"Pay Back The Money President Zuma!'

 South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) reacted angrily to the conduct of legislators of the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) conduct in Parliament.
The EFF members disrupted proceedings while President Jacob Zuma was answering questions and refused to leave the National Assembly after ordered to do so by Speaker Baleka Mbethe on Thursday.

“This is an act of rebels masked as parliamentarians who are committed to hijack our democracy, parliament and legislatures.
"EFF is not in parliament to resolve or to engage robustly to solve any problem, but there to cause destruction and anarchy. They use and hijack parliament and legislatures as laboratory's for political adventurism, we call on parliament to wake up to this reality and defend its integrity,” Zizi Kodwa, ANC spokesperson, stated.
He said millions of South Africans who voted for political parties to represent them in parliament, have their hopes and aspirations in parliament and MPs.
"Parliament therefore, must not allow itself to descend to a kindergarten and betray the hopes of our people. The violent nature of EFF engagement provokes emotions and this may lead to political intolerance which its consequences are dire for our democracy," Kodwa said.

However, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) national party spokesman, Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, said the actions by EFF in parliament on Thursday were justifiable.
"President Jacob Zuma did not respond to the public protector's report and directive that public money was spent in his private home security upgrade and to that extent he must pay back.
"President Zuma was asked by the EFF leader, Julius Malema in parliament as to when is he paying back the money as per the Public Protector's directive, but Zuma did not respond and chose to stick to the nonsense that the minister of the police must determine who is going to pay," Ndlozi said.

Ndlozi accused Zuma of "insulting" the intelligence of parliament" and that of Public Protector Thuli Madonsela by saying the police minister must indicate who should pay the money.
"The EFF cannot join the toothless tactics of parliamentary procedure when the very foundation of the rule of law is undermined by the executive," Ndlozi said.
Julius Malema, a former ANC Youth League President, leads the EFF, which was formed last year.
They have an uncharacteristic dress code in Parliament - red overalls or aprons and matching berets.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zu_UY7S3koA

by Mthulisi Sibanda from here

come fly with me

Just days after his ruling African National Congress party discussed ways to alleviate the growing gap between rich and poor people in South Africa, President Jacob Zuma is on the verge of purchasing a $230-million presidential jet. The Boeing 777 aircraft, seating about 300 people, will cost $150 million to purchase and another $80 million to customize.

South Africa’s Defense Department, which supervises the transport of senior government officials, may also purchase a second private plane -- a Global Express 600 -- for Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe at a cost of $28 million.

Opposition politicians are outraged over the proposed lavish expenditures in a country where at least one-quarter of the population is unemployed and 40 percent live on less than $49 per month.

Rebellion of the Poor

Minister of Police Nathi Mthetwa informed Parliament of the number of "crowd management incidents" that occurred during the three years from April 1 2009. In 2010-2011 there was a record number of crowd-management incidents (unrest and peaceful) and the final data for 2011-2012 are likely to show an even higher figure. Already, the number of gatherings involving unrest was higher in 2011-2012 than any previous year. During the past three years, 2009 to 2012, there has been an average of 2.9 unrest incidents a day. This is an increase of 40% over the average of 2.1 unrest incidents a day recorded for 2004-2009. The statistics show that what has been called the "rebellion of the poor" has intensified over the past three years.

The Incident Regulation Information System classifies incidents either as crowd management (peaceful), during which the incident is managed in cooperation with the convenor and the police only monitor the gathering, or as crowd management (unrest), during which the police need to intervene to make arrests or need to use force when there is a risk to safety or possible damage to property. During 2007-2008 to 2009-2010, "the most common reason for conducting crowd management (peaceful) gatherings was labour-related demands for increases in salary or wages". For the same period, the most common reason for "crowd management (unrest) was related to service delivery issues".

The number of arrests that had occurred with crowd management (unrest) gatherings were given as 4 883 (2009-2010), 4 680 (2010-2011), 2967 (April 1 2011 to March 5 2012). These figures give the average number of arrests per unrest gathering as, respectively, 4.8 (2009-2010), 4.8 (2010-2011) and 2.7 (2011-2012).

Gauteng had the largest number of peaceful incidents and the largest number of unrest incidents, but it also has the largest population, so it is not surprising.

Government attempts to improve service delivery have not been sufficient to assuage the frustration and anger of poor people in South Africa. From press reports and our own research, it is clear that although service-delivery demands provide the principal focus for unrest incidents, many other issues are being raised, notably a lack of jobs. Service-delivery protests are part of a broader "rebellion of the poor". This rebellion is massive. South Africa can reasonably be described as the "protest capital of the world". It also has the highest levels of inequality and unemployment of any major country and it is not unreasonable to assume that the rebellion is, to a large degree, a consequence of these phenomena. There is no basis for assuming that the rebellion will subside. http://mg.co.za/article/2012-04-13-a-massive-rebellion-of-the-poor

Jacob Zuma celebrated his 70th birthday on Friday where Ngema and Zuma's three wives were on hand to help him cut a R12 500 birthday cake. The Sunday Times said the president's Nkandla homestead had been given a R64-million upgrade that included six new double-storey thatch rondavels for his wives and family

Better Under Apartheid???

From our SPGB blog :-

"My life was better during apartheid," says Vincent Ntswayi, who held a steady job in Johannesburg during white rule but has only been intermittently employed since. "Freedom turned out to be just a word. Real freedom, real power, that comes from money — and I haven't got any money."

Let us be clear: Socialists were pleased to see the demise of apartheid in South Africa but warned at the time that capitalism with its attendant 'problems' including bad housing, inadequate health care, cheap schooling, unemployment, poor transport, police brutality, and pollution would continue.
But, later this month - some 19 years after the release of Mandela - workers will have the opportunity to vote in South Africa's parliamentary and presidential elections. The result is already known: they won, we lost.
Mass murderer Mbeki is no longer seeking to represent the capitalist class and is likely to be replaced in this role by Zuma, whose alleged background in corruption, fraud, money laundering and racketeering should serve him and those he represents well. The equally odious and corrupt 'Mother of the Nation' Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, is almost certain to be elected too.

Thus the rich will stay rich and the poor stay poor in the land of rape and money.