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20100917

SA imports about 1,5m tons of wheat a year…

 In a reply from trade union Solidarity spokesman Reint Dykema to an enquiry by the Impumelelo Innovations Award Trust, it was reported that South Africa’s number of commercial grain farmers have dropped from 70,000 in 1994 to no more than 37,000 commercial farms this year. The commercial sector still meets the consumer demands for maize under very dangerous working conditions – however wheat now has to be imported.

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The major challenges for the commercial agricultural sector were ‘instability, the government’s enmity towards commercial farming, farm murders, no subsidies, poor grain-prices, a deteriorating SA infrastructure and the aging farming-community.

Asked how many farm murders were committed, he referred Chris Mingo, who submitted the inquiry, to the following page: http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/2010/07/farm-murder-death-list-1994-july-14.html which showed that 3,678 murders had been committed against commercial farmers since 1994.

By September 5 2010 the farm-murder death toll had risen to 3,707. Latest list:

1,4-million metric/tons of wheat imported in 2009 – 1million mt needed through Sept 20 2010:

Early this year, Jannie de Villiers, director at the Pretoria, South Africa-based National Chamber of Milling told Bloomberg that South Africa probably had to start importing wheat from the United States, ‘which is considerably more expensive.” Last year, almost half of South Africa’s imported wheat came from Argentina, which shipped 684,160 metric tons to the country. South Africa probably will have to import about 1 million tons of wheat in the year through September after unfavorable weather caused “a few quality problems,” de Villiers said today.

South Africans already were “extremely angry” that food prices continued to rise, the Congress of South African Trade Unions was also quoted as saying.  South Africa imported 1.4 million tons of wheat from the U.S., Argentina, Canada and Germany in the prior wheat season, according to the South African Grain Information Service. related link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=adtTlskjsxgw

Agriculture in South Africa Impumelelo Innovatiions Award Trust Research Sept2010

The bullying tactics of ANC-MP Goqwana

Witwatersrand, Free State and Stellenbosch universities faced ‘fake-angry’ racism rant from black MP Monwabisi Goqwana, who claimed that they ‘cater for a particular race group”…

Sept 17 2010 - The Witwatersrand University’s communications manager, Shirona Patel, said today that it was ‘regrettable’ that nobody had asked them why their Health Sciences Faculty dean Prof Helen Laburn was unable to attend the Parliament’s Portfolio committee on health yesterday -  and thus also could not respond to the ‘irresponsible racism-charges” raised by its chairman Monwabisi Goqwana yesterday. (email: mgoqwana@parliament.gov.za )

The ANC parliamentary health committee chairman Monwabisi Goqwane’s carefully stage-managed rant – he used such bullying tactics before:

Goqwana Monwabisi Bevan chair health committee bullying tactics

Before he launched his ‘fake-angry’ rant in front of a bevy of journalists, Goqwana in fact already knew that three of the deans from medical faculties – Witwatersrand, Stellenbosch and Free State - were unable to attend to the parliamentary summons:

  • Thus in their absence, the Eastern Cape MP thus was able to carry out his carefully-stage-managed, faux-angry rant during which the remaining medical-faculty deans had to listen to an angry barrage from Goqwana and were denied the chance to present their requested documents to the parliamentary committee.
  • contact him: mgoqwana@parliament.gov.za

The deans,  Goqwana said angrily, were summonsed ‘to discuss the shortage of doctors, if they were able to produce enough doctors for 48-49m South Africans;  why medical graduates left the country’. He brought the meeting to a halt and ordered all “non-elected members”, including the media, to leave the room. Some journalists refused to leave, saying South Africans had a right to know about the decision. After a debate, journalists were allowed to stay.Yet the parliamentary committee chairman Khaya Mfenyana had by then also already confirmed that ‘the absent deans had apologised, and said they would be overseas, so to us there were genuine reasons."

‘Message of intolerance from the parliamentary committee:’

Goqwana said the committee ‘wanted to hear why medical graduates left the country and why South Africa had such a small number of doctors catering for "70% of the population". Actually he already has the answers: white graduates are shunned for work under the black-economic empowerment laws of the country… and black graduates leave for better working conditions abroad. What Goqwana really wanted to know but did not say outright however, was why the universities did not graduate more black doctors.

Goqwana then abruptly brought the meeting to an end, saying that the deans would not be allowed to make their presentations, because three "key universities" that previously catered "for a particular race group in South Africa" had not attended.

"When we are discussing these things, shortage, quality [of doctors], all those things encompass whether we've transformed and are responding to the challenges of South Africa," said Goqwana. The result clearly left the deans who had attended frustrated.

Professor Wynand van der Merwe, dean of Stellenbosch University's health sciences faculty, also said the decision "sent a message of intolerance on the part of the committee, in the absence of exactly what they wanted from us". http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article661051.ece/Med-school-deans-fail

Gogwana used identical bullying tactics before: 

In May, after reports that 180 premature babies had died at Mthatha’s Academic Hospital in the Eastern Cape, he had demanded senior management for a personal report-back  at parliament in Cape Town. However the only doctor able to attend at such short notice was Dr Siva Pillay, superintendent-general of the Eastern Cape Department of Health. He explained that the medical staffers were ‘under serious financial constraints and one of the austerity measures is on travel.” However Goqwana blasted him from a dizzy height, saying that some of the senior managers could have ‘stayed with relatives in the Western Cape’ to save travel costs..  Pillay commented afterwards that “it was unfair on me because, prior to coming, here I had communicated the difficulties that we are facing”. But Goqwana issued a final blast: warning that “you are actually taking yourself into bigger problems. Why don’t we just say we are calling the meeting off, you will be informed when we will be calling you”…  http://www.epherald.co.za/article.aspx?id=594058&utm_source=timessaguardian.com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=AFL_TrafficShare

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Laburn Prof Helen Wits dean faculty health sciences unable to respond to racism claims Prof Helen Laburn, dean of Witwatersrand Health Sciences Faculty, was unable to attend parliament’s health-portfolio meeting because she’d made earlier commitments which the parliamentary committee had known about in advance. Yet during her absence, racism-claims were leveled by ANC-MP Monwabisi Goqwana on Sept 16 2010. http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page72308?oid=199339&sn=Marketingweb+detail&pid=90389

Patel explained that Prof Laburn was only given four days to respond to two proposed dates for this meeting; however she was not in the country for the first date 8 September, and also had important prior commitments for the second date, 15 September. Laburn issued a statement yesterday as follows:  

  • "It is certainly not true that our faculty caters for 'a particular race group' in South Africa as is claimed by Dr Monwabisi Goqwana, Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee.  This is an irresponsible statement which we openly refute, and we have data to prove that this is not the case. However, we appreciate the important role that both Parliament and the Portfolio Committee on Health exercises in the country.  We would be happy to share information about our innovative curriculum, our quest to grow the number of health professionals in the country and the transformation of our student body.”

She had told parliament of her inability to attend… Prof Laburn said she wanted parliament to know that faculty deans need ‘adequate notification and a proper briefing from the relevant persons to know exactly what is expected from the Deans."  Prof Laborn had advised the chairman of the parliamentary committee of medical Deans, Khaya Mfenyana in August of her inability to attend and had also forwarded her apologies for not being able to meet on either date.

Impeccable background:
Prof Laburn’s background is impeccable: she holds a BSc Honours degree and a PhD from Wits. Prior to her deanship in 2006, Laburn was Head of the School of Physiology at Wits and Professor of Thermal Physiology in that School. She continues to hold an Honorary Professorship in the Brain Function Research Group in the School. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, an Honorary Fellow of the Physiology Society of Southern Africa – awards which recognise her contribution to research in thermal and fetal physiology, and an NRF-rated researcher.
  • For several years she was also the only South African who was a foreign member of the Physiological Society (London).

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Related articles: and links:

Monwabisi Goqwana’s stated business activities include his (non-active) directorships at the Philany Polyclinic in Port Elizabeth, the charity group Elias Luphuwana Skills Development Centre; board member of SAIDS; the Gonubie Plot-and-Plan group and the Mozambuza Farming Project.  (The Dutch-based Van der Leij Foundation initiated a training programme for the underprivileged in East London’s  Haven Hills South - 132 project-linked low cost ‘RDP’ units and 318 rental apartments and 70 credit-linked plot-and-plan dwellings. East London Own Haven, trading as Own Haven Housing Association (OHHA) was registered as a Section 21 company (not having share capital), under the South African Companies Act (1973) in January 2001 and began trading mid 2002 to provide affordable, quality rental housing with the support of the Dutch building society, "Woningbouwvereniging Eigen Haard") He also owns the 1,800 square-metre Erf 7846, at Southernwood, Mthatha in the Eastern Cape. He provided no educational background in his parliamentary CV in 2009: http://www.parliament.gov.za/live/content.php?Item_ID=184&MemberID=606

Transformation of the South African workforce under the black-economic-empowerment programme:  

US health demands creates foreign brain-drain under “Obama-care” programme:

Tens of thousands of doctors are about to leave their home countries -- where they are often desperately needed -- to come to the United States of Americ after the historic passage of health-care reform legislation in March ordered to provide some 32million presently uninsured poor Americans with health insurance. However there is a shortage of doctors and nurses to meet the demand. There's nowhere for those health professionals to come from except from overseas; the domestic education system simply won't produce enough. Third-world doctors recruited to alleviate sudden shortages at US hospitals http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/06/11/countries_without_doctors

The bullying tactics of ANC-MP Goqwana

Witwatersrand University faced fake-angry racism rant from black MP Monwabisi Goqwana’s claim that it ‘caters for a particular race group”…

Sept 17 2010 - The Witwatersrand University’s communications manager, Shirona Patel, said today that it was ‘regrettable’ that nobody had asked them why their Health Sciences Faculty dean Prof Helen Laburn was unable to attend the Parliament’s Portfolio committee on health yesterday -  and thus also could not respond to the ‘irresponsible racism-charges” raised by its chairman Monwabisi Goqwana yesterday. (email: mgoqwana@parliament.gov.za )

The ANC parliamentary health committee chairman Monwabisi Goqwane’s carefully stage-managed rant – he used such bullying tactics before:

Goqwana Monwabisi Bevan chair health committee bullying tactics

Before he launched his racist ‘fake-angry’rant, Goqwana in fact already knew that three of the deans from medical faculties – Witwatersrand, Stellenbosch and Free State - were unable to attend to the parliamentary summons:

  • Thus in their absence, the Eastern Cape MP thus was able to carry out his carefully-stage-managed, faux-angry rant during with the remaining deans had to face a barrage of racism-accusations from Goqwana and were denied the chance to present their requested documents to the parliamentary committee.
  • contact him: mgoqwana@parliament.gov.za

The deans,  Goqwana said angrily, were summonsed ‘to discuss the shortage of doctors, if they were able to produce enough doctors for 48-49m South Africans;  why medical graduates left the country’. He brought the meeting to a halt and ordered all “non-elected members”, including the media, to leave the room. Some journalists refused to leave, saying South Africans had a right to know about the decision. After a debate, journalists were allowed to stay.Yet the parliamentary committee chairman Khaya Mfenyana had by then also already confirmed that ‘the absent deans had apologised, and said they would be overseas, so to us there were genuine reasons."

‘Message of intolerance from the parliamentary committee:’

Goqwana said the committee ‘wanted to hear why medical graduates left the country and why South Africa had such a small number of doctors catering for "70% of the population". Actually he already has the answers: white graduates are shunned for work under the black-economic empowerment laws of the country… and black graduates leave for better working conditions abroad. What Goqwana really wanted to know but did not say outright however, was why the universities did not graduate more black doctors.

Goqwana then abruptly brought the meeting to an end, saying that the deans would not be allowed to make their presentations, because three "key universities" that previously catered "for a particular race group in South Africa" had not attended.

"When we are discussing these things, shortage, quality [of doctors], all those things encompass whether we've transformed and are responding to the challenges of South Africa," said Goqwana. The result clearly left the deans who had attended frustrated.

Professor Wynand van der Merwe, dean of Stellenbosch University's health sciences faculty, also said the decision "sent a message of intolerance on the part of the committee, in the absence of exactly what they wanted from us". http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article661051.ece/Med-school-deans-fail

Gogwana used identical bullying tactics before: 

In May, after reports that 180 premature babies had died at Mthatha’s Academic Hospital in the Eastern Cape, he had demanded senior management for a personal report-back  at parliament in Cape Town. However the only doctor able to attend at such short notice was Dr Siva Pillay, superintendent-general of the Eastern Cape Department of Health. He explained that the medical staffers were ‘under serious financial constraints and one of the austerity measures is on travel.” However Goqwana blasted him from a dizzy height, saying that some of the senior managers could have ‘stayed with relatives in the Western Cape’ to save travel costs..  Pillay commented afterwards that “it was unfair on me because, prior to coming, here I had communicated the difficulties that we are facing”. But Goqwana issued a final blast: warning that “you are actually taking yourself into bigger problems. Why don’t we just say we are calling the meeting off, you will be informed when we will be calling you”…  http://www.epherald.co.za/article.aspx?id=594058&utm_source=timessaguardian.com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=AFL_TrafficShare

--------------------

Laburn Prof Helen Wits dean faculty health sciences unable to respond to racism claims Prof Helen Laburn, dean of Witwatersrand Health Sciences Faculty, was unable to attend parliament’s health-portfolio meeting because she’d made earlier commitments which the parliamentary committee had known about in advance. Yet during her absence, racism-claims were leveled by ANC-MP Monwabisi Goqwana on Sept 16 2010. http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page72308?oid=199339&sn=Marketingweb+detail&pid=90389

Patel explained that Prof Laburn was only given four days to respond to two proposed dates for this meeting; however she was not in the country for the first date 8 September, and also had important prior commitments for the second date, 15 September. Laburn issued a statement yesterday as follows:  

  • "It is certainly not true that our faculty caters for 'a particular race group' in South Africa as is claimed by Dr Monwabisi Goqwana, Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee.  This is an irresponsible statement which we openly refute, and we have data to prove that this is not the case. However, we appreciate the important role that both Parliament and the Portfolio Committee on Health exercises in the country.  We would be happy to share information about our innovative curriculum, our quest to grow the number of health professionals in the country and the transformation of our student body.”

She had told parliament of her inability to attend… Prof Laburn said she wanted parliament to know that faculty deans need ‘adequate notification and a proper briefing from the relevant persons to know exactly what is expected from the Deans."  Prof Laborn had advised the chairman of the parliamentary committee of medical Deans, Khaya Mfenyana in August of her inability to attend and had also forwarded her apologies for not being able to meet on either date.

Impeccable background:
Prof Laburn’s background is impeccable: she holds a BSc Honours degree and a PhD from Wits. Prior to her deanship in 2006, Laburn was Head of the School of Physiology at Wits and Professor of Thermal Physiology in that School. She continues to hold an Honorary Professorship in the Brain Function Research Group in the School. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, an Honorary Fellow of the Physiology Society of Southern Africa – awards which recognise her contribution to research in thermal and fetal physiology, and an NRF-rated researcher.
  • For several years she was also the only South African who was a foreign member of the Physiological Society (London).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related articles: and links:

Monwabisi Goqwana’s stated business activities include his (non-active) directorships at the Philany Polyclinic in Port Elizabeth, the charity group Elias Luphuwana Skills Development Centre; board member of SAIDS; the Gonubie Plot-and-Plan group and the Mozambuza Farming Project.  (The Dutch-based Van der Leij Foundation initiated a training programme for the underprivileged in East London’s  Haven Hills South - 132 project-linked low cost ‘RDP’ units and 318 rental apartments and 70 credit-linked plot-and-plan dwellings. East London Own Haven, trading as Own Haven Housing Association (OHHA) was registered as a Section 21 company (not having share capital), under the South African Companies Act (1973) in January 2001 and began trading mid 2002 to provide affordable, quality rental housing with the support of the Dutch building society, "Woningbouwvereniging Eigen Haard") He also owns the 1,800 square-metre Erf 7846, at Southernwood, Mthatha in the Eastern Cape. He provided no educational background in his parliamentary CV in 2009: http://www.parliament.gov.za/live/content.php?Item_ID=184&MemberID=606

Transformation of the South African workforce under the black-economic-empowerment programme:  

US health demands creates foreign brain-drain under “Obama-care” programme:

Tens of thousands of doctors are about to leave their home countries -- where they are often desperately needed -- to come to the United States of Americ after the historic passage of health-care reform legislation in March ordered to provide some 32million presently uninsured poor Americans with health insurance. However there is a shortage of doctors and nurses to meet the demand. There's nowhere for those health professionals to come from except from overseas; the domestic education system simply won't produce enough. Third-world doctors recruited to alleviate sudden shortages at US hospitals http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/06/11/countries_without_doctors

Various news Sept 16 2010

Funeral of 14-year-old Lazanne Farmer – killed escaping from her rapist – brought Pretoria to a standstill.

Farmer Lazanne 14 dies after escaping from kidnapper_rapist Pretoria Sept52010 Paul Petersen of Pretoria writes: 10-09-15 - “Who could ever imagine that the funeral of a 14-year-old child would bring traffic in parts of Pretoria to a standstill? Well that’s exactly what happened at the funeral of Lazanne Farmer, who died while  jumping from a high-speed car trying to escape from her rapist/kidnapper.

It is clear that Lazanne and her horrific death have moved many people. The church was too small for all the people who came from long distances away. One would think that this was the funeral of a very important person, that’s how many people attended. The family still is very angry and the community clearly is sick to death about the many mindless deaths of so many of our young children. The many messages of condolances and support which streamed in -  are proof of this.

Many harsh words are being said these days about the metrocops not doing their work or being corrupt however the ones helping out at Lazanne’ s funeral with the traffic arrangements did a good job. And the guard of honour they formed at the entrance to the cemetery was unexpected and deeply telling. http://www.beeld.com/MyBeeld/Briewe/Die-dag-toe-Lazanne-Pta-laat-stilstaan-het-20100915 

Solidariteit helpende Hand Nuusbrief

Dit is ʼn alombekende feit dat die huidige armoedevraagstuk derduisende Afrikaanssprekendes intens raak. Navorsing toon dat 46 % van Afrikaanssprekende gesinne te arm is om selfs ‘n goedkoop huis met ‘n waarde van 20,000 Euro kan bekostig nie. Die wit plakkerskampe in Pretoria het sedert Mei 2008 se 38 tot 71 toegeneem teen February 2009. . Duisende Afrikaanse kinders het nie geld om na matriek verdere opleiding  te kry nie en matrikulante is ook nie van werk verseker nie omdat hulle ‘blankes’ is. Derduisende Afrikaanse gesinne is afhanklik van privaat hulpverlenings en privaat voedingskemas vir hulle daaglikse kosbehoeftes – die staat weier om hulle voedselkoepons te verskaf omdat hulle ‘blankes’ is. Te midde van die realiteit van groeiende armoede staan Solidariteit Helpende Hand uit as ʼn betroubare vennoot om armoede suksesvol aan te pak en gemeenskappe op te hef. Helpende Hand glo nie daarin om mense afhanklik te maak van toelaes en skenkings nie, maar eerder om mense vry te maak om self verantwoordelikheid vir hulle toekoms te neem.

Voedsel- en kledingskenkings aan Helpende Hand kan weeksdae tussen 08:00 en 16:30 by Helpende Hand se skenkingskantoor in Centurion afgelewer word. Hier bepaal Helpende Hand waar die onderskeie skenkings die beste aangewend kan word.  Vir meer inligting oor hoe om ʼn skenking te doen, stuur ʼn e-pos na skenkings@solidariteit.co.za of skakel 012 644 4426.

As jy 'n donasie aan Solidariteit Helpende Hand wil maak, kan jy dit ins ons bankrekening inbetaal. Neem kennis dat Helpende Hand se bankbesonderhede verander het na: Bank: ABSA Rekeningnommer: 407 225 0017 Tak: Centurion Takkode: 632005

6,150 derelict mines will cost taxpayers R30-b to rehabilitate

Comments September 16, 2010 By Bloomberg  Submit your comment 

 South Africa had about 6,150 abandoned and derelict mines and the taxpayers faced a liability estimated at about R30 billion to rehabilitate them, a government official said yesterday. "The financial challenge is a big one," Ntokozo Ngcwabe, the chief director of policy at the Department of Mineral Resources, told Parliament.

The funding made available by the National Treasury for mine rehabilitation "isn't enough, and will never be enough, to address the extent of the challenge we face". South Africa is the biggest producer of platinum and chrome and the fourth-largest gold producer. Mining in the country dates back to the 1600s and many operators abandoned their shafts when they stopped being financially viable, leaving the government to take custody. Since 1994, 48 asbestos mines and 108 dangerous gold mining trenches and shafts had been rehabilitated, Ngcwabe said.

She dismissed recent media reports stating that acid water from gold mines under Johannesburg could soon drain into the city streets."You're not going to see a horror movie in Johannesburg in the next 18 months," Ngcwabe said. "The situation is under control."Acid water was currently 550m below the surface of Johannesburg and could rise 400m to a critical level of 150m below the surface if R200 million wasn't spent solving the problem, newspapers reported last week, citing Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Buyelwa Sonjica.

However at Springs, hundreds of poor white mineworkers – who haven’t been paid for months by the black owners of Aurora gold mine in Grootvlei – are still desperately trying to keep one pump going to stop that mine from flooding its acid, highly-radio active water into the streets of the empoverished mining town. http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?from=rss_&fArticleId=5649224#comment_bottom_box

Below is the current situation as described in the September newsletter of Solidariteit trade union (central column).

AfrikanerPoorGetEntertainedByDutchStudentsWithBoeresport Solidarity Helpende Hand trade union Aug2010

Shotgun much better self-defence weapon

 Summary: Afrikaner taxidermist Jacques Fouché got beaten up and shot in the foot by black armed robbers - whips out his shotgun and kills two of his assaillants (new pictures); the ANC’s Zulu-factor may help Zuma retain power base: some192,600 of the ANC-members are in KZN…

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WARNING – gruesome crime scene pictures – NOT FOR CHILDREN

Randfontein Taxidermist Jacques Fouche, 36, used a shotgun to defend himself against four dangerous black gunmen who were armed with three 9mm police-issue handguns and an R5 military-attack carbine and attacked his shop in broad daylight. Proving once again that a shotgun is a very powerful self-defence weapon.  http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Bende-se-moses-20100824
  • The crime-scene pictures below prove how effective a shotgun loaded with buckshot can be in self-defence against such heavily-armed and very vicious killer-gangs: police said that one of the killed gunmen was on their Ten Most Wanted Criminals list in the West Rand for house robberies – and the gang’s three 9mm police-issue handguns and their R5 military assault carbine were confiscated. The gruesome crime scene pictures appear below.
  • Warning: do not scroll down if you are sensitive or if children are nearby. 

Fouche Jacques Randfontein Aug242010 shoots dead armed attacker pic Beeld Amanda Roestoff Taxidermist Jacques Fouché, 36, from Randfontein, told Beeld Afrikaans newspaper how he was helping a client, a certain “JJ” from Mauritius, carry hunting trophies, skins and skulls to the client’s car at Fouché's house in Fir Street, Green Hills. "When we walked back, I saw two men walking toward us. I leaned into my bakkie to press the remote control button to close the gate, but then they were already on us." The robbers took Fouché and JJ to the workshop at the back of the premises, where they repeatedly punched a worker, Jacob. The three men were forced to lie on the floor and their hands were tied behind their backs. They were stripped of their valuables. "Another two men came in with a bag containing an R5 rifle. I was warned not to take any chances while the one robber waved the R5 in front of me. Then they took me alone to the master bedroom in the house," Fouché said. The safe was already unlocked by then. The robbers wanted to know where Fouché was hiding his money and pistols. He was repeatedly hit over the head with the R5 while he was tied up and held on his bed. "Suddenly some of them came running in, screaming that they have to get out of there. I don't know what happened, but I suspect Jacob freed himself and jumped over the wall into the neighbours' property to get help. Then a security company was called." said Fouché. He freed himself and grabbed a shotgun. When he tried to shoot the gun misfired. He grabbed a second shotgun and left the house. Two of the robbers turned back and opened fire on him. "When I saw they were coming back, I had to run to the stoep and find shelter." Fouché shot at the armed suspects, who were near JJ's car, from the stoep. One of them shot back from inside the car. He was hit in the right foot while on his way to hide behind his bakkie. "I carried on shooting back and then I just sat behind the bakkie until the shots stopped." The two back windows of JJ's car were shattered by bullets. The body of one of the robbers lay outside the car on the road. Another suspect's body was in the driver's seat. Police captain Appel Ernst said Peet Venter, a policeman who lives in the area, reacted quickly when he heard the shots and called the police and also started chasing down the other two gunmen. "Another two robbers were found in the veld and in a nearby townhouse complex. We found two 9mm pistols in the vehicle. Another 9mm pistol was found in the veld and the R5 rifle was found in the townhouse complex. They are definitely among the most wanted criminals in the area," Ernst said. . No charges were laid against the taxidermist.  http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article620582.ece/Two-robbers-shot-dead-by-taxidermist http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Bende-se-moses-20100824

 WARNING – GRUESOME CRIME PICTURES BELOW – NOT FOR CHILDREN

A shotgun in self-defence – so much better than a .22 peashooter…

 Fouche Jacques Randfontein Aug242010 SHOT TWO ARMED ROBBERS WITH R5 IN SELFDEFENCE

Fouche Jacques Randfontein Aug242010 SHOT TWO ARMED ROBBERS WITH R5 IN SELFDEFENCE_2

 

Political commentator Patrick Laurence : ANC and the ‘Zulu factor”

17 September 2010  JOHANNESBURG – Patrick Laurence writes: “The recent manoeuvring by mutually hostile factions within the African National Congress (ANC) and its allies in the tripartite alliance raises questions about whether the alliance can survive in its present form and, if not, what its future might be.Such disputes generally provoke speculation as to whether one of (South Africa’s ruling) alliance's three members – the African National Congress, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) -- will walk out. The most frequently talked of scenario is one in which Cosatu withdraws from the alliance and serves as the “god-father of a worker's party” in opposition to the ANC.

Scenario leads either to revolution or a rival workers’ party:

This was a possibility articulated more than a decade ago in a report by Connie September, the then deputy president of Cosatu. The report anticipates three possible future scenarios for Cosatu, one of which, codenamed The Desert, anticipated the withdrawal of Cosatu from the tripartite alliance. Unlike the scenarios codenamed Skorokoro and Pap ‘n Vleis, The Desert does not have a happy ending.

  • It leads to either revolution or the rise of a rival workers' party to the ANC. The scenario needs to be seen as a prediction that might yet occur, but not a prediction of what will inevitably take place.

Cosatu is highly critical of the ANC today. It accuses the ANC leadership of not fulfilling its promises to the poor. Its strategy is to re-orient ANC policy in a pro-poor direction by a mixture of cajolery and coaxing. At the same time, however, Cosatu is seeking to increase its influence within the ANC by exhorting its rank-and-file members to become joint members of the ANC in the same way as many members of the SACP hold dual membership of the ANC.

Cosatu undoubtedly played a crucial role in ensuring the election of Jacob Zuma as president of the ANC in December 2007 and is unquestionably seeking to induce Zuma to abandon the pro-market and pro-investor macro-economic policy that he inherited from President Thabo Mbeki.

Nationalisation;  new category of ‘super-rich’ taxpayers and a ‘solidarity tax’…

A discussion document that Cosatu submitted for consideration at the ANC's national general council -which starts on September 20 - is proof of Cosatu’s quest. It envisages the introduction of a new category of "super-rich" taxpayers and a "solidarity tax" on the top 10 percent of taxpayers, as well as a strategically targeted programme of nationalisation of important industries, including the mining of gold and coal and the refining of petroleum …

If it fails to persuade Zuma to change tack on economic policy, it may withdraw its support from him and seek to prevent his re-election as ANC president at the ANC's national conference in Bloemfontein in December of 2012.

If Cosatu succeeds in persuading Zuma to shift leftwards, the more conservative ANC members - or "nationalists," as they have been dubbed by the media - will certainly resist the "hijacking" of the ANC by communists and their auxiliaries and, if necessary, withdraw to establish an authentically nationalist ANC.

There is a precedent for that: the breakaway from the ANC by the Africanists and the establishment in 1959 of the Pan Africanist Congress (of Azania) under Robert Sobukwe.

  • Back then the Africanists saw the adoption by the ANC of the Freedom Charter as an invitation to communists to assume control of the ANC and they referred to the Freedom Charter scathingly as the Kliptown Charter and to its adherents as the Charterists.

In the past week there have been reports that might have a strong bearing on the future balance of power within the ANC-tripartite alliance. They relate to a call by Cosatu delegates at a bilateral meeting between Cosatu and the SACP, at which Cosatu representatives are reported to have pressed for Blade Nzimande, the general secretary of the SACP, to resign as the party leader, arguing that his role as the minister for higher education in the Zuma cabinet imposed too many demands on him to fulfil his duties as SACP general secretary.

Cosatu's pressure for Nzimande to resign as party general secretary - which he has predictably rejected - is linked to criticism voiced by Cosatu of SACP members serving in the Zuma cabinet. The nub of the complaint is that the SACP members have placed their ANC commitments above their loyalty to the working class. The allegation is made with specific reference to the reputed failure of the communist members of the cabinet to support the recent strike by public servants.

The charge brings to mind the rejoinder that Nelson Mandela made to those who charged that the African nationalists in the ANC were being manipulated and used by members of the SACP to advance communism rather than the liberation of the oppressed black majority. His riposte was to suggest it was more a case of African nationalists using their communist allies to advance a nationalist agenda than the other way round.

The justification of his counter-view is manifest in the end result of the settlement negotiations: the adoption of a liberal constitution as the foundation on which to build a non-racial democracy based on universal adult suffrage and free, open and regular elections.

Those who are wont to write Zuma off should take note of the Invuseleo campaign to raise the number of  authenticated ANC members from the just over 620,000 at the time of the 2007 national conference to one-million by its scheduled national conference in 2012, the year that marks the centenary of its founding of the ANC.

It is likely that KwaZulu-Natal (*i.a. the Zulus)  - and with it Zuma - will be the major beneficiary of the ANC's recruitment drive over the next 15 months. Indeed, it was reported at the recent Provincial General Council that there were now 192,618 ANC members in KZN.

It should remembered that Zuma is the first Zulu to serve as ANC president since the election of Albert Lutuli in the early 1950s and his tragic death in 1967.

Zulu ethnic sentiment

For these reasons it would be foolhardy to assume that Zuma will be unable to win an electoral contest at the ANC's 2012 elective conference. The safest prediction is that the conference is likely to be the scene of a tough contest. http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page72308?oid=199427&sn=Marketingweb+detail&pid=90389