Quo vadis, SA?

A Conversation with South African Poet and Anti-Apartheid Activist Breyten Breytenbach on His Own Imprisonment, South Africa’s “Failed Revolution,” Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama

'If you can stand the loss, leave SA'
One of South Africa's most celebrated writers has issued a damning attack on the South African political order for failing the country's citizens.

Breyten Breytenbach, the poet, writer and anti-apartheid activist, has written a scathing article titled Mandela's Smile: notes on South Africa's failed revolution, in the latest edition of the US magazine, Harpers.
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Bitte beachten Sie unbedingt die länderspezifischen Hinweise Südafrika sowie die Gesundheitsvorschriften und Sicherheitshinweise.

The police are corrupt, says minister
South Africa's Security Minister Nathi Mthethwa said Monday that the public's perception of police corruption was correct and vowed to crack down on graft in the force.

"I am aware that some senior police officers are being investigated for corruption. We do not want such people in the police," he said in an interview on public radio.

"The public perception that the police are corrupt is correct. Corrupt police officers should leave the police," he said.
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2010 whistleblower gunned down
Mpumalanga police have not ruled out the possibility that the murder of a senior political official may be politically motivated.
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ANC whistleblower shot dead
A senior ANC official who blew the whistle on alleged corruption in a 2010 construction project was shot dead in his Nelspruit house on Sunday evening, an official said on Monday.
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2010 stadium project rocked by scandals
Construction has not yet started on Mpumalanga's R920-million World Cup stadium and already authorities are investigating claims that the company appointed to design it was irregularly paid tens of millions of rands.
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Matric marks manipulated?
Johannesburg - Senior education officials allegedly instructed at least two teachers to inflate matric results, the Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday.
The party had been approached by two people who claimed that some matric marks were deliberately raised, said spokesperson Desiree van der Walt in a statement.
They alleged that the increases were carried out on the instructions of education department officials.
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DA: Probe matric exams
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"On the surface, the 2008 matric exam results suggest that our education system is showing signs of improvement. But there is a growing number of questions about the extent to which these results are in fact only smoke and mirrors."
"Furthermore, the department's failure to release more than 10% of the matric results is indicative of astonishing administrative failures which cannot go uninvestigated," she said.
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'No improvement' in matric maths
Johannesburg - The 2008 mathematics results do not necessarily reflect real improvement in mathematics education in SA, said a group of the subjects' educators on Saturday.
"The mathematics targets achieved by the education department should not be misconstrued as indicators of any real improvement in mathematics education in South Africa," said the Concerned Mathematics Educators (CME) in a statement.
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Schüsse im WM-Land
Der Mord an einem aufrechten Lokalpolitiker in Südafrika schürt Sicherheits-Ängste. Er hatte die Korruption beim Stadionbau angeprangert. Der Weltverband spricht von einem "schweren Rückschlag".
Von Thomas Kistner
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'White dogs will be killed'
Welkom - An elderly farmer was allegedly called a "white dog" by police officers, and told that "all white dogs in South Africa will be killed".
For several weeks now, Volksblad has reported complaints from the community about poor service delivery and alleged brutality by the police in Odendaalsrus.
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Six VIP Unit members under investigation for murder
Ministerial spokesman says forty others are being probed for other offences
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's security ministry said on Thursday it was investigating six members of an elite protection unit for murder or attempted murder, a new embarrassment for police accused of graft and incompetence.
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The VIP unit from hell
During the past four years, 111 members of the police's elite VIP Protection Unit - responsible for protecting the president, among others - have been charged with crimes such as murder, attempted murder, rape, armed robbery and the abuse of power.
This is according to the Safety and Security Department in a reply to a recent parliamentary question from the Democratic Alliance.
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Land der untergehenden Hoffnung
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Und tatsächlich ist die Frequenz der Skandale in den vergangenen Wochen beklemmend hoch:
• 76 Millionen Euro sind verschwunden, nachdem die halbstaatliche Pipelinegesellschaft auf eigene Faust Ölreserven verkauft hat. Der Vorsitzende und sein Geschäftsführer wurden vom Dienst suspendiert.
• Knapp zehn Millionen Euro müssen die Verbraucher bezahlen, weil ein Kartell - besetzt mit hochrangigen Politikern - den Mais künstlich verknappt und trotz Verbotes ins Ausland verkauft hat. Politische Konsequenzen? Bisher keine.
• 4,3 Millionen Euro hat die halbstaatliche Tourismusbehörde an zwei private Unternehmen praktisch ohne Gegenleistung bezahlt. Der Amtschef wurde umgehend entlassen.
• Für rund 30 Millionen Euro wurde im vergangenen Sommer das "Grand Regency Hotel", eines der besten Hotels in Nairobi, an einen libyschen Investor verkauft, obwohl der Marktwert des Hotels deutlich höher eingeschätzt wird. Der Finanzminister musste infolge des ominösen Deals gehen.
Vor allem der Mais-Skandal erregt die Kenianer. Erst stiegen die Preise im vergangenen Sommer wie überall, dann stellte sich heraus, dass die Regierung nicht genügend Mais importiert hatte, um den absehbaren Bedarf aufzufangen. Und schließlich wurde auch noch ruchbar, dass die Knappheit - nicht zuletzt durch Politiker - künstlich angeheizt worden war.
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"Inakzeptabel" ließ unter anderen der deutsche Botschafter Walter Lindner verlauten und verlangte von der Regierung Aufklärung und eine schnelle Bereinigung der Skandale. Vorher sei ausländische Hilfe nicht mehr vertretbar.

Desperation in the long UIF queues
You don't need to look far to discover where to inquire about claiming from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).

A queue originating from the first floor of the department of labour's Rissik Street branch in central Johannesburg snakes all the way down to the ground floor - testament to the soaring unemployment figures caused by the global economic recession.

For many in the queue this isn't their first visit to the centre; some are here for the third or fourth time and have yet to receive any unemployment benefits.

This suggests that, although the UIF promises to provide the unemployed with some kind of safety net, accessing the fund remains a difficult endeavour.
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Create jobs or lose out
The ANC intends to use the government's multibillion-rand state tenders to force companies to create jobs.

It also wants to punish those who use casual labour and put an end to corruption and jobs for pals.

Flexing its muscles before more than 80 000 supporters, the ANC on Saturday launched its election manifesto in East London, in a region widely considered to be the stronghold of its rival party, the Congress of the People (COPE).

The ANC, having failed to create the jobs it promised in the past three elections, will now target the recipients of state tenders and large contracts to ensure that they create "decent work".
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ECape learning 'in shambles'
Johannesburg - The SA Democratic Teachers Union has called for national intervention to improve education in the Eastern Cape which it describes as being in a "shambles".
"The weaknesses are well-known and long-standing, and include... the lack of financial planning and accountability, the lack of monitoring of the system, at all levels, the failure to fill critical posts at all levels, said Sadtu president Thobile Ntola.
"At the highest levels of the department there is constantly changing personnel and organograms resulting in massive instability and lack of leadership.
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A total of 30 494 pupils, or 50.6% of those who wrote the matric exam in the province, passed in 2008. In 2007 the Eastern Cape recorded a 57.1% pass rate, which then made it the worst-performing province in the country.

Man left to die on N14 highway
A good Samaritan, shot through the neck, bled to death in front of a friend moments after stopping to help his pal on a notoriously dangerous road outside Pretoria.

The gunning down of German national Dieter Furrutter, 63, on the N14 opposite Diepsloot in lunchtime traffic on Monday came as police, who were several kilometres away, were discussing plans on the re-introduction of safety patrols along the very stretch of highway where he was gunned down.

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Nach einer kleinen Notiz in der Süddeutschen Zeitung in der letzten Woche hat Herr Kibaki die Weltgemeinschaft aufgefordert, Lebensmittelhilfe zu leisten. Also Ihr Gutmenschen, flugs das Portemonnaie geöffnet! Ihr werdet doch die armen Kenianer nicht hungern lassen!? Die kenianische Regierung kann sich ja schließlich nicht um alles kümmern!
Der Meinung des deutschen Botschafters

"Inakzeptabel" ließ unter anderen der deutsche Botschafter Walter Lindner verlauten und verlangte von der Regierung Aufklärung und eine schnelle Bereinigung der Skandale. Vorher sei ausländische Hilfe nicht mehr vertretbar.

muss man ja nicht unbedingt folgen.

What is the real matric pass rate?
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According to Cronje, ‘The low pass rates, the low throughput rates, and the low rates of university entry passes are perhaps now the greatest single crisis facing South Africa. South Africa will not become a successful industrialised economy if the education authorities continue to produce such inadequate results. The education authorities from the minister downwards are responsible for stunting the development of future generations of young and mainly black South Africans. The end result is not very different from that of Bantu education and means that greater economic equality is unlikely to be achieved for current generations. Continued failure raises the risk of future political instability and questions the true commitment of the African National Congress to ensure a better life for all its supporters’.

Air crew bailed over drugs find
Fifteen airline crew members have been bailed after officials at Heathrow airport seized cannabis and cocaine with a street value of £310,000.
The South African Airways staff, including three pilots, were arrested on Tuesday after 50kg (110lbs) of cannabis was found in baggage.
A further search uncovered 4Kg (8.8lbs) of cocaine, worth £160,000.

SAA to question crew members
Johannesburg - Three SAA pilots and 12 cabin crew detained by the British authorities for alleged drug possession were released without being charged, the national carrier said on Wednesday.

Mein spezieller Freund will einmal mehr Kritik/Klarstellungen "wegbügeln"...

Volker schrieb:

Mein spezieller Freund will einmal mehr Kritik/Klarstellungen "wegbügeln"...

Nun, das von Michael eröffnete Thema war Südafrika und nicht "Stellungnahme des....." - daher halte ich es für sein gutes Recht, seinen Thread wieder umzubenennen. Alles andere verwirrt doch nun sehr.

Und vielleicht beachtet er ja bzgl. Deiner letzten Beiträge (die ich mittlerweile als Drohungen empfinde) die Netiquette:

permanente Provokationen einfach ignorieren.

Melka

wo steht, welcher Thread wem gehört 😉 Aber das nur nebenbei.

Hat meine Überschrift nicht einen wesentlich klareren Bezug zum Inhalt?

Und was ist daran bedrohlich, Vertreter eines Landes um Stellungnahme zu bitten, das hier ständig angegriffen wird?

"zu dem Thema Copyright fällt mir ein anderer Thread ein, in dem vielfach selektiv aus verlinkten Artikeln zitiert wird und teilweise auch Cartoons kopiert werden. Gibt es damit keinen Ärger wegen Copyright? ".....

"Es gibt noch andere legale Optionen (von denen ich bisher abgesehen habe), die ich hier aber nicht öffentlich machen werde, sondern mit dem Betreiber des Forums bespreche."

Noch ist es nicht zu spät, den Quo Vadis Thread vom Admin löschen zu lassen, bevor es hier wirklich Spektakel gibt

Es ist aus meiner Sicht ein fairer Hinweis auf mein weiteres Vorgehen.

Motlanthe must act now to end cholera crisis
Government appears to be without a plan and refuses to disclose numbers
EDITORIAL: TODAY The Times publishes shocking details of South Africa’s hidden cholera epidemic. Our reporting team visited rural Mpumalanga where they found four villages entirely dependent on water from a cholera-infested river.
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SA’s hidden cholera crisis…
The outbreak has highlighted the government’s failure to extend basic municipal services, such as clean tap water, to hundreds of thousands of rural people who are forced to draw water from cholera- infected rivers.
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System buckling in cholera fight
CHOLERA infections in Mpumalanga are rising daily and the healthcare system in the province is battling to cope.
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NEWSCLIPPING, RAND DAILY MAIL - This is an experience I have personally also observed during the 190/1 cholera epidemics I reported on for the Rand Daily Mail newspaper. Two cholera outbreaks occurred simultaneously in Northern KwaZuluNatal and in the then-homeland of Bophuthatswana near Pretoria. See the report from the Rand Daily Mail published at the time, reporting that the SA Army ‘s quick action had saved many thousands of lives. Both regions were sealed off by the SA Army medical service and a large number of rehydration tent sites set up at Catholic mission station hospitals and government clinics to control the outbreaks. It was found that both rivers feeding into these regions were infected with cholera. Hundreds of water-tankers from the military were sent out, driven by young soldiers who were taking clean water around to all these communities. They were invariably greeted with ululuing and great cheer, and the free water-purification tablets and packets which were handed out during the military’s cholera-prevention meetings were all snapped up by the thousands. As soon as the water-tanks emptied out and fresh supplies didn’t arrive in time, however, back they all went, into the river, swimming in it, drinking from it, and defacating in it. Teams of soldiers were constantly searching the river banks, trying to keep the kids from swimming in the rivers. And the water-purification packets we noticed were sold as ‘cholera-medicine’ at roadside stands and local spaza shops.