While soccer is a hugely popular sport around the world, not all South Africans are soccer fans. Some may not care to watch SWC 2010 whether it is held in South Africa or not. Others may be very excited about it and can’t wait for it to start.

South Africa has many good points, but it is also known to have very high crime rates. That was one of the reasons for very lackluster ticket sales in Europe. A lot has been said about the crime, and the South African government has gone to some lengths to assure people that they will be safe during SWC 2010.

So, now my questions to you are…

About Soccer…

About The Crime…

These polls will remain open until July 11, 2010.

I want to wish South Africa the best with the hosting of Soccer World Cup 2010. I hope some very good things come from it!

This seems to have set off a firestorm in South Africa, especially amongst AWB members and supporters, who regard this murder as “a declaration of war by black people on white people.”

The timing for this murder could not have been worse! A few weeks ago, Julius Malema, the controversial leader of the ruling ANC’s Youth League, was singing a song called “kill the boer” (“kill the farmer”) at a rally where he was a speaker. This rightfully upset a lot of people, and last week a South African court banned the singing of the song, declaring it hate-speech.

The question now is: Is this a declaration of war on whites in South Africa? Is this murder the beginning of wide-spread racial violence?

I don’t think it is, and here’s why…

Motive for the Murder

Eugene Terre’Blanche (ET) was a right-winger who didn’t have much time for black people. He started the AWB in 1973 in response to what he considered to be the liberal race policies of former South African Prime Minister, John Vorster.

Anybody who followed ET’s activities over the years will know that he was not afraid of violence. He threatened with violence if a black government ever took over South Africa, and the AWB supposedly had a hand in a bombing campaign orchestrated before the first all-race elections of 1994 in an attempt to destabilize the country and derail the elections. More recently, he spent three years (2001 – 2004) in jail for beating a black man to the point of brain damage.

Given all this, I doubt that he treated black workers on his farm with much respect. As I suspected, and as now reported in the press, the two black guys who killed him had done some work for him on his farm and he refused to pay them. Who knows why he would not pay them… maybe they did a bad job… maybe he believed that he didn’t need to pay them.

The point is, it was a dispute over pay that led to the murder, which makes it a criminal murder and not a political murder!

This does not mean that the murder is justified in any way.

Malema

Back to Julius Malema… The AWB has accused Malema of being responsible for this murder. This is one point that I partially agree with. I don’t think Malema is directly responsible, but…

Whether I like it or not (and I don’t like it), Julius Malema is a leader in South Africa who has a large following whom he has a lot of influence over. If he goes around singing “kill the boer” songs, he is planting the seed in his followers’ heads that it is OK to kill white people. While thousands of white farmers have been murdered in South Africa since 1994 and before Malema came on the scene, he is further fomenting the current situation and should therefore carry at least a partial moral responsibility.

War?

The AWB considers this murder to be a declaration of war, or so they stated in the press. They obviously feel this is a political murder. It is very convenient for them to consider it a political murder because that strengthens their political beliefs. I think they are wrong!

This was a criminal murder over a pay dispute. If it becomes a war, it will be because the AWB makes it a war. Luckily they have stated that they do not intend any violent retribution. I hope all their members abide by that.

Farm Murders

Eugene Terre’Blanche was a well-known man, hence all the attention his murder is getting in the press. As I stated earlier, thousands of white farmers have been murdered on their farms, mostly by black people, since 1994. ET’s murder counts as a farm murder.

So far the South African government has been largely indifferent to the farm murders. Terrible as ET’s murder is, if anything good could come from it, I hope it is that his murder shines a very bright light on farm murders and that something finally gets done about it.

My condolences to the Terre’Blanche family.

I was ready to take on the day and have a good one… until I saw this news report on Fin24.com…

If you want to read the report, here it is: http://bit.ly/bzHAEr

It is a report on the appointment of a new CEO by SAA (South African Airways).  The report talks about how the former CEO, Khaya Ngqula, was fired by the SAA Board after allegations of corruption emerged. Chris Smyth was then appointed acting-CEO until a suitable replacement could be found. Now came the announcement that Siza Mzimela has been appointed as SAA’s new CEO.

Now one could quite legitimately ask, what’s the big deal? One person got fired. Another person was appointed as a temporary replacement, and then a third person was appointed person as a permanent replacement.

The thing that struck me though was that the person who was fired was a black person, the temporary replacement was a white person, and the permanent replacement was a black person. I was wondering why the white person wasn’t good enough to be permanently appointed. Afterall, he was good enough to be temporarily appointed.

Then I remembered… this is BEE (black economic empowerment) South Africa we’re talking about. Black people are supposed to get the top jobs. That’s what black economic empowerment is all about.

Yes, apartheid and its racist policies are long gone. It has been replaced by a new set of racially-based policies. These new policies are of course not racist in nature. No, they are merely supposed to “address the injustices of the past”. This is apparently not reverse-racism at all.

(If you think I am kidding about people being excluded from certain positions only because of their race, a friend of mine recently told me about how he can’t get fulltime employment at a big TV company in South Africa because they have a specific policy that prohibits hiring white males! That’s a double-whammy… racism and sexism!)

Now I’m wondering: When will the day come where all South Africans, regardless of race or sex, will have an equal shot at jobs and other opportunities? There were the apartheid-years where white people were favored. Now South Africa is in its 16th year where black people are favored. Will there ever be a time where race is not a primary issue?

Maybe I shouldn’t worry about this. At least I live in the US and my kids won’t be subjected to this stuff!

Zuma is a polygamist. In January 2010 he married his 5th wife, and no, the first four wives are not deceased (except for wife #1), and neither is he divorced from them. He is apparently also already engaged to what will be wife #6.

Zuma has fathered 20 children so far, if news reports can be believed. Some of them have been with his wives, but certainly not all of them. For example, the latest one, #20, was born to the unmarried daughter of a friend of Zuma’s in October 2009.

His sexual exploits have landed him in hot water on at least one occasion. A few years ago he was charged with rape after non-consensual sex with a HIV-positive woman. In this incident he famously claimed that the shower he took after the deed safe-guarded him against contracting the virus! He was eventually acquitted, but the sex still took place.

Now the question is…

Vote in the poll and leave your comments below…

So let me tell you…

He’s the fellow on the right. He is also the controversial leader of the ANC Youth League, with a love for radical statements and threatening anyone he does not agree with.

“Who cares?”, you might be thinking. Well, perhaps more people should be worrying about this guy!

As ANCYL leader, and with the ANC being the party that will be governing South Africa for the foreseeable future, it is not unreasonable to see Comrade Julius as representing the next generation of leaders being groomed by the ANC in the wings of South African politics.

As such, it is entirely possible that Julius Malema could be president of South Africa down the road!

Why Is That Bad?

To get a sense of why it might be bad if Julius Malema becomes South Africa’s president, you have to look at some of the things he has been saying and doing…

Malema Quotes

“I have defeated you and your apartheid regime and I’m going to defeat you again, once and for all!”

“I have defeated colonisers. I am going to defeat the children of colonisers.“

Clearly Malema was referring to whites in this case. With a phrase like “I am going to…” he clearly believes that he has unfinished business with whites in South Africa.

When the current SA president, Jacob Zuma, was on trial for fraud and corruption charges a few months before his election as president, Malema said…

“Let us make it clear now: we are prepared to die for Zuma. Not only that, we are prepared to take up arms and kill for Zuma.”

“Why do you want to subject him to the hands of the few, the judiciary, the judges and the media?“

This doesn’t sound like the words of a man who respects the law and believes everyone is equal before the law.

Malema & South African Businesses

A few months ago, Nando’s, a chicken fast-food chain in South Africa that is known for producing funny ads, ran an ad on South African TV featuring a Malema-puppet. This prompted Malema to threaten Nando’s with a mass-action campaign.

A few months later, Nedbank, a sponsor of Athletics South Africa, decided to withdraw further sponsorship of ASA because their sponsorship requirements weren’t being met. This prompted Malema to threaten Nedbank that he would “mobilise society” against Nedbank and he spoke  “of people who are refusing to accept the transformation, of African leadership“, thereby turning the issue into racial one.

Malema & Racism

Speaking of racism, Malema likes to make racially-charged statements. A while ago he called Helen Zille, the (white) Democratic Alliance leader, a “racist, colonialist and imperialist” and a “little racist girl“. This, despite Helen Zille being part of the anti-apartheid movement.

This guy has made many other wild, controversial statements. Do a Google search for “Julius Malema” and you will see them. There seems to be an endless supply of his craziness.

Much of what Malema has to say sounds so much like the kind of stuff uttered by Robert Mugabe, who took 30 years to run Zimbabwe into the ground.

If Malema was just some lunatic on the fringe of politics, there would not be any real need to pay attention to his antics, but he is not on the fringe. Even if he is only in the ANC Youth League, he is a member of South Africa’s governing party, a party that rarely attempts to rein him in.

God help South Africa if Julius Malema ever becomes president!