the most comprehensive and astounding looting spree. Zuma and the Guptas plunged their hands into the coffers of state-owned enterprises such as Eskom and Transnet and looted with gay abandon.

Where was Ramaphosa? He was silent. He was silent when the Nkandla report was tabled, silent when Nhlanhla Nene was fired, silent when Pravin Gordhan was charged, silent when the public protector's State of Capture report was ignored.

His silence allowed Zuma to do as he pleased. He failed to realise that his illustrious history has been abused to whitewash the Zuma criminal enterprise. His silence in the face of corruption gave Zuma legitimacy. Until the cabinet reshuffle in March, he never said a word. The price of all that is what we see now.

Ramaphosa's silence endorsed Busisiwe Mkhwebane and undermined Thuli Madonsela; it emboldened Van Rooyen and left Mcebisi Jonas lonely, confused and crestfallen. Ramaphosa may have been a hero once, but he is not one now. His silence has meant that he is just another politician in a shiny suit trying to get one over the electorate for the top job.

If any of these leaders want to tell us they are about change, then they need to explain what they have been doing in the past 10 years as South Africa went from a globally admired country to the politically and economically stagnant, corrupt and compromised entity it is today.

They cannot say they did not know. They ululated and celebrated as a corrupt Zuma danced and giggled his way to power.

 
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I prefer articles like these:

http://time.com/4428312/mmusi-maimane-south-africa-elections/

Meet the South African Politician Who's Been Compared to Barack Obama—But Prefers Bill Clinton

One afternoon last year in Johannesburg, Mmusi Maimane, the first black leader of South Africa’s largest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, got into a minor fender bender. When he stepped out of his car to apologize, the other driver, a white woman who didn’t recognize him, launched into a tirade of racial slurs. “I was this sub-human to her,” Maimane, 36, tells TIME as he leans forward on the leather sofa of his parliamentary office in Cape Town and runs his hands over his clean-shaven scalp. “I thought ‘this is the most demeaning thing to me.’ It wasn’t like two motorists have an accident, it was like, here is a white person from a place of supremacy speaking down on a black South African.”

It’s a story Maimane has told many times before, one meant to impart a lesson on the lingering effects of racial discrimination 22 years after the end of white minority rule. But the tale of a white woman who treats South Africa’s most important rising political star like an apartheid-era gardener is also meant to remind his audience of what might seem obvious: that he too is a black man in a country still struggling with deep racial inequalities. That despite his position at the head of a historically white party, his white wife, his education—he has two masters’ degrees—and his elite accent, he is still Mmusi from the all-black township of Soweto, a black kid who is no stranger to struggle and who has what it takes to become the country’s next president.

On August 3, South Africans will go to the polls for municipal elections that could, if Maimane’s DA dominates, pave the way for a presidential upset in 2019. The ruling African National Congress has held power without interruption since the end of apartheid in 1994, but a recent spate of corruption scandals, accusations of government mismanagement and economic decline have dimmed its appeal. The storied party of Nelson Mandela is now at risk of losing control of the capital, Pretoria, and Johannesburg, South Africa’s financial hub. Meanwhile the DA, which controls the economically thriving Western Cape province, of which Cape Town is the capital, has increased its share of the national vote in every election, and now holds 22% of the seats in parliament.

But to change South Africa's established order, Maimane will have to demonstrate that the DA, which was founded in 1959 as the anti-apartheid Progressive Party, has transcended its roots as the party of white liberals in order to earn the trust of an older generation of black South Africans habituated to the ANC. The DA has a way to go—in a country that is 80 percent black, it only received six percent of the black vote in 2014 elections.

Maimane will also have to capture the allegiance of the ‘Born Frees’—black South Africans born after the end of apartheid who are growing increasingly frustrated by 1994’s unfulfilled promises. While young South Africans appreciate the new political freedoms ushered in by apartheid’s end, they complain, with justification, that blacks have largely failed to profit economically. South Africa’s income inequality is among the world’s worst, and it largely breaks along racial lines: nine out of ten South Africans living in poverty are black, according to the South African Institute of Race Relations. Black South Africans, who make up four-fifths of the population, have an unemployment rate of 29 percent, compared to six percent for whites. And whites earn on average six times more salary. “During the anti-apartheid struggle a lot of us activists made peace with inequality because we knew that one day we would be free,” “Young people today are saying, ‘we still live in townships, we still have pit latrines, the electricity is non existent, and most my friends are unemployed,’” says Jonathan Jansen, president of the Institute of Race Relations. “So the expectations that things would be different hasn’t been met, and that puts a lot of pressure on social cohesion.”

Maimane’s juggling act is further complicated by the widespread belief that simply being in the DA means he is not black enough to deserve the country’s vote. Political rivals have called him a “sellout,” a “coconut,” and a black “puppet” for white masters. Julius Malema, head of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)—a rising party that radical redistribution of the country’s white-owned wealth—suggested recently that Maimane is a rent-a-black figurehead for the DA, “a party of white racists who are refusing to accept the black rule.” Which is why Maimane frequently refers to his blackness in a way that few other politicians must. “Simply by virtue of his being part of the DA, which used to be considered the party of the madams and the masters, there is the compulsion to assert what is obvious, that Maimane is black,” says Jansen.

Yet Maimane believes the extreme focus on race allows the ANC to dodge the real issues affecting South Africa today. He says he frequently meets voters who like the DA’s governance record, but reject the party on the basis of bad experiences with white employers who are likely supporters. “I understand that it’s political pragmatism to say ‘look, if you are black you must be in this political party, if you are white you must be in that political party,’” says Maimane. “But understand that it polarizes society; it doesn’t build it. The ANC is trying to create a society in which you can split people along racial lines.”

More than anything, though, Maimane laments the decline of a party that was once the pride of Africa, and which has now become its laughingstock. In December, President Jacob Zuma went through three finance ministers in a week, precipitating a dive in the already hurting South African rand. Once the biggest economy in Africa, South Africa slipped to third place behind Nigeria and Egypt. In February, Zuma’s colleagues accused him of allowing a wealthy Indian family to influence cabinet appointments in exchange for business concessions. In April, the Constitutional Court ruled that Zuma had broken state law by ignoring an order to repay some $16 million in taxpayer monies he spent on refurbishing his private residence. Despite Zuma’s call for government austerity measures to cope with the weak economy, a security official revealed in May that the President had spent more than half a million dollars of government funds to buy official vehicles for his four wives. “The ANC is no longer the party of Mandela,” says Maimane. “This is a party that’s changed fundamentally in its core, in its fight for human rights, in its advancement of black South Africans’ lives, in building an equal society. The more I see, the more I realize that the ANC governs as though black lives don’t matter.”

That doesn’t mean that the ANC will give up without a fight. Zuma’s antics may be abhorrent to most middle class voters, regardless of race, but he is enormously popular in rural areas. Jansen likens Zuma’s appeal to that of U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump among white American men without college degrees. “To the rural South African, Zuma is one of them. His use of language, his attire, his marital situation, his struggles with the elites—these are things they relate to. He says, ‘I am one of you, I will fight for you, and I will stand up for you.’ That has enormous appeal, and it won’t be easy for Maimane to overcome.”

The oldest of four children, Maimane grew up during the final days of apartheid, when black on black violence, instigated by the white government in an attempt to derail democracy, turned the streets of Soweto into a blood bath. His parents kept him safe by enrolling him in a private Catholic school, setting him on the upward educational trajectory that separates him from most of his peers. Maimane has a Master’s degree in theology and still preaches on occasion. His stirring oratorical skills and cerebral aloofness have earned him mocking comparisons to U.S. President Barack Obama. From the moment he entered politics, first as the DA’s mayoral candidate for Johannesburg in 2011, then as leader of the parliamentary opposition when he lost, he proved an electrifying speaker. In May 2015 he was elected leader of the DA, with 90 percent of party members’ support. He refuses to cast himself as Mandela’s heir— “too grandiose,” he says— but vows to fight to fulfill Mandela’s vision of a “rainbow nation.” “It’s upon all of us as South Africans to fight for that ideal of non-racialism,” he says.

The problem, says Sisonke Msimang, a columnist and activist who frequently writes about race issues, is that most black South Africans have lost faith in the 1994 social compact that called for blacks to forgive and whites to be repentant. “Twenty-two years on, the language of reconciliation is tired and fails to address the anxieties and inequities across the racial divide,” she says. To her, Maimane’s pursuit of a post-racial South Africa, fails to recognize the very real economic struggles of a generation seeking returns from their parents’ sacrifices. So while Maimane campaigns as a black man, he has failed to convince the majority of the black population that he can solve the systemic inequalities that remain long after reconciliation. “These are the middle class blacks that the DA should be attracting,” says Msimang. “They are fed up with the ANC and hungry for real leadership. But the minute the DA starts talking about race, they realize that the party is trapped in the old ‘rainbow nation’ language that does nothing to dismantle the structural racism that is keeping blacks in poverty.”

Nor has Maimane done enough to address the perception that the DA is still a white party that just happens to have a black leader. While party leaders say that the DA’s membership is majority black, the party as a rule does not release membership figures, or even a breakdown by race. The party is fielding black candidates for most of August’s mayoral races, but only five of the DA’s nine provincial leaders are black, and two of its three deputy chairmen are white.

Though Maimane has promised to change the complexion of the party so that it reflects the diversity of South African society, without resorting to “dehumanizing quotas that reduce human beings to statistics,” he is widely ridiculed for affecting a ‘black’ accent when addressing certain crowds—something Obama is accused of as well. And white DA members themselves are too often caught making racial gaffes, says Msimang. “It’s hard to convince the young, black middle class that he is working on racism when members of his own party are letting him down by making these mistakes.”

DA’s widely touted local governing successes could risk backfiring. The party campaigns on a platform of small but effective government, and regularly cites its record in the Western Cape, where health care, education and social services are better than the national average. But violence in Cape Town’s townships mean the city has the 9th-highest murder rate in the world, and in a city still largely segregated by race and class, much of the black population doesn’t have access to the very things that make Cape Town stand out as a shining example of DA leadership. Maimane admits that he’s not satisfied with where Cape Town is now, but largely blames the national, ANC-led government for failing to provide appropriate financial and policing resources. And he argues that while there are massive backlogs in service delivery for the poorer, and by default blacker, areas of Cape Town, the DA does better than the ANC in areas it controls. “We’ve got to ensure that we govern nationally so we can change some of the regulatory burdens that hinder the fight” to improve all lives, he says.

Maimane has pledged to address the country’s entrenched inequalities through economic growth, but in a country with 40% youth unemployment, many fear that the emphasis on leaner government means an end to the social subsidies that are a lifeline for most families. “Poor black people don’t believe that the DA has their interests in heart, because when they talk about government efficiency, it is seen as code for less benefits, as in ‘get out and go work,’ and people are saying ‘how can we work there are no jobs?’” says Msimang.

Still, she has hopes that Maimane, and the DA, will eventually grow into a national role. The DA is likely do well in August’s municipal elections, gaining control of key metropolitan areas that will set it up for parliamentary gains in the next national elections. Conventional wisdom has it that the DA won’t take the presidency by 2019, but by dint of incremental progress and the ANC’s continued decline, it could win the next round, in 2024. Yet to Maimane, waiting is a gamble of its own. He cites neighbor Zimbabwe—where Robert Mugabe’s ZanuPF party has ruled for 36 years, and which is currently facing economic meltdown—as an example of what happens when one party gets too entrenched. “If you don’t succeed sooner rather than later, later may never come around.” If that’s the case, the question is whether or not Maimane can overcome his, and his party’s, limitations fast enough.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...s-democratic-alliance-threatens-a7175006.html

It will take a few year after the ANC is out to settle things down, but the DA is the only hope for RSA.


South Africa elections: ANC faces worst loss in 20 years as Democratic Alliance threatens

With more than 95 per cent of votes counted in municipal elections,

South Africa's ruling party appeared to be headed for its biggest electoral blow since it won power at the end of apartheid22 years ago.

The results remained too close to call in the country's largest city, Johannesburg, or Tshwane, the metropolitan area of the capital, Pretoria. But the leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, Mmusi Maimane, told reporters that his party had won Tshwane, beating the African National Congress, formerly the main anti-apartheid movement.

The Democratic Alliance has its roots in white liberal opposition to apartheid and remained a white-led party until last year. Neither it nor the ANC appeared to have a majority in Johannesburg or Tshwane that would allow it to govern alone, raising the possibility of coalition governments.

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters it was too early to analyse the election results, saying it would be like reading "somebody's tombstone before they die." Final results are set to be announced at 6pm (4pm GMT) on Saturday.

The ANC lost a key municipality named after its star, Nelson Mandela Bay, to the Democratic Alliance, which fielded a white candidate for mayor. The DA already runs the city of Cape Town, the country's second largest and the only major South African city where blacks are not in the majority, and has been pushing hard to win supporters in other regions.

The Democratic Alliance angered the ANC last month by declaring that it was the only party that could realise Mandela's dream of a "prosperous, united and non-racial South Africa."

The results for the ANC, which retained support in many rural areas in a country where blacks make up 80 percent of the population, could put pressure on President Jacob Zuma to leave office before his mandate ends in 2019, say political analysts.

The ANC has lost some support from people, notably in urban areas, who say their hopes for economic opportunities have not been fulfilled since the end of white minority rule. The South African economy has stagnated since the global financial crisis in 2008, and the World Bank says the country has one of the highest rates of inequality in the world.

Deputy President Ramaphosa acknowledged some criticisms of the ANC: "They think that we are arrogant, they think that we are self-centered, they think that we are self-serving, and I'd like to dispute all of that and say we are a listening organization."

In a statement, the ANC said that "we will reflect and introspect where our support has dropped." The party so far has received 54 per cent of votes across the country, its lowest percentage ever, with the Democratic Alliance getting 26 per cent.

Scandals swirling around Zuma have also hurt the ANC. Opposition groups have seized on the revelation that the state paid more than $20 million for upgrades to Zuma's private home. The Constitutional Court recently said Zuma violated the constitution and instructed the president to reimburse the state $507,000.

Many South Africans are also concerned over allegations that Zuma is heavily influenced by the Guptas, a wealthy business family of immigrants from India. The president has denied any wrongdoing.

A more radical opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, contested the local elections for the first time. The party, which advocates the nationalization of industry and other measures it says will help the poor, has garnered almost 8 percent of the vote nationwide.

EFF leader Julius Malema, who once led the ANC's youth league, told reporters: "I want to see the ANC out of power."
 
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I was hunting in SA last year when the DA took much of the municipality's in those elections. At that time voters realized they were better off without the ANC. Let's hope for the federal elections they decide the same and oust the ANC.
 
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I was hunting in SA last year when the DA took much of the municipality's in those elections. At that time voters realized they were better off without the ANC. Let's hope for the federal elections they decide the same and oust the ANC.

Hope springs eternal!
 
AWA (Africa Wins Again) A truism. Always was, always will be,, So sad
 
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But when corrupt, inept, power hungry politicians are in charge anything can happen.


Case in point just look north to Canada

Could you provide a few more details about what you’re referring to, please?
 
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Case in point just look north to Canada

Could you provide a few more details about what you’re referring to, please?[/QUOTE]

Health care, I mean Health management. Selling weapons to Saudi Arabia. Falling over themselves fawning over China. Just very very glad they balanced their karma with the Magnitsky Act. I had thought our government had lost its moral compass.
 
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Could you provide a few more details about what you’re referring to, please?

Health care, I mean Health management. Selling weapons to Saudi Arabia. Falling over themselves fawning over China. Just very very glad they balanced their karma with the Magnitsky Act. I had thought our government had lost its moral compass.[/QUOTE]
I think every government does some things that some would call stupid. As an example, lots of people support the sale of vehicles to Saudi Arabia, because it creates jobs, and if they don’t buy them from Canada, they’ll get them somewhere else. Might as well get the jobs. As for health care, on balance, it does some things well, and others not as well. But it’s a better system than many, but not as good as it could or should be. Fawning over China? Canada’s in a long line on that one.

Now if you’d mentioned regulatory process runs amok, you’d be in my wheelhouse.

Every government has good and bad. You have to weigh both, and decide if the balance is so skewed that you’d rather be somewhere else. That’s an easy analysis in Zimbabwe, and getting easier in South Africa.

Overall - and I’m saying this from the UK, having moved here a month ago from Canada - I can’t think of a place I’d rather live than Canada. We more or less get along, we aren’t at each other’s throats all the time, we aren’t particularly shrill, and I can generally read a newspaper without raising my blood pressure (too much). Can’t say that about a lot of places.
 
Now if you’d mentioned regulatory process runs amok, you’d be in my wheelhouse.

Healthcare, ours is inhumane. Seriously, it's disgusting. It's total propaganda.

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/pub.../mirror-mirror-international-comparisons-2017

:S Hijack:. Sorry....I just see so much of Canadian health care BS


Mirror, Mirror 2017: International Comparison Reflects Flaws and Opportunities for Better U.S. Health Care

Abstract
Issue:

The United States health care system spends far more than other high-income countries, yet has previously documented gaps in the quality of care.

Goal:
This report compares health care system performance in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Methods:
Seventy-two indicators were selected in five domains: Care Process, Access, Administrative Efficiency, Equity, and Health Care Outcomes. Data sources included Commonwealth Fund international surveys of patients and physicians and selected measures from OECD, WHO, and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. We calculated performance scores for each domain, as well as an overall score for each country.

Key findings:
The U.S. ranked last on performance overall, and ranked last or near last on the Access, Administrative Efficiency, Equity, and Health Care Outcomes domains. The top-ranked countries overall were the U.K., Australia, and the Netherlands. Based on a broad range of indicators, the U.S. health system is an outlier, spending far more but falling short of the performance achieved by other high-income countries. The results suggest the U.S. health care system should look at other countries’ approaches if it wants to achieve an affordable high-performing health care system that serves all Americans.
 
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Could you provide a few more details about what you’re referring to, please?

Health care, I mean Health management. Selling weapons to Saudi Arabia. Falling over themselves fawning over China. Just very very glad they balanced their karma with the Magnitsky Act. I had thought our government had lost its moral compass.

Selling access to liberal insiders, politicizing the public service, holding out reappointment of independent officers of parliament as a carrot to favourable rulings (Aga Kahn), obscene moving expenses for liberal insiders (Butts and Telford) and lying about how they were obliged to pay those relocation expenses and the beat goes on
 
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Healthcare, ours is inhumane. Seriously, it's disgusting. It's total propaganda.

bingo and the head cheerleader CBC (Conceited, Biased and Condescending) acts as the ministry of truth
 
The hope for South Africa is seen on the press. Articles like this one pull no punches. People recognize the destruction done by Zuma and want change:

https://www.timeslive.co.za/ideas/2017-09-26-no-saints-in-anc-contest/

No saints in ANC contest

There are no saints in this extremely dirty war that's unfolding within the ANC. Many, such as former president Kgalema Motlanthe, cling onto the vain hope that the "good guys" will set the party right, but they are wrong.

That sort of naive hope mimics exactly what happened in 2007, when even with the malodorous pus pouring out of the Jacob Zuma campaign (stalked by rape and corruption allegations) some still said the "man of the people" would turn out good. Zuma was no man of the people and his tenure has been a nightmare.

Care should be taken this time around, for there are very few or no saints and angels in the pack that's running for the ANC office now.

Take Lindiwe Sisulu, for example. She has crisscrossed the country promising better governance, more focus on the people and a return to ANC values. That's rich given that this is someone who fought vociferously for Zuma to get into power. Once Zuma was installed in Mahlamba, Ndlopfu Sisulu never once raised her voice as Zuma slept on the job, killed the economy and handed taxpayer billions to the Gupta family and his relatives.

A coup happened right in front of Sisulu and she never once said a word as her illustrious family's legacy was trampled upon. Her vows to clean up the ANC and government now are just about as believable as the rattling of an empty can.

Then there is Baleka Mbete, an ANC leader who, for the past 10 years, has failed comprehensively to make Zuma accountable on any issue. One really need not waste time on this candidate - every outrage the Zuma executive has carried out has her fingerprints all over it. She totally eunuched the legislature. The prospect of an Mbete presidency should make every South African quiver with dread.

Jeff Radebe says he will clean up government and set us all on the road to prosperity. After 10 years in the Zuma administration (he has been in government for 23 years) we are expected to believe that, miraculously, Radebe will deliver. Oh, by the way, what exactly has he had to say about ANC policy towards those like Zuma who have brought this "glorious movement" of Mandela and others into disrepute? Nothing. Instead, he has been a willing and even enthusiastic praise-singer of Zuma.

"They ululated and
celebrated as a corrupt Zuma danced and giggled his way to power"


Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has embraced the Zuma administration's ideas, policy outlook and encouragement of corruption. By all means ANC members should vote for her in December. At least they know exactly what they are getting: Zuma with a medical degree - and the Guptas.

Zweli Mkhize also got Zuma into power in 2007. He found his backbone only in March this year after Zuma's chaotic and criminal cabinet reshuffle. For the past 10 years he has been part of the cabal that has suckled Zuma's corrupt presidency. His response to his role in the Zuma rape matter last weekend was mealy-mouthed and lacked credibility and authenticity. His only credit is that he is the man who got Des van Rooyen bundled out of the Treasury in December 2015.

The biggest disappointment of all is Cyril Ramaphosa. This former mineworker leader has an incredible history - trade unionist, democracy negotiator, astute businessman, dealmaker and philanthropist.

In the run-up to the 2012 ANC conference it was clear that many wanted Ramaphosa - but they were not enough to unseat Zuma - who had essentially rigged the 2012 ANC elections by ensuring provinces and branches that supported him were dominant at conference.

Ramaphosa dumped principle and joined in with Zuma. By doing so he gave Zuma legitimacy. The period between January 2013 and now - when Zuma returned from Mangaung - has seen the most comprehensive and astounding looting spree. Zuma and the Guptas plunged their hands into the coffers of state-owned enterprises such as Eskom and Transnet and looted with gay abandon.

Where was Ramaphosa? He was silent. He was silent when the Nkandla report was tabled, silent when Nhlanhla Nene was fired, silent when Pravin Gordhan was charged, silent when the public protector's State of Capture report was ignored.

His silence allowed Zuma to do as he pleased. He failed to realise that his illustrious history has been abused to whitewash the Zuma criminal enterprise. His silence in the face of corruption gave Zuma legitimacy. Until the cabinet reshuffle in March, he never said a word. The price of all that is what we see now.

Ramaphosa's silence endorsed Busisiwe Mkhwebane and undermined Thuli Madonsela; it emboldened Van Rooyen and left Mcebisi Jonas lonely, confused and crestfallen. Ramaphosa may have been a hero once, but he is not one now. His silence has meant that he is just another politician in a shiny suit trying to get one over the electorate for the top job.

If any of these leaders want to tell us they are about change, then they need to explain what they have been doing in the past 10 years as South Africa went from a globally admired country to the politically and economically stagnant, corrupt and compromised entity it is today.

They cannot say they did not know. They ululated and celebrated as a corrupt Zuma danced and giggled his way to power.

more like no virgins but plenty of whores
 
Case in point just look north to Canada

Could you provide a few more details about what you’re referring to, please?
I mean politicians and bureaucrats in general. Not specific to any one country. This is a blanket statement and I'm sure there are public officials who take their duty seriously.
But for the most part they do and say whatever they have to to keep and expand their power. For example, decades of race baiting and ginning up public unrest by Democrats in the US. Our last president brings us healthcare to "take care of 20 million people who don't have it" although no one can be turned down for healthcare in our country. He pays for their coverage with taxpayer dollars, securing their vote, meanwhile 50 or 60 million of those taxpayers lose their coverage thanks to his plan. Then more recently when the Republicans have a chance to keep a 7 year promise to rid us of this Obomination, they fall flat on their faces despite their promises and prior votes. Can't give up that much governmental power now that they are in charge.
Excuse the rant. Probably misplaced in this thread, but I think it ties in to the corruption and BS rhetoric you see in SA right now. Promise whatever you need to stay in power. To hell with the good of the country and it's citizens.
 
Sorry for the rant. Gotta turn of the news and find some more hunting shows at bedtime.
 
I did a piece for NRA on how politics may threaten the future of hunting in South Africa. https://www.nrahlf.org/articles/2017/8/18/south-african-economy-spells-peril-for-wildlife/
I would be interested in your thoughts.


South African Economy Spells Peril for Wildlife

full


In our seven-billion-person world, the preservation of wildlife is inexorably linked to the economic conditions on the ground. Today in Africa, a growing political crisis and resulting economic crash will lead to the tragic and unnecessary destruction of wildlife in one of the world’s great hunting countries: South Africa.

We have seen it before—an unpopular president driving an economy into recession, seeking to deflect attention from his failed leadership by advocating the “redistribution” of farmland to a gullible electorate, creating a scenario where habitat is destroyed, wildlife is consumed, and a once thriving country is relegated to the roll of economic failed states. It is a familiar tale in Africa, but this is not Zimbabwe circa 2002. South Africa, the economic superpower of the continent and bastion of wildlife conservation, is on the brink of going the way of Zimbabwe some two decades ago, assuring the destruction of both its economy and abundant wildlife.

Historically, many of Africa’s darkest chapters have been the result of a failure of leadership, and South African president Jacob Zuma fits the mold. He deals with perpetual charges of corruption. The High Court of South Africa ruled he violated the Constitution by failing to repay the treasury for some $16 million of improvements to his private home. He survived an impeachment vote in Parliament and was tried and acquitted of raping a babysitter. And then there is the South African economy.

South Africa’s economy is contracting even as most of the rest of the worlds’ economies grow. The country’s debt rating was lowered to non-investment grade, while the South African rand was the world’s second most volatile currency in 2016. Unemployment stands at a 14-year high of 27.7 percent. South Africa is the continent’s most developed and industrialized nation, but the uncertainty created by the scandal-laden Zuma administration has kept investors on the sidelines as the economy teeters on the verge of free-fall.

“And why should any this matter to me” you might ask? If you care about conserving wildlife it matters, as South Africa’s circumstance is eerily similar to that of Zimbabwe in the early 2000s.

With an economy in disarray and an upcoming bid for re-election, Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe made “land reform” his primary issue. For several years before, Zimbabwe had a program of purchasing farmer’s land and, in theory, giving small parcels to the poor. And though most of the better farms wound up in the hands of the political elite, the displaced farmers were at least compensated for their losses. The election of 2002 changed all that.

Mugabe’s new “land reform” policy worked in much the same way as the old policy, but without compensation for the farmers. Landowners were threatened, intimidated, often physically assaulted, and sometimes murdered by the so called “war vets” who parceled the land and made it their own. The result: Zimbabwe went from the most productive agricultural country on the continent, the “breadbasket” of Africa as it were, to a food-debtor nation with unimaginable inflation, chronic shortages and a population with more than 40 percent classified as malnourished. And as you might imagine, hungry masses are bad news for wildlife.

Today, Zimbabwe’s wildlife is but a shadow of its former greatness. Yes, there are still areas where game abounds, but they are increasingly rare. Rampant poaching, enough snares to reach to the moon and back, and competition with wildlife for a village’s small patch of maize or pasture has pitted man against beast in a fight for survival. And in this competition, wildlife eventually, inevitably loses. It has happened in Zimbabwe. It will happen in South Africa.

"If the leaders of Africa’s most developed nation choose to sacrifice their wildlife for the sake of political expediency, I fear the first major domino will have fallen and there will be little chance to preserve species on the rest of the continent."

Since 1991 when the Game Theft Act codified private ownership of wildlife in South Africa, both game ranches and game populations have skyrocketed. More than 10,000 game ranching operations occupy 20 percent of the marginal agricultural land in the country, which has transformed poor domestic pasture land into quality habitat for wild species. More than 20 million head of wild game are now in private hands, four times the number in all of South Africa’s National and Provincial parks combined. Privatization of wildlife has created a monetary value in game species and thus, an incentive for landowners to breed and protect them. But giving 10,000 South African farms to 50,000,000 of the nation’s poor will have a decidedly more negative outcome for wildlife.

When large hunting lands are subdivided into small farm plots, wildlife ceases to have a monetary value. The flow of tourist hunters and their dollars quickly will dry up. Without revenue from hunting, wildlife will become a liability to the new owners, as animals compete with man for the bounty of the farmer’s produce. Coupled with the additional incentive that killing nuisance animals also makes for a tasty addition to the family cook pot, most of South Africa’s wildlife will vanish within months. Economies of scale, institutional knowledge and rural jobs will be lost. A $1-billion-dollar industry will collapse. Habitat will be marginalized by the reintroduction of sheep and goats. And importantly, thousands of South Africans—some whose families have worked the same farm since the 1700s—will have their land taken away without compensation. And though the pain and loss pales in comparison to the African calamity, this is an American tragedy as well.

Though proportionately few American hunters travel to Africa, the 10,000 or so tourist hunters that financed South Africa’s wildlife conservation will lose one of the great hunting grounds on Earth. Not because of embargo or travel restrictions. Not because of war or pestilence. South Africa’s abundant wildlife will cease to exist because of failed leadership and political slight-of-hand. This wanton waste of wildlife resources is reason enough to raise a voice to power and say “Enough,” but there is more.

For the last 25 years, South Africa has been the shining beacon of sustainable-use wildlife conservation. The black wildebeest, the bontebok and white rhino are just some of the species that have returned from the brink of extinction, in no small part due to the dollars generated by sustainable-use hunting. South Africa is a great story of conservation, a convincing elevator pitch for the non-hunter detailing what is right about hunting today. In this perception-is-reality world, South Africa’s wildlife renaissance has been one of the great conservation success stories of our time—proof that hunting is of tangible value to the 7 billion inhabitants of planet Earth. But will this success matter tomorrow?

South Africa is at a crossroads. If the leaders of Africa’s most developed nation choose to sacrifice their wildlife for the sake of political expediency, I fear the first major domino will have fallen and there will be little chance to preserve species on the rest of the continent. If it happens, it is conceivable that in our lifetime, most if not all hunting in Africa will cease; so too will the hunters dollars that give wildlife its monetary value. Competing with a growing African population of 1.2 billion, the continent’s wildlife does not stand a chance.

No wildlife in Africa? It would be a tragedy of Biblical proportions.

Great read however highly debatable in that largest contributing factor to dwindling game numbers is derived from poaching which in turn is in existence cause there is a market for the merchandise which is not in Africa . Yes the politicians are messing the countries over with poverty fueling dwindling game numbers all in search of a good life and in some cases a meal on the table.

Indeed genuinely a country like Zimbabwe has done the land redistribution thing in a way that was unprofessional. But if indeed Africa is for Africans then how did their land end up not being in their control. If we look at history some of the greatest poachers were the likes of King Leopold Lil and in no way can the poaching being done now compare.

Dealing with the symptoms won't cure the disease. Rather let's educate the African and encourage him on his potential. It's our duty as hunters to make sure Africans understand conservation in its true form .
 
No you are wrong . I for one think the Land reform program in Zimbabwe was success and in terms wildfire been completely wiped out is a lie we still boast some of the best free range unfenced hunting in Africa with no tame game as in South Africa.

Do we have our fair Share of problems yes we do challenges faced by the USA trying manage our wildlife and demonise our leaders and country Because they don’t want the rest of Africa to wake up we are in new error where the tides have changed there new people with new money and it’s hard for the whites to let go. Why don’t they go to England and approach their government for compensation and land there l don’t see Africans owning farms in Britain or America 6 percent of the population owned 80 percent of the land really??

Yes the truth hurts but Africans declines in wildlife started when a bunch of Europeans sat at table and decided to distribute portions of Africa where they raped , murdered , stole , enslaved and displaced robbed people of their history and culture.

Conversation isn’t anything new that the white man found out or think they are responsible for. Animals were abundant that great white hunters who killed hundreds of thousands of elephants, rhino , buffalo etc are prized for their good work in the African culture totems were given to each house that stopped them from eating that particular animal e.g Ndlovu is elephant and they don’t touch elephant meat and so on Mpofu, Dube just to name a few.

This is the price of civilisation that came with with euro centric thinking and barbaric behaviour that we now drink the same water we shit in. Let Africa live let their people manage their wildlife and their land because they can as their are great success stories in Zimbabwe. let’s build Zimbabwe brand.

American leaders past and present are the most corrupt in the world let’s not talk about their environmental catastrophes and wildlife issues they are facing.
 
No you are wrong . I for one think the Land reform program in Zimbabwe was success and in terms wildfire been completely wiped out is a lie we still boast some of the best free range unfenced hunting in Africa with no tame game as in South Africa.

Do we have our fair Share of problems yes we do challenges faced by the USA trying manage our wildlife and demonise our leaders and country Because they don’t want the rest of Africa to wake up we are in new error where the tides have changed there new people with new money and it’s hard for the whites to let go. Why don’t they go to England and approach their government for compensation and land there l don’t see Africans owning farms in Britain or America 6 percent of the population owned 80 percent of the land really??

Yes the truth hurts but Africans declines in wildlife started when a bunch of Europeans sat at table and decided to distribute portions of Africa where they raped , murdered , stole , enslaved and displaced robbed people of their history and culture.

Conversation isn’t anything new that the white man found out or think they are responsible for. Animals were abundant that great white hunters who killed hundreds of thousands of elephants, rhino , buffalo etc are prized for their good work in the African culture totems were given to each house that stopped them from eating that particular animal e.g Ndlovu is elephant and they don’t touch elephant meat and so on Mpofu, Dube just to name a few.

This is the price of civilisation that came with with euro centric thinking and barbaric behaviour that we now drink the same water we shit in. Let Africa live let their people manage their wildlife and their land because they can as their are great success stories in Zimbabwe. let’s build Zimbabwe brand.

American leaders past and present are the most corrupt in the world let’s not talk about their environmental catastrophes and wildlife issues they are facing.

I agree that Africa has to be left to manage her own wildlife. Foreign interference does not help, and the world should ask Africa what she needs, rather than tell her. But, I am going to take serious issue with your politics. "Demonizing " the leadership in Zimbabwe has more to do with the fact that Zimbabwe promotes a racial hatred that many industrialized countries worked through a hundred years ago. It has no place in a civilized world.

The "Zimbabwe brand" is based on a racist ideology and is therefore flawed. Zimbabwe and Africa are not unique in that the country has to address past historical differences. The difference between Zimbabwe and the USA (I am not Amercian btw) is that Zimbabwe has based their politics on the idea that one race of people is more deserving than another. The USA has an official policy, stated in their constitution, that all people are equal. The racist ideology of Zimbabwe in trying to correct past historical problems does not build on any of the good from the past. It does not promote the best in people, and it prevents a shared development of the country. There is no transfer of knowledge, and no societal growth. After living in a country for three hundred years, most civilized countries would say a group is, in this case the "whites" you are quick to single out, entitled to citizenship. A few people of the ruling class will do very well with the Zimbabwe brand, and most will not. As long as the government of Zimbabwe promotes a racists ideology the country will not develop fully. The proof is the fact that the "breadbasket" of Africa is unable to feed its own population. The failure to do so has nothing to do with the international community as farming is entirely a domestic concern. This is a made in Zimbabwe problem caused directly by a racist ideology that chose not to work with their fellow countrymen.

If South Africa embraces the shared future it will leave Zimbabwe far behind economically, and socially. The citizens will have to work very hard to ensure the benefits are available to all, there are serious hurdles with education for example. But, I am praying for a South Africa that celebrates all of its cultures, traditions, and races. That will be a strong South Africa indeed.
 

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