As the economy of Zimbabwe continues its steady collapse into a Mad Max like wasteland under the thuggish tyranny of Robert Mugabe, perhaps we are seeing the first signs of resistance.
The rebellion by 6,000 black workers is the first in nearly four years of state-sponsored terror on the country’s white-owned farms. Kondozi’s 1,500 profitable acres provide huge quantities of runner beans, mange tout and red peppers for stores including Safeway, Sainsbury’s and Tesco.
But the minister for agriculture, Joseph Made, wants the business for himself. A few weeks ago, he arrived at the farm with colleagues and ordered out the workers and the white owners. A fortnight later, scores of ruling Zanu-PF party loyalists were sent in but around 200 women workers fought back with broken tiles, stones and broken bricks. Shots were fired, apparently by pro-government thugs, but they were forced to flee. Mr Made was not available for comment.
As I have suggested before regarding the Logistics of Tyranny, if the ‘aid lobby’ was actually serious about the welfare of people in the Third World generally, and places like Zimbabwe in particular, they would do better to call for ending 90% of all aid payments to the kleptocratic governments that rule them and in place of the remaining 10%, send an equal value of weapons and ammunition to people who actually oppose the regimes keeping Africa from sharing the vast economic improvements elsewhere in the Third World.
One would think that because the vast majority of Mugabe’s victims are not white land owners but are in fact the common black people of that woeful nation, this might move even the chattering classes in Islington, Berkeley and Grenwich Village to feel a spot of indigestion over their morning bowl of Muesli and hense to demand ‘something be done’, but I guess that only applies when the designated ‘bad guys’ are Jews (or Donald Rumsfeld), not black African socialists.
The only message people like Joseph Made understand weighs 55 grains and moves at about 3,100 feet per second. I do not lightly wish for bloodshed anywhere, but the occasional grimaces of the Guardian reading classes have not stopped the long nightmare of the people of Zimbabwe.
Arm the workers of Kondozi!
A couple truck loads of ammo and one for
these each of the workers of Kondozi and you
will have a real rebellion
Not to be nitpicky, but you are showing an AK, and that would typically have (approximately) a 123 grain bullet (7.62×39 mm). The 55 grain bullet would be for an M-16 or other chambered in .223 Remington (5.56×45 NATO).
Otherwise, everything you say I agree with.
I have to ask this because I simply don’t know. I haven’t studied much of Africa, mostly because very few events in Africa have global significance, so I must admit to a certain amount of ignorance.
Are there ANY African nations run by blacks that isn’t corrupt, incompetent and on a runaway course to utter destruction?
There are so many, that I know of, reasons and first causes for these situations. But doesn’t seem to be any kind of end to these vicious cycles.
Well Alfred, the weapon in the picture is an AK-74 (with a GP-25 grenade launcher)… which mean the rifle will be chambered for 5.45mm (many ‘export models’ are also chambered for 5.56mm). What you are describing is an AK-47 or AKM, which is chambered for the larger 7.62mm x 39 round. The easy way to tell a -74 from a -47 is the reddish (and slightly less curved) magazine.
Perry, I had a feeling that I should have looked a little harder–I succumbed to my snarkiness. Touche.
I wonder how grumpy governments would get for formenting revolutions like that. Well, I shouldn’t worry too much. But dropping in a couple of crates of ammo and guns would do much for those people especially against his tyranny…it’s a really good idea.
Mugabe is another evil dictator. I would be more than happy to see the same thing that happened to Saddam happen to him. Regime change from without, brought to you by sea and air.
What are you all looking at?
“Are there ANY African nations run by blacks that isn’t corrupt, incompetent and on a runaway course to utter destruction?”
This was obviously meant to be a rhetorical question, as you clearly already think you know what the answer is, but yes, there is such a country, and right next to Zimbabwe too … Get off your backside, fetch an atlas and you might actually learn something, instead of spouting stereotypes.
Unfortunately, the “long nightmare of the people of Zimbabwe” is likely to be prolonged, rather than shortened, by the introduction of a bunch of heavily armed, self-styled “defenders of the people”. Once they have obtained power by force, what is the disincentive for acting just like Mugabe and his cronies?
Arm the people severally rather than collectively and let them defend themselves. I have a little more on this and on why I’m not a revolutionary at my blog
Abiola Lapite spouted:
This was obviously meant to be a rhetorical question, as you clearly already think you know what the answer is, but yes, there is such a country, and right next to Zimbabwe too … Get off your backside, fetch an atlas and you might actually learn something, instead of spouting stereotypes
Thanks for the snarky post void of actual information.
Ooooh. One such country? Colour me impressed.
Abiola Lapite wrote:
‘Are there ANY African nations run by blacks that isn’t corrupt, incompetent and on a runaway course to utter destruction?”
This was obviously meant to be a rhetorical question, as you clearly already think you know what the answer is, but yes, there is such a country, and right next to Zimbabwe too … Get off your backside, fetch an atlas and you might actually learn something, instead of spouting stereotypes.’
I think he/she was trying to identify South Africa as ‘such a country’.
Corruption? Well, everything’s relative, I guess. But South Africa is well-known for a whole range of political corruption. From kickbacks for arms deals, to massive fraud and misappropriation of funds in its welfare system, to more-or-less open bribery of all sorts. Bishop Tutu is well-known for his observation that the present leaders of SA stopped the gravy-train of corruption which characterized the apartheid governments just long enough that they could get on. Even President Mbeki (BEFORE he succeeded Nelson Mandela) publicly acknowledged the serious problem of government corruption in SA.
Incompetent? I have no comment.
On a runaway course to utter destruction? This may be hyperbolic, but calmer heads have expressed great concern over the long-term future and stability of SA. There does not appear to be any strong and resilient mechanism in the political life of SA which would prevent it being taken over by the kind of openly-corrupt, venal and opportunist majority adminsitration that we see IN EVERY OTHER NATION IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA.
Kim DuToit – a native suid-afrikan himself – will have some take on this, I’m sure. I know he visits here. Mr DuToit . . . ?
llater,
llamas
Uganda, Kenya, Zambia and Tanzania are doing OK. Poor as dirt, but stable for the moment. Not Europe, but as good as the lower tier countries in South America or Asia.
Of course, Abiola is pointing out that all of Africa suffered a great decline by any measure when the white rulers left, and that’s true – it’s just that some declined more than others. Zimbabwe is one of the worst right now. Uganda used to be.
In a perfect world, they’d outsource their governments. Bring in the old, colonial bureaucrats from Hong Kong on 5 year contracts.
“Are there any African nations run by blacks that isn’t [sic] corrupt, incompetent, and on a runaway course to utter destruction?” While S. Africa is arguably in this category, Botswana certantly is. Since its independence in 1966 its enlightened, uninterupted, civilian leadership has used the country’s mineral wealth to pursue enlightened social policies and significant capital investment. Botswana’s tragedy is that it has the world’s highest known rate of HIV/AIDS infection, but unlike S. Africa, it has Africa’s most pregressive and comprehensive progam for dealing with the disease
Allen Unsworth
“they’d outsource their governments. Bring in the old, colonial bureaucrats from Hong Kong on 5 year contracts”
Colonialism by contract? I love it!
Llamas wrote:
“…the gravy-train of corruption which characterized the apartheid governments…”
I know it is common cause to describe the apartheid governments as corrupt, but I cannot think of any corruption scandal that approaches the magnitude of any one of the several post-apartheid scandals. The only significant corruption incident during apartheid was the “Information” scandal of the seventies when John Vorster helped create a secret fund to buy a foreign newspaper in order to counter anti-apartheid propaganda. When this came to light it led directly to his downfall, even though he never profited personally, and the bureaucrat mastermind of the scheme fled the country to escape imprisonment.
The only other scandal that I can think of occurred in the early eighties and involved a minister who awarded contracts to his son’s company. He was convicted and served time in jail.
This is in stark contrast to the current situation where politicians, bureaucrats and ANC party hacks continue to gorge themselves at the public trough without President Mbeki seeming to lift a finger to put an end to it.
” think he/she was trying to identify South Africa as ‘such a country’.”
You were wrong. The country I had in mind was Botswana. Don’t let your ignorance stop you from promoting Kim du Toit as some sort of authority on all things African, though.
“anti-apartheid propaganda”
Nice characterization, that. Those nasty blecks churning out propaganda to make apartheid look bad! Everyone knows that “twas very heaven” for blacks in SA at the time.
“This is in stark contrast to the current situation where politicians, bureaucrats and ANC party hacks continue to gorge themselves at the public trough without President Mbeki seeming to lift a finger to put an end to it.”
Oh, really? Remember Vlakplaas? I seem to recall Eugene de Kock having a little bit to say about the good times to be had at the time. What about Inkathagate, under that apostle of virtue, F.W. De Klerk.
I agree, and am generally in favor of everybody owning a weapon. Mugabe will likely get away with this too; he’s met and bribed the right people in the UN and Franch to ensure that will likely be the case. Civil war is pretty much a foregone conclusion though, another decent african nation turned to crap by an insane strongman. Really sad.
Abiola
I don’t want to deny that blacks suffered under apartheid – not least from the indignity of being considered second-class citizens – but the international press was mostly one-sided in its coverage of a very complex situation. Whites didn’t want to relinquish power precisely because they feared that the lawlesness and anarchy that are so common elsewhere in Africa would repeat itself in SA. Alas, those rightwing reactionaries have been proved right in their fears and I, lefty liberal of yesteryear, cannot look them in the eyes and admit that they were right and I was wrong. Today we have the highest violent death rate in the world at 60 per 100 000 of the population. In the last ten years 250 000 people have been murdered – probably more than the total number of people killed during the whole 340 years of “white oppression”.
Eugene de Kock was a sadistic footsodier involved in a dirty war against people who killed innocent civilians with bombs, but how does he represent government corruption of the kind that was discussed before? And how did FW de Klerk profity from Inkathagate?
Abiola Lapite wrote:
‘ think he/she was trying to identify South Africa as ‘such a country’.”
You were wrong. The country I had in mind was Botswana. Don’t let your ignorance stop you from promoting Kim du Toit as some sort of authority on all things African, though.’
So I was wrong. Big whoop. Why didn’t you say what you meant, instead of playing silly-ass guessing games?
FWIW, I agree with you – Botswana ain’t doing too bad – relatively speaking. But that’s not saying much . . .
I have a cousin who, with his wife, spent 25 years in Botswana. He’s a dentist, she’s a healthcare worker. They have 6 adopted Botswanan orphans. Subsisting on meagre stipends from a succession of NGO’s and aid programmes, they brought free medical care to anyone in the bush they could get to.
They packed up and got out a couple of years ago. The levels of corruption and crime where they were got to where they just didn’t feel they could go on.
Things are probably just fine in Gabarone.
I never “promoted Kim DuToit as . . . an authority on all things African”. You made that up.
But the fact remains that much of what he says about sub-Saharan Africa – is absolutely true. For the most part, it is a sinkhole of violence, corruption on a grand scale, genocide and crime. Warlords roam the bush, stealing, robbing and raping. The wildlife and the environment are being despoiled in a way that is shameful to behold, often to line the pockets of dictators and their lackeys. And the people are, for the most part, still being kept in a bondage of fear and poverty that is slavery in all but name – and sometimes actually is slavery.
I’m sorry, but pointing to Botswana as the best of a bad bunch doesn’t change that. And that is the basic point of the original question.
llater,
llamas
> In a perfect world, they’d outsource their
> governments. Bring in the old, colonial bureaucrats
> from Hong Kong on 5 year contracts.
OK, fine, but we need to have a blacklist so that not just anybody from HK gets in: Chris Patten, for example, would be a very poor choice.
C. de Wet:
“Whites didn’t want to relinquish power precisely because they feared that the lawlesness and anarchy that are so common elsewhere in Africa would repeat itself in SA.”
An absurd statement. Apartheid was erected in 1948, long before any black states outside of Ethiopia and Liberia were independent, and white brutality towards “kaffirs” and “hotnots” was a fact of life in the region as early as the 17th century. As for talk of “skyrocketing crime” and so forth, the violence white South Africans are only seeing now was going on in the “homelands” from the late 1970s, aided and abetted by the then South African government – look at the TRC confessions if you doubt this. The only thing that has changed is that with the Group Areas Act no longer in force, whites are now having to experience the same hell blacks have long had to live with.
I never cease to be amused on hearing white South Africans defend apartheid on grounds of black incapacity, when it was the express intention of the apartheid government to ensure that blacks would never become capable of doing anything other than menial labor. Perhaps you ought to read the Bantu Education Act of 1953 at some point – this piece of legislation completely gutted the state-aided mission schools that 90 percent of blacks had been attending until that time. Nor can it be argued that the effects of this legislation were unintentional: following is what the Eislen Commission had to say in 1949 about how black children ought to be taught:
It is amusing to note that Hitler’s views on the proper education for Slavs, as noted in his “Monologe im Führerhauptquartier: 1941-1944”, were almost exactly identical. We also have Hendrik Verwoerd’s opinion on the record about this matter:
It really is quite entertaining to hear people defend apartheid today for working precisely as intended: whites “had” to hold onto power to defend against a state of “lawlessleness and anarchy” ensuing from the rule of blacks whose incompetence they had so carefully fostered. A more convenient cycle of justification for the maintenance of state-sponsored racism cannot be imagined.
“For the most part, it is a sinkhole of violence, corruption on a grand scale, genocide and crime”
These things are hardly unique to Africa. I seem to remember a certain Adolf H. and Joseph S. breaking world records in killing in that bastion of civilization called Europe.
“Warlords roam the bush, stealing, robbing and raping”
Hmm, I wonder what the arbitrary borders drawn up in 1885
without regard for pre-existing ethnic divisions might have to do with that? Absolutely nothing at all, I’m sure, as the Biafrans, the Buganda, the Ndebele and many others will testify. What can you do about them darkies, living in the “bush”, eh?
llamas:
“So I was wrong. Big whoop. Why didn’t you say what you meant, instead of playing silly-ass guessing games?”
I thought you knew Africa well enough to pass summary judgement on its inhabitants? Surely a man of your expertise on the continent ought to have realized that Botswana was an exception to your claims? I suppose anything that shows up your ignorance must be a “silly-ass guessing game.”
“They packed up and got out a couple of years ago. The levels of corruption and crime where they were got to where they just didn’t feel they could go on.”
Ah, yes, an anecdote, long regarded by the grey eminences of science as the strongest possible sort of evidence in support of a theory. Who am I to question the notion that your acquaintances’ experiences can be generalized to the rest of that country? Heaven forbid we ask for well-sourced and reliable statistics to support your statements…
“And how did FW de Klerk profity from Inkathagate?”
Not just he, but all of the white South Africans he represented, stood to benefit from a black opposition so divided that one-man-one-vote could be staved off indefinitely. Fortunately, he failed, so in a strictly technical sense, you’re correct – he didn’t get to benefit. As for personal corruption amongst the higher echelons, the testimony of both De Kock and Dirk Coatzee, as well as that of the 100+ witnesses against Wouter Basson, indicates that personal graft in the South African state apparatus was rampant. How fortuitous for the former ruling elite that so much effort was given to shredding documents between 1991 and 1994; why, one might think they realized they had a great deal to hide!
“I’m sorry, but pointing to Botswana as the best of a bad bunch doesn’t change that.”
Well, you’ve said that Botswana is one of a “bad bunch”, so it must be true! Statistical evidence is for mere mortals to provide, not demi-gods like yourself. And what is more, you and you alone get to decide what constitutes failure and success! Let’s face it, you don’t have the slightest clue what you’re talking about.
Thanks for doing (more than) your share, Abiola.
Botswana is much more than the “best of a bad bunch”; it’s a pretty good model for countries with big commodity industries (theirs is diamonds). Unlike a lot of white-ruled countries (Saudi Arabia, Russia) they have developed their economy past the singular focus on the commodity.
Perhaps you ought to read the Bantu Education Act of 1953 at some point – this piece of legislation completely gutted the state-aided mission schools that 90 percent of blacks had been attending until that time
This is a perfect example of the anti-apartheid propaganda that I mentioned earlier. The historian Hermann Giliomee notes that only 24% of blacks of schoolgoing age was enrolled in 1948. The purpose of the BEA was to broaden access to education and in this it succeeded admirably. In 1950 there were 746,324 black pupils enrolled, in 1955 1,013,358 and growing to 1,608,668 in 1960. Verwoerd’s policy also managed to raise the percentage of children in post-primary education from 7% in 1954 to 9,4% in 1970 and the number of successful matriculants from 191 in 1955 to 546 in 1966. There was also continuous improvement in the quality of the syllabi after 1954.
As for talk of “skyrocketing crime” and so forth, the violence white South Africans are only seeing now was going on in the “homelands” from the late 1970s, aided and abetted by the then South African government – look at the TRC confessions if you doubt this. The only thing that has changed is that with the Group Areas Act no longer in force, whites are now having to experience the same hell blacks have long had to live with.
The violence was mostly being perpetrated in the townships – not the homelands – by a revolutionary minority against black “collaborators”, i.e. the peace-loving majority. As a soldier my job was to prevent the gruesome “necklacings” which the international media loved to film, not promote it: the violence only served the ANC’s aim of making the country ungovernable. Still, the fact remains: in the last ten years more people have died violently than during the previous 340 years of white “brutality”.
I wouldn’t rely too much on the testimony of DeKock and Coetzee who are, after all, self-confessed murderers. Wouter Basson was acquitted of all charges against him, despite the 100+ witnesses. As for the TRC, it was a massive propaganda coup for the ANC as measured by the sheer number of unsubstantiated claims that were swallowed wholesale by the media. In her book “The Truth about the Truth Commission”(Link) dr. Anthea Jeffery wrote:
“The commission has rightly castigated the former government for the methods of ‘counter-revolution’ it employed ” However, by not acknowledging that these methods were used in a virtual war situation, “the TRC has obscured rather than revealed the truth. In fact, what the commission has done is to focus on only half the story – and to tell that half in a selective and distorted way. ”
Just want to intrude in the SA debate by asking you all to cast your eyes upwards to let them alight upon Somaliland. This non-country declared itself independant of the disastor zone that is Somalia ten years ago. In that time it has welcomed back 500,000 refugees, set up a largely free-market economy, introduced multi-party democracy – and by dint of not existing is not in recipet of wads of aid cash.
So Samizdatas here is a cause for you in Africa, grant recognition of the decent, moderate moderate, sub-saharan, muslim, English speaking (and if I quote the putative Ambassador to London – “Drinking man’s Muslim country). Oh yes and they even have proper Armistice celebrations for the old Somaliand Regiment.
“The purpose of the BEA was to broaden access to education and in this it succeeded admirably”
Rubbish. We have Verwoerd’s own words on the matter, and yet here you are insisting this was some sort of positive endeavor! It’s obviously a waste of time debating the matter further with you – I’m sure you’ll go to your grave convinced that “Apartheid was good for the blecks.”
Abiola Lapite:
You commingle quotes from me with quotes from other people. You ask me to defend what others have said, and others to defend what I have said. Finishing off, of course, with accusations of racism all around, topped off with suggestions of moral equivalence and a few ad-hominem sprinkles for flavouring.
Sorry, I’m not inclined to oblige you in your fantasies. If you want to believe that sub-Saharan Africa would be a paradise on earth if it just wasn’t for the legacy of apartheid, arbitrary borders and all-around racism – go right ahead. It don’t confront me none.
llamas
“You commingle quotes from me with quotes from other people. “
Are your reading skills so limited that you can’t tell the difference between my response to C. de Wet and to yourself? Or is your fragile ego bruised because I didn’t take the time to compose a reply dedicated only to you?
“finishing off, of course, with accusations of racism all around”
If the cap fits, wear it. Your own ignorant rantings condemn you.
“Sorry, I’m not inclined to oblige you in your fantasies.”
What you mean to say is that you don’t know what you’re talking about, don’t have the knowledge or the skills to seek out references to back your ridiculous generalizations, and are tired of having your ignorance exposed for what it is.
” It don’t confront me none.”
You are the weakest link – goodbye!
From a man who expresses ‘perverse pride’ in the exploits of Nigerian 419-fee scammers – your answer is just about exactly the sort of thing I would expect.
Unable to refute the argument – insult the messenger. Nice going, there.
Just another blowhard. Put on ‘ignore’.
llamas
John Tillinghast wrote:
‘Botswana is much more than the “best of a bad bunch”; it’s a pretty good model for countries with big commodity industries (theirs is diamonds). Unlike a lot of white-ruled countries (Saudi Arabia, Russia) they have developed their economy past the singular focus on the commodity.’
This may be their intention but it is not the current state of affairs. Extractive resources are almost 40% of GDP and are more than 90% of exports. The majority of which is, as you say, the diamond industry, at more than 80% of exports. With almost the entire remainder of their economy being in the service sector – much of which is infrastructure to the extractive industries – their singular focus is still extraordinarily high, and comparable in GDP terms with nations like Saudi Arabia.
Their growth is good and the government seems to be making efforts to expand their economic base and diversify both in products and markets. This is all to the good. But they are still dangerously dependent on one commodity, and even a relatively small shift in the diamond market may well have dire consequences.
llater,
llamas
Abiola, Abiola
Don’t run away so soon! Or don’t you want the facts to get in the way of your comfortable prejudices and propagandistic distortions?
Ironically enough, the comparative success of Botswana and Somaliland vindicates the philosophy of apartheid: both are ethnically more homogeneous than most African “nations”. You yourself noted that much of the destabilizing conflict can be ascribed to “arbitrary borders drawn up …. without regard for pre-existing ethnic divisions…”
How anyone can argue (and keep a straight face) that the fascist apartheit regime in SA was good for the vast majority of the population is rather hard to fathom.
But please, some civility in the comments, or I will just lock this section.
Gawain is quite right that Somaliland is very interesting indeed and is something I have had my eyes on for a while (I was fascinated by the Adwal Road Company but have rather lost touch with the current state of play in those parts).
I have paid very little attention indeed to what’s going on in Somaliland. Perhaps I should do something about that . . .
But it appears to parallel what we see in a couple of other places – the ‘autonomous Kurdish’ region of Northern Iraq springs to mind. A state, which is not really a ‘state’ and therefore does not fit nicely into established pigeon-holes, goes its own way and seeks its own roads to development. From what I understand, that area is doing quite well also, given where it started from.
Could it be that smaller, ethnically-more-homogenous regions do rather well when left to their own devices, free of the directing hand of a central government which has to broker their interests against the interests of a more-diverse larger state and (especially) free of the tender ministrations of large foreign powers and NGO’s?
I merely ask the question.
llater,
llamas
the fascist apartheit regime
Another one of those cliches that precludes critical discussion.
I don’t have a firm opinion on whether apartheid “was good for the vast majority of the population” or not, I was merely pointing out facts which don’t fit the pc dogma.
CdW: The South African state regulated business and social activity massively and for the majority of the population, apartheid era South Africa was far from being a free market system. It also operated on the legal basis of the racial superiority of one group over another.
Thus I think it fitted the definition of ‘fascist’ well enough to use the term, given it was both a pervasive regulatory state (which fascist states are), a police state (in which free speech even for whites was a precarious thing) and predicated on notions of racial superiority (which is also a rather defining feature of fascist systems).
If you find ‘fascist’ inappropriate (perhaps because it did lack some of the trappings of Italian style fascism), would you regard ‘Nazi-Lite’ better? And please, I am not trying to be provocative or preclude reasonable discussion.
I was not using the term ‘fascist’ as an epithet, but rather as what I think is a fairly reasonable description. I have been accused of may things but being fond of ‘PC dogma’ is not often one of them. As a child I lived for a while in apartheid era South Africa (in Durban) and I am just saying it the way I saw it.
Perry:
By your definition fascism was already a feature of South Africa in the 19th century. The British overlords in the Cape introduced the concept of separate “townships” for blacks and in Durban regulations forbade them from using the sidewalks. As for racial superiority, that was one of the justifications for the Anglo-Boer War: Milner had Darwinistic notions about the right of “higher civilizations” to subjugate “lower organisms”. The British even invented concentration camps – where 27000 Boer women and children perished.
The point of apartheid was precisely not to subjugate people, but to give them sovereignty over their own affairs. How long do you think Mbeki will be successfull in playing the race card to keep most Blacks from realizing that they are being ruled by a Xhosa clique (jokingly referred to as the “Xhosa Nostra”)?
How does denying individual people on the basis of their skin colour the right to freely associate and hugely restricting movement/economic activity with pass laws constitute not subjugating people? The fact that Xhosa and Zulu groups were not exactly paragons of virtue changes that how, exactly?
Was the apartheit order utterly without any merit whatsoever? Probably not, but with all due respect, you sound like you are in serious denial over the true nature of the Old regime in South African. Also, I do not recall saying the colonial orders of the 19th Century were something to be directly emulated either!
you sound like you are in serious denial over the true nature of the Old regime in South African
And you sound like you are in serious denial over the reality of racial and ethnic hatred. South Africa is already on the Genocide Watch list due to the fact that 1300 white farmers have been killed over the past ten years, without the government taking extra measures to protect them. From reports it appears that police are deliberately lax in their investigation of these murders and that they might even be involved in some cases.
I cited the nineteenth century examples to show that history is a chain of events and that injustice didn’t start in 1948. Apartheid was a rational reaction to the irrationality of human passions, and the anarchy and lawlesness of the new South Africa do vindicate those who were sceptical about democracy as the solution to its problems.
you sound like you are in serious denial over the true nature of the Old regime in South African
And you sound like you are in serious denial over the reality of racial and ethnic hatred. South Africa is already on the Genocide Watch list due to the fact that 1300 white farmers have been killed over the past ten years, without the government taking extra measures to protect them. From reports it appears that police are deliberately lax in their investigation of these murders and that they might even be involved in some cases.
I cited the nineteenth century examples to show that history is a chain of events and that injustice didn’t start in 1948. Apartheid was a rational reaction to the irrationality of human passions, and the anarchy and lawlesness of the new South Africa do vindicate those who were sceptical about democracy as the solution to its problems.
“Unable to refute the argument – insult the messenger. Nice going, there.”
Yet more rubbish from you. You claimed there wasn’t a single African country that was well governed, I hinted at Botswana, but your ignorance was so great that you couldn’t even figure out which country I was talking about. On having your error pointed out to you, the best you can muster is an anecdote about someone you knew quitting the countryside because of crime. Talk about a serious case of projection!
“Don’t run away so soon! Or don’t you want the facts to get in the way of your comfortable prejudices and propagandistic distortions?”
Another pathetic instance of projection. Can you guess who said the following?
That’s right, it was dear old Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, speaking in Parliament in 1953. If the Bantu Education Act was meant to provide better education for blacks, why would he have said such a thing? And why would he have followed his passage of that act with a ban on private schools catering to black children?
“Ironically enough, the comparative success of Botswana and Somaliland vindicates the philosophy of apartheid: both are ethnically more homogeneous than most African “nations”. You yourself noted that much of the destabilizing conflict can be ascribed to “arbitrary borders drawn up …. without regard for pre-existing ethnic divisions…”
Except that in South Africa, you guys wanted black labor at artificially cheap rates, even though you didn’t want black neighbors. You then compounded your crimes by forcibly deporting millions of blacks to “homelands” they’d never seen in their lives and demolishing black residential areas like Sophiatown to erect whites-only residential quarters with names like “Triomph”. If you can show me where I’ve advocated, ethnic cleansing, let alone the sort that leaves 78 percent of the population residing on 13 percent of the land, and agriculturally marginal land at that, I’d very much appreciate it.
“South Africa is already on the Genocide Watch list due to the fact that 1300 white farmers have been killed over the past ten years, without the government taking extra measures to protect them.”
So a government inability to police the entirety of the country, due to a police force that lacks the skills to do the sort of job their counterparts elsewhere consider their bread and butter – because they were too busy stoking “black on black” violence in the good old days – is somehow an active perpetrator of genocide?
“From reports it appears that police are deliberately lax in their investigation of these murders and that they might even be involved in some cases.”
A funny thing: that is precisely what we know the South African police, the SADF, MI, Vlakplaas and other such organizations are known to have been doing throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Looks like another case of projection here …
Unlike some talking here, I’m willing to give some references to back up what I’ve said. Following are two volumes that have proven useful to me:
1 – A Concise History of South Africa, Robert Ross, 1999, Cambridge University Press.
2 – A History of South Africa, Frank Welsh, 1998, HarperCollins.
Abiola:
Verwoerd was clearly playing to the gallery when he made that statement: politicians habitually say one thing and do another. That’s why I quoted the statistics which clearly show a broadening of access and continuous improvement in black education. I am not aware that he banned private black schools. He gradually phased out their subsidies because their focus was narrow and elitist and they were not efficient in their utilization of limited funds.
because they were too busy stoking “black on black” violence in the good old days
This is another of those anti-apartheid myths. Judge Goldstone did a torough job of investigating all those claims and he came to rather different conclusions. (Link)The fact is that the police, SADF etc. were involved in a counter-revolutionary war. The killing of a terrorist cannot be called murder in the normal sense.
I’ve just remembered yet another excellent source of information about the National Party-led government’s all-too-successful effort to stoke “black on black violence” – the Steyn Report, confidentially commissioned by no one other than F.W. de Klerk himself. It will be interesting to see if the claims made therein about official state sponsorship of township violence – and implicating de Klerk, the report’s very commissioner, directly – will be casually dismissed as “anti-South-African propaganda.” Was General Pierre Stein also just another “anti-white” propagandist? If so, why should he have chosen to ply his trade through as unpromising a route as a secret document, meant for F.W. de Klerk’s eyes only?
All, right, I’ll bite.
Abiola Lapite wrote, of me:
‘Yet more rubbish from you. You claimed there wasn’t a single African country that was well governed, I hinted at Botswana, but your ignorance was so great that you couldn’t even figure out which country I was talking about. On having your error pointed out to you, the best you can muster is an anecdote about someone you knew quitting the countryside because of crime. Talk about a serious case of projection!’
How right you are. Botswana is indeed a relatively well-governed nation. It’s economy is as good as can be expected for one so dependent on a single volatile commodity (see above). It’s growth is healthy, even when compared with developed nations.
It’s not without problems – it’s one of the few developing nations where life expectancy is decreasing, not increasing. Unemployment is officially claimed at around 20%, unofficial estimates at twice that – there’s that dependence on a single volatile commodity again. But, all-in-all, it’s in as good a shape as can be expected. Like I said – probably the best of a bad bunch.
I guess the reason that Botswana did not leap to the forefront of my mind is that, in terms of economy and population, it might as well not be there at all. Its population, at 1.6 million, amounts to 0.2% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa. Less than the 36-mile-square US county in which I reside. Its total economy (GDP) of $5.1 billion amounts to 1.5% of the total GDP of sub-Saharan Africa (Source – World Bank, 2002) Waaay less than the output of the county in which I reside (World Bank + US Statistical Abstract).
However – I will modify what I said about sub-Saharan Africa, to assuage the delicate sensibilities of Abiola Lapite – a man who professes outrage when crime and corruption in Africa are pointed out, and immediately accuses the pointer of racism, yet who expresses a ‘perverse pride’ in the exploits of Nigerian criminals when they scam foreigners – I believe that begins with an H . . . . . but I digress.
For the most part, it is a sinkhole of violence, corruption on a grand scale, genocide and crime. Warlords roam the bush, stealing, robbing and raping. The wildlife and the environment are being despoiled in a way that is shameful to behold, often to line the pockets of dictators and their lackeys. And the people are, for the most part, still being kept in a bondage of fear or poverty that is slavery in all but name – and sometimes actually is slavery.
Except Botswana.
I guess I took license to presume that the expression ‘for the most part’ would cover it – after all, every rule has its exceptions. For the great majority of Africans, what I said is true. Pointing out the rare exception, and calling me a racist for not doing so spefically, doesn’t change the facts.
Now, Abiola Lapite, I have a question for you. What would you suggest should be done to export the successes of Botswana so that the majority of the other 698.4 million people in sub-Saharan Africa may enjoy a similar quality of life and government? Provide data to support your answer.
Answer polite, or go back on ‘ignore’. Your blowhard invective may make you feel good, but, I assure you, it don’t confront me none.
llater,
llamas
“Verwoerd was clearly playing to the gallery when he made that statement: politicians habitually say one thing and do another”
Which explains his banning (yes, banning) of private schooling for blacks. And let us leave aside that fact that Verwoerd was an enthusiastic supporter of National Socialism not just during his years as a post-graduate in Germany, but was even judged a Nazi-sympathiser by the Johannesburg Supreme Court in 1943; obviously, such a man couldn’t possibly have believed passionately in what he said, and just had to have been playing to the gallery. That numerous individuals who knew Verwoerd personally testified to his religious zeal for the task of keeping blacks in their place must not be allowed to cloud our judgement, no sir.
“He gradually phased out their subsidies because their focus was narrow and elitist and they were not efficient in their utilization of limited funds”
No, in 1955 Verwoerd outright banned private schooling for blacks, but for some strange reason, he failed to do the same for coloureds, Indians or whites. Now why would that be? And I really like that “limited funds” bit – spending 9.5 times as much on the education of each white child as each black one really does have a funny way of “limiting” funds, doesn’t it?
“The killing of a terrorist cannot be called murder in the normal sense”
Yes, the UDF protestors Brian Mitchell had originally planned to kill before his kitskonstabels went out to massacre 11 people, mostly women and children, at the Trust Feed farm, were undoubtedly “terrorists.” Anyone protesting apartheid in any way was quite clearly a “terrorist” – such people struck terror into the hearts of champions of apartheid, so they obviously deserved to be murdered. The more than 600 ungrateful little blecks shot down at Sharpeville in 1960 and Soweto in 1976 were also “terrorists”, as were Steve Biko, and the Pebco actvists Champion Galela, Qaqawuli Godolozi and Sipho Hashe.
It is more than obvious that no amount of evidence to the contrary will ever make you admit that apartheid was the utterly contemptible regime of state-organized racism that it actually was, even if Verwoerd himself were to come back from the dead and repent of it before your very eyes.
” a man who professes outrage when crime and corruption in Africa are pointed out”
What an odd thing for you to say, when that is something I do on my own blog all the time! Of course, there is a slight difference between pointing at actual instances of corruption, and mouthing insulting generalities about an entire continent – not that you seem to have any idea what the difference might be.
“yet who expresses a ‘perverse pride’ in the exploits of Nigerian criminals when they scam foreigners – I believe that begins with an H”
I guess no one ever bothered to teach you the meaning of the word “perverse”, otherwise you’d have realized how stupid your statement was.
“For the most part, it is a sinkhole of violence, corruption on a grand scale, genocide and crime. Warlords roam the bush, stealing, robbing and raping. The wildlife and the environment are being despoiled in a way that is shameful to behold, often to line the pockets of dictators and their lackeys.”
The White Man’s Burden! Bloody darkies can’t run themselves! And yet you’re outraged when someone points out that you’re an ignorant bigot. Why not provide some numbers and sources for all of the vast generalizations above, and while you’re at it, explain to us all what Uncle Adolf and Uncle Joe, and even Uncle Slobo, were accomplishing in Europe, where war, stealing, robbing and raping are utterly unknown. Tell us what happened to the megafauna of the European subcontinent, while you’re at it.
“Answer polite, or go back on ‘ignore’.”
How could I possibly keep on living without your attention? You, sir, are the centre of my world!
“Your blowhard invective may make you feel good, but, I assure you, it don’t confront me none.”
Ha ha! Pot, kettle, black! If what I have to say doesn’t bother you, why do you keep responding? You’re the very epitome of a blowhard – where are your sources then, if you know what you’re talking about? And do provide some answers to my questions about Europe, which you claim above the rapine and robbery that is supposedly endemic to Africa; show us all how Africans have outdone the superior Europeans for savagery over the last 100 years!
No answer, then? No problem.
llamas
Abiola,
As regards the Nazi-slur and related apartheid-is-genocide claim, see this article(Link) by the respected scholar Heribert Adam. Verwoerd supported Germany in the war because he was anti-British. Giliomee writes(Link) that Verwoerd explicitly rejected genetic explanations for performance differences between the races when he lectured sociology at Stellenbosch. So much for his racism.
in 1955 Verwoerd outright banned private schooling for blacks, but for some strange reason, he failed to do the same for coloureds, Indians or whites
He banned those schools because they were outside the designated homelands. It was brutal, but consistent with his policy of separate development, as opposed to subjugation.
spending 9.5 times as much on the education of each white child as each black one really does have a funny way of “limiting” funds
It might have something to do with the fact that 9.5 times is approximately the ratio of black to white in the country. Remember that it was mainly (and still is)whites who paid the bills.
the UDF protestors Brian Mitchell had originally planned to kill before his kitskonstabels went out to massacre 11 people, mostly women and children, at the Trust Feed farm, were undoubtedly “terrorists.”
Mitchell was a rogue policeman with Inkatha sympathies. He was tracked down by his fellow officers and sentenced to death. How does this prove state sponsored murder?
Soweto would never have happened under Verwoerd. Apartheid would have been fully implemented and the races sufficiently separated so that such conflict would have been impossible. The tragedy is that after Verwoerd’s death, apartheid was gradually undermined by big business’ demand for cheap labour and did indeed degenerate to resemble a system of “state-organized racism”.
another excellent source of information about the National Party-led government’s all-too-successful effort to stoke “black on black violence” – the Steyn Report, confidentially commissioned by no one other than F.W. de Klerk himself.
Steyn did indeed find senior officers to be involved in illegal and criminal activities and De Klerk dealt with them. To the unprejudiced observer this would imply that those activities were not government sanctioned, but perpetrated by rogue elements. The long and the short of it is that the apartheid governments took corrective action when confronted with evidence of corruption and criminality. The same cannot be said of Mbeki’s government.
“so much for his racism”
Wow, that is, like, sooo convincing, dude. I’m totally blown away by that rebuttal – or something. Verwoerd was obviously a lover of black folks, yup, which is why Verwoerd, father of the black folk, forbade them to attend private schools.
“It might have something to do with the fact that 9.5 times is approximately the ratio of black to white in the country. Remember that it was mainly (and still is)whites who paid the bills”
Yeah, by making sure blacks never would be able to do so – that colour bar had a funny way of making sure whites would have to pay the bills, didn’t it? At any rate, your arithmetic is piss poor – I said 9.5 times per white child as compared to black, not 9.5 times as much on black education.
“Apartheid would have been fully implemented and the races sufficiently separated so that such conflict would have been impossible”
You are clearly deeply ignorant of the economic history of your own country. Why not try looking at one of those two references I suggested earlier? Of course I know you won’t – they must be anti-South African propaganda after all.
“To the unprejudiced observer this would imply that those activities were not government sanctioned, but perpetrated by rogue elements.”
Which is why Steyn implicated Frederick de Klerk himself, right?
You are very clearly a hopeless case, but I’m not responding for your sake, but so others can see the sort of specious “reasoning” that passes for thought amongst those who believe as you do. To all other readers I say “Ecce homo!” This is what a bittereinder looks like! As for Hendrik Verwoerd, bastards like him make me wish there really was a hell for them to rot in.
Verwoerd was obviously a lover of black folks, yup,
So, if someone doesn’t positively love black people he is a Nazi? You claimed that Verwoerd was an ideological racist and I showed you that as a scientist he rejected geneticism – doesn’t his opinion as a scientist have more bearing here than his personal sentiments?
At any rate, your arithmetic is piss poor – I said 9.5 times per white child as compared to black, not 9.5 times as much on black education.
Not as poor as yours Abi. If you attended one of our bantustan schools you would have been able to figure out without me telling you that if you divide the same amount of money between 9.5 times more children each one would get 9.5 times less than their white counterparts. What I am suggesting is that it would have been politically unfeasible to expect white taxpayers to spend more on black education than their own. Want me to draw pictures?
Which is why Steyn implicated Frederick de Klerk himself, right?
I only have your word to go on here. It just doesn’t make sense that De Klerk would have ordered an investigation when he not only knew about those schemes, but were involved in it himself.
“So, if someone doesn’t positively love black people he is a Nazi?”
He is if he spends most of the 1930s in Germany rapturously applauding Hitler’s policies, as Verwoerd indisputably did – look it up! So much for your claim that he was only opposed to SA entry into the war.
“Not as poor as yours Abi.”
Yup, I’m obviously weak with numbers, which is why I spend my days studying algebraic number theory.
“If you attended one of our bantustan schools”
One of the great tragedies of my life. Having grown up in one of those sinkholes of despair Comrade Llamas spent so much energy lambasting, I was fated to make do with only an Ivy League education. Can’t win em all, I suppose!
“only have your word to go on here. It just doesn’t make sense that De Klerk would have ordered an investigation when he not only knew about those schemes, but were involved in it himself.”
Whether it makes sense to you or not, it did happen. Unredacted portions of the Steyn Report are freely available from the TRC (which you’ve conveniently dismissed as a propaganda outfit), and neither Pierre Steyn nor F.W. de Klerk have disputed the contents of the material released – though de Klerk did go to court unsuccessfully to try to get the damaging revelations blocked.
He is if he spends most of the 1930s in Germany rapturously applauding Hitler’s policies, as Verwoerd indisputably did
A total invention.
Unredacted portions of the Steyn Report are freely available from the TRC
Do you have a more specific reference? A link to a newspaper article where the specific allegation is repeated will be sufficient.
which is why I spend my days studying algebraic number theory
Since you haven’t mastered simple division by this stage I suggest you give it up.
Having grown up in one of those sinkholes of despair Comrade Llamas spent so much energy lambasting, I was fated to make do with only an Ivy League education
I am green with envy. Affirmative action is great if you have the right colour of skin. I guess my light green hue doesn’t guarantee me a place at an Ivy League university – or even at a South African one for that matter.
My unbiased comments are:-
The force behind the perpetual tyranny is much greater than many may recognize.
It is the total destruction of a complete continent.
With systematical eviction of the european population and external economic forces raping the continent of minerals and riches.
From the Congo and Kenia in the fifties to SA presently.
Those whom can make a difference turn a blind eye, for reasons mentioned.
Alas, if I was in a foreign continent seing the devistation with aid being grossly missappropriated as eg. in Zimbabwe with an insulting monkey at the helm, I might as well have said let them sweat it out.
Unfortunately 99,9% of the sweating is done by the innocent!