Julius Malema is back in the news! The ANC Youth League leader has allegedly launched another attack on President Jacob Zuma, condemning leaders in polygamous relationships. Malema is thought to have has said that leaders “must lead by example. You must have one wife, or one husband. If you are still young, you must have one boyfriend and you must have one girlfriend. It is not fashionable to sleep around. You will die.”

Now the ANC Youth League has come out and said it condemns the SABC’s “distortion of the message ANC Youth League President Julius Malema gave to the youth in his address to the ANCYL 66th Anniversary rally in the Free State”.

The league says in his address, Malema reaffirmed the ANCYL’s policy of One Boyfriend—One Girlfriend, “which is aimed at discoursing multi-sexual relationships amongst the youth”.

“And because there are ANC Youth League members and youth in general who are married, the President encouraged those to stay with one partners so that they are not exposed to the dangers of multi-sexual relationships.”

The league says for reasons not known to it, the SABC’s capturing of the message sought to suggest that Malema was referring to President Jacob Zuma. The ANCYL says it wants to place on record that Malema never made any reference to Zuma and “will never discuss personal matters of the ANC President in public”.

What are your thoughts?

During apartheid African, Indian and coloured people were systematically excluded from meaningful participation in the country’s economy. The main goal of BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) is to rectify the one-sided effects of the years of apartheid, which benefited white South Africa. BEE’s strategic aim is also to promote economic growth and development. In more than 16 years, BEE has achieved many successes in correcting the imbalance and promoting economic growth. While a number black billionaires have been created, the majority of black South Africans have not yet benefited. It is now felt that since Zuma ousted Mbeki in Polokwane, BEE has become ZEE (Zuma Economic Empowerment). Some examples are Duduzane Zuma, Jacob’s son in the multibillion-rand Arcelor-Mittal BEE deal and his nephew, Khulubuse Zuma, who has amassed oil resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Zapiro’s cartoon shows Jacob Zuma agreeing that more people should benefit from BEE but he has run out of relatives.

Peter de Villiers known as Div is the South African rugby coach. It is well-known whenever he opens his mouth he puts his foot into it. This week the Blue Bull’s front row rugby player, Bees Roux was charged with murder after allegedly beating a policemen to death. At a press conference, Peter de Villers made comments that suggested the national team “supports Bees Roux 100 percent… not on the deed, but rather on the circumstances that led to the situation developing”

Zapiro’s cartoon shows Peter de Villers falling over his feet, while a player comments “Every time he opens his mouth..”

ANC Youth League Leader is making the headlines again and this time in spectacular fashion! Malema chased out a BBC reporter during a press briefing at ANC headquarters, Luthuli House, in Johannesburg yesterday. Malema kicked BBC journalist Jonathan Fisher out of the youth league media briefing after calling the reporter a “bastard”.

Julius Malema was addressing the media on the ANCYL’s recent visit to Zimbabwe. He criticised Zimbabwean opposition party the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change), saying they should go back to Zimbabwe instead of working from offices in Sandton, Johannesburg. The BBC journalist then got Malema going after he told Malema that he himself lives in Sandton.

For those that dont know, this concerns Zimbabweans who have been working on fruit farms (mainly grape farms) in De Doorns which is about 3 hours out of Cape Town. They have had their homes and property destroyed by South Africans who have forced them to leave on the grounds that Zimbos take their jobs and undercut locals by accepting lower wages.

I am pretty disheartened by the reports about these attacks because I had the privilege of going there and visiting a church of Zimbabwean farm workers at this time last year for a research project I was working on that dealt with the casualisation of farm labour (ehe, I am a labour law researcher and my field of specialisation is precarious or vulneable workers) . We spent the whole morning in a church service where these people gave testimonies about the trials they had been through to get to De Doorns. Many of them had come straight from Zim, after hearing (from family or friends) that De Doorns was a good place to find a decent job and some money. Others had been living elsewhere in SA and had come to De Doorns in search of greener pastures. A lot of these people had completed high school and had worked very dignified jobs, teachers and so on. Many had children that they had left at home or were old enough to be retired, but they had felt they had no choice but to come here and work.

One lady recounted how she and a group of others had travelled all the way to the Eastern Cape to get their asylum papers because the farmers did not employ workers without papers of some sort. They spent several nights there before they were even allowed into the Home Affairs Office and served. Only on the first night they were able to sleep on the bus, the rest of the time they slept out in the open and with no access to water etc they were not even able to take a bath during that time! The lady (very bold and with a lot of drama and humour) said that the home affairs people had treated them as dogs and tried to chase them away, and so she and her friends decided “bva tirimbwa” (then we are dogs), and refused to back down and refused to leave until the Home Affairs people assisted them. YHO, the lady had guts! A very sad tale was that of a Zim farm worker who was part of this congregation that had died while in De Doorns. Money was tight so there was no question of taking him to his family in Zim for burial. In fact money was a problem for him to be buried in De Doorns, he had been sitting in a mortuary for two weeks because the family and the congregation had not been able to raise just over R 1000 that was needed to take the body and bury him.

My colleague and I spent the afternoon interviewing individual workers to get to know more about their personal experiences. We spoke to about 20 farm workers who worked on different farms in the area, but their experiences were very similar. EVERY SINGLE ONE of them said they were earning R 60, which at the time (we had confirmed in separate interviews with South African workers) was what the South African casual workers were getting everyday.Many of them were employed through SOUTH AFRICAN individuals who operated as labour brokers by supplying workers to farmers in exchange for a fee. They worked long hours, no social security benefits, no sick leave and no work no pay really. This was very similar to the situation of South African workers we had previously interviewed. So while I cannot totally dispute the claims that the South African workers have made, I really think there is reason to be skeptical about these claims that all the foreigners are undercutting the locals.

Things were very very hard for our people, it was just heartbroking to hear their experience, and at the time there had been some xenophobic rumblings but those were nipped in the bud before things got out of hand. At that time I was very grateful that God had spared them and that at least they were able to live and work peacefully. But that was only to be for so long. So reading these reports now really makes me sad because they are not random people who I dont know from a bar of soap. Reading about these attacks, I can see their faces, hear their voices, feel their hands on mine as we shook hands… They are fellow Zimbabweans, whom I sat and fellowshipped with, sang and prayed with, talked and laughed with. People who were very warm, very welcoming and friendly and shared a lot of jokes and good Zimbo humour despite their circumstances. We were so humbled to be invited to the pastor’s home where we shared a meal with the family, it was just so moving.

That was a profound experience for me because up until then I had thought I had problems. But here were my fellow country people living and working under really appalling conditions, talking laughing, holding on to their hope and faith, they were were so dignified. They were keeping their heads up in the worst of circumstances! I was truly awed and ashamed of myself. It was truly inspiring, there was a semblance of a silver lining to this cloud.

AND NOW THIS??????????????

Thixo somandla, senzeni na? Nhai Mwari tatadzei? Lord, What have we done??

By Pamhidzai Bamu

I think that the decision of the Vice-Chancellor of the Univ of the Free State to withdraw the charges against those Reitz boys should be reviewed. It really looks to me like this man did this to appease the people that run and fund the university and to prove that that he is loyal despite being black. He talks about forgiveness and reconciliation and how the boys should not be blamed because they are victims of a system and institutional culture that condoned this type of thing for so long. What about all those people that were involved in racially-motivated crimes and killings during apartheid? Things were much worse back then, BUT we all recognised that the only way to move towards reconciliation and healing was if the perpetrators publicly told the truth about what they had done and showed remorse and asked THE VICTIMS for forgiveness. In this case, there has been no public statement or apologies by these young men to the workers and to us about what they did. Instead, their VC has taken the fall and apologised and asked forgiveness on their behalf, as if they dont have some sense to distinguish between right and wrong, no matter how twisted they have been taught to be. If the VC really wanted to make this about healing and forgiveness, he should have allowed the proceedings against these boys to continue to make sure that all sides had their say in this. The boys themselves should have been required to do something (or things) to show that they were sorry. The university’s paying for compensation to the victims and turning the residence into a centre for reconciliation really should be secondary to the boys initiative to take responsibility and do something to redress. This whole thing goes to show how the dignity and worth of black people does not mean much in South Africa, because we all know that such a decision would not have been made if these victims had been white! In Shona we have a saying: “zvinotsengerwa mwana, iye omedza” (literally, you can chew for the child, but the child must swallow for him/herself) which means that adults can only help children to a certain point, but they must ultimately take responsibility. Vice Chancellor Jansen, shame on you! You have chewed and swallowed on behalf of these kids? What kind of example are you setting for the youth? By doing what you have done, you are only breeding more racial hatred and tension.

By Pamhidzai Bamu

RICA is the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act. The customer registration section of the RICA, as set out by the South African Government requires everyone who has an active cellphone number or purchases a new Prepaid Starter Pack, to register their SIM cards from 1 July 2009.

Now there is nothing wrong with this act as its aim is to help law enforcement agencies to track criminals using cellphones for illegal activities, thereby contributing to make South Africa safer for everyone. What I wonder is, why is this only being implemented now? Something of this nature should have been done when the cellular network operators were setting up in South Africa.

What I find to be even more interesting about RICA is how it will apply to foreigners in South Africa. Take for example a visitor coming from Germany for the World Cup in 2010. He needs a SIM card so he can stay in touch whilst he is in South Africa. Now RICA requires one to produce some form of identification. Now the visitor from Germany will have his or her passport which is fine. Now the second requirement for RICA is to produce proof of residence. Now where does a visitor to South Africa get proof of residence from? They are only visiting. So does this mean that they can not purchase a SIM card in South Africa?

So I went to task yesterday to test this out. I wanted to purchase a new SIM card. So I told them that I am a foreigner visiting South Africa so I do not have proof of residence. The sales person was now confused. They did not know how to handle this situation. He insisted I produce proof of residence which I do not have. He then went to the back to ask his superior and he came back and said it is not possible to make the purchase. So I left and went to another shop and guess what, same response. Then a third shop… Same response.

So to sum it up, I was not able to purchase a SIM card as a foreigner from a shop which is emphasising on RICA. I knew if I really wanted a SIM card I could just go to the vendors on the street and they would sell me one. So I tried that and I easily got a SIM card and did not have to produce any form of ID or proof of residence.

Now besides foreigners, how are they going to get every South African with a SIM card to register for RICA? RICA started on 1 July 2009 and I wonder how many people who already have SIM cards have willingly gone to register for RICA. I guess not many. If the said something like, “If you do not register for RICA by 31 December 2009, we will cut off your line.” I am sure that would get people running to register with RICA.

So the Presidency finally got its hotline setup today. For those who do not know what is happening, Jacob Zuma promised us during his campaign that he will setup a hotline whereby we could call in and air our grievances. Officers at the Union Buildings call centre will handle calls and respond to public inquiries, and citizens will be able to lodge their queries by dialling the toll-free number, 17737.

It has been reported that in the first 3 hours of operation, they received 6000 calls. Now I have not yet called in to see how this is all going to work but I can imagine the kind of calls they are going to be receiving. I seriously doubt that a lot of people will be phoning in to praise the government as the bulk of the callers will be complaining about service delivery, schooling, housing, electricty etc. I would hate to be one of the people answering the calls!

What I am interested to find out is what happens when someone makes a call. Do you get given a reference number for you to then follow up your query with? With the large number of complaints that are going to be received, are the government going to be able to handle all the requests and attend to them? I think people also need to be told when to use this hotline. If I do not have electricity, should I call this hotline? I don’t think so, I should contact Eskom. But if I have never had electricity in my house for years then I must call this hotline. So I guess it is a matter of being reasonable enough to know when to use this number and I hope us as South Africans are able to differentiate when to call 17737.

It will be interesting to see how well this hotline works and we must see evidence in one form or the other of it working. What are your thoughts about 17737?

According to Julius Malema, the African National Congress Youth League leader, ‘The International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) decision to test Semenya is racist and sexist’. One cannot blame anyone to be annoyed at what has gone on. But it is not racism or sexism, it is downright disgraceful behaviour from the IAAF and jealousy from those that were beaten especially the Italian and Russian competitors who are quoted of saying “For me she is not a woman,” Furthermore it is offensive, hurtful and humiliating to a young superb athlete of this calibre, who has outrun her rivals in a world champoinship by over two seconds, when normally the difference between the first three is 100th of a second. The IAAF has certainly let this athlete down.

For more Zapiro cartoons visit www.zapiro.com

Almost everything about the issue is fuzzy: Where does one draw the biological line between male and female, exactly what standard is used by the track authorities in deeming a female ineligible to compete as a woman, precisely what tests answer such questions. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has asked for reports that will take weeks to review - from a gynecologist, an endocrinologist, a psychologist, a specialist in internal medicine and a gender expert.

The recent spate of striking has left most people, especially those who require doctors the most, divided on the issue. People understand that doctors work in unhygienic, cramped conditions; work without substantial-enough pay and examine patients without basic equipment (gloves, towels, etc.), and yet they are angry that doctors have been striking for weeks. Is it fair to ask these brave doctors to endanger their lives everyday?

I think we all need a shot of empathy, change in perspective – a proverbial shoe-exchanging. Would these people, who are so critical of our medical staff, be able to work in nurseries (in which the air-conditioning isn’t functioning) for over forty hours, without a break, and without access to a shower? How about examining and treating HIV- and AIDS-infected patients without syringes, surgical masks and gloves?

I think not.

The government has offered a 2 – 26 percent increase, as opposed to the 50 percent requested by the striking medical personnel. This offer is an insult; doctors provide a service that is sorely needed, especially in a country like ours where violence-related injuries are a daily occurrence, and where our HIV-infection rate is scraping the ceiling; no wonder they are seeking greener pastures overseas. It’s sad that we only appreciate their services now that they are not providing them.

Sadly, this sentiment of appreciation and compassion (as I’ve pointed out) is not shared, and is even resisted, by our government. They even had the audacity to fire the people who have refused to go back to work! Talk about adding fuel to the fire, already raging out of control …

It is stark and unfortunate that those who have done nothing wrong, the patients (the elderly, the terminally ill, and so forth especially), have to suffer because of their belligerence.

It is yet to be seen how this will play out: doctors are now caught between what they swore to do when they took the Hippocratic Oath, and putting their own lives in peril – the proverbial battle between Life and Death rages on …