The Greatest haShoah on Earth

"The more Qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, they will bring upon themselves a bigger shoah because we will use all our might to defend ourselves."

Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai

As expected, the instruments of state have gone into hyperdrive to counter Vilnai's momentary lapse into honesty. More, Israel Insider tells us: "Israeli forces killed 61 people in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, the bloodiest day of losses for Palestinian terrorist organizations since an uprising against Israeli occupation began in 2000. The IDF reprisals were in response to a sharp escalation in rocket attacks from Gaza on Israeli citizens."

Sound like haShoah to me.



The Israeli air strikes have killed at least 33 people, including five children, in the past two days. The strikes were launched in response to the barrage of Qassam rockets launched from Gaza, one of which killed an Israeli mature student in the southern town of Sderot on Wednesday. The rocket attacks themselves followed the killing of five key Hamas militants in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis earlier that day.

The Independent | Israel's warning: rocket fire from Gaza will result in a Palestinian 'holocaust'



Palestinian activists routinely claim to be suffering a "shoah" at the hands of Israel, but the Jewish state normally denies any moral equivalence between the suffering of Palestinians today and European jewry under the Nazis. Matan Vilnai, deputy defence minister, broke that taboo when he used the term "shoah" during interview on Army Radio.

Israel has lost eleven of its citizens to qassam strikes since the first one was launched in 2003. Many hundreds of Palestinians, mostly militants but civilians as well, have been killed in retaliatory Israeli attacks.

Telegraph | Israeli minister vows Palestinian 'holocaust'



The last few hours witnessed a very dangerous stage in the Israeli war of Holocaust against Palestinians. On the early hours of today, Saturday, 27 children and freedom fighters have been killed by the new Nazis.

This round of Israeli war against Palestinians came after Palestinian freedom fighters stopped firing some old home-made rockets. These rockets killed 1 Israeli only, while Israel retaliated and killed 57 persons! In less than 3 days, the Israeli war of Holocaust killed 57 Palestinians and injured 250 most of them children including 3 babies. The Israeli-Nazi holocaust comes in time of siege imposed in Gaza Strip.

Alterinfo | Israeli Holocaust against Palestinians continues

What's this "Jewish State" nonsense? Israel is no Jewish state. Moral equivalence? You're kidding me. They don't still use that one, do they? Well, I guess the Western media — their fear-addled brains stuffed up their retentive asses, do. Israel is a U.S.-funded, terror state hellbent on genocide. That said, it will — as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad points out, be uprooted.

"Gaza is the beginning, the real issue is elsewhere. They should know that both in the prelude and in the real thing they face a defeat and this time they will be uprooted," he said while on a state visit to illegally-occupied Iraq.

Countering, The Australian tells us: "Mr Ahmadinejad last month called Israel a 'dirty microbe' and 'savage animal' in a speech to a public rally, provoking a new wave of international condemnation of his anti-Israel comments."

What international condemnation? I've heard nothing. Internationally, Israel — that mad-dog Zionist state, is reviled and loathed by thinking people of all creeds. As for Ahmadinejad's colorful descriptions of our New Nazis, what should he call them?

Mea Culpa

I persuade Mosiuoa "Terror" Lekota to join the ANC

In the above picture, taken before most South Africans were born, I persuade Mosiuoa Patrick "Terror" Lekota to join the ANC.

A wonderful person, Terror went on to great things and now serves as our Minister of Defence. More cynical than he, I went on to lesser things and now serve as a South African past his sell-by date.

The nut of it is that no one among us can claim innocence of the deal now going down...

Total Eclipse of the Past

Sunset Beach 2008

A controversial BBC documentary portraying South Africa as being on a downward spiral is an accurate portrayal of the country and the ANC is the main destabilising factor, leading intellectual Moeletsi Mbeki has said. Mbeki, brother of President Thabo Mbeki, told the Cape Argus that South Africans had to face the fact the rest of the world had reason to be "very concerned" about the direction in which the country was moving.

Mbeki also criticised new ANC president Jacob Zuma for "bad-mouthing" his own country's political and justice system in a foreign country. Zuma claimed in court papers in Mauritius this week that fraud charges against him were part of a political move against him. Moeletsi Mbeki, who is deputy chairperson of the SA Institute of International Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, said:

"Here we have the president of the ANC, the possible future president of the country, claiming that the 16 charges of fraud against him are part of a political campaign to keep him out of office. There are no such things as political trials in this country, but he goes and says so in a foreign country, creating a bad impression of his own country's justice system. The world looks at this country, they hear things like that, they see that the ruling party's president is going to appear in court on 16 charges of fraud and what should they think?"

Independent Online | SA is going down, says Mbeki's brother


Sunset Beach 2008

The two centres of power are straining President Thabo Mbeki's cabinet, with Trevor Manuel, the finance minister, accusing his colleagues of buying parliamentary support, while Charles Nqakula, the safety and security minister, is accused of defying his boss by appeasing the ANC.

At the ANC parliamentary caucus this week, Manuel turned on his cabinet colleagues, accusing them of using patronage to subdue ANC members from calling them to account.

The day after his budget speech on Wednesday, in which he did a balancing act by appeasing his ANC bosses while getting the nod from the opposition parties, Manuel addressed the party caucus. An MP at the caucus meeting said: "Manuel said the government coffers have a surplus because departments are failing to spend. He said ANC resolutions had not been implemented because ministers were using patronage to get the support of members. Because of these relationships, members were not able to hold ministers to account."

Independent Online | Accusations fly in stressed Mbeki cabinet


Sunset Beach 2008

South Africa’s dirty cops are keeping their jobs despite being caught breaking the law. And the shocking excuse given by their bosses for this situation is the chronic shortage of policemen. As the country reels under one of the highest crime rates in the world, these guilty cops continue to patrol the streets because there is nobody to fill their boots.

According to police watchdog, the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), criminal activity by policemen increased by 8% last year. It has also emerged that more than 1000 policemen were arrested and charged during a special investigation into social grant fraud totalling R5.1-million.

While many of them have pleaded guilty and paid R1000 admission of guilt fines, they are still at work pending internal disciplinary procedures.

The Times | Police shortage given as reason for keeping on crooked cops

No More Mandelas Part 1
No More Mandelas Part 2
Jamie's Story

Note: I wasn't aware, before watching it, that the third item linked to here is another insert from the same Carte Blanche magazine programme. Should you view it, remember that these extremely wealthy people were extraordinarily fortunate — as bizarre as that might sound.

Around 50 people are murdered daily, a rate seven times higher than that of the United States.

This family, enjoying an outward opulence decidedly at odds with the norm, lived. Their story is, in a South African context, unremarkable but for Jamie's presence of mind under difficult circumstances. Most people robbed — usually in more mundane settings, do not report it unless they wish to claim insurance. Nor do they speak about it.

Hey! It's life and life only...

Down the toilet...

Rooikrantz 2008

Even veteran Fed-watchers were caught off-guard by Chairman Bernanke's performance before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday. Bernanke was expected to make routine comments on the state of the economy but, instead, delivered a 45 minute sermon detailing the afflictions of the foundering financial system. The Senate chamber was stone-silent throughout. The gravity of the situation is finally beginning to sink in.

For the most part, the pedantic Bernanke looked uneasy; alternately biting his lower lip or staring ahead blankly like a man who just watched his poodle get run over by a Mack truck. As it turns out, Bernanke has plenty to worry about, too. Consumer confidence has dropped to levels not seen since the 1970s recession, real estate has gone off a cliff, credit-brushfires are breaking out everywhere, and the stock market continues to gyrate erratically. No wonder the Fed-chief looked more like a deck-hand on the Lusitania than the monetary-czar of the most powerful country on earth.

Mike Whitney | "You are all Dead Ducks"


Rooikrantz 2008

It was a discreet, almost hush hush affair, but after almost three years of stalling and endless delays, it finally happened. Now more than ever, it may also signal a true geoeconomic earthquake – way beyond a potentially shattering blow to US dollar hegemony. This Sunday, the Iranian Oil Bourse – the first-ever oil, gas and petrochemical exchange in the Islamic Republic, and the first within OPEC – was launched by Iran’s Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari, flanked by Minister of Economy and Financial Affairs Davoud Danesh Ja’fari, the man who will head the bourse.

The bourse’s official name is Iranian International Petroleum Exchange (IIPE), widely known in Iran and the Persian Gulf as the Kish bourse. Kish island is a free zone (declared by the Shah) in an ideal laissez faire setting: lots of condos and duty-free malls, no Khomeini mega-portraits and hordes of young honeymooners shopping for made-in-Europe home appliances.

There was frantic speculation all over the world that the bourse would start trading in euros. But according to Nozari transactions at this early stage will be in Iran’s currency, the rial. Anyway the Iranian ambassador to Moscow Gholam-Reza Ansari has already advanced that "in the future, we'll be able to use the ruble, Russia’s national currency, in our operations". He added that "Russia and Iran, two major producers of the world’s energy, should encourage oil and gas transactions in various non-dollar currencies, releasing the world from being a slave of dollar". Russia’s first deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said last week that "the ruble will de facto become one of the regional reserve currencies."

Pepe Escobar | Slouching Towards Petroeurostan


Rooikrantz 2008

In the last few days, gold has spiked to $950, a new high, while oil futures passed the $100 per barrel mark. The battered greenback has already taken a beating, and yet, Fed chairman Bernanke is signaling that there are more rate cuts to come. The prospect of a global run on the dollar has never been greater. Still, Bernanke will do whatever he can to resuscitate the faltering banking system, even if he destroys the currency in the process. Unfortunately, interest rates alone won't cut it. The banks need capital; and fast. Meanwhile, the waning dollar has sent food and energy prices soaring which is leaving consumers without the discretionary income they need for anything beyond the basic necessities. As a result, retail sales are down and employers are forced to lay off workers to reduce their spending. This is all part of the self-reinforcing negative-feedback loop that begins with falling home prices and then rumbles through the broader economy. There is no chance that the economy will rebound until housing prices stabilize and the rate of foreclosures returns to normal. But that could be a long way off. With housing inventory at historic highs and mortgage applications at new lows, the economy could keep somersaulting down the stairwell for a full two years or more. Only then, will we hit rock-bottom.

Mike Whitney | It's Time to Dump the Federal Reserve

Note: The above Rooikrantz ledge is not that most frequented by fishermen. The ledge on which this lavatory was built — by the selfsame fishermen, no doubt — is all but inaccessible, proving anything is possible.

Law and Order

Scarborough 2008

Ten meetings with prosecuting boss Vusi Pikoli - as well as a "top secret" letter - did nothing to convince President Thabo Mbeki that there was a corruption case against Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi.

In an affidavit filed on Monday, acting National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Mokotedi Mpshe also revealed that Pikoli informed six top government officials — including Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula and Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota — of the "serious" graft claims against Selebi.

Independent Online | Who is lying?

Need we ask? Who's lying, that is. That many believed Mbeki's assertion he had no evidence to support allegations against Selebi stupefies me. When did so-called educated people come to take a politician at his / her word? What is said has no, and has never had, bearing on any action taken.

Pikoli was booted out because he informed Cabinet of the case he was building against Selebi, under whom any Scorpions remaining in the public sector will now "serve" and suffer. And Mbeki virtually told us as much by citing, as his reason for firing Pikoli, a breakdown in the relationship between the Scorpions' boss and Justice Minister Mabandla.

People fail to understand the depths of ties that bind the old "struggle-istas" — they enjoy relationships forged under circumstances about which most know nothing. "Jackie" is secure — if anybody does take him down, they'd better have equal resources backing them.


Scarborough 2008

President Thabo Mbeki tackled the ANC head-on in Parliament today, proposing a new, bigger specialised unit incorporating the Scorpions to fight organised crime. In direct repudiation of Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula, who promised earlier this week that the Scorpions would be completely dismantled, Mbeki said he would propose a new specialised unit including intelligence capacity and still guided by the national prosecuting Authority.

Mbeki’s comments beg many, many questions, but they do not reflect the decision of the ANC National Executive Committee that the Scorpions should be disbanded and their investigators scattered across the police force. Mbeki appears to be proposing a new institution outside of the police service, which is exactly what the NEC does not want.

The Times | Mbeki proposes new Super Scorpions

As if to bear out my statement above, i.e. words have no bearing on action, President Thabo Mbeki ducked behind an obfuscatory smokescreen of ambiguity in Parliament today. Let's look at the thrust of this morning's speech.

First, the President's humiliation at Polokwane left him powerless, a vassal of Zuma's newly elected NEC. Secondly, it was Mbeki that fired Ngcuka and Pikoli. Thirdly, it is he who is neutralising our crime-fighting capabilities.

The adversarial relationship enjoyed by the DSO and the Executive goes back years. Thabo's bullshitting again and this amounts to no more than an attempt to appear assertive — to manufacture a confused consensus and illusion of heated debate. But his authority is ephemeral, vapid. He takes his orders from Zuma through the NEC and, in this instance, the Minister of Safety and Security has more credibility than he.

They are pulling his strings.

This speech, whatever its raison d'etre and which does not preclude the Scorpions and other agencies being incorporated into the devastatingly counterproductive and ineffective SAPS, will change nothing as far as the Scorpions are concerned; it will do little to resurrect Thabo Mbeki's sadly tarnished image, and it won't secure his future as a force in the ANC.

Thabo's words are the stuff of smoke and mirrors. If he was articulating real intent, why disband the Scorpions in the first place? Why not beef up the existing, functional organisation?

Disputes within the Alliance, e.g. the Zuma, Selebi, inter-alliance partner tensions, etc. are fought on different, often-overlapping levels. The Mbeki—Zuma feud has no bearing on this specific issue, i.e. the two adversaries are of like mind on it, and old hands know when and how to appraise and separate sites of struggle and degrees of reprisal.

Whichever way one looks at it, the Scorpions' dissolution is a stuff-up of epic proportions with far-reaching implications and potentially devastating consequences. South Africa — powerless, leaderless and rudderless is drifting up an extremely rocky creek without a paddle. Many South Africans, who played no part in the development of our leaders' blind loyalty to each other, will die.

Internationally, we're being written off. The only upside to this tragicomic situation — compounded by our debilitating energy shortage, economic slowdown, infrastructure implosion, descent into anarchy, etc. is that, somehow, our ability to draw from a bountiful fount of growth appears unimpaired.

And if we ever are ejected back into the mainstream from this succession of fast-flowing follies, we'll certainly be the better for having survived what appear now to be insurmountable crises of our own making.

Democratic Principals

"Parliament is supreme."

ANC treasurer-general Matthews Phosa

Parliament is indeed supreme. One might say that congress is good. But neither of these truths lend any weight to assertions that politicians are above the law or that the African National Congress is beyond reproach.

That said, you know you live in a democracy when, dishevelled and dressed in an equally dishevelled suit, ANC treasurer-general, chief flak catcher and court jester Mathews Phosa trundles in to Cape Town's free-to-air TV station to take a happy pasting by 3rd Degree anchor Deborah Patter and political commentator Justice Malala.

Malala is our Paganini Penman, a wickedly sharp journalist enjoying Mondli Makhanya's patronage at the Sunday Times. Justice has thrown many punches at government and he has pulled none of them. Accused by former small-town lawyer and sometime snake-oil salesman Phosa of cheap journalism, he's astute, on the ball, and as sharp as a new razor blade.

Mathews Phosa? You gotta love the guy. He comes across as a laid-back gangsta with a good heart of democratic spirit blessed with great political acumen. However, his conviction's a bit too thick for a decidedly thin skin that covers myriad misconceptions. He gave as good as he got, but he was on to a hiding to nothing.

Not that he minded. In a country where the ruling party is all there is to politics — sparing a thought for Helen Zille, government will do as it pleases. At issue is the disbanding of the Scorpions (Directorate of Special Operations in The National Prosecuting Authority), an independent, elite crime-fighting and anti-corruption unit based on outfits such as the FBI.

Note: We are speaking of the FBI circa 1990. Today's Infragard, a corporate TIPS program, smacks of the apartheid regime's Joint Management Committees.

Launched in 1999 with great fanfare by the ANC, the Directorate of Special Operations found graft and corruption too close to home and is now being summarily dissolved — or integrated into the South African Police Services (SAPS) which, represented by alleged criminal mastermind and former Interpol chief Jackie Selebi, amounts to the same thing.

In short, its autonomy is being revoked and its direct link to the National Prosecuting Authority, essential to formulating strong cases against sophisticated crime syndicates, is being severed. For NO GOOD REASON. And, let it be said, no-one is pushing Thabo, our lame-duck president, for explanations. For those working for the DSO, the future is decidedly bleak.



Phosa's main gripe with the Scorpions rests on his reading of an affidavit wherein a high-ranking Scorpion spelled out to staff that convictions of Jacob Zuma and Selebi would secure their future and make their name. This does not sit well with our Mathews, who sees a dark and nefarious political agenda at work — an agenda targeting his old friend "Jackie" and new president, "Awuleth' umshini wam" Zuma — as bent and twisted a politician as any that has wriggled free of culpability.

It might come as news to Phosa and his pals that politicking is not reserved for politicians — especially those who, according to acting Scorpions chief Mokotedi Mpshe, knew of Selebi's activities early last year but — rather than rid the country of the alleged criminal, rid the NPA and DSO of Bulelani Ngcuka (2004) and Vusi Pikoli (2007). Following such meddling by a government desperate to hide its indiscretions from the public eye, the Scorpions would understandably go for broke on cases involving those politicians.

The fact is, they've solved more crime and recovered more money and taken more drugs off the streets than the SAPS have in the past twenty years. Yet their profile remains low; they're perceived as existing at the whims of political hacks. In many ways, they need convictions against Zuma and Selebi to raise their profile and put a damper on rampant corruption.

Phosa, government and the South African people stand to lose a great deal — in every sense. Following what some perceive to be a Constitutional coup crime stands to become accepted social practice. South Africa's morale has sunk to all-time lows and the powers that be now pull the plug on our most efficient and successful antidote to despair. The Scorpions, who dared challenge the rot within, will go and Zuma and Selebi — perhaps guilty of crimes that would put the average voter behind bars for years, will escape prosecution.

No matter how democratic our TV debates and no matter how much I appreciate the openness of politicians like Phosa — and there are many like him, honest displays of unhinged self-interest tinged with an "I'll get you later" acrimony count for little when the activities of hoodlums take precedence over the Constitution our leaders swore and now profess to uphold and serve. They reduce a document they wish kids to live by to something akin to the American Constitution, i.e. nothing more than a goddamned piece of paper. Putting their self-enrichment before the interests of others, they might as well tear it up.

But yes, I'm left with mixed feelings. South African politics takes place within the ANC. Debate is robust, healthy, and sometimes downright ugly. That the ANC allows and unwittingly encourages a free press is extraordinary in a world where a healthy and vibrant Fourth Estate is not appreciated for the good it does. Such tolerance exhibits the depth and strength of our ruling party and it bodes well for our country.

That government will do as it pleases bares the flip side; a tendency towards totalitarianism that is alarming beyond quantification and measure.

With the Scorpions' ousting — and, no doubt, the court cases flowing from it, we'll quickly find out whether or not Beeshop Zuma's ANC (read Nat Nakasa) is a broad church built on Ma Sisulu's rock or a bush chapel thrown up on a bed of clay.

Afterthought: OK, so I'm bitching about the state of the nation. It's easy to do. At least we have a free press and don't face a future as bleak as this:

Beginning in 1999, the government has entered into a series of single-bid contracts with Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) to build detention camps at undisclosed locations within the United States. The government has also contracted with several companies to build thousands of railcars, some reportedly equipped with shackles, ostensibly to transport detainees.

SF Chronicle | Rule by fear or rule by law?

At least I don't live in the States. Railcars and detention camps...kinda creepy, no?

Political World

"...a 'shadow government' of senior federal agency officials..."

We live in a political world | Under the microscope, | You can travel anywhere and hang yourself there | You always got more than enough rope.

The greater risk facing the United States at this juncture is that it will squander the opportunity to bring about a world supportive of its core interests by doing too little. Imperial understretch, not overstretch, appears the greater danger of the two.

Richard Haass (CFR)

The most obvious changes in policy practice have been a 78 percent real increase in defense expenditures since 1998 and a dramatic surge in US military activity abroad. US spending on national defense and war is now about $650 billion (FY 2008) per annum, which constitutes 50 percent of the world total. In real terms, the United States has not spent so much in any year since 1946. As for military activity: The current (2007) number of US armed forces personnel deployed in crisis operations abroad exceeds 200,000. This is almost 300 percent of the average level of crisis deployments during the years 1989-2001, measured in terms of the numbers of people deployed and the duration of their deployment.


"...remains in place at secure locations outside Washington..."

We live in a political world | Turning and a'thrashing about, | As soon as you're awake, you're trained to take | What looks like the easy way out.

What's the point of having this superb military...if we can't use it?

Madeleine Albright

What the "new imperialists" prescribe is not an explicitly exploitative or extractive enterprise. Rather they see US hegemony as the best or only guarantor of a relatively peaceful global system and the most reliable agent for the stable advance of market democracy. According to Haass, the effort would entail America enacting "a foreign policy that attempts to organize the world along certain principles affecting relations between states and conditions within them" – a new rule set.

The sphere of Pax Americana would expand by a process of integration involving, to varying extents, the direct management of key unstable areas and some failed or failing states. There is an "inside" and an "outside" to the schema – or in Thomas Barnett’s rendering, a "core" and a "gap". The former comprises the hegemon and its partners; the latter, those states and areas subject to compulsion, control, or management. Thus, at its outer edges, the expanding sphere of hegemonic peace takes on a distinctly imperial aspect.

Carl Conetta | Cul de sac: 9/11 and the paradox of American power

Good paper. It echoes much of what the Happy Tutor posited several years ago, i.e. the collapse of the Soviet Union signaled the end of democracy. So where to now? I'm afraid it looks like more of the same...

We live in a political world | Where peace is not welcome at all, | It's turned away from the door to wander some more | Or put up against the wall.

Bob Dylan | Political World

Memory and Forgetting

"Then time will tell just who fell..."

There's a lone soldier on the cross, smoke pourin' out of a boxcar door, | You didn't know it, you didn't think it could be done, in the final end he won the wars | After losin' every battle.

"We the youth of South Africa, recognising the injustices of our past, honour those who suffered and sacrificed for justice and freedom.

"We will respect and protect the dignity of each person, and stand up for justice.

"We sincerely declare that we shall uphold the rights and values of our Constitution and promise to act in accordance with the duties and responsibilities that flow from these rights."

Proposed pledge for recital in schools

CapeTalk gave a couple of hours to the pledge to be recited by kids at school. It might be amended slightly, but its sentiments are nicely balanced.

Our schools, where corporal punishment is banned, are the most dangerous in the world. At least we can give our kids this, drawn from the Preamble to the Constitution, which details their rights and responsibilities as citizens.

Let them put it to good use. It's better than most of the crap they get shoved down their throats and they're likely to do a far better job with it than we.


"...And who's been left behind."

You hurt the ones that I love best and cover up the truth with lies. | One day you'll be in the ditch, flies buzzin' around your eyes, | Blood on your saddle.

CapeTalk callers were virulently opposed to the pledge. All were adult. Most were white. Six words got to them, i.e. "...recognising the injustices of our past".

• These are the people who, having learned to sing "Die Stem" at school, find it so difficult to "memorise" Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika.

• These are the people who advise youngsters different to them: "What you need is a couple of years in the army, young man."

• These are the people who, in South Africa, will call on you to let go of the past while reminding you that "blacks have no experience of government".

• These are the people who so gleefully adopted, without question — and, it seems, without reading — the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa way back in 1996.

• These are the people who are so into forgetting, I frequently think they have.

I'm all for this pledge. It might prevent our kids becoming the adults we were, are, and will fight to remain.

Bittereinders.

Idiot wind, blowing through the dust upon our shelves, | We're idiots, babe. | It's a wonder we can even feed ourselves.

Bob Dylan | Idiot Wind

Most of the time...

...I just mucked about in the garden.

Most of the time | I'm halfway content, | Most of the time | I know exactly where I went, | I don't cheat on myself, I don't run and hide, | Hide from the feelings, that are buried inside, | I don't compromise and I don't pretend, | I don't even care if I ever see her again | Most of the time.

Bob Dylan | Most of the Time

Merry Christmas...

...and an electrifying New Year.

That's what did it. Raw power. On Christmas Eve, a short lightning storm over Cape Town fried my motherboard and modem. Businesses were closed until January 3, when I replaced the motherboard, and it took a further three weeks to sort out the router. Looking at what's happened since, i.e. the country's collapse into darkness, I reckon that storm was more significant than it appeared.

Note: I wasn't nervous. I just didn't have a tripod with me at the time.

Would the last to leave...

...kindly turn off the lights.

The main problem is that the developmental state model can succeed only if it is driven by a highly efficient state bureaucracy staffed by the nation's brightest and best. That's why it can be so spectacularly successful in a country like Singapore, which has perhaps the world's highest skills level where the economic and business savvy of its ministers and top civil servants is every bit as high as those in the private sector.

As the Eskom debacle has demonstrated, we don't have that not by a long shot.

Indeed, I don't recall any other event in recent history that has so shaken the confidence of ordinary South Africans in the future of this country as the incompetence revealed by the breakdown of our largest and most important state corporation.

Alistair Sparks | 'Now is the time to be realistic'

Like Alison Tilley, the naked racism surrounding Eskom's 'catastrophic cock-up' leaves me loath to comment on South Africa's descent into perpetual darkness. For that is where we are and few realise the severity of our predicament.

No matter that power outages are common in California, New Zealand or Brazil — load shedding in Pakistan during 2007 saw long-suffering villagers close the Pak-Afghan highway. As Sparks's commentary suggests, we're closer to Zim, Kenya and Pakistan than we in the know care to admit and those in the dark dare face.

Reality is a hard dollar and the Rand is taking more than a beating right now. What pisses me off is the insouciance with which the media and business continue to swan into a bleak future. Despite finding massive new coal deposits, resources are scarce and The Global War on The Poor gains momentum and viciousness.

The worldwide use of state-sanctioned terror by those wielding the looted capital of others' economies gives meaning to war criminal Donald Rumsfeld's promise of a Long War.

As our bread and milk producers are slapped on the wrist for decades of price fixing, we need to realise we've not yet reached the end of the beginning. And we're already taking strain. Get ready for the Long Haul.

As for Eskom? Eish!