Yes, cops are involved in hijackings

Seven hijackings in two weeks have persuaded investigators that a gang of police impersonators are terrorising the northern and eastern suburbs.

Major-General Phumzo Gela held a special press briefing at the SAPS office in Parkwood, Joburg, in connection with the recent spate of blue-light hijackings by men in police uniform  and admitted to police involvement. Photo: Antoine de Ras

However, police higher-ups are saying the crimes could not have been committed without the help of corrupt police officers.

This latest development came after The Star’s report on Monday of an incident on Main Road in Bryanston, where resident Ryan Pickford was hijacked and subjected to almost two hours of verbal abuse at gunpoint after being “arrested” by men claiming to be police officers.

Numerous other similar incidents have been reported to The Star since the story appeared. The police say four other incidents have been confirmed in seven days. However, another two incidents that took place earlier this month have also come to The Star’s attention.

In all seven cases, the drivers of expensive cars have been pulled over by unmarked vehicles using a blue light.

After pulling over, the victims were approached by men in full police uniform and carrying R5 rifles, who would handcuff and “arrest” them.

The victims’ cars would then be stolen, with the victim driven around in the back of the “police” vehicle for hours before being dropped off a few kilometres from where they were hijacked.

In the majority of the incidents, the three to five gang members were seen driving a white Golf GTI.

Now the police are warning Joburg residents to avoid pulling over in deserted areas at night and suggest driving to well-lit and populated places (such as petrol stations) before coming to a stop.

The Gauteng police’s head of visible policing, Major-General Phumzo Gela, said it was well within a driver’s right to drive to the nearest police station when being pursued by police vehicles – marked or unmarked – and that a police officer must give his identity if asked for it.

“These are your rights. We are here to serve you,” said Gela.

He called on residents in the affected areas to report any information that might assist to 10111, as five of the cases had been centralised and a task team put together to deal with them.

Suspicious-looking blue-light vehicles should be remembered, with residents taking down registration numbers and any other details, including the name tags and badges of police officers when pulled over.

“We can’t deny that members of the police force are involved,” Gela said, adding that police commanders would be investigating their forces to root out any potential officers supporting this gang with equipment or uniforms.

Gela also asked that the public not forget all the good work done by the police over the past two years, a time in which crime statistics in Gauteng had dropped steadily.

Police have not identified any suspects in the blue-light gang that has stolen at least seven cars.

None of the victims in the hijackings have been harmed.

Gangs in uniform have been stalking Gauteng drivers for years

* Ryan Pickford was pulled over by a white Golf GTI on Friday after visiting his son and wife in high care at Morningside Clinic.

He had been driving up Main Road in Bryanston at around 8pm when the car signalled for him to pull over.

The officers asked to search his car, and when he said no, they harassed him for a few minutes until he agreed.

The officers, in full uniform and carrying R5 rifles and handguns, instructed him to get out of the vehicle, and when he obliged, they handcuffed him.

They led him to their car, and another man drove off in his Porsche Cayenne.

When he was handcuffed in the back seat, he was informed that he was being hijacked. He was kept at gunpoint for almost an hour-and-a-half and was harassed verbally before being dropped off in the veld in Centurion.

* Rahendra Naidoo was also a victim of what appears to be the same men driving the same car.

On May 7 he was pulled over in Sonnebloem Road in Midrand by five uniformed men, who were also wielding heavy rifles.

The men told him that his Mazda MPS had been reported stolen, and arrested him.

One of the men drove off in his car, and he was placed in the back of a white Golf GTI.

The criminals spent a large portion of the three-hour kidnapping asking Naidoo for the details of his car’s tracking system, before eventually shoving him into the car’s boot.

He was reassured that he would not be hurt and that the men were “professionals”, before being dropped off in a secluded area in Lombardy East. His car was recovered in Soweto a few days later.

* On May 9, just days after Rahendra Naidoo was relieved of his car, another man, whose identity has not been determined by The Star, was also stopped by a blue-light gang travelling in a Golf GTI.

The man had been making his way past Blue Valley golf course on Beauly Avenue in Midrand.

A source at the man’s vehicle-tracking company said he had also been pulled over by men claiming to be police officers before being taken from the scene and dumped dozens of kilometres away several hours later. The location of the man’s Audi RS4 is unknown.

* The IOL’s own motoring editor, Jason Woosey, experienced his own “police” hijacking in Bryanston in 2010.

He had also been travelling through Bryanston when he was pulled over by a black Audi with a blue light near the corner of William Nicol and Main Road.

The uniformed men kidnapped him and left him in Modderfontein after stealing his car. The case was reported at the Douglasdale police station in March 2010. No arrests have been made.

* Kyle Goncalves was also a victim in June 2010, but of a gang bold enough to use a marked police vehicle. Driving along Baart Avenue in Raslow, Centurion, the men told him to get out of his Golf GTI.

“As I jumped out and presented my licence, two of the cops grabbed me and threw me in the back seat of my car. I was with these guys for about three hours, making four stops on the way.

“I then had a black bag put over my head and was dragged through the veld, where I was left alone for a couple of minutes, thinking that I was going to die,” said Goncalves.

Another group of people picked the traumatised man up and told him to relax as they were “the drop-off guys”.

They dropped him off in Pretoria and told him to run and not look back, or else he would be killed.

Fake cop got 35 years

William “King of Bling” Mbatha was sentenced to 35 years’ jail last month for impersonating a police officer.

He – along with several accomplices – would kidnap, assault and rob his victims while pretending to be a member of the SAPS.

Mbatha was sentenced to 15 years on each of the five counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, and five years on each of the three counts of kidnapping.

He also got five years on each of the four counts of possession of an illegal firearm.

His sentence included six months on each of the three counts of impersonating a police officer and six on each of the three counts of wearing a police uniform.

Some of the sentences are to run concurrently.

shain.germaner@inl.co.za

The Star

By SHAIN GERMANER

Source – IOL – Yes, cops are involved in hijackings

ANCYL wants constitution amended for nationalisation

The ANC Youth League has called for the amendment of the country’s constitution to include nationalisation of mines as one of its clauses.

ANCYL wants constitution amended for nationalisation – SABC

The League’s deputy president Ronald Lamola says they will take the issue to the upcoming ANC policy conference in June to have it entrenched as a policy of the ruling party. He was speaking at Mossel Bay in the Southern Cape during an Economic Freedom lecture.

Lamola says, “The mandate as we are speaking is that we must ensure that nationalisation becomes a topical issue in the congress because it is going to address a number of things of the social ills because we will be able to pay for NHI, we will be able to pay for free education through the profit that we are going to take from the mines.”

Source – SABC – ANCYL wants constitution amended for nationalisation

Democratic Alliance, Cosatu in violent clashes

“HIV-AIDS IS BETTER THAN D.A.” – SCREAMED ONE POSTER OF COSATU TRADE UNION MEMBERS…

May 15 2012 – JOHANNESBURG. A legal “Job Rights’ protest march by some 5,000 Democratic Alliance opposition party members outside the headquarters of South Africa’s co-ruling Cosatu trade union movement building in Braamfontein turned violent, with at least twelve people injured by stones. One person is in critical conditon. The SAPS used teargas to keep the two factions from fighting each other – link

Man injured by brick during violent clashes between DA & Cosatu in Johannesburg – May 15, 2012

Mike Elliott snapped this photograph of a poster carried by Cosatu supporters

“HIV-AIDS is better than DA” – A poster held up by a Cosatu supporter – May 15, 2012

Source – Twitter – https://twitter.com/#!/Mike__Elliott/status/202414902223187969/photo/1

At least twelve people injured by flying bricks

When the DA march was announced, the Johannesburg metropolitan police also granted permission to Cosatu to hold a counter-demonstration. Twelve people were treated for their injuries within minutes after the first bricks started raining down, reported Verashni Pillay on Twitter. Below, Mail & Guardian journalist Nickolas Bauer was treated after he was hit by a flying brick. Also on the insert is a man in a DA-tshirt, holding a half-brick during the violence.

Democratic Alliance march May 15 2012 Cosatu house. Nicholaus Bauer injured by brick. PIC BY PHILIP DE WET

Source – Farmitracker – Legal protest march by 5,000 Democratic Alliance opposition party: rockthrowing, injuries on both sides as Cosatu counter-marchers attack
Source – Mail & Guardian – Red versus Blue: The broken side of protest

“DA mag nêrens in dié land ’n opmars hou nie”

Dis so al of daar klokkies van die verlede begin lui. Wat is die volgende stap: Die verbanning van die DA soos die ANC in die verlede?

Die ANC en sy alliansievennote moet maar gewoond raak aan DA-protesoptogte, want gister was net die begin.

So het John Moodey, DA-leier in Gauteng, gesê en die geweld tussen die DA en Cosatu as “die nuwe 1976” beskou.

“Dit is net die begin van wat vir ons voorlê wanneer ons die land van tirannie en korrupsie bevry. Vandag is ’n keerpunt vir Suid-Afrika se demokrasie,” het hy gesê.

Betogers van die DA en Cosatu het mekaar in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, met klippe bestook en die polisie het rubberkoeëls, skokgranate en traangas gebruik om die vegtendes uit mekaar te jaag.

Castro Ngobese, Cosatu se nasionale woordvoerder, het gisteraand in ’n verklaring gesê die DA mag “nêrens in dié land ’n opmars hou nie”.

“Dié is ’n klasse-oorlog, nie ’n piekniek nie. Hulle dien nie die belange van die mense in hierdie land nie. Trouens, hulle is die vyand van die werkersklas en hulle sal nie toegelaat word om enige plek in die land ’n optog te hou nie.”

Die DA het aanvanklik beplan om van die Beyers Naudé-plein in die Johannesburgse middestad na Cosatu-huis in Braamfontein te stap om protes aan te teken teen Cosatu se teenkanting van die jeugloonsubsidie.

Chaos het uitgebreek toe die twee groepe mekaar in Jorissenstraat ontmoet het.

Nadat die DA by Jorissenstraat ingedraai het, het van die Cosatu-lede op hulle afgestorm. Hulle het stukke papier na die DA gegooi, waarna ’n DA-lid ’n groot stuk komkommer na Cosatu-lede gegooi het.

Hulle het in reaksie daarop die DA met klippe bestook. Talle mense is in die botsings beseer.

Tiaan Kotzé, bedryfsbestuurder van die DA in Noordwes, is met ’n klip teen die kop getref en het ernstige snywonde opgedoen. Hy is gisteraand uit die Milpark-hospitaal ontslaan.

Die DA het herhaaldelik gedreunsang: “Ons is vreedsaam”, terwyl Cosatu gesing het die DA moet “voertsek” en “f*k*f”.

Eers heelwat later, terwyl die DA op pad terug Beyers Naudé-plein toe was, het hulle ook klippe opgetel en in Cosatu se rigting gegooi.

Die DA beweer Cosatu-leiers het hulle geïntimideer, geweld aangehits en onwettig betoog en die DA gaan vandag strafregtelike klagte teen die Cosatu-leierskorps indien.

Mmusi Maimane, nasionale DA-woordvoerder, het gesê hulle bestudeer videomateriaal van die optog sodat hulle individue in Cosatu by die polisie kan aankla.

Maimane het uitgevaar teen Cosatu se politieke onverdraagsaamheid en gesê gister het “in ’n stryd tussen mense, eerder as idees,” ontaard.

“Cosatu se leierskorps moes daar gewees het om hul mense te beheer, maar hulle was nie. Hoe moet ’n mens met ’n woedende skare mense onderhandel?”

Helen Zille, DA-leier, het aanvanklik die optog gelei.

Sy het ’n koeëlvaste baadjie aangehad en kortliks die skare toegespreek, maar is deur die polisie se BBP-eenheid in ’n voertuig gelaai en na veiligheid geneem toe gemoedere begin warm raak.

Patrick Craven, Cosatu-woordvoerder, het die geweld veroordeel, maar gesê die meeste van sy lede het gedissiplineerd opgetree, “ten spyte van die DA se uitlokkende eise”.

Irvin Jim, hoofsekretaris van die vakbond Numsa, het gesê die DA-optog is ’n belediging vir werkers omdat die DA “direk verantwoordelik is vir die werkersklas se ellende”.

Hy het gesê Cosatu en die vakbonde het nie toestemming gehad om te betoog nie.

“Cosatu het nie toestemming van enigiemand nodig om voor sy kantore bymekaar te kom nie. Jou familie het nie toestemming nodig om jou te verdedig wanneer jy aangeval word nie. Ons was die DA se teiken, hulle het ons aangeval.”

deur Maryna Lamprecht en Jody Nel

Bron – Beeld – ‘Dis net die begin’

Violence interrupts Zille speech

Johannesburg – DA leader Helen Zille was interrupted while speaking at a protest against Cosatu over the youth wage subsidy when violence erupted in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

Tension was in the air as she took the microphone in the city centre.

The louder she spoke, the louder chants from Cosatu supporters at the event became. At some point, they hurled chunks of cement and rocks at Democratic Alliance supporters.

The police formed a human chain by linking hands in front of Cosatu supporters to stop them from getting to DA marchers.

It was a battle of the blues versus the reds as the number of Cosatu supporters increased.

DA retreated

Zille was forced to abandon her speech and the DA truck retreated.

Before the retreat, addressing the crowd in Xhosa, Zille said the march was in solidarity with unemployed South Africans.

“The millions of ordinary men and women who are looking for a fair chance to build a better life for themselves and their families,” she said.

“Today we protest against the organisation that is keeping them unemployed, that is keeping them locked out of the economy and denying them the dream of a better future. We all want to live lives that contribute to society.”

DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko and DA youth leader Makashule Gana could not deliver their speeches as the DA members retreated from violence by Cosatu members.

On the same side

Earlier, Mazibuko told the crowd they were on the same side, fighting for economic freedom.

“I felt sad that South Africans, who fought for tolerance and freedom, couldn’t exercise those rights today,” she said.

At least two people were injured when rocks were thrown, and police fired teargas.

Paramedics could not make their way through the crowd so the injured were taken out on the DA’s truck.

However, Cosatu supporters chased the truck down two blocks before police managed to contain the situation.

The streets were strewn with rocks and litter and riot police fired a water cannon at the rowdy Cosatu crowd.

On social media site Twitter, the DA march, Cosatu, Helen Zille, youth wage subsidy, Braamfontein, Irwin Jim and Democratic Alliance were trending on Tuesday in South Africa.

Criminal charges

Journalist, Nickolaus Bauer tweeted: “Just been hit with a rock in the #DAmarch crossfire. The price you pay for trying to report the truth.”

Bauer also added a picture where blood can be seen on his face.

National DA spokesperson Mmusi Maimane said the party noted that the Cosatu leadership had not condemned the violence by members.

“We will be laying criminal charges against Cosatu’s leadership for intimidation, inciting violence, and holding an illegal gathering,” he said.

DA protesters taking part in the march earlier took off their blue T-shirts in fear of being targeted by Congress of SA Trade Unions supporters.

Marching down Jorissen Street in Braamfontein, they were met head-on by a group of people in red T-shirts. Cosatu supporters intimidated the DA crowd and stopped them from proceeding to Cosatu House.

Earlier, there was a loud bang, believed to be the police firing teargas at Cosatu supporters.

Unprepared

In a statement, DA spokesperson Kate Lorimer said not enough police and metro police officers had been at the march.

“The legal DA march has been met by an illegal gathering of violent [National Union of Metalworkers of SA] and Cosatu members who are throwing bricks and stones at peaceful DA marchers,” Lorimer said.

“It seems though as if the cops were unprepared and it was only after the stone throwing that the [police] finally sent in a police vehicle to block the Cosatu attack.”

In her speech, Zille said the youth wage subsidy would create 400 000 first-time job opportunities.

She said Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan had set aside R5bn for the first phase of the project.

Political clout

“Cosatu has been using its political clout in the ANC government to block the implementation of the youth-wage subsidy for two years now,” she said.

“Cosatu’s leadership says that it knows the plight of the unemployed, yet it is happy to undermine the futures and aspirations of those same people. By opposing the subsidy, Cosatu is entrenching inter-generational poverty for at least another generation.”

Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said a youth wage subsidy would use workers’ tax money to further enrich company bosses and had to be opposed.

“What will happen is when workers get old, bosses will throw them into the street,” Vavi said in Johannesburg.

He said youth receiving the subsidy would also not receive a full wage.

‘Have his cake and eat it’

“We demand equal pay for work of equal value.”

Vavi was addressing a crowd outside Cosatu House in Braamfontein.

In a media statement, Mazibuko said Cosatu’s hypocrisy was hurting South Africa.

“Mr Vavi loves to talk about Cosatu as a champion of the poor; an organisation which is anti-corruption and pro-accountability,” she said.

“The truth is that Mr Vavi doesn’t really care about the needs of South African people. Making an empty spectacle is how he manages to have his cake and eat it. And what a cake it is. Look at these massive R50m headquarters.”

Several hundred DA supporters started their march at Beyers Naude Square in the city centre to protest against the Cosatu’s opposition of the youth wage subsidy.

They moved along President, Rissik, Jeppe, Sauer, Burger, Jorissen, Melle, and Simmonds streets.

– SAPA

By – Carol Campbell and Devereaux Morkel

Source – News24 – Violence interrupts Zille speech

In defence of the Cape Town Press Club

Following the fracas after Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson refused to enter the room or speak at a Cape Town Press Club breakfast until an opposition MP had removed himself, there is suddenly talk of the press club being some kind of front “infiltrated” by opposition politicians.

Brent Meersman says ANC criticisms are based on ignorance on how the institution works.

Press clubs are for public engagement not political intolerance.

ANC national spokesperson Jackson Mthembu, the office of the ANC chief whip, and several newspaper editorials, have questioned whether politicians should be members of the club. The press club has agreed to raise the issue in committee on Monday and to also place it on the agenda at the club’s next AGM. I intend to argue at these meetings that the club should not change its membership policy.

There may well still be a good argument or reason to exclude politicians but I have not yet heard it. The opinions advanced to date by the ANC chief whip and ANC national spokesperson are certainly not grounds for changing the policy. But I understand why they have this point of view, given that it is uninformed and based on near total ignorance of how the Cape Town Press Club works.

Firstly, a press club does not only have journalists as members. This is true of press clubs all over the world including the oldest and most esteemed. As a former member of the National Press Club in Washington DC, Hugh Roberton, wrote to the Cape Times in the club’s defence, all sorts of people including judges, diplomats and politicians are members of press clubs everywhere.

“Press Club meetings are all about cut and thrust, questions and answers, and present both a challenge and an opportunity to whoever addresses them to engage with the broader society (including their opponents) and possibly say something newsworthy in the presence of the media.”

They are indeed exciting events.

But Joemat-Pettersson did not wish to engage in this way. She wanted the event at the club to be a platform for her to brief the media. There seems to be a genuine misunderstanding on her part.

Perhaps she was ill-advised (even though one of the minister’s very own media advisors happens to have been a member of the press club; I have his membership application in front of me now where he clearly states his ANC credentials). Perhaps it was because of her particularly toxic interactions with the said opposition MP the day before. On another day, maybe she wouldn’t have objected at all. But this time even though he agreed not to ask any questions the minister would not even have him in her presence.

And it wasn’t only the chairperson Donwald Pressly that was taken aback. A senior foreign diplomat present at the table where I sat was aghast at the minister’s insistence.

If these events were for journalists only what would be the point? One can call a press conference anytime.

There is always a good core of journalists present (125 journalists are members including press from other African countries and overseas media) and the speaker is virtually guaranteed coverage, sometimes extensively so, and often on national television. But a press club breakfast, lunch, dinner or cocktail event is not a press briefing. An invitation to address the press club is not an invitation to give a press conference.

The Cape Town Press Club, the oldest and biggest in the country, has for a long time had politicians as members, and these have included MPs, political spokespeople and party press officers. I’ve just checked the database and recognise names from the ANC, ID, DA, and IFP. (In his day, Prime Minister BJ Vorster called the Cape Town Press Club a hotbed of communists and thus not a forum for the Nats’ policies to have a fair hearing.)

And so it has been the case for 36 years and it has never been an issue until this incident. On May 23, Chris Nissen (the ex-ANC leader of the Western Cape) will address the club. The club checked with him and he is happy for his old political nemesis Peter Marais to be present as a guest. In fact he wants his political opponents to be there.

A few weeks ago, Ebrahim Patel addressed the club and he was asked a question by opposition MP Lance Greyling to which he courteously replied. The minister was not in any way undermined; he got up graciously and answered the question. These past months Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu took questions from environmentalists and lobbyists; ministers Gigaba and Nzimande also took questions from people other than journalists. They demonstrated the kind of tolerance and openness we expect in a democracy. So did Tokyo Sexwale, Jacob Zuma, Morgan Tsvangirai, Rob Davies, Thuli Madonsela, Frank Chikane, Tony Ehrenreich, Patricia de Lille, Helen Zille … I could go on and on.

Furthermore, press club functions are not for members only. Members are allowed to bring guests. Excluding politicians from membership therefore would not necessarily have changed the events around this unfortunate incident, since there is nothing to stop an opposition MP being invited by a press club member as their guest.

No politician is on the committee which determines who speaks; they don’t serve on the press club in anyway. They do not direct the activities of the club. They pay their dues same as everyone else and turn up at lunches. Sometimes they might ask a question; the chairman referees and does not give guests and members the floor to make speeches but to ask a question. So a politician’s presence is neither an “infiltration” nor “embedded” in any meaningful use of these words.

The ANC chief whip also seems to think the Cape Town Press Club is affiliated to other press clubs. It is totally autonomous.

I understand genuine concerns that having politicians as members may blur the lines, but I do not see how that blurring occurs as politicians are simply ordinary members and don’t run any aspect of the club. This is an isolated incident in the club’s long existence, and it revolved around one minister taking exception to a particular individual. The fuss being kicked up around the club’s membership policy is a smokescreen for an ill-judged moment of political intolerance.

Brent Meersman is Vice Chairperson of the Cape Town Press Club.

by Brent Meersman – 09 May 2012

Source – Politicsweb – In defence of the Cape Town Press Club

Mdluli’s removal immediate – Mthethwa

Cape Town – SA Police Service crime intelligence unit head Lieutenant General Richard Mdluli is to be “shifted” from his current position immediately, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said on Wednesday.

RICHARD MDLULI: Head of Police Crime Intelligence

Mdluli would be moved to another position as determined by acting national commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, he told the National Assembly during debate on his budget vote.

Mthethwa said he had noted the “recent utterances, public discussions, and at times misrepresentation and misunderstanding” of SAPS processes by some in society, particularly in relation to the crucial crime intelligence division.

Allegations of mismanagement of funds and nepotism were levelled against Mdluli.

The inspector general of intelligence, Faith Radebe, had oversight of crime intelligence’s financial management.

Investigation ongoing

“As part of her mandate, she is further able to look into any other issue that may arise in the course of this investigation. And contrary to what the media is saying, this investigation is still in progress. We are not going to be subjected to any public, analysts’ or media courts,” Mthethwa said.

There had been unfortunate public accusations and counter-accusations within SAPS management. What seemed to have sparked this was a widely-reported letter, which Mdluli was reported to have written to, among others, Mthethwa as police minister.

“This letter seems to have political connotations and has caused tensions within the management of the SAPS.

“It alludes to some conspiracy theory, of some in management ganging up against him. I have instituted a task team, led by the state law adviser to investigate such allegations, because they are so serious as to suggest the meddling of policing functions in politics.”

While this probe was underway, he had, in consultation with the acting national commissioner, decided that Mdluli should be shifted from his current position “with effect today” [Wednesday], as the head of crime intelligence and moved to another division, as determined by the Mkhwanazi.

To this end, Mdluli had been informed of the decision and had pledged his support to the process.

“We shall therefore allow and observe this process to be carried through without any undue interference,” Mthethwa said.

– SAPA

Source – News24 – Mdluli’s removal immediate – Mthethwa

Mdluli nie meer intelligensie-hoof

Kaapstad – Richard Mdluli, omstrede hoof van misdaadintelligensie, is met onmiddellike effek na ‘n ander afdeling “verskuif”.

RICHARD MDLULI: Head of Police Crime Intelligence

Nathi Mthethwa, minister van polisie, het aangekondig Mdluli is na ‘n ander afdeling verplaas.

Verskeie joernaliste het ook op Twitter berig dat Mdluli nie meer die misdaadintelligensie-hoof is nie.

Mdluli was onlangs weer in sy pos aangestel nadat aanklagte van bedrog, korrupsie en moord teen hom vroeër vanjaar teruggetrek is.

Bron – Nuus24 – Mdluli nie meer intelligensie-hoof

The road to reconciliation – Street Names?

There were several unforgettable moments, in the early years of South Africa’s transition to democracy, that illustrated Nelson Mandela’s masterly use of symbolism to advance reconciliation in our country. His capacity and skill in bringing South Africans together, after a history of bitter conflict, is the primary reason the former President established himself in the front rank of the world’s greatest statesmen.

A number of these moments were immortalised in the film Invictus, which tells the story of how the President united the nation behind the Springbok rugby team that went on, against all odds, to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup. The most famous moment of “Madiba Magic” occurred when the President walked onto the field in the No 6 Skipper’s jersey to show his support for Francois Pienaar’s team.

But for me, his leadership was best illustrated in another, preceding scene in the film. Re-wind to the meeting of the South African National Sports Council where an important decision had just been taken. The Council has unanimously resolved to change the name and emblem of Springbok rugby to obliterate the painful reminder of the apartheid past. Flushed with a sense of their own power, the Council is listening to a choir when Mandela interrupts their celebration with words they did not expect to hear. A silence descends on the room. Disbelief and incomprehension reflect on their faces, as Mandela shows why his name is synonymous with leadership. His words, as they are captured in the film script, are worth quoting:

“Brothers, sisters, comrades
I am here because I believe you have made a decision with insufficient information and foresight.
I am aware of your earlier vote.
I am aware that it was unanimous.
Nonetheless, I believe we should restore the Springboks.
Restore their name, their emblem and their colours immediately.
Let me tell you why……“

He then goes on to explain how, during his 27 years in prison on Robben Island, he worked hard to understand his jailers, their language Afrikaans, their history and their culture. Since that time, says Mandela, the ANC had prevailed against their “enemy“, winning power in an election. Then he continues…..

“Our enemy is no longer the Afrikaner.
They are our fellow South Africans, our partners in democracy.
And they treasure Springbok rugby.
If we take that away, we lose them.
We prove that we are what they feared we would be.
We have to be better than that.
We have to surprise them with the compassion, with restraint and with generosity.
I know all the things they denied us.
But this is no time to celebrate petty revenge.
This is the time to build our nation using every single brick available to us……..“

After a few moments of hostile silence, he wins enough support to reverse the decision. And the rest (as they say) is history.

It was this quality of courageous, counter-intuitive leadership, that made Mandela the hero of all South Africans who understand that our only chance of success is to become one nation, building a shared future, with fair opportunities for all.

But his gestures of magnanimity also carried an inherent risk. Some South Africans began to equate reconciliation with the preservation of the status quo, conveniently exempting themselves from the challenge of reciprocal generosity.

This mind-set still exists in some quarters. A topical example involves the naming of streets and places in towns and cities across South Africa.

The DA takes the following approach: We believe that the names of places and streets in towns and cities should reflect all its residents’ histories and heroes. As Mandela said, names and symbols should not be the terrain of “petty revenge” or defensiveness. We must acknowledge our discriminatory and unjust past, and genuinely seek to develop inclusive cities, where all feel welcome.

In this respect, I was inspired by a story I heard during my discussion with the DA’s Free State Executive Committee this weekend. When faced with the ANC provincial government’s proposal to change Eeufees Ave into Kenneth Kaunda Ave in the Mangaung municipality, the DA-dominated ward committee made a counter-proposal. They said they would prefer to re-name the street after Winkie Direko, the late former Free State Premier, who had once lived in the street and had earned respect across party lines. It is this common-sense approach, which seems to characterise the Free State, that has earned that province a reputation for nation-building and reconciliation like no other.

Sadly, at the other extreme, was the ANC in eThekwini (Durban), where the ANC forced blanket name changes onto every highway and by-way to show that they were now in charge and would re-write history. One form of exclusion merely replaced another. Inevitably, resentment and polarisation grew. It got to a point so absurd that the ANC vetoed a statue of an elephant in case voters associated it with the Inkatha Freedom Party! Small wonder that this Province has had some of the worst inter-party violence in South Africa’s history.

We could all do well to learn from these opposite examples. As “street name” controversies escalate in towns and cities across the province, we can approach them either as an opportunity to promote reconciliation – or division. For the millions of South Africans who prefer the former option, it makes sense for the various parties to begin by drawing up broad principles they can all support before negotiating the “nitty gritty” of individual name changes. Here is a “road map” to follow, derived from the starting premise that the names of streets and places should promote nation-building, not undermine it.

1. All parties acknowledge the need for place and street names to be inclusive and celebrate the history and heroes of all communities.

2. The names of streets and places should aim to reconcile and unite, rather than divide. This requires compromises all round.

3. Former SA Presidents or Prime Ministers are entitled to retain one street (but not necessarily more) that is named after them in a town.

4. Streets and places should not be named after living politicians (with the exception of Nelson Mandela who symbolised the drive towards reconciliation).

5. First seek to “name” before “re-naming”. There are a surprising number of places and streets that do not have names.

6. It is easier and more desirable to change names that do not stir intense emotions. For example, it is easier to change names linked to points of the compass (e.g. Eastern Boulevard) than it is to change names that are linked to people (e.g. Jip de Jager Drive), if very few people know who Prof. de Jager is. The locals do, and they like him.

7. It is easier to name or re-name major highways and thoroughfares than it is to rename smaller streets on which homes and business base their addresses.

8. Seek consensus on names that are deemed offensive (e.g. “Stinkwater” or “Native Yard”), and agree to change those as a matter of urgency.

9. Ensure a participative process, that includes that all political, cultural and other major traditions.

10. Name changes can occur sequentially, over time. They can be a process, celebrated one by one, rather than a “big bang” event.

Of course, it is easier to promote this kind of approach where the DA is in government. Yet even in Cape Town we made several false starts and generated serious controversies over this most sensitive of symbolic issues. Eventually, after several years of discussion, the process is rolling out under Mayor Patricia de Lille with significant success at achieving reconciliation. Eastern Boulevard has been renamed “Nelson Mandela Boulevard“. Western Boulevard is now called “Helen Suzman Boulevard“. As one colleague observed: you enter the City Centre on a highway named after a black man and it becomes a street named after a white woman”.

Why have things gone so wrong in so many other cities? Why are there “No More Mandelas“? Why is it that most current ANC leaders seek to entrench division rather than promote reconciliation? The answer is that this formula suits them well. All they have to do to keep winning elections, is to divide people on the basis of race, and keep them hating each other. It is the easiest recipe in politics for short-term power, and long-term disaster. And, as Nelson Mandela said: “We have to be better than that“. That is the most difficult challenge of politics.

This challenge has now fallen to the DA. It is, of course, much easier to show the way where we are in government. But we can do so in opposition too. We show the way by setting out how things could be done differently. And offering South Africans an alternative vision of a shared future. I am more and more confident each day that this vision will win out before this decade ends.

By Helen Zille – Democratic Alliance

Source – Politicsweb – The road to reconciliation – Helen Zille

South Africa – Where Racism Seems One Sided

Why is it that only white on black racism gets reported on the media? This racist tweet by Jessica Leandra dos Santos really doesn’t come close to threats of violence and genocide towards white people but that doesn’t even get acknowledged by the mainstream media.

Below is examples of people making racist remarks and even death threats, most of them by ANC officials:

“When Mandela dies we will kill you whites like flies” — Mzukisi Gaba (ANC councilor and politician at the Provincial government of the Western Cape.)

“Kill the Boer — Kill the Farmer” — Peter Mokaba (Murdered ANC populist)

“Stealing from whites is not a crime” — Faraday Nkoane, Leader of the Uhuru culture club.

“I have beaten the Colonials — and I am going to beat the children of the children of the Colonials” — Julius Malema (ANC youth leader)

“Kill them- Kill the Amaburu” — song by the ANC and Mandela

“All whites are racists” — Dept. Minister Fikile Mbalula

“Whites will be threatened with a revolution by black people if the racial quotas are not met” — Jimmy Manji (Black management forum leader)

“We are here today to declare war. We are against violence, but if this is what it takes to force a bad farmer in a direction, then they should be smashed (moered) in that direction. If farmers continue to violate the rights of our workers like mad dogs then we need to beat them until they stop. They are going to shit if they do not stop.” — Tony Ehrenreich — Cosatu leader in the Western Cape.

“There is already blood on the farm workers and unless it stops there will be blood on the farmers of these farms. We will grab the land and give it to the rightful owners.” — Tony Ehrenreich — Cosatu leader in the Western Cape.

Source – News24 – South Africa – Where Racism Seems One Sided