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Mbeki gets R90 million security wall
- Thread starter DigitalSoldier
- Start date
GavinMannion
Executive Member
While I completely agree that Mbeki needs to focus more on crime and stop avoiding the subject trying to insinuate that he needs a bigger wall to protect him from the day to day crime in SA is ridiculous.
Presidents the world over are always going to be targets for terrorists and professional criminal gangs. Even if we had a 0 crime rate in SA the president would still require protection and guards. That unfortunately is the reality of being a president.
Tony Blair even has his own street, Mbeki only gets a wall
..Seriously in my humble opinion R90m for a wall is a stupid exaggeration. Expecting the government to release full details of this wall is naive as they could obviously not release the details of the presidential security for obvious reasons.
Whether or not Mbeki needs a new wall is completely unknown to me, what's wrong with his last wall... But I also just built myself a new wall so maybe he is competing
After a deputy commisioner of police and an MEC for security being robbed within a week of each other, not to mention the bergie squatter, you want to tell me that crime is no concern for elected officials?
Mbeki has no reason to suspect anyone will try and assassinate him. At least, anyone from outside his own damn party. He already has protection. How is a new wall going to change this?
I never said that Mbeki needed a wall against crime - rather the opposite. My argument is that he does not need the wall at all. However, if the president needs to feel more secure then why should his [-]subjects[/-]citizens believe his words when he tells them to rest easy? You'll understand if I feel the words are a little empty.
Mbeki has no reason to suspect anyone will try and assassinate him. At least, anyone from outside his own damn party. He already has protection. How is a new wall going to change this?
I never said that Mbeki needed a wall against crime - rather the opposite. My argument is that he does not need the wall at all. However, if the president needs to feel more secure then why should his [-]subjects[/-]citizens believe his words when he tells them to rest easy? You'll understand if I feel the words are a little empty.
at BM, sorry my quote must have been from a week earlier
pegged? as in cannot exceed that amount, or is dependent on rand/dollar rate?
I beg to differ. Every president, especially Mbeki, has to suspect that someone will assasinate. For Mbeki the case is clearer, there are just too many locos who do not agree with the policies he represents. Remember the boeremag?
A solid new wall is perceived to offer better protection than a fence, or a crumbling old one with limited security features. That is why most suburbs in gauteng (where Mbeki lives) have walls. Including mine and most probably yours, why not the Mbeki residence? which actually belongs to the public?
Skeptik
Banned
The boeremag (if you want to give them a name) were not trying to kill anyone. The government likes to amplify the threat because they need the excuse.
If the property is publicly owned, then we have a RIGHT to know how much it costs and anything else about it that will not compromise security.
If I build a wall it would cost around R1600 a running metre for a height of 2.1 (regulation height). I would also need planning permission.
I wonder if any of those restrictions were/are violated.
protection from possible assasination.
By whom?
Edit: although the story is probably rubbish citing possible assassination as a reason for a new, very expensive wall is pointless for a number of reason.
Imperialist Super Monkeys of the 9th order armed with Tazers and expired Oatmeal face masks.
Just ask Janus Walus/Clive derby-Lewis, or the Boeremag boys.
xtermin8or
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I'm sure I will get no argument that the States has a far lower crime rate than SA, yet PROTUS has far more protection than T-Boss
On CNN and other news channels you might see the White House and believe that is is widely open and accessable, it is not. Pennsylvania Avenue is closed off to the public from Lafayette park to 15th Street. East Executive Drive is also closed to the public.
Even in South Africa, most functions and events do not take place at the President's home but at the Presidential Guest House in the Bryntirion Estate, and it is surprising how many people believe that that is the President's house ( his is just behind the Guest House )
So tell me, have there been assassination attempts before? What has happened recently that his current security arrangements are no longer sufficient? How and why has the threat increased?
Besides the obvious posted above how about these:
How much time does he really spend in that house?
How is the wall going to prevent an assassination?
Using common-sense, there will be easier places to take him out then in his home. The whole assassination excuse is farcical.
Not even taking into account how many people dislike bush, comparing the president of the USA to the president of SA is a joke.
There's probably more people wanting to assasinate GW than T-bone. In fact, I bet you there are several million people in the world who have no clue who Thabo Mbeki is. GW is the worlds most famous chimp.
Irrelevant. Secure access to T-Bone is superb. Not even a member of the press has gotten near him without permission for his 2 terms to date. The Whitehouse is probably greater known too - and actually has several hundred tourists visiting every month. Probably the only people in Bryntirion Estate are the people hired to clean the cobwebs, 'cos T-bone spends soooo much time there
If it's not his house why build the wall.
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xtermin8or
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You and I both don't have access to intelligence info, so we will never know what prompted the building of the wall.
Et voila! Paranoia.
GW Bush is considered an imperialistic warmonger, and has enemies who have attacked his country. Also, the US has a nasty habit of losing presidents to assassination.
No-one has threatened either Mbeki or the country, yet you compare this third-world intellectual leader to the most high-profile political figure on the planet? A man who is hated by large portions of the world? I don't see anyone burning our flag or pictures of Thabo. Your reasoning is faulty.
If someone wanted to take out Mbeki, all they'd need would be a hunting rifle, a scope, and an itinerary. Walls aren't going to prevent that.