Visit the RSA-O
Community Page!
Last update:
Oct 15, 2000
Visit the RSA-O Community Page! |
Last update: Oct 15, 2000 |
| RSA-O Homepage | Live Chat | Find-A-Friend | Events/Announcements |
| RSA-Overseas Newsletter Today: |
|
Mbeki fined ... one cow.
News24.co.za Cape Town -  President Thabo Mbeki has made another screw-up, and this time it does not
involve a hearing of delegates walking out on his speech. Mbeki is being
fined a total of one cow for not going to the wedding of King Letsie 3 of
Lesotho. The President has already agreed to follow tradition and deliver the beast by foot. Mbeki broke the protocol when he failed to attend the three-day wedding ceremony and instead sent his Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi. King Letsie 3 has the right to find Mbeki for "unbecoming conduct" because Mbeki's mother was born in the mountain kingdom. The president will be flown by helicopter to Lesotho, driven by car to collect the cow and then he will walk on foot with the cow to the ancestral home. © RSA-Overseas & Matheson Communications [ Top ]  Kytie Koekblik ColumnIlda Jacobs Washington D.C. - Wat het hulle hom altyd genoem? Jan Taks. Die misterieuse figuur vir wie ons moes betaal om verskeie duistere redes. Enkele redes was iets soos "ons vir jou Suid-Afrika." Ek het altyd vermoed dit was P.W. Toe ons uiteindelik 'n demokratiese regering kry, toe dink ek aan die familie se maandelikse bydraes as 'n soort boetedoening. Sodat die rykes nie ryker kan word nie en die arme armes darem toelaes en water en elektrisiteit kan kry. Toe ek sien dinge verander nie eintlik nie, toe besluit ek om Jan Taks as 'n soort black hole te sien, jy gooi maar jou geldjies in die groot swart gat en sien dit as 'n liefdadigheids daad. Want of ons dit nou wil hoor of nie, ons landjie aan die suidpunt van Afrika het liefdadigheid nodig. Gister vertel die besonder bekwame minister van Vervoer Dullah Omar vir my dat ons nie wil "Aid" he nie. "Trade, not aid" is mos nou die nuwe buzz word in die goewerments-geledere. Die minister was gister hier in Washington D.C. Dit lyk mos vir my asof trade beteken soveel ministers en vriende van ministers en dalk nog familie ook, dink trade beteken ons kan almal die wereld vol vlieg. Wat ek probeer ontrafel is die volgende: Minister Omar was gister in Washington om 'n Simposium by te woon oor vervoer nogal. Die besonder interressante onderwerp van sy praatjie was "Nonmotorised transport in developing countries." Dertig agtergrondsfigure het saamgevlieg om aan Omar morele ondersteuning te gee. Miskien het hulle verwag dat die praatjie geweldig kontroversieel sou wees. Want Omar het oor fietse gepraat. Dit klink soos 'n storietjie 'Omar en die tweedehandse fietse." Volgens die persverklaring, is daar 'n "Nonmotorised transport safety crisis." Ek kon aan ander dreigende krisisse dink. Aangesien daar 3000 voetgangers doodgaan elke jaar, vermoed die SA regering dat fietse die oplossing is wat min gaan kos. "We in the South African Government have realized that the time has come to promote bicycle transport as a strategic solution," volgens die persverklaring. 'n Strategiese oplossing is dit seker gewis vir sekere rural areas in die land. Ek hoop net nie daar is te veel dorings nie, want ek wonder of ons regering vir pap wiele gaan betaal. Dalk sal die minister van buitelandse sake en 'n delegasie van dertig na amerika vlieg en 'n ruiltransaksie beklink, diamante vir fietstubes. En as iemand 'n skenking maak, sal ons dit weier, want ons soek nie charity nie. Trade, nie Aid nie. Of bicycle transport 'n prioriteit is, en of dit die beeld is wat ons vir Washington wil gee van ons regering se vermoë om te prioritiseer, is 'n ander saak. Goed - elke saak het seker sy meriete. Dit is 'n nobele idée om die kindertjies in rural areas veilig by die skool te kry en afstand uit te skakel, want sommige van hulle stap tot 'n uur 'n dag. Maar is dit nodig om 30 mense uit te vlieg om aan 'n internasionale symposium te vertel dat fietse 'n strategiese oplossing is vir 'n land wat deur aids verwoes word, om nie eers van die werkloosheid of die crime te praat nie. Dit terwyl taxis en busse oorlog voer, mense aangerand word op treine. Nou lyk dit my polisiemanne op fietse om agter kar-highjackers aan te jaag is 'n strategiese oplossing. "Cycletowns en cycle villages in medium sized cities" is nog 'n voorstel gewees. Dus word plakkerskampe en townships rondom Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth of Oos-London - medium grootte stede - getransformeer in fietsdorpe. Is dit prakties uitvoerbaar? Oom Omar dink daar is geleentheid vir entrepeneurs. Iemand sal definitief pitstops vir fietse kan begin, herstelwinkels, en pompshops vir pap wiele. My baas sien 'n nuwe geleentheid vir "fietsjacks of push-en grabs" - hy gaan 'n chopshop oopmaak waar jy binne vyf minute jou gesteelde fiets 'n ander kleur kan sprei. En die regering kan die Authority of Nonmotorised Transport begin en nog 'n adjunk-minister met 'n delegasie aanstel. En elke munisipale regering sal 'n lisensie-en registrasie departement moet oopmaak - hordes werksgeleenthede. En wat van die konsultante en advisors wat vir hul advies deur Jank Taks betaal sal word? En Dunlop en Good Year se aandele kan die hoogte inskiet en die rykes sal sommer nog ryker kan word. Ook is fietsry omgewingsvriendelik. Of dit so persoon-vriendelik is om langs provinsiale paaie en in vyf-uur verkeer met fietse rond te ry en gasse in te asem. maar aan die ander kant, dink aan die langtermyn voordele: initiatiewe soos Tour de Mpumalanga in plaas van die Tour de France, en 'n nuwe kategorie vir die Olimpiese spele. 'n Truly representative fietsspan wat dalk 'n enkele goue medalje sal huis toe bring. Ek is nou skoon begeesterd! Ek het nog altyd gedink veilige, gereelde busse en treine is 'n ooglopend praktiese oplossing. Ek het ook altyd gedink die Minister van Vervoer behoort die taxi-oorlog krisis 'n prioriteit te maak; en ook publieke transport. Maar hierdie krisis, dit verdien sy delegasie se volle aandag. Dalk sal ons almal wat nog altyd gefrustreerd was met die publieke vervoer in Suid-Afrika, vir 'n begin betyds en gereeld by die werk kan kom. Dit is natuurlik die van ons wat werk het. Maar nou ja, duidelik het iemand my 'n rat voor die oë gedraai. Ek vermoed dit was Jan Taks. Hy klop nie aan jou deur as jy nie belasting betaal nie. Deesdae het Jan Taks ander prioriteite. Hy vlieg die wereld vol en los "the people" om fiets te ry. Ek hoop nie ek het nou 'n speek in iemand se wiel gesteek nie. Kytie K. Kytie Koekblik would like you to respond to her tongue-in-cheek running commentary on suburban life in America in this editorial. Fresh off the boat, she is ready to explore and experiment with American bath plugs and to drive on the other side of the road. You can contact her here. © RSA-Overseas & Matheson Communications [ Top ] What follows the failures of socialism? Thanks to JULUKA The Mbeki led Alliance appeared to have it made. They had secured a two-thirds majority following the June 1999 election. But a year later instead of riding in triumph on the crest of the transforming wave Mbeki and his Alliance are threaten by an increasingly powerful undertow of popular discontent. Survival will mean having to embrace the option taken by most other African elites: hijacking the populist Africanist movement. The consequences of implementing their agenda are also clear: the end of the " rainbow nation" and the pretence of having launched an inclusive multi-racial democracy. After a three hundred year interregnum, South Africa will be well on its way to being an exclusively African nation. The promised renaissance never occurred. Instead Mbeki is having to preside over socialism's requiem. Public employees have been interested in their own enrichment not in the enhancement of the common weal. Only a tiny number of Africans have benefited from the racist affirmative action policies which are in effect the mirror image of their apartheid predecessors. Labor policies have been pro-union and anti-labor . Unemployment has shot up while growth has declined. Skilled labor and capital have not flowed in but have joined skilled South Africans and their capital in fleeing to more hospitable economies outside of Africa. No amount of propaganda by apologists can disguise the painful reality. The Alliance's socialist-Africanist agenda reverses Gear . But to the diehard Marxist leaders of the Alliance socialism cannot fail. The blame lies with the exploitive capitalists and their market. Capitalists who also happen to be members of the minority white and Indian populations. In order to survive Mbeki will have to distance the Alliance from the prescriptions of the World Bank-IMF and consider a set of autarkic and nationalistic policies. Exchange controls are likely to be tightened, trade attenuated and privatization put on hold. In other words he will adopt the posture of the Nats prior to 1994. There may be a few cries from Wall Street and the City, but these will be easily shrugged off. The difficult part will be to take the initiative away from the radical Africanists and avert mob rule. This will only be avoided if the full powers of the state are seen to be deployed in restoring economic justice for the long exploited African masses. This will mean an immediate confiscation of the wealth of the minorities and a transfer of property rights from the white, Indian and "Coloured" minorities to the majority black population. Such actions will be messy and bloody as some of the Afrikaner farmers and traditional chiefs can be expected to stand and fight for their rights. Quelling the violence could be costly. But the Alliance has nothing to fear from minorities' so called " kith and kin". As Mugabe showed , no foreign power will step in to defend the rights of the " settlers". It is unlikely South Africa will be either suspended or expelled from the Commonwealth. There is a reason for this leniency. South Africa will be seen to have discarded all excuses and to be simply engaged in self-destruction. What remains of the modern market economy will be destroyed. Commercial farming will be transformed into subsistence agriculture. Those members of the minority population who can, will flee, leaving behind shrinking and aging minority populations. As elsewhere in Africa a tiny elite, ravaged by AIDS, will sit atop a destroyed economy and a society bereft of any pretence of modernity. Tony Ellison, an economist, lived and worked in South Africa from 1990 until 1998. He now resides in Miami. © RSA-Overseas [ Top ] Mbeki admits aids confusion Thanks to News 24.co.za Johannesburg - President Thabo Mbeki has withdrawn himself from the public debate on the causes of Aids after admitting that he has created confusion in South Africa, a report said on Sunday. Mbeki announced his withdrawal from the scientific debate at a meeting of his African National Congress's (ANC) national executive committee, the party's highest decision-making body, the Sunday Times reported. But the president did not back down on his controversial stance and re-expounded his position to the meeting, it said. He has questioned the orthodox scientific view that HIV is the cause of Aids and sided with dissidents who claim other factors, including poverty and malnutrition, could also play a role. He has also reportedly suggested that pharmaceutical giants, helped by the US Central Intelligence Agency, were pushing the notion that HIV causes Aids to boost their drug sales. The president admitted to parliament three weeks ago that his stance had created confusion in South Africa, which at the end of 1999 had the highest number of HIV infections in the world, according to the UN's Aids project, UNAids. He insisted that a "virus cannot cause a syndrome," but added that the government's Aids policy is based on the thesis that the disease is caused by HIV. But critics have claimed that his stance is causing people to reject conventional wisdom on preventing HIV infection. Acknowledging public confusion, the government this month launched a two million rand ($280 000) publicity campaign promoting conventional methods of fighting Aids, such as using condoms. Mbeki has aired his views on several public platforms, including in Time magazine, and his position has been widely condemned in South Africa, including by the ANC's alliance partners, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and South African Communist Party. - Sapa-AFP Visit News 24.co.za. © RSA-Overseas [ Top ] More SA prisioners released Thanks to News 24.co.za More than 2 700 of the 7 000 prisoners who are to be released on early parole to alleviate overcrowding in prisons have been freed. A department of correctional services spokesperson, Russell Mamabolo, said potential parolees had been scrutinised by provincial commissioners and their names passed on to the department's head office for final assessment and approval. Only those prisoners who had approved parole dates by this month qualified for consideration. Those serving time for "aggressive or violent crimes and sexually related crimes" were not considered. 'They will be monitored at their homes' Those who have been released have to abide by parole conditions. "They will be monitored at their homes by parole officials and they must not commit any crime, nor must they indulge in alcohol or drugs," Mamabolo said. "If they breach any (condition) they will be imprisoned immediately and serve the remainder of their sentences." To ease congestion, the department recently released awaiting-trial prisoners who had been granted bail of less than R1 000. It came under fire for freeing a number of awaiting-trial prisoners who were deemed potentially dangerous. Mamabolo said the department was confident that its "thorough" screening would ensure there were no mistakes. - Staff Reporter © RSA-Overseas & Matheson Communications [ Top ] [ Top ] |
Stay informed! Sign up here for frequent updates about news, events and announcements. |