by Rev Christo Heiberg (Canada)
The other day a good friend referred in passing to modern Israel as an "apartheid state". That piqued my curiosity. I have heard this before. Former president Jimmy Carter even wrote a book called "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid". So what is an apartheid state? I decided to do some googling. Lo and behold there was much more to read than a busy reformed pastor can afford to spend his time on. One thing is sure enough though: Labeling Israel as an apartheid state amounts to political blasphemy of the worst kind. for Israel's friends at least. In fact, there hardly is a worse stigma in the world today, than the stigma of apartheid.
I should know since I have carried that stigma for many years, having lived there for close to forty years. In fact I know very few Afrikaners who have not carried the heavy burden of that stigma in one way or another. The world for some reason has decided this is it. This is the lowest level any society could ever descend to, notwithstanding the fact that we basicaly inherited the system of racial segregation from our colonial past.
This stigma that was South Africa was obvious in so many ways. South Africa was about the only country against which the old cold war enemies could ever unite against, backed by the rest of the world. Not even present day North Korea, Iran or Syria can boast that achievement 25 years after the cold war. White South Africa was the only country againts which text-book terrorism was considered perfectly legitimate by the civilized West - and still is - as long as the enemy was the "apartheid state". South Africa was the only country that was ever banned from the Olympic Games for three decades. It was the only country whose citizens were denied visas to most other countries for a whole generation. It was also the only Western country that had to fight a drawn-out war against Soviet backed guerillas amidst an oil and arms embargo imposed by its "allies". And so we can go on and on.
Just how odious this little Afrikaner nation has become and how unforgivable her political transgressions were, is further illustrated by the following: The second half of the twentieth century has seen many cases of national apologies being made about war crimes and genocides to the descendants of its victims, in an effort to heal the deep festering wounds of the past. One sad exception is the refusal of the Turks to confess the brutal genocide of a million Armenians just over a century ago. Around the same time though, the mighty British Empire committed unspeakable atrocities on the prairies of South Africa against the world's smallest white nation, because this tiny nation happened to stumble upon a big pot of gold! Yet no British apology has ever come forth for the forced starvation of 28 000 innocent women and children in British concentration camps between 1900 and 1902, in spite of the fact that all Britain blushed in shock and shame when it was revealed. The only reason - I presume - for the absence of an apology is the fact that the poor victims happened to be. Afrikaners! In fact the British Commonwealth's nonchalant attitude toward this forgotten war crime is well illustrated by the fact that a proud Canadian city could name itself after the main perpetrator, Lord Horatio Kitchener!
The extent of the international demonizing of white South Africa is further illustrated by the following statistics. A study conducted in 1977 revealed that the five primary news outlets in the United Sates; the New York Times, Washington Post, CBS, NBC, and ABC - while running among them only a single story on North Korea, seven on Cuba, and sixteen on Cambodia and its Khmer Rouge - ran a monstrous 513 stories condemning South Africa during 1976!
So what is an "apartheid state" then? Let us ask a fierce critic who knew the old South Africa from the inside, Richard Goldstone, a former justice of the South African constitutional court and currently on the payroll of the United Nations. Under the heading "Israel and the Apartheid Slander" Goldstone went on to say the following in the New York Times last November: "While apartheid can have a broader meaning, its use is meant to evoke the situation in pre-1994 South Africa. It is an unfair and inaccurate slander against Israel, calculated to retard rather than to advance the peace negotiations" (emphasis mine).
Goldstone continues: "I know all too well the cruelty of South Africa's abhorrent apartheid system, under which human beings characterized as black had no rights to vote, hold political office, use "white" toilets or beaches, marry whites, live in whites-only areas or even be there without a "pass". Blacks critically injured were left to bleed to death if there was no "black" ambulance to rush them to a "black" hospital. "White" hospitals were prohibited from saving their lives".
So that is the horror that is apartheid. It's not my intent to defend apartheid and its sad legacy of statutory racial discrimination here, but to expose Goldstone and the world's grotesque hypocrisy. For the sake of brevity, we'll focus on his last statement, that "blacks critically injured (were) left to bleed to death" since there was supposedly "no black ambulance to rush them to a black hospital". I wonder just how many such cases Judge Goldstone was honestly aware of? I am almost certain such cases were rare. A close relative of mine, having entered the South African medical world in 1979 - working in emergency units of public hospitals across the country - cannot recall a single incident where life or limb was ever saved or lost on the basis of the patient's skin.
What I do know is that there were more hospitals and ambulances operating in South Africa serving our African population than in the whole of Africa at the time. The biggest hospital in the world was right there in Soweto with 3200 beds, 8 000 staff at its peak, 23 operation theatres and a host of medical doctors, funded by white taxpayers money! This is just one of the countless apartheid stories that Goldstone prefers to omit and which many ordinary Africans my age are longing back for today, not to mention clean water, safe beaches, unplugged toilets, employment opportunities, much safer neighborhoods, etc. I also remember occasionally going with my dad to the university where he taught for twenty years, built in one of the "homelands" for our African people. It never occurred to me as I beheld the impressive campus nestled away in such beautiful surroundnings, or as I walked through the state of the art auditorium and cafeteria, that it was all part of a "cruel and abhorent system" aimed at oppression. But then what else can you expect from a "brainwashed" Afrikaner kid?
The "cruel and abhorrent apartheid system" is further exonerated by the following staggering truth. At the start of his BBC documentary series "The War of the World", Harvard historian Niall Ferguson makes the telling statement that the 20th Century was one long war of savagery motivated by racism among other things. What the Japanese did to the Koreans and the Chinese, what the Turks did to the Armenians and the Greeks, what the Russians did to the Slavs and Polish and other minorities, and later to the poor fleeing Germans, what the Nazi's did to the Jews and the Polish and many others, what the British did to Dresden and Hamburg and the Americans to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, what Mao did to his own people, and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, what Saddam Hussein did to the Kurds, what the Hutu's did to the Tutsi's and the Balkan peoples to each other, was in every instance motivated by some form of racism! The attacker viewing his enemy as an inferior race, or as Ferguson alledges, "vermin"! Whether Ferguson's thesis is correct is the reader's to decide, but one obvious fact strikes you if you are an Afrikaner: We did not make his list! We truly feature nowhere in six hours of 20th century sordid savagery! And that while the "racist abhorrent apartheid system" had all the means at its disposal - a pretty mighty army - and while its people had every reason to feel "justified" doing it, considering what happened to colonial Europeans throughout the rest of Africa.
The "cruel and abhorrent apartheid system" is also exonerated by Nigel Cawthorne's book on "History's Most Evil Despots and Dictators". You will find all sorts of ghosts from Akhenaten to Gaddafi in there, from nearly every nation under the sun, and up to 40 tyrants belonging to the 20th century alone. But again, among nine 20th Century African tyrants not a single Afrikaner name is found! And that while they ruled South Africa for almost 90 years! Truly astonishing!
Is it not also revealing that Mr. Nelson Mandela, convicted for acts of terorism, could emerge out of 27 years of imprisonmnet by this "cruel and abhorrent apartheid system" well enough to lead his country with dignity for five years. Survival beyond a few years in the notorious Chikurubi maximum security prison in Zimbabwe - of a mere political opponent of Robert Mugabe - will be considered a sheer miracle.
All of this as I have said is no defense of apartheid but an indictment of the world's unashamed hypocrisy that shows no sign of abating. One white farmer per week is being murdered in South Africa today (often in the greatest brutality), making it the most dangerous job under heaven on the planet since the end of apartheid. Western governments and its news media for the most part deliberately turn a blind eye to the killing fields. A Flemish lobby group in Brussels is doing its utmost to force this slowly growing genocide of white South Africans onto the European Parliament's radar asking a solemn question: "Hoeveel moeten er sterven voordat u de stilte breekt?" (How many must die before you will break the silence?)
The stigma of my country clung to me for the best part of my life. It does so no more. When one of my sons recently returned from a visit to the old country sporting a T-shirt with a Boer-War warrior on his chest, I felt extremely proud. Twenty years ago I would have blushed. However, what saddens me most today is not the injustice of apartheid, nor even a looming genocide, but how a God-fearing people of three centuries could forsake the Fountain of living waters, only to hewn for themselves cisterns that can hold no water. That is the true tragedy of the Afrikaner and the deepest loss of my country.
This article was obtained HERE
FURTHER READING
Apartheid an inhumane system?
Education is key to South Africa's Problems?
Sunday, 1 April 2012
Friday, 30 March 2012
Court Case - Rival says MTN Promised Iran South African military cooperation, delivery of defense equipment, Money and UN Votes for Phone Deal
Bloomberg News
By Tom Schoenberg and Indira A.R. Lakshmanan on March 29, 2012
MTN Group Ltd. (MTN), Africa’s largest wireless operator, bribed officials, arranged meetings between Iranian and South African leaders, and promised Iran weapons and United Nations votes in exchange for a license to provide mobile-phone service in the Islamic Republic, Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS (TCELL) alleged in a lawsuit.
“Upset by the loss of the open competition, MTN sought to obtain illegally what it could not obtain through honest competition and thereafter embarked on a premeditated program of corruption through bribery and trading in influence,” the complaint states.
In the memos attached to the complaint, MTN codenamed the effort “Project Snooker,” and described payoffs to Javid Ghorbanoghli, then Iran’s deputy foreign minister, dubbed “Long-J” in the memos, and Yusuf Saloojee, South Africa’s ambassador in Tehran at the time, who was codenamed ‘Short-J.’’ The men were paid $400,000 and $200,000 respectively, according to the complaint.
MTN prevailed upon the South African government to abstain from three votes on Iran’s nuclear energy program at the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna in 2005 and 2006, according to the complaint. The Iranian communications ministry allegedly told MTN it was withholding its license until it saw how South Africa voted at an upcoming IAEA meeting.
South Africa’s representative to the IAEA, Abdul Minty, abstained from an IAEA vote on Iran on Nov. 24, 2005. The license was delivered three days later, the complaint states.
Helicopters, Sniper Rifles
According to the complaint, MTN in August 2004 struck a deal with Ali Shamkhani, who was then Iran’s defense minister, to facilitate South African military cooperation and the delivery of defense equipment, including Denel AH-2 Rooivalk helicopters, encrypted military radios, sniper rifles, G5 howitzer artillery weapons, cannons, armored personnel carriers and radar technology. The list was set in a 2004 memorandum of understanding, which wasn’t included with the suit, according to the complaint.
MTN officials, including Nhleko, used their personal relationships with South Africa’s minister of defense at the time, Mosiuoa Lekota, to promise delivery of the elicit arms and technology in exchange for the license, the court papers allege. “This equipment was unavailable to Iran through legitimate means because of U.S. and international restrictions at the time,” Turkcell said in the papers. Lekota didn’t immediately respond to a message left on his mobile phone seeking comment today.
Legitimate Channels
Much of the equipment on the list wasn’t available to Iran through legitimate channels because of U.S. and international restrictions, the complaint alleges.
While MTN had promised Iran it could deliver South African military aid, no arms sales took place, angering Iranian officials, Turkcell claimed.
Turkcell’s complaint cites violations of the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 law that gives U.S. courts jurisdiction in some instances to consider claims by foreigners for illegal conduct that occurred in another country. The law is usually cited in human rights and torture cases.
The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a case brought by a group of Nigerians seeking damages under the statute, claiming Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) helped their government commit torture and murders in the early 1990s. The company argued that corporations can’t be sued under the law. Four federal appeals courts have permitted corporations to be sued under the Alien Tort Statute, the Nigerians argued.
On March 12, MTN issued a statement accusing Turkcell of attempted extortion and saying Turkcell threatened a lawsuit alleging improper payments to an Iranian and a South African official. MTN said at the time that any such suit would lack merit.
MTN also said that U.S. courts would not have jurisdiction over any such a case because the “accusations involve conduct alleged to have taken place in South Africa and Iran, and have no connection to the United States.” MTN said it established a committee of non-executive directors to investigate Turkcell’s allegations.
The claims against MTN also include aiding and abetting violation of U.S. treaties, tortuous interference with a contract, defamation and breach of contract related to a confidentiality agreement that Turkcell says MTN violated.
A “highly confidential” March 25, 2007 alleged memo to MTN’s chief executive from its representative in Iran, Chris Kilowan, recounts Saloojee’s description of visits to South Africa by top Iranian officials on behalf of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Khamenei dispatched Ali Larijani, then the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, to remind Thabo Mbeki, South Africa’s president at the time, “that certain defense- related promises were made by the South African Minister of Defense in 2004 in exchange for which MTN was allowed to replace Turkcell in the Irancell consortium,” according to the memo.
The same memo reports that Manouchehr Mottaki, who was then Iran’s foreign minister, was sent by Ahmadinejad to “get a direct answer” from Mbeki about South Africa’s alleged promises to sell arms to Iran. Mbeki “would not like to be drawn into the matter,” his spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said today by mobile phone.
‘Defense Cooperation’
Mottaki “reiterated their understanding that MTN was allowed to replace Turkcell in exchange for defense cooperation,” Kilowan wrote in the memo attached to the complaint.
In addition, the suit alleges that former South African trade unionist Irene Charnley, then a senior executive at MTN, arranged meetings for Iranian officials with the South African president and defense minister in 2004 and 2005, when MTN was trying to wrest the license from Turkcell.
Charnley also tried to facilitate a meeting between Iranian officials and Denel (Pty) Ltd, a South African government-owned defense company in late 2004, according to a fax she allegedly sent an Iranian official.
Efforts to reach Charnley yesterday at Smile Telecoms Holdings Ltd., a Mauritius-based company, were unsuccessful. She didn’t respond to a text message sent to her mobile phone and a call seeking comment today.
Clayson Monyela, a spokesman for the South African Department of International Affairs and Cooperation, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Unavailable to Comment
Repeated calls to the Iranian Interests Section in Pakistan’s embassy in Washington weren’t answered. No one was available to comment after two phone calls were put through to the office of Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast and Minister of Communication and Information Technology Reza Taghipour.
No one answered the phone after hours yesterday at the South African embassies in Muscat, where Saloojee is now ambassador to Oman, or in Vienna, where the IAEA is located.
Lanny Davis, a Washington lawyer and former special counsel to President Bill Clinton who said he represents MTN’s law firm, declined to comment yesterday.
MTN Iran Division
MTN’s Iran division, known as MTN Irancell, contributed 5 billion rand in revenue in the first six months of last year, or about 9 percent of MTN’s sales, and 2.1 billion rand in earnings before taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization, according to MTN company figures.
MTN is planning 1.3 billion rand in capital expenditures in Iran, up from 1.2 billion rand last year, according to company figures. MTN had 33.3 million subscribers in Iran as of Sept. 30, and is budgeting for 4 million new customers in Iran this year, the company said this month.
Turkcell says MTN’s business dealings in the U.S. are “extensive,” giving the U.S. court so-called personal jurisdiction over the company. Turkcell cites MTN’s roaming agreements with U.S. cellular carriers such as AT&T Inc. (T) (T) and T- Mobile USA Inc. (166783Q) (166783Q), the sale of airtime at 7-Eleven stores, and collaboration with Facebook and contracts with Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Cisco Systems as evidence.
Turkcell also says that one of MTN directors lives in the U.S.
Read the full article at Bloomberg News
Also see the earlier article "MTN Says Talks Halted on Resoving Turkcell Iran Dispute"
By Tom Schoenberg and Indira A.R. Lakshmanan on March 29, 2012
MTN Group Ltd. (MTN), Africa’s largest wireless operator, bribed officials, arranged meetings between Iranian and South African leaders, and promised Iran weapons and United Nations votes in exchange for a license to provide mobile-phone service in the Islamic Republic, Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS (TCELL) alleged in a lawsuit.
“Upset by the loss of the open competition, MTN sought to obtain illegally what it could not obtain through honest competition and thereafter embarked on a premeditated program of corruption through bribery and trading in influence,” the complaint states.
In the memos attached to the complaint, MTN codenamed the effort “Project Snooker,” and described payoffs to Javid Ghorbanoghli, then Iran’s deputy foreign minister, dubbed “Long-J” in the memos, and Yusuf Saloojee, South Africa’s ambassador in Tehran at the time, who was codenamed ‘Short-J.’’ The men were paid $400,000 and $200,000 respectively, according to the complaint.
MTN prevailed upon the South African government to abstain from three votes on Iran’s nuclear energy program at the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna in 2005 and 2006, according to the complaint. The Iranian communications ministry allegedly told MTN it was withholding its license until it saw how South Africa voted at an upcoming IAEA meeting.
South Africa’s representative to the IAEA, Abdul Minty, abstained from an IAEA vote on Iran on Nov. 24, 2005. The license was delivered three days later, the complaint states.
Helicopters, Sniper Rifles
According to the complaint, MTN in August 2004 struck a deal with Ali Shamkhani, who was then Iran’s defense minister, to facilitate South African military cooperation and the delivery of defense equipment, including Denel AH-2 Rooivalk helicopters, encrypted military radios, sniper rifles, G5 howitzer artillery weapons, cannons, armored personnel carriers and radar technology. The list was set in a 2004 memorandum of understanding, which wasn’t included with the suit, according to the complaint.
MTN officials, including Nhleko, used their personal relationships with South Africa’s minister of defense at the time, Mosiuoa Lekota, to promise delivery of the elicit arms and technology in exchange for the license, the court papers allege. “This equipment was unavailable to Iran through legitimate means because of U.S. and international restrictions at the time,” Turkcell said in the papers. Lekota didn’t immediately respond to a message left on his mobile phone seeking comment today.
Legitimate Channels
Much of the equipment on the list wasn’t available to Iran through legitimate channels because of U.S. and international restrictions, the complaint alleges.
While MTN had promised Iran it could deliver South African military aid, no arms sales took place, angering Iranian officials, Turkcell claimed.
Turkcell’s complaint cites violations of the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 law that gives U.S. courts jurisdiction in some instances to consider claims by foreigners for illegal conduct that occurred in another country. The law is usually cited in human rights and torture cases.
The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a case brought by a group of Nigerians seeking damages under the statute, claiming Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) helped their government commit torture and murders in the early 1990s. The company argued that corporations can’t be sued under the law. Four federal appeals courts have permitted corporations to be sued under the Alien Tort Statute, the Nigerians argued.
On March 12, MTN issued a statement accusing Turkcell of attempted extortion and saying Turkcell threatened a lawsuit alleging improper payments to an Iranian and a South African official. MTN said at the time that any such suit would lack merit.
MTN also said that U.S. courts would not have jurisdiction over any such a case because the “accusations involve conduct alleged to have taken place in South Africa and Iran, and have no connection to the United States.” MTN said it established a committee of non-executive directors to investigate Turkcell’s allegations.
The claims against MTN also include aiding and abetting violation of U.S. treaties, tortuous interference with a contract, defamation and breach of contract related to a confidentiality agreement that Turkcell says MTN violated.
A “highly confidential” March 25, 2007 alleged memo to MTN’s chief executive from its representative in Iran, Chris Kilowan, recounts Saloojee’s description of visits to South Africa by top Iranian officials on behalf of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Khamenei dispatched Ali Larijani, then the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, to remind Thabo Mbeki, South Africa’s president at the time, “that certain defense- related promises were made by the South African Minister of Defense in 2004 in exchange for which MTN was allowed to replace Turkcell in the Irancell consortium,” according to the memo.
The same memo reports that Manouchehr Mottaki, who was then Iran’s foreign minister, was sent by Ahmadinejad to “get a direct answer” from Mbeki about South Africa’s alleged promises to sell arms to Iran. Mbeki “would not like to be drawn into the matter,” his spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said today by mobile phone.
‘Defense Cooperation’
Mottaki “reiterated their understanding that MTN was allowed to replace Turkcell in exchange for defense cooperation,” Kilowan wrote in the memo attached to the complaint.
In addition, the suit alleges that former South African trade unionist Irene Charnley, then a senior executive at MTN, arranged meetings for Iranian officials with the South African president and defense minister in 2004 and 2005, when MTN was trying to wrest the license from Turkcell.
Charnley also tried to facilitate a meeting between Iranian officials and Denel (Pty) Ltd, a South African government-owned defense company in late 2004, according to a fax she allegedly sent an Iranian official.
Efforts to reach Charnley yesterday at Smile Telecoms Holdings Ltd., a Mauritius-based company, were unsuccessful. She didn’t respond to a text message sent to her mobile phone and a call seeking comment today.
Clayson Monyela, a spokesman for the South African Department of International Affairs and Cooperation, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Unavailable to Comment
Repeated calls to the Iranian Interests Section in Pakistan’s embassy in Washington weren’t answered. No one was available to comment after two phone calls were put through to the office of Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast and Minister of Communication and Information Technology Reza Taghipour.
No one answered the phone after hours yesterday at the South African embassies in Muscat, where Saloojee is now ambassador to Oman, or in Vienna, where the IAEA is located.
Lanny Davis, a Washington lawyer and former special counsel to President Bill Clinton who said he represents MTN’s law firm, declined to comment yesterday.
MTN Iran Division
MTN’s Iran division, known as MTN Irancell, contributed 5 billion rand in revenue in the first six months of last year, or about 9 percent of MTN’s sales, and 2.1 billion rand in earnings before taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization, according to MTN company figures.
MTN is planning 1.3 billion rand in capital expenditures in Iran, up from 1.2 billion rand last year, according to company figures. MTN had 33.3 million subscribers in Iran as of Sept. 30, and is budgeting for 4 million new customers in Iran this year, the company said this month.
Turkcell says MTN’s business dealings in the U.S. are “extensive,” giving the U.S. court so-called personal jurisdiction over the company. Turkcell cites MTN’s roaming agreements with U.S. cellular carriers such as AT&T Inc. (T) (T) and T- Mobile USA Inc. (166783Q) (166783Q), the sale of airtime at 7-Eleven stores, and collaboration with Facebook and contracts with Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Cisco Systems as evidence.
Turkcell also says that one of MTN directors lives in the U.S.
Read the full article at Bloomberg News
Also see the earlier article "MTN Says Talks Halted on Resoving Turkcell Iran Dispute"
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Mining Grab Fuels Biggest South Africa Stock Outflows Since ’08
By Stephen Gunnion - Mar 9, 2012 5:06 PM GMT+0200
Foreign investors are selling South African equities at the fastest pace in four years, even as they buy stocks in the biggest emerging markets, on concern policy makers will seek a larger share of the nation’s mining profits.
International investors sold 7.9 billion rand ($933 million) of South African equities in the first two months of this year, on track for the biggest first-quarter outflow since 2008. Developing-country equity mutual funds lured $20.6 billion in the same period, the best start to a year since 2006, said Cambridge, Massachusetts-based research firm EPFR Global.
A study commissioned by President Jacob Zuma’s ruling African National Congress party proposed increasing taxes on the mining industry last month, while the party’s youth wing has lobbied for a government takeover of gold and platinum mines to boost employment in Africa’s biggest economy. Raw-materials producers posted the biggest declines among 10 industries in the MSCI South Africa Index (MXZA) this year as AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (ANG) and Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (IMP) retreated.
“We are not getting our share” of foreign investment, said Ian Cruickshanks, the Johannesburg-based head of treasury strategic research at Nedbank Group Ltd., South Africa’s fourth- largest bank. “The threat of nationalization has a heck of a lot to do with that.”
The MSCI South Africa Index has climbed 4.9 percent this year as of March 8, compared with a 15 percent gain in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. (MXEF)
South Africa’s economy will probably expand 2.7 percent this year, the Finance Ministry said last week, less than the 3.4 percent estimated in October. China, the biggest emerging economy, set a long-term growth target of 7.5 percent on March 5. India may expand 7 percent this year, compared with 3.3 percent in Russia and 3 percent in Brazil, according to the Washington-based International Monetary Fund.
“Investors are seeing growth opportunities elsewhere in the world, in high-beta markets, and are using South Africa to fund that,” Power said.
Impala Platinum, the world’s biggest producer of the metal, has retreated 6.2 percent in Johannesburg trading this year. The Illovo-based company has 85 percent of its assets in South Africa and the remainder in neighboring Zimbabwe. AngloGold Ashanti has lost 12 percent. The world’s third-largest gold producer has 22 percent of its assets in South Africa.
Mine ownership will be discussed at a party policy conference in June, Enoch Godongwana, the head of the ANC’s economic policy committee, told reporters in Johannesburg on March 5. South Africa is the world’s biggest producer of platinum, chrome and manganese and commodities account for 64 percent of exports from the $388 billion economy.
The ANC study proposed the introduction of a “resources rent tax” on all mining operations once they earn returns greater than about 15 percent annually and advised the government to consider working with labor unions to exert greater control over key mining companies. At the same time, it said nationalization of mines would lead to “economic disaster” and cause foreign investors to flee.
The ANC youth wing, which helped Zuma defeat former President Thabo Mbeki for the leadership of the party, will keep pushing for nationalization, Ronald Lamola, deputy president of the group, told reporters in Johannesburg on March 5.
The youth wing says government control of mining companies will create jobs in a country where 53 percent of blacks between the ages of 15 and 24 are unemployed, compared with a jobless rate of 14 percent for white South Africans in the same age group, according to figures compiled by Johannesburg-based recruitment company Adcorp Holdings Ltd.
Zambia’s government took over copper mines owned by Anglo American in the early 1970s. Production plunged over the next three decades because of underinvestment and most of the assets were sold back to the company in 2000 for $90 million.
Government intervention this year in Zimbabwe, on the northern border of South Africa, has helped drag down Impala Platinum’s shares. The nation proposed higher taxes and is forcing Impala Platinum to sell 51 percent of its Zimplats unit to black Zimbabweans under new laws covering foreign-owned companies.
“What’s happening in Zimbabwe is adding fuel to the fire,” said Nedbank Group’ Cruickshanks.
“Poor equity flows are a concern, and it does raise the risk of currency weakness, unless other forms of financing are found,” Leon Myburgh, Citigroup Inc.’s sub-Saharan Africa strategist, said in e-mailed comments from Johannesburg.
The rand weakened for the first time in three days, slipping 0.7 percent to 7.5352 against the dollar at 4:48 p.m. in Johannesburg. The yield on the nation’s 77 billion rand of 6.75 percent bonds due 2021 rose two basis point, or 0.02 percentage point, to 7.838 percent, ending a three-day decline.
“There have been more attractive opportunities elsewhere and I sense that many key equity investors are underweight South Africa,” Peter Attard Montalto, an economist at Nomura Plc in London, said in an e-mail. “The inflow story has not been felt here at all.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Gunnion in Johannesburg at sgunnion@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net
Original article http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-09/mining-grab-fuels-biggest-s-africa-stock-outflows-since-08-1-.html
Foreign investors are selling South African equities at the fastest pace in four years, even as they buy stocks in the biggest emerging markets, on concern policy makers will seek a larger share of the nation’s mining profits.
International investors sold 7.9 billion rand ($933 million) of South African equities in the first two months of this year, on track for the biggest first-quarter outflow since 2008. Developing-country equity mutual funds lured $20.6 billion in the same period, the best start to a year since 2006, said Cambridge, Massachusetts-based research firm EPFR Global.
A study commissioned by President Jacob Zuma’s ruling African National Congress party proposed increasing taxes on the mining industry last month, while the party’s youth wing has lobbied for a government takeover of gold and platinum mines to boost employment in Africa’s biggest economy. Raw-materials producers posted the biggest declines among 10 industries in the MSCI South Africa Index (MXZA) this year as AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (ANG) and Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (IMP) retreated.
“We are not getting our share” of foreign investment, said Ian Cruickshanks, the Johannesburg-based head of treasury strategic research at Nedbank Group Ltd., South Africa’s fourth- largest bank. “The threat of nationalization has a heck of a lot to do with that.”
The MSCI South Africa Index has climbed 4.9 percent this year as of March 8, compared with a 15 percent gain in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. (MXEF)
BRICS Laggard
Slower economic growth than in Brazil, Russia, India and China also is reducing investor demand for South African equities, Michael Power, a global strategist at Investec Asset Management in Cape Town, said in a Feb. 23 phone interview.South Africa’s economy will probably expand 2.7 percent this year, the Finance Ministry said last week, less than the 3.4 percent estimated in October. China, the biggest emerging economy, set a long-term growth target of 7.5 percent on March 5. India may expand 7 percent this year, compared with 3.3 percent in Russia and 3 percent in Brazil, according to the Washington-based International Monetary Fund.
“Investors are seeing growth opportunities elsewhere in the world, in high-beta markets, and are using South Africa to fund that,” Power said.
Impala Platinum, the world’s biggest producer of the metal, has retreated 6.2 percent in Johannesburg trading this year. The Illovo-based company has 85 percent of its assets in South Africa and the remainder in neighboring Zimbabwe. AngloGold Ashanti has lost 12 percent. The world’s third-largest gold producer has 22 percent of its assets in South Africa.
Relative Value
This year’s 3.3 percent drop in the MSCI South Africa mining index has left it valued at 2.2 times net assets, compared with 1.8 times for MSCI’s gauge of global mining companies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The South Africa measure’s 21 percent premium over the global index is the smallest since July, the data show.Mine ownership will be discussed at a party policy conference in June, Enoch Godongwana, the head of the ANC’s economic policy committee, told reporters in Johannesburg on March 5. South Africa is the world’s biggest producer of platinum, chrome and manganese and commodities account for 64 percent of exports from the $388 billion economy.
The ANC study proposed the introduction of a “resources rent tax” on all mining operations once they earn returns greater than about 15 percent annually and advised the government to consider working with labor unions to exert greater control over key mining companies. At the same time, it said nationalization of mines would lead to “economic disaster” and cause foreign investors to flee.
Youth Wing
Seizing mines wouldn’t be a “smart strategy” for South Africa and changes to taxes or ownership will only be made after extensive consultation with the industry, Trevor Manuel, the country’s planning minister, told the Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town on Feb. 6.The ANC youth wing, which helped Zuma defeat former President Thabo Mbeki for the leadership of the party, will keep pushing for nationalization, Ronald Lamola, deputy president of the group, told reporters in Johannesburg on March 5.
The youth wing says government control of mining companies will create jobs in a country where 53 percent of blacks between the ages of 15 and 24 are unemployed, compared with a jobless rate of 14 percent for white South Africans in the same age group, according to figures compiled by Johannesburg-based recruitment company Adcorp Holdings Ltd.
Zimbabwe Intervention
“It is clearly important this year to resolve once and for all, in the right way, the lingering uncertainty created by the nationalization debate,” Godfrey Gomwe, executive director for the South African unit of Anglo American Plc (AAL), a London-based mining company, said in a Feb. 7 speech in Cape Town. “Nationalization does not work.”Zambia’s government took over copper mines owned by Anglo American in the early 1970s. Production plunged over the next three decades because of underinvestment and most of the assets were sold back to the company in 2000 for $90 million.
Government intervention this year in Zimbabwe, on the northern border of South Africa, has helped drag down Impala Platinum’s shares. The nation proposed higher taxes and is forcing Impala Platinum to sell 51 percent of its Zimplats unit to black Zimbabweans under new laws covering foreign-owned companies.
“What’s happening in Zimbabwe is adding fuel to the fire,” said Nedbank Group’ Cruickshanks.
Rand Weakness
Foreign purchases of South African assets are needed to help fund the country’s current-account deficit, which is expected to swell to 4.3 percent of gross domestic product this year, according to estimates released by the National Treasury on Feb. 22. Foreign investors have bought a net 11 billion rand of bonds in the first two months, offsetting equity outflows, according to the JSE.“Poor equity flows are a concern, and it does raise the risk of currency weakness, unless other forms of financing are found,” Leon Myburgh, Citigroup Inc.’s sub-Saharan Africa strategist, said in e-mailed comments from Johannesburg.
The rand weakened for the first time in three days, slipping 0.7 percent to 7.5352 against the dollar at 4:48 p.m. in Johannesburg. The yield on the nation’s 77 billion rand of 6.75 percent bonds due 2021 rose two basis point, or 0.02 percentage point, to 7.838 percent, ending a three-day decline.
More Attractive Markets
While stock investors pulled out of South Africa, they bought a net $7.3 billion of Indian equities this year through March 1 and purchased $1.4 billion of Brazilian shares, according to data compiled by the countries’ market regulators and exchange operators. Russia attracted $1.2 billion through Feb. 29, the Micex Stock Exchange said. Stock investment in China, the biggest emerging market, is restricted by the qualified foreign institutional investor, or QFII, program.“There have been more attractive opportunities elsewhere and I sense that many key equity investors are underweight South Africa,” Peter Attard Montalto, an economist at Nomura Plc in London, said in an e-mail. “The inflow story has not been felt here at all.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Gunnion in Johannesburg at sgunnion@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net
Original article http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-09/mining-grab-fuels-biggest-s-africa-stock-outflows-since-08-1-.html
Sunday, 18 March 2012
Genocide and Hatred Against White South Africans
Whites can be and are victims of South African genocide
11 March 2012
By Johannes Burke, University of Pretoria, class of 1984
8 Comments
“Stop White South African Genocide” and “Stand Fast South Africa” were chalked throughout my short walk on campus.
When I left South Africa in 1998 and brought my family to the United States to flee the genocide of my people, I found that no one knew about what was truly going on or seemed to care. The idea that whites could be the victims was deemed “politically incorrect” by anyone I talked to, or the genocide was denied outright.
Back home, thousands of innocent white South Africans have been beaten, raped and butchered for no other reason than the fact they are white.
The countless funerals of family, friends, coworkers and fellow churchgoers I attended from 1994 to 1998 are testament to the cold hard reality of the genocide.
I don’t know who did the chalking, but I just wanted to thank whoever did for standing up for the silent victims of the ongoing Afrikaner genocide.
Hundreds of thousands of Afrikaners have fled South Africa, like I have with my family, or have died at the bullets and blades of the merciless mob. Unless the world stands up for the Afrikaners soon, there will be none left.
At least I know that my daughter and other Towson students are doing their best to start that awakening.
Facebook's hypocrisy when racism is reversed
Had the above been said by whites their profiles would have been closed and they would have been banned by Facebook, but they would never do it in this case.
Jacob Zuma sings kill the Boer / Whites
Thursday, 15 March 2012
Points Concerning The Boer Nation
The Boers of Voortrekker & Trekboer descent are considered an indigenous White tribe with roots going back 350 years to the 1650s when their Dutch / Frisian / German & other north western European ancestors came as servants of the Dutch East India Co. as well as to considerable numbers of French Huguenot refugees from France escaping political & religious persecution.
The Boers are an amalgamation of & descended from Dutch Calvinist / French Huguenot / German Protestant / Danish / Frisian / Flemish & Walloon groups.
The persecution & growing genocide against the Boers & other Afrikaans communities of South Africa has been increasing during the past 15 years which is most manifest in the killing of farmers / the eradication of Afrikaans instruction in educational institutions & the restrictions against them in the employment sector.
The president of Genocide Watch Gregory Stanton has stated that the killing of Boer farmers constitutes a genocide under the Genocide Convention. Link. The Boers are the junior & less numerous segment of the Afrikaner designation which was controlled by the Afrikaners of the Cape.
Close to or about 25 % of the local South African White Afrikaans population are living under the poverty line as it has been reported that almost 500 000 Afrikaners are living under the poverty line in the republic.
The Boers germinated as a nation in the Cape long before their first encounter with a local Bantu nation. Their first ancestors arrived 120 years earlier in 1652 while the first encounter with a Bantu culture (the Xhosas) was in 1775 on the eastern Cape frontier.
The Boers are considered to be an indigenous group as they were formed on African soil from diverse national origins as a distinctive national group.
The Boers of Voortrekker descent belonged to the Dopper sect as they had been ex-communicated by & expelled from the Dutch Reformed Church over the Great Trek.
The Voortrekkers comprised of about 25 % to 33 % of the total White population at the Cape during the era preceding the Great Trek. The Boers are not White Colonials as they broke all links to Europe early on developing their own culture & language as a result of being on their own in isolation / absorbing many diverse national groups & did not have the protection of the State while living a semi nomadic life trekking inland. The Boers have been under siege for much of their history in South Africa. The Boers of the past spoke many local African languages.
The Boer Republics were fairly empty of permanent settled Bantu groups. Most came after the discovery of gold on the Vaal. The ancestors of the Boers only encountered Khoisan groups at the Western Cape in the 1650s as the Bantus had not penetrated the Kalahari desert barrier.
The Voortrekkers were assisted by the Barolong & Griquas during their battles with the Ndebele during the Great Trek. The Voortrekkers acquired their farm workers as a result of refugees looking to escape the inter tribal wars. The Voortrekkers entered into depopulated lands devastated by the Difaqane started by Shaka the Zulu King.
There was a balance of power in the region between the races & national groups before the British arrived on the scene & began to annex the various peoples & nations. Link. The Boers speak a dialect of Eastern Border Afrikaans while the Western Cape Afrikaners speak a dialect of West Cape Afrikaans in which pronunciation & lexicon differences still persist. The Boers developed their own culture / symbols & flags.
The Trekboers began migrating away from the Western Cape beginning in the 1690s & throughout the 1700s into the expanding Eastern Cape frontier. Most of the Trekboers on the eastern Cape frontier did not own slaves. The Voortrekkers were the descendents of the Trekboers who in turn were descended from generations of semi nomadic pastoralists living on the eastern Cape frontier.
Professor Wallace Mills notes that most of the Trekboers did not own slaves on the eastern frontier. Link. Stephen Crane notes that Andries Pretorius attempted to negotiate for peace with Dingaan before the battle at Nacome River. Link. Joseph Stromberg notes that the Transvaal Vierkleur was present as a symbol of anti imperialism at the Dem Convention of 1900. Link. The author Oliver Ransford noted that an urbane polish often went with the Boers of French Huguenot descent. Link.
The Afrikaner historian André Du Toit asserts that the Boers were not known as ardent Christians or for their religiosity before the Anglo-Boer War & that they were then believing in legends of spirits / primitive medicine & were superstitious. Link.
Most of the Boers were not in favour of slavery but protested the manner in which Britain compensated the few who owned slaves as many were unable to make the trip to England which would have negated any compensation due to the cost of traveling.
The Boer Republics were recognized under international law.
The Boers have been victims of colonization. Particularly when many died in the British concentration camps during the Anglo-Boer War which lead to the conquest & annexation of the Boer Republics into the new macro state of South Africa. An estimated 27 000 Boer civilians died in the British created concentration camps representing about 15 % of the local Boer republican population.
Close to half of the total Boer child population of the republics were killed during the Anglo-Boer War.
The Boer Republics the Transvaal Republic & the Orange Free State were recognized by the Netherlands / Britain / France / Germany / Belgium & the United States of America.
There were 3 main Boer Diasporas after the Anglo-Boer War.
The main Diaspora went to the Patagonia region of Argentina beginning in 1903. This group still exists at present. Another group went to East Africa where modern Kenya exists. Most of these Boers eventually went back to South Africa during the 1930s. The other group went to the American southwest in New Mexico & Texas. The descendents of this group was later absorbed into American culture & adopted the English language but a number of Afrikaans surnames -of mainly Dutch / French & German origin- are still present.
The Boers of the republics fought two wars of independence against the British Empire while a number of Afrikaners from the Cape fought on the side of the British during the second Anglo-Boer War.
The British Empire forced the Boers into the state of South Africa. A state that they did not want.
The Boers of the republics were once in the majority as there were only small numbers of established groups in the far north east & west.
The Boers only wanted to govern themselves but were conquered at the conclusion of the Anglo-Boer War & subsequently made co responsible for the Apartheid laws passed by the Cape based Afrikaner which were extensions of previous British segregationist laws.
The Boers are entitled under international law to self determination.
Numerous Boers do not accept the conditions they are in.
The tricolour in the canton of the Orange Free State flag is thought to be based on the tricolour which was used at Swellendam & Graaff-Reinet where the first Boer Republics were declared in 1795.
The new South African flag is perceived to symbolize the destruction or defacement of the old Transvaal Vierkleur.
Due to the loss of life at the concentration camps the total White Afrikaans population could have been as large as 7 million instead of the current 3 million.
15 % of the Boer population died in the concentration camps. Most of the Boer civilians who died in the concentration camps were children under the age of sixteen. Half of the total population of Boer children of the republics died in the concentration camps.
The Constitutions of the Transvaal Republic & the Orange Free State were based on the Constitutions of the United States & France.
The Boers lost their independence in 1902 at the conclusion of the Anglo-Boer War what they lost in 1994 was what little say they thought they still had in the old dispensation.
The Boers have had their own self governed independent republics in the past in Southern Africa & have been struggling for their independence since at least 1795.
The Boers are not White colonials but are in fact an indigenous cultural group which was formed on African soil which is 350 years old. The first Boers were anti authoritarian & began to break their ties to Europe as soon as they began to trek eastwards during the 1690s & into the 1700s.
The Boers trekked around & by-passed the largest & densest Bantu population groups. The two largest Bantu groups the Xhosas & the Zulus were living in the eastern Cape & Natal. Members of these groups only arrived in the Transvaal after the discovery of gold.
The Boers of Natal under the leadership of Piet Retief obtained a treaty to settle part of the empty land under Zulu influence from the Zulu king.
Retief was later killed during a formal ceremony over the agreement & the Zulu King Dingaan went on to kill 500 Boers who were living in Natal.
Andries Pretorius offered to negotiate for peace with Dingaan if he were to restore the land the he initially offered to Retief. Link.
Hendrik Potgieter was held in very high regard by many African chiefs who came to pay their respects before his death in 1852.
Professor Wallace Mills notes that the Trekboer tradition of rebelling against colonialism & declaring republics predated the coming of the British & that Trekboer political notions were not too far from anarchy. Link.
There was a Boer Rolong alliance during the era of the Great Trek.
More than 1 700 Boer farmers have been killed since 1991.
The Boers are an anti colonial anti authoritarian pastoral people with roots in the region.
The Boers have been under siege for most of their history in South Africa.
The Boers farmed arid dry land which they make work.
The Boers fought against the Dutch colonial power particularly in 1795 / the British colonial power throughout the 19th cent / & the Afrikaner government notably during the 1914 Boer Rebellion.
A number of Boers were bywoners on the property of other Boers.
The destitute Boers of following the Anglo-Boer War became what was termed the proto urban poor.
Numerous Boers still call their language die taal.
Joseph Stromberg notes that the Voortrekkers lived in a state of stateless anarchism before the formal implementation of the republics.
Wallace Mills notes that Boer political notions verged on anarchism.
There were Boer civil wars from 1863 - 1869 among the districts of the Transvaal Republic.
The Encyclopedia Britannica notes that the Boers of the eastern frontier did not own slaves.
The South African government is phasing out the Commando system which will leave the commercial farmers unprotected against the increasing attacks & killings. Link.
The Boer & Afrikaner farmers occupy only 6% (six percent) of South Africa's total land surface, yet are targeted by the ANC's violence-driven 'land reform' program. Link.
The murder rate for South African farmers is 313 per 100,000 - the highest in the world. Link.
More than 1 700 Boer farmers have been killed since 1994. There are just 40 000 Boer farmers: hence it has been reported that they are the most at risk group for murder in the world. An average of 3 white farmers a week are killed.
The Boer nationalists do not consider themselves part of the right wing.
The Boers paid for their former independence & their right to be in Africa with their lives & sacrifices.
The ancestors of the Boers were dumped at the Cape by the VOC.
The German arrivals came up until 1795.
The Boers have been an historically poor people who were the proto urban poor of the cities after the Anglo-Boer War.
The Boers developed into a people long before the arrival of the colonial powers as they were brought to Africa by the VOC a private company which had no intention of starting a colony in the region.
The Trekboers who trekked away from the western Cape & into the interior did not have the protection of the State as they lived as nomads in stateless anarchy on the edges of the frontier.
The Cape Dutch attempted to retain nominal control over the Trekboers with the establishment of the towns of Swellendam & Graaff-Reinet. Link.
The Afrikaans language is considered the most developed African language.
The Voortrekkers were a blend of European style general & African chief. Link.
The Boers did not create Apartheid as it was created by the British then later expanded upon by the Cape based Afrikaners. Link.
Paul Kruger did not want the Cape Dutch to immigrate to the ZAR as he viewed them as being too pro British. Link.
Plans to cerate a monument to the Voortrekkers first occurred in 1895.
President Kruger attempted to stop Boers from crossing the Limpopo.
Robert van Tonder left the National Party in 1961 in order to advocate for the restoration of the Boer Republics.
The Trekboers have been called the "gypsy of the desert" & compared to the nomadic Arab. Link.
This led to a spirit of restlessness and adventure. 'Trekgees' adventure spirit and 'drang om te trek', the urge to want to trek, became part of their psyche.
Boer families tended to settle in regions that were depopulated by Mfecane/Difaqane, and organize themselves as local clans with little centralized leadership. Instead of a centralized state, the Boers tended to produce many small "Boer Republics." From: Jim Jones. HIS 311 Lecture on Southern Africa 1800-1875. Link.
The most ardent Bitterenders were from the Orange Free State.
President T F Burgers tried to prevent the gold from being extracted as he believed that it would spell the end of the independence of the republic.
The Boers preferred to live in open spaces large enough that they did not see the smoke of their neighbours.
The British imported signs stating European non European as the Boers had long since thought of themselves as African. Link.
The Boers could be considered aboriginal to certain areas of the Kalahari Desert as the Khoisan people settled along the coast with the Boers being the first to live on certain regions of the desert.
The Boers & Zulus handed rocks of peace to each other in 1840 & in 1866 stacked rocks as a symbol of peace. Link.
The statues of Andries Pretorius / Piet Retief / Hendrik Potgieter are at the corners of the Voortrekker Monument.
The Boers are a distinct group apart from the Afrikaners.
The British illegally overturned the Sand River Convention & the Orange River Convention when they invaded & made war on the Boer Republics. The Conventions were recognized abroad pertaining to the independence of the Boer Republics.
The Boers were marginalized in the Republic of South Africa as it was a White Republic not a Boer Republic.
The Boers were marginalized by the Afrikaners. Link.
There were some Boers who did not take the Vow fearing the consequences should they break it.
The Boers did not conquer or subjugate the Zulus after the battle at Nacome River as they continued to exist in Zululand to the north.
The Boers have a long history of anti colonialism & an aversion to being ruled by foreign or alien cultural groups.
There were a total of 15 Boer Republics.
The above was obtained from Boerevryheid
The original source is Republican Trekker Volk where a wide variety of articles relating to the Boer Nation are available.
The Boers are an amalgamation of & descended from Dutch Calvinist / French Huguenot / German Protestant / Danish / Frisian / Flemish & Walloon groups.
The persecution & growing genocide against the Boers & other Afrikaans communities of South Africa has been increasing during the past 15 years which is most manifest in the killing of farmers / the eradication of Afrikaans instruction in educational institutions & the restrictions against them in the employment sector.
The president of Genocide Watch Gregory Stanton has stated that the killing of Boer farmers constitutes a genocide under the Genocide Convention. Link. The Boers are the junior & less numerous segment of the Afrikaner designation which was controlled by the Afrikaners of the Cape.
Close to or about 25 % of the local South African White Afrikaans population are living under the poverty line as it has been reported that almost 500 000 Afrikaners are living under the poverty line in the republic.
The Boers germinated as a nation in the Cape long before their first encounter with a local Bantu nation. Their first ancestors arrived 120 years earlier in 1652 while the first encounter with a Bantu culture (the Xhosas) was in 1775 on the eastern Cape frontier.
The Boers are considered to be an indigenous group as they were formed on African soil from diverse national origins as a distinctive national group.
The Boers of Voortrekker descent belonged to the Dopper sect as they had been ex-communicated by & expelled from the Dutch Reformed Church over the Great Trek.
The Voortrekkers comprised of about 25 % to 33 % of the total White population at the Cape during the era preceding the Great Trek. The Boers are not White Colonials as they broke all links to Europe early on developing their own culture & language as a result of being on their own in isolation / absorbing many diverse national groups & did not have the protection of the State while living a semi nomadic life trekking inland. The Boers have been under siege for much of their history in South Africa. The Boers of the past spoke many local African languages.
The Boer Republics were fairly empty of permanent settled Bantu groups. Most came after the discovery of gold on the Vaal. The ancestors of the Boers only encountered Khoisan groups at the Western Cape in the 1650s as the Bantus had not penetrated the Kalahari desert barrier.
The Voortrekkers were assisted by the Barolong & Griquas during their battles with the Ndebele during the Great Trek. The Voortrekkers acquired their farm workers as a result of refugees looking to escape the inter tribal wars. The Voortrekkers entered into depopulated lands devastated by the Difaqane started by Shaka the Zulu King.
There was a balance of power in the region between the races & national groups before the British arrived on the scene & began to annex the various peoples & nations. Link. The Boers speak a dialect of Eastern Border Afrikaans while the Western Cape Afrikaners speak a dialect of West Cape Afrikaans in which pronunciation & lexicon differences still persist. The Boers developed their own culture / symbols & flags.
The Trekboers began migrating away from the Western Cape beginning in the 1690s & throughout the 1700s into the expanding Eastern Cape frontier. Most of the Trekboers on the eastern Cape frontier did not own slaves. The Voortrekkers were the descendents of the Trekboers who in turn were descended from generations of semi nomadic pastoralists living on the eastern Cape frontier.
Professor Wallace Mills notes that most of the Trekboers did not own slaves on the eastern frontier. Link. Stephen Crane notes that Andries Pretorius attempted to negotiate for peace with Dingaan before the battle at Nacome River. Link. Joseph Stromberg notes that the Transvaal Vierkleur was present as a symbol of anti imperialism at the Dem Convention of 1900. Link. The author Oliver Ransford noted that an urbane polish often went with the Boers of French Huguenot descent. Link.
The Afrikaner historian André Du Toit asserts that the Boers were not known as ardent Christians or for their religiosity before the Anglo-Boer War & that they were then believing in legends of spirits / primitive medicine & were superstitious. Link.
Most of the Boers were not in favour of slavery but protested the manner in which Britain compensated the few who owned slaves as many were unable to make the trip to England which would have negated any compensation due to the cost of traveling.
The Boer Republics were recognized under international law.
The Boers have been victims of colonization. Particularly when many died in the British concentration camps during the Anglo-Boer War which lead to the conquest & annexation of the Boer Republics into the new macro state of South Africa. An estimated 27 000 Boer civilians died in the British created concentration camps representing about 15 % of the local Boer republican population.
Close to half of the total Boer child population of the republics were killed during the Anglo-Boer War.
The Boer Republics the Transvaal Republic & the Orange Free State were recognized by the Netherlands / Britain / France / Germany / Belgium & the United States of America.
There were 3 main Boer Diasporas after the Anglo-Boer War.
The main Diaspora went to the Patagonia region of Argentina beginning in 1903. This group still exists at present. Another group went to East Africa where modern Kenya exists. Most of these Boers eventually went back to South Africa during the 1930s. The other group went to the American southwest in New Mexico & Texas. The descendents of this group was later absorbed into American culture & adopted the English language but a number of Afrikaans surnames -of mainly Dutch / French & German origin- are still present.
The Boers of the republics fought two wars of independence against the British Empire while a number of Afrikaners from the Cape fought on the side of the British during the second Anglo-Boer War.
The British Empire forced the Boers into the state of South Africa. A state that they did not want.
The Boers of the republics were once in the majority as there were only small numbers of established groups in the far north east & west.
The Boers only wanted to govern themselves but were conquered at the conclusion of the Anglo-Boer War & subsequently made co responsible for the Apartheid laws passed by the Cape based Afrikaner which were extensions of previous British segregationist laws.
The Boers are entitled under international law to self determination.
Numerous Boers do not accept the conditions they are in.
The tricolour in the canton of the Orange Free State flag is thought to be based on the tricolour which was used at Swellendam & Graaff-Reinet where the first Boer Republics were declared in 1795.
The new South African flag is perceived to symbolize the destruction or defacement of the old Transvaal Vierkleur.
Due to the loss of life at the concentration camps the total White Afrikaans population could have been as large as 7 million instead of the current 3 million.
15 % of the Boer population died in the concentration camps. Most of the Boer civilians who died in the concentration camps were children under the age of sixteen. Half of the total population of Boer children of the republics died in the concentration camps.
The Constitutions of the Transvaal Republic & the Orange Free State were based on the Constitutions of the United States & France.
The Boers lost their independence in 1902 at the conclusion of the Anglo-Boer War what they lost in 1994 was what little say they thought they still had in the old dispensation.
The Boers have had their own self governed independent republics in the past in Southern Africa & have been struggling for their independence since at least 1795.
The Boers are not White colonials but are in fact an indigenous cultural group which was formed on African soil which is 350 years old. The first Boers were anti authoritarian & began to break their ties to Europe as soon as they began to trek eastwards during the 1690s & into the 1700s.
The Boers trekked around & by-passed the largest & densest Bantu population groups. The two largest Bantu groups the Xhosas & the Zulus were living in the eastern Cape & Natal. Members of these groups only arrived in the Transvaal after the discovery of gold.
The Boers of Natal under the leadership of Piet Retief obtained a treaty to settle part of the empty land under Zulu influence from the Zulu king.
Retief was later killed during a formal ceremony over the agreement & the Zulu King Dingaan went on to kill 500 Boers who were living in Natal.
Andries Pretorius offered to negotiate for peace with Dingaan if he were to restore the land the he initially offered to Retief. Link.
Hendrik Potgieter was held in very high regard by many African chiefs who came to pay their respects before his death in 1852.
Professor Wallace Mills notes that the Trekboer tradition of rebelling against colonialism & declaring republics predated the coming of the British & that Trekboer political notions were not too far from anarchy. Link.
There was a Boer Rolong alliance during the era of the Great Trek.
More than 1 700 Boer farmers have been killed since 1991.
The Boers are an anti colonial anti authoritarian pastoral people with roots in the region.
The Boers have been under siege for most of their history in South Africa.
The Boers farmed arid dry land which they make work.
The Boers fought against the Dutch colonial power particularly in 1795 / the British colonial power throughout the 19th cent / & the Afrikaner government notably during the 1914 Boer Rebellion.
A number of Boers were bywoners on the property of other Boers.
The destitute Boers of following the Anglo-Boer War became what was termed the proto urban poor.
Numerous Boers still call their language die taal.
Joseph Stromberg notes that the Voortrekkers lived in a state of stateless anarchism before the formal implementation of the republics.
Wallace Mills notes that Boer political notions verged on anarchism.
There were Boer civil wars from 1863 - 1869 among the districts of the Transvaal Republic.
The Encyclopedia Britannica notes that the Boers of the eastern frontier did not own slaves.
The South African government is phasing out the Commando system which will leave the commercial farmers unprotected against the increasing attacks & killings. Link.
The Boer & Afrikaner farmers occupy only 6% (six percent) of South Africa's total land surface, yet are targeted by the ANC's violence-driven 'land reform' program. Link.
The murder rate for South African farmers is 313 per 100,000 - the highest in the world. Link.
More than 1 700 Boer farmers have been killed since 1994. There are just 40 000 Boer farmers: hence it has been reported that they are the most at risk group for murder in the world. An average of 3 white farmers a week are killed.
The Boer nationalists do not consider themselves part of the right wing.
The Boers paid for their former independence & their right to be in Africa with their lives & sacrifices.
The ancestors of the Boers were dumped at the Cape by the VOC.
The German arrivals came up until 1795.
The Boers have been an historically poor people who were the proto urban poor of the cities after the Anglo-Boer War.
The Boers developed into a people long before the arrival of the colonial powers as they were brought to Africa by the VOC a private company which had no intention of starting a colony in the region.
The Trekboers who trekked away from the western Cape & into the interior did not have the protection of the State as they lived as nomads in stateless anarchy on the edges of the frontier.
The Cape Dutch attempted to retain nominal control over the Trekboers with the establishment of the towns of Swellendam & Graaff-Reinet. Link.
The Afrikaans language is considered the most developed African language.
The Voortrekkers were a blend of European style general & African chief. Link.
The Boers did not create Apartheid as it was created by the British then later expanded upon by the Cape based Afrikaners. Link.
Paul Kruger did not want the Cape Dutch to immigrate to the ZAR as he viewed them as being too pro British. Link.
Plans to cerate a monument to the Voortrekkers first occurred in 1895.
President Kruger attempted to stop Boers from crossing the Limpopo.
Robert van Tonder left the National Party in 1961 in order to advocate for the restoration of the Boer Republics.
The Trekboers have been called the "gypsy of the desert" & compared to the nomadic Arab. Link.
This led to a spirit of restlessness and adventure. 'Trekgees' adventure spirit and 'drang om te trek', the urge to want to trek, became part of their psyche.
Boer families tended to settle in regions that were depopulated by Mfecane/Difaqane, and organize themselves as local clans with little centralized leadership. Instead of a centralized state, the Boers tended to produce many small "Boer Republics." From: Jim Jones. HIS 311 Lecture on Southern Africa 1800-1875. Link.
The most ardent Bitterenders were from the Orange Free State.
President T F Burgers tried to prevent the gold from being extracted as he believed that it would spell the end of the independence of the republic.
The Boers preferred to live in open spaces large enough that they did not see the smoke of their neighbours.
The British imported signs stating European non European as the Boers had long since thought of themselves as African. Link.
The Boers could be considered aboriginal to certain areas of the Kalahari Desert as the Khoisan people settled along the coast with the Boers being the first to live on certain regions of the desert.
The Boers & Zulus handed rocks of peace to each other in 1840 & in 1866 stacked rocks as a symbol of peace. Link.
The statues of Andries Pretorius / Piet Retief / Hendrik Potgieter are at the corners of the Voortrekker Monument.
The Boers are a distinct group apart from the Afrikaners.
The British illegally overturned the Sand River Convention & the Orange River Convention when they invaded & made war on the Boer Republics. The Conventions were recognized abroad pertaining to the independence of the Boer Republics.
The Boers were marginalized in the Republic of South Africa as it was a White Republic not a Boer Republic.
The Boers were marginalized by the Afrikaners. Link.
There were some Boers who did not take the Vow fearing the consequences should they break it.
The Boers did not conquer or subjugate the Zulus after the battle at Nacome River as they continued to exist in Zululand to the north.
The Boers have a long history of anti colonialism & an aversion to being ruled by foreign or alien cultural groups.
There were a total of 15 Boer Republics.
The above was obtained from Boerevryheid
The original source is Republican Trekker Volk where a wide variety of articles relating to the Boer Nation are available.
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Activists launch viral video on Africa atrocities
By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press
SAN DIEGO (AP) — American filmmakers who reported on wartime atrocities in Africa for a 50-minute work called "Invisible Children" drew more attention than they imagined when their project was released in 2005. They soon founded a nonprofit organization to campaign against the brutality.
The group's new 29-minute video is gaining even more attention, thanks to social media. The work released Monday is part of an effort called KONY 2012 that targets the Lord's Resistance Army and its leader, Joseph Kony, a bush fighter wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
Uganda, Invisible Children and (hash)stopkony were among the top 10 trending terms on Twitter among both the worldwide and U.S. audience on Wednesday night, ranking higher than New iPad or Peyton Manning. Twitter's top trends more commonly include celebrities than fugitive militants.
Ben Keesey, Invisible Children's 28-year-old chief executive officer, said the viral success shows their message resonates and that viewers feel empowered to force change. It was released on the website, www.kony2012.com.
FILE - This July 31, 2006 file photo shows Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, during a meeting with a delegation of 160 officials and lawmakers from northern Uganda and representatives of non-governmental organizations in Congo near the Sudan border. An activist group based in Southern California is getting worldwide attention for a video that documents wartime atrocities in Africa. The film released Monday, March 7, 2012 is part of an effort called KONY 2012. It targets the Lord's Resistance Army and its leader, Joseph Kony, a bush fighter wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. (AP Photo, File)
Read more HERE
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
Law soon to police second-hand goods
Cape Town - The long-awaited Second-Hand Goods Act will come into effect on April 1, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said on Wednesday.
Replying to a parliamentary question, he said the act would ensure more thieves and buyers of stolen goods are arrested and convicted.
"Any person who buys stolen goods is as guilty as the person who stole the goods, and harsher sentences will apply to both the buyer and the thief," he said.
"I have instructed the SA Police Service management to ensure that the Second-Hand Goods Act, which seeks to regulate second-hand goods dealers and recyclers and will be an important tool in the effort to clamp down on stolen goods, is implemented by April this year."
As part of the first phase of implementation, certain sections of the act came into effect on December 13 and January 16.
These sections provided for, among others, accreditation of second-hand goods dealers' associations and regulated "suspicious transactions", as well as the possession, acquisition and disposal of controlled metal cable, for example, copper.
A national structure has also been established to deal with the control of second-hand goods.
Among other things, the act requires all dealers in second-hand goods to report to the police all suspicious transactions where the seller attempts to provide false particulars, or where the goods are suspected to be stolen or tampered with.
Second-hand goods dealers and pawnbrokers will therefore not only have to take reasonable steps to ensure that they do not buy stolen goods or goods that have been tampered with, but also be careful from whom they buy goods. If an unscrupulous dealer is found guilty, a court can impose a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Mthethwa said people dealing in or in possession of non-ferrous (controlled metal) cable with a burnt cover are committing an offence, unless they can provide the police with a reasonable explanation for the burnt cover.
"This offence too gives a court the power to sentence copper thieves and unscrupulous scrap dealers to imprisonment for a period of 10 years.
"We therefore believe this legislation will assist in combating both copper and property crimes," Mthethwa said.
Read more about: nathi mthethwa | second-hand goods act | second-hand goods
Original Fin24 article can be found HERE
Replying to a parliamentary question, he said the act would ensure more thieves and buyers of stolen goods are arrested and convicted.
"Any person who buys stolen goods is as guilty as the person who stole the goods, and harsher sentences will apply to both the buyer and the thief," he said.
"I have instructed the SA Police Service management to ensure that the Second-Hand Goods Act, which seeks to regulate second-hand goods dealers and recyclers and will be an important tool in the effort to clamp down on stolen goods, is implemented by April this year."
As part of the first phase of implementation, certain sections of the act came into effect on December 13 and January 16.
These sections provided for, among others, accreditation of second-hand goods dealers' associations and regulated "suspicious transactions", as well as the possession, acquisition and disposal of controlled metal cable, for example, copper.
A national structure has also been established to deal with the control of second-hand goods.
Among other things, the act requires all dealers in second-hand goods to report to the police all suspicious transactions where the seller attempts to provide false particulars, or where the goods are suspected to be stolen or tampered with.
Second-hand goods dealers and pawnbrokers will therefore not only have to take reasonable steps to ensure that they do not buy stolen goods or goods that have been tampered with, but also be careful from whom they buy goods. If an unscrupulous dealer is found guilty, a court can impose a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Mthethwa said people dealing in or in possession of non-ferrous (controlled metal) cable with a burnt cover are committing an offence, unless they can provide the police with a reasonable explanation for the burnt cover.
"This offence too gives a court the power to sentence copper thieves and unscrupulous scrap dealers to imprisonment for a period of 10 years.
"We therefore believe this legislation will assist in combating both copper and property crimes," Mthethwa said.
Read more about: nathi mthethwa | second-hand goods act | second-hand goods
Original Fin24 article can be found HERE
Per capita, South Africa has the most assaults, rapes, and murders with firearms
The following was obtained from : http://www.boerevryheid.co.za/forums/showthread.php?28992-Crime-in-South-Africa&p=414228#post414228
Car thefts 93,133 [6th of 46]
Corruption > % of managers surveyed ranking this as a major business constraint 16.09 % [16th of 39]
Death penalty > Abolition date 1,997 [15th of 64]
Death penalty > Last executed 1,991 [5th of 55]
Drug offences 53,810 per 100,000 people[4th of 46]
Gun violence > Homicides > % homicides with firearms 59.2028 [2nd of 32]
Gun violence > Homicides > Firearm homicide rate > per 100,000 pop. 74.5748 [1st of 32]
Gun violence > Homicides > Overall homicide rate > per 100,000 pop. 125.965 [1st of 32]
Jails 228 [6th of 80]
Manslaughters 11,202 [2nd of 42]
Murders with firearms 31,918 [1st of 36]
Prisoners 181,944 prisoners [2nd of 168]
Prisoners > Female 2.2% [107th of 134]
Prisoners > Foreign prisoners 2.1% [55th of 86]
Prisoners > Per capita 402 per 100,000 people [10th of 164]
Sentence Length 48.08 [13th of 21]
Software piracy rate 34% [89th of 107]
Total crimes 2,683,849 [5th of 50]
Transnational Issues > Trafficking in persons > Tier rating
Tier 2 Watch List - South Africa is on the Tier 2 Watch List for a fourth consecutive year for its failure to show increasing efforts to address trafficking;
the government provided inadequate data in 2007 on trafficking crimes investigated or prosecuted, or on resulting convictions or sentences;
it also did not provide information on its efforts to protect victims of trafficking; the country continues to deport and/or prosecute suspected foreign victims without providing appropriate protective services
Unpaid diplomatic parking fines 34 [26th of 143]
View all Crime stats
SOURCES: The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (2002) (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention);
World Development Indicators database; Last updated: 01/04/03;
Wikipedia: Gun violence ;
The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (2002) (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention);
The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (2002) (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention);
International Centre for Prison Studies - World Prison Brief;
Fifth Annual BSA and IDC Global Software Piracy Study; All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008;
Cultures of Corruption: Evidence from Diplomatic Parking Tickets Ray Fisman Edward Miguel Columbia University and NBER University of California, Berkeley and NBER 2006 ALTERNATIVE NAMES: South Africa, Republic of South Africa, rep. of s. africa, SAFRICA Interesting facts on South African Crime
Car thefts 93,133 [6th of 46]
Corruption > % of managers surveyed ranking this as a major business constraint 16.09 % [16th of 39]
Death penalty > Abolition date 1,997 [15th of 64]
Death penalty > Last executed 1,991 [5th of 55]
Drug offences 53,810 per 100,000 people[4th of 46]
Gun violence > Homicides > % homicides with firearms 59.2028 [2nd of 32]
Gun violence > Homicides > Firearm homicide rate > per 100,000 pop. 74.5748 [1st of 32]
Gun violence > Homicides > Overall homicide rate > per 100,000 pop. 125.965 [1st of 32]
Jails 228 [6th of 80]
Manslaughters 11,202 [2nd of 42]
Murders with firearms 31,918 [1st of 36]
Prisoners 181,944 prisoners [2nd of 168]
Prisoners > Female 2.2% [107th of 134]
Prisoners > Foreign prisoners 2.1% [55th of 86]
Prisoners > Per capita 402 per 100,000 people [10th of 164]
Sentence Length 48.08 [13th of 21]
Software piracy rate 34% [89th of 107]
Total crimes 2,683,849 [5th of 50]
Transnational Issues > Trafficking in persons > Tier rating
Tier 2 Watch List - South Africa is on the Tier 2 Watch List for a fourth consecutive year for its failure to show increasing efforts to address trafficking;
the government provided inadequate data in 2007 on trafficking crimes investigated or prosecuted, or on resulting convictions or sentences;
it also did not provide information on its efforts to protect victims of trafficking; the country continues to deport and/or prosecute suspected foreign victims without providing appropriate protective services
Unpaid diplomatic parking fines 34 [26th of 143]
View all Crime stats
SOURCES: The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (2002) (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention);
World Development Indicators database; Last updated: 01/04/03;
Wikipedia: Gun violence ;
The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (2002) (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention);
The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (2002) (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention);
International Centre for Prison Studies - World Prison Brief;
Fifth Annual BSA and IDC Global Software Piracy Study; All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008;
Cultures of Corruption: Evidence from Diplomatic Parking Tickets Ray Fisman Edward Miguel Columbia University and NBER University of California, Berkeley and NBER 2006 ALTERNATIVE NAMES: South Africa, Republic of South Africa, rep. of s. africa, SAFRICA Interesting facts on South African Crime
- Per capita, South Africa has the most assaults, rapes, and murders with firearms.
Saturday, 3 March 2012
ANC Pushing for NATIONALISATION Driving Away Investors!
The following article makes it quite obvious that the ANC is starting to show their true colours and an undeniable communist agenda
State firms mooted
by Moipone Malefane | 02 Mar 2012 | See 16 comments
THE ANC is pushing for the establishment of more state-owned enterprises covering diverse areas such as publishing, banking, medicines, manufacturing and mining.
The state-owned companies will do business directly with the government and most likely compete with the private sector.
In its policy discussion papers the ANC has provided more details about its plans to use Post Bank as state bank and also establish a publishing enterprise and a pharmaceutical company, with the government as a controlling shareholder. A state-owned mining company has been established.
The discussion papers, due for release on Monday, state that the postal infrastructure and Post Bank are needed by government to deliver services to the people.
"As such, ownership of the post office and the Post Bank by government should be linked to efforts to ensure that the two institutions are sustainable."
The party says in its papers that a state bank should not only be defined in terms of ownership, but in terms of the services that are delivered by Post Bank.
"To achieve this the government should introduce policy guidelines to direct opportunities to the Post Bank as a bank of first choice of government and a primary platform for government and citizens' transaction," the paper states.
If implemented, the proposal could see major banks losing the accounts of government entities.
The ANC also wants to establish a state-owned publishing enterprise which will help with production and distribution of books to ensure their availability in all learning places.
The documents raise concerns that methods and practice of acquisition from the private sector plus distribution in government were neither cost-effective nor efficient.
The documents give more details about the plans to establish a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant that will see government producing medicine.
The ANC, however, acknowledges its plans can be sabotaged by a lack of skilled employees in the government.
"Good implementation will require that we build state capacity, establishing high standards of employment in the public service, raise levels of professionalism, discipline and a commitment to serve," the party said.
Read the original admission on intended nationalisation HERE
Definition of "Nationalisation"
BusinessDictionary
Takeover of privately owned corporations, industries, and resources by a government with or without compensation. Common reasons for nationalization include (1) prevention of unfair exploitation and large-scale labor layoffs, (2) fair distribution of income from national resources, and (3) to keep means of generating wealth in public control.
Above definition obtained from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/nationalization.html
Wikipedia
Nationalization, also spelled nationalisation, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state.[1] Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being transferred to the public sector to be operated and owned by the state. The opposite of nationalization is usually privatization or de-nationalization, but may also be municipalization.
The motives for nationalization are political as well as economic. It was a central theme of certain fascist, economic nationalist, populist and national liberation policies that industry should be owned by the state on behalf of the citizenry to allow for consolidation of resources and central planning for the purposes of economic development.
Nationalization was one of the major strategies advocated by socialists for transitioning from capitalism to socialism. Socialist ideologies that favor nationalization are typically called state socialism. In this context, the goals of nationalization were to dispossess large capitalists and redirect the profits of industry to the public purse, as a precursor to the long-term goals of establishing worker-management and reorganizing production toward use.
Nationalisation according to Wikipedia. Full article can be found HERE
State firms mooted
by Moipone Malefane | 02 Mar 2012 | See 16 comments
THE ANC is pushing for the establishment of more state-owned enterprises covering diverse areas such as publishing, banking, medicines, manufacturing and mining.
The state-owned companies will do business directly with the government and most likely compete with the private sector.
In its policy discussion papers the ANC has provided more details about its plans to use Post Bank as state bank and also establish a publishing enterprise and a pharmaceutical company, with the government as a controlling shareholder. A state-owned mining company has been established.
The discussion papers, due for release on Monday, state that the postal infrastructure and Post Bank are needed by government to deliver services to the people.
"As such, ownership of the post office and the Post Bank by government should be linked to efforts to ensure that the two institutions are sustainable."
The party says in its papers that a state bank should not only be defined in terms of ownership, but in terms of the services that are delivered by Post Bank.
"To achieve this the government should introduce policy guidelines to direct opportunities to the Post Bank as a bank of first choice of government and a primary platform for government and citizens' transaction," the paper states.
If implemented, the proposal could see major banks losing the accounts of government entities.
The ANC also wants to establish a state-owned publishing enterprise which will help with production and distribution of books to ensure their availability in all learning places.
The documents raise concerns that methods and practice of acquisition from the private sector plus distribution in government were neither cost-effective nor efficient.
The documents give more details about the plans to establish a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant that will see government producing medicine.
The ANC, however, acknowledges its plans can be sabotaged by a lack of skilled employees in the government.
"Good implementation will require that we build state capacity, establishing high standards of employment in the public service, raise levels of professionalism, discipline and a commitment to serve," the party said.
Read the original admission on intended nationalisation HERE
Definition of "Nationalisation"
BusinessDictionary
Takeover of privately owned corporations, industries, and resources by a government with or without compensation. Common reasons for nationalization include (1) prevention of unfair exploitation and large-scale labor layoffs, (2) fair distribution of income from national resources, and (3) to keep means of generating wealth in public control.
Above definition obtained from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/nationalization.html
Wikipedia
Nationalization, also spelled nationalisation, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state.[1] Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being transferred to the public sector to be operated and owned by the state. The opposite of nationalization is usually privatization or de-nationalization, but may also be municipalization.
The motives for nationalization are political as well as economic. It was a central theme of certain fascist, economic nationalist, populist and national liberation policies that industry should be owned by the state on behalf of the citizenry to allow for consolidation of resources and central planning for the purposes of economic development.
Nationalization was one of the major strategies advocated by socialists for transitioning from capitalism to socialism. Socialist ideologies that favor nationalization are typically called state socialism. In this context, the goals of nationalization were to dispossess large capitalists and redirect the profits of industry to the public purse, as a precursor to the long-term goals of establishing worker-management and reorganizing production toward use.
Nationalisation according to Wikipedia. Full article can be found HERE
Friday, 2 March 2012
South Africa - Attack Incidence Report 01 January 2012 to 29 February 2012
AMANZIMTOTI: Beautiful story of horse rescuing its rider after armed attacker stabs her with knife, tries to rape her.
AMANZIMTOTI: Dries de Bruyn (18) brutally attacked with pipe by five black attackers.
AMERICAN SUPPORTERS will rally on 27 February for our cause
ANC government planning new law to make tapping of phones without a warrant legal.
ANC HIT SQUAD probably free: policeman and army officer accused of political assassinations will probably go free, says lawyer.
BALFOUR/KRIEL: Ex-nurse brutally raped, murdered and dumped in maize field.
BENONI: Jandre de Lange shot at but manages to escape. One attacker dead.
BETLEHEM: Elderly Koekie Meyer (83) attacked and assaulted – undergoing treatment for broken hip.
BETLEHEM: Lucy van Wyk (70) attacked and assaulted.
BLOEMFONTEIN: Security guard shot by four armed attackers.
BLOEMFONTEIN: Woman raped by black attacker – child forced to look on.
BOKSBURG: Pastoral couple Meiring robbed by armed black attackers as they leave church.
BOTHAVILLE: Elderly couple attacked and struck by panga – both in hospital.
BRAAMFONTEIN: Johannesburg Theatre manager Rulov Senekal (67) murdered in his apartment by two black attackers.
BRACKENFELL: Mr Blignaut undergoing emergency operation after being stabbed with a knife.
BRAMLEY: The body of an elderly woman found at 19 Kelvin Road.
BRITS: Farm attack by blacks and vehicle stolen.
BRONKHORSTSPRUIT: Allen Hepburn stabbed to death on his smallholding by black attackers.
BRONKHORSTSPRUIT: Elderly Visser couple (84 and 65) attacked on their smallholding with a pipe and scissors.
CAROLINA: Journalist attacked and shot.
CRAIGHALL PARK: Neighbour finds murdered man’s corpse.
CROYDEN: Homeowner shot dead by black attackers despite desperate attempt by housekeeper.
CULLINAN: A 26-y.o. rehabilitation worker found murdered in his home. Five black attackers arrested in possession of his vehicle.
DESPATCH: Elderly Cathy Petzer (79) assaulted, tied up by three armed black attackers.
DULLSTROOM: Elderly Jo Moore murdered in cold blood after being burned with electrical iron by 4 armed attackers.
DURBAN: Environment campaigner Snowy Smith (65) struck with hammer by black attackers.
DURBAN: One armed attacker shot dead by security firm.
EAST RAND: Department of Education hastily backtracks on a letter to schools on “Apartheid genocide”.
ERASMIA: Armed attack sees farmer hit with bricks and a pipe.
EUROPE: 48 Parlementarians sign a motion to discuss the situation in SA in the European Palriament.
FIVE HEAD of cattle killed after attackers cut their tendons.
FOURWAYS: Family traumatised by armed attackers in security village complain about no reaction from management or police after two weeks.
GEORGE: Leon Durant murdered in his home.
GEORGE: Man murdered in his home by black attackers.
GLAUDINA: Three incidents on farms in a week.
GOOD HOPE CENTRE: Anc Youth league members assault TV-cameran with chair.
GROOT MARICO: Wikus Ackerman attacked on his farm by 5 armed blacks – fights back.
HAZYVIEW: Farm attack, but community shoots back and attackers flee.
IMPALA PLATINUM MINES: Striking black mineworkers drag white woman from her car and rape her.
JACKEROO PARK, WITBANK: Young man attacked by 4 blacks.
JOHANNESBURG: Couple from Randfontein attacked, assaulted and robbed while changing a tyre on the highway.
JOOSTENBERGVLAKTE: Mr Weber shot dead through his window on smallholding.
JOOSTENBERGVLAKTE: Second farm attack in less than a week.
KEMPTON PARK: Notorious police station in the spotlight again as policeman shoots colleague.
KEMPTON PARK: Pensioner pleads with family to take him out of hospital – “They’re going to kill me” – dies two days later.
KINGWILLIAMSTOWN: Farm attack on North family on Kei Road confirmed.
KLERKSDORP: Vet Roelf Theron and wife Liesel attacked by armed blacks – minor injuries.
KOMGA: Farmer Marius Potgieter in trouble for shooting squatter’s bull after it broke his fence.
KRUGERSDORP: 84-year-old Hannes van der Merwe brutally attacked in armed attack by three blacks.
KRUGERSDORP: Elderly lady of 84 brutally assaulted and robbed by black attackers.
KRUGERSRUS: Man faces murder charge after shooting one of three black attackers in his home.
KWAZULU-NATAL MEC for Education blames former Prime Minister HF Verwoerd for “making Science and Maths too difficult for black pupils”.
LA LUCIA: Elderly pensioner couple overpowered, tied up, assaulted and robbed by armed attackers.
LUIPAARDSVLEI: Krugersdorp couple attacked by armed men – shots fired, but no injuries.
LUNEBURG: Lattie Rabe and his spouse Leonie brutally assaulted by armed black attackers.
MAGOEBASKLOOF: Elderly woman stabbed with knife on her farm.
MAN assaulted and kicked in front of his 3-y-o by blacks attackersbecause he ran over a chicken.
MARBLE HALL: Farmer shoots at armed trespassers – both drown trying to get away.
MARGATE: Woman (56) tied up, assaulted and raped in her own garden.
MEYERSDAL: Ex-Springbok rugby player Japie Mulder robbed for third time by armed black attackers – one attacker shot by neighbour.
MEYERTON: Shaidy Trickett (7) wounded by armed black robbers.
MIDRAND: Jason van Vuuren (34) shot dead after arriving home from a business trip.
MISGUND: Unconfirmed report of an attack on a smallholding.
MOUNTAIN VIEW: Anita de Bruyn (22) shot twice at her home by armed black attackers.
MTUBATUBA: Elderly Vivien Tillett (90) dies in hospital after brutal farm attack.
NELSPRUIT: Anton Naude wounded by black attackers on his farm.
ONDERSTEPOORT: Elderly deaf woman overpowered by two black attackers, but interference sees both arrested.
PARKTOWN: Domestic worker risks her own life by defending homeowner against armed attackers.
PARKVIEW: Rowena Murray Brown murdered brutally with hammer.
PORT ELIZABETH: Elderly man attacked, assaulted and tied up in Luneville Street.
PORT ELIZABETH: Policeman arrested for armed robbery and vehicle theft.
POTCHEFSTROOM: Dairy farmer David Hall shot execution style and wife rescued by their dog by three armed attackers.
PRETORIA WEST: Robbers tie up 7 y.o. girl in home – only discovered next morning.
RANDFONTEIN: Community members arrest two black attackers.
RANDFONTEIN: Three school boys (16, 17 and 17) arrested for “race crime” and murder after attack on Modise (59).
RAYTON: Community members arrest 2 blacks after attack on Mrs Holloway on her smallholding.
ROBERTSON: Elderly woman of 73 robbed of her belongings while sleeping.
ROODEPOORT: Security firm thwarts armed attackers at home.
ROSEBANK: Two police officers arrested after soliciting bribes.
RUSTENBURG: Reports of a white woman pulled from her car and raped; three black men killed by rioting mineworkers.
SACRAMENTO, USA: Policemen injured as Occupy protesters try to disrupt peaceful demonstration about murders in South Africa.
SANDTON: Two reports of armed attackers in Middle Road and Airdlin Road holding up families and assaulting them.
STILFONTEIN: Man shot dead and woman raped after offering lift to hitchhikers from Zeerust.
SUNNINGHILL: Frik Marks (30) shot dead by four black attackers after robbing business.
UMHLANGA: Drunk policeman rams Steyn’s vehicle after which they are robbed.
VILLIERIA: Charl van de Venter (38) assaulted, sprayed with pepper spray by policemen after he blocked off a black taxi entering filling station from wrong direction.
WAGPOS HIGH SCHOOL: Hostel dwellers overpower three blacks trying to break into girls hostel.
WAKKERSTROOM: Ingrid Anna Niebuhr (71) murdered in cold blood by slitting her throat.
WELKOM: Paraplegic Thys Henzen (43) assaulted by police, raped in police cells.
WESTONAREA: Four teenagers threatened with knifes, assaulted and robbed. Police not interested in case.
WOLMARANSSTAD: Two stock thieves arrested before further incidents.
EUROPE: 48 Parliamentarians sign a motion to discuss the situation in SA in the European Parliament.
STATISTICS SA: of the 57 987 commercial farmers of 1993 less than 36 000 left. 300 000 farm labourers now unemployed.
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