Mzansi Afrika

Moving

2005-07-20T20:09:00.000+02:00

I have decided to move to TypePad.
From now on you will find Mzansi Afrika here.

Divisions in the ANCYL?

2005-07-18T10:37:00.000+02:00

Another interesting development on the local political scene regarding the presidential succession debate. City Press reports that "the ANC Youth League is being rocked by divisions over whether President Thabo Mbeki should make himself available as leader of the ANC for a third term. The league's deputy president, Ruben Mahlaloga, has broken ranks with its leader, Fikile Mbalula, by distancing himself from a position paper by the latter." (More)

Iraq insurgency: getting better or worse?

2005-07-17T19:16:00.000+02:00

Something that I have been very curious to know, is whether the insurgency in Iraq is getting better or worse. In my opinion the best sources of information in trying to evaluate the situation is to rely on straight forward factual reports in the mainstream media, as opposed to opinion pieces and analysts who may be batting for the left or the conservatives, and more importantly straight from the horses mouth, US military press briefings.

According to the NYT in April 2005 - "Attacks on allied forces have dropped to 30 to 40 a day, down from an average daily peak of 140 in the prelude to the Jan. 30 elections but still roughly at the levels of a year ago. Only about half the attacks cause casualties or damage, but on average one or more Americans die in Iraq every day, often from roadside bombs. Thirty-six American troops died there in March, the lowest monthly death toll since 21 died in February 2004."

Towards the end of April 2005 AFP reported General Richard Myers, the most senior US military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the Iraqi insurgency wasjust as strong then as it has been a year ago. Myers said the number of attacks had increased slightly recently but maintained that was a poor measure of the insurgency, noting that half the attacks were thwarted. He also acknowledged that insurgents were capable of surging to higher levels of violence as they did before the January 30 elections.

From a press briefing transcript on 15 July 2005 by Major General Joseph Taluto, commander of the Multinational North-Central Division. Areas under his command include Balad, Kirkuk , Tikrit and Samarra:

“I would say that the insurgency in North-Central Iraq is at about a similar level to pre-election, but it has changed in its complexion. Our assessment is that many of the former regime or Sunni Arabs that were opposed to the new government and the new political process have fallen away. I think that has reduced. I think the religious extremists, while they have not, in our view, in North-Central Iraq, grown, they have coalesced a little bit more with national religious extremists like Ansar al-Sunnah, getting involved with QJBR(long acronym-basically an Al Quaida group on Iraq) activities, and they are responsible for the spike in suicide bomb attacks in North-Central Iraq. Our attacks in direct fire and indirect fire have reduced over time. And going back to last year to this year, those types and forms of attack have been reduced significantly.

There [is]more cooperation or passing of information between a variety of [insurgent] groups. While direct fire and indirect fire have been reduced in North-Central, we're seeing more suicide vehicle- borne IEDs (improvised explosive devices) of late. So there's some trade-off there. Of course the suicide vehicle-borne IEDs are mostly against innocent civilians, against soft targets, Iraqi security forces, police and army soldiers in static positions. And so therefore, they're still trying to disrupt the process, they're still trying to intimidate people; they're trying to intimidate Iraqi security forces. I just think that we maintain pressure on the insurgency. I don't think it has grown. I don't know that I could say that it has been reduced significantly, because we still see these level of suicide attacks, but it doesn't mean it's done by a lot of people.”

From a press briefing on 14 July 2005 by Brigadier General Donald Alston, Director, Strategic Communications, Multinational Forces in Iraq:

“Last week throughout Iraq , there were 23 VBIEDs (Vehicle borne improvised explosive devices). Of those 23 VBIEDs, six were suicide VBIEDs. And that number reflects the lowest number of suicide VBIEDs in 11 weeks.”

It looks like the best that we can say, give or take, is that the insurgency is roughly the same as it was a year ago. On the downside, the insurgency does seem capable of spiking at particular times such as during the January elections. From what I’ve been monitoring over the past 3-4 weeks or so, it also seems like activity seems to increase over the week-ends. This week-end for example has been pretty bad. Reuters reports that today, a fuel truck bomb killed 70 people south of Baghdad.

“15 suicide bombers have struck within just over 48 hours in the capital and along the highway heading south in what al Qaeda's Iraq wing has declared is a new campaign to seize control of Baghdad. Iraq has often experienced several suicide attacks per day since the government took power in April. But U.S. generals have said the situation was improving, with just six suicide car bombs countrywide last week, the fewest in nearly three months. The sudden upsurge began on Friday, when 11 suicide car bombers struck U.S. and Iraqi military targets throughout the capital and on the highway heading south. Those attacks killed more than 32 people and wounded more than 100. On Saturday, apart from the Musayyib blast, strikes throughout Iraq killed at least 16 people, including three British soldiers in Amara in the south and one American soldier near Kirkuk in the north.”

According to an article in the New York Times: “It was unclear why the insurgents decided to carry out the flurry of attacks this week, but many Iraqis had been anticipating a spike in violence tied to Sunday, the anniversary of the 1968 Baathist revolution that ushered Saddam Hussein's political party into power. Officials believe many of the leaders of the insurgency are Baathists.”

On the upside, military press briefings say that ordinary Iraqi’s are increasingly helping to fight the insurgency by tipping off a telephone hotline. “In the month of June, we saw more than 4,000 Iraqi citizens calling their coordination centers with information…. For example, they point out caches, almost eight out of the 10 caches we find now are pointed out to us by Iraqis.” Additionally, it seems that multinational forces are able to thwart at least half of all terrorist attacks. Also the Americans are making increasing if slow progress in better training and equipping the Iraqi Security Forces. About 20 percent of all counter-insurgency operations are being carried out by the Iraqi’s. However a great deal more needs to be done, and the US is unable to predict when the forces will be able to operate completely independently.

In conclusion, I have to say it is not easy to say for certain whether the US is winning the war or not. What does seem clear is that they are, give or take some spikes in insurgent activity, managing to contain the insurgency within certain parameters. Does this mean they are winning? From other articles that I have read, it seems that when the US troops go into certain hotspot areas on big operations they manage to quell the insurgency in those areas. But disturbingly, I have also read that insurgents are starting to operate again in Fallujah where they had managed to destroy the uprising their after their big operation. One solution would be to bring more troops into Iraq, but politically this might have even worse repercussions, I don’t know? Anyway this is not something the US is considering at this point. Their main mission now seems to be to get the Iraqi Forces strong enough so that they can eventually pull out.

At best US and Iraqi forces will succeed in completely wiping out the insurgency. As things stand now this is not yet something we can realistically hope for, for the time being. At worst we could end up with another Israeli/Palestinian situation, whereby even though one side has much greater military strength, the two sides are perpetually engaged in medium grade intensity warfare. My concern would be if the US buggered off at some point and left the Iraqi’s to deal with the mess on their own. They must finish what they started and bring lasting stability and democracy to the country.

Pottermania

2005-07-17T07:43:00.000+02:00

Wayne over at Commentary has an entry on the free market economics of Harry Potter and book prices in South Africa. What I find so interesting about the whole Harry Potter craze is just trying to understand – how the hell did it get so big? What is actually so fantastic about the books that seem to have caught the popular imagination, and would the books and films have caught on to this level without the power of the great media machine behind them? I can understand that children and even younger teens love the books, but adults also going so completely and totally gaga is a bit more difficult to grasp.

As well as the books themselves being so popular, the attempt to understand the phenomenon has spawned a huge body of literary and philosophical criticism and analysis. So not only are there Harry Potter books, there are books about the Harry Potter books.

In “Harry Potter's World: Multidisciplinary Critical Perspectives” – what an academic mouthful over a kiddies book - Tammy Turner-Vorbeck criticizes how children seem to be exploited by corporations seeking to cash in on the popularity of the books:

“Corporate consumerism is increasingly targeting child culture... The infringement on child culture is particularly evident in the mass marketing of the Harry Potter products...The proliferation of these items constitutes a blatant exploitation of the genuine excitement for children’s literature that stems from children’s true interests... Once a cultural phenomenon such as Pottermania takes hold, the majority of children are destined to find their first exposure not to the authentic items of child culture (in this case, the Harry Potter book itself). Rather, their first experience is often with the marketing spin-offs, which represent corporate America’s interpretation of the real thing.”

And what would any criticism worth its salt be without a gender perspective, Elizabeth Heilman writes:

“Males are represented more often, but they are also depicted as wiser, braver, more powerful, and more fun than females. It is not simply who is present, but, also, how characters are portrayed and what they do that matters.... The inferior position of females is further reinforced through characterizations that highlight their insecurities and self-hatred, especially as it relates to their looks and bodies.”

Of course, the philosophers have to get their five cents in too. In "Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts", David Baggett looks at the connections between literature, imagination, and morality:

“Good yarns, such as Rowling’s, appeal to both the head and heart, eliciting from us the right sorts of emotions, and providing us vivid moral paradigms that Aristotle thought were essential to moral education. More suggestive than dogmatic, they teach us to empathize with the sufferings of others, enhancing our capacity for seeing the world through another’s eyes.... A powerful imagination functions centrally in any commitment to morality, because so much of ethics consists in having the right kinds of emotional and intuitive responses to situations as they arise.” ......OK – whatever?

Naturally, the religious conservatives are concerned about the book’s potential to bring Satan’s influence into the lives of our children. Envoy, is a website aimed at “bringing Christ to the world”:

“In early December, Rome's official exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, warned parents against the Harry Potter book series. The priest, who is also the president of the International Association of Exorcists, said Satan is behind the works. In an interview with the Italian ANSA news agency, Rev. Amorth said "Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil." ….errr….no comment.

And then it goes from the sublime to the ridiculous where Harry Potter is seen alternatively as "the first literary hero of the antiglobalization movement" and as "a summary of the social and educational aims of neoliberal capitalism. Like Orwellian totalitarianism, this capitalism tries to fashion not only the real world, but also the imagination of consumer-citizens. The underlying message to young fans is this: You can imagine as many fictional worlds, parallel universes or educational systems as you want, they will still all be regulated by the laws of the market."

Being the cynic that I am, I am tempted to say that this is all really much ado about nothing. The Potter books have got kids reading again, and if I’m not mistaken this is actually a good thing. As for the huge materialist, consumerist spin-offs, well, unfortunately, that is the reality of the world we live in. I know how I would handle the situation if I were a parent, but people need to make their own choices. I do think that as a society we need to be consuming less and not more, but that is another topic in itself.

Quote of the day

2005-07-15T15:55:00.000+02:00

"You’re right that Americans don’t have a sense of how the rest of the world views us. We’re one of the most expansionist countries in the world. We’ve been expanding for over 400 years and yet we always think of ourselves as just sitting back minding our own business. I’ve found some great quotes from 1817 when American politicians were coming back from Europe shocked that everyone thought we were an incredibly aggressive country just because we’d stolen Florida, picked a fight with the Brits, were yelling that we wanted Canada, etc. It’s a constant theme. Intervention? Expansion of influence? This is the history of America."
Robert Kagan

Kagan is a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a director of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC). The PNAC sounds like one of those bad left wing conspiracy theories until you realise that it's actually true. Their website has been down for sometime now, but I have seen it with my own eyes. Wikipedia has a pretty accurate summation of what it's all about.

Plotting in Zimbabwe

2005-07-15T13:11:00.000+02:00

Paranoid, deluded, living in wonderland, these are some of the adjectives that come to mind when the name “Robert Mugabe” is mentioned. This really takes the cake. According to Zimbabwe’s state run newspaper The Herald, the recent delegation of South African clergymen to Zim to assess the destruction of homes was nothing more than a plot to discredit the government by British spies. The Herald reports that:

“The abortive visit by a delegation of South African clergymen, led by Archbishop Njongokulu Ndungane under the auspices of the South African Councils of Churches on an alleged fact finding mission to assess the impact of Operation Murambatsvina/Restore Order, was part of the large campaign by Zimbabwe’s detractors pushing for a regime change agenda in the country, it has emerged.

Impeccable Government sources said British intelligence services, through the Department for International Development (DFID) Central Africa, bankrolled the visit disguised as a fact-finding mission.

"The visit was prompted by appeals and funding by the local DFID, which is an arm of the British government," said a source.

The whole operation, the sources said, was allegedly masterminded in Zimbabwe through the British Embassy with MI6 local operative James Newman.”

Is Mbeki serious on corruption?

2005-07-15T11:57:00.000+02:00

It gets murkier and murkier. Some major new developments concerning the oilgate controversy in South Africa are beginning to emerge. Just to go back in history briefly, here’s my little summary of the story so far just to put my readers who haven’t followed the scandal in the picture.

In May 2005 the Mail and Guardian newspaper broke the so called "oilgate" controversy. The paper alleged that the South African oil parastal, PetroSA, had given Imvume, a black empowerment company with close ties to the ANC, R15 million. Imvume then secretly forwarded about R11 million of the payment to the cash-strapped ANC a few months before the April 2004 elections. Further allegations emerged later on that Imvume, from the same PetroSA payment, had also paid money to relatives or companies connected to two cabinet ministers - then Minerals & Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who has subsequently become South Africa’s deputy president, and Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya. A multimillion-rand hole remains in the parastatal’s books. PetroSA has gone through the motions to recover the debt by suing Imvume — but most of it remains outstanding.

The Mail & Guardian reports today that they have evidence that the ANC has misled South Africans about the Oilgate scandal.The M&G says it has documents that prove Imvume was effectively a front for the ruling party. The documents allegedly show how close the ANC and Imvume really were. They show that as early as 2001 ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe and, to an extent, ANC treasurer Mendi Msimang were intimately entangled with Imvume boss Sandi Majali. The evidence suggests that together they hatched an ambitious project to raise millions of rands for the ANC by obtaining lucrative oil allocations from Saddam Hussein’s regime under the United Nations Oil for Food (OFF) programme. OFF was an exception to UN sanctions that allowed Iraq to export oil to pay for humanitarian needs. In turn Motlanthe and Majali, on behalf of the ANC, would extend political solidarity to the Iraqi dictator and campaign for the lifting of sanctions. The documents include a letter from Motlanthe to the Iraqis, confirming Majali as the ANC’s designated representative for this project.

Today’s Business Day tells us that a new public opinion survey shows that 86% of 500 respondents feel President Thabo Mbeki’s dismissal of former deputy president Jacob Zuma sent a clear message on corruption to the rest of government. When asked if dismissing Zuma demonstrated Mbeki's commitment to a transparent government, 83% agreed and 11% disagreed. According to the poll, Mbeki’s approval rating rose from 48% in January to 83% after he fired Zuma.

I happen to disagree with the majority of respondents on the poll. I don’t think that Mbeki has sent a clear message to his government that corruption won’t be tolerated. The only message that he is conveying is that if you support my rivals or go up against me, then your corruption won’t be tolerated. Even though the government may be passing bills to make corruption more difficult, and have of late in terms of the National Anti-Corruption Forum been sending signals that they are hardening their attitudes on corruption, other than Zuma’s dismissal, they’re not doing anything particularly bold to stamp out corruption. And while government might be making more of an effort to fight corruption in local government, that probably has a lot to do with pressure to deliver basic services from the many violent community protests against poor service delivery. This, ahead of the next local government elections which will probably occur in around February 2006.

The people involved in the oilgate scandal are all close to Mbeki’s camp – I don’t see him taking any action against them. The NPA has said that it will not be investigating oilgate. The matter is being looked into by the Public Protector, Laurence Mushwana who says he will be releasing his report at the end of this month. In August last year, Mushwana was one of 179 members of parliament and former parliamentarians under investigation in connection with a R13m travel voucher scam. I’m not sure what the outcome of that was, but travelgate is a perfect example of how the president has failed to act against corruption in the ANC. As for the five implicated MP’s who gave up their seats voluntarily, the SABC reported last week that it had evidence that they were forced to resign by the ANC, according to thier plea bargain agreements they were supposed to keep their seats. Rumour has it that they were Zuma supporters, but obviously I can’t verify that.

Why?

2005-07-14T18:44:00.000+02:00

"The first reason I became a suicide bomber was because my friend was killed. The second reason I did it is because I didn't want to go to school. I would become a martyr and go to my God. It's better than being a singer or a footballer. It's better than everything"

The words of would be Palestinian suicide bomber, 15 year old Hussam Abdo. He was arrested by Israeli troops before detonating his charge.

Yesterday on BBC World I saw at least five different interviews with an array of experts, analysts and politicians, all attempting to answer the same questions – why? Why were the terrorists seemingly ordinary young British Muslims? How could they have arisen from within our own society? How could they have bombed their fellow citizens?

Finding the answers to these questions is clearly going to become one the greatest dilemma’s of the 21st century. It is tempting to write off terrorists and suicide bombers as crazy animals with no respect for human life, but as much as you may believe this to be true, ultimately this way of thinking will get us nowhere. What we really need to do is try and understand the mind set of these young Muslims who are obviously in some kind of psychological state that makes them susceptible to being brainwashed by fanatics who distort their faith into the complete opposite of all that religion is meant to be. What is it about a person's state of being that would make a 15 year old choose death and mayhem over going to school?

In trying to gets to grips with this terrorist threat we unfortunately have to ask, what it is about Islam in particular that allows it to become a religious paradigm for violence in the way that it has? At the same time, just as importantly we need to look at ourselves, and we need to ask what it is about western policies and expansionism that have been the catalyst for the rise of radical Islam? Has it been partially responsible? What are the other factors? What is it about globalization and the 21st century way of being that is bringing out Samuel Huntington’s so called “clash of civilizations?” The 9/11 attackers didn’t just wake up one morning and decide that blowing up the World Trade Centre would be a fun thing to do on a sunny day.

I don’t know what the answers are, and I certainly don’t know what the solutions may be, but more than ever we need to somehow forge a climate of understanding and robust debate. Can we afford not to?

Two minutes silence for the dead

2005-07-14T16:23:00.000+02:00

Today BBC World gave extensive coverage to the two minutes silence observed in memory of the bomb victims. Understandable, considering the terrible circumstances. The BBC presenter announced that many countries around the world would also be observing the two minutes of silence to show their solidarity.

It is worth noting that if we were to observe two minutes of silence for all the Iraqi civilians that have been killed by fanatic suicide bombers, and in the general cross-fire of war, we would probably be observing two minutes of silence on an almost daily if not monthly basis. Just yesterday around 24 Iraqi children were killed by a suicide bomber, in September last year, in a similar incident, a bomb blast in Baghdad killed at least 34 children. That's 58 children dead in two incidents, suicide bombs go off just about every day in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq. Since the US invasion in 2003, between 22,787 and 25,814 Iraqi civilians have been killed. How many minutes of silence is that worth?

Iraq is a war situation, so civilian deaths are more likely to occur, it's shocking for us when the terrorists take their frightening aggression into western countries - and understandably, from blogs to the mainstream media, I've been hearing a great deal of moral outrage against terrorists since the London bombings. All I am saying is, where is that same sense of moral outrage when it comes to the daily loss of life experienced by Iraqi children and other civilians?Judging by the western and mainstream media, we don't place as much value on Iraqi lives as we do on our own.

G8 spin

2005-07-12T22:18:00.000+02:00

Political analyst Kuseni Dlamini thinks that the G8 new deal on Africa is just a lot of spin.

"It seems that rich countries have been dishonest and intellectually fraudulent in deploying the language and discourse of the Marshall Plan when talking about their commitment to help Africa while simultaneously failing to back their rhetoric with he financial resources required to make an African Marshall Plan happen. Some critics argue that some rich countries have scored a lot in terms of good public relations by using Africa to project themselves as caring.

The failure to come up with radical commitments to turn Africa around is a missed opportunity, one that should have been used to offer a real, tangible and far-reaching “alternative to hatred”. The lack of bold, courageous and ambitious commitments from the G-8 shows the leadership deficit in global politics. With the right leadership, globalisation could be made a positive force. But to the extent that Africa continues to suffer a huge globalisation deficit as it falls by the wayside, globalisation will continue to have a credibility crisis.

To the extent that the rich industrialised countries do not embrace ethical and inclusive globalisation, and ruthlessly pursue their narrow selfish interests and ignore the plight of the poor and oppressed people in the Middle East and Africa, the world will continue to be a dangerous place for all of us."

What's good for the goose

2005-07-12T20:02:00.000+02:00

I find it continually amusing to see how America plays by the rules "what's good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander". What's even more amusing is how conservatives hold the US up as a bright shining light of all that is meant to be good in the world, and are prepared to completely overlook all the hypocracies inherent in the US way.

Reuters reports that a plan by Cyprus to put genetically modified food on separate supermarket shelves has angered the US. Damn - how can those nasty little Cypriots think they can make their own decisions about how to run their supermarkets? Washington responded to this highly subversive activity by warning Cyprus that the move could harm bilateral ties. In a letter to the Cypriot parliament our modern day masters said that these actions would stigmatise biotech goods and could contravene Cyprus' obligations as a World Trade Organisation member. Incidently, America is the leading developer and producer of agricultural biotech products.

Strange how when it comes to sticking to WTO rules, the US is quite happy to ignore its own obligations. Last week, Brazil said it was going to ask the WTO for permission to penalize the United States for its failure to comply with a WTO ruling against U.S. subsidies for cotton growers. In March this year, the WTO upheld a ruling condemning government help for cotton producers in the United States, saying that many U.S. programs include illegal export subsidies or domestic payments that are higher than WTO rules allow. The WTO gave Washington a June 30 deadline to end its illegal export subsidies and domestic payments. Brazil is currently trying to negotiate with the US, but if the negotiations fail, they want the WTO to penalise the Americans.

Well, one thing is for sure, I'm sure the US would love South African supermarkets where GM foods are hardly labelled at all. This despite being one of the leading GMO growers in the world.

Single monetary union for SADC

2005-07-12T16:43:00.000+02:00

It seems that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is definitely embarking on the journey to create a single monetary union for the region by 2016. The SADC agenda is to create a free trade area by 2008, a SADC customs union by 2010, a common market by 2015 and a monetary union by 2016 with a single currency and central bank.

South Africa's Reserve Bank governor, Tito Mboweni says that important economic targets still have to met to make the single monetary union a reality - no kidding. These include, reducing inflation in all SADC countries to single-digit figures by 2008 and to 5% or less by 2012. The budget deficit of SADC countries has to be 5% or less of gross domestic product by 2008 and 3% or less by 2012. This is to force governments in the region to strengthen their tax collection and stop reliance on central bank borrowing, according to Mboweni. (More)

Photo of the day

2005-07-12T16:34:00.000+02:00

For obvious reasons I could not resist posting this classic picture of our "esteemed" Minister of Health, Manto Tshabalala- Msimang.

Source

She is pictured here with the Treatment Action Campaign's Zackie Achmat, with whom she is in a state of perpetual war due to her department's failure to provide anti-retrovirals to HIV/AIDS infected South Africans.

Jewish Agency report

2005-07-11T10:43:00.000+02:00

The Jewish Agency has just completed an interesting study which shows that next year Israel will overtake the US to become home to the largest Jewish community in the world. Of the 13 million Jews living in the world today, 5.28 million live in the United States and 5.25 million in Israel.

For the first time in 2,000 years, Israel will host the world's largest Jewish community. The Israeli Jewish population grows at a faster rate than the Jewish population in the United States, where mixed marriages are increasingly common. Israel and the United States between them are home to nearly 80 percent of the world's Jewish community. In third place comes France, with around 494,000 Jewish residents, the report added. In 15 years time, the report estimated, Israel will be home to more than 40 percent of the world's Jewish community.

G8 promises on Africa

2005-07-08T13:56:00.000+02:00

Tony Blair at the G8 summit has just announced the following concerning Africa:

A $50 billion increase in aid – he did not specify over how many years.

A new deal in trade – no details given.

Universal access to aids treatment – no details given. Does this mean as the statement implies that all poor people will be given free anti-aids drugs?

The commitment of more peace keeping troops to Africa – no details given.

To drop the debt of the world’s poorest countries – no details given. Does this mean that all their debt will be completely dropped?

I will comment more on this a bit later

Looking for answers

2005-07-08T12:26:00.000+02:00

Some interesting analysis from the Financial Times via Business Day. The basic premise is that although military force might have it's place in fighting terrorism, political solutions are also needed. Likewise, this analysis states, political solutions aren't enough on their own.

"...the fight on the ground against terrorists can only ever be half an answer...It would be equally naive to say that politics holds all the answers. The brutal and...fascist ambitions of the extreme jihadists stretch way beyond reasoned argument or political accommodation. Their ideology is indifferent to justice for the Palestinians, to peace in Chechnya, freedom and selfdetermination for Iraqis or self-government in Afghanistan. Force is an insufficient response to these people...

The role of politics is to starve them of recruits, to deprive them of the oxygen provided by a widespread perception of injustice and oppression in the Islamist world. If a settlement, say, between Israel and the Palestinians would not deter the present generation of terrorists, it might well set their sons and daughters on a different path.

What this demands of governments is the resolve to confront the complex, seemingly intractable challenges that most of the time it is more convenient to ignore. It requires nation-building, mediation, conflict resolution, sustained aid flows, political courage and a willingness, sometimes, to compromise. It means sacrificing what may seem like today’s strategic and commercial interests to tomorrow’s imperatives — the spread of freedom and democracy among them."

South Africans injured in London

2005-07-08T12:22:00.000+02:00

Two South Africans were injured in the London bomb blasts. One is in a critical condition, and the other is seriously injured. The identities of the man and woman cannot be released until their families have been informed. The Mail & Guardian has more.

Truth

2005-07-08T11:20:00.000+02:00

"The Bush administration’s “war on terrorism” reflects a major failure of leadership and makes Americans more vulnerable rather than more secure. The administration has chosen a path to combat terrorism that has weakened multilateral institutions and squandered international goodwill. Not only has Bush failed to support effective reconstruction in Afghanistan, but his war and occupation in Iraq have made the United States more vulnerable and have opened a new front and a recruiting tool for terrorists while diverting resources from essential homeland security efforts. In short, Washington’s approach to homeland security fails to address key vulnerabilities, undermines civil liberties, and misallocates resources."
(More)

Has the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan made the world a safer place. Judging from yesterday's bombings I don't think so - not yet, maybe not ever. History will be the judge. What other choices did America have after 9/11? And, if Bush had not gone to war, would yesterday's bombing still have taken place? They may have happened anyway. We just don't know. Is the insurgency in Iraq getting better or worse? Those on the left will say it's getting worse and cite evidence to support their views. Those on the right will say the situation is improving and cite evidence to support their views. The only truth we can really know for certain is that we don't know what the truth really is. For all that we live in age of unprecedented access to information, our views become shaped by the political slant or agenda of the media that we choose to read or watch. The stories, facts and versions of reality are filtered through the world view and biases of the journalists and analysts that bring us the news.

One thing that I do believe though is this - Bush did not go to war with Iraq out of the goodness of his heart or because he wanted to bring "freedom and democracy" to a couple of Arabs living under a dictatorship. Throughout history men have gone to war for reasons of winning territory, wealth, and power. War is an expensive , ugly business. Are we now suddenly to believe that George W Bush is some sort of morally superior Mother Theresa, and that America is the first nation in history ever to go to war to "make the world a better place". I don't think so. America went to war for the same reasons as men usually go to war - to spread the sphere of their political influence, and do what they think is best for America. What's best for America is not the same as what's best for the rest of the world. Africa is a prime example.

Country's do not have morals, they have interests. I for one donnot believe that America is the first country in the history of the world to deviate from this way of being.

Final London update

2005-07-07T16:23:00.000+02:00

London emergency services have confirmed over 33 fatalities. They are not able to confirm how many fatalities from the bus explosion. The police confirm 4 bombs or devices, and say that they had received no warning beforehand, and that so far they have received no claims of responsibility. The press conference is currently ongoing, but this is probably my last update for the day.

South Africans in London

2005-07-07T15:24:00.000+02:00

There are said to be something like a million South Africans who live in the UK, I think around 200 000 or so as a very rough estimate in the London area. So far no reports of South African casualties. The Mail & Guardian has a round-up of eyewitness reports from South Africans in London. From Vanessa Haupt:

"People are scared, as we don't know what is happening. The news on the radio has just confirmed that explosive devices have been found and there is an unconfirmed number of deaths and hundreds of injuries. "Certain areas in central London have been evacuated and the entire Tube network and zone-one buses have been shut down. We've all been advised to stay in our buildings and most of us don't even know how we're going to get home tonight."

Speculation in the blogosphere

2005-07-07T15:14:00.000+02:00

Athena over at the blog Terrorism Unveiled has some excellent commentary and analysis (assuming of course that it is al qaida since we have not yet had official confirmation of this):

"This will certainly give a boost to al-Qaida morale, because being able to attack a large superpower with coordinated attacks during a summit meeting when security and targets are even more hardened is a sign of success. Rather than attacking during the Live8 concert series, whose members terrorists would want just as dead, the attack fell during the G8, which has an important effect on those on the far left. In other words, rather than alienating the important part of the public that gives terrorist sympathies (meaning those who will claim they are merely freedom fighters), terrorists have "protested" the same entity as them---G8 summit. And of course, not all Live8 participants are of the far left and have sympathies with terrorist groups, but surely there are a number. Now this will also force questions if London can handle the security needed for the Olympic games."

Instapundit has a concise round-up of what other bloggers are saying

More analysis on London

2005-07-07T14:43:00.000+02:00

Some more breaking analysis from Mike Hough at South Africa's Institute for Security Studies.

"An Al-Qaeda attack in London was long expected as it had often been threatened. As to who was to blame and what their motive was, "there was a range of possibilities". Hough said there were 600 incidents of terror last year. That was a sharp rise from the average of about 200 a year before. Another new aspect of international terror was sympathisers acting on their own. This was the case with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's branch of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. "It is a hallmark of modern terrorism that no one takes responsibility for such acts or only after an interval." As such he believed the attack was aimed at disrupting public life. The shut down of the city's tube and bus system as well as heightened security alerts throughout Europe afterwards would support this view. Hough said he would not assume the attacks were meant to disrupt the G8 summit that started in Gleneagles in Scotland on Thursday. If Al-Qaeda or fringe anti-globalisation activists wanted to do that they could have staged attacks closer the venue."
(Sapa)

London update

2005-07-07T13:56:00.000+02:00

The British Home Secretary has just confirmed 3 tube train blasts and 1 bus blast. The media are reporting 7 explosions. The Home Secreatary Charles Clarke says they still do not know who is responsible. The BBC reports the death toll at two, however CNN says 10 people, while Sapa is quoting an Italian official as saying 50 people have been killed. BBC news is now saying "many casualties". This is where the news starts going crazy with speculation.

Al Qaida?

2005-07-07T13:38:00.000+02:00

Sapa reports that a group calling itself "Secret Organization - al-Qaida in Europe" has posted a claim of responsibility for the series of blasts in London - this according to the German magazine, Der Spiegel. The magazine said that the group posted its message on a Web site popular with Islamic militants, which it did not name. It said the group claimed the explosions were in retaliation for Britain's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

London Bombings

2005-07-07T13:23:00.000+02:00

Tony Blair has just recently confirmed that the seven explosions in London are the work of terrorists. So far it is not yet known who is behind this well orchestrated attack, but obviously most speculation is centering around Al Qaida. Reuters tell us that the blasts "bear similarities to last year's Madrid bombings and suggest an attack in the style of al Qaeda".

Here is a round-up of what some of the political and security analysts have been saying thus far:

ROLF TOPHOVEN, DIRECTOR OF THE TERRORISM RESEARCH INSITUTE IN ESSEN, GERMANY
"London is a centre of Islamist propaganda in Europe. There have been permanent, massive threats since the involvement of the British government in the Iraq war. Let's not forget that the main enemy for the Islamists is the United States, and that's not just since Sept. 11, 2001 and Tony Blair is the closest ally of George W. Bush, so from that point of view it makes sense to hit the closest ally of the USA. This is another parallel with Madrid."

SEBESTYEN GORKA, SECURITY ANALYST:
"The first thing that's very obvious is the synchronised nature of the attacks, and that's pretty classic for al Qaeda or al Qaeda-related organisations. If we're talking about several attacks on one day, then there's a good likelihood we're talking about a known quantity here...The similarities to Madrid are clear."

CHRIS BELLAMY, TERRORISM EXPERT, TO SKY NEWS:
"It has the coordination and the simultaneity of one group in particular, although it's too early to say. What we may be talking about here is not suicide bombers but just packages left on trains. It is the softest of targets. We've expected something like this for some time"

ANJA DALGAARD-NIELSEN, DANISH INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES (DIIS)
"It's shocking. It's always problematic to guess at such an early stage but coordinated bombs, that's the trademark of the networks that subscribe to al-Qaeda's ideology. The IRA has not carried out such attacks against civilians for ages, at least not without prior warning."

MJ GOHEL, ASIA-PACIFIC FOUNDATION, ON CNN
"The chances are that it could be an al-Qaeda type operation... Al-Qaeda and its friends do seem to like attacking the transport systems around the world."

You can get ongoing and up to date coverage at the BBC online. BBC World TV is saying that there are unconfirmed rumours that a suicide bomber may have been involved.

It could only happen to Bush

2005-07-07T11:23:00.000+02:00

George W. does it again. He really should be more careful when playing with bicycles.

"US President George W. Bush on Thursday laughed off questions about a bicycle mishap the previous day when he ran into a policeman at the Group of Eight leaders' summit.
Bush had to be treated for scratches on his hands and arms after he went for a spin on his bicycle and collided with a policeman guarding the summit venue in Gleneagles, Scotland, according to his spokesman.

Asked about his injuries during a morning press conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is hosting the event, Bush said he was ready to get back in the saddle. "I feel good, yes. Ready to go," he told reporters. "It's a beautiful day for a bike ride," he joked, adding: "So was yesterday, I thought." The policeman fared slightly less well. He was taken to hospital with a minor ankle injury." (Sapa)

Mbeki vs Zuma

2005-07-07T09:03:00.000+02:00

"Mbeki’s plot to oust Jacob Zuma, considered fair by some, foul by others, backfired horribly. Using selective justice to expose Zuma via the corruption charges against Schabir Shaik resulted in unintended consequences that nearly split the ANC apart. Had this same justice been applied equally to those implicated in the Travelgate and Oilgate scandals, and many others before, the pro-Zuma faction would hardly have a case. Had the National Prosecuting Authority investigated others in the party with equal alacrity, this lack of urgency would not be as suspect as it is.

Moreover, Mbeki’s attempts to centralise control through co-option, nepotism, cronyism, and black economic empowerment have unleashed a resistance to black minority elitism reminiscent of our opposition to white minority domination, especially when government fails to deliver services to the poor. The silence on HIV/AIDS and Zimbabwe worsens the situation. And the conspiratorial, cliquey, secretive and power-hungry style of leadership is what the rank and file will no longer tolerate. "

Some insightful analysis from Rhoda Kadalie.

Money,money,money

2005-07-07T08:48:00.000+02:00

Forget trying to win the lottery, I want to be a manager at Eskom.

Mbeki on Zim

2005-07-06T11:11:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I speculated that President Mbeki pays lip service in terms of creating the impression of being seen to be doing something about Zimbabwe in order to curry favour with the G8. SABC news radio reports today that Mbeki has agreed with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to wait for a report on Zimbabwe by the UN's special envoy before taking any course of action. This implies that Mbeki intends to do something concrete.

If indeed, Mbeki does get more involved in trying to resolve the Mugabe crisis on his return from Gleneagles, it will be due to one reason, and one reason only – pressure from the G8, and he will probably try to do as little as he possibly can in terms of finding a balance betwen letting Mugabe remain in power unscathed, and to be seen to be appeasing the G8.

Neo-liberal critics believe that Mbeki is a puppet of the West, and that Nepad does not go far enough to address global inequalities.

Colour coded poverty

2005-07-06T09:00:00.000+02:00

"SA is not alone in facing perpetuated inequality. Powerful social and economic forces around the globe have created small oases of private affluence surrounded by deserts of urban decay. Whether in São Paulo, Los Angeles or Jakarta, most urban citizens are caged in vast zones of poverty. The rural poor, meanwhile, languish in destitution. SA’s privileged citizens, however, have more reason than their international peers to fear entrenched injustice. The established middle classes elsewhere may find it all too easy to close their minds to the poverty outside their walls. Such complacency would be dangerous in SA, where apartheid’s legacy is an excluded citizenry that is black, and an established middle class that remains largely white. Social injustice that is colour coded is harder to ignore or justify. In generations to come it may lead to a new politics of racialised conflict."

Professor Anthony Butler writing in today's Business Day.

Black Looks

2005-07-05T18:41:00.000+02:00

Black Looks is one of my favourite blogs - other than being visually exciting, it's a great source of African stories, and stories concerning African women - from a left leaning and critical perspective. The women behing the blog is Nigerian born Sokari Ekine. Why am I writing about her now when I've been a regular on her site for a while? Well, Black Looks has been discovered by the BBC and is the subject of an online feature on their news website. It's great to read about the person behind the blog. Congratulations Sokari!

Aids orphans and poaching

2005-07-05T17:51:00.000+02:00

Finally at this late stage, the Department of Social Development, is drawing up a plan to deal with aids orphans in South Africa. There are around 85 000 child headed households in the country which translates into around 1 million aids orphans. This number is projected to rise to around 5 million by 2015.

Many aids orphans fall between the cracks of society, they are often ostracized by their communities, and I can’t even imagine the psychological scars that must be incurred by having to grow up alone, without the emotional support of parental love and affection. They are also at risk of malnutrition, physical and sexual abuse, exploitation and exposure to HIV infection, many are being used as labourers and either never attend school or drop out. This is happening in our midst and as a society we don’t seem to care.

One day these children are going to grow up, a second so called “lost generation” following on the heels of the youth who lost out on their education due to the apartheid struggle. They will be uneducated, most likely unemployed, maybe socially maladjusted and may well be forced into crime to survive.

South Africa does not currently have any regulations in place that specifically address the needs orphans and vulnerable children. One of the major challenges in tackling the orphan crisis is the lack of human resources in the public social services and NGO sectors, as well as the fact that existing staff are poorly paid.

What makes the staff shortage even more upsetting is the fact that so many medical professionals are poached from South Africa, and other African countries by the rich countries who can afford to pay them more. African countries then have to get expensive technical expertise from overseas, usually in the form of aid, and that money goes back to the donor country taking a huge percentage of aid budgets. It is completely pointless for the West to give aid to Africa if they then systematically rob them of the skilled people who have the ability to prevent and treat disease. A recent report by the British Medical Association (BMA) says that two-thirds of the doctors and 40 % of the nurses who entered the British job market last year were trained outside Britain, many of them in Africa.

"In 2003, 5,880 work permits were granted to doctors and nurses from South Africa, 2,825 from Zimbabwe, 1,510 from Nigeria, and 850 from Ghana. Matching the criticism from the BMA was the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), which reported that 55,000 foreign nurses, including 16,000 from Africa, had been recruited in Britain since 1999. Such recruitment provides a considerable saving for the British economy. The BMA said it would have cost the British government 1.95 billion pounds, or 3.4 billion dollars, to train the same number of doctors and nurses who came from sub-Saharan Africa since 1999. The figure far exceeds the 560 million pounds given to African hospitals over the same period by the international development ministry.” (More)

Amazingly, in Birmingham, the second most populous city in the UK, there are now more nurses from Malawi than in Malawi itself.

Perceptions

2005-07-05T10:55:00.000+02:00

Politics is all about perceptions. It doesn’t matter what the truth is, it’s about what people perceive the truth to be – thus according to the masses, Zuma is innocent until proven guilty

Morgan Tsvangirai, head of Zimbabwe’s MDC is being quoted in today’s papers as saying that President Thabo Mbeki is "coming on board" and he appreciates that there are no longer any excuses for him to remain lethargic on helping to resolve the Zimbabwe crisis. Tsvangirai, who held an hour-and-a-half meeting with Mbeki in Pretoria on Sunday, said his meeting with the president had not been "more of the same".

Somehow, I don’t think so Morgan. It’s all about perceptions. And whose perceptions is Mbeki wanting to influence ahead of the G8 summit in Scotland? If you watch when Mbeki makes statements about getting involved in Zimbabwe to “solve” or influence the Mugabe problem, it’s usually just before he’s about to meet with some G8 or western bigwig. Just before Bush’s visit to South Africa a few years ago, Mbeki was making bold statements about facilitating a meeting between Zanu-PF and the MDC – ultimately nothing substantial transpired. Who was Mbeki wanting to appease when he fired Jacob Zuma? He was sending a message to the West that he would not tolerate corruption, yet I suspect that there are others close to Mbeki who may be corrupt but he does nothing. It’s all one giant political chess game.

With all the corruption going around, Mbeki chose to institute a long process that would lead to the downfall of his greatest political rival, Jacob Zuma. This is not to say that Zuma isn’t corrupt, but Mbeki managed to find Zuma’s Achilles heel – a fondness for lavish living beyond his means and he successfully exploited this behind the scenes to try and bring Zuma down. In the meantime, Mbeki has miscalculated – perhaps in the process of centralizing his power he overestimated his own power within the movement. We know that Mbeki has never been a man of the people, as William Gumede points out in his book “The Battle for the Soul of the ANC” Mbeki is one of the few ANC struggle leaders who never had a freedom song written about him, and in South Africa this says a lot. Mbeki it seems has completely lost touch with the masses, a big mistake in a movement with a proud history of mass based participation. Mbeki may have thought he was bigger than the ANC, in reality the movement is bigger than him. He took a political gamble, he thought he could control the ANC in terms of his concentrated power at the top - in the presidency, and in the ANC’s National Working Committee and the National Executive Committee, but he failed to predict the power of the masses and thereby ended up having to face an internal rebellion from the ANC provinces and the branches.

I spent last Thursday at the ANC National General Council, and before the announcements came through about Zuma’s reinstatement to ANC structures, I had the chance to wander around and speak to branch members and just ask them questions to try and get a sense of what ordinary people were feeling. I spoke to two people from the Soweto branch and they warned me that there was going to be a rebellion and that Mbeki was in for a big surprise, they also said that they were going to be pressing for a speedy trial, that they would be disappointed if Zuma were found guilty, but wanted the due course of the law to be followed and they would support the outcome either way (I might cynically add, depending on if they can discredit the judge afterwards). It’s all about perceptions. I was told that Zuma is one of us, he comes from a rural background, he dances and sings with us, he listens to us, and he understands us, and he understands the ANC. Mbeki, on the other hand, I was told, thinks he is up in the sky and better than all of us, he doesn’t know what’s going on in the ANC, he has forgotten about the importance of the ordinary people to the ANC, is virtually a foreigner, he lived most of his life overseas and he doesn’t understand what’s going on in South Africa.

This would seem to be true of Mbeki in a certain sense. In pandering to the Western agenda, Mbeki has indeed lost touch with his domestic constituency. He may need to do some serious backtracking, and if his personality will allow it all, he needs to start diluting that urbane and sophisticated image that he has cultivated to impress the west, when he is home, and start going around to kiss babies and dance at local community rallies. He needs to reach out to his people.

In spite of all the division within the ANC, being at the meeting, I did not get the impression that this will be the straw that breaks the camels back of the alliance. The ANC is bigger than Mbeki, people truly love the movement, it is their political and historical home and they will keep the movement together. This is what various delegates told me, but it is also what I sensed, in the excitement, in the singing and the dancing, and the atmosphere. If anything, the ANC will spit Mbeki out, the current divisions seem to be seen from within the movement as a difficult obstacle in the process of maturing from a liberation movement to a political party. There may be a severe problem, but it will be overcome.

The reality of war

2005-07-04T20:56:00.000+02:00

"Several thousand soldiers have been wounded in action in Iraq. Thousands of others have been injured in war related events. They have lost arms, legs, eyes, ears, pieces of their brains. Some will spend the rest of their lives in wheelchairs. These soldiers -- all volunteer warriors - have returned home to heal their wounds and consider life, forever scarred and changed." (Source)

Over the week-end I watched the movie Born on the Fourth July. I first saw it years ago on circuit, but it was really interesting to see it again, particularly because one can't help drawing parallels between the film, and the current situation in Iraq. Briefly, the movie is based on the true experiences of a Vietnam war veteran who is paralysed from below the waist down due to his war injuries. Upon his return to the US, he became victim to neglect in the veteran medical care system which suffered at the time from budgetary cutbacks. The movie then chronicles his life as moves from proud patriot, to disillusionment, and finally becomes an anti-war activist, all the while trying to deal with the symptoms of post traumatic stress syndrome.

The film got me wondering what the current situation is like concerning veterans returning from the present Iraqi war, especially those vets suffering from dehabilitating wounds. What I managed to find out, is that although America seems to be taking better care of it's vets now than it did after Vietnam, it is not doing all it could, and all it should be doing to help those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

Jeremy, 24, a Seargent and Army Ranger from the 3rd Battalion, 75th Regiment was injured April 3, defending the Hadithah Dam and awarded the purple heart and bronze star with valor. He is completely blind, his brain is held together with titanium plates, he suffers seizures and some brain damage. He sees nothing but darkness.

According to an article in the Christian Science Monitor, "The Senate got into a bipartisan snit over funding for veterans this week, Republicans and Democrats both raising alarms over a $1 billion shortfall for the Department of Veterans Affairs this fiscal year. On Wednesday, the Senate approved $1.5 billion in emergency funding for the VA. But the funding issue raises questions about the VA's ability to handle an increased workload as a result of the war."

The numbers of vets requiring assistance from the VA is continuing to grow, "Since the US-led invasion of Iraq began, an average of 474 US service members a month have been wounded, injured, or become ill in the war zone. As of last week, the Defense Department put the total at 13,074. But the total number of vets who still need help is much larger than that, and it's growing. As of February, VA officials reported, 85,857 of the 360,674 veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq who had separated from active duty, 24 %, had sought healthcare from the VA. This included treatment for both physical injuries and mental health problems."

Interestingly, during the wars of the 20th century, the ratio of wounded to killed in action was about 3 to 1. In Iraq that ratio is more than 9 to 1. To Bush's credit, he has hiked spending for veterans' medical care by more than 40 percent. More veterans are enrolled in healthcare services, the waiting time for care has been shortened, and the backlog of disability claims has been reduced.

However, American Social service agencies say that vets of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts are now showing up in the country's homeless shelters. "While the numbers are still small, they're steadily rising, and raising alarms in both the homeless and veterans' communities. The concern is that these returning veterans, some of whom can't find jobs after leaving the military, others of whom are still struggling psychologically with the war, may be just the beginning of an influx of new veterans in need...Part of the reason for these new veterans' struggles is that housing costs have skyrocketed at the same time real wages have remained relatively stable, often putting rental prices out of reach. And for many, there is a gap of months, sometimes years, between when military benefits end and veterans benefits begin." (More)

Another thing that struck me, is that wounded soldiers don't seem to be getting very much coverage in the mainstream media. Although news sites like CNN and Fox track the dead, no-one is really telling the stories of the maimed and the psychologically dysfunctional. I did find this photo essay via one of the war vet sites.

Sam, 21, an army paratrooper and combat engineer with the 82nd Airborne Division, was gravely injured May 18 in Baghdad when a bomb blew up during a munitions disposal operation.

These are the people that pay the ultimate sacrifice, the cannon fodder of empire.

Trade not Aid

2005-07-04T09:46:00.000+02:00

How Africa is losing out from the current hypocritical global trade system:

It is estimated that African cotton-producing countries (including Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Togo, Kenya and Mali)in 2004 lost up to $400 million in potential export revenue as a result of western cotton sunsidies. In 2003, Malian cotton farmers received just 33 cents per kilogram for their cotton, whereas subsidised US cotton producing corporations received $1.45.

The Mozambican sugar industry, which employs 26,000 people, is in jeopardy due to the EU subsidies and tariffs. This is despite the fact that Mozambique can produce cane sugar for between $108 and $144 a tonne, whereas European beet sugar costs $577 a tonne to produce. The EU gives subsidies to its big sugar companies, such as British multinational Lyle and Tate, of $990 million a year.

The EU imposes import tariffs of more than 200% on non-EU cane products. This impacts harshly on sugar-producing African countries like Mozambique, Ethiopia, Malawi and Zambia. On top of this, European overproduction of sugar results in 5 million tonnes being dumped on world markets, driving prices down, in many cases to below the cost of production in Third World countries. A small amount of sugar is bought from poor countries at preferential prices, as a result of a 2001 agreement, but the EU wants to slash the price it pays by 40%.

In 1990, many Senegalese made a living growing tomatoes. After the introduction of ``free trade'', prices farmers got for their crops were halved and production tumbled from 73,000 tonnes in 1990 to just 20,000 in 1997. The market was flooded with cheap bottled European tomato products, which caused local factories producing tomato paste and other value-added products to close.

In Ghana, the local poultry industry collapsed, impoverishing 400,000 small farmers, after the market was flooded with cheap, subsidised EU and US frozen chickens, which sell at half the price of fresh local chooks. In 1992, local farmers supplied 92% of the market; by 2001 their share had plummeted to just 11%. Ghana's attempt to raise tariffs to prevent this dumping has been blocked by the IMF and WTO. The EU gives annual subsidises its poultry producers of $52 billion a year. Cameroon and Senegal have also had their markets flooded with cheap EU chickens.

Earlier this year, Christian Aid released a study that revealed that the last 20 years of trade ``liberalisation'', a condition for aid, loans and debt relief, have made sub-Saharan countries a massive $272 billion worse off than they otherwise would have been. The figure represents the income lost as a result of being forced to open their markets to heavily subsidised imports from rich countries.

This amount is about the same as sub-Saharan Africa has received in aid during the same period. It could have paid off much of the region's $300 million debt, or allowed all of its children to go to school and be vaccinated against major diseases, Christian Aid notes. In 2000 alone, sub-Saharan Africa lost income worth $28 billion, enough to halve the number of people living on $1 day, based on United Nations estimates. While in 2000, Africans lost almost $45 per person due to trade liberalisation, aid per person was just $20.

The Christian Aid study found that contrary to promises of the advocates of free trade, when poor countries phase out measures such as tariffs, quotas and import duties designed to protect their local industries and consumers, imports climb sharply and local producers are priced out of the market by cheaper, often subsidised, Western goods. This also depresses prices.

Eight women, one voice.

2005-07-02T09:58:00.000+02:00

"In July, eight men representing the major industrialised nations of the world - the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia - will meet at Gleneagles for the G8 summit. Their decisions will have huge implications for millions of people living in poverty in Africa. Here in words and pictures, South African photographer Gideon Mendel, profiles eight women who's lives have been profoundly affected by some of the key issues the G8 has the power to control - HIV/AIDS treatment, water privatisation, debt, the free market. Their lives are very different but they all want one thing - and end to poverty and unfair trade in Africa. "

The pictures of the eight African women and their stories can be seen here.

I think it's important to understand the context of the global capitalist system and how brutally unfair it is. What is this bullshit about "free" trade? According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), its 30 member nations spent $279.5 billion, or nearly 226 billion euros, on farm supports, up from $256.7 billion in 2003. That doesn't even begin to cover the billions of dollars additionally spent on tariffs. What is this system that demands free trade from developing countries and yet continues to protect it's own markets? What is this system that blames all of Africa's problems on corruption, yet doesn't take into account the destruction of livelihoods and the ensuing poverty that the current form of globalisation is imposing on the developing world?

Aid and loans are tied up to conditions such as structural adjustment which means local government's have to cut back spending on healthcare and education, enforces water and other privatisation and trade "liberalisation". As the libertians among us have pointed out, aid is a system that is wide open to abuse and corruption. Why not then allow for a free trade system that will enable poor people to benefit directly from local agricultural production bypassing government intervention in the aid/loan distribution process?

The business of aid

2005-07-01T14:41:00.000+02:00

"The aid business is booming. As Africa’s crisis has deepened and its problems have multiplied, so the number of foreign NGOs has risen. There were a few hundred in the 1960s. There are thought to be well over 25,000 today, their staff swelling the continent’s army of outsiders. They don’t come cheap. An estimated $4bn is spent annually on recruiting some 100,000 expatriates.

The result is that there are more foreigners working on development issues in Africa than there were in the 1950-1970s era of independence. They are helping to run everything from ministries to mines, working as behind-the-scenes policy-makers or performing heroics on the frontline in the battle against poverty.

This in itself need not be cause for concern, were it not for another fact: as foreigners go in to take up short-term contracts, skilled Africans are leaving, in their droves, to work abroad – some 70,000 a year."
(More)

and www.ngowatch.org

In South Africa, a recent post-graduate dissertation suggests that our teachers are being lured to England by unscrupulous British recruitment agencies. According to the dissertation, the marketing strategies of the British recruitment agencies are highly questionable. By fast-tracking the teachers, agencies are not acting in the best interests of schools or of the recruited teachers, who can expect to earn up to 12 times the remuneration of their South African colleagues. (More)

Greed

2005-07-01T12:55:00.000+02:00

No wonder we have major service delivery problems, and people embarking on violent service delivery protests in South Africa. The salaries that municipal managers get paid are absolutely outrageous. And yes, I know there are other issues to consider, lack of capacity, socio-political history and all the rest of it. But with people creaming the system like this it can be difficult to take governments stated intentions to rectify service delivery problems seriously.

According to Business Day newspaper:
"Several municipal managers earn more than cabinet ministers. Excluding the maximum 20% a year performance bonus, the Johannesburg metropolitan municipal manager earns R938576, the executive director of finance R917037 and chief operations manager R879807. Ekurhuleni’s manager earned R905929 a year, Tshwane’s R862000, Motsweding district municipal manager R574998, Kungwini’s R550000, Nokeng Tsa Taemane’s R542000, West Rand’s R750000, Randfontein’s R530900, Westonaria’s R286540, Mogale’s R745069, Merafong’s R600000 and Lesedi’s R478240.Sedibeng’s manager earns a salary of R767658 plus a performance bonus of R150000 giving a total of R917658 a year. Emfuleni’s manager earns R774852 plus a bonus of R150000. Midvaal municipal manager earns a basic annual R615511 plus a bonus of R122567."

Maybe we need some sort of legislation to govern municipal salaries. I know you need to attract people from the private sector but salaries like this are unacceptable, especially when so many of the municipalities are situated in poor and struggling communities.

In the meantime, at their National General Council currently taking place, the ANC has identified moral decay related to self enrichment as a major problem affecting the party. Speaking at the Council meeting, ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe said that "All the paralysis in our programmes, all the divisions in our structures, are in one way or another a consequence of this cancer in our midst". Motlanthe added that the ANC was seeking to deepen a consciousness of the problem among its members to shield them from “susceptibility to temptation”. I think it's great that the ANC has come out and acknowledged this problem at an important party conference, but unfortunately, politics is not therapy where change can be affected through self acknowlegment. The ANC must ACT to root out corruption in local government.

Incidently, the total outstanding debt of our 284 local municipalities was R36bn in 2003, a 13% rise compared with the previous year. The debt is likely to be much higher now, though the 2004 and 2005 figures are not yet available.

Cartoon of the day

2005-07-01T12:47:00.000+02:00

(Source)

Wimpy Boycott

2005-06-30T21:53:00.000+02:00

I have decided to boycott Wimpy. Not that I ever eat there anyway....but now not even total desperation will ever get me through those Wimpy door posts. No, this is not a result of any McDonalds type anti-globalisation sentiment towards exploitative corporations - I just happen to think their new ad campaign sucks big time. It's sexist and insulting to women. I didn't like their street pole ads proclaiming the wonders of their new Burgers for Men - I just thought, I'm not a man so I won't eat their stupid Men Only burgers.

Their TV ad campaign is further insult to injury. In the ad a family is eating out at a Wimpy diner when the proud father announces to the entire room that his little boy has left his first towel on the floor. This peice of idiocy is greeted with stupendous joy by all the men in the restaurant who rise up to give the boy a standing ovation while the mom and a little girl look on in horror. The little boy then gets rewarded for leaving his towel on the floor with Wimpy's dumb ass enormous Man Only burger.

This kind of gender stereotyping is insulting. I'm sure that I'm not the only women in the world who's more likely to leave a towel lying around than her male counterpart, and secondly, I couldn't give a continental if my husband left his towel on the floor. In fact, men are more than welcome to drop their towels on the floor, they can also leave their underpants and stinky socks on the floor to gather mould for as long as they like. As long as I don't have to pick them up, I'm happy.

Dharwa

2005-06-26T17:27:00.000+02:00

A dharwa is an alcoholic beverage said to originate from Kenya. In South Africa a dharwa is usually served in a tin mug together with a thick wooden stick. The drink consists of vodka, fresh lemon juice, a lemon wedge, a dollop of honey, and loads of crushed ice up to the brim of the mug.

You use the stick to crush the ice and stir in the honey which gets a little hard from the ice. If you've made it too sweet, you pound your lemon wedge, if its become too sour now, you stir in some more honey. Mmmm....delicious.

You can get dharwa's The Carnivore restaurant, if you're up to a big meal out, or more conveniently at Xai Xai in Melville.

Warning: Don't drink too many or you'll be feeling really sorry for yourself the next day.

Poem

2005-06-24T22:30:00.000+02:00

If you say, why don't you go back

Please don't ask me why don't I go back. Do you think I like staying? For discrimination and xenophobia? Suffering from malaria, cholera and typhoid in a foreign land. Do you think I like staying?

Seeking second hand clothes, If I could help myself, If I could rebuild my homeland. Do you think I like staying? Without my mother, father, sisters, and brother. Please don't ask me why don't I go back?

Understand that it is not simple or easy. I would if I could – world humanitarian community. Avoiding past memories, I can not remove my mind, My traditional culture is my nostalgic torture. The folktales of childhood, never old Never dead, stamped on my mind. I have normal feelings – I suffer for dignity.

Please don't kill my broken heart, by asking me Why don't you go back? I will if I can. I wouldn't stay a moment When the new dawn of peace comes.

Hassan Ali Said, 6 December 2001.
Hassan is an Ethiopian refugee in Uganda

(pambazuka.org)

Dirt

2005-06-23T21:25:00.000+02:00

The Mail & Guardian has begun to unpack the DA statements concerning Mbeki's alleged "secret" meeting with Thompsons, the French arms company. According to the newspaper, the DA claim to have evidence suggesting that President Thabo Mbeki held a secret meeting with Thomson-CSF in 1998.

Apparently, the party has in its possession an encrypted fax which suggests that President Mbeki promised Thomsons, as early as 1997, that they would be awarded the combat system contract. A separate fax "indicates that the president held a secret meeting with executives from Thomsons in December 1998, in complete violation of tender procedures".

DA public accounts spokesperson Eddie Trent said that unless Mbeki broke his silence, the public would be justified in thinking arms deal corruption extended "far beyond Jacob Zuma".

Payback time? Isn't it funny that "Oilgate" broke about two weeks before the end of the Shaik trial by which time Zuma had already been badly implicated. And suddenly, now the DA claims to have evidence that Mbeki himself is implicated in the arms deal? The DA (and the ID) have been calling for further investigation into the arms deal for years, surely if the DA had these encrypted faxes in their possession before now they would have said something. Did someone in the Zuma camp leak the information to the DA? Why did the DA release this information in Parliament on the very same day that the new Deputy President was announced?

What I don't understand, is why did Mbeki go so far with Zuma? Surely he must have known that the Zuma camp would reveal? There is some big political game going on, and who knows at this stage what truths are going to come out, and what deals are going to be made behind the scenes to keep things quiet.

I think it's going to get dirty, very dirty.

It just keeps coming back

2005-06-23T15:41:00.000+02:00

The arms deal just refuses go away. Yesterday Democratic Alliance MP Eddie Trent, was kicked out of the National Assembly for asking questions that frankly, could have potentially devastating consequences, the likes of which we have not yet seen, and probably don’t want to see.

According to a DA media statement from Trent:

“In a follow up to the member's statement that I made in the National Assembly yesterday (copied below) I have submitted parliamentary questions to President Mbeki. These questions directly relate to an apparent secret meeting that President Mbeki held with Thomsons executives in Paris in 1998, as well as to the apparent assurance that he conveyed via the then Chief of Acquisitions Chippy Shaik, that Thomsons would be guaranteed the combat system contract for the Navy.

This is a matter of profound importance as President Mbeki was the Chair of the Ministerial Committee (MINCOM) responsible for the arms deal and he must therefore take ultimate responsibility for any irregularities or corruption associated with the arms deal. Furthermore, if the President did indeed convey an assurance to Thomsons before the final decision was made to award the contracts, then this casts a dark cloud over the integrity of the entire arms procurement process. If in fact the President met Thomson's executives in secret, then this would constitute a gross deviation from all accepted tender procedures. Instead of the Chair of MINCOM conducting such a meeting it should rather have been ARMSCOR representatives meeting with bidders in an open and transparent fashion and with minutes officially recorded.”

Trent goes on to say that he has posed the following questions for Mbeki to answer:

“1) Whether he had met with representatives of Thomsons in Paris or anywhere else on or about the 17th of December 1998; if so, (a) where, (b) on what date and (c) what was discussed;
(2) Whether he had given any assurance to Thomsons that it would be awarded the contract for the combat suite and sensors to be fitted to the Corvettes as part of the arms acquisition; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, on what basis did he do so;
(3) Whether he had met with certain members of the SA Nay to discuss the management of the acquisition process of the Corvettes; if so, what, (a) views did he express at such meeting or meetings and (b) action was agreed to as a result;
(4) Whether these members of the SA Navy gave any undertaking to ensure the contract was awarded to the Thomson's; if not, what undertaking did they give; if so, on what basis was this undertaking given?”

I certainly hope that the DA’s allegations or inferences are completely and utterly unfounded. The possibility that Mbeki himself may have unduly influenced the outcome of the arms deal in any way that may have deviated from the prescribed protocol is too horrible to contemplate. I would love to know where the DA is getting this information from. I would also like to state that I am in NO way alleging that Mbeki was involved in any untoward behaviour, so far the only information I have seen is the statement by the DA.

The new deputy president

2005-06-23T15:37:00.000+02:00

As Minister of Minerals & Energy Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka established a reputation for efficiency and hard work. She also gained praise for her understanding of industry, the economy and excellent negotiating skills. However, despite being considered a strong candidate for her new post, Mlambo-Ngcuka has been appointed against a backdrop of political controversy and tension within the ruling ANC party. Her appointment as Deputy President comes as the result of the axing of her predecessor, Jacob Zuma, who had become embroiled in allegations of corruption. Zuma was subsequently charged on two accounts of corruption by the National Prosecuting Authority in June 2005.

As Deputy President, Jacob Zuma had built up a strong following and support base within the ANC, particularly among the left wing members of the ruling alliance including Cosatu and the SACP. He was also, significantly, the ANC Youth League's chosen candidate to one day succeed President Thabo Mbeki. Zuma's dismissal, and the build up to the event has been responsible for much tension within the ANC and their alliance partners despite their public show of unity. It was Mlambo-Ngcuka's husband, Bulelani Ngcuka, former head of the National Prosecuting Authority, who said in 2003 that there was a prima facie case of corruption against Jacob Zuma, an investigation that was ultimately to lead to Zuma's downfall. Mlambo-Ngcula enters the Deputy Presidency without particularly strong following or constituency within the ANC and will have to contend with potentially difficult political fallout from Zuma's supporters.

Analysts have also pointed out that Mlambo-Ngcuka comes into office with the unresolved baggage of "Oilgate" hanging over her head, this is a potentially wide-ranging corruption scandal involving political party funding and influence-peddling. Allegations have been made in Parliament that her brother, Bonga Mlambo, was the recipient of a payment of R50 000 made by Sandi Majali, CEO of Imvume, the company who allegedly channeled funds from the state funded oil company PetroSA into the ANC’s election coffers last year. Mlambo-Ngcuka, as Minerals and Energy minister, exercised oversight over PetroSA.

Nevertheless, her appointment has been generally welcomed by the business sector and by opposition parties, and has been seen a positive move in the direction of gender equality. She has proven herself as a competent member of Cabinet who manages to deal successfully with challenges, and has implemented the complicated negotiations regarding the Mining Charter. One of the areas President Mbeki emphasises at present is the capacity to deliver – and she deserves a good rating on that score.

And the winner is.....

2005-06-22T16:13:00.000+02:00

And the winner is.....Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. So Mbeki is coming out strong, no concilliatory moves towards the Zuma supporters. He has chosen someone who does not have a strong power or support base in the ANC, so she probably won't end up being another rival in the Zuma mode. I don't think her appointment necessarily indicates that Mbeki wants her to succeed him. Anyway, since I have been so off the mark in my political speculations today I will put the matter to rest for today.

More speculation

2005-06-22T10:17:00.000+02:00

Business Day speculates that the two major front runners for deputy president are Trevor Manuel and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. They quote a high level official saying that Mlambo-Ngcuka yesterday tentatively accepted the offer of the position from Mbeki, this after apparently having turned it down twice previously. The paper then goes on to say, however, that:

“Commentators said Mlambo-Ngcuka would be politically risky for Mbeki. “With (the Oilgate scandal) unresolved, her appointment would send conflicting messages on corruption at a time when Mbeki needs to be consistent on the issue,” said analyst Aubrey Matshiqi. Mlambo-Ngcuka is still under a cloud following revelations that her brother received R50000 from controversial businessman Sandi Majali, who has business interests in the energy sector. The issue is being investigated by public protector Lawrence Mushwana. It is the second time Mlambo-Ngcuka has been investigated by the office. In 2002 she was cleared by the public protector after she received a massive discount on a piece of expensive jewellery. Her appointment could also underscore suspicion that Zuma was removed for political reasons.”

Who's it going to be?

2005-06-22T08:37:00.000+02:00

Sometime today, President Mbeki is expected to announce the new deputy president as well as changes to his Cabinet, after a meeting with all the Cabinet ministers.

I may as well stick my head on the line and make a prediction on the deputy president, although my crystal ball is looking very cloudy and difficult to read. However, my top 4 in no particular order:

Charles Nqakula, currently Minister of safety and Safety and Security. Although his name has not been punted by the analysts, he is high up in the SACP, and someone not likely to be a threat to Mbeki in terms of power and huge popularity. He would be an expedient choice in terms of his support with the left of the alliance, and might help to bridge the divide in the ruling party.

Mosiuoa Lekota, currently Minister of Defense, he’s the number one name being bandied around by the analysts as current national chairman of the ANC. He is also popular on the left, but he’s a strong character and is said to command a fair amount of power and we all know how Mbeki feels about potential powerful rivals, they all somehow end up being relegated to the political wilderness.

Nkosana Dlamini-Zuma, currently Minister of Foreign Affiars. We all know the reasons she has been punted – as a woman she’d further Mbeki’s gender agenda, she’s a close confidant of the President and shares his Nepad driven African Rennaissance vision. If she ever became President, Mbeki could continue to influence from behind the scenes after he has stepped down. My gut feel is that it won’t be her.

I also think that Finance Minister Trevor Manuel is probably unlikely, but he remains on my list as a definite possibility – how’s that for hedging my bets? I think he’s too valuable where he is, and he is said to want a future with the World Bank. However power is a funny thing, so if he’s asked he may not turn the deputy presidency down. He is unpopular with the left of the alliance, so for this reason he may not be a diplomatic choice in terms of ANC politicking. Then again, the mere fact of Zuma’s dismissal shows that Mbeki is prepared to go up against the left.

Corruption by any other name

2005-06-21T22:52:00.000+02:00

"When a study revealed that mercury in childhood vaccines may have caused autism in thousands of kids, the [American] government rushed to conceal the data, and to prevent parents from suing drug companies for their role in the epidemic."

Can this really be true? Can this really be happening in that bastion of zero defect democracy? The home of the brave and the land of the free...or is that the land of the free and the home of the brave?

According to an article in Salon.com a study by a CDC (Centre for Disease Control) scientist has shown that a mercury-based preservative, used in vaccines against childhood diseases, has been responsible for a dramatic increase in autism and other neurological disorders among children. The researcher, Tom Verstraeten cited numerous earlier studies indicating a link between the preservative, thimerosal, and speech delays, attention-deficit disorder, peractivity and autism. Since 1991, when the CDC and the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) had recommended that three additional vaccines containing thimerosal be given to infants, the estimated number of cases of autism increased from one in every 2,500 children to one in 166 children.

Instead of taking immediate steps to alert the public and rid the vaccine supply of thimerosal, officials and pharmaceutical executives spent two days following a conference on the study, discussing how to cover up the data. A major concern was the possibility of damaging lawsuits. According to transcripts obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, many at the meeting were concerned about how the damaging revelations would affect the vaccine industry's bottom line.

The Salon article goes on to describe in detail how the CDC commissioned another study from a different research organisation to whitewash the evidence. It also attempted to get round the Freedom of Information Act by handing its database of vaccine records to a private company and declaring it off-limits to researchers.

The drug companies were further aided by Washington. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who has received $873,000 in contributions from the pharmaceutical industry. He helped shield vaccine makers from liability in 4,200 lawsuits that had been filed by the parents of injured children. On five separate occasions, Frist tried to seal all of the government's vaccine-related documents , and protect Eli Lilly, the developer of thimerosal, from subpoenas. In 2002, the day after Frist added a provision known as the "Eli Lilly Protection Act" into a homeland security bill, the company contributed $10,000 to his campaign and bought 5,000 copies of his book on bioterrorism. Congress repealed the measure in 2003, but earlier this year, Frist slipped another provision into an anti-terrorism bill that would deny compensation to children suffering from vaccine-related brain disorders.

In some African countries, the above might be construed as corruption - the use of money to buy political influence, the Shaik trial, Zumagate, oilgate. But I guess in America this sort of thing is legal, the only difference being that campaign contributions are on public record, something that is not required in South Africa. Idasa recently went to court in an attempt to force disclosure of campaign contributions but they lost the case. The ANC did however give Idasa an undertaking to disclose and be transparent on this in future, but as we have seen with oilgate, this has not been so. Incidently, the DA, big US style democracy supporters, also opposed the court application.

Measuring global poverty

2005-06-21T15:20:00.000+02:00

The rhetoric of global poverty statistics

Ingrid Robeyns
2 May 2004

Last week, the World Bank sent out a press release announcing that global poverty has halved since 1981. According to the press release, the number of absolute poor in the developing countries, defined as those living on less than $1 a day, dropped from 1.5 billion in 1981 to 1.1. billion in 2001. In percentages, this amounts to a reduction of extreme poverty from 40 to 21 percent of the total population in the developing countries. Surely, one would think, there is good reason for optimism.

The World Bank’s poverty statistics are widely cited and presented as clear and objective facts. However, it wouldn’t hurt to dig a little deeper and look at possible rhetorical and political dimensions of these statistics. This is important because the global poverty statistics have become the focus of a severe political and ideological dispute between radical proponents of global capitalism, and the alterglobalists. The latter argue that global capitalism is making life worse for many poor people in the world. Defenders of global capitalism, on the contrary, hold that nothing is more efficient in lifting people out of poverty and enhancing development in the global south than unrestrained free market capitalism. If the statistics show that global poverty goes down, defenders of global capitalism interpret this as the ultimate proof that they are right. The poverty statistics also have another important political function, as they will determine whether the countries of the United Nations will succeed in reducing global poverty with 50% by 2015, as stipulated in the Millennium Development Goals.

However, there are two serious problems with the World Bank’s press statement and its global poverty statistics. The problem with its press release is that it tells us that the extremely poor people are those people who have to live on less than a dollar a day. I guess that to many readers of newspapers in Europe and North-America, this sounds plausible. Surely, you might think, the World Bank knows what it is doing. And we believe that one dollar in Malawi or Bangladesh must buy you a lot because we believe that everything is so cheap there. But this is not what these poverty statistics really measure. The familiar "$1 a day" poverty definition is the shorthand for "$1.08 purchasing power parity for the USA in 1993". In other words, according to this definition, you are poor if you have to get by with fewer commodities than what $1.08 could buy you in the USA in 1993. But what could an American have bought with $1.08 in 1993, which is roughly equivalent to $ 1.40 or Euro 1.17 today ?

Moreover, the problems with the World Bank global poverty statistics are much more serious than only this "slight misrepresentation" in the official press release. The more fundamental problem is that the World Bank’s poverty statistics lack any foundations. The "1 dollar a day" poverty line has never been justified in terms of what poor people could buy with this amount, and many scholars and policy makers argue that it is unlikely that anyone can survive in the long run with the local equivalent of one dollar.

The economist Sanjay Reddy and the philosopher Thomas Pogge (both at Columbia University in New York) have argued that the $1 a day poverty measure is arbitrary and lacks any relevant content. This is probably not the right place to go into details of Reddy’s and Pogge’s critique, which includes a number of technical criticisms, but let me briefly indicate the gist of their analysis. As indicated above, the global poverty statistics lack any conceptual
foundations.

The global poverty count is not based on how we think of poverty, like being undernourished, and being without shelter and other basic necessities. Second, to compare poverty in countries with different currencies and price levels, the World Bank uses so-called purchasing power parity factors. But these factors take into account the price levels of all goods and services in proportion to their share in international consumption expenditure. In this calculation, the prices of basic necessities play a minor role, whereas they play a huge role in the consumption of the poor. Western tourists often think of developing countries as cheap, but this only holds for services (like restaurant meals, taxi’s etc), but relatively speaking not so much for the basic necessities which make up the consumption of poor people.

Thirdly, the World Bank method is internally inconsistent. In 2000 the World Bank ‘updated’ its definition from "1 dollar purchasing power parity for 1985" to "1.08 dollar purchasing power parity for 1993". Pogge and Reddy show that changing the base year can have enormous effects on the poverty estimates; for example, the poverty estimate for Latin-America for 1993 dropped from 23.5 to 15.5 %, simply by "updating" the base year of the poverty definition. These can hardly be considered minor estimation errors. Finally, the data on which the global
poverty statistics are based, are often of poor quality and therefore unreliable.

These mistakes taken together most likely lead to an underestimation of the extent of extreme poverty in the world. We simply don’t know how many people live in absolute
poverty, and whether their number is increasing or decreasing. In any case it is possible
that extreme poverty has increased in the last decade, in contrast to what the World Bank
would like us to believe.

Sanjay Reddy and Thomas Pogge do not limit themselves to criticizing the World Bank
statistics. Their alternative is that our global poverty measures should start from a clear
conceptualization of what it means to be extremely poor, like not having sufficient food, not being sheltered, not having the absolute basic goods such as clothing. They suggest that we should decide on such a poverty definition through an international dialogue. Once we roughly agree on what the absolute minimum requirements are to escape extreme poverty, we can translate this into a financial amount at the local level. Only with such a method will we be able to count the poor in a meaningful way.

As long as the World Bank keeps measuring poverty with its current methods, we have to be critical of what it presents as neutral facts. And researchers, whether working at the World Bank or at universities, should stop pretending that there is no political and rhetorical dimension to economic theories and policies, and the statistics that support them. (Source)

Zuma get's his day in court

2005-06-20T15:35:00.000+02:00

So, it’s official. Zuma has been charged by the National Prosecuting Authority on two accounts of corruption. Excellent! Not in the sense that I want to see Zuma to go down - although I believe that Mbeki did the right thing to fire him, I also definitely think the man deserves his day in court. My reasons for this are purely pragmatic – I think a proper court trial will have a stabilizing effect on the political scene. The Zuma rebellion had the potential to lead to grassroots conflict from his supporters, now Zuma’s supporters will get the court case that they have been baying for. It will be interesting to see what this means in terms of the internal power struggle within the ruling party and the alliance. It will also be interesting to see if the person that Mbeki chooses to be the new deputy president will be someone that the left can rally around. If it is, the alliance and other Zuma support groups like the young lions, will have to do some hard thinking about their continued support for the former deputy president. I wonder if this will mean that Zuma will have to step down from his position as deputy president of the ANC until the trial is concluded?

I just hope that this time they appoint a black judge, or a judge that can't be accused of racist behaviour. Oh well, whatever happens I guess we can expect a colourful display of toyi-toying when the trial finally begins in earnest.

Arms Deal?

2005-06-17T13:29:00.000+02:00

An aspect of Thabo Mbeki's speech in parliament about the axing of Zuma, that I found interesting, was the President's emphasis on the arms deal. Before addressing the issue of Zuma, Mbeki spent some time talking about the the report made by the Joint Investigation Team of the Auditor-General, the Public Protector and the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions into the defence procurement process.

Mbeki emphasised the report's conclusions that "No evidence was found of any improper or unlawful conduct by the Government. The irregularities and improprieties … point to the conduct of certain officials of the government departments involved and cannot … be ascribed to the President or the Ministers involved in their capacity as members of the Ministers’ Committee or Cabinet. There are therefore no grounds to suggest that the Government’s contracting position is flawed."

I think it's significant that he chose to bring this up in this particular speech in a special joint sitting of Parliament, the same speech that dealt with the axing of Zuma. In effect Mbeki was letting the public know on this solemn and somewhat momentous occasion, that the Joint Investigation Team's report was the conclusive last word on the issue, and he seemed to be making it clear that he would not tolerate any further re-opening of investigation's into the arms deal.

As Tony Leon of the DA, and the leaders of the FF+ and the HNP praised Mbeki's courageous decision to release Zuma, they also took the opportunity to call for a renewed investigation into the arms deal. According to Leon, "This day will be remembered as a landmark in our nation’s history. But the fight against corruption is far from over. It is only beginning. We know the arms deal has already claimed many political casualties ... The truth haunts South Africa like an angry and vengeful ghost. It will not be put to rest until we finally conduct a full independent judicial investigation into the arms deal and the corruption at the heart of it. There are those who believe that the Honourable Jacob Zuma is the victim of a conspiracy. Only a complete examination of the facts can quell their fears."

It is true that over the past few years our political landscape has suffered many casualties as a result of the arms deal and the corruption that has tainted it. Tony Yengeni, ANC Chief Whip and MP was brought down, no great loss in my opinion. Of greater concern was the loss of Bulelani Ngcuka, under who's leadership we saw a strong and independent NPA. There was the ugliness and suspicion engendered by the Hefer Commission which ultimately proved nothing.

Then was the Shaik trial and the axing of Zuma, positive developments on one level, in the sense that this saw Mbeki smelling of roses as he came out as a strong leader taking a stance against corruption. It also proved the independence of the judiciary and a commitment to abide by our constitution. However, ultimately the country loses as politics get bogged down in a sea of suspicion and tension, our image is tarnished in top stories on CNN and the BBC, and no matter what - it looks bad to have to axe your deputy president.

Tony Leon and other opposition politicians say that without a new investigation, the arms deal will continue to haunt us. So I guess my question is - do we really need, or want a new investigation into the arms deal? Is this the end of it, was Zuma as far as it goes, or will the issue keep coming back to bite us on the bum with devastating political consequences? Why is Mbeki so dead set against a new investigation, is he trying to hide something? If Mbeki is trying to cover up - who else is implicated and does it go up to the top office in the land? If it does go all the way to the top, do we really want to know about it - wouldn't the political fallout ultimately be worse for the country than a few million rands under the table? I mean it's not as if this kind of thing doesn't happen in the great western democracies - or is it all about moral principles?

And my final point, I don't care if I sound like a two year old stamping my foot, but I think it's damn unfair that the overseas arms companies get away unscathed without being penalised too.

Youth Leaguers

2005-06-15T14:01:00.000+02:00

Heheheh!!!! The ANC Youth League have just released their press statement responding to their hero's demise. OK, I know I'm being completely nasty about this, but the young lions, or the armani socialists, as commentary.co.za calls them, seem to have undergone a bit of an about turn, or a change of heart. I guess they know which side their bread is buttered on after all.

They have gone from this, issued last week - "We remain fast on our view that Justice Squires committed a grave error of judgement in pronouncing an opinion on Deputy President Zuma’s integrity while he was never on trial. The diatribe against the Deputy President was not only shocking but a shameless violation of every principle of justice.”

To this, issued today "The ANCYL joins the ANC Deputy President, Jacob Zuma and the ANC in accepting and supporting the decision by President Thabo Mbeki, to release the Deputy President, Jacob Zuma of his duties. The President in his address yesterday, emphasised a need to observe basic pillars of our jurisprudence, namely equality before the law and the right to be presumed innocent until proven otherwise."

Of course they are still backing their man, but that support is starting to sound just a little watered down compared to the fiery rhetoric of the previous week, and their hijacking of a youth unemployment protest march to publicise the cause of their icon. I can't help wondering if someone from the Mbeki camp gave the little lions a bit of a rapping over the knuckles.

The journey to political success and self-enrichment is suddenly starting to look a lot more blurry for our intrepid politicians in the making.

Lunacy

2005-06-14T16:44:00.000+02:00

"President Thabo Mbeki's decision to sack his deputy, Jacob Zuma, infringed Zuma's constitutional rights, the Young Communist League said on Tuesday."
Source: Sapa

Sheesh!!! The idiocy is astounding. Could somebody please tell the young communists to go and read the Constitution!!!

Zuma

2005-06-14T16:10:00.000+02:00

Well, well, well, a fascinating day in the world of South African politics. So Zuma has been sacked. He does however retain his position as deputy president of the ANC, so if the NPA does not chose to prosecute him, he could still end up being this country’s next President in 2009 when Mbeki steps down. A lot obviously will also hinge on whether Shaik is given leave to appeal.

Here are my speculations:

The alliance finally splits - Zuma (providing the NPA leaves him alone) heads up a new political party consisting of Cosatu, SACP and left leaning members of the former tripartite alliance.

Zuma, also providing the NPA leaves him alone, goes into business, becomes the chairman of a new BEE consortium and goes on to make Tokyo and Cyril look like paupers.

Zuma gets deployed as head of CEO of the SABC replacing Peter Matlare who’s post has not yet been filled.

On a more serious note, Zuma has recently addressed the media and indicated that he will continue in his work as deputy president of the ANC. Considering his refusal to step down, and his fighting stance over the past couple of days, his response to being fired was surprisingly humble and gracious, and let’s just say more cynically speaking, highly diplomatic. I almost felt sorry for him. I guess it doesn’t take a genius to observe that there will be lots of behind the scenes maneuverings going on in the ANC right now as people decide which side of the political line they want to stand on. I also think that when it comes to climbing the political career ladder people tend to be pragmatists and so a lot of Zuma supporters might now be carefully re-considering their positions. Will overall unity hold out? The days and weeks ahead are going to be very, very interesting indeed.

Harmful emissions

2005-06-10T15:44:00.000+02:00

Steve Bell

Rape

2005-06-07T08:35:00.000+02:00

Rape is a sad reality for far too many women in South Africa. Although the actual statistics are disputed, it is clear that we have one of the highest levels of rape in a country at peace. Now someone has come up with a bizarre answer to the problem. As Independent Online reports:

"A rape victim once wished for teeth "where it mattered". Now a device has been designed to "bite" a rapist's penis. The patented device looks and is worn like a tampon, but it is hollow and attaches itself with tiny hooks to a man's penis during penetration."We have to do something to protect ourselves. While this will not prevent rape it will assist in identifying attackers and securing convictions," claims Sonette Ehlers, inventor of the device."

This is indeed a bizarre and impracticle response towards rape prevention. If anything it further victimises women and makes their lifestyles subject to the whims of violent men. As gender expert Lisa Vetten puts it:

"It is like we are going back to the days where women were forced to wear chastity belts. It is a terrifying thought that women are being made to adapt to rape by wearing these devices."

The rest of the article is here.

Corruption

2005-06-06T19:35:00.000+02:00

The Shaik case has also brought some interesting corruption statistics to light. These came to the fore during testimony by anti-corruption researcher Hennie Van Vuuren from the Institute for Security Studies:

Public sector corruption costs South Africa between R50 billion and R150 billion per year.

A report on breaches of the Public Finance Management Act tabled in parliament shows that at least 434 government officials have been charged with financial misconduct.

More than half of the reported cases related to claims, embezzlement, misappropriation of funds, and false statements, and only R177,000 was recovered from an estimated R4.2 million lost to government in the year ending March 2002.

Social grants scams cost the state R2 billion a year and as much as R10 billion may have been lost to corrupt practises in the first 10 years of democracy.

The sectors most open to corruption are public servants and the construction industry, followed by the arms and defence industry.

A poem

2005-06-06T09:32:00.000+02:00

Let poets close their eyes

For the ghost of the third force
To wake us not from the comfort zones
Or for the atrocities of the koevoet
The crucifixion of dissent at quadro
And the miscarriage of people's power
Not to linger in the minds of the people
Let the past burry itself
And take memories of inkathagate and the codesa farce
With itself to the grave

For the armsgate to be
An issue no longer at your gate
Pour water on petrol and
Hunt apartheid spies to burn them on public stake
Yet exonerate corporate capital
From facing the music
For sucking workers' blood
In cahoots with apartheid-capital

For the travel gate
Not to open floodgates
Of inquiries into the transformation
Of former guerillas into gorillas
Feeding on struggle credentials
To feed on public funds
Instead of feeding the population

For the oil gate not be an eye opener
That corporate capital is the lock and key
Of the gates into political office
And for the people not to know
That the piper in parliament
Only plays the tune decided by the corporate masters
Let poets shut their mouths
And allow money and not conscience to do the talking

For the story of land plunder and the rape of cultures
To be purged from the pages of history books
Bring and end to history and let cultures clash
And civilizations crash and dissipate
On the ashes of the twin towers

For the Watergate to be bridge over troubled waters
Pour water on petrol and shift the focus overseas to
Export peace and prosperity with rockets
Simultaneously dropping down bombs and food parcels
For America to be oiled
Blood gulf oil and allow no scribe to ink pages of tabloids
With tears of village babies
Whose deaths have become statistics
To be tip-axed by the stroke of the pencil
And erased without the blink of an eye

poem by Mphutlane Bofelo

Back 2 blogging

2005-06-04T22:29:00.000+02:00

Yipeeeee!!!!! I'm finally back - all problems solved. In the end I had to buy a new computer. I opted for a desktop instead of a laptop. I will take the damn laptop to get the screen fixed and then attempt to sell it on a "voetstoets" basis. And so now.....back to regular blogging.... at last!!!!

I could not resist posting this quote:

"Those who feel they don't want to go or have no place to go, then please stay."
Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour saying prisoners eligible for release under the South African government's amnesty for petty criminals could ask to stay in prison if they felt they were not ready to be freed.
(Source: News24.com)

Yeah right, like anybody's going to want to stay in prison. During a press conference held by former Stander gang member Alan Heyl a couple of weeks ago, he was asked by one of the reporters if there was anything he would miss about being in prison, like the people for example. Although he said that he might miss one or two people, Heyl was quite emphatic that there was nothing he would miss about being in prison and that there was absolutely nothing nice about being in prison. Hmmm... I can't imagine why?

If anyone is interested in reading about the horrific reality of life behind bars in South Africa, I can highly recommend "The Number" by Johnny Steinberg. The book is about the number prison gangs in the Western Cape told through the life story of gangster Magadien Wentzel who rose to prominence as a magistrate in the 28's. The book is a real page turner, meticulously researched, gripping and easy to read. Steinberg also puts Wentzel's life in context by recounting the social and political history of the coloured community in the Cape which was really interesting. I found the book to be incredibly thought provoking and it stayed strongly in my mind for days after I had finished reading it.

One of the aspects of the book that was highly intriguing, and that I was quite amazed to find out about, is the incredible complexity of the structure of the gangs - the 28's, the 27's and the 26's. The gangs consist of a disciplined and intricate hierarchy with constitutional like laws and rules that are set in stone. With each rank comes a particular imagined uniform and weapons. Not only that, but the laws and structures are descended from an almost biblical type narrative based on the true story of a black criminal gang that existed in Johannesburg in the early 1900's.

"The 26s, 27s and 28s all originate from bands of outlaws that plagued late 19th and early 20th-century Johannesburg. The largest and most memorable of these gangs was called The Ninevites; its rank and file were young black men who had left their ancestral land in the countryside but had refused to take up wage employment for white bosses in the early mining town.

The Ninevites were led by a charismatic young Zulu migrant, "Nongoloza" Mathebula. Imbued with a crisp and feisty imagination, which had been instilled by the injustices that lay in his own past, Nongoloza shaped his crew of outlaws into a paramilitary hierarchy. It borrowed its rank structure and its imaginary uniforms from the Natal colony's judiciary and the Transvaal republic's military.

The Ninevites lasted nearly two decades. At their height, in the early 1900s, they boasted a membership of nearly 1 000. They launched their sorties into robbery and plunder from a series of caves and warrens that stretched across the south-western perimeter of Johannesburg; they also gained effective control of the inmate populations of several of the mining compounds and prisons of early Johannesburg. It was said that he and his bandits established an underground world in a disused mineshaft, replete with shops, beautiful white women and a Scottish bookkeeper.

The Ninevites were crushed in the mid-1910s. Nongoloza himself, extraordinarily enough, renounced his gang and agreed to work for the prison authorities. But by then, most of the gang's leaders had spent time in jail and had begun to recruit there. Thousands of young black men, criminalised by white South Africa's racial laws, drifted in and out of the prisons of early 20th-century South Africa. By the early 1930s, gang derivatives of the Ninevites had a presence in almost every prison across the country. They have been there ever since, the memory of Nongoloza and the legends of his life passed down from one generation of prisoners to the next, throughout the 20th century.

It is quite extraordinary how much of Nongoloza's imagination has been preserved in the prison gangs of today—the 26s, 27s and 28s. The imaginary uniforms copied from the early Boer republic are still there. So are the imaginary .303 rifles and bayonets that the Boer commandos took into battle with the British in 1899. Nongoloza's original rank structure, dividing members between soldiers and judicial officers, and dividing the judicial officers themselves between an upper and a lower court, is still extant.

Most interesting of all, the Number gangs have held onto the mainstay of Nongoloza's original ideology. All three are organised around a largely mythical narrative of the great bandit's career. Indeed, they place the origin of their own division into three rival gangs in Nongoloza's times."

You can read the full online essay "Nongoloza's Children" by Jonny Steinberg here.

Photograph of the day

2005-05-27T12:33:00.000+02:00

I am posting this picture simply because I think it's quite a spectacular photograph.

Eitan Abramovich, AFP

Celebration: An ultra-orthodox Jew commemorates Lag Baomer, a festive day to mark the death of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. Bar Yochai was a great scholar and one of the most important sages in Jewish history. (Source: M&G)

The saga continues

2005-05-26T16:47:00.000+02:00

The sad saga over my laptop continues. I swopped the harddrive, wonderful, everything worked...for about a day....and then my screen, well, it just kind of disappeared and went black, and that's the way it has remained. So now I have to take it in again, and it looks like I might have to invest in a new computer. I've manged to hook the laptop up to a normal monitor, so if everything works I may be able to get back to blogging until I take it in for repairs.

Laptop woes not over

2005-05-13T16:08:00.000+02:00

Well, I still don't have my laptop back and am definately experiencing blogging withdrawal symptoms. The new harddrive was apparently faulty, so I am in the process of getting it replaced. Then I'll have to see what the HP verdict is. In the meantime, I will try to resume blogging in as much as I can given the circumstances

Blogging problems

2005-05-05T16:32:00.000+02:00

My apologies for the lack of updates recently. Here follows a litany of excuses:

1. I just moved into my new house two days ago after staying with family for the past 6 weeks so my life is a bit upside down at the moment.

2. The harddrive on my laptop crashed. I got a new harddrive. Laptop refused to detect new harddrive. Laptop is now at HP. I am praying that a simple solution will be found.

So basically, without my laptop - seeing that I can't really blog from work, I won't be able to blog until the problrm is sorted out. Hopefully I can be blogging again by sometime next week.

Today is Earth Day (in the US)

2005-04-22T16:57:00.000+02:00

The dynamics of denial

There isn’t a problem.

Well, there may be a problem, but we don’t know enough to do anything about it.

OK, there is a problem, but we still don’t know enough to do anything about it.

There is a problem, but it will cost too much to do anything about it.

There is a problem, but it will be cheaper to solve it later.

There is a problem, but someone else should do something about it first.

There is a problem, but the government should do something about it.

There is a problem, but we can’t do anything about it until everyone does something about it.

There is a problem but we need to form a partnership of government, business and the NGOs to do something about it.

There is a problem but it is too late to do anything about it.

"Disaster Capitalism"

2005-04-21T16:33:00.000+02:00

Naomi Klein on the rise of what she calls "disaster capitalism":

"Now the bank is using the December 26 tsunami to push through its cookie-cutter policies. The most devastated countries have seen almost no debt relief, and most of the World Bank's emergency aid has come in the form of loans, not grants. Rather than emphasizing the need to help the small fishing communities--more than 80 percent of the wave's victims--the bank is pushing for expansion of the tourism sector and industrial fish farms. As for the damaged public infrastructure, like roads and schools, bank documents recognize that rebuilding them "may strain public finances" and suggest that governments consider privatization (yes, they have only one idea). "For certain investments," notes the bank's tsunami-response plan, "it may be appropriate to utilize private financing."

As in other reconstruction sites, from Haiti to Iraq, tsunami relief has little to do with recovering what was lost. Although hotels and industry have already started reconstructing on the coast, in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia and India, governments have passed laws preventing families from rebuilding their oceanfront homes. Hundreds of thousands of people are being forcibly relocated inland, to military style barracks in Aceh and prefab concrete boxes in Thailand. The coast is not being rebuilt as it was--dotted with fishing villages and beaches strewn with handmade nets. Instead, governments, corporations and foreign donors are teaming up to rebuild it as they would like it to be: the beaches as playgrounds for tourists, the oceans as watery mines for corporate fishing fleets, both serviced by privatized airports and highways built on borrowed money. "
(Source)

X-treme Pope Coverage

2005-04-20T18:05:00.000+02:00

Watching CNN coverage last night just before the new pope was announced, it struck me that the news presenter's voice was hard to distinguish from the hyped-up testosterone fuelled sensationalism of the announcers on that American wrestling shite you get on eTV. I found it kind of bizarre, that a new pope gets sensationalised in the same way as the more trailer trash aspect of American sports culture.

Flying sausage breaks driver's nose

2005-04-20T15:44:00.000+02:00

Beware the flying sausage.....

"A driver in Britain suffered a broken nose on Monday after a frozen sausage was thrown through an open window of his car, an ambulance official said. "He was driving his car when the offending item came through his open window and hit him on the nose. He said he saw a car coming the other way and felt a searing pain in his nose. He managed to stop his car without hitting anyone else, at which point passers-by came to his aid."

I have never seen or heard of anything like this before," the ambulance spokesperson added. Police said they are investigating the incident and want to hear from anyone with information"
(Source)

Alliance Summit

2005-04-20T10:16:00.000+02:00

Karima Brown writing in The Star has a good break down of this week-end's Tripartite Alliance Summit. The ANC have been putting off holding an Alliance summit for about three years now I think - could it be they want to make sure things go their way in the upcoming local government elections?

"The ANC needs an emphatic victory at the polls, especially in places like KwaZulu Natal, where tensions between the ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party are running high in the aftermath of the IFP's loss of power at a provincial level. Cynics also argue that now that Cosatu and the SACP are firmly behind the ruling party's election machine, the ANC can afford to pay lip service to the demands of its allies".

Idasa has a very nice analysis on the cyclical nature of tripartite politics:

"In the run-up to elections, when the ANC is most reliant on COSATU for ‘delivering the vote’, relations between the ANC and COSATU improve. A confluence of opportunities presents itself to those on the left of the alliance to lobby within the alliance in the one and a half year period that spans the General and Local Government elections. In the aftermath of General
Elections both COSATU and the SACP can claim internal, alliance ‘victories’ as a consequence of the their structures having successfully mobilised voters in support of the ANC.

Such claims serve to both bolster internal morale of the SACP and COSATU, and to remind the senior partner of the extent to which the alliance partners successfully serve the movement. Concurrently space is offered to COSATU and the SACP to be more assertive in lobbying their policy positions because there is an inbuilt guarantee of a more ‘sympathetic backlash’ from the ANC who will again rely substantively on their structures to mobilise constituencies in the run-up to the Local Government elections.

This space closes in the aftermath of the Local Government elections and the ANC, as the senior represented component of the alliance, and the occupiers of the executive, operate with the knowledge that years can pass before fences need to be mended in order to contest the next election. The proximity of the "ultra-leftist" attacks to the ANC’s Stellenbosch National Conference is no coincidence as the broad left and right components of the party jostled for ascendancy within party structures.

It is in this context that the apparent ascendancy of the Alliance’s left should currently be understood: COSATU and the SACP have, since the 2004 elections, used the space afforded to them to articulate their grievances and lobby for their policy positions. The ANC can not summarily reject their issues in the shadow of an impending election. Equally, we can expect these dynamics to change in the course of next year, and in the run-up to the crucial 2007 National Congress, which will, in part, plot a course of continuum or change beyond Mbeki’s tenure as President".

Quote of the day

2005-04-20T09:02:00.000+02:00

"African states need strong trade unions in order to have a strong labour movement that can keep the government on its toes...Without a strong labour movement, I don't see how we can strengthen our governance...The government cannot work without trade unions. They can ruffle feathers sometimes, but if they don't do that, we are not kept on our toes".

South African Labour Minister Membathisi Mdadlana in his opening message to the AU Labour and Social Affairs Commission on Monday 18 April as reported by The Star newspaper.

More on Zim

2005-04-20T08:50:00.000+02:00

Independent Online is reporting that that the MDC in Zimbabwe has decided to cut ties with the South African government due to it's lack of support for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe.

"MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube, who was the main contact between the two, said at the weekend: "I am not available to the South Africans any longer." William Bango, spokesperson for MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai, said: "He is not talking to the South Africans either as far as I know." A senior South African foreign affairs source said the news of the MDC's decision had come as a shock."

It will be interesting to see if the SA government makes an official response to the allegations in this article.

Mbeki & Zim

2005-04-15T15:27:00.000+02:00

Laurence at Commentary once again tries to shed some light on why Thabo Mbeki continues to support the Mugabe regime, "Zimbabwe, though it may retain the mechanisms of democracy, is a kleptocratic gangster-state. Nobody seriously disputes this. So why can't Thabo Mbeki muster the courage to say it?". This is indeed the million dollar question. It's always interesting to read the speculation and theories on this, but it appears, that just like Mbeki's stance towards AIDS, his attitude on Zimbabwe is something that no-one, not even political analysts or journalists seem to truly understand or explain.

Probably, its a combination of different factors, and I think Laurence is absolutely on the mark when he writes in his comments section that, "I'd say Mbeki supports Mugabe out of racial and ideological solidarity with another former liberation movement, "Southern" solidarity against the West, and gratitude for the assistance Mugabe provided to the ANC".

Tongue firmly in cheek, Laurence advances the conspiracy theory that, "Maybe COSATU has been stoking up tensions between SA and Zimbabwe in order to deliberately provoke a trade war between, thereby allowing us to bar the import of Chinese textiles!". While I realise that he's only joking about this, I do however think that there is a strong Cosatu angle that partly explains Mbeki's support for Robert Mugabe.

In Zimbabawe opposition to Zanu-PF came from the MDC in the late nineties. The party leader and founder Morgan Tsvangirai prior to that, moved through the ranks of the trade union movement until he became Secretary-General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, and it follows that the MDC has a huge trade union support base. In South Africa, the only real threat to power that Mbeki and the ANC could realistically face in the foreseeable future would come from a Cosatu/SACP split from the alliance. Although Cosatu has been careful to deny any overt support of the MDC, we have seen them come out strongly in support of the Zim trade unions, to the extent of protesting against human rights abuses in Zimbabwe against the wishes of the ANC. It is possible that Mbeki does not want the precedent of a trade union supported political party overthrowing a liberation movement turned ruling party right on his front doorstep. This might encourage Cosatu (with the support of the MDC/ Zim trade unions) to go it alone.

I think even more so since this seems to be a trend in Southern African politics. In Zambia, opposition to Kaunda's strong man rule came from the unions. The first president after Kaunda, Frederick Chiluba, was also a trade union leader. In Swaziland the strongest protests against the King come from the unions, and the leader of Namibia's largest opposition party, while not exactly proving to be a dire threat in any way to Swapo, also comes from a trade union background. While it seems that there are opposition leaders from trade union backgrounds, I'm not sure if a trade union turned political party has ever taken over from a liberation movement government in Southern Africa, but I'm sure it's still something that Mbeki must be taking into consideration.

United Nations vs Internet?

2005-04-15T10:49:00.000+02:00

Do we really need the UN to be involved in internet governance - and what would this achieve?Well, it seems that the UN is looking to carve out an increasingly significant role in Internet governance. An editorial in eWeek questions whether or not the Internet needs a new bureaucratic bully to create policies?

"The U.N. has been trying to carve itself a role in Internet governance for years through its International Telecommunication Union agency. The ITU's desire to play a larger role in running the Internet has been met with opposition from the United States and members of the global Internet community, particularly the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN......We're not against the U.N. having a seat at the table of Internet governance. But we would be far more convinced of the U.N.'s worthiness for such a role if it were to first perform some concrete, constructive tasks on behalf of Internet users."

The rest of the story is here.

Corporate responsibility

2005-04-13T20:41:00.000+02:00

"It's not easy being a consumer in the global economy. Moral dilemmas confront you at every turn. Was this pair of space-age Nike shoes produced in an Asian sweatshop? Dare I sheathe my feet in the product of modern-day slave labour? Should I boycott? Then again, who am I to pass judgment on the workplace norms of other people? "Exploitation" is a culturally relative concept, isn't it? Why do I have to deal with this now? Why don't those Asian governments enforce fair working conditions and leave me to frolic carefree through my local mall? And for crying out loud, why, if the labour is so cheap over there, do these Nike sneakers cost $200? ". (Source)

Nike has published a list of over 700 of its contract factories. According to Reuters "the list was a response to interest from trade unions and non-governmental organizations that want to see less secrecy in global manufacturing and to tackle health and safety issues". This makes the running shoe giant the first major apparel manufacturer to voluntarily disclose its entire supply chain.

From AP: "In the report released Wednesday, Nike acknowledges that factories with which it does business have harassed workers and forced some to work overtime. For years, activists have demanded that Nike and other major companies reveal where their contract factories are located, so that independent observers could assess their labour conditions. Corporations have been reluctant to do so, arguing that the plants are where the company's trade secrets are laid bare and advanced products could be leaked to rivals. Some Nike critics welcomed the disclosure of the supplier locations because it challenges others to do the same. "

Being the cynic that I am, I don't think that the Nike bosses woke up one morning with a sudden pang of bad conscience - looks more to me like the many anti-Nike campaigns have finally started bearing fruit. Either way, it's a good thing, the more transparency the better.

I don't consider myself to be a conspiracy theorist when it comes to the "evil" corporates. I just happen to think that as far as they're concerned, money is the bottom line and to hell with everything else like the environment, personal health in the case of big tobacco etc, and in many cases labour fairness. Usually corporations only act when they have to or are forced to by laws and regulations. I think it's becoming a lot less socially acceptable for big companies to behave with complete impunity as we see in the Nike example, a lot more attention is possibly being paid to being "good corporate citizens" - at least companies are trying to put on a socially responsible face, even though the reality may be quite different. We still have a long way to go and activists are fighting an uphill battle all the way.

More women only

2005-04-08T18:14:00.000+02:00

Gabbahead has a story about women’s only train carriages in Japan. The idea is to promote safety. South Africa is following suite. No, Metro Rail has nothing to do with it, but the Royal Hotel in Durban is following international hotel trends by dedicating an entire floor for use by female guests only. This was done to ensure that women would feel safer and more secure in the hotel.

Internationally, hotels have started marketing their services towards women travelers following a large increase in the numbers of single female travelers over the past three decades. A study conducted by New York University, indicated that while in 1971 only 1% of international travelers were women, by 2003 the number had risen closer to 40%.

The Royal Hotel in Durban’s service extends beyond safety to include flowers, new bathrobes, and petals in the bathroom. Female guests will have access to their own female butlers whose duties would include secretarial services and bookings for various services, functions and travel arrangements. But best of all you even get to have your very own pink manicure set. Whoopeee!!!!!

Red Alert

2005-04-07T16:11:00.000+02:00

This week the South African Communist Party (SACP) will hold its mid-term Special National Congress. One of the “big” items on the agenda, much hyped by the media, but played down by the party itself, is the issue of whether the SACP should go it alone in the next local government elections.

Personally, I don’t see it happening. Perhaps some time in the medium to distant future, but definitely not now. The move to go it alone is being spearheaded by the Young Communists League (YCL). Buti Manamela, national secretary of the YCL claims that they have a lot of support from provincial SACP leadership and members, he also claims to have support from some members of the SACP Central Committee.

I think that old loyalties die hard, and the older guard of the SACP who hold the power are too close to the ANC to seriously consider breaking away from the Tripartite Alliance. The lines between ANC, SACP and Cosatu membership are extremely blurred which suggests that although there may be bluster on the surface, essentially loyalties lie in keeping the Alliance together. The ANC and SACP have been in bed together since the struggle days and their relationship goes back even to the late 1940’s. When Nelson Mandela started the armed wing of the ANC, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in around 1961 it was Joe Slovo, and other SACP stalwarts like Rusty Bernstein that he roped in to get the movement off the ground. Chris Hani, head of MK during the eighties was also secretary general of the SACP.

Many SACP members hold dual ANC membership. SACP members are cabinet ministers in the ANC government – Sydney Mufamadi (Provincial & Local Government), and Ronnie Kasrils (Water & Forestry) are currently members of the SACP Central Committee. Charles Nqakula (Safety and Security) is currently National Chairperson of the SACP. Jeff Radebe, Geraldine Frazer-Moleketi, Alec Irwin, and Trevor Manuel, believe it or not considering their capitalist bent, were all strongly involved in the SACP, not sure if they are still members or if they have allowed their memberships to lapse. Blade Nzimande, the fiery and outspoken general secretary of the SACP is a member of the ANC National Executive Committee. This kind of dual membership/dual loyalty probably goes all the way down through the ranks of the SACP.

Judging from the above set up, it does seem as though a strong possibility is that the SACP is likely to be able to exert more policy influence on the ANC by remaining within the Alliance. It’s difficult to actually measure how much influence the SACP is able to exert as a left wing pressure group within the ANC, as much the wheeling and dealing goes on behind closed doors. Possibly the SACP has played a significant part in getting the ANC to increase government’s role in the economy of late, but it’s difficult for outsiders to really know. If anything I think if the Alliance were to break the move would be more likely to come from Cosatu than from the SACP.

There is also a huge overlap between dual SACP/Cosatu memberships even more so than the SACP/ANC overlap. It would be interesting to find out if Cosatu supports the SACP go it alone stance, to the best of my knowledge they haven’t made any public statement regarding the issue. I would imagine that if anything, Cosatu is experiencing a similar situation to whatever’s going on within the SACP. If anything happens the decision would probably be a joint Cosatu/SACP decision to break away from the Alliance together. Although Cosatu might be a larger movement with greater membership and organisational ability, it does seem as though the SACP has greater influence on the ANC than Cosatu does. For now, it makes political sense for them to remain in the Alliance.

Because of the strong historical ties and loyalties to the ANC in the context of the struggle, I think the older guard would basically have to die off, or become diluted by a newer generation of members for a split to occur, and this is something that we are already seeing in the SACP with the YCL. But even so, Buti Manamela has made it clear that that the upcoming congress will be grounds for debate only, the issue will not be voted upon. In a discussion paper ahead of the congress, laying out the SACP’s vision, Blade Nzimande says, “This SACP vision must be located within the context of ensuring that we improve and enhance the functioning of our ANC-led tripartite alliance. In particular, the independent strength and capacity of working people needs to be consolidated within the broader alliance. This requires, amongst other things, a much greater active participation of workers in grass-roots level ward committees, community policing forums, school governing bodies, and ANC branches themselves”. This does not sound like a party that is planning to go it alone for now.

I have one more scenario, and this is definitely a maybe, and a very small maybe at that, but maybe……The Alliance is often referred to as being a “broad church” and it seems that within it there are as many shades of socialism and communism as there are members. A lot of trade unionists and “communists” have been rewarded for towing the ANC line by being given parliamentary seats, or plum positions in government or the private sector. One of the aims of this weekend’s congress is to allow the SACP to consolidate their class analysis of South African society after 10 years of democracy – whatever that means. But interestingly, this so called class analysis will also extend to looking at the SACP itself. Such an analysis might very well conclude that there are class differences within the SACP between fat cat capitalists and “real” socialists who have not betrayed the working class. The Youth Leaguers seem to have a very strong socialist bent, so possibly we could one day see a break away from leftist hardliners within the SACP and Cosatu breaking away still leaving the original capitalist leaning Alliance in existence, but weakened.

CORRECTION: Apologies to my readers. I am afraid that I have slipped up. Farryl Liefson has pointed out that Trevor Manuel was involved with the UDF and not the SACP. I hope this will in no way reflect on the validity of this post or my writing in general. I usually try to be very careful to check my sources and facts before posting.

Child Trafficking

2005-04-05T11:54:00.000+02:00

UNICEF reports that child trafficking now rivals that of drugs and arms trafficking. This is really horrible to hear. In many ways we are living in the most technologically advanced and progressive of times than ever before in human history. Yet, we are still unable to get rid of some of the world's worst social problems. Globalisation seems to be the current mode of global societal evolution - it is a process that is economically led and shaped, whereas before Church and then State determined the shape of our societies, more and more this is becoming increasingly moulded by economics. While I don't think globalisation can be stopped, from a pragmatic point of view that would be impossible, also globalisation brings many positive benefits - but it does unfortunately, like all social systems, have an ugly downside.

"Millions of children are trafficked every year as part of a lucrative industry linked with criminal activity and corruption. Trafficking in human beings is beginning to rival the illegal trade of drugs and arms, with an estimated revenue of as much as $10 billion a year. Hidden from view and without legal protection, children in poor countries are often lured by promises of a good education or a “better job.” Far from home or in a foreign country, trafficked children – disoriented, without papers, and excluded from any form of protection– can be forced to endure prostitution, domestic servitude, early and involuntary marriage, or hazardous and punishing labour"
(Source: UNICEF)

Also, "According to the International Labour Organization, an estimated 246 million children are engaged in exploitative child labour. Almost three quarters of them work in hazardous environments such as mines or factories, or with dangerous substances such as chemicals and agricultural pesticides. Some 5.7 million of these children work under especially horrific circumstances, including the virtual slavery of bonded labour"
(Source: UNICEF)

South Africa unfortunately, is a major player in this area. In 2003, the Cape Town based child advocacy group Molo Songololo released a report estimating that there were up to 38,000 child prostitutes in South Africa and that 25 percent of the country's street children engaged in survival sex. South Africa has become a transit country for girls as young as 10 from other African countries who are being sold as sex slaves to international syndicates. The International Organisation for Migration published research in 2003 stating that South Africa is a main destination for trafficked women and children.

Sadly, the global trafficking industry is one of the fastest-growing and most lucrative criminal enterprises in the world. "There are no exact figures, but a U.S. government report suggests 50 percent of all trafficked victims are children. International Labor Organization figures for 2000 estimate 1.8 million children are exploited in the commercial sex industry, while UNICEF estimates that child soldiers have been used in more than 30 ongoing or recent armed conflicts in almost every region of the world". (Source:Jerusalem Post)

Another quote

2005-04-04T16:34:00.000+02:00

“These groups, at the head of which stands the ruling circles in America, are determined to perpetuate a permanent atmosphere of crisis and fear in the world. Knowing that a frightened world cannot think clearly, these groups attempt to create conditions under which the common men might be inveigled into supporting the building of more and more atomic bombs, bacteriological weapons, and other instruments of mass destruction. These crazy men whose prototype is to be found at the head of the trusts and cartels of America and Western Europe do not realise that they will suffer the destruction that they are contemplating for their innocent fellow beings.”

A highly contentious statement, but what makes it interesting to me is that it was uttered by former President Nelson Mandela 54 years ago in 1951. Whether you agree with it or not, is one thing, but it’s amazing that what Mandela said as far back as 1951 in terms of wmd’s etc still has so much meaning and relevance as we stand here today. And we do know now that America exaggerated the threat of wmd’s to justify their war project in Iraq.

Quote of the day

2005-03-31T16:49:00.000+02:00

"At present, the rights of corporations are well developed and expanding, at the expense of the rights of the public. While the corporation has been legislated to personhood, the everyday citizen has been reduced to a voiceless peasant in a corporate kingdom. Reversing this means recoding the system in favor of direct democracy". (Source: Adbusters)

Wangari Maathai

2005-03-29T17:00:00.000+02:00

Irin reports that Kenyan Professor Wangari Maathai, who won last year's Nobel Peace Prize,is to head a new African Union (AU) body aimed at bringing "people power" to Africans. Maathai was elected president of the newly launched Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) by its civil-society organisation members. The body aims to bridge the gap between African governments and institutions, and the 830 million people on the continent, by giving them a proper voice in decision-making.

Irin says that "Along with the Pan-African Parliament and the Court of Justice, ECOSOCC is one of the new structures intended to make the 53-nation AU more transparent and accountable". We'll have to see what happens, but Maathai has proved to be a powerful force in radically improving the environment. She has also shown herself to be a tough operator, risking her life to stand up to her opponents. This could be a really positive development.

Earth

2005-03-29T16:40:00.000+02:00

A new report by 1,360 experts in 95 countries says that humans are damaging the planet at an unprecedented rate and raising risks of abrupt collapses in nature that could spur disease, deforestation or "dead zones" in the seas.

Not exactly news, but its kind of scary that some of the world’s most richest and powerful government’s do not seem to be even a little bit worried. According to this report, over the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable time in human history. Apparently, more land was changed to cropland since 1945, than in the 18th and 19th centuries combined. The study suggests that big changes in consumption, better education, new technology and higher prices for exploiting ecosystems could halt the damage.

This brings to mind a poignant quote from U.Thant circa 1970: “As we watch the sun go down, evening after evening, through the smog across the poisoned waters of our native earth, we must ask ourselves seriously whether we really wish some future universal historian on another planet to say about us: "With all their genius and with all their skill, they ran out of foresight and air and food and water and ideas," or, "They went on playing politics until their world collapsed around them."

New SA Blog

2005-03-29T16:04:00.000+02:00

Aragorn - yup, it's his real name - has started a blog. I'm sure that vicar in a tutu will be constantly provocative and full of lots of great counter culture stuff.

African women in art

2005-03-29T15:05:00.000+02:00

"Loud Silence" by Zambian artist Anawana Haloba

A particular influence on Haloba is the effect of marginalisation on women living in poverty, and how they might be part of the living world. She uses her body as a medium to display thoughts which she terms 'mind noises' with an intention to make a statement and be heard.

Cooling off

2005-03-24T13:51:00.000+02:00

Apparently one of the outcomes to emerge from this week’s National Anti-Corruption Summit is that government could soon enact legislation to enforce a cooling off period for public servants who quit the state sector to go into business. Personally I think that this is a dumb ass idea.

Let’s say they decide to have a cooling off period, I can’t see them making it longer than a year or two. So, what’s to stop someone from handing out a government contract in their department on the condition that pay back comes later - when their cooling off period has expired, they can then go take up their fat cat CEO position in the company.

In my opinion these suggestions are nothing more than a PR exercise, so that government is seen to be doing something, but back at the ranch it’s nothing short of a meaningless gesture.

If government really meant business they should rather think about passing legislation that prevents government officials from working for any company, or subsidiary thereof, that has the slightest profit making relationship with said officials’ department at national, provincial and local level. I suppose you would also have to take into account when contracts were awarded so that this correlates with the time that the official worked in the department and possibly even includes a certain time period after the official has left public office.

Pan African Parliament

2005-03-24T11:27:00.000+02:00

Starting next week in South Africa is the third sitting of the Pan African Parliament (PAP). On the agenda, other than housekeeping and administrative issues, are the following items:

Peace and Security in Africa: (i) Darfur (ii) Report by African Union

Consideration and Approval of the 2005 PAP Work Plan

Report on the implementation of NEPAD's African Peer Review Mechanism

Towards Achieving UN Millennium development goals in Africa

Debate and resolutions on the reform of the UN Security Council

Resolving communication and transport problems in Africa

Special report by the Committee on Rural Economy, Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment.

PAP is an expensive exercise. As one of the South African taxpayers helping to fund PAP, I wouldn’t mind paying the money if we got concrete results in terms of entrenching democracy and the rule of law in countries that refuse to conform. But it’s difficult to trust in leaders who lack legitimacy. How can you have a situation in a supposedly democratic regional parliament when many of the countries sitting on the parliament pay no attention to fundamental democratic principals in their own backyards? Are we then supposed to take this Parliament seriously? South Africa is a regional super power, yet for some reason which no-one can really fathom, our government does nothing about Zimbabwe or Swaziland. The AU Peer Review Mechanism is a good idea, but what’s the point when it’s voluntary and not compulsory?

Those are the negative views that I have, yet on the other hand there is a nagging feeling inside of me that says don’t be so quick to write PAP off as just another talk shop. I mean, surely something positive must emerge. It is the beginning of putting structures in place for something that could one day become a powerful and meaningful institution. I think also possibly in terms of discussions around poverty eradication and development PAP could already be in the process of making a meaningful contribution.

Reality for Men

2005-03-24T10:28:00.000+02:00

How about a little truth in advertising?

FGM

2005-03-23T16:35:00.000+02:00

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), or female circumcision, is probably one of the most devastating of the traditional customs still affecting women in the world today. It can be hard to cover such a difficult topic sensitively and without sensationalising the issue. I hope I have managed to focus on FGM and shed some light on the issues in an ethical manner. If I haven't succeeded in doing so, I apologise, but I feel that this is an important issue that needs to be brought out into the open. This unfortunate practise is still widely carried out in certain parts of the world, especially in Africa. One of the trends in global FGM today is the progressive lowering of the age at which girls undergo the procedure. The issue was recently highlighted at a sub-regional conference in Djibouti.

Some communities carry out FGM for religious reasons, believing that their faith requires it, this is particularly true of Muslims who adhere to the practice. Although the purpose of FGM is to mark the transition from childhood to womanhood, ultimately the practice aims to reduce a woman’s sexual desire, so that she will keep her virginity until marriage. The more extensive procedure, involving stitching of the vagina, has the same aim, but reducing the size of the vagina is also intended to increase the husband’s enjoyment of the sexual act. There are various methods and extremes in the ways that FGM is carried out, the descriptions are graphic and heartbreaking.

Health risks and problems caused by FGM are numerous and sometimes even deadly. Immediate effects can include bleeding and often haemorrhaging, sometimes leading to death. Also, damage to other organs, resulting from the lack of surgical expertise of the person performing the procedure, and the aggressive resistance of the patient when anaesthesia is not used. Infections, including tetanus and septicaemia can occur, through using unsterilised or poorly disinfected equipment.

Longer term effects can include chronic infections of the bladder and vagina, sometimes urine and menstrual blood can only leave the body drop by drop - the build-up inside the abdomen and fluid retention often cause infections and inflammation that can lead to infertility. Also dysmenorrhoea, or extremely painful menstruation, excessive scar tissue at the site of the operation, the formation of cysts on the stitch line, childbirth obstruction, and an increased risk of HIV infection.

As if these physical problems are not bad enough, the psychological effects can also be devastating. Women are often so traumatized that they can only associate their genitals with pain and possible death from childbirth. Also, the idea of sexual intercourse as a pleasurable activity is inconceivable for most of them.

Right: Twelve-year old girls from a Maasai community in Kenya. The traditional rite of FGM among the Maasai is performed between the ages of 12 and 14.

FGM is a cruel and sexist practice that helps to keep women subservient and disempowered. As a religious practice it enshrines and promotes the male domination of women. Sadly however, women are also involved in perpetuating FGM – but they seem to have no choice but to comply - if they don’t their daughters will be considered unmarriageable. In communities where FGM is practiced, no eligible man would consider marrying a girl who has not undergone the procedure, so FGM makes a woman culturally and socially acceptable. Also, in these communities women have few options open to them other than being a wife and mother, so there is great pressure to conform.

FGM is most widely practised on the African continent. It is found among more than half the communities in sub-Saharan African countries and in at least 26 out of 43 countries. The prevalence ranges from 98 percent in Somalia to 5 percent in the DRC. FGM is practiced in Nigeria, Djibouti, Mali, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and the Gambia. The Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda have the lowest rate. It is also indigenous to some Middle-Eastern countries to lesser or greater extent, including Egypt, the Republic of Yemen, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. It also occurs in parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan. FGM is also increasingly found in North America, Europe, New Zealand and Australia, owing to the large immigrant communities living in those parts of the world.

In Africa, thirteen countries have responded to the problem of FGM by implementing legislation against it: According to "Center for Reproductive Rights" there are 16 countries with criminal legislation against FGM. There have been reports of prosecutions or arrests in cases involving FGM in various African countries, including Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Ten industrialised countries that receive immigrants from countries where FGM is carried out have also passed specific laws criminalising the practiced.

According to IRIN, the UN news agency, “FGM is a practice that violates the basic human rights of women and girls and seriously compromises their health. Nevertheless, among communities that practise FGM it is a highly valued tradition, making eradication difficult. Nevertheless, there are also success stories. As individuals become better informed about the negative impacts of FGM, there has been a reduction in the practice and today there are few communities in which 100 percent of girls and women are circumcised.” Source: Irin web report on FGM

RESOURCES

NGO's:

The Female Genital Cutting Education and Networking Project

Promotion of initiatives to end Female Genital Mutilation

GAMS

In Sierra Leone: "When the president's wife sponsors the circumcision of 1,500 young girls to win votes for her husband, you know you've got a problem persuading ordinary people and the government that female genital mutilation (FGM) is a bad idea. And when the woman who is now Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Women's Affairs, threatens to "sew up the mouths" of those who preach against FGM, you realise that you are facing a really big uphill struggle." (Irin)

A personal testimony from Nigeria: "I got the first experience of this when I was as young as eight years. Just behind my father’s house in the village I heard a voice of a young girl shouting desperately for help inside a closed door. Out of curiosity and desire to render help I dashed out of my father’s house and stole into the building where the save-my-soul cry was coming from. I peeped through the keyhole. To the greatest surprise and shock of my life I saw for the first time in my life one of the evils women inflict upon
themselves. " (Okumephuna Chinwe Celestine)

Books: There is a growing body of literature around the subject of FGM. It includes "Dying for my Daughter" by Baba Jallo from The Gambia, and tells of his struggle to save his daughter from the practice. More books can be found on the FGCENP NGO website)

Corruption in SA

2005-03-22T17:28:00.000+02:00

One of the big news stories in South Africa today is the National Anti-Corruption Summit taking place today and tomorrow. This is all about evaluating government's anti-corruption strategies and charting the way forward. So how bad is corruption in South Africa?

Transparency International (TI) and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) released a new corruption survey yesterday. The report finds that South Africa has made tremendous progress in addressing corruption in the ten short years since the end of corrupt apartheid-era rule. South Africa has developed an advanced framework of law, strategy and institutions with a mandate to combat corruption. The report notes the creation of new specialised anti-corruption institutions with a constitutional remit to support democracy. South Africa has developed a bold new piece of anti-corruption law in the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, which complements existing legislation that promotes an open accountable democracy. However, according to Transparency South Africa's Hassen Lorgat, although political will to tackle corruption exists, the implementation of anti-corruption measures still presents a serious challenge.

The report also stresses that corruption poses a major challenge at provincial and local government level, negatively affecting the capacity of the public sector to deliver services to the poor. According to the report, 'at a national level, almost R2 billion was lost in 2003 to corruption in social welfare, [and] the labour ministry may have lost as much as R1 billion.' The study also states that corruption and fraud in the private sector may cost the economy as much as R50 billion.

Unfortunately one of the biggest corruption busting institutions, the Scorpions is currently under threat. Let's hope they are kept as an independent body and not brought under the police.

Here's a compilation of other interesting corruption stats:

A comparison between the 1998 and 2003 national victims of crime surveys suggests that the rate of corruption has almost tripled from 2% to 5.6%. (Source: Institute for Security Studies National Victims of Crime Survey).

In 2004, South Africa scored 4.6 out of a total of 10 points in Transparency International's annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI). The CPI score relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and country analysts and ranges between 10 (highly clean) and 0 (highly corrupt). This put South Africa at number 44 with the two most corruptly perceived countries ranking 145. (Source:CPI 2004).

While half of South Africans felt in 1997 that "all" or "most" national government officials were involved in corruption, just one fifth held this opinion in October/November 2004.(Source:Afrobarometer Survey by Idasa).

Where half felt "all" or "most" MPs were corrupt as recently as 2000, just one quarter (24 percent) think so in 2004. (Source:Afrobarometer Survey by Idasa).

In 2004, 36 percent of South Africans did, however, feel that "all" or "most" police are corrupt. However, the survey shows public perceptions of corruption are at far higher levels than their actual experience with corruption. (Source:Afrobarometer Survey by Idasa).

About one in 10 South Africans say that they had to "pay a bribe, give a gift, or do a favour" for a government official in the past year to get an official document or permit (11 percent), avoid a problem with the police (10 percent), or get a household service such as water or electricity (nine percent). (Source:Afrobarometer Survey by Idasa).

Many analysts say that people's perceptions of corruption are a lot worse than the reality. However, the corruption at provincial and local government level is extremely worrying - it affects service delivery and long-term stability. No excuses, and no justification - government needs to clamp down and take the problem seriously.

Going back to the ISS report, it makes some interesting and controversial recommendations. Such as investigating crimes of corruption under apartheid so that plundered wealth can be returned to the South Africa's people. The last decade of apartheid rule, as the corrupt system was interminal decline, provided the perfect environment for large-scale corruption. The lack of transparency, sanctions busting and secret defence and oil funds were excellent conduits for grand corruption. According to the report while this should not detract from the tasks ahead, anti-corruption agencies should investigate the reclamation of such stolen assets. My question is would the money go back to South Africa's people in the form of service delivery or would it go into some corrupt politician's back pocket as pay back.

Capitalism, globalisation, privatisation etc

2005-03-18T22:32:00.000+02:00

There are two main opposing views concerning the best ways to promote development. One view holds forth that unfettered global capitalism is the god to be worshipped, everything should be privatised, and the US and other multilateral institutions are a benign as opposed to harmful force promoting development and democracy throughout the world. Except of course for the United Nations - they're just a bunch of wankers who don't know their arse from their elbow. Oh and... fuck the poor.

The other view states that privatisation and globalisation in its current form is the mammon of our times. It's a bunch of double standards and all the multilateral institutions want to do is screw the poor so that the rich can get richer. Except for the United Nations which will be okay with a bit of reform and tweaking here and there...oh, I don't know, maybe by giving developing countries more decision making powers, and possibly to throw in a bit of transparency on the side. Transnationals actually rule the world and first world democracy is a thin veneer covering up greed and hypocracy.

That's putting it simplistically, but nevertheless. My political leaning falls somewhere in the middle, with a distinct leaning towards the latter of the two opinions. Just call me a cynic. I believe in capitalism as opposed to communism, but I also think that the social democratic model (not sure if I'm using the correct political terminology) of some of the Scandanavian countries might be a better system than pure outright capitalism - especially for the developing world. Perhaps in America and Canada, and the stronger European nations capitalism and privatisation are acceptable to an extent because most people can afford to pay for basic services. However in Africa, for example, where there is such a degree of widespread poverty, I think the government has to play a stronger role in subsidising development and stimulating the economy. I mean, how long can people wait for the trickle down effect to trickle down? Especially when there are so many factors in place to impede the trickling. Even in the US and Europe a certain basic amount of wealth hasn't trickled down to the bottom and it probably never will.

Privatisation was introduced to Africa in the 1980s and 1990s, usually as part of structural adjustment programmes - in return for loans from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, African countries were forced to implement neo-liberal economic policies, which included privatisation. So basically, do it our way, even if it's not the best solution to your problems, or no money. African countries were told by the IMF and World Bank that privatisation would lead to greater efficiency, better productivity and better service delivery. It was further assumed that privatisation would generate wealth, which would eventually trickle down to everybody. Hmmm....

Some of the negative effects of privatisation have included:

Privatisation led to the loss of over 60 000 jobs in Zambia and several hundred thousand workers were retrenched in Ghana. Privatisation has also caused an increase to the price of services. In Zambia, a privatised bus company dramatically increased the bus fares and closed down unprofitable - mostly rural - bus routes. As a result many Zambians now walk many kilometres to their workplaces and schools because they can no longer afford the bus fares or because the buses no longer service the areas where they live. In Nigeria the prices for Kerosene increased by 6 000% between 1985 and 1995. Postal and telecommunications services increased their prices by 2 500 - 5 000% during that period while electricity prices increased by 883%. In Ghana the introduction of cost recovery programmes were part of privatisation and resulted in increased fees for health and education services. As a result, they became unaffordable for the poor. In Zimbabwe, privatisation also led to retrenchments and increased prices for services. The Cotton Company of Zimbabwe, for example, reduced its workforce from 3 000 to 500 after privatisation. (Source: Labour Resource and Research Institute/Namibia)

There are now ten major corporate players delivering services to more than 200 million customers in 150 countries. The water industry’s annual profits of around US $1 trillion exceed those of the pharmaceutical industry and equal 40 per cent of those of the oil sector. Developing countries are giving in to pressure from the World Bank and IMF to abandon their public water delivery systems and to contract with the water giants in order to be eligible for debt relief.

The privatisation of water has been accompanied by large profits, higher prices, cut-offs to customers who cannot pay, lack of transparency, reduced water quality, bribery and corruption. Trade agreements are robbing governments of their control over domestic water supplies: with water now classified as a good, global trade institutions give transnational corporations unprecedented access to the freshwater resources of signatory countries. The WTO opens the door to the commercial export of water by prohibiting the use of export controls of any ‘good for any purpose’. This opens the door for quotas or bans on the export of water that have been imposed for environmental reasons to be challenged as a form of protectionism.(Source)

To deny people the basic human human right of access to clean and safe water, and to deny people the dignity that electricity provides, just because they can't afford to pay for it goes beyond cruel and unreasonable. I realise that poverty has always existed, it's probably part of the human social condition, and it would be utopian to believe that it could ever be completely eradicated. However, you can call me naive, or you can call me idealistic, but I can't help feeling that there is something terribly, terribly wrong with a world that has such incredible disparity between rich and poor. As far as I see it, the American style capitalism dominating the present day system of globalisation is doing nothing to improve the desperate lives of the poor.

Propaganda

2005-03-16T23:01:00.000+02:00

The SABC news comes in for a lot of criticism (well deserved in my opinion) for being a government mouthpeice. According to a recent survey the SABC news gives a huge percentage of its coverage to government activities, and showing the government in a positive light, especially in comparison to eTV news. It's interesting to see that George W Bush is also trying to use TV news as a weapon of propaganda. Reuters reports:

President Bush said on Wednesday that the U.S. government's practice of sending packaged news stories to local television stations was legal and he had no plans to cease it. His defense of the packages, which are designed to look like television news segments, came after they were deemed a form of covert propaganda by the Government Accountability Office watchdog agency. GAO, an arm of Congress, said this ran counter to appropriation laws and was a misuse of federal funds. Among the packages the GAO looked at was one produced by the Health and Human Services Department to promote the Medicare prescription drug law. The story included a paid actor who narrated the piece in a similar style to the way a television reporter would. "The entire story package was developed with appropriated funds but appears to be an independent news story," the agency said. It added that some stations were airing such pieces without a disclaimer saying they were produced by the government. (More)

According to Bush, there's nothing wrong with this as long as the news inserts are based on fact. Well, when it comes to promoting political agendas, "fact" is often a matter of opinion. As far as I'm concerned, if an insert on TV news is produced by government I would want to know about it - especially if public funds are being used to further party political aims. I can just imagine Tony Leon turning purple and jumping up and down if the ANC had to be caught doing something similar.

It takes two to tango

2005-03-15T19:47:00.000+02:00

I find the whole topic of corruption extremely fascinating. One of the aspects of global corruption that bothers me is the way in which western countries, and white people- yes I am generalising - come down so hard on black people and African countries for being corrupt when they so often indulge in corrupt practices themselves. Take the latest example of Hallibuton in the US.

A Halliburton Co. unit is facing new questions from Pentagon auditors about bills for supplying fuel to the U.S. military in Iraq as part of a no-bid contract to rebuild the country's oil infrastructure, according to a Wall Street Journal report Tuesday. The newspaper reports that this new scrutiny comes after other inquiries about the billions the company has billed the military for services rendered in Iraq. A Justice Department probe is examining if the government showed favoritism when awarding the company the oilfield contracts.

A Halliburton spokeswoman quoted by the Journal stated that the company is cooperating with the Army to prove it carried out its tasks "at a fair and reasonable cost given the circumstances." Also, the Journal cites Halliburton officials who deny overcharging the government. The amount in question is part of a larger contract worth $875 million, according to a BBC News report.

Previous Pentagon audits have stated that it may have overcharged the government $61 million from May through September 2003 for shipments of gasoline, kerosene and other fuels. But this audit looks at a longer period and auditors had more time to pore over the company's procurement paperwork. In addition to these issues, the Justice Department has launched an open civil-fraud inquiry to determine if Halliburton overcharged for the fuel shipments, while federal investigators are examining if the Pentagon showed improper favoritism when granting Halliburton the oilfield reconstruction contract.(source)

Hallibuton has also been acused of bribing officials in Nigeria relating to oil contracts. Human beings in positions of power have been corrupt since time immemorial. I think the only thing that prevents corruption is when countries have strong democratic institutions in place to act as a barrier. These elements obviously don't exist in many African countries, hence the widespread corruption - but who's more to blame the briber or the bribee? Western democracies have had two or three hundred years to mature slowly over time without foreign interference in national policies to the extent that we've seen meddling in African politics by outsiders over the past 100 years.

The west also had time to industrialise and grow their markets to maturity without having to contend with the negative effects of globalisation like trade discrimination. Neither did they have to contend with massive poverty, conflict, colonialisation and AIDS. Colonialism brought with it bribery and corruption, African countries only started gaining independence in the 1960's giving round about 50 or 60 years to right the wrongs of the past - but the foreign interference still continued, and the Cold War had a further negative impact on the continent in the years that followed independence.

Of course, ultimately it's up to African leaders to sort out the corruption aspect and look after their citizens, but to write the continents problems off purely as a result of corruption without taking into consideration the role of all the other mitigating factors is unfair and biased in my opinion. At the same time, enough is enough, it's high time for African leaders to take a stand and fight the scourge of corruption - too many of them have only been too happy to benefit, and if Africans don't put a stop to it themselves, the west sure as hell isn't going to.

However, one of the points I'm trying to make is that I think it's wrong that Africa gets the entire bad rap for being corrupt while the western countries retain the complete moral high ground. In the meantime they are helping to perpetuate the rotten system as their multinationals continue to pay bribes, particularly in the billion dollar World Bank development projects such as the Lesotho Highlands Water Project.

Moving

2005-03-14T23:05:00.000+02:00

My apologies for the lack of updates over the past week or so - I am in the process of that most horrible of all ~~torture~~ activities known as moving house. The cat has been making a pest of itself by insisting on parking off in which ever box I am trying to pack. The dog has gone into hibernation under a desk in a misguided attempt to avoid the chaos, I only wish I could do the same.

Abortion update

2005-03-04T19:42:00.000+02:00

The US has so far failed to push abortion rights back into the 1950's.

Under intense global pressure, the United States dropped its demand that a new U.N. declaration on women's equality make clear there is no international right to abortion. But Washington continued to insist the document must not "create any new international human rights" -- which opponents say could also mean abortion.
U.S. Ambassador Ellen Sauerbrey announced the changes at a closed-door meeting on Thursday, telling reporters afterward that abortion policy should be determined at the national not global level. But there appeared to be no support even for a watered-down amendment. In one speech after another, delegates from the European Union, the African Union and the Mercosur trading bloc in South America insisted on leaving the declaration untouched. As it now stands, the text simply reaffirms the U.N. blueprint for achieving equality of the sexes, which was adopted at a 1995 conference in Beijing. (More)

Gun Amnesty

2005-03-01T22:32:00.000+02:00

I'm battling to think of a suitably sarcastic coment to go with this publicity stunt.

As the Mail & Guardian reports "Firearms handed in to police in three provinces in the first two weeks of a three-month amnesty period were mostly legal weapons." Did they really think that criminals would be lining up in droves to hand in their weapons?

The 10 000 guns handed in so far are a drop in the ocean considering these stats - in 2001 a total of 23 519 firearms were lost or stolen, an average of 64 guns a day. These figures, particularly those for firearm losses are known to be an understatement, as many people do not report firearm thefts or losses for fear of prosecution.

Even if the number does increase substantially by the end of the amnesty period I doubt it will make a real dent in the number of unlicensed guns floating around the country. In 2000 the Minister for Safety & Security estimated that there were between 500 000 and 1 million unlicensed firearms in South Africa - bearing in mind that government is probably under-reporting. (Source)

Abortion-my right to choose

2005-03-01T21:35:00.000+02:00

As far as I'm concerned the right to abortion should be an international human rights issue. It's nobody's business but my mine to decide what I can or cannot do with my own body. I also don't see why I should have to base my right to abortion on somebody else's belief in an archaic religious code - no disrespect intended. And that's why I resent the US's stance on abortion at the current Beijing + 10 international gender conference. A two-week review at the United Nations on the status of women worldwide is being overshadowed by a U.S. demand that the review's final language include a statement that abortion is not a human right that should be guaranteed to all women.

The United States accused advocacy groups of trying to use a landmark U.N. effort to achieve equality for women to promote a pro-abortion agenda, embroiling a high-level meeting in a debate participants had hoped to avoid. Human rights and women's groups have voiced concern the Bush administration is rolling back on U.S. support for the platform of action adopted at the 1995 U.N. women's conference in Beijing. But U.S. Ambassador Ellen Sauerbrey, speaking Monday as a two-week review of the 150-page document got under way, said the United States is not seeking ``in any way'' to reopen negotiations on the platform. What Washington wants, she said, is an amendment to the meeting's proposed final declaration stating that the commitment to ``reproductive health services'' is not a guarantee of the right to abortion. (NYT-subscription only)

Operating with impunity

2005-03-01T19:42:00.000+02:00

It's quite interesting to see how well some western corporations behave when operating outside of their own countries.

The British government has been accused of failing to take action over the 18 UK companies accused of involvement in the systematic looting of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the years up to and including 2002. A new parliamentary report, which was released on February 7, said that despite the seriousness of the charges levelled against 85 Western companies, several of whom were British, only a junior official in the Department of Trade and Industry had been charged following the allegations London had been asked to investigate the charges following a report by a UN panel of experts in 2002. It said that high level political, military and business networks were pillaging gold, diamonds, timber and coltan (a metal found in mobile phones) from Congo. The amount of the looting was staggering with around $5 billion worth of assets being stolen, the report said.

The looting went specifically against the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development rules, which forbid "either directly or indirectly, or through negligence" helping to prolong the conflict in the DRC by engaging in unlawful economic activities there.
But the UN Security Council, which examined the findings, left it up to individual states to conduct their own investigations. Now, nearly three years later, the UK parliament's all party group on the Congo says the British government's response to the issue has been inadequate and had made "little progress in examining and resolving the allegations."

The Observer newspaper said that the unnamed companies which have been accused say they do not understand the charges against them and have not been given an opportunity to respond. Pressure groups in the UK and some MPs are calling for an inquiry into the issue. (Source)

And, the companies are unamed, not exactly what I'd call democratic transparency....or does that criticism only apply to African governments?

More on China in Africa

2005-02-24T16:08:00.000+02:00

It seems as if I was on the mark when I speculated earlier about China wanting to be rewarded for investing and aiding African countries. I've seen an article in Tuesday's Business Day that deals with this precise issue. Writing under the headline "Chinese the new economic imperialists in Africa" Dianna Games puts forward the notion that African countries should stop worrying about economic colonisation by the likes of the US and the British, but should rather be looking with more concern at China bearing "gifts". She cites some interesting examples:

"In Kenya last month, China's largest listed telecoms manufacturer, ZTE Communications, made a "gift" of equipment worth 144-million Kenyan shillings to Telkom Kenya. ZTE said the company would "continue to play a positive role in Kenya's telecommunications industry". After a gesture like that, it's certain to get a role.

Zimbabwe is all but owned by China, say many Africa watchers. When President Robert Mugabe saw his biggest critics were also his biggest trading partners and tourism markets, he defensively turned to the east, lauding countries such as China as the true partners of Zimbabwe. In return for a rare hand of friendship in an increasingly hostile world, Mugabe has offered Chinese companies almost anything they want, regardless of the payback. And payback there will be. Chinese telecoms supplier Huawei Investments last year demanded it be guaranteed a portion of Zimbabwe's profits from minerals and tobacco - in addition to a hard cash payment - before it would supply $160m worth of telecommunications equipment for the second fixed-line telephone network."

Games goes on to say that not only does China undermine local economies by flooding their markets with cheap goods, but many contracts stipulate that Chinese labour be used - bang goes the possibility of meaningful local job creation from the foreign investment.

"There is nothing essentially wrong with China making inroads into global markets. Everybody tries to do it. What is different here is that some African governments seem to believe it's not strictly a hard-nosed relationship, but one that is altruistically motivated. This is partly the result of China's support for Africa's independence struggles. The Chinese practice of offering "gifts" to smooth the way for later ventures often serves to bolster this perception of magnanimous comradeship."

The rest of the article is here

Corruption in the social grants system

2005-02-24T14:14:00.000+02:00

According to an article in Tuesday's Business Day, although there are some legitimate factors driving growth in government spending on social grants, corruption and a lack of administrative controls have also been clearly identified as a problem in this area. According to Minister of Social Development, Zola Skweyiya, fraud and corruption in the grants system, especially in disability grants, are costing the state about R1.5 billion a year. However some analysts say that that this estimate is far too low, and that a more accurate fraud and corruption estimate is closer to R3bn - R5bn.

The Scorpions, the police and the Justice Department are currently pursuing a number of serious cases involving public servants and syndicates. The department has also launched an indemnity process to persuade people who are currently claiming fraudulent grants to stop doing so. Skweyiya is expected to announce a major investigation by the Scorpions to root out corruption in the grants system. Government is trying to clean out the system before grant administration officials move from the provinces to the new National Social Security Agency which is meant to open its doors in April this year. Hmmm...that gives the Scorpions just over a month, I wish them lots of luck.

Budget 2005

2005-02-23T15:02:00.000+02:00

The Budget is out. You can read it here.

Power and Succession

2005-02-23T12:08:00.000+02:00

Richard Calland of Idasa has a new book out called Anatomy of Power in South Africa. The latest edition of the Mail and Guardian has an extract. According to Calland the six most powerful people in South Africa in descending order are Thabo Mbeki, Joel Netshitenzhe, Trevor Manuel, Alec Erwin, Mojanku Gumbi, and Essop Pahad. Mojanku Gumbi is Mbeki’s legal advisor and is said to be perhaps the single most influential person, although her power is far less extensive than South Africa’s second most powerful man Joel Netshitenzhe. Essop Pahad’s influence is said to be waning, I have heard this from many other sources as well, but he still remains a substantial voice on key political choices. Manuel and Erwin are said to be more powerful than Pahad.

“Manuel heads the “government within a government”, the one department whose capacity far exceeds any other, and which is capable of exerting the power it holds. Erwin continues to hold a key portfolio in Cabinet, but his influence lies in the axis with Manuel and the fact that he has been centrally involved in every major policy decision taken by government since 1994.”

Joel Netshitenzhe, I find particularly interesting. Officially he is head of GCIS, government communications – basically responsible for the messages and the public face that the ANC government wants to portray. It is a powerful office that falls under the presidency and is basically the interface between the president and the government, and the media and the public. His GCIS position means that he is allowed to sit in on all cabinet meetings, he is also a member of the ANC’s NEC. Unofficially Netshitenzhe is thought to be a powerful and influential political advisor to Mbeki. In fact, there are many who are of the opinion that it’s actually Joel who runs the country while Mbeki focuses on his African agenda. At one point he was offered the deputy presidency of the ANC but he wasn’t interested preferring to work behind the scenes, and so Zuma became the compromise candidate. There was also talk at one stage of him getting a post as a special minister in the president’s office but he wasn’t interested in that either.

Mbeki has increased the size of the presidency since he came into power. He has been called a technocrat and a micromanager, and it certainly seems that over the past year he has even further increased the presidency’s role in terms of coordination of government programmes and chivvying departments along in their work. I think the presidency must have been the catalyst behind Project Consolidate (an integrated strategy to improve local government and hence service delivery), and certainly the presidency must have been the driving force behind the new programme of Political Champions (ministerial oversight of key municipal nodes identified for special government attention). The Political Champions programme is quite an interesting one and I’ll try blog more about that later.

Mbeki has had his failures, no-one understands his contrary stance towards Zimbabwe and HIV/Aids. He hasn’t done enough to combat crime and corruption. He has been accused of undermining the democratic process by his profound lack of tolerance towards his critics. However he has been strong in driving economic growth and development. He has also been strong in his attempts to provide service delivery and reverse the structural inequalities of apartheid. There are some who say he hasn’t done enough in this regard, and I agree with this assessment but I believe that Mbeki feels strongly about fixing the service delivery situation and is attempting to fast track the process from the presidency downwards. I think that Joel Netshitenzhe is closely involved in this process and I would by far see Netshitenzhe as our next president than Jacob Zuma.

Zuma has been tainted by allegations of corruption, he has probably been distracted from his political work over past years by his financial troubles and involvement in various scandals and many of his political commitments have involved his role as a peace negotiator in Burundi and the DRC and making speeches at rallies and conferences. He does however have huge populist appeal with ordinary people, Cosatu and the young lions. Netshitenzhe is far more hands on and involved in the running of the country and according to the Sunday Times, he is said to be “humble and modest”, and a good political strategist. He is also considered to be one of the top ANC intellectuals. The problem is, so far he has shown no sign of wanting to gain high office. I hope he changes his mind, because when I look at the various names that have been speculated upon as possible successors to Mbeki, Netshitenzhe has my vote.