Eish... the guvmint is insane

[mahnmut]

The SA executive branch is suffering from a collective form of delusional disorder. That is really the only conclusion I can draw from stories such as this one:

‘Violence deliberatetly unleashed’

The recent wave of so-called xenophobic violence had been deliberately unleashed ahead of next year’s general election, National Intelligence Agency director-general Manala Manzini said on Thursday. He was speaking at a Cape Town conference of African intelligence heads, as the death toll in the violence topped 40, with thousands displaced. Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils, who was also at the meeting, told Sapa that while there were “pure criminal elements” at work, intelligence agencies were looking very carefully at “other sources motivating this with their own political agendas”.

Manzini said that in the run-up to the 1994 democratic elections, “elements” that supported the apartheid regime had delivered weapons to hostels for use in attacking communities.

“We are beginning to see those movements taking place currently. Into hostels where people are beginning to organise and resuscitate some of those people that they have had contact with in the past. To provoke and encourage them to unleash violence. That we are beginning to pick up.”

He said though the media had defined the violence as xenophobic, the problem was more complex than that, because South Africans of Tsonga and Venda descent had also been targeted. “So it cannot be defined as xenophobia. Xenophobia is too limited a definition of what we are experiencing,” he said. “We believe that as South Africa prepares for another national election early next year, the so-called black on black violence that we witnessed prior to our first election in 1994 has deliberately been unleashed and orchestrated. Because we believe there are forces in this country and outside who continue to refuse to accept that we are capable as a people to rule and govern ourselves. That we are capable as Africans to set an agenda that seeks to uplift our people from the shackle of poverty visited upon us by the colonial past.

I work among people seeking job in Joburg, including immigrants from Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Somalia - in neighbourhoods like Alex, where it all started. And I haven't heard anything more stupid than the above. It reminds me of minister of public enterprises Alec Erwin’s laughable claim that the Koeberg power plant was sabotaged, when in fact the plant had simply broken down due to the government’s failure to maintain it properly. The current wave of xenophobic violence is also a direct result of the government’s failures: failure to achieve higher economic growth, failure to do anything meaningful about illegal immigration, failure to provide social services and remove obstacles to job creation, failure to address (or even acknowledge) the massive political crisis in Zimbabwe. Instead of taking a hard look at the policy choices that have lead us to this point, the government apparently prefers to chase after the ghosts of “right-wing conspiracies” and “third forces”, an outcome as depressing as it is predictable. The fact that I'm part of ANCYL and I'm seeing how hopeless their efforts to push the "guvmint" to do something doesn't help much, either...
  

Comments

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

As you predicted not so long ago, the results from the Guvmint's stupid decisions (or indecisions) would eventually hit them on the head. The bad thing is, the ordinary people are AGAIN the ones to pay the cost. Cos i doubt this situation would undermine the ANC's grip on power anyway, no matter how desperate the situation could get. I cant see any Guvmint falling down anytime soon. The propaganda seems to be working too well on people - and they'll actually elect JZ to run the country, and then blame his failures on the "aliens".