If you missed Jacob Zuma being sworn in yesterday as the new president of South Africa, then you can view the video clip below and see what happened. For me the highlight of this video is two fold, Zuma said in his speech with reference to Nelson Mandela, “He (Mandela) taught us that all South Africans have equal claim to this country, and that there can be no lasting peace unless all of us, black and white, learned to live together in harmony and peace.” Now I seem to recall Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe saying something similar when Zimbabwe got its independance i.e. there is a place for black and white in Zimbabwe, but look at how that panned out with the white farmers being chased out of Zimbabwe. I hope the same does not happen in South Africa. Then have a look at the end of the clip how Mugabe is so excited for Zuma!
The puppet that caused a lot of controversy has been auctioned off for R100 000. The puppet which featured in the recent Nandos TV advert and became a “celebrity overnight” was sold to Ryan Lotter from Johannesburg. It is understood that the proceeds of the auction will be donated to a charity group. The question now remains; what will Lotter do with the puppet? There are some suggestions that he is going to give it to DA leader Hellen Zille who Julius Malema recently called a ‘racist little girl’.
It was announced yesterday (Monday) by South Africa Home Affairs minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, that Zimbabwe citizens can now travel to South Africa and obtain a free 90-day visitor’s permit and apply to do casual work during their stay. The new regulations came into effect May 1, but Mapisa-Nqakula acknowledged bureaucratic hurdles could slow implementation.
South African officials have been overwhelmed by Zimbabweans, who apply for asylum at a rate of more than 8,000 a day, and they believe many will now opt for the visitor’s permit. Most asylum seekers are denied because South African officials believe most Zimbabweans are not fleeing out of fear or persecution, but to find work as their economy collapses.
This decision is going to cause a lot of controversy, I am sure of that. Not too long ago, we had a serious problem of xenophobia in South Africa with a driving reason behind it being that there are too many foreigners in South Africa who are taking jobs away from the South Africans. Now with this ruling, there will be even more Zimbabweans coming into South Africa. It will not surprise me at all if we see another wave of xenophobia attacks caused by this visa ruling. Watch this space.
It may be a public holiday today and many of you may not be surfing the Internet today but I have just come across a piece of interesting news! Julius Malema was today addressing thousands of tripartite alliance supporters at Workers Day celebrations at the Thomas Shabalala stadium at Lindelani, north of Durban. And as always, Malema had something to say! “She [Zille], the racist little girl, must remember that Zuma is her boss,” Malema said. He went on to also say, “Helen Zille must give report to Zuma about the Western Cape…the racist girl has not won…all of them must call President Zuma, President.”
I guess we have gotten used to Malema and his comments and statements but this one today has caught me by surprise. I would have thought that now they (ANC) have won the elections, Malema will now keep quiet but he may just be warming up for bigger statements now that they are in charge.
As we expected the ANC has claimed a resounding victory in the general elections. With a 66% majority in Parliament, the ANC is set to elect Zuma as president when the new legislature convenes on May 6. The final results were released today (Saturday) and they showed that the ANC was allocated 264 seats in parliament after winning 65.9 percent of the vote. The ANC won control of eight of the nine provinces. The DA won the Western Cape province. ANC president, Jacob Zuma has come out and said, “Working together we will make it a government for all South Africans.”
The final results were:
Total number of votes per party:
ANC: 11,650,748 (65.90 percent)
DA: 2,945,829 (16.66 percent)
COPE: 1,311,027 (7.42 percent)
IFP: 804,260 (4.55 percent)
ID: 162,915 (0.92 percent)
OTHER: 805,950 (4.56 percent)
The Constitutional Court has ruled that registered voters living overseas can vote for in the elections on April 22. South African citizens living abroad who are not yet registered will not be allowed to vote. Those who can vote must notify the chief electoral officer of their intention to vote by March 27, the court ordered.
Now that this judgment has been passed, how much of an impact will it have on the outcome of the votes come April 22? I guess it all depends on how many foreigners are out there and who are registered to vote. There is no clear indication yet of the exact number, with some saying it could just be a small handful of a few thousands with some thinking they may be in the hundreds of thousands.
It is now official, Reverend Mvume Dandala will be COPE’s (Congress of the People) presidential candidate in the upcoming general elections in South Africa this year. This announcement was made by COPE’s president, Terror Lekota, who many had thought would be the party’s presidential candidate. Dandala said he joined Cope to stand with men and women of integrity. “I’ve spent time fighting for peace and justice, I found those values in Cope,” said Dandala.
The race is on now to find out who will be the next president of South Africa. On one side we have Jacob Zuma, on the other hand there is Helen Zille for the DA and now Dandala for COPE. What a vast range of presidential candidates to pick from. No two are the same, if anything they are all very different and will appeal to certain people and not appeal to some. We have to continue watching this space to see how this all unravels.
We had heard about the possibility of this last year but now it sounds official according to reports in The Times. South Africans visiting the UK are now going to need visas in a bid to curb smugglers and terror suspects entering the UK. The British High Commissioner to South Africa, Paul Boateng, said the move will come into effect on March 3. But South Africans who have previously visited the UK on their current passports will be exempt until the middle of this year. It is understood that a UK visitor’s visa will cost £65 (R928). So now on top of your expensive air ticket, you are going to need to add another R928 in your travel budget, making it even more expensive to visit the UK.
Read the rest of this entry »
Many residents of Cape Town have been angered already by the proposed liquor bill that the City is proposing. The public has been urged to comment before February 27 on the draft by-law regarding liquor trading days and hours. Some of the significant changes the by-law proposes are that bed and breakfast facilities would be strictly prohibited from selling alcohol. It proposes that guest houses, pubs, clubs and theatres in residential areas could trade in liquor from 11:00 to 21:00, while those in business and industrial areas could trade until 02:00 the next day. Supermarkets would be able to sell wine from 09:00 to 18:00 from Sunday to Monday. Bottle stores, where liquor is not consumed on the premises, would be able to trade from 09:00 to 18:00 from Monday to Saturday. Wine farms, restaurants and guest accommodation in agricultural areas could sell on-site consumption from 11:00 to midnight and off-site consumption from 09:00 to 18:00.
Read the rest of this entry »
ANC President, Jacob Zuma, finds himself back in the spotlight again. I somehow do not think that this man is destined to be South Africa’s next president with all the ‘noise’ surrounding him. Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Appeal upheld an appeal by the National Director of Public Prosecutions against a court ruling that effectively meant that Zuma could still faces charges of corruption, fraud, racketeering and tax evasion. Zuma had thought that all this was over when High Court Judge Chris Nicholson found that Zuma did have the right to make representations before the NDPP decided to re-charge him. But this decision has now been overturned on appeal. In simple terms, this means that Zuma could still go to trial and he is not in the clear yet.
Read the rest of this entry »