South Africa: The Fear of Collapse

Why Nations Fail/ Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson

It might appear that changing economic institutions shouldn’t be that difficult. If you have power, you should be able to change things in a direction you favor. Simple. But not so simple in South Africa. The majority had power after 1994 in the shape of the government of the African National Congress (ANC), but they were very afraid that if they moved too soon and too fast, then they would alienate the white segment of the population, who owned the land and the capital stock, and this would precipitate an economic collapse.

White rule was not just a matter of keeping black wages low as we saw in our previous post. Blacks had been herded into townships placed at some distance from jobs where the whites could control and monitor people. Many, including nearly all the women, had been pushed far into marginal rural areas, notably the so-called homelands. And of course, the educational system had systematically discriminated against blacks who were not in a position to just take over the assets owned by whites and use them as productively.

The ANC rightly feared that the mass expropriation of white assets would lead to economic collapse which could create falls in living standards and who knows what types of populist challenges and political instability.

When faced with these challenges, what could the ANC do?

They had power, but it was difficult to use it. So they opted for a gradual approach, driven party by their idea that it would be possible to create an inclusive society which included not just the blacks, but also their former oppressors.

In consequence the institutional reforms implemented after 1994 were modest. There was to be no land reform; instead there would be market friendly “willing buyer, willing seller” transactions facilitated by the government. Most towns had their nice white areas and outside were the townships where the blacks lived in shacks, without toilets, without running water, without electricity. The white property was to be left alone; instead the conditions in the townships would be ameliorated. Proper houses could replace the shacks, electricity could be put in, water be provided. In other places policy was just as modest.

Whites were worried about the macroeconomy. So the ANC agreed to an independent central bank, something that the whites had not deemed necessary when they were running the country.

The position of the whites in this was a little strange. It was as if they had said: OK yes it’s true that for several hundred years we have been exploiting you, forcing down your wages, stealing your land, but now we have democracy and we have to respect private property and free markets (something rather inconspicuous during white rule when markets were continually rigged in favor of whites and against blacks). The ANC in response just ate humble pie.

Nevertheless, the ANC made progress. They created a vibrant participatory democracy, something that white rule had never dreamed of. They created a new system of social transfers which radically reduced poverty. They built three million new houses for poor people in the townships.

But inequality, rather than going down, went up. Of course some of that increase in inequality has been due to the emergence of black businesses and a black professional class. All the same, the typical business in South Africa is still remarkably similar to what it was before 1994: the whites own and the blacks do the work. Look around and you’ll see that blacks still walk while the whites drive.

South Africa: Headed Towards Totalitarianism?

PJ Media/ By  Hussein Solomon/

William-Kentridge

There is much turmoil at the top in South Africa today. A messy succession battle in the ruling African National Congress (ANC) rages, during which intelligence services have been increasingly politicized to serve the aims of competing factions. The constitution is under fire, as are other democratic institutions from an increasingly powerful party apparatus to which the state is subservient. Indeed, since the ascent of the ANC to power in 1994, the line between party and state has increasingly become blurred.

A new, innocuous-sounding General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill fits into this context. On the surface, this change makes perfect sense: who wouldn’t want a streamlined intelligence structure curtailing duplication and cutting out wasteful expenditure? The bill provides for a merger of the domestic National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the foreign-oriented South African Secret Service (SASS) into one organization.

However, as several South African journalists have pointed out, the bill concentrates a lot of power in the hands of Minister of State Security Siyabonga Cwele and others seeking to increase government power, leaders who often use it in service to a specific ANC faction.

For example: since 2005, the NIA has been something of a political football used by the backers of former President Thabo Mbeki and current President Jacob Zuma against each other as they fought for the presidency of the ruling party — the ANC — and the presidency of the country.  More >>

South African parliament: Cubans don't pay their debts

Politicsweb/

DA MP questions why we're bailing out foreign regime, when need is so great at home

Cuban bailout: Minister Davies must account to Parliament

The South African government has wasted R600 million on sustaining the failed Cuban state, including what government has called a "solidarity grant". This follows a R1.4 billion Cuban bailout that President Zuma authorised in December 2010.

When the Parliamentary session reconvenes, the Democratic Alliance (DA) will request that the Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies, appear before Parliament to explain what economic objectives are achieved by this decision. We want to know how this cash injection for Cuba will help the millions of South Africans who live below the breadline.

Cuba has a tiny economy and little to offer South Africa by way of trade. Our trade with Cuba is unlikely to ever exceed R100 million per year. And at the same time, we have our own massive domestic problems in housing, energy, infrastructure, unemployment and a host of other areas. It is difficult to justify giving the Cuban regime R2 billion in handouts when our own people are suffering daily.

The R600 million Minister Davies handed out on Friday consisted of credit write-offs, new credit lines and some cash payments. It also includes a R100 million "solidarity grant", which will not need to be paid back to South Africa. 

The Cuban regime has a long track record of failing to pay back our loans. In 2010, South Africa had to write off R1.1 billion in bad Cuban debt, and on Friday we wrote off another R250 million in bad debt.

It is a tragic irony that a portion of the Cuban handout is earmarked to promote food security in Cuba, when our own food security is under threat here at home. We have recently been forced to import maize at a very high price, affecting millions of South Africans who rely on maize-based products as staple food.

The time has come for South Africa to invest in strategic partnerships that deliver prosperity for our people. Maintaining symbolic friendships at enormous costs do not help the South African people. 

Statement issued by Geordin Hill-Lewis, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Trade & Industry, February 6 2012

South Africa 350-million loan to Cuba

By: Sapa

 

South Africa on Friday formalised a R350-million economic aid agreement with Cuba.

At a ceremony in Pretoria, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies and Cuba's ambassador to South Africa, Angela Villa, signed a document that both said was aimed at stimulating trade between the two countries.

The signing is a follow-up to President Jacob Zuma's state visit to Cuba in 2010, at which time he announced an economic help package to that country.

The package comprises two direct grants and a repayable loan.

The grants include R40-million for the purchase of seeds, R5-million of which must be spent on the South African market; and a $14-million (R100-million) "solidarity grant".

The loan, for R210-million, includes credit lines in two tranches of R70-million and R140-million.

Responding to a question, Davies said the loan had been provided at a "lowish interest rate", but did not specify a percentage.

The signing of the agreement comes on the 50th anniversary of the imposition of the 1962 United States trade embargo on Cuba, an event which Villa said had caused great hardship for the Cuban people.

Davies said South Africa owed Cuba a "great debt" for the sacrifices it had made to help South Africa during the apartheid years, especially its efforts in Angola.

The two countries had enjoyed friendly relations since 1994. Trade between them totalled R73-million in 2010.

He said there were "huge" possibilities for increasing this, particularly in the field of medicines and vaccines where Cuba was a recognised world leader.

Villa hailed the agreement as "a new beginning in our economic and trade relations".

In 2010, South Africa wrote off two debts, to the tune of R926-million and R121-million, owed by Cuba.

Cuba will train South Africa immigration officers

Business Day

CAPE TOWN — The Department of Home Affairs is about to use Cuban interior ministry officials to train immigration officers and will use 350 South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members in a pilot project to see if the plan works.

Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma announced yesterday that in the reorientation of the department’s training system they had "benchmarked" with both Russia and Cuba, as well as some others. This alone will raise eyebrows about the plan because the Cuban interior ministry has been likened to the Soviet KGB and the East German Stasi, particularly through its most important section, the General Directorate of Intelligence.

The plan to use soldiers was part of the government’s instruction that lateral transfers between departments be considered as a way of filling vacant posts. The soldiers’ training will allow older soldiers to join another department and gain skills while freeing up space for new and young soldiers to be trained.

More >

¿Que queda del ejemplo de Mandela en Sudafrica/ Andrés Pascual

Por Andrés Pascual

       ¿Cuál es el ejemplo a seguir de la juventud surafricana, el de principios morales en la supuesta lucha por la igualdad de Nelson Mandela? ¿A quién le interesan los años cumplidos en prisión por el líder izquierdista, fundador del CNA?

      Mandela se convirtió en ingrediente para la paella de una fiesta a la que no están invitados los negros explotados o neoesclavizados, porque el banquete es en Europa, en Estados Unidos…es decir, Mandela ya es un negocio redondo fuera de su país, que no influye en nada ni en Soweto ni, mucho menos, en cualquier otra “tribu” del continente negro.

       Hace un par de años, más o menos, Oprah Winfrey enfrentó un escándalo con una directora de “su escuela” en Suráfrica…los negros surafricanos saben quien es Oprah, conocen de los millones de la presentadora y de la influencia que ha logrado entre la población multirracial del país al que pretenden presentar, todavía, a pesar de ella y de Obama, como el “sumus” del racismo.

       Al joven negro surafricano no le puede venir nadie con manuales trasnochados sobre lucha de clases ni formas de combatir al racismo; ellos saben que son inefectivos, porque los escribieron gente detrás de un buró hace muchos años y el tiempo pasó y el mundo de hoy allá se llama “sálvese el que pueda” que, en blanco y negro, significa “el que más poder tenga”, poder financiero y poder de relaciones políticas.

       ¿Alguien ha pensado por qué la Winfrey tiene su escuela en Suráfrica y no en el cuerno africano? Porque el Africa de hoy no es Suráfrica, es Somalia, Sierra Leona, los países de crecimiento del desierto, de la hambruna absoluta, de las guerras sectaristas y tribales, de la guerra de los diamantes, de las ejecuciones masivas, del éxodo, de cientos de miles de muertos como resultado de todo lo anterior. La situación del negro de hoy allá es más difícil porque ya no se le puede echar la culpa al blanco de todo lo malo; en el caso de los diamantes, se los vendieron los negros a los blancos después que emplearon a otros negros como esclavos y terminaron matándolos, arrasando con aldeas completas, organizados en bandas criminales bien conectadas con sus gobiernos y, ¡Quién sabe con qué otros poderes fantasmas ni de dónde! Tal vez esa sangre y esa miseria del Africa verdadero le ocasione vómitos a la presentadora y a todo el sector de la Media y del gremio americano. Entonces mejor Soweto, donde, además, están las raíces del negro que se hace llamar afro-americano a sí mismo, pero que evitan, la media incluída, “sonárselo” ni a Obama ni a Michelle a cualquier hora, como se acostumbra con otros.

       El primer paso de lo que se haría con la “justicia igualitaria” lo dio Winnie, la ex esposa de Nelson, estando el líder en la cárcel: para uso personal y en estrafalario abuso de poder, utilizó a miles de jóvenes del CNA, (con muchos disfrutó de relaciones sexuales en orgías desenfrenadas)  de los que ordenó asesinar a nadie sabe cuántos todavía.

      Según Lali Cambra, fechado en Ciudad del Cabo el año pasado y publicado en El País español con el títuto La “dolce vita” de los herederos de Mandela, “los jóvenes políticos de Suráfrica sustituyen los ideales de la lucha “antiapartheid” por el lujo, las fiestas y las carreras…” y, continúa, “los Mini Coopers son los autos preferidos por los jóvenes negros con posibilidades en los ghettos surafricanos de hoy…” Trágicamente, un rapero de allá embistió a exceso de velocidad a un grupo de estudiantes que cruzaban una calle muy transitada de Soweto, con saldo de 4 muertos y varios heridos, el artista y su socio arrojaron altos índices de droga y alcohol y, a pesar de las protestas, fue visitado en la cárcel por el joven líder del Consejo de hoy, Julius Malema, de 28 años y enriquecido sin estudios; pero bien conectado políticamente, que logró que lo pusieran en libertad.

     Malema es un gran adicto a la cultura del “bling” u ostentación entre los negros, creada aquí por los “afro-americanos”, que la utilizan para lucir, hipócritamente, en los empobrecidos getthos negros de Detroit, Nueva York o Los Angeles, joyas a veces valoradas en mas de 100,000 dólares; también Siphiwe Nyanda, Ministro de Comunicaciones, aunque dispone de vivienda oficial en un lujoso barrio de Ciudad del Cabo, prefiere los hoteles más caros cuando visita la ciudad…

     Lo peor de todo, Ndoda Ngemntu, portavoz de la liga joven del CNA en el Cabo Occidental, escribe Cambra, justifica a su líder con “El Congreso luchó por el estilo de vida de Malema”.

     Todo esto ocurre en Suráfrica, el más industrializado de los países del continente, que logró deponer el control político absoluto del blanco a través de su propia revolución, pero con una mucho más que efectiva ayuda del exterior.

      Hoy se dice que ahora es cuando mandan de verdad los descendientes de europeos, que ganan 6 veces más que los negros en un país en el que construir 2 millones de casas sería poco para sustituir “las chabolas”; en que el desempleo de la población negra alcanza el 28 % y donde el 48 % vive con menos de 32 euros  mensuales…

    Según el escritor y periodista William Gumede, “el gusto por la ostentación ya es cultura; significa éxito y solo se necesita un amante rico, la relación con un político influyente o los lazos con un j’ mafioso…”

    La vida enseña que al que no tiene nada y lo necesita todo no se le puede dar poder de acceso al dinero ni a cuidar una fortuna, porque se la roban y, lo otro, ese elemento desprovisto en sus inicios hasta de los dientes para masticar, por lo general y en cualquier parte, es el que más promete, hasta que llega al poder…

     La “nueva ola” del CNA entiende que ese problema de sacrificio, imposiciones, abstenciones y miserias no es con ellos; son buenos temas para Hollywood con Morgan Freeman y compañía, por un lado; por el otro, como recordatorio de fechas del proceso de aquella lucha en los programas como el de Oprah Winfrey o The View…o, como ha ocurrido por estos días, para que la ONU designe un día fijo de alabanza casi mística por el viejo patriarca del CNA; o para que medio mundo se deshaga en elogios y fiestas al efecto por el ex terrorista que logró una gran amistad con el tirano de Cuba.

     Y algo muy especial: el asunto era quitar al blanco como protagonista del poder y cara fea del racismo…lo de hoy, con el mundo acabándose allá adentro entre los propios negros, eso no es noticia…de que no salga en titulares que pudieran ocasionar problemas se ocupan los “liberales” de aquí y los de Europa que, a fin de cuentas, son los que verdaderamente disfrutan ese pastel al que ya no tienen acceso ni los comunistas, que tanto hicieron por Mandela y su “revolución”, tal vez por eso nadie conozca del peligroso asesinato del primer supremacista blanco del país hace un año.  A los nuevos zares del CNA no les interesan ya ni Castro ni el legado Che Guevara y, posiblemente, cuando ha estado en sus bacanales con blancos occidentales, al viejo líder Nelson Mandela tampoco.

Mandela de 92 anos ingresado

Sudáfrica teme por la vida de Nelson Mandela

El presidente y su harem financian a Castro

Un individuo como Jacob Zuma, con 783 acusaciones de corrupción y violación y actualmente presidente de Sudafrica, y quien acaba de ser condecorado por el Minimo Castro en Jefe con la Orden "José Martí", la más alta distinción que otorga la República de Cuba, se ha convertido en el ultimo de las numerosas fuentes de financiamiento que apuntalan al regimen y que tampoco van a las estadisticas que estudian los analistas. 

Mr. Zuma, un corrupto poligamo que tiene mas de 20 hijos con diferentes mujeres y convive con tres de sus cinco esposas oficiales, empleo de las arcas estatales solo en su primer ano de mandato, un millon y medio de euros en gastos de mantencion de su harem.  

Pues este angel negro de la corrupcion, compro su medallita castrista con la cancelacion de la deuda cubana a Sudadrica ascendente a 159 millones usd, y como si esto fuera poco, abrio una una nueva linea de credito por 100 millones, dado que los empresarios sudafricanos se habian negado a continuar efectuando negocios con semejante partner caribeno. Para Mr. Zuma esto es materia tradicional, siempre a expensas de los bienes publicos y la corrupcion. 

Desgracia de Mandela/ Gabriel Albiac

Mandela celebrando su 92 cumpleanos, a la extrema izquierda Graça Machel, quien es por cierto la viuda de Samora Machel, cuyo avion con tripulacion sovietica se estrello siguiendo las senales de un radio faro falso.

Desgracia de Mandela, por Gabriel Albiac