Antjie Krog speaks to The Independent about Jacob Zuma

Whatever is being said is arid opportunism. There is no intellectual engagement with politicians.

Jacob Zuma? “I have heard stories about how remarkable he was during the apartheid times, and I would have thought that that calibre of a man would be brave enough to say: I will not sully the seat of Nelson Mandela by being a President while all of these accusations, however unfair I feel them to be, hang over me. I refuse to be a President when this is hanging over me. Now for such a man I could vote.

“But we don’t know to what extent others have pushed him, others that have the power... the pressure to drop the accusations is a sad state of affairs.” At the same time I am quite confused. For the first time in my life I don’t know who to vote for.

SHOOT: Vote for truth. Vote for morality. The DA.

clipped from www.independent.co.uk But I do feel anger that a country with so much potential and a group of people who so successfully threw aside apartheid and so impressively held the moral high ground, could now sound so bankrupt, so politically and spiritually bankrupt as we do. “I am angry at that but there is some kind of normality in it. These are good things to be concerned about. At least it is not the anguish of the apartheid years when it seemed that would never end.” “People use the corruption and lack of services to validate racism. It seems that during apartheid it was clear to everybody what was right and what was wrong, but it is indeed becoming more and more difficult to work out nowadays what is right and what is wrong.” Such as? Well, she says, people in rural areas who stand up, burn things, plunder trains or schools and complain because their services are bad. “Part of me says: good for you for standing up. Another part says, why not do something constructive instead of undoing?

Like the good old apartheid times

Forced to eat meat mixed with garlic and urine, cleaners at a South African university are going through their "initiation" process. Participating in beer-downing competitions, races and mock rugby games, if the black workers are sufficiently entertaining, they go away at the end of the day with a bottle of whisky.

This is what happened at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein in central South Africa last September, when five elderly black cleaners were filmed completing the humiliating tasks. On Tuesday (26. Feb) the video of the events surfaced on the internet, causing outrage across the country. Now, the four victimisers are facing criminal charges, and mass protests are taking the country by storm.

This is what the friend are saying on an international (english) website. Go here for details.

Mr. Vanderleek
Submitted by Ingrid Stofleth (not verified) on Thu, 02/28/2008 - 18:59.
Having read Mr. Vanderleek's comments, I now have a better idea why racism lives on, loud and proud, in South Africa. If a university educated young man (the so-called "future of the country") considers these incidents as merely a manifestation of a "sick sense of humour", and the ensuing protests as "white black bullshit", then: good luck, South Africa.

NVDL: Amazing, am I the so called future of South Africa also a so called racist now? Quite a few assumptions there. Amazing how words are construed to justify what you - IS -desperately seem to want to believe. It's a sick sense of wanting to believe the worst in people isn't it? To want what they mean to be the worst that they might mean. I never said these incidents were 'merely' a manifestation, but it does point to a particular sort of attitude, and it's accurate to say that the attitude behind the making of the video shows a sick sense of humor. Not 'merely'.

If you ever lived in South Africa you would know how all South Africans feel about the Apartheid past. We're sick of it. We want to move forward. International news only refers to SA when there is a racists element to the story. The brand CNN and other news-creators want for SA is 'the country where whites are backward and give blacks a hard time'. It's great news. It's more: "see, we told you' reporting". Such obvious racism (as seen on the video) is taboo today, hence 'bullshit'. I'm not saying it never happens, I mean most good South Africans, the majority in other words, have absolute disdain for this sort of base behaviour. Stofleth's remarks reflect just as nasty a failure to try to understand as is the basis of racism.

Thanks for your good luck wishes though. We'll be needing them.

Apartheid 2

It's shocking that a lot of black people are describing the current government as 'worse than apartheid. The first time I saw these opinions I was inclined to dismiss them as fringy rants. Look at this shortlist of the same story, different black writer:

Just Like Apartheid (front page headline in the Sowetan today)
Deafening silence as Mbeki and Co reduce South Africa to a state of fear
Was the country run better under apartheid?

Now, the point isn't that Apartheid is 'better' or worse, the point is simply that government is SO infernally bad, that it's being compared unfavorably to an even more horrible government. The point is: the state of the nation politically is awful.

The question then becomes: what can we do about it? I suggest taking a leaf out of Bullard's book (by the way he told us it will be available on Wednesday for about R120). What can we do? Impeach the president.
(Read Bullard's article here.)
Call for change. Let the Bokke do their thing, but for everyone else the buck stops where it starts. All people in agreement say AYE...