SA Politics Thread Part 11: The GNU Normal

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TheChamp said:
Because they seem to believe an ANC politician buying a house in Cape Town is an occasion.
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Oh, but it is an occasion. Home ownership is a milestone for anyone and as such should be celebrated, right?
 
R13... said:
What facts? You are easily pleased i see.

The president and his deputy bought property in some part of South Africa. Nothing ground breaking in that.
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You mean, they selected properties that were in areas governed by their opposition for yeeeears? The best run areas of the country for years and years now? The only place in SA still thriving? Governed by, well... not them? Those facts?

Awh man, the feels... :ROFL:
 
Bewlen said:
You mean, they selected properties that were in areas governed by their opposition for yeeeears? The best run areas of the country for years and years now? The only place in SA still thriving? Governed by, well... not them? Those facts?

Awh man, the feels... :ROFL:
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Another one @Priapus
Oh, never mind, he is a fellow gang member.
 
Agent69 said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1951893379098579428

That's the entire problem about BEE, it sounds beautiful and oh so virtuous, but in reality, only the ANC elite benefit from this, not Sipho from Hammanskraal or Lebo from Langa.

But the problem is, okes like you see it as a zero-sum game. When someone raises valid criticisms of BEE and that it should be removed, even if they support "redress" as a principle, you condemn them as racist, ignoring history, yadda yadda.

You can oppose BEE while still supporting the principle of "redress" or alleviating inequalities.

The ANC will never get rid of it willingly, because it will close the taps, and there will be no smokescreen to use either when it comes to looting public funds.
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Exactly

And the fellow ANC cool aid drinkers spit out "redress" meantime connected cadres eat like piggies.
 
MalcomZ said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1951870077067808932
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South Africa's unemployment rate has generally increased since 1994, with significant fluctuations and persistent challenges. While the official unemployment rate was around 20% in 1994, it rose sharply in the early 2000s, peaking around 30% before declining somewhat. In recent years, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, it has climbed again, reaching 33% in 2024.



Here's a more detailed look:

1994: The official unemployment rate was approximately 20%.

Early 2000s: The unemployment rate rose significantly, reaching almost 30% by 2002.


Mid-2000s: The unemployment rate saw a slight decline, falling to around 21% during Thabo Mbeki's presidency.
2010s: The unemployment rate remained high and fluctuated, with some periods of slight decline followed by increases.
2020s: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the labor market, causing a sharp increase in unemployment. In 2024, the unemployment rate reached 33%.

Yea 33% unemployment rate is success #ANCExcellence story....
 
Inertia said:
I don't blame you. You are stuck in a conundrum where black people won't vote for you without the largesse of the state. Without the largesse of the state they cannot get jobs or be productive members of a modern society because they were robbed of any education. As the economy collapses further, the ability for the state to subsidize warm bodies with no productive input while the rest of the productive side doesn't fully collapse decreases substantially. If BEE & other insane policies are removed, the economy would boom and people would ditch the ANC even faster.

You are in a catch-22, but ultimately the ANC is on a one-way ticket to 20%. There's nothing you can do to stop it, just slow it down. Unfortunately most pundits agree that you are in your last election cycle as serious contender.
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Liberation before Education movement was ALL ANC.

It did so much damage to development and it was all the ANC's doing.

The ANC have deliberately sabotaged their own support base for decades, well over 60-70 years now, to keep them down and hold them down for easy manipulation.
 
Agent69 said:
Just comical that they'd choose to buy properties to live in, in racist CPT where bloody racist DA runs the place...
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I'll let BIG lay it out to you,

If I got to choose a province, I got to choose the GP
I live out there, so don't go there
But that don't mean a ni**a can't rest in the Cape
See some nice breast in the Cape
Smoke some nice sess in the Cape, y'all ni***as is a mess
Thinking I'm gon' stop giving Cape props
All I got is beef with those that violate me
I shall annihilate thee
Case closed, suitcase filled with clothes
 
R13... said:
I'll let BIG lay it out to you,

If I got to choose a province, I got to choose the GP
I live out there, so don't go there
But that don't mean a ni**a can't rest in the Cape
See some nice breast in the Cape
Smoke some nice sess in the Cape, y'all ni***as is a mess
Thinking I'm gon' stop giving Cape props
All I got is beef with those that violate me
I shall annihilate thee
Case closed, suitcase filled with clothes
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I'll quote Fokofpolisiekar for you:

Kan jy jou idee van normaal by jou gat opdruk?
Kan jy?
Kan jy korrupsie spel?
 
Agent69 said:
I'll scrounge...
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@The_Right_Honourable_Brit
  • DA accused of favouritism after hiring expensive bodyguards for Emma Powell following intimidation campaign.
  • Powell resigned, citing threats and harassment, including confrontations over her controversial visit to Israel in May.
  • MPs criticise special treatment, while Powell defends actions, claiming sustained intimidation warranted security protection.
Discontent is brewing within the DA, with the party accused of functioning like characters in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, where some are more equal than others.
This comes after allegations that the party hired bodyguards at a significant cost to protect one of its whips in Parliament, Emma Powell.
Powell, who resigned from her position as the DA’s spokesperson on international relations last week, cited alleged threats, intimidation and harassment as reasons for her resignation.

Insiders say that among the threats she mentioned was a confrontation with three women about her visit to Israel in May.
The women, including Ayesha Bagus, a Palestine Solidarity Campaign activist in Cape Town, confronted Powell at the SA Institute of International Affairs and said her visit to Israel was seen as the party supporting that country’s war on Gaza rather than aligning with the Palestinian people.
In a video circulating on social media, three women are seen confronting Powell over her trip to Israel.




The first woman expressed concern that Powell’s visit to Israel was biased. She claimed Powell visited Israel but did not go to Gaza.
Another woman showed a placard with an image of bombed buildings in the Gaza Strip and accused Powell of bias.
City Press has learnt that after the confrontation, the party hired Quemic Risk Solution in Cape Town to provide protection services at an undisclosed cost.
However, other MPs are upset with the party’s decision, arguing that Powell was receiving special treatment. They contend that all MPs’ lives are in danger, yet none receive protection.
This discontent has also reopened old wounds from when Powell walked out of three budget votes in Parliament this year, but the party did not take action against her.
She defied a caucus decision and walked out of three votes in the budget, despite being a whip.
An MP
The MPs also accused her of not being a team player and always insisting on getting her way.
According to a source, Powell’s popularity declined after her trip to Israel was “politicised” by the party.
The sources also claimed that the party provided her with bodyguards after the protest allegedly traumatised her.
“She has refused to carry out instructions with no consequence management,” said the source.
Powell confirmed she had received bodyguard protection on two occasions due to two separate incidents.
“The references in my resignation statement to threats and harassment stem from a sustained intimidation campaign designed to deter,” she said.
Powell described some incidents, including anonymous messages from unregistered numbers detailing private, off-the-record meetings with diplomats and journalists; unsettling notes left on her bedside table in foreign hotels; luggage being searched; her being followed across cities between meetings; physical harassment at an airport; and being openly followed by vehicles in traffic.

She explained this occurred before she learnt of the leaked state security report about her activities abroad, allegedly obtained by the National Security Council, which is chaired by the president.
The Sowetan newspaper reported last month that a confidential document containing allegations that she spread disinformation about South Africa in the US was given to the National Security Council.
Her alleged actions were seen as damaging South Africa’s international relations and domestic policy. Following the report, the DA’s legal team wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa to ask for protection for Powell.
Powell confirmed she missed three budget votes with the party’s permission, granted by chief whip George Michalakis.
Yes, I and several other MPs were permitted to abstain on certain budget vote items for matters of conscience. I was permitted to abstain on [the department of international relations and cooperation], the presidency and justice. A number of us were. This permission was granted by the chief whip.
Emma Powell
She said she had nothing to hide. Powell also denied that there was discontent within the party, asserting that only four MPs knew about it.
“So, there is definitely no unhappiness, and if my colleagues knew what I’d been navigating through, they’d fully support me having protection, as would any reasonable person,” she said.
Michalakis was unavailable to comment and had not responded to questions by the time of publication.
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Gossip, mostly?
 

  • The forensic investigator sent the ActionSA leaders a scathing email and WhatsApp screenshots contradicting the party’s public denials about the donation to Mashaba.
  • The feud began when its leader in Parliament, Athol Trollip, filed a criminal complaint against Paul O’Sullivan regarding alleged threatening messages about police corruption.
  • O’Sullivan has vowed to attack ActionSA indefinitely, while the party says it will not be bullied.
The war of words between ActionSA leaders and forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan reached boiling point this week after a blistering “high importance” email surfaced.

The email was sent by O’Sullivan to ActionSA president Herman Mashaba, national chairperson Michael Beaumont and communications director Matthew George.

The message, which City Press has seen, was sent on Thursday and is packed with accusations of dishonesty and political betrayal, and marks a dramatic escalation in a battle that has now spilt from WhatsApp threads into the public view and party structures.


“I see you guys have been lying to the media again,” wrote O’Sullivan, referencing a City Press article of last Sunday in which ActionSA denied that the forensic investigator had ever warned the party about alleged misconduct by former Gauteng police commissioner Deliwe de Lange.

“A few years back, I would never have expected it. Now, I guess you have become serial liars. I guess politics does that to you.”

O’Sullivan attached “proof of a R6 100 donation”, claiming it was made on Mashaba’s 61st birthday. He warned that he would be sending proof of other financial contributions.


“I’ve blind copied some of the people I know who also made donations and hereby request them NEVER to donate to ActionSA again,” he declared. “Every time you guys lie about me, I will attack, until you become honest.”

The email also accused the party of ignoring his past warnings about De Lange, stating that he had not only alerted Mashaba in a phone call but followed it up with a message. O’Sullivan has backed that up with a screengrab showing the exchange.

In the message, O’Sullivan wrote: “Greetings. Did you manage to put distance between ActionSA and Deliwe de Lenge? She just had her assets seized by the state.”

Mashaba’s short reply: “Thanks for the information.”

This newly surfaced message directly contradicts ActionSA’s earlier public statements, in which the party’s officials said no formal warning had been received from O’Sullivan.

For O’Sullivan, that denial was the final straw:

“Put simply: STOP LYING ABOUT ME AND I WILL STOP TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT ACTIONSA! You will NEVER wear me down with your lies, you will just make me more determined to expose you.”
Paul O’Sullivan
He ended the email with a sharp jab at ActionSA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip: “You can tell Trollip, who doesn’t understand the meaning of the word ‘threat’, that this is NOT a threat, it’s a PROMISE.”

The email has deepened a bitter political row between ActionSA’s leadership and the outspoken private investigator, a row that began with a criminal complaint filed by Trollip against O’Sullivan last month. Trollip had accused O’Sullivan of sending threatening and inflammatory messages in response to comments he made about alleged corruption within law enforcement, specifically allegations raised by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi last month.


O’Sullivan, who has labelled Mkhwanazi “one of the biggest criminals ever to wear a police uniform”, took issue with Trollip’s call for an investigation into the commissioner’s claims, believing it lent legitimacy to a figure he believes should be prosecuted, not protected.


In a WhatsApp message sent on Sunday to Mashaba, O’Sullivan demanded clarity:

Hi Herman, have you seen the public attack on me by Trollip? Is that ActionSA policy? Is it ActionSA policy to stand in solidarity with Mkhwanazi? Do you know how rotten Mkhwanazi is?
Paul O’Sullivan
Mashaba initially responded diplomatically, stating that Trollip’s views were expressed in his personal capacity and reiterated that ActionSA’s official position was a call for an urgent, independent investigation into Mkhwanazi’s allegations.

But after reviewing the social media post in question, Mashaba reversed his position, sending a second message to O’Sullivan:

“Paul, I have just had a look at Athol’s social media comment and want to retract and correct my earlier correspondence. Athol is just asking about your involvement in the matter, something ActionSA is also seeking clarity on. Your insinuation that Athol and ActionSA are attacking you or supporting criminals is unjustifiable.”
Heman Mashaba
Mashaba stood firm when asked again this week: “We’re not going to be blackmailed. Athol was doing his job as an MP. Oversight is his constitutional duty. Whatever Paul says or does, we will not retreat from calling for accountability.”

Trollip, too, has not budged. After laying a formal criminal complaint against O’Sullivan with the police for what he called “intimidating communications”, he told the media:

I am not a criminal. I’m fulfilling my oversight role as mandated by the Constitution. If my questions or my work frighten or offend Mr O’Sullivan, that’s his issue. I will not be silenced or intimidated.
Athol Trollip
O’Sullivan has meanwhile dismissed Trollip’s criminal complaint as a political stunt.

“Being Irish, I’m not one to shy away from a fight, especially when it involves rooting out corruption,” he said in an earlier statement. “This case will go nowhere. Trollip and ActionSA started the public attack on my character. I merely responded.”

However, his response has blown up into something far more serious than a rebuttal. His latest email, paired with the alleged proof of a donation and the De Lange warning screengrab, are not just his defence, but an all-out counteroffensive.

George, ActionSA’s communications director, who was copied on O’Sullivan’s email, maintained the party’s position.

“We have no record of the donations he claims to have made, other than a payment for forensic services. If he has additional receipts, he should send them. As for the De Lange message, it was not a formal or flagged concern, it was a brief WhatsApp. No formal correspondence or follow-up.”


O’Sullivan, for his part, has vowed to keep applying pressure. “You poked the bear. You got poked back. I will continue poking ActionSA until the day I die or until they vanish out of existence, whichever comes first.”

As the tensions continue to rise, one thing is clear: this is no longer a dispute about corruption in the SA Police Service (SAPS). It has morphed into a fight over political integrity, reputational credibility and personal loyalties. And it shows no sign of cooling down.

Mashaba’s position remains unchanged: “We are not afraid of scrutiny. But we will not be bullied. Athol has my full support. ActionSA will not retreat.”

Meanwhile, De Lange quit ActionSA in 2020 after she and other high-profile police officials, including then national police chief Khomotso Phahlane, were charged in the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court with corruption, fraud, theft and money laundering.

According to the National Prosecuting Authority at the time, the matter related to a R119 million contract to supply emergency warning equipment for the SAPS in 2017. The service provider, Instrumentation for Traffic Law enforcement, had been paid R65 million and a payment of R22 million was stopped.

Other top SAPs officials charged were former deputy national commissioner for human resources management, Lieutenant General Bonang Mgwenya; Gauteng deputy police commissioner, Nombhuruza Lettie Napo; Lieutenant General Ramahlapi Mokwena; retired divisional commissioner Johannes Mokwena; Brigadier James Ramanjalum; Major General Ravichandran Pillay; Colonel Thomas Dumas and Sergeant Joseph Mulaiwa.

The civilians were Judy Rose, Samantha Andrews and Vimpie Manthatha, the owner of Instrumentation for Traffic Law enforcement.

In October 2020, De Lange, who had joined ActionSA, asked to step back after she was charged.

According to the party’s statement issued on 16 October 2020, she denied all the allegations. The party said it recognised that for ActionSA to uphold ethical leadership as a core value of the organisation, she must step back until her name was cleared. The case is still in the court.
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Now it makes sense why ASA is raging at OS...
 
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