SA's new race laws cause some unease
Some donors are a bit unhappy about financing skills training when skilled whites are available, writes Peter Fabricius

June 30, 2006 Edition 1

Peter Fabricius

The South African government is engaged in a major drive to sell its two latest horrifying acronyms - Asgisa and Jipsa - to donor countries.

These two sound like terrible diseases, but they are not, of course - at least not literally. They stand, respectively, for the Shared and Accelerated Growth Initiative of South Africa and the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition.

Asgisa aims to increase economic growth by at least 4.5% a year until 2010 and then by 6% until 2014, increasing average incomes by 50% and halving unemployment within a decade. One of the major impediments to these ambitious targets is the country's skills shortage and so Jipsa is designed to overcome that shortage.

Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is the standard-bearer for these acronyms and she has become in a sense a super-foreign minister, tasked with flogging them to other countries.

Mlambo-Ngcuka flogged Asgisa and Jipsa on her April visit to Japan and Indonesia and is due to do so on a planned visit to Ireland. She has no doubt done so elsewhere in the past and will certainly do so again in the future.

Both Japan and Ireland, which have grown spectacularly, largely on the back of their human capital, have agreed to support Jipsa.

It must be said, though, that at least in some donor governments, there is a little unease about this new SA push for aid, coming at a time when some of them were inclined to think that they had given the new South Africa a big push to get it off the launch-pad after 1994 and that it should now be about ready to fly solo.

Part of that misgiving relates to black economic empowerment. Some governments are a bit unhappy about South Africa tapping donors to finance skills training when skilled whites are available but have been put out of work by BEE.

Many of these whites have left the country in search of jobs and the number of South African expats in Britain, for example, is said to number somewhere in the region of a million.

The representatives of these wary governments would no doubt have paid special attention to this week's remarks by political analyst Frederik van Zyl Slabbert. He was speaking at the launch of a report entitled "The Revival of Racial Classification in Post-apartheid South Africa", which warned that several new laws and actions taken by the government, such as the BEE legislation, were creating a new system of racial classification.

Van Zyl Slabbert, who resigned as leader of the liberal Progressive Federal Party in 1986 to try to get the National Party government to negotiate with the ANC, said the ANC government's efforts to empower blacks through affirmative action reflected a racial mindset similar to that of apartheid and was doomed to fail.

"If you make yourself hostage to a racist past you can plan on a racist future," he said, asserting that the new laws were based on South Africa's racial classification system of the past.

There was nothing to stop a white person calling himself black to benefit from BEE, except an official assessment of his race. He predicted the effort would be brought down by corruption and legal challenges.

"Just as apartheid came to a downfall because of . . . the race classification Act, this Act will go under." He urged the government to use socio-economic status rather than race as its yardstick when addressing inequalities.

"Given the great poverty in the black community, it is self- evident that most of the beneficiaries of such an approach would be black," he said.

Van Zyl Slabbert has never been afraid to speak his mind. His tough message is probably not the diplomatic music that the government is hearing from foreign governments. But it is what some of them are thinking. And that is probably placing a drag on their willingness to help Asgisa and Jipsa.

July 01, 2006 Edition 1

Zingisa Mkhuma

It is not every woman who is a World Cup Widow. On the contrary, the World Cup has precipitated the rise of women-only groups (Wogs) - an exclusive club of kugels who live in the south and sip tea and wine while enjoying the beautiful game.

Men prefer watching soccer with other men in shebeens, because women always interrupt by talking or asking "silly" questions such as "Why is Cafu wearing an armband? Who died?" I know Â… I did.

And we like to remark about the men's physiques and their shortcomings, such as David Beckham's thin legs and Ronaldo's size - body-wise.

What is inspiring and empowering about Wogs - as opposed to the Wags (wives and girlfriends of soccer stars), who spend their time shopping - is that none of the Wogs care to know what an offside trap is, or how many substitutes a team is allowed.

The advantage of being among Wogs is that you can scream and swear without risking embarrassment, because no one is any wiser about the rules. Being with Wogs is sheer bliss because everyone pretends to be watching when in fact the focus is on other things.

And nobody is bothered with the rules of the game. A goal is a goal is a goal. So why complicate our lives by denying a goal that even a fool could see hit the net?

But this works only when Wogs are alone in some secluded spot. Things can get nasty when individual Wogs are invited with their partners to some of the big games at the FNB Stadium private suites.

You see, it happened to me. Orlando Pirates' Napoleon - as Benedict Vilakazi is called - is sprinting towards the goal. I stand up, alone, and cheer loudly, alone, because I think he is about to score. I scream "goal", alone, as the ball hits the back of the net, and I get a shock when the usual roar that accompanies a goal isn't forthcoming.

Everyone around me, including my embarrassed partner, is strangely quiet. Why? It's not a goal? Why? Napoleon is offside? Saying I was ashamed is an understatement, I sat quietly, trying to be invisible, until the final whistle.

Recently, at an annual soccer tournament at my daughter's school, the grade ones were pitted against a rival school, and it was the mommies who were running on the field, ignoring the touchline, as they screamed for their "little Ronaldinho" to score.

In fact, the mommies ran after their sons, who were running after the ball. At one point the poor referee had to push past parents as they crowded the goalmouth when a boy tried to score.

It was mommies who almost traded blows when one of them shouted "Let's bury them" to her son, while the other retorted: "But these are just kids."

To which the other responded: "Then let's kill them and bury them."

I have been forcing my 6-year-old to watch Brazil each time they play. He now knows the drill. After each match he demonstrates what he calls "moves", and I stand there nodding and encouraging him that, come 2010, he will be among the curtain-raisers.

Despite our shortcomings, most women love World Cup football, and drool over Brazil's style of play - especially the nimble-footed, buck-toothed and forever-smiling Ronaldinho. He makes playing football seem so natural. The whole Brazilian side play such a clean game compared to the Croatians, Mexicans and Australians, who are so physical that they could be playing rugby.

I wouldn't be surprised if many local boys born about now are given names like Fred, Robinho, Adriano or Gilberto.

We are also trying to build a strong team for 2010 and beyond, aren't we? Brazilian names would be a great start, even though this week they shattered Africa's dream by trouncing Ghana

Restrictions on foreign property investment would be "the greatest mistake the South African government could make", says Tony Vaughan, managing director of The Property Magazine.

Vaughan told the Cape Town Press Club yesterday that it was "ridiculous" for the government to blame the increasing property prices on foreign investment.

http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fSe...Id=3317366

You ask me to tell you about Cape Town. But although I would like to talk about it with detachment, with an objective and knowledgeable distance, I find I canÂ’t.

For me, that detachment, that distance, would be fake. My life is so bound up with this city that any separation from it is impossible. All I can give you is my limited and loaded perspective: my own version of Cape Town. Which is made mostly of ignorance.

http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fSe...Id=3317859

http://www.tonight.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=680

June 30, 2006

By HEATHER DOWNIE

At midnight last night the city and province rolled out a highly anticipated plan to tighten security on high-risk roads, deploying seven times more vehicles to stop the scourge of stonings that killed a Kuils River driver last week.

The new strategy will:


Deploy 92 city and provincial police officers to patrol dangerous routes at all hours.


Increase patrol vehicles from seven to 46. About 10 vehicles will monitor each of the highest-risk routes and five cars will rove each side of the highways.


Repair defective surveillance cameras and determine the need for new cameras along the N2 and other routes.


Create a SAPS-led "joint unit" with city police and provincial traffic to "co-ordinate policing and patrolling the N2 and other routes". The unit will meet weekly.


Request assistance from the Bambanani Volunteers to patrol the highways.

The city agreed that no official foot patrols were necessary, according to mayoral committee member for safety Dumisani Ximbi.


Begin a comprehensive awareness campaign that will bring communities, tourism agencies and other bodies on board to "isolate culprits" and educate the public, according to Safety and Security MEC Leonard Ramatlakane.


Impound animals found crossing the roads and fine their owners.


Add lights to dangerous, dark bridges.

Motorists should drive especially carefully on eight high-risk routes: Baden Powell (from Standfontein to N2), N2 (from Jan Smuts to Maccassar), the R300, Lansdowne Road, Stellenbosch Arterial, Voortrekker Road, Vanguard and the N1.

After several emergency meetings throughout the week, Ramatlakane and Ximbi presented the new strategies, which took effect at midnight last night.

"Urgent intervention was needed to prevent further loss of life," said Ramatlakane.


"Both the province and the city have been working together in finding ways to make the N2 and other roads safer."

Responding to the outcome of the meeting, chairman of the city Safety Portfolio Committee JP Smith said: "It's clear that both levels of government were tired of fighting and are all trying to play nicely.

"All that's left now is to hold everyone accountable to following through."

While previous policies were short-lived, Ramatlakane said these plans would "remain for some time" and were "not going to end tomorrow".

Asked for further safety advice, Ramatlakane's spokesman, Makhaya Mani, said: "Do not slow down or stop if you see a threat.

"In fact, if possible speed up slightly, but in such a manner that the driver remains in complete control of the car."

Ramatlakane also advised motorists at risk to call the police emergency number 10111 or 107, drive to a police station and report the incidents.

The new plan follows an increase in the number of stonings in the past weeks, as well as over 30 such incidents in the past year, according to Ramatlakane.

It also follows a series of meetings between XImbi, provincial police commissioner Mzwandile Petros, deputy chief of police Colleen Sharnick, senior officials from the Department of Community Safety, provincial traffic and SAPS over the past week.

While "pleased" with the plan, DA provincial spokesman on transport, Robin Carlisle, said he had found two deficiencies.

Firstly, a special command unit specifically devoted to N2 stonings was not created. Secondly, he said there was insufficient mention of lighting on the N2 and the R300.

However, he said he had noticed more visible policing of the highways in the past few days.

"I just hope this heightened attention isn't a passing fad," said Carlisle

Johannesburg: The police's "darkest day" has sparked some of the strongest calls yet to action against crime in the new South Africa.

Yesterday, as nearly 2 000 mourners paid tribute to the four police officers killed in the Jeppestown siege at the weekend, top politicians and police top brass delivered the same firm message about crime: "Enough is enough."


http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fSe...Id=3317374

Enjoy a happy Saturday!

Enjoy the footie and Wimbledon and the braai!

:footie: :tim: :braai:

May the two of you have a splendid blessing and a life of happiness together

:wedding:

Nice to read some good news for a change. Always nice when the little guys win a battle.