'SA has lost Mandela glitter of hope'

[Rudolph]

2010-02-15 14:15

Cape Town - South Africa has lost the hope provided by former president Nelson Mandela (http://www.whoswhosa.co.za/Pages/profilefull.aspx?IndID=3961), but the many challenges can still be defeated, Congress of the People parliamentary leader Mvume Dandala said on Monday.

Speaking during debate in the National Assembly on President Jacob Zuma (http://www.whoswhosa.co.za/Pages/profilefull.aspx?IndID=927)'s State of the Nation address, Dandala paid tribute to Mandela.

Mandela was a strong leader with a sense of honour and a strong moral focus, he said.

"He raised our eyes to what we can become as a nation. He trusted and respected the law and allowed himself to be tested by the law. He insisted upon the separation of the state and party powers.

"He spurned patronage in all its forms. He had depths of compassion for the poor, always treating them with utmost dignity.

"Twenty years on, we have not captured that glitter of hope.

True state of the nation

"We have debilitating poverty for millions of our people. In a country with our resource base, it is simply a shame that so many people live below the breadline.

"We have millions of our children unable to read or write, owing to an education system in collapse. We are not safe in our own homes, owing to the high levels of crime," Dandala said.

These problems could be defeated, provided the true state of the nation was acknowledged and the nation was rallied and galvanised to rise to the challenge.

South Africa needed inspirational, yet transformative and action-oriented leadership.

"We have to determine to take corrective measures. This is the only way we can triumph over these many challenges, to build a nation that the whole world will watch in admiration, even as we host the FIFA World Cup.

"South Africans are waiting for the government to invoke our collective sense of honour that we can rise to overcome, just as we have done in the past, to win against all odds."

Promises not fulfilled

Dandala urged Zuma and his government to listen carefully to the pulse of the nation.

The people were angry at the promises made, but not fulfilled.

He asked why South Africans should believe Zuma now when, among other things, he promised 500 000 jobs or job opportunities, but almost a million jobs had been lost.

Land redistribution would not meet its 2014 target. Many of the farms bought by government under this scheme had dropped in productivity, if not been left as ghost farms threatening the livelihood of communities.

"Our food security as a nation is under threat. Why should South Africans as a nation believe you now, Mr President?"


- SAPA

http://www.news24.com/Content/SouthAfrica/Politics/1057/95ccbf549837469eaa79ba8f116124e0/15-02-2010-02-15/SA_has_lost_Mandela_glitter_of_hope

*

Good points raised here, always good to hear it's not just the opinion of the white citizens.

[kiwiafrique]

Mandela was a strong leader with a sense of honour and a strong moral focus, he say:
Jailed for wanting to bomb SA back into the stone ages, Amnesty international wouldn’t support him because of his support of violence, if he had ceased the bombings, necklacing etc he would have been released in 83, by 1996 he was worth USD 10.000.000 (Court records) he took bribes from Doe Styn (Re Van Syl Slabbet), he ran a civil war against his black opposition to gain total ANC power (ReDr A Jefferys Institute of Race Relations), set up the arms deal & recons Kadife, Castro & the Lockbe bombers are great guys.
My frigging hero.

[Rudolph]

^
Sure, we all feel that way some times... but he turned out okay in the end. If he was released any earlier I fear a civil war would've definitely happened, but by the time he came out his youthful angst and ambition turned to reconciliation and a want for peace. On that last few years I see him as being sincere...

[MJC9678]

ah....SA, a decade or so behind Rhodesia.

[martinexsquaddie]

yeah well white minority rule was always a stupid idea Rhodesia fought a futile war long after the game was up South Africa did same deny citizens a vote and somehow don't expect violence

[drevil5000]

yeah well white minority rule was always a stupid idea Rhodesia fought a futile war long after the game was up South Africa did same deny citizens a vote and somehow don't expect violence

lol, you're probably from a country where your race is the majority.

[Rudolph]

yeah well white minority rule was always a stupid idea Rhodesia fought a futile war long after the game was up South Africa did same deny citizens a vote and somehow don't expect violence

Imagine the USA after slavery, except the slaves don't speak English, and instead of them being 10%, they are 90% of the pop, and American whites only 10%. That's South Africa for you. A big ****up.

[2495]

In 20 years time, SA will be another Liberia or Zimbabwe. The only way that nation is going is downhill. Apartheid was wrong, it needed ending, but just look at who took the reigns. I pity the farmers and any one with anything worth stealing.

Sad sad times for SA, and I truely hope it can turn itself around. I doubt it though.

[cold_warrior]

lol, you're probably from a country where your race is the majority.

Or an ethnically homogenous one like Sweden.

Have you ever noticed that the countries that scream the loudest about tolerance are the least diverse?

[Rudolph]

In 20 years time, SA will be another Liberia or Zimbabwe. The only way that nation is going is downhill. Apartheid was wrong, it needed ending, but just look at who took the reigns. I pity the farmers and any one with anything worth stealing.

Sad sad times for SA, and I truely hope it can turn itself around. I doubt it though.

I think it was a British PM who made the landmark speech about the winds of change sweeping over Africa, as Britain starting giving indepedence to any country that wanted it - after learning a hard lesson in Kenya. The Portuguese in Angola, Mozambique, etc., the French also learned it the hard way in North-Africa, and needlessly 100 000's of people died. Of all the countries in Africa, South Africa has remarkably seen the least bloodshed during colonialism. The worst thing that ever happened were the Zulus invading the Xhosas and killing 3 million natives way back, and then the Boer War collectively claiming around 50,000 I guess, but mostly Europeans. During 46 years of apartheid, though there was brutal oppression at times, a total figure of around 20 thousand died due to political violence, and 14 000 of those were fought between the Zulus and Xhosas before the 1994 elections. Many of the policemen and military-men are still doing the same job as they did during apartheid, they are not viewed as monsters by the blacks.

I would also like to place something in the context of the times. The incident which really was the starting point for worldwide anti-apartheid movements and true hatred of South African whites was the Sharpeville Massacre. At the end of apartheid the ANC did their own investigations of this and other events and if you read this excerpt you'll get a better picture than one of simple-minded racist cops shooting at blacks for no reason at all:

"On 21 March, a group of between 5,000 and 7,000 people converged on the local police station in the township of Sharpeville, offering themselves up for arrest for not carrying their pass books.[4] (http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/#cite_note-3) This was part of a broader campaign organized by the PAC. There is evidence that the PAC used intimidating means to draw the crowd to the protest, including the cutting of telephone lines into Sharpeville, the distribution of pamphlets telling people not to go to work on the day, and coercion of bus drivers.[2] (http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/#cite_note-TRCReport-1) Regardless, most of the crowd were in favour of the protest.

By 10:00 am, a large crowd had gathered, and the atmosphere was peaceful and festive. Fewer than 20 police officers were present in the station at the start of the protest. Police and military used low-flying Sabre (http://www.militaryphotos.net/wiki/F-86_Sabre) jet fighters to attempt to intimidate the crowd into dispersing, a tactic that had been successful at a similar protest on the same day at Evaton (http://www.militaryphotos.net/wiki/Evaton).[2] (http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/#cite_note-TRCReport-1) The police set up Saracen (http://www.militaryphotos.net/wiki/Alvis_Saracen) armoured vehicles in a line facing the protesters and, at 1:15 pm, fired upon the crowd.

Reasons for firing

Police reports claimed that members of the crowd threw stones at them (or at their cars) and that inexperienced police officers opened fire spontaneously. The police were armed with Stens (http://www.militaryphotos.net/wiki/Sten) and tear gas. Lieutenant Colonel Pienaar, the commanding officer of the police forces at Sharpeville, denied giving any order to fire and stated that he would not have done so. Nevertheless, his attitude towards the protest is revealed in his statement that "the native mentality does not allow them to gather for a peaceful demonstration. For them to gather means violence."[5] (http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/#cite_note-Reeves-4) It is likely that the police were nervous as, two months before the massacre, nine police officers had been killed by a mob at Cato Manor (http://www.militaryphotos.net/wiki/Cato_Manor).[3] (http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/#cite_note-aboutArticle-2) Evidence given to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (http://www.militaryphotos.net/wiki/Truth_and_Reconciliation_Commission_(South_Africa)) in 1998 suggested "a degree of deliberation in the decision to open fire". The police continued firing even when the crowd had turned to run, and the majority of those killed and wounded were shot in the back.[2] (http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/#cite_note-TRCReport-1) There was no evidence that anyone in the crowd was armed.[1] (http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/#cite_note-TimeArticle-0)

Death and injury toll

The official figure is that 69 people were killed, including 8 women and 10 children, and over 180 injured, including 31 women and 19 children.[5] (http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/#cite_note-Reeves-4)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpeville_Massacre

Sources include Time, SA Truth and Reconciliation Commission, SAHistory.

There's this weird understanding and acceptance between black and white, which I cannot put into words for a foreigner. They understand us, and we understand them. We just refuse to work together, because the black man has too much pride to let us show them how to run the country properly, and the white man is too arrogant and lacks the humility necessary to convince them otherwise. Until everyone realises that we need each other to make this country work things will keep going down hill under African rule. The whites with the means will simply leave the country and with them the capital, skills and know-how that made SA the region superpower it once was, and still is, but maybe won't be 20 years down the line...

[Dwelm]

There's this weird understanding and acceptance between black and white, which I cannot put into words for a foreigner. They understand us, and we understand them. We just refuse to work together, because the black man has too much pride to let us show them how to run the country properly, and the white man is too arrogant and lacks the humility necessary to convince them otherwise. Until everyone realises that we need each other to make this country work things will keep going down hill under African rule. The whites with the means will simply leave the country and with them the capital, skills and know-how that made SA the region superpower it once was, and still is, but maybe won't be 20 years down the line...

agree with you 100%

[Cpl Kat]

In 20 years time, SA will be another Liberia or Zimbabwe. The only way that nation is going is downhill. Apartheid was wrong, it needed ending, but just look at who took the reigns. I pity the farmers and any one with anything worth stealing.

Sad sad times for SA, and I truely hope it can turn itself around. I doubt it though.

I doubt it as well. If it was going to happen (the turn around) we would have seen it already.

We hear from our remaining family and friends how the infrastructure there is crumbling. Electricity that goes out for extended periods of time, etc. Crime is still bad.

Someone told me the crime "isn't that bad" so I did some research comparing South African and Canadian stats (where I now live). Using the official crime statistics released by both countries and looking at crimes committed per 100,000 of the population, the murder rate in the RSA is 19 times higher than Canada. And that is just one crime category.

Really sad ....

[kiwiafrique]

^
Sure, we all feel that way some times... but he turned out okay in the end. If he was released any earlier I fear a civil war would've definitely happened, but by the time he came out his youthful angst and ambition turned to reconciliation and a want for peace. On that last few years I see him as being sincere...

Ya that is the perception, try get a hold of a book put out be the Institute of Race Relations by Dr Anthea Jeffery called ‘People’s War’ its quiet clear on his release & under his leadership the ANC spent there time wiping out their opposition, & blaming it on ‘Third force, SAP, SANDF’ (15,000 dead) etc. Once unchallenged power was achieved in dubious elections he was conciliatory he could afford to be, but then Mugabe did exactly the same thing, he was just a lot younger & he stayed.

[kiwiafrique]

yeah well white minority rule was always a stupid idea Rhodesia fought a futile war long after the game was up South Africa did same deny citizens a vote and somehow don't expect violence

The majority of the violence was directed at blacks, saying that I personally don’t think the system that was in place ( which by the 80’s was in the main no vote ) justified bombs in shopping centres, Wimpy restaurants on Sunday afternoons & public bars , shooting people in church, putting tyres around the necks of councillors children filling it with petrol then setting them alight etc
But that’s just me

[sepheronx]

The majority of the violence was directed at blacks, saying that I personally don’t think the system that was in place ( which by the 80’s was in the main no vote ) justified bombs in shopping centres, Wimpy restaurants on Sunday afternoons & public bars , shooting people in church, putting tyres around the necks of councillors children filling it with petrol then setting them alight etc
But that’s just me

Like how many here and in the general public would say "all thewhite mans fault". For some reason, I don't see how this justifies the actions that have been done and is being done now.

[G-AWZT]

Black entitlement has been that community's biggest drawback. Unfortunately it will never go away at least for the next 100 years, in the meantime everything that is attached to that entitlement will suffer.