South Africa is once again demonstrating its neutrality over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This comes just a few days after it was revealed that SA had been following a non-partisan approach by supplying arms and ammunition to Russia.
Now we’ve sent the head of the SANDF (the SA armed forces) to Russia to “visit educational institutions of the ground forces and enterprises of the military-industrial complex” there and “further increase cooperation between ground forces in various fields”.
Thank goodness we’re not taking sides here.
It’s not like we can afford to be doing this. The Rand is tanking already because of loadshedding and the arms shipments row. To add fuel to the fire right now seems both deliberately provocative and deliberately stupid.
South African bilateral trade with Russia amounts to around $1.3 billion. In comparison, bilateral trade with the UK is $10.1 billion, the US is around $17 billion and the EU over $30 billion. To risk all of that for Vlad’s pocket change means that there’s clearly something else happening behind the scenes. Is that something SA owes Russia? Or is it something the Ramaphosa owes Putin? Because we can talk all day long about how much we abhor the colonial West and and all that they stand for, but that talk is cheap when we are still doing 50x more trade with them each year than we are with Mother Russia. And that’s a lot of money we simply can’t afford to lose.
Maybe the idea is to just run what’s left of the country into the ground before they get voted out at the next election. Or maybe this is actually an election strategy: a vote winner. The anti-imperialists will go for it, of course, but it remains to be seen how the incoming hyper-inflation will attract any normal person to vote for the ANC.
So… what is the plan here? Because I’m equally mystified and concerned.
I recently saw a Finnish comedian asking the same question. As Finland was voted the happiest country in the world for the sixth year running, based on a poll which basically asks: “Are you happy?”, he and his friends were wondering exactly which Finnish people they had polled. Of course, this was all for comedic value, but still, when the results of a poll are so surprising, it’s maybe a valid question to ask. And the results of this poll are surprising, so I am asking the same sort of thing:
Who are these people?
No, not these people:
I’m talking about the other people.
I’m talking about the 12% of whites, the 19% of Indians, the 23% of coloureds and the 35% of blacks, that – by extrapolation, at least – appear to think that the country is being steered in the right direction.
wut?
Look, at least we had a majority that fits with the correct (my) viewpoint. And I get that different people have different political views and beliefs, and of course that’s ok.
But…
…with political corruption, governmental incompetence and an apparently blasé attitude from those “in power” so evident in everything that’s wrong with the country; with literally every single economic marker looking genuinely frightening; with 12 hours of rolling blackouts each and every day with no end in sight… well, you have to wonder how on earth they think things are getting better.
Is it just the ability to shut everything out?
To somehow bury their heads in the sand?
Is it drugs? In which case, to paraphrase a famous movie scene: “I’ll have whatever they’re having”.
To be able to live in such ignorant bliss would be absolutely amazing. Sadly, for most of us (see poll results above), that’s clearly just not possible.
So, it’s onward and upward (at least between 10:30am and 2pm when the next 4½ hour power cut kicks in).
I mentioned a little while back [checks recent archives] here that I am heading back to Robben Island again this year to help out with the annual Year 6 Tour there.
But it was Facebook that reminded me of this absolute gem from the COPE political party.
President Lekota is Mosiuoa “Terror” Lekota, the COPE leader (his nickname coming from his imposing presence on the football field), “Uncle Kathy” is Ahmed Kathrada, a struggle veteran, and I have no idea who Reuben Ireland is.
I actually had to check if COPE are still around, and they are. Just:
0.27% of the votes still gets you two parliamentary seats, hey? Wow.
The COPE website greets you with plenty of colour, and an ill-fitting banner image. And then, there are their four pillars (which actually appear to be eight pillars):
Promoting reposposibility is important. Some people just want to pose twice, but as a modern political party, you need to be able to pose, pose again and then repose. That reposposibility is what the electorate is looking out for. That, and being dependeable. Hugely important.
And… below that is this mystifying non-question:
I clicked Yes & No, because I was confused and I thought that it was actually just a thing for the recruitment department at the party to answer. Both take you to the same screen where there’s a form to fill in to join COPE. Then you email it directly to Shalati Nkhwashu. I can’t imagine that her inbox is very busy. Still as the old saying goes: “Empty inbox, great middle name”:
I’m looking forward to my visit to see Reuben. A very interesting guy.
Love him or hate him (or just see him as yet another ANC cadre deployment that will increase the ministerial wage bill while providing absolutely no tangible difference to the issues he is supposed to be fixing), the new Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is certainly making waves.
Yesterday came reports that he had allegedly suggested that the problems at Kusile Power Station were “nothing to do with so-called corruption”, which is ridiculous, but might also be a bit of a misquote. Because he might just have been referring to the issues with the chimneys rather than all the problems with Kusile (Supposed to cost R81bn, now at least R161.4bn; started in 2009, supposed to be fully operational in 6 years, now hopefully ready by 2026).
And then the chimneys broke.
“But, with the issues on the units that have gone out as a result of the structural integrity and design components, they have nothing to do with corruption. This is everything to do with technical designs. There are significant modifications that they are making and I am happy with what they are proposing.”
Yeah, the chimneys fell down because they were made of cardboard and the got wet and soggy. (This is a bit of a joke, but it’s scarily close to the actual truth.)
I say it “might be a bit of a misquote”, because any other reason for this statement would be completely laughable:
The latest quote by the minister shows that he’s right back on track though:
It’s actually amazing that no-one came up with this idea before. Stop loadshedding by having power all the time. This idea was so mind-blowing to me, that I actually tried to apply it elsewhere in my life:
Consistently having lots of money will stop you being poor.
And if you’re more into health than cash:
Consistently being healthy will stop you being ill.
Where has this man been all our lives?
And why can’t he just go back there?
Yes, yes. I know that this is bound to be another misquote, but can’t we enjoy just a bit of fun occasionally?
It was all a bit weird from the start. Populist, vocal, flipflopping political party, known for its publicity stunts and – let’s be honest here – “occasional” forays into violent protest, calls for a day of National Shutdown to end loadshedding and oust the President. But given that their grievances are an ongoing thing, it was odd that they gave us all six or seven weeks notice.
Until you realise that they had chosen the Monday 20th March because it falls in between a weekend and Tuesday 21st March – a public holiday. Schools were closed, many people would have taken one day of leave from work to get an extra long weekend: it would likely be quiet anyway. This did not go unnoticed by some people:
But it did meant that the organisers could easily claim that images of quiet cities and empty streets were down to support for their cause, when actually, a control for their experiment would have yielded much the same result.
Hint: Don’t mess with a national keypoint, guys. Silly move.
And many of those businesses (not the airport) won’t be open today Not because they are supporting the protest, but more that that they are terrified of the potential violence that might befall them, should they open. And while the leaders of the party are publicly calling for peaceful protest, the EFF dosen’t have a great record at doing that:
I’m not saying that today’s EFF protests will be/would have been violent. I’m just saying that their history is enough to assume that there’s a fair chance that it won’t all be peaceful. And in the lead up to the protest, over 24,000 tyres (the SA protestors weapon of choice):
were found – many of them sequestered at strategically important localities like major intersections – and removed.
So when journalists report that “street vendors stayed away”, and the EFF supporters claim that shows endorsement for the protest, I’m more willing to believe that it’s just for the vendors’ safety and that of their businesses.
And then there’s the misinformation, because there always is misinformation. Old videos, old pictures, entirely normal traffic jams: the works. Thankfully, all debunked here. But not before they have had millions of impressions on social media.
Also, it rained in Cape Town this morning. It rained a lot. Now I’ve never been a fan of sports which are stopped by a bit of rain (tennis, padel, cricket etc…). And the rain certainly kept the protest numbers down around here. Much to the amusement of the mayor:
Cheap shot, agreed, but I reckon that he’ll be extremely glad that the weather helped his city out today. And after all the sabre-rattling, intimidation, threats and bravado from the other side, why not push back a little?
It’s 4:30pm now, and there have only been sporadic or unverified (at the time of writing) incidents across the country, thus far. It seemed like a lot of people stayed away from the protests instead of work – there have been a lot of images of tiny groups of red-shirted individuals from various places around the country.
A couple of valid(?) points have been raised though. The sudden availability of police officers to combat any trouble that may arise, when they’re usually nowhere to be found when actual crime happens to actual individuals. That said, I do know that they are working unsustainable shift patterns in many places to have extra numbers on the ground today. Even Struisbaai SAPS has 12 hour shifts going on this weekend, and the EFF only managed 20 votes there in the recent by-election. And the sudden availability of electricity, as well. Is it really down to hard work and good luck, or can the powers that be actually positively affect loadshedding? And if so, how? Because if so, that’s quite sinister. Why aren’t they doing it all the time? The proof of the pudding here will be what happens tomorrow and the rest of the week. And finally – why the panic by the government? Lots of police, lots of talk, lots of unnecessary drama:
“Regime change”? “Unconstitutional means”? (Let’s talk about constitutional means after the elections next year.) And the military on standby. Overkill. Sorry – poor choice of words.
All in all, an awful lot of “all mouth, no trousers” again, as it usually is in SA politics. OK, in worldwide politics, but especially in SA politics. Still a few hours of the day to go, though. And then the rest of the year.
Anything could happen.
And what’s happening here? Well, I’m going to have a beer, because my fridge hasn’t been shut down.
