Magnitude 8.8 OFFSHORE MAULE, CHILE
Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 06:34:14 UTC
Major Tectonic Boundaries: Subduction Zones -purple, Ridges -red and Transform Faults -green
Major Tectonic Boundaries: Subduction Zones -purple, Ridges -red and Transform Faults -green
Map of CHILE
Preliminary Earthquake Report
U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center
World Data Center for Seismology, Denver
Let me state upfront here that NONE of the “official stats” you see on unemployment/employment that are Govt-based are factually correct….. Unemployment is as high as up to 60%+ – and yet we have politicians in our Cash-Strapped and Corrupt (practically insolvent) Health Department earning R140Mill a year but I CANNOT GET HEALTH CARE FOR MY CHILDREN….” Go figure
Johannesburg – Cope Youth Movement has branded President Jacob Zuma a “confident liar” after he announced in his State of the Nation address that 480 000 jobs had been created last year.
“This we know is devoid of any truth and we believe the president can only be categorised as a confident liar who does it with a smile,” the Congress of the People youth wing said on Friday.
“He presented an unbalanced, shameful speech with concocted facts.”
It said the president’s “shocking distortion” of his own 2009 State of the Nation address on the promise of 500 000 jobs was not a mistake.
“He said government planned to create about 500 000 job opportunities and this made no reference to the expanded public works programme as Zuma said yesterday.
“We view this as no mistake but rather a sign of confusion and the president’s lack of understanding of the economic downturn and its impact in the global world.”
Zuma’s failure to account for the ineffectiveness of the National Youth Development Agency which had been in office for nine months demonstrated again that the youth would remain secondary to the agenda of government, the movement said.
Speech ‘shallow, vague and uninspiring’
Cope youth was dismayed and disappointed at the “shallow, vague and uninspiring speech which lacked substance on pertinent issues affecting the people” in Zuma’s address.
“His inability to articulate in detail how he intends to have a paradigm shift to deal with improving people’s lives was a concern for us,” it said.
The movement reiterated its call for Zuma to relinquish his position as president.
“He has too many blemishes which compromise the office. More worrying is [his] arrogant attitude or lack of understanding of HIV/Aids and its consequences.
“He continues making the nation funders of his personal irresponsible actions of his child-making spree while his government is still unable to ensure that all children are cared for like his.”
Protesters demanding improved services turned their anger to foreigners in 2008
JOHANNESBURG, 23 July 2009 (IRIN) – Protesters have again brought violence to township streets throughout South Africa over state failure to deliver on longstanding promises of housing and social services for all, but the discontent and frustration run much deeper.
In the depths of an unusually cold winter, the poor, feeling increasingly marginalized economically, socially and politically, and the government seemingly unwilling to listen, let alone act, are seeing protest as the only viable alternative.
“It’s like violence is the only thing the government listens to,” Adele Kirsten, executive director of the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), told IRIN.
“This is worrying but not surprising,” Kirsten said. Service delivery backlogs and related protests had long been common in South Africa, but the sudden surge since the beginning of July and the high levels of violence had been exceptional.
By 23 July the media had reported widespread violent protests in the provinces of Mpumalanga, Gauteng, North West and Western Cape over poor access to housing, electricity, water and health care.
Although the country has made some progress in improving housing and access to utilities like clean water, hundreds of thousands of people still live in abject poverty in vast shantytowns, and many expressed their anger and disappointment in clashes with police, burning tyres and throwing stones at passing vehicles.
An inherited problem is still a problem
The election in April of President Jacob Zuma – hailed as ‘a man of the people’ – brought “high levels of expectation and excitement”, and the popular hope was that Zuma and the African National Congress (ANC), which has held power since 1994, would now “translate rhetoric into practice”, so the poor would find representation and sympathy for their plight, Kirsten said.
It’s like violence is the only thing the government listens to
But many voters, like Vusi Mthembe, who lives in Thokoza, a dusty township about 50km east of Johannesburg and the site of recent violent protests, have run out of patience. “We vote for this and then nothing – no toilet, no running water. It seems as if they are cheating us,” he told IRIN.
Community-level government officials, often viewed as self-serving and inherently corrupt, have left much undone; people have felt excluded from political decision-making, their predicament unheard, their needs unmet.
“Before the election you see the councillors; after the election they just vanish. They promise us something and thereafter disappear; there is no one to talk to about what is going on here [where we live],” Mthembe said.
Loren Landau, Director of the Forced Migration Studies Programme at the University of the Witwatersrand, commented: “Where councillors are afraid to visit the communities they represent, and members of parliament (MPs) are chosen by the ANC’s executive committee with little popular consultation, it is little wonder that people resort to violence to draw attention to their concerns.”
A vicious circle
In Landau’s view, “What’s going on now reflects two governance challenges that have gone unaddressed for too long: the first is less about service delivery than about managing expectations, and encouraging people to express their grievances (legitimate or otherwise) peacefully through community or political institutions.”
The second concerned the treatment of non-nationals in contentious communities, and a growing fear that violent protesters would increasingly target foreigners, often blamed for “stealing” jobs, women and houses.
The xenophobic violence that swept through South Africa in 2008 – killing at least 62 people and displacing 100,000 others – would return if nothing was done to address its root causes.
“Many people will say we learned no lessons from last year’s violence. I would disagree. What we have learned is that you can assault, extort, rob, or murder non-nationals without facing any consequences,” Landau warned. Xenophobic incidents occurred during July 2009 in the town of Balfour, Mpumalanga Province.
Official reaction to the latest violence has been disappointing, raising fears that protesting South Africans would become further alienated from their government: “So far there has been no clear political response to this,” said CSVR’s Kirsten.
Instead of real engagement, police fired rubber bullets and teargas in a crackdown on protesters, while politicians expressed scant tolerance for their grievances, perceived by many as legitimate.
“We cannot allow anybody to use illegal means to achieve their objectives. Anything that is done must be done within the law and constitution,” the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Sicelo Shiceka, said on Talk Radio 702, a local radio station.
This does not offer much hope to the cold and desperate people in Thokoza. Dudu Ntomo, who has spent most of her life in the shantytown, told IRIN: “It just goes round and round here, nothing changes – there’s no toilet, no tap, no houses – this place is just not right.”
PARTS of the city ground to a halt yesterday following a spate of power outages that were caused by exploding power controllers.
Yet another transformer caught alight on Prince Alfred Street yesterday afternoon, adding to the electricity woes that gripped certain areas on Tuesday after three sub-stations were knocked out.
Frustrated ratepayers contacted The Witness in droves to vent their anger, demanding to know why the municipality claimed power had been restored yesterday as they still had no electricity.
Said Burger Street resident Phiwe Sithole yesterday: “They said it’s been restored already, but I’m sitting here without electricity. Why are they making fools of us?”
Prince Alfred Street resident Nokuthula Sithole complained that they had been without electricity since Tuesday afternoon.
“We could not cook [Tuesday] night and [yesterday] morning we had to bath in cold water,” she said.
Sithole, who lives in a block of flats, said her next door neighbour’s flat almost went up in flames when a gas stove exploded.
“Had it not been [for] the Rural Emergency staff who [live] next to our flat, we [would] be talking [about] something else,” said Sithole, adding that her neighbour was severely traumatised after the incident.
She said she was not happy with the way the municipality had treated them because they did not even have the courtesy to give them notices regarding how long they would be without electricity.
Lee Bezuidenhout who runs a butchery in the CBD said he was in a dire situation as his business deals with perishable food items.
“We’re losing stock because the cold rooms are losing temperature. I don’t know what we’re going to do and every hour that goes past is troubling,” he said.
Bezuidenhout said one freezer held R100 000 worth of stock while another contained R40 000 worth of beef that was starting to go black. He made numerous calls to the electricity department to no avail and was at his wits’ end.
“How are we supposed to run a business? We’ve already had to throw out all the ice cream and our polony, chicken and pork is thawing,” he said.
Reports that St Anne’s Hospital and Medi-Clinic had to cancel all surgeries yesterday as a result of the power failure were disputed by both hospitals.
Medi-Clinic’s client services manager Reshnee Beekrum said everything was running as normal.
“We did not cancel any cases [yesterday], rather accommodated additional cases from other hospitals … we have generators that are constantly maintained … in anticipation of further power cuts,” she said.
St Anne’s marketing officer Shubnum Ismail issued a statement on behalf of general manager Louis Joubert, stating that they were fortunate to have two generators at their disposal.
“As a precautionary measure we have nevertheless, for the time being, suspended elective surgical procedures to ensure patients’ safety … However, despite this, the hospital continues to run smoothly and efficiently without compromising medical care,” said Joubert.
Msunduzi Municipality’s process manager for electricity Maxwell Mthembu apologised to affected residents and said their team was working tirelessly on the burnt out substations.
Meanwhile, traffic officers had to direct traffic for the second consecutive day yesterday after the burnt out substations caused the robots to black out.
Before going into this post I must just state that recently it was reported that international ticket sales were horribly disappointing, due to a number of factors… In fact less than 50% of tickets were sold, with people from the Uninted Kingdom having to fork out well over R105000 for a 2 week trip – and that didn’t include the major games…. That R105000 is roughtly what an average person would earn in about 5 years!!!!
Other facts besides the overt and very public threats of violence, theft and robbery of the very tourists we are trying to attract are:
1. The pre-fixed escalation of accommodation and airfares/travelling 2. the ridiculous prices of the tickets and 3. the fact that S Africans were not allowed to purchase tickets – they had to wait until 2 weeks ago to be allowed to make an APPLICATION for the purchase of tickets…. Now tell me this country is run by intelligent people…Now they cannot sell tickets and expect S Africans to fill the stadiums – which they will… or at least purchase the $20 tickets for onsale to desperate overseas tourists…
JOHANNESBURG — Fédération Internationale de Football Association general secretary Jérôme Valcke has revealed that ticket prices for South African residents will be slashed to ensure that all matches at the 2010 World Cup finals are sold out.
Following disappointing sales to overseas supporters, category two and three tickets will be changed to category four, which can be sold only to South African residents for about $20.
Quoted in The Telegraph, Valcke said: “We will increase the number of category four tickets because we cannot have a situation where the World Cup is in South Africa and people cannot see matches.
“This will bring less income to Fifa, but we have already brought in the income we need to match the organising committee budget, which is $423 million.”
Valcke believes airline and travel companies are partly to blame for the number of unsold tickets.
“I think that we are facing a peak time, where companies feel that they can apply the highest level of pricing,” he said.
“We want to ensure that football fans can afford to travel to South Africa.
“It is clear that people have decided that because it is the World Cup, they will ask the highest amount possible to maximise income, but it doesn’t work today.
“They forget that it is a long distance to travel to South Africa. You need to stay for more than a few days, so they have to make offers that the fans can afford.”
Valcke also admitted that mistakes have been made in granting agency Match exclusive rights to sell travel and ticket packages for South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014.
“We have good lessons to learn from 2010, and they will help us in 2014,” he said.
“We will have to sell the tickets to fans direct. We will think about setting up Fifa ticketing centres around the world.”
'Patricia Swart (left) and Janette Growdon peer into the darkness outside their
rooms at the SAVF old age home in Prince Alfred Street,
which was one of the places left without electricity
since explosions at several sub-stations on Tuesday evening.
IRATE city centre residents spent their third day without electricity yesterday, as a result of a power melt-down that saw explosions at at least three different sub-stations.
Ward councillor Peter Green believes the cause of the blackout is an ageing, unmaintained electricity infrastructure being overstressed by too many illegal connections.
Fuses were short and tempers were running high after three days without power. Residents were angry at the municipality’s empty promises. “If they don’t know what time the electricity is going to come on they must say they don’t know or shut up, instead of giving us false hope,” said an irate resident.
Another said he phoned early on Wednesday morning and was told the power would be on at 10 am. “At 11.30 I phoned again and was told that it would be on at 1 pm, It did come on briefly at around 12 pm but by 12.30 it had broken down again and has remained off ever since.”
The affected area is from Boshoff Street down to Masukwana (East) Street including Bulwer, Prince Alfred and Burger streets. Residents in this part of town all have their stories to tell about their personal suffering over the past three days.
However, none more than the 100 frail and vulnerable people living at the SAVF Old Age Home at 400 Prince Alfred Street.
Manager of the home Henry Spencer said the elderly residents have had no hot water to bath or shower for the past three days. Food in the freezer room and fridges has all gone bad.
A number of wheelchair-bound residents who were on the ground floor when the problem occurred have not been able to get back to their rooms on the upper floors, and they have had to sleep on mattresses on the floor.
To make matters worse expensive medications will have to be thrown away because there are no fridges where they can be stored at low temperatures.
Spencer said that unlike the more affluent old age homes, SAVF cannot afford standby generators, emergency lighting or solar heating. “There are no lights at the home, we make do with a few torches owned by the nurses. This darkness has imposed silent sombre prison-like conditions on elderly people who deserve much better,” he added.
Spencer said he was told that the power breakdown was because of illegal connections. “This is an inane excuse. Everyone has known about the problem for years and [has] done nothing about it.”
Speculation is rife as to the cause of the blackout. Fed-up residents are convinced that they are suffering because of alleged incompetent municipal staff who lack the experience to carry out the repairs.
“Why is it blowing up each time it is being repaired, do they know what they are doing?” asked one.
After seeing municipal staff who were working on a site replaced by an outside contractor, he believed they were replaced because they could not do the job.
But Green dismisses allegations of incompetent staff. He said he was with the technicians late into the night. Many had worked for almost two days in a row, snatching sleep whenever they could. In the end they were exhausted and this was why a contractor was brought in.
The councillor is convinced that the massive outage is because illegal connections disrupt the power balance of the system, causing sparks (flashes) to fly in the central distribution units (CDUs). He said that every time there is a flash, carbon dust is deposited in the CDU. Without regular maintenance this deposit builds up, eventually catching alight.
He said electricity was restored at about 12 pm on Wednesday, but a short while later there was a major burnout at an electricity unit in Retief Street. According to Green, the subsequent delay in restoring the electricity was because the cables were burnt right through the ground and workers had to dig deep and for some length along the cable line to find an unburnt section to be able to reconnect the system.
Msunduzi Municipality’s process manager for electricity, Maxwell Mthembu, disputes Green’s version. He said the initial problem was caused by a fault and has nothing to do with illegal connections.
Mthembu said by yesterday they had restored 95% of the electricity in the city centre. However, the remaining area was left without power because of two faulty cables at one of the sub-stations. “Eventually we decided to run an above ground temporary cable. The only problem is that there are going to be some unhappy people because we are going to have to switch off the electricity for at least half an hour tonight in sections where it has been restored in order to connect the cable,” said Mthembu.
By 10 pm, power had been restored to most consumers.
Green said the only way to avoid such massive outages in future is to:
* Attend to the illegal connections as a matter of urgency * Put in place a very strong monitoring team
* Find the money to start maintaining the ageing electricity infrastructure.
Meet Jacob Zuma – the man who thought – no – he insisted – a shower prevented HIV infection, and who said that a woman he was accused of raping asked for sex because of the way she was dressed… uh helllooooooooooo and whose friend who was released from prison in in another African Country for theft and corruption, became S Africa’s Minister of Health, known as Dr Beetroot (also highly educated one can tell) both of whom have really made South Africans feel extremely PROUD to be South African…
Jacob Zuma – the REAL Jacob Zuma, the current “ruler” of one of the previously most influential and wealthiest countries if not in the world at the very least in Africa… How far we have come!!! And what an international joke you are! I hasten to add that although these facts are cited from their sources my opinions (mostly in red) are MY opinions and are not intended to implicate any other person/s organisations or institutions (although they all feel exactly the same)
South African president Jacob Zuma with his three wives, from left, Thobeka Mabhija, Nompumelo Ntuli and Sizakele Khumalo. Photograph: Mike Hutchings/AFP/Getty Images
Jacob Zuma, the polygamous president of South Africa, has apologised for fathering his 20th child with a woman who is not one of his three wives.
Senior ANC officials are also furious with the president for embarrassing the party and breaking a pledge he made after being elected party leader in 2007 “not to embarrass the ANC with other sexual revelations”, according to South Africa’s Star newspaper.
“I have over the past week taken time to consider and reflect on the issues relating to a relationship I had outside of wedlock,” Zuma said in a statement today.
“It has put a lot of pressure on my family and my organisation, the African National Congress. I deeply regret the pain that I have caused to my family, the ANC, the Alliance and South Africans in general.”
On Tuesday Zuma, who married for the fifth time last month, confirmed reports he had fathered a child with Sonono Khoza, the 39-year-old daughter of Irvin Khoza, who is chairman of the World Cup local organising committee and owner of the Orlando Pirates football club.
Khoza is said to have told family friends that he felt betrayed by Zuma’s relationship with Sonono, as he considered him a friend. Zuma has now made a traditional payment of inhlawulo (damages) to Khoza’s family.
The leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, Helen Zille, has accused Zuma of undermining the South African government’s campaign against multiple sexual partners, “and the inherent Aids risk in having unprotected sex”.
Multiple marriages are allowed in South Africa and form part of Zulu culture, but have drawn criticism from HIV and Aids activists. At least 5.7 million South Africans are infected, and an estimated 1,000 people die from the disease every day.
The South African president sings and dances at his wedding ceremony
Zuma, 67, reportedly slipped and fell during a traditional solo dance at the wedding at his homestead in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal province.
Zuma and Tobeka Madiba, the republic’s third first lady, were presented to society as husband and wife for the first time during their ceremony, South Africa’s Eyewitness News reported.
Accompanied by an entourage of men dressed in leopard skins, Zuma sang and danced, the network said. Madiba was then presented with her own entourage of young Zulu men and women.
The president did a solo traditional dance but slipped and fell backwards in the process, according to Eyewitness News. The reporter who saw the slip said later that this did not appear to be part of a traditional Zulu ceremony where dancers execute a fall. There was no indication that he had been hurt.
The Madiba family presented Zuma with a chest of drawers as a wedding gift.
Overcast skies in Nkandla failed to dull the spirits of villagers dressed in animal skins and African prints who walked along muddy trails to the Zulu ceremony, known as udwendwe.
The media were kept away from the proceedings, but buses transporting the guests were seen outside Zuma’s house, where three big tents were erected. Several sheep, goats and cows were slaughtered for the wedding feast.
The Zulu tribe, the biggest ethnic group in South Africa, practises polygamy by tradition. Zuma once told an interviewer: “There are plenty of politicians who have mistresses and children that they hide so as to pretend they’re monogamous. I prefer to be open. I love my wives and I’m proud of my children.”
Madiba joins Sizakele Khumalo-Zuma, whom Zuma has known for 50 years and married in 1973, and Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma, whom he married two years ago.
There were two further wives. He divorced Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, now home affairs minister, in 1998. Kate Mantsho Zuma killed herself in 2000, after describing her marriage to him as “24 years of hell”.
Zuma is said to have more than 10 children, and possibly as many as 19. Zuma has paid lobolo (bride price) to the family of Madiba, described as a socialite from Durban, as custom demands. She has attended official events with the president but it appears the wedding had been postponed until now because of Zuma’s work commitments. He was elected president in April.
Zuma is also reportedly preparing for a sixth wedding. Gloria Bongi Ngema is understood to have presented umbondo (gifts) to the Zuma family last week, customarily a precursor to marriage. Originally from Durban, Ngema works for IBM in Johannesburg and has a son with Zuma named Sinqumo.
Zuma has also been linked to a Swazi princess, but has given no clear indication that he plans to wed her.
South African law recognises multiple marriages, although fewer young South Africans are entering into them because they are seen as expensive and old-fashioned. The cultural practices of Zulus and other groups are protected by the constitution.
Zuma played up his Zulu heritage during the election campaign and spent Christmas at his homestead in Nkandla. He relaxed by shooting birds with a slingshot, drinking umqombothi (traditional beer) and taking part in a chess tournament. It emerged this month that a reported R65m (£5.3m) expansion of the Nkandla residence is under way with new houses being built to accommodate Zuma’s three wives.
Jeremy Gordin, Zuma’s biographer, said he was surprised how little attention Zuma’s latest wedding had received. “I find it interesting that there were all kinds of people making belligerent comments on his polygamy, but that died down after the election.”
He added: “Zuma is adamant about polygamy. It’s his right as a Zulu. But he only took one wife to Italy to meet the pope.”
This article was updated on 5 January 2010 to make clear that the Eyewitness News reporter who saw Jacob Zuma’s fall later said that this did not appear to be part of a traditional Zulu ceremony where dancers intentionally execute a fall.
The wedding was held at the village of Nkandla ~ Photograph: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters
Zuma performs a “high”
The Following Adapted and edited From Wikipedia : #WhataGem
Personal life
Wives (Let me count the ways – erm wives……..)
Jacob Zuma is a polygamist, has been married five times and has 20 children (this is some time back – 3 new children have emerged, and a recent engagement, oh you should see the pics of that, you’ll fall over)
Gertrude Sizakele Khumalo, whom he met in 1959 and married shortly after his release from prison in 1973. She lives at his home at Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal. They have no children.
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, a cabinet minister since 1999, with whom he had four children, Msholozi (born 1982), Gugu (born 1987), Thuli (born 1988) and Thuthi (born 1990). They divorced in June 1998.
Kate Mantsho, from Mozambique, with whom he had five children, Saady (born 1980), twins Duduzile and Duduzane (born 1984), Phumzile (born 1989) and Vusi (born 1993). She committed suicide on 8 December 2000.
Nompumelelo Ntuli (MaNtuli), married on 8 January 2008. Ntuli, born 1975, is a resident of KwaMaphumulo near Stanger and has two children with ZumaThandisiwe, born 2002, and Sinqobile, born February 2006.
Thobeka Stacey Madiba (born Mabhija, her mother’s name), married 4 January 2010 with whom he has one child. Zuma paid lobola to her clan in 2007. Their child was born in October 2007. She has another of Zuma’s out-of-wedlock children living with her. Mabhija grew up in Umlazi, where she matriculated at Umlazi Commercial High School. She has worked at Standard Bank, Ithala, Cell C and SA Homeloans in La Lucia (VERY upmarket Suburb near Durban KZN)
Fiancées (Few more of them as well, since he got engaged a few weeks ago to a Bank Teller from Durban)
Zuma paid 10 cattle as lobolo for Swazi Princess Sebentile Dlamini in 2002
Lobola has been paid for Gloria Bongekile Ngema, with whom he has a 3-year-old son.
Other children – a few more have emerged but he is “taking responsibility for his actions” <- at the expense of the taxpayer of course, as we work to support his household and R65 million refurbishments to one of his homes…
He has another son, Edward, with Minah Shongwe, sister of Judge Jeremiah Shongwe, who asked to be recused from Zumas rape trial because of the liaison.
He has two daughters, born January 18, 1998 and September 19, 2002, with Pietermaritzburg businesswoman Nonkululeko Mhlongo.
There are reports of four other children – three from a woman from Johannesberg and one from a woman from Richard’s Bay.
2009 ‘love-child’
In January 2010 the The Sunday Times reported that Sonono Khoza, the daughter of Irvin Khoza, gave birth to Zuma’s 20th child on October 8 2009, a daughter called Thandekile Matina Zuma.
Zuma reaction
On February 3, Zuma responded, confirming that the child was his, and that he had paid inhlawulo, acknowledging paternity. He protested the publishing of the child’s name, saying it was illegal exploitation of the child. He denied that the incident had relevance to the government’s AIDS programme, and appealed for privacy.On February 6, Zuma said he “deeply regretted the pain that he caused to his family, the ANC, the alliance and South Africans in general”.
Sonono Khoza reaction
The mother of the child said: “What baby are you talking about? I have two children. They are in school. These are people’s lives. Let me be,” she told the Sowetan.
Presidency reaction
The office of the presidency’s comment was that it was a private matter.
ANC reaction
The ANC defended Zuma, saying it saw no links between its policies on HIV/Aids and Mr Zuma’s personal life.On February 5, the ANC acknowledged the widespread disapproval by saying that the experience had “taught us many valuable lessons”, and they had listened to the people.[
ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, said “We are Africans and sitting here all of us, Zuma is our father so we are not qualified to talk about that”. Malema said the ANCYL would emphasise its HIV programme and “one boyfriend, one girlfriend” stance in an awareness campaign across the country.
ANC Women’s League deputy president Nosipho Dorothy
Ntwanambi said: “it is not right to have an extramarital affair if you have committed to yourself to a marriage. But under the Customary Marriages Act, if the first wife agrees, and if all these issues are discussed with her, we can’t do anything.” (HOWEVER BIGAMY IS ESSENTIALLY ILLEGAL IN SOUTH AFRICA)
COSATU, an ANC alliance partner, passed no judgment but hoped that it will be “a matter on Zuma’s conscience” Zavi reiterated Zuma’s appeal this week that the president be accorded his “right to privacy” and the child protected from undue publicity.
Opposition reaction
Helen Zille of the Democratic Alliance said Zuma
contradicted his public message of safe sex to South Africans, among the worst sufferers of AIDSShe said it was wrong to say it was purely a private matter, and elected public officials had to embody the principles and values for which they stand.
The African Christian Democratic Party said Zuma was undermining the government’s drive to persuade people to practise safe sex to combat HIV and Aids.
The Congress of the People (COPE) said Zuma could no longer use African cultural practices to justify his “promiscuity”.
Zuma and Zimbabwe – Yup! He appears to be Bob’s big Mate!!
The African National Congress, of which Zuma is now president, historically has considered the ZANU-PF party a natural ally, born out of mutual struggle against white oppression. South African president Thabo Mbeki has never publicly criticised Mugabe’s policies preferring “quiet diplomacy” rather than “megaphone diplomacy,” his term for the harsh Western condemnations of Mugabe’s leadership. However, the left of the party and extra-party organisations such as the ANC Youth League, the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) have advocated for a tougher stance on Zimbabwe It is from these organisations that Zuma derives his support.
Zuma’s stance on Zimbabwe has been mixed. In a 2006 interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, he expressed more sympathetic sentiments towards Mugabe, saying that “Europeans often ignore the fact that Mugabe is very popular among Africans. In their eyes, he has given blacks their country back after centuries of colonialism.” He continued: “The people love him, so how can we condemn him? Many in Africa believe that there is a racist aspect to European and American criticism of Mugabe. Millions of blacks died in Angola, the Republic of Congo and Rwanda. A few whites lost their lives in Zimbabwe, unfortunately, and already the West is bent out of shape.”
However, by December 2007, he was more forthright in criticising Zimbabwe’s leadership, increasingly defining his own policy in contrast to that of Mbeki:
It is even more tragic that other world leaders who witness repression pretend it is not happening, or is exaggerated. When
history eventually deals with the dictators, those who stood by and watched should also bear the consequences. A shameful quality of the modern world is to turn away from injustice and ignore the hardships of others.
Zuma criticized Mbeki, accusing him of being lenient on dictators.
Following the disputed elections in Zimbabwe on 29 March 2008, he became critical of the election process in Zimbabwereferring to delays in the outcome as
“suspicious”. In a press conference on 24 June, he asserted: “We cannot agree
with ZANU-PF. We cannot agree with them on values. We fought for the right of
people to vote, we fought for democracy.”At an ANC dinner in July, he rebuked
Mugabe for refusing to step down.
Zuma vs the media
As a backlash to the frenzied media following of his rape trial, Zuma filed a series of defamation lawsuits on 30 June 2006 against various South African media outlets for publishing content that allegedly besmirched his public profile, in the form of cartoons, commentary, photos and parody pieces. The media outlets that came under fire were The Star for R 20 million, Rapport for R10 million, Highveld Stereo for R 6 million, The Citizen for R 5 million, Sunday Sun for R 5 million, Sunday Independent for R 5 million and Sunday World for R 5 million.
Zuma appointed Former Conservative Party MP advocate Jurg Prinsloo, as well as Wycliffe Mothuloe to tackle his so-called “crucifixion by the media”. Zuma said:
“For a period of five years my person has been subjected to all types of allegations and innuendo, paraded through the media and other
corridors of influence without these allegations having being tested. I have
thereby been denied my constitutional right to reply and defend myself.”, 29
June 2005.
The response from the challenged media was highly critical, and written protests to various media outlets accused Zuma of challenging their freedom of speech.
Zuma was parodied further in an advertisement for Pronto Condoms, using his famous shower statement.
Political positions
Remarks on same-sex marriage – ZUMA IS HOMOPHOBIC
Zuma was criticised by gay and lesbian groups after he criticised same-sex marriage at a Heritage Day celebration on 24 September 2006 in Stanger, saying that same-sex marriage was “a disgrace to the nation and to God”: “When I was growing up, an ungqingili (a homosexual) would not have stood in front of me. I would knock him out.”
The Joint Working Group (a gay lobby organisation) questioned Zuma’s leadership skills and stated that a “true leader leads with intellect and wisdom not popularity or favour. How can a narrow-minded person like this be expected to lead our nation?” Zuma subsequently apologised to those who were offended by the statement,stating, “I also respect, acknowledge and applaud the sterling contribution of many gay and lesbian compatriots in the struggle that brought about our freedom, and the role they continue to play in the building of a successful non-racial, non-discriminatory South Africa.”
Zuma’s solution to pregnancy in South African teenagers is to confiscate their babies and have the mothers taken to colleges and “forced” to obtain degrees.
(I’m sure he bore this in mind when he was raping errrr alleging raping that other young lass who
was HIV positive – and for which he was acquitted – of course!)
Remarks on the Second Coming
Zuma also drew censure from religious and secular groups alike when he declared that the ANC would rule South Africa until the return of JesusChrist, and that its continued governance was just what God wanted:
God expects us to rule this country because we are the only organisation which was blessed by pastors when it was formed. It is even blessed in Heaven. That is why we will rule until Jesus comes back. We should not allow anyone to govern our city when we are
ruling the country.
Zuma later defended his remarks by describing them as a “political expression”: “Talking about Jesus is not abusing his name; it’s actually saying historically, ‘This is what the ANC is all about.’ It’s just a political expression that we are strong and will be strong for a long time. I want to apologise if this reality sits uncomfortably with others.” He added that he had been baptised and knew Jesus: “I fear God […. I]t’s not because I’m despising God, not at all.”
Fact of the matter is that there is and has been talk of Christmas and Easter being “erased” from the South African Calendars because they represent Christianity #FACT
Remarks on Afrikaners
Not long before the NPA dropped its corruption case against him, Zuma met with controversy once again. Speaking at the Hilton Hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg, whose Afrikaans community he was addressing (not, he claimed, for electioneering purposes), Zuma said,
Of all the white groups that are in South Africa, it is only the Afrikaners that are truly South Africans in the true sense of the word.
Up to this day, they don’t carry two passports; they carry one. They are here to stay. <
Pietermaritzburg, Capital of KZN, “City of Choice” (Okay its also bankrupt)
Businessman’s ‘hijack’ terror 18 Feb 2010
Chris Ndaliso
APROMINENT local businessman is still in shock after a charcoal grey Mercedes Benz C200 Kompressor with blue lights on the back and front, forced the car he was travelling in off the road and tried to handcuff him.
On Tuesday at 6.25 pm the shaken businessman, who asked to remain anonymous, along with two younger relatives, had just left their business premises in the city centre when they made a sudden stop in Langalibalele (Longmarket) Street to close the boot of their car, which was accidentally left open. He was in the passenger seat while the third man was at the back.
In Manning Avenue the Mercedes Benz, with registration plate NUR 9503, with its blue lights flashing, approached from the rear and then blocked their way.
Four men in full police uniform carrying assault rifles jumped out of the vehicle, one directing traffic from behind while the other three went to the front passenger door.
“These guys flashed their police identity cards, but it wasn’t easy to make out their faces because they were so quick. They opened my uncle’s door and one took out handcuffs and started to put them on my uncle’s wrist. Without being told what we had done wrong, they handcuffed my uncle. I just felt that something was not right and instinctively pulled my uncle’s arm from the man’s grip and accelerated at the same time,” related the driver of the victim’s car.
He said the men appeared to be between the ages of 18 and 23.
After pulling off, the driver drove towards the Mountain Rise police station while the Mercedes Benz pursued them, but as they were nearing the police station the Mercedes turned around and disappeared. The matter was reported to the police.
The man said they were still not sure of the motive for the incident.
At 3.48 pm on the same day the same Mercedes was captured on CCTV cameras driving around the block near to the business premises owned by the victim. It came along Church Street, turned into Retief and drove down Langalibalele Streets. At 6.30 pm it was captured again driving past the shop just as the businessman left the premises.
Safe City general manager Lucas Holtzhausen could not reveal whether they have footage of the incident.
He said he could only release information to the public after it has been released to police investigators.
“At this stage … I cannot give you any information on this matter,” he said.
The Witness traced the vehicle as one registered under an Umhlanga Rocks resident’s name whose contact numbers could not be found. It was not reported as stolen.
Police spokeswoman Director Phindile Radebe confirmed the incident and said a case of attempted robbery was under investigation.
She also confirmed that the vehicle had blue lights and no arrests have been made.
It’s like violence is the only thing the government listens to
Donnette Fry (nè Davis)
Donnette #Randomness 
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