South African civil protests: An alternative view

[A thread]

According to the United Nations, SA is still regarded as the most unequal in the world, the wealthiest 10% of the population holding more than half the nation’s income

1 in 5 ppl survives off less than R27.66 a day Image
It has been reported that over 30 million South Africans are living in poverty with numbers worsening every year. In sub-Saharan African cities (including SA), about 55% of urban dwellers live in slums, a figure that is significantly higher than the global average of 30%. Image
The unemployment rate is currently at 43% with over 10 million people eligible to work being currently without a job. Unemployment has been growing steadily despite successive promises of jobs in the country. Image
In May 2021, a Stellenbosch University economist reported that as many as 10 million adults and nearly 3 million children experienced hunger in the preciding week in SA, & 2.5 million adults and 600,000 children were experiencing perpetual hunger almost every day. Image
In 1994 the ANC ran their election campaign under the slogan "A better life for all"

Truth is since 1994 the ANC govt has curated the colonial and apartheid economic relations that are seeing Africans continuing to be beggars and pariahs in their own country. Poverty worsened!! Image
What would later happen is that ANC activists, trade unionists and former members of the UDF would become rich under a parasitic BEE scheme.

Whilst affirmative action laws created a black middle class, this would serve as a buffer between the rich and the poor. Image
Meanwhile it has become clear that the Codesa deals did not secure any economic reparations for the natives.

Unlike with the Holocaust, the oppressive colonial and apartheid systems have not been atoned, hence Africans remain endemically poor in their land
The post-94 Constitution whilst securing a lot of rights "for all" it does not guarantee freedom from poverty or economic exploitation.

Whilst revered as progressive or best in the world, the rights in the constitution are very expensive to enforce and pro-poor on paper. Image
Whilst newspapers, commentators, analysts and broadly the chattering class have coined concepts like "race card" this are meant to numb you into not complaining about black poverty and normalising white supremacy.

Post-94 you can't complain readily about racial subjugation Image
During 2020 more than half of SA's population (61%) received some form of social grant.

In 2021, out of a total government budget of R 2 trillion, about R335 billion will go to social services.

In a normal society there would not be a need for Sassa. Image
They pacify you to accept that the state must spend this R335.3 billion of "taxpayers money" on social services, just so SASSA recipients do not rise to share in the economic fortunes of the country.

Ask yourself how much are they making if they are willing to let go of R335bn Image
So if u think about it, the poor are on their own.

With a minimum wage of R4200 against a general food basket price of R4100 this situation is untenable & would inevitably spiral out of control.

Millions of people are hungry even though they are counted amongst the employed. Image
With over 10 million people being unemployed, majority off which are the youth, you can be guaranteed that they are likely to be susceptible to be swayed by any undercurrents.

So as you complain about the looting, remember that u didn't care about these 10 million of your people Image

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More from @twieterazzi

15 Jul
The evil de-campaigning of the public protector. A class perspective

[A thread]

In October 2016, Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane was appointed Public Protector of South Africa, an Ombudsman role established in terms of Chapter 9 of the Constitution of SA. Image
Adv. Mkhwebane was amongst 78 formal & 3 verbal nominees like Judge Moseneke, Prof Pierre De Vos, President Thabo Mbeki, Judge Desai, Philip Dexter, Mamodupi Mohlala, Adv. Gerrie Nel, Nhlanhla Nene, Adv. Willie Hofmeyr and Graca Machel.

She was shortlisted amongst 5 others Image
DA MPs Werner Horn and Glynnis Breytenbach made startling claims that PP Mkhwebane was not fit for office because she was a spy and prompted her to decline the nomination for public protector.

The PP denounced these allegations and took the DA to court for defamation. Image
Read 23 tweets
12 Jul
The State Capture Narrative. A lot of questions

[A thread]

In February 2009 just before President Zuma took office at the height of world economic crisis, Minister Trevor Manuel announced a budget of R834 billion.

In May 2009 after elections Zuma would appoint Pravin Gordhan
Between May 2009 and May 2014, as Minister of Finance Pravin would preside over government expenditure worth more than R4.4 trillion broken down as follows
2009/10 - R 747 billion
2010/11 - R 805 billion
2011/12 - R 889 billion
2012/13 - R965 billion
2013/14 - R1.05 trillion
Between 2014/15 and 2017/18 when Zuma resigned, government expenditure would total a further R 5 trillion as follows:

2014/15 - R 1.13 trillion
2015/16 - R 1.24 trillion
2016/17 - R 1.3 trillion
2017/18 - R 1.4 trillion
Read 10 tweets
10 Jul
Connecting some dots

[A thread]

In the 1980s a clique of mostly white lawyers belonged to the Legal Resource Centre which was funded by Ford Foundation, Carnegie and the Rockerfellers.

The LRC was founded in 1979 and pursued public interest law.
The LRC did some wonderful work and represented a lot of people to exercise their legal rights.

They helped a lot of poor Africans for free during the diabolical days of Apartheid.
Arthur Chaskalson who was ConCourt President from 1994 to 2001 and Chief Justice of South Africa from 2001 to 2005 worked at the LRC. Image
Read 33 tweets
20 Jan 20
The story of state capture keeps writing itself.

[A New Dawn Thread]
Soon after the unity vote of DD Mabuza secured Cyril Ramaphosa the ANC Presidency in Nasrec, there were calls from journalists, liberals, NGOs & other quarters for Jacob Zuma to fall.

Soon the story changed to ensuring JZ doesn't deliver the Feb 2018 State of the Nation Address.
The ANC NEC resolved to recall Zuma and he reluctantly resigned on valentines day in 2018.

Cyril was elected president of SA on 15 February 2018.

The media, NGOs and many other people were ecstatic to have a president who was not Jacob Zuma
Read 13 tweets
29 Jan 19
@Vodacom @Lesufi When the deadline has finally come to pass and Vodacom or its lawyers have still not corrected or made good on this unjust treatment, the following following are some of the things that you can do:
@Vodacom @Lesufi If you are a prepaid user, it is very easy to port your existing number to a different network. There are various networks to choose from:
MTN
Telkom
Cell C
FNB
Virgin Mobile
me&you
mrp mobile
Smart Mobile
iSmart
The Unlimited
Afrihost
Hello Mobile
Econet Wireless
iBurst
etc
@Vodacom @Lesufi Once you have decided on a new network provider, It generally costs about R1.00 to purchase a new SIM card. Take you ID and proof of residence to the store selling the SIM card of your new network provider.

Ultimately Vodacom must decide if they wan to #PayMakate or not
Read 11 tweets

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