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The charges were withdrawn during the course of the trial after a plea bargain was reached with Malema's representative.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

Thousands queue to see World Cup trophy

The trophy was first reunited with Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg. Since then the trophy has been on a tour of the country and will be taken to 33 towns before ending in Soweto for the first game in June.

According to the BBC, people, many wearing South African national football shirts, have been queuing down the street outside a leisure center in Cape Town's Khayelitsha to have their photo taken with the trophy.

Apparently, only heads of state and tournament winners are allowed to actually touch it, making it seem almost holy to me.

What I found most interesting was that the trophy was actually stolen 44 years ago from an exhibition in London, but was found a week later in a bush by a dog named, Pickles.

I found that pretty amusing that such a random thing happened to this same trophy that is now being paraded about like the olympic flame. It's almost comparable in terms of how much attention it's getting in South Africa. The respect South African's have for the trophy must be immense seeing as it was a huge turning point in their history winning the cup in 1995 just a year into Nelson Mandela's presidency. The event is also known as beginning the spark of reconciliation between the white Afrikaners, which the team captain was, and the blacks of South Africa.

BBC News: Guide to the teams at South Africa 2010

BBC News: Thousands queue in South Africa to see World Cup trophy

South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup

South Africa will host the 2010 FIFA World Cup this summer between 11 June and 11 July. This is the first time this event has ever been hosted by an African nation, which I find pretty exciting.

The 2010 FIFA world cup's official mascot, seen on the left is called Zakumi, a human-leopard hybrid. His name is derived from the abbreviation of South Africa (ZA) and the ending, 'kumi' means ten in various African languages.

According to a recent LA Times article, South African president, recently opened Durban's new international airport to conclude the final part of the the country's major World Cup infrastructure.

On the South Africa website, they list and disclose the new construction projects going on for the upcoming World Cup. According the site, South Africa will spend around R5 billion on building and renovating 10 World Cup stadiums, R5.2 billion on upgrades to airports and R3.5 billion on improvements to the country's roads and rail systems.

I think all this influx of tourism and infrastructure improvements will help to ameliorate South Africa's global image. Below is the FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010 commercial. I'm excited to see some football!

2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Website

South Africa Info Website

2010 FIFA World Cup Wikipedia Website

South Africa launches major AIDS campaign

LA Times article: South Africa launches major AIDS campaign

The South African President Jacob Zuma announced that he was HIV negative this Sunday as the nation kicked off the first and ambitious AIDS prevention program. Zuma shared his test results to promote "openness". He goes on to state:

"We have to work harder ... to make all South Africans understand that people living with HIV/AIDS haven't committed a crime," he said. "We have to expand the knowledge and understanding of the epidemic to protect affected individuals and families. The stigma arises from fear, and fear from ignorance."

Overall, the government aims to get 1/3 of the population tested by June 2011 by offering HIV exams to anyone who goes to a clinic regardless of their visit.

I think this program is going to really start to help the AIDS and HIV problem in South Africa. After reading some other articles, I found that South Africans don't know a lot about AIDS or HIV and it's stigmatized because of it. In fact, the article points out the polygamous history of the nation. It's no big deal for people to have multiple partners and this is a major problem because it makes the spread quicker and more wide-spread.

Zuma has faced some recent controversy over his past extramarital behavior. Opponents pointed out that his discretions put the health of his three wives at risk. While his actions are questionable, his openness about the AIDS topic is very new to South Africa. His predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, at one point denied the connection between HIV and AIDS and for this his dispersal of life-saving medicines was slow.

I think South Africa now recognizes that it has a major health problem with one third of it's population. This new program has received very positive attention, which it should and we can only hope that the program ameliorates the situation.

South Africa's Political History

Currently, South Africa is considered a Constitutional Democracy with the ANC, African National Congress, as the dominant political party. They have been since 1994 when Nelson Mandela became President. Currently Jacob Zuma is President.

South Africa was colonized by the British and the Boers, but it wasn't until the discovery of precious diamonds and gold in the late 19th century that started a power struggle. This resulted in the Anglo-Boer War.

The first laws of South Africa were established by the Dutch East India Company During the Dutch and British colonial years, segregation was mostly informal with loose legislation like the pass laws were created. In the Boer republics segregation became a legalized system classifying the population into 3 ethnic classes: white, coloured and black with different rights and restrictions applicable to each.

South Africa became a Republic in 1961, but a free general election didn't occur until 1994 when the current ANC party took control with Nelson Mandela as the new president. The ANC still holds the majority of the vote, claiming 60-70% of voters.

Have You Heard from Johannesburg? (2006)

Peter Magubane / Clarity Films

This film is actually a compilation of seven films lasting 8 and a half hours total and cover subjects of South Africa's history that include the apartheid period, the Int'l sports boycott and among many others.

The movie review caught my attention because I am a huge film lover and the subject seems interesting. The article also mentioned that most of the content is relatively unknown and new to Americans, which makes me really keen to see it.

Unfortunately, it's a small film, not widely available to the public. It's only viewable when it makes it's way to special film screenings around the country. The closest it comes to LA is San Francisco at Roxie Cinema in June. For screenings click here.

The following video is a small clip from the first installment entitled "Road to Resistance".

The film was Produced and directed by Connie Field; narration written by Jon Else; directors of photography, Tom Hurwitz and David Forbes; series edited by Gregory Scharpen, with additional editing by Ken Schneider and Dawn Lodgson; music by Marco D’Abbrosio and Todd Boekelheide; released by Clarity Films.

NY Times: Have You Heard from Johannesburg?(2006) Movie Review

Clarity Films: Have you heard from Johannesburg? webpage

NY Times: Have you heard from Johannesburg? article

Youth Leader, Julius Malema verbally abuses BBC reporter

Julius Malema is the 29-year-old President of the ANC Youth League who has been the subject of some controversy due to his racist and nationalistic comments.

Among many other incidents, Malema harassed a BBC reporter at the ANC Youth League Press Conference. Apparently Jonah Fisher, the BBC correspondent, made a remark that angered Malema causing him to accuse the reporter of "white tendencies" and demanding him to leave after he 'maturely' insulted the man's masculinity. See the video below for actual footage of the confrontation.

He has been an embarrassment for President Zuma, who apologized and reprimanded him in a statement to the press. Zuma also said that Malema will face consequences for his rash outbursts and immature language, but has yet to make any obvious show of punishment.

I find this behavior by a Youth Leader appalling. Malema is supposed to be a good example of an ANC member to the youth, but is ironically behaving like a child. Personally, If I was a member of the ANC I would be embarrassed he was in my party. In no way should a journalist be insulted like Fisher was that day. It's petty and absolutely ridiculous that it came from a rising political star in South Africa. What's funny is that Fisher had a very valid point and instead of answering it, Malema jumped to the bias news excuse. Challenging someone because they say something hypocritical is not agenda setting, it's what journalists do, we are watchdogs.

NY Times article: S. Africa President rebukes a disciple

South Africa White Supremacist Killed

*photo from blog.ctv news

Eugene TerreBlanche was the leader of the Afrikaner Resistance Movement formed in the 1970s and which opposed black rule.

TerreBlanche was hacked and bludgeoned to death after a dispute with two youths who worked on his farm. The violence occurred over a payment issue and was not an ethnic clash.

This gruesome murder has caused many to worry about the current state of racial tensions in the country. With the World Cup just a month away, President Zuma is assuring everyone of their safety.

To me, It's obvious this was a personal matter between his employees and not an act of racial violence. Therefore, it wouldn't make me worry about my safety attending the World Cup. I realize that TerreBlanche had his views and did some things that I don't personally agree with , but he's entitled to his view. It is possible that his views did lead to the employees acting more violent than they otherwise might have, but that's hard to prove.

LA Times article: South Africa white supremacist Eugene TerreBlanche killed

NY Times article: White supremacist is killed in South Africa

South African Culture

South Africa is often referred to as a 'rainbow nation' because of it's vast diversity within the nation. The country has 11 official languages that include: Afrikaans, English, Sotho, Swazi, Venda, Zulu, etc...

SOUTH AFRICA'S OFFICIAL LANGUAGES

South Africanisms

just now

sometime soon, shortly

now now

sooner than "just now"

lift

elevator

boot

trunk of a car

howzit

hello (a greeting), as in "how is it going"

koppie

rocky hill

play play

pretend

bakkie

pick-up truck

flat

apartment

robot

traffic lights

bundu

bushveld

kloof

ravine

braai

bar-b-que

A large number of South African blacks live impoverished lives in the rural areas around the cities, but it is here that their culture is more intact. Blacks who live in urban cities become more westernized and often speak English, Afrikaans, along with their native tongue.

Of the 45 million South Africans, 79.3% are Black, 9.1% are white, 9% Coloured and 2.6% are Asian.

The Black population is divided into four major ethnic groups, namely Nguni, Sotho, Shangaan-Tsonga and Venda. The subgroups of the Zulu and Xhosa are also pretty large. The majority of the White population is of Afrikaans descent (60%), with many of the remaining 40% being of British descent.

South Africa is divided into 9 provinces shown above. Most of the Coloured population live in the Northern and Western Cape provinces, whilst most of the Indian population lives in KwaZulu Natal. The Afrikaner population is concentrated in the Gauteng and Free State provinces and the English population in the Western and Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal.

There are 3 capitals. Pretoria is the administrative capital, Bloemfontein is the judicial capital and Cape Town, the larger of the three, is the legislative. Johannesburg is the largest city in South Africa.

About a quarter of the population is unemployed and lives on less than US $1.25 a day. (bloomberg news)

The currency of South Africa is the Rand. It is used here and in Swaziland and Lesotho.

The nation was ranked 113th in their literacy rate in 2009 with an 82.4% of the population being literate. The United States placed 19th with 99%. Report via the The United Nations Development Programme.

Sources:

South Africa Venues

South Africa's Media

South Africa is ranked number 33 on the Freedom Report from Reporters without Borders and is considered to have a FREE press.

Freedom of expression and the press is protected in the nation's constitution and generally respected. However, the government has threatened to withdraw advertising from publications that report on corruption or other scandals.

In recent years there has been an increase in the use of interdictions and gag orders by governmental and non-state actors. According to the South African Freedom House report, government and political figures have displayed increased sensitivity to media criticism in 2008. Sometimes, they even accuse journalists of racism and betraying the state. Journalists are also occasionally harassed and assaulted.

According to the Freedom house organization, most South Africans receive their news over the radio, which is mostly controlled by the state-owned SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) which also dominates broadcast media. The SABC has also been accused of having a pro ANC (the current party in power) bent and self censorship.

There are several private magazines and newspapers that include: the Mail & Guardian (english), The Cape Times, and the Sunday Times, which are all sharply critical of the government.

The Internet is completely unregulated, but is only used by 10% of the population regularly. The access costs prevent most people from using it.

In 2007, UNICEF reports that for every 100 inhabitants, 87 had cell phones, while only 8 out of 100 were using the internet. However, these numbers are quickly increasing.