African democracy: a pointless extravagance

South Africa's ANC-dominated parliament is about to rubber-stamp legislation that will disband the Scorpions, an elite crime-fighting unit. The Scorpions are one of the few functional organs of the failing South African state.

Their sin, for which they will now be banished to eternal damnation? Well, they were too effective in exposing the fundamentally corrupt nature of what is still a criminal / terrorist organization masquerading as a political party, the ANC. The Scorpions for example exposed the shady dealings of the criminally incompetent so-called Chief of Police, Jackie Selebi. Selebi was not so much Chief of Police as a consiglieri to the South African version of the Mob.

The regime is constitutionally compelled to call for public participation when it wants to pass laws like this one. Opposition parties were predictably upset about the disbandment of the Scorpions, and went to great lengths to gather feedback and comments. Not only opposition parties, but a majority of the population was opposed to the disbandment, according to opinion polls. These objections were duly presented to the committee tasked with reviewing the proposed legislation. However, without much ado, the committee announced that the Scorpions would be disbanded, regardless of the opinion of the public, because, it said, it was the will of the ANC.

There you have it. The Party knows better than you and me. Your opinion does not matter to the Party. It has decided, yes, amen, and so it shall be.

What was the point of public participation, and what, then, is the real function of parliament?

It is clearly nothing but an organ of the Party, a body whose fat-cat (in all senses of the word) members are there to a) enrich themselves and b) rubber-stamp decisions already made by the Stalinist Central Party Committee. Like their counterparts in other African "democracies" (the latter two words being the ultimate oxymoron), the members of parliament earn huge salaries, but contribute little or nothing in the way of debate, public liaison or in any other field for that matter.

170 kg of useless, expensive fat

This being Africa, there is little or no danger that the ruling regime will be deposed by idiot voters who will continue to vote for a so-called liberation movement, even at their own cost (see previous posts on this topic.)

Does it make sense then to spend R300 000 000 every year on salaries for members of parliament, an amount which excludes their lavish functions, travel expenses and other perks? Why have expensive elections which are nothing but utterly pointless racial censuses, in which most whites will vote for the DA and most blacks for the ANC, 100% guaranteed?

Perhaps Kenya has showed us the way. After a dispute about voting results in the previous election, one of the world's poorer countries came up with a novel solution. It created a bloated cabinet with president, a prime minister, two deputy prime ministers, 40 ministers and 50 assistant ministers. Each of these will obviously have their own contingent of security guards, limousines and the usual perks that go with their exalted rank - gilded toilets, weekly shopping trips to Paris, that kind of thing.








Perhaps it would make more sense for South Africa to do something similar. Seeing that the so-called democracy is a joke and that real debate does not exist inside parliament, let’s disband parliament, get rid of pointless elections, and select 100 or so token members of the cabinet, who don’t really have to do much except travel overseas, attend parties and accumulate fatty tissue.

South Africa's ANC government: a modern-day cargo cult

Many people in South Africa seem to doubt that the ANC will ever relinquish its rule, seeming to agree with Jacob Zuma that: “The ANC will rule until Jesus returns”.

If this were indeed the case, sinners had better start repenting in a great hurry, because the end is nigh, and the Second Coming is upon us.The fatal verb in Zuma’s statement the word “rule”.

Nobody could accuse the ANC of ruling South Africa, even as you are reading this. That privilege possibly belongs to the rampant criminals or the Brett Kebbles of the world, but not to the ANC. To understand this, one needs to understand the true nature of the ANC.

It is not that the ANC doesn’t have the capacity to rule (although that too is a fact), but also that it has no will to rule in the Western sense of the word. It furthermore doesn’t have to rule effectively in terms of for example delivering services, given that African voters can be relied upon to return former liberation movements to political office in election after election, even if this is to their direct, personal detriment, as is the case in Zimbabwe.

What the ANC really is, is a modern day cargo cult. During World War 2, the natives of New Guinea created bizarre cults (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult) that were of the opinion that their ancestors would bring them “cargo” – Western goods such as radios and motor vehicles – if only they performed the correct rituals. To this end, the cargo cultists would build airplanes out of straw, make bamboo headsets and perform military-like rituals on landing strips. Cargo cultists would enact mock marches, light signal fires, wear ersatz military uniforms, all in the hope that their ancestors would bring them Western consumer goods. All this proved strangely ineffective...

Similarly, the ANC goes through the motions of Western democracy, but only as some kind of ritualistic charade. They sit in Parliament, and have mock debates about the decisions already made by the core elite of the Party (note the deliberate use of a capital “P”), and rubberstamp these decisions. They pretend to listen to the populace at Imbizos. They hold imaginary consultations with Afrikaners like me, ostensibly to listen to our concerns about name changes, but this is all a charade, and the direct analogy of the rituals enacted by New Guinea’s cargo cults. None of the rituals really mean anything, and serve only to obfuscate the ANC’s real reason for existing: Western goods, Maybachs, Armani suits and money. In short: cargo.

The real reason behind the ANC’s mock participation in the so-called democracy is really to get their hands on cargo. Politics to the ANC is not about service to the public or even to the Marxist ideology to which they pay lip service. It is not even, surprisingly, about ruling the country. No, it is rather seen as a way of getting temporary control over state resources, of having the wherewithal to obtain cargo via the apparatus of the state. They aren’t really interested in actually using these resources in any meaningful way either: the army is weak, the Vaal River is full of municipal sewage, Bedfordview sometimes has no electricity, the police ineffective, but this doesn’t matter, you see, as long as the Treasury is still pulling in taxpayers’ contributions.

Fully half of the sitting ANC members in Parliament have been implicated in the Travelgate scandal, including (and with immense irony) the Minister of Law and Order himself! Forty percent of all MPs have external business interests. So great is the demand for cargo that the ANC’s branch membership often doubles just before elections. Emergency services recently had to be called to Kimberley due to a scuffle involving the mayor, apparently caused by a dispute about a city tender. (http://secure.financialmail.co.za/07/0119/cover/coverstory.htm)

This has happened all over South Africa, including in Vryburg, a town in the Northwest province.

The Honourable ANC Mayor of Vryburg, Ms Ruth Mompati

What this means for whites is that, with or without our intervention, South Africa is headed for exactly the same fate that Zimbabwe and almost all other black, African countries will share. It probably won’t even require a coup d’etat for the ANC to lose all control. Its fanatical pursuit of cargo will make this happen in short order and without outside assistance.

The fat cats will long since have retired to their villas in Cannes, possibly sipping martinis, while the whites in South Africa try to figure out how to pick up the pieces left behind by the ANC, South Africa’s very own cargo cult.

Future ANC politician in wintertime

Houston, we have a problem

Ons as Suid-Afrikaners ly dikwels onder die illusie dat ons op 'n manier uitsonderlik is, of op spesiale behandeling geregtig is. Daardie gevoel was veral sterk kort ná 1994, toe almal met sterretjies in hulle oë hoog opgegee het oor die sogenaamde wonderwerk van die reënboognasie.

Vandag raak dit toenemend duidelik dat die wonderwerk niks van die aard was nie. Die land is een van die mees gewelddadiges op aarde. Eskom het aangetoon dat Afrika se kenmerkende disintegrasie ook in SA gaan plaasvind. Daar is geen politieke toerekeningsvatbaarheid nie, presies nes in die res van Afrika. Die wonderwerk was nie die kapitulasie by Codesa nie, maar eerder dat ons so naïef kon wees om ons te verbeel dat SA nie bloot nóg 'n tipiese Afrikaland sou word nie.

Diegene wat as die verlossers van die massas aangesien is, het heel voorspelbaar geblyk 'n blote versameling korrupte kleptokrate te wees, wat slegs daarop uit is om hulself te verryk. Hoe kon ons so dom wou wees om in 1992 ja te stem, net sodat ons uitgelewer kon word aan 'n bende terreursaaiers en misdadigers? Wat het ons gedink gaan gebeur?

Nietemin probeer mense hulself steeds (of is dit al hoe meer) oortuig dat Zimbabwe homself nie in Suid-Afrika kan herhaal nie. Hier het ons byvoorbeeld weer die verbete poging om onsself te oortuig dat Suid-Afrika ánders is. Ek is bevrees ek deel nie heeltemal in hierdie oortuiging nie. Die opskrif van my inskrywing verwys na die Amerikaanse stad Houston.

As die meeste mense aan groot Amerikaanse stede dink, sal New York of Los Angeles by hulle opkom, maar nie noodwendig Houston nie. Houston is 'n groot stad, geen twyfel nie, maar hy is nie bo-aan mense se denke oor Amerikaanse stede nie. Nietemin is die metropolitaanse gebied van Houston se bruto binnelandse produk groter as die hele Suid-Afrika s'n.

So ook is Wal-Mart, Amerika se grootste winkelgroep, se omset veel groter as Suid-Afrika se ganse BBP. Soos een ou dit 'n tyd terug pikant aan my gestel het, Suid-Afrika is in internasionale terme 'n drol wat in 'n pispot onder 'n bed dryf in een van die huis se slaapkamers - onbenullig. Om ons te verbeel dat 'n gewelddadige rewolusie, 'n Zimbabwiese situasie of selfs 'n rasse-oorlog in Suid-Afrika onmoontlik is, is dus totale wensdenkery. Daar is reeds skrikwekkende voorbodes.

Die minagting wat die ANC tans vir die oppergesag van die regbank toon met die Jacob Zuma-aangeleentheid, is een voorbeeld. Die toenemende anti-blanke, Marxistiese retoriek gebesig deur die ANCYL is nog een. In hierdie uitlating is die verwysing na die DA wat elimineer moet word, uiteraard 'n kwalik-bedekte dreigement teen blankes as geheel.

Rewolusies en burgeroorloë vind plaas in ryker en belangriker lande as Suid-Afrika. Kyk wat het in 1989 met die Sowjet-Unie gebeur. 'n Ysingwekkende gedagte is ook dat die buiteland nie sal ingryp totdat dit te laat is nie. Vier miljoen is dood in Rwanda en Burundi in 1994 voordat die buiteland iets begin doen het.Die ding wat my die meeste bekommer, is of diegene soos wat nog nie geëmigreer het nie, soos ek, nie 'n groot fout begaan het, en dit te lank uitgestel het nie.

Ek begin toenemend dink ons is potpaddas, wat gewag het tot die water te warm geraak het voordat ons lewe gekry het.