Malema gets off easy after disciplinary hearing

Times Live articles:

Malema DC a sham: DA, Afriforum

Mantashe bruised by Julius

ANC Youth League leader, Julius Malema attended his disciplinary hearing on Monday due to several charges of disorderly conduct, but the biggest being his public abuse of a BBC journalist last month.

The charges were withdrawn during the course of the trial after a plea bargain was reached with Malema's representative. For a guilty plea to a verbally attacking the President in public the other three charges of journalist abuse and singing an illegal racist song inciting violence.

Malema only plead guilty to publicly attacking President Zuma after Zuma rebuked him and was found guilty of only that charge.

As a result of the trial, Malema was ordered to attend anger management courses, make a public apology to President Zuma, the ANC and the public, to also pay a fine of R10,000 to the youth development board, and finally to attend the party's political school for 20 days.

Many people are upset with the way the proceeding was handeled especially the charge of Malema assaulting a journalist being dropped.

Times Article: Widespread condemnation of Malema decision.

Update: Transnet strike leads to diesel spill

Mail & Guardian article: Sabotage suspected after Transnet train derailment

- On Monday, the day of the planned strike, thirteen people were arrested for public violence and intimidation during the Satawu workers' strike.

- On Tuesday, Transnet obtained a court interdict to prevent striking workers from "unlawfully interfering with business or activities of Transnet."

On Wednesday, a train derailment caused a spill of about 10,000 litters of diesel and the striking Transnet workers are suspected of causing it. No one was hurt.

According to the Railway Safety Regulator, the initial investigation suggests that some tampering was done to have caused the spill at Burlington near Mount Vernon.

A Transnet spokesperson reiterated that the spill was callous act and required specialist rail knowledge and equipment to execute.

This really doesn't look good for the striking Transnet workers. If it is proven true, that tampering was done, this will just make the company look like a victim of disgruntled employees. I think if this was some kind of retribution, it's just going to end up hurting the strikers more than helping them in some way.

Rail and Port Workers to Strike over pay

Reuters Article: S Africa's port and rail workers to strike on Monday

This Monday, the 10th, thousands of logistics workers threaten to go on strike to purposely cripple the nation's rail, pipeline and port operations. The Transnet company hasn't been able to satisfy the worker's demand for a 15% rise in pay. Transnet did offer 11% at it's highest number, but an agreement has not been met and the workers claim the offer is misleading and does not disclose the cut in benefits.

The two unions, South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) and United Transport and Allied Trade Union (Utatu), represent some 85 percent of Transnet's workforce of around 50,000 people.

Analysts said that the strike wouldn't have huge impacts for a number of reasons, but the unrest among the workers is the most significant thing to me. With the World Cup a month away, a strike isn't something the country wants to deal with. It's good to see the unions taking steps to protect it's workers. As for the details of the deal, I'm unsure, but if the company is cutting benefits AND offering a smaller increase that's misleading to the public. It makes them seem that they are trying to cooperate and negotiate with the unions, when really they are sneaking around the backs of the public.

16 years ago today Nelson Mandela became first black president of South Africa

May 9th 1994, Nelson Mandela was elected by South Africa's parliament as the nation's first black president. So on this anniversary, I thought it was appropriate to dedicate today's post to a president who brought much positive change to South Africa.

Nelson Mandela ran in the first multi-racial elections in the nation. His election as president pushed out the reigning National Party of South Africa which advocated the Afrikaner culture, apartheid and establishment of the republic. The ideology of the National Party is rather offensive when held to today's standards.

They used a system of legal segregation referred to as apartheid and enforced by the government since 1948. The nation's inhabitants were segregated in education, housing, medical care, and basically everywhere else. Commonly, the services provided to blacks were inferior to those given to the white.

Mandela's new found presidency brought an end to the apartheid in 1994 along with the National Party's dominance. His association with the ANC party (African National Congress) also led to their establishment as the ruling party of South Africa in 1994 and continues today.

Prior to his political career, Mandela spent 27 years of his life in prison due to his involvement and advocacy of the ANC party under the National Party's rule. For this, he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

Most recently a film, entitled Invictus was released and told the inspiring real-life story of South Africa's Rugby team competing in the 1995 Rugby World Cup under the presidency of Nelson Mandela. The South African rugby team, aka the Springboks were hated by many South African blacks because the team included Afrikaners. The blacks still harbored resentment for their treatment under the pro-Afrikaner National Party. However, Mandela encouraged them to support the team and when they won a remarkable victory over New Zealand, Mandela presented the trophy to the Afrikaner captain, Francois Pienarr in Pienarr's #6 jersey. This signified a great turning point in the nation's history towards reconciliation between whites and blacks in South Africa.

It's rather remarkable how Nelson Mandela shaped the new South Africa. It was rather shocking to find that just 16 years ago legal segregation forced the black population of the country to bow to the Afrikaner whites . It reminds me of the European race for Africa that I only learned about in textbooks. It's surprising to find that oppression like that used in Africa's colonization hundreds of years ago still existed, legally, until 1994. Mandela did his nation a great service and his name will always carry a symbolic meaning of justice and affection, especially to his people.

LA Times May 9th's Highlight in History

Below is a fasicnating video from 1961 that shows Nelson Mandela before his presidency.

Sources for info:

Nobel Prize.org Nelson Mandela Biography

NY Times ANC articles

South Africa's changing view on AIDS

One of the most AIDS ravaged nations in the world has finally taken an active stance to imporve the epidemic within their borders.

LA Times article: South Africa, changing track on AIDS, faces lack of resources and stigmas

There are 50 million people in South Africa, with an estimated 5.7 million HIV positive people, more than any other country.

The government took action in April, by starting a counseling and testing campaign. (see LA Times article from previous blog) However, nurses and other health providers complain of the program's insufficiencies. They claim there is a lack of personnel and time and others think that it's high goals will break the country financially.

Then there's the stigma of being HIV and or AIDS positive in South Africa. It's seriousness is neglected in the culture. A 16-year-old from Ilembe says:

"Here, if you have HIV, people laugh at you and think you're going to die. And that you've done bad things,"

It's quite clear that with such high HIV positive and AIDS rates among South Africans, the country will have to seriously execute a widespread campaign to see any improvement in it's citizen's health. It's sad that the stigma of AIDS and HIV in the country keep most of them away from testing sites and treatment facilities. If the program intends to see any results, more money, personnel and testing of public officials are needed to counteract the current problems.

Nevertheless, the country is going in the right direction. A change is needed and it is clear that the country is stepping away from it's past denial of a problem and beginning the process of recovery for it's people.

"South Africa, Still the Beloved Country"

Two blind children chat in a school in Kilpriver outside Johannesburg / Per-Anders Pettersson

The NY Times Photography blo, Lens, recently posted about a journalist's experience and affection for South Africa.

Per-Anders Pettersson fell in love with the country when he traveled there to cover the 1994 general election. Since then he has returned and his new project documents the varied lives in a society that is still slowly changing from it's sordid past. He calls it "In Transition".

As a photojournalist, I find his photographs stunning. Especially the one with all the women dancers wearing blue necklaces. The colors and the closeness, that Pettersson manages to capture really make his photographs stand out. It's also this closeness that make photojournalism so powerful and I think Pettersson's work shows how skillful he is at his craft.

The rest of his photos can be seen on his website: Per-Anders Pettersson

NY Times Blog entry: South Africa, Still the Beloved Country

Sheena Duncan, leader of the Black Sash dies

Sheena Duncan was leader and founder of the group referred to as the Black Sash. The organization consisted of white middle-class women who advocated against the apartheid and advised blacks victimized by government.

Duncan did many things, but the most significant was her activity in legal cases against the apartheid laws. She became an authority on the 'pass' laws and advised the victims to continue their cases against the government with the human rights group, the Legal Resources Center.

The ruling party, ANC and the opposition the Democratic Alliance have both paid tribute to her passing and life's goal.

Duncan is just one of many crusading figures in South Africa's history. In the article they mention how Nelson Mandela wrote to her praising her work, yet acknowledging that their life's goal was probably not going to happen in their lifetimes. Duncan's protest of the National Party's laws was very bold since the party would result to unethical and often violent methods to silence any opposition. I see Duncan as Mandela in that sense, although she didn't serve prison time, her life's work serves as an example of extreme compassion to the Blacks cause.

Sheena Duncan died at 77 from cancer.

The Black Sash Organization

NY Times Obituary: Sheena Duncan