Politics.za

When you live in a country where 2 million people have had their phone lines disconnected because of an inability to pay even for the most basic telecommunications, where the cost of broadband (or as we like to call it “fraudband”) is 1000% more expensive than similar services elsewhere and where the newly appointed CEO of the government sponsored monopoly says in an interview :

I don’t buy the issue around our costs being appalling

Then it’s time for someone to do something.

Ivy? Roy? Are you there? ICASA? Anyone willing to do something? Anyone at all?

Like other people I’m finding this whole Zuma rape allegation (or is it just an allegation of an allegation at the moment) is just adding more confusion and distraction to the whole sordid affair.

I feel like I’m the teenage daughter in Poltergeist who comes home to find her house (representing the ANC in this very bad analogy) glowing like a lightbulb with all sorts of wierd stuff happening inside and can only scream: “WHAT’S HAPPENING?!”

Schabir Shaik has been granted leave to appeal one of his corruption charges. Once again this will probably be another Zuma trial-by-proxy and if the conviction is overturned Zuma will have some heat taken off him. However this is only an appeal for one of the convictions (out of three) and only on limited grounds.

But check out this quote:

Schabir is presently on a leave of absence from work. The appeal is consuming much of his time.

Besides setting up dodgy arms deals and making sure Jacob Zuma’s mortage didn’t default what did this guy do?

Update: Just heard Shaik will be able to appeal all three convictions.

The ANC have re-iterated that there is no tension between Zuma and Mbeki. I repeat: No tension. None at all. Why the very thought is preposterous.

But boy would I like to get my hands on that report dealing with the “substance of the interactions between the president and deputy president over the last two months”.

_28th Sept: TM “skeefs” JZ out across office in Luthuli House. _

13th Oct: TM and JZ share elevator in Sandton. Awkward silence.

25th Oct: Trashtalking during weekly ANC Counter-Strike session. TM calls JZ “stupid camper”, TM accused of “whoring AWP”.

Just a reminder that the 19th/20th of November is your absolutely last chance to register to vote. With the upcoming municipal elections (rumoured to be taking part during March 2006) promising to have the potential to do some serious shaking up in your local municipality you don’t want to be left out.

The IEC has all the details including a handy page to check if you’re already registered.

It seems that Zuma’s defence team is planning on calling up Thabo Mbeki as a witness in the Zuma trial. Zuma’s defence will argue that it was actually Mbeki who wrote a letter, but signed by Zuma, to SCOPA head Gavin Woods stating that the arms deal required no further investigation.

This could get… ugly. Basically we’ll have Zuma and Mbeki calling each other liars in a court of law, if Mbeki claims he had nothing to do with the letter. Although it’ll make for some riveting viewing (apologies to “A Few Good Men”).

Kessie Naidu: Did you order the SCOPA letter?

Thabo Mbeki: You want answers?

KN: I think I’m entitled?

TM: You want answers?

KN: I want the truth.

TM: YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!

Jacob Zuma will be formally indicted on Friday. It will be interesting to see if French arms giant Thales will be indicted as well. If Zuma accepted a bribe then Thales must have paid one…

You know Trevor Manuel must get some smug satsifaction being an overachiever. Under his tutelage SARS has become one the most, if not the most, effective departments in all of government. Now with some new legislation about to be added to the Tax Act he will turn SARS into money hunting terminators from the future.

This is however actually something to look forward to. Sure we all tremble at the thought of stern faced, suit wearing automatons knocking at the front door wanting to enquire about those unit trusts we didn’t declare on our IT3 forms but with their increased collection abilities we can expect further income tax cuts in the future.

So uh… yay SARS!

The HSRC have released a report critical of government for slow service delivery. Now slow service delivery is nothing new, what is alarming is the HSRC raising the issue of targets being set and then silently dropped when it’s clear they can’t be met.

This could backfire on the ANC quite a bit (if it isn’t backfiring already). The news has been full of reports of civil unrest as people wait for houses that were once promised but have not arrived.

And it’s not even things like housing which take some time to organise. Cheap internet access for school’s, something that was supposed to have materialised a while ago and which is not difficult to implement, has yet to actually happen.

...WE’RE BACK! It’s been a bit longer than I promised in my last update but I’m finally back online. This weblog is going to be in a state of flux for a while with the appearance changing, links appearing and probably disappearing and all sorts of experimentation. Hell in a few months I might not even be using the same blogging engine. However I assure you the political commentary, both serious and snarky, continues for the forseeable future.

Note we have a new RSS feed. And proper archives! And topic sections! And comments!