SNIPPETS FROM SOUTH AFRICA

March 2006

BY SHAUN WILLCOCK

The purpose of these articles is to provide insightful comment on the contemporary South African and southern African scene from a Christian, “politically-incorrect” perspective, for two reasons: to counter the propaganda of the Reds, almost-Reds, “liberation theologians” (religious Communists), and all their fellow-travellers; and to encourage Christians to pray for the people of this beautiful but desperately needy part of the world, and especially for their Christian brethren living here.

South Africa’s “Culture of Rape”

South Africa’s former deputy president, Jacob Zuma, is on trial for rape.  He, like all citizens, must be viewed as innocent until proven guilty, and this “snippet” is not about him.  It is about what has been called “the culture of rape” that pervades much of South African society – and by that I mean black South African society.  There are whites who commit rape as well, of course, but the sheer scale of the abomination amongst blacks boggles the mind.

  As the woman Jacob Zuma is accused of raping prepared to testify in court, Zuma’s supporters outside the court yelled, “Burn the (expletive deleted)!”  Thus, even before the court has found Zuma either innocent or guilty, his supporters have decided that he is innocent and she should be burned to death.  This is the kind of mentality that prevails. The mob calls for a hideous death sentence for the woman accusing him: mob justice, death by burning.  Welcome to South Africa, 2006.  You are forgiven for thinking this is somewhere in darkest Africa in the eighteenth century or earlier.  And the ANC has the cheek to tell us that this is a “democracy”, where the rule of law prevails!

  Last year alone, 55000 rapes were reported in South Africa!  SA has probably the world’s highest rate of rape.  And yet it is believed that only one in nine women report the crime to the police.   This means that the actual figure is something like 450 000 rapes a year, in a country with a population of around 45 million!  And yet it is hardly surprising that so few rapes are reported, when women see the attitude to rape displayed outside the court where Zuma is on trial!

  A chilling aspect to all this is the fact that, when the ANC leaders were living outside the country and planning and conducting terror activities against SA from outside its borders, they established military training camps in various neighbouring countries; and for years, there have been allegations that women in these ANC camps were regularly sexually abused, and abused in other ways.  These allegations have continued to be made, and now the opposition Democratic Alliance’s Women’s Network has called on the ANC to conduct an urgent and thorough probe into these allegations, saying they can no longer be ignored.  Janet Semple, the DA Women’s Network leader, said that reports on such abuses should be made public, and appropriate action taken against the perpetrators.  She said that allegations of violence against women in the camps have been simmering for many years, and have now burst into the open through evidence being led in the Jacob Zuma rape trial.  The woman Zuma is accused of raping has referred in court to three earlier rapes while she was a child living outside SA, in the ANC camps.  And other women have now come forward with similar allegations.

  One source, very close to the ANC’s exiled community, said: “There were many reports of ill treatment and abuse of women in various parts of the exile movement in Angola, Zambia and Tanzania.  The abuse was widespread.  It was sexual and [included] other abuse.  Women who were abused – and there were many of them – did not speak out.  Some have positions in the state and the army and they might feel it would jeopardise their positions.... women were used and abused because they were women, by men at all levels” (Weekend Witness, March 18, 2006).

  Another source, closely involved with the ANC exile community in Harare, Zimbabwe, and with senior members of that community, described many abuses of women.  “In Lusaka, they used to kill you if they wanted your wife.  That was the level of violence.”  The source continued: “There were other instances where the men wanted to sleep with other men’s wives.  But some of the wives refused.  They were labelled agents of the Boers [SA’s white Afrikaners].”  And: “After 1976, many young people left South Africa.  They were promised scholarships.  Many people could not get these unless they slept with senior people from the ANC.”

  The ANC says that such claims were investigated internally at the time, by itself; but it appears the perpetrators were only lightly reprimanded (The Witness, March 27, 2006).  For example, Jacob Zuma’s accuser gave details of how she was raped when she was five, 13 and 14.  The court heard how an ANC “court in exile” (nothing but an informal set-up in which the local leadership would assemble a group of people to hear the case and decide on the punishment) docked six months’ pay off two men who sexually abused her, not because the ANC “court” found she had been raped, but because she was a child.  The ANC “court” concluded that she had agreed to sex (Weekend Witness, March 18, 2006).

  It is excellent that the DA has decided to make a noise about these allegations and put pressure on the ANC to investigate, because this highlights the kind of “morality” the ANC has always subscribed to, and the world needs to know it.  But we do not for a moment hold out any hope that any good will come of it.  It is unlikely that the ANC would ever agree to conduct such a probe, but even if it did, it is quite obvious that: a)it would see to it that those conducting the probe were sympathetic to the ANC, if not outright ANC supporters; and b)the only people who would ever be likely to be charged would be low-ranking ANC members.  It is unthinkable that top ANC leaders would be hauled before those conducting the probe.  And yet it would be very surprising if the abuses that occurred in the ANC camps were limited to the rank and file.  In his book, Mbokodo: Inside MK, Mwezi Twala describes the shocking treatment of people, including horrific rapes, tortures and murders, in the ANC camps.  The men who led the ANC during its years when it conducted terrorist actions from outside SA were brutal, dangerous men (Mbokodo: Inside MK, by Mwezi Twala and Ed Benard, Jonathan Ball Publishers, Johannesburg, 1994).

So we should not be surprised at the “culture of rape” that now exists in South Africa.  The people who now govern this country come from an organisation that turned a blind eye to the abuse of its own supporters in its camps.  Is it any wonder that hundreds of thousands of rapes occur every year?  SA is governed by gangsters, many of them guilty of the very crimes they now so self-righteously condemn, as they call for the “moral regeneration” of society – a once-moral society which they played such a part in turning into one of the most immoral on earth.

South Africa’s Collapsing Infrastructure: Widespread Power Outages

Twelve years after the African National Congress took power, and the wheels are coming off.

  Actually, they started coming off the moment the ANC came in, but I’m talking about the infrastructure.  South Africa is beginning to experience the same problem of collapsing infrastructure that the African countries to our north began to experience after they achieved their so-called “liberation”: the roads are becoming increasingly potholed, accidents occur on the railways as never before, the electricity supply starts becoming erratic, or even non-existent in places.  And the cause?  In a word: incompetence.  Thanks to racist, insane “affirmative action” policies, skilled whites have been laid off by their tens of thousands, and blacks who lack the necessary skills and expertise are fast-tracked into the positions vacated by whites, often with grossly expanded salaries... and then everything starts to grind to a halt.  In their mad rush to remove whites from all positions of influence in the country, they have created a massive skills shortage which they are simply unable to overcome.

In Pretoria in 2005, there were frequent power blackouts.  Streetlights were faulty, some had not worked for a month in some parts of the city, electricity was often erratic, and yet many residents were being overcharged for electricity they often were not receiving  This is Pretoria!  Oops, sorry – this is Tshwane, as Pretoria is increasingly being referred to by the ANC.  This is the capital of South Africa!  Welcome to Third World, Socialist collapse, Africa-style.  Even during the height of international sanctions against the country in the 1980s, South Africa’s conservative government not only kept the country functioning, but it actually made giant strides, becoming the leading country on the African continent.  Now all those gains are being reversed, as our Marxist overlords take us back to pre-industrial times as fast as they can.

 Johannesburg, Africa’s economic powerhouse, fared no better.  Since 2000, Johannesburg residents have experienced between 700 and 800 power cuts a year!  (The Witness, February 27, 2006).   And then this year, Cape Town, SA’s mother city and a world tourism destination, experienced massive power failures as the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station broke down.  For weeks, Cape Town residents lived without power, or at any rate with very erratic power.  Sometimes there was electricity for two hours a day, sometimes four.  Crime soared as criminals took advantage of the blackouts.  Businesses, especially small businesses, suffered huge losses.  Gridlocked city traffic jams occurred.  Piles of rotting produce lay out in the sun.  Factories closed.  Trains could not operate.  Petrol stations could not operate.  ATMs could not operate.  Chronically-ill people at home were unable to use life-saving medical equipment.  Surgeries were delayed in most hospitals.  Rivers were filled with sewage as the system for dealing with sewage was electricity-dependent (The Witness, March 24, 2006).

Cape Town residents could have been forgiven for thinking they were in Zimbabwe.  But this was not Zimbabwe, this was Cape Town, visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists every year.  South Africans had better get used to it: we are heading down the very same road as Zimbabwe.  Faster than many may think.  The country was told that Koeberg was experiencing problems; and then the Public Enterprises Minister, Alec Erwin, stated publicly that the cause of the problems was sabotage.

A few days later, he denied that he had ever said such a thing (The Witness, March 4, 2006).  The ANC loves to blame sinister forces at work behind the scenes, “counter-revolutionary” forces as they enjoy calling them, whenever they can, because this plays right into their hands: the gullible and often illiterate masses believe them, and view all the problems in the country as part of some “right-wing” conspiracy, attempts by whites or anti-ANC blacks to undermine ANC rule.  It does wonders for the ANC at the polls, but it is utterly dishonest.  Not that this would slow them down for a moment.

So what caused the massive power outages in Cape Town?

 According to a senior technician at Eskom (the Electricity Supply Commission) in the Western Cape province, the outages were the result of a number of things.  SA has reached its limit to supply electricity.  Instead of anticipating increased demands for power, Eskom management (extremely well-paid and increasingly affirmative action appointees) “had been niggardly in its maintenance and extension programme” (The Witness, March 3, 2006).  A true understatement!  The Koeberg Nuclear Power Station’s generators were forced to shut down.  “The claim now by minister Alec Erwin, on the eve of the municipal elections, that the incident was the result of sabotage simply tests new levels of credibility.  Has security become so lax that key installations are now vulnerable?  Erwin’s claim looks like a red herring intended to mask incompetence and mismanagement” (Duncan du Bois, The Witness, March 3, 2006).  Indeed so.  There is a huge shortage of skilled personnel at Eskom in the Western Cape.  Affirmative actions policies (the promotion of unskilled black people because of the colour of their skin, and the passing by of skilled white people because of the colour of theirs) are wreaking havoc throughout South African society.  What happened in Cape Town is the inevitable result.

 And according to experts, the rest of the country can expect similar serious power failures, as a result of Eskom’s negligence related to ineffectual and inadequate maintenance, a lack of long-term planning, and a loss of skilled engineers and technicians.  The National Electricity Regulator stated: “Our electricity will be finished in 2008 if we do not build a new power centre” (The Witness, February 27, 2006).  Although technicians and engineers warned Eskom some time ago that a power crisis was looming, no notice was taken of their warnings.  SA has now reached a point where electricity demand will exceed Eskom’s ability to supply, during peak demand periods such as winter.  International standards dictate that a country should have a reserve capacity of 15%.  But SA has only five percent capacity in reserve.  Eskom will not be able to maintain peak time electricity demand by 2007, and normal demand capacity by 2010.  Energy expert Andrew Kenny warned, “People will need to prepare themselves for regular outages.  Eskom says things are OK, but they are not – it will get worse” (The Witness, February 27, 2006).

  Pietermaritzburg, the capital of KwaZulu-Natal province, is heading in the same direction as Cape Town, with the possibility of ongoing power failures.  The city’s own internal system is failing because, according to sources within the municipality, there has only been sporadic maintenance carried out for the past six to seven years, and there are no qualified and experienced staff to do the work!  The electricity department has hardly any electricians.  In fact, not a single electrician has been employed in the last seven years.  Their inexperience is such that, when there was a blowout at a sub-station, the staff who went to repair it ended up further damaging the equipment!  In another instance, staff did not know how to replace a part.  Last year, there was a major power trip, with three-quarters of the city without power.  The city, like many other cities in SA, is growing at a very rapid rate, but the municipality is not putting in enough sub-stations to keep up with the growth.  In addition, the forward planning department apparently has no funds (The Witness, March 20, 2006).

 How this mighty country has fallen!  Even with international sanctions against it, the “old” South Africa functioned well, there were no shortages, everything “ticked.”  Now it is being been reduced to yet another African disaster.

  The power failures have, inevitably, resulted in a run on gas stoves, gas cylinders, gas lamps, cooker tops, torches (flashlights), and candles.  It did not take long for Cape Town stores to run out of all these things.  Increasingly in our newspapers, we are seeing advertisements for portable generators.  These do not come cheap, but we certainly recommend that if at all possible, South Africans purchase one.  As the months go by, power failures will become ever more frequent.  It makes a lot of sense to have an alternative source of power.  It would be very naive for any South African to assume that he will always have electricity.  Those days have gone.  Be prepared!  And don’t leave it till the lights start blinking – start stocking up on these things now, if you possibly can.  When the lights go out and everyone has the same idea, and rushes to the camping and outdoor stores, it’s too late.  Be prepared!  The joke doing the rounds in Cape Town – “What came before candles?  Electricity” – might be funny at first, but it is merely the attempt by South Africans to try to find something that will bring a smile in the midst of increasing hardships.  Another joke doing the rounds: “What does the ANC stand for?  Another Night with Candles.”  Well, the good news is that many citizens of Cape Town decided to vote for the opposition there, in the recent local government elections – and the ANC lost the city of Cape Town to the Democratic Alliance.  If only the rest of the country would wake up too!  But alas, that is not going to happen for many a long year.  And we can be sure that, come the next election, the ANC will do all in its power to make sure that it doesn’t lose Cape Town again – by hook or by crook.

  Make no mistake about it, we are in for a brutal ride.  It is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.  If it ever gets better.

Government Regulations Force Pharmacies to Close

 The ANC government’s controversial draft regulations on dispensing fees for pharmacists are forcing pharmacies to close their doors, as they simply cannot make ends meet under such conditions.  They have accused the Health Department of having “no business sense whatsoever”.The Health Minister announced new draft regulations for pharmacies’ dispensing fees based on a sliding scale.  As always with this kind of interference, it’s a complicated business and not easy to understand.  But instead of leaving pharmacists to charge whatever they like for the medicine they sell, as would happen in any free market economy, the government is proposing that there should be a maximum dispensing fee of R7.00 plus 28% of the price to be charged on medicine that costs less than R75.00; R23.00 plus seven percent on medicines costing more than R75.00; R26.00 plus five percent on medicines costing between R150.00 and R250.00; and so on.

One would think that it would be obvious that such an interfering policy would drive pharmacies out of business; but this does not seem to worry the ANC.  As one pharmacist said, who is considering closing one of his pharmacies: “It is running at a loss because of the new legislation and because pharmacists are leaving the country in droves due to the rubbish going on with the new legislation.  You can’t run a business on charity and no personnel.  I can make more money by putting my money in the bank.”  Another pharmacist said: “There’s no way we can survive this.  We will go bankrupt” (The Witness, March 11, 2006). Last year, as a result of these policies, over 100 pharmacies (out of a total of 2500) closed across the country. 

  This is what happens when “Big Brother” thinks that he knows best for everyone in the whole country.  The ANC’s Socialist meddling, ostensibly to “help the poor” but really just to increase ANC control over every sphere of life in the country in true Marxist fashion, is driving pharmacies out of business and pharmacists to emigrate.  And thus the medical establishment takes yet another step towards complete collapse.

  The true function of government is the maintenance of law and order, and the defence of the country (Rom. 13:1-4).  But Marxist governments are convinced that they and they alone have superior wisdom and knowledge to everyone else, and that they and they alone therefore know what is best for the country and all its citizens.  And so they constantly meddle in matters that really they should have nothing to do with.  If they simply left businesses to operate according to free market principles, healthy competition would ensure that the public received the best possible deal for medicines and everything else.  But no; “we know what’s best” is the attitude of Marxists everywhere.  And this is going to cripple all kinds of businesses and industries in South Africa, including the all-important health sector.  If such policies continue, SA will soon have a chronic shortage of pharmacists, doctors and nurses.  Already many people, especially the elderly with chronic ailments, are finding it increasingly difficult to find specialists who can treat them.  South Africa, which once produced some of the best doctors and pharmacists in the world, is now losing them at an alarming rate, as they find they simply cannot work under the ANC’s interfering legislation.  And what is the ANC’s solution to this loss?  To import doctors from such places as Cuba!  This is what our once world-renowned medical establishment has been reduced to!

Black Student “Artist” Depicts the Sodomising of an Afrikaner Hero

At the University of Pretoria, a Zulu final-year student displayed his “artwork”: a depiction of a black man sodomising a white man.  The white man was apparently said to be Piet Retief, the great Afrikaner historical hero (http://www.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_1833100,00.html).

 Afrikaner students at the university demanded that this vile piece of “art” be removed.  They asked what the reaction would be if art were displayed showing Nelson Mandela or some other black hero being treated in similar fashion.  The answer of course is obvious: there would be riots, whites would be attacked, property would be destroyed, etc.  Black Communists and others are deliberately attacking everything that white South Africans hold dear.  Their history is being vilified, rewritten, and mocked.  A backlash is coming, for many whites will not take this for much longer.  All this is doing is further antagonising militant whites, many of whom are reaching boiling point.  Those who do not emigrate, stay because they know that this is their country too, and they have as much of a right to live here as any black man.  But they are under siege, and they know it.  Unless the ANC wakes up and starts reining in its masses of black supporters, and begins to ensure a place in the sun for white South Africans, the inevitable result will be bloodshed.  Let us pray that the ANC wakes up before it is too late!

Armed Robbery and Murder in Our Town

 On two consecutive days in the town in which we live, two serious crimes occurred in Main Street. The first, a cash heist at a bank, occurred when heavily armed robbers shot a security guard five times, instantly killing him and wounding his co-worker, before making off with an undisclosed amount of cash in a vehicle they stole.  This is the bank we happen to use in our town; and we arrived at the bank not long afterwards on business, to find it temporarily closed.  We are grateful to the Lord that we did not go to the bank sooner.  In the second incident, which occurred the very next day and in the very same street, and not very far from the bank robbery and murder of the day before, two traffic officers stopped a car in which three men were traveling, at 7.45 AM. 

The car had cardboard licence plates, which naturally made the officers suspicious.  The three men were ordered out of the car, and while the officers were searching the car, they found evidence that it had been stolen.  At this point, the three men jumped into the traffic officers’ vehicle, which had been left idling, and sped off.  The officers opened fire, injuring one of the men.  One of the bullets shattered the window of a nearby estate agency, narrowly missing a woman.

The traffic officers had to hitch a lift from a passing truck, and gave chase.  The three suspects overturned the vehicle, and fled on foot, but members of the public stopped them, and the traffic police arrested them.  South Africans have become very used to living like this.  We go about our daily business, well aware that in a moment, we can be caught up in this kind of violence.  Our town is considered one of the safer towns in our province, but it is not exempt from the violence and crime that plagues South African society.  At times there is a distinct “wild west” feel to living here.  Shoot-outs, heists, murders, hijackings, rapes – these things are all a part of life in the ANC’s South Africa.  With 40% unemployment countrywide, a sense of desperation grips millions, and the Socialist policies of the government can do nothing to improve the situation, only exacerbate it.  Added to that, the sheer incompetence of much of the once-mighty South African Police, lenient sentences handed down by the courts, and the moral spinelessness of the leaders who not so long ago were terrorists warring against the previous government, and one can begin to see why South Africa is in the mess it is.  It has become a criminals’ haven.