SAB 'irony' strikes Zille

[Lycanthrope]

Cape Town - Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille has been "struck by irony" after discovering the sponsor for a "War on Poverty" event in one of the poorest regions of the Western Cape was South African Breweries.

Zille, who had been visiting the Bitou region at the invitation of Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, was "amazed" to find that three out of the four families she had visited had extreme substance abuse problems, one of which was headed by a man who insisted on calling her "baby".

"In two of the houses, the adults were so drunk by mid-morning that they could not participate meaningfully in a conversation," she said.

"In the third house, the adults - including a pregnant woman - openly conceded that they were under the influence of marijuana.

"It was quite apparent, in all three homes, that no intervention would increase the capability of the families to move out of poverty until their addiction problems were addressed."

Chronic alcoholism

In another case she was encountered a "Mr Dlamini" - not his real name - who was so that drunk he could barely stand.

"Mr Dlamini was so drunk he could not stand on his feet and kept referring to me as 'baby'.

"The family's source of income is Mrs Dlamini’s 'disability grant'. It was clearly a context of chronic alcoholism."

Zille said she has consulted the family’s "profile" which had listed Dlamini’s skills as "brick-laying, painting, walls, welding, carpentry".

"This was followed by a list of state interventions required to support him moving out of poverty. It notes - 'needs assistance in fixing cracks in RDP house'.

"Here was a man with all the skills required to fix his wall. But the state was instructing a local government department to send someone else to do so, for the ostensible purpose of enabling the Dlamini family to escape poverty.

"To be sure, he needed the assistance, not because he lacked the skills, but because he could not stand up."

Final irony

Zille was confronted in the street by a woman "in a state of extreme intoxication" who demanded to know how she was expected her to raise her child on a grant of R250.

"When I asked her where the child’s father was, she dismissed my question as entirely irrelevant and told me she intended to have another child to receive an additional grant.

"There was no point trying to reason with her."

After the door-to-door visits Motlanthe led the delegation in addressing a large rally of about 3 000 people in "a huge marquee".

Zille used the opportunity to talk "bluntly" about some of the "unmentionable" causes of poverty, including teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, the spread of HIV through unprotected sex, the failure of many fathers to take responsibility for their children.

"When the master of ceremonies moved the vote of thanks for the day's proceedings, I was struck by a final irony.

"The major corporate sponsor of the event was none other than South African Breweries. Go figure."

Source: News24

Yep, that's pretty ironic, alright.

 

[murraybiscuit]

well, that's a nice article for a change.
if it were any politician involved, i would have expected them to have ignored the problem, made empty promises and finished the day off with a PR bribe from SAB.
well done helen baby

 

[GingerBeer]

They're probably drinking to escape the reality
of poverty. It's fine for Zille to drive around in
her state-sponsored car with chauffeur and
pontificate about how many children these
people have when she never needs to worry
about where the next meal is coming from.

Zille presides over a council that hikes the
price of electricity and passes it on to every
citizen, whether they can afford it or not.

That's how the council gets a lovely income.

 

[BobsLawnService]

...and told me she intended to have another child to receive an additional grant.

This is why child grants should only cover the first child. Any other children should not be on my dime as a tax payer.

 

[murraybiscuit]

so what would you have done, gingerbeer?

 

[Sting]

They're probably drinking to escape the reality of poverty. It's fine for Zille to drive around in her state-sponsored car with chauffeur and pontificate about how many children these people have when she never needs to worry about where the next meal is coming from.

Zille presides over a council that hikes the price of electricity and passes it on to every citizen, whether they can afford it or not.

That's how the council gets a lovely income.

Soooooo, tell me, when is your national government is going to create all the jobs that they promised us? Is that not the simplest way to reduce poverty?

 

[Maddmatt]

This is why child grants should only cover the first child. Any other children should not be on my dime as a tax payer.

The whole welfare system needs some serious changes, unfortunately only paying grants to the first child is going to cause a serious problem with the morons that already have 10 children.
The amounts of the grants need to be adjusted so that they discourage children you can't afford, without leaving them to starve to death.
Do they not get anything when they don't have kids at all? They should be discouraged from having them at all when they have no income.

 

[Fazda]

They're probably drinking to escape the reality
of poverty. It's fine for Zille to drive around in
her state-sponsored car with chauffeur and
pontificate about how many children these
people have when she never needs to worry
about where the next meal is coming from.

Zille presides over a council that hikes the
price of electricity and passes it on to every
citizen, whether they can afford it or not.

That's how the council gets a lovely income.

You are joking? Right....?

 

[Sting]

You are joking? Right....?

Or trolling....

 

[BobsLawnService]

The whole welfare system needs some serious changes, unfortunately only paying grants to the first child is going to cause a serious problem with the morons that already have 10 children.

Make it apply from now. People with more than one child now get what they currently get but no more for extra kids, the one child one grant rule applies from now.

 

[Ronjay]

They're probably drinking to escape the reality
of poverty. It's fine for Zille to drive around in
her state-sponsored car with chauffeur and
pontificate about how many children these
people have when she never needs to worry
about where the next meal is coming from.

Zille presides over a council that hikes the
price of electricity and passes it on to every
citizen, whether they can afford it or not.

That's how the council gets a lovely income.

WTF are you talking about.Last I checked it was the ANC government that allowed Eskum to hike the electricity price nationally, not just in the WC. Last I checked, the DA was against this. Stop smoking junk or crack or whatever the hell you are using, because your posts are obviously the result of some kind of drugs.

 

[racer]

WTF are you talking about.Last I checked it was the ANC government that allowed Eskum to hike the electricity price nationally, not just in the WC. Last I checked, the DA was against this. Stop smoking junk or crack or whatever the hell you are using, because your posts are obviously the result of some kind of drugs.

no, there's a lot more to the electricity prices in Cape Town than that, and the council is getting away with robbery... I will try to find the link and post it here if i can.

 

[GingerBeer]

WTF are you talking about.Last I checked it was the ANC government that allowed Eskum to hike the electricity price nationally, not just in the WC. Last I checked, the DA was against this. Stop smoking junk or crack or whatever the hell you are using, because your posts are obviously the result of some kind of drugs.

It's a fact that the council has added their own
markup on the price, well above any justifiable
figure. If you didn't know that then stop being so
ignorant and do some research before starting
your insulting posts.

 

[Lycanthrope]

It's a fact that the council has added their own
markup on the price, well above any justifiable
figure. If you didn't know that then stop being so
ignorant and do some research before starting
your insulting posts.

Source for this claim?

 

[raVid]

Zille presides over a council that hikes the
price of electricity and passes it on to every
citizen, whether they can afford it or not.

You honestly have no idea what you're talking about, do you?

 

[Fudzy]

So do you think SAB were there promoting community upliftment or trying to sell beers? A company might as well try to help/benefit it's main customers.

 

[GingerBeer]

So do you think SAB were there promoting community upliftment or trying to sell beers? A company might as well try to help/benefit it's main customers.

Probably both. SAB tries to be active in the
community. I know they donate to our own
residents association to try and keep their
profile high and complaints low.

 

[Sting]

It's a fact that the council has added their own
markup on the price, well above any justifiable
figure. If you didn't know that then stop being so
ignorant and do some research before starting
your insulting posts.

You do know that this was a visit to the BITOU community, do you? What reference is that to Cape Town?

 

[GingerBeer]

You honestly have no idea what you're talking about, do you?

The basic price of electricity increased by an average
of 25 percent at the beginning of the month, but
several consumers the Cape Times spoke to have
found that their bills have increased by 60 to 70 percent.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&
art_id=vn20100729045831127C274714

None whatsover!

 

[Lycanthrope]

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&
art_id=vn20100729045831127C274714

None whatsover!

So no facts, just pure conjecture?