Thomas Johnson - The Blog

 Recently another chest-beating article in Daily Maverick, I can't remember which one, said South Africa is in the top 20 of the most crime-ridden countries in the world, ahead of failed states Libya etc. Among the most corrupt too.  Corruption and criminality is easy to get away with because organs of state and state employees ignore it or are inept, negligent and themselves corrupt. A case in point is Cyril Ramaphosa, not long ago fatuously hailed as SA's saviour by the wishy-washy liberal-left including media, is himself neutered by fear, indecision and alleged corruption - if it walks like a duck ... I've direct experience of the NPA, SAPS and a state pathologist freely giving, because they were friendly, malleable, in awe of authority and simply corrupt, information of an ongoing investigation regarding a suspicious death to an accused and legal representative of the accused, Western Cape Government employees. The case has been forever been kicked down the road because...

Cape Town's City Library's SmartCape public computer and internet access system is intrusive, risky, violates  privacy and is still uses race classifications. SmartCape, or its full name, SmartCape Access Project, is the City of Cape Town's public computer facility. It's a project of WeGO, the World Smart Cities Sustainable Organisation whose headquarters are in Seoul, South Korea. It's goals are to provide computer access and free internet in public libraries.  According to the city's SmartCape website, the project was initiated in 2002 by the city’s Information Systems & Technology Department. In 2003 it was awarded the $1 million Bill and Melinda Gates Access to Early Learning Award to expand the pilot project to all public libraries. To keep costs low, it uses open source software, refurbished desktops or remote/slave terminals, donated printers and network hardware. The last upgrade was 2016 to 2017 and cost R2.8 million paid for by the city's Infor...

There is a sense of  deja vu and be careful what you wish for about the University of Cape Town's latest troubles. Daily Maverick's Rebecca Davis is broke the story about "governance" problems there. It's alleged vice-chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng and head of council Babalwa Ngonyama abused their positions and threatened key executive staff, many of whom have resigned, and lied to council. A couple of years ago UCT ombuds investigated staff complaints against Phakeng who threatened and tried to intimidate her. Her report to council was not acted upon. When in 2015 to 2016 VC Max Price and the university executive and council caved in to the Rhodes Must Fall and Fees Must Fall mob and their tyranny, the left, including DM, media and Davis generally supported RMF, were unsympathetic to the centre's appeals for calm debate about the issues. This was despite RMF intimidating and assaulting UCT staff and students  Head of UCT alumni affairs Russel Ally was one of U...

Lately the South African media has been indulging in revisionism over Cyril Ramaphosa's, the president and man, role in the current sorry state of South Africa brought on by the Eskom energy crisis, arguably the worst period of load shedding ever, and legal, criminal and political implications for him regarding the foreign currency hidden and then stolen from his game farm Phala Phala. This event must be his Nkandla.  Daily Maverick are among the loudest in their disingenuousness. Editors Mark Heywood, Heather Robertson and others wrote op-eds lamenting South Africa's state like Robertson's "darkness sheds light on the sorry state of South Africa".  Another this weekend was a critique of Pravin Gordhan's failure of the Eskom portfolio since Ramaphosa appointed him public enterprises minister in 2018. The problem with this kind of revisionism - expediently forgetting recent history - is the media, DM included, were avid Ramaphorias - supporters of Ramaphosa - u...

  This post continues with ten facts about the DA. Fact: 6.            DA participates in rightwing victim narrative and conspiracy theories   In 2019 after a white Stellenbosch farmer was murdered in a likely crime of opportunity, the WCG was so outraged that at a media conference the agriculture MEC announced the formation of a task team to coordinate a response to farm killings. The farmer’s murder was blazoned across the media.   That same week an NGO released a report about the very high numbers of women and children murdered each in the country each year. It received almost no attention. The DA too is silent about Cape Town’s – the country’s crime capital – high crime rate, especially in black and brown communities.   The rightwing call farm murders, which to them means white victims while ignoring other races, “[white] genocide”. However, independent research and police statistics are unable to prove thei...

Here are ten facts about the Democratic Alliance (DA) most people do not know. In this part I list facts 1 to 5. The next post shall have facts 6 to 10.  1.            The DA is a rightwing party   It’s unclear when or how it started but the DA’s shift to the right was under the influence of party leader Helen Zille and her appointee, parliamentary leader and part-time pastor Mmusi Maimane. In 2015 already, member of parliament and academic Prof. Wilmot James was concerned about the party’s creeping conservatism. Around then former leader Tony Leon, who’d handed a growing, centre-liberal opposition to Zille, reportedly said there were no liberals left in the DA. Zille’s remarks about race and colonialism cemented the perception, if not fact, she and the party were rightwing. DA, Zille and then parliamentary leader (now party leader) John Steenhuisen personally were associated with rightwing groups and individuals. The far-right...

 The public protector threatened President Cyril Ramaphosa with a subpoena for failing to respond to 31 questions about $4 million in cash that had been stolen from his Phala Phala game farm. The theft of the cash, which had been stuffed in a sofa, has become known as Farmgate. Now, instead of responding to the public protector as he ought to and the process dictates, Ramaphosa wants to file his response in court but the acting public protector is having none of it. His stalling and reluctance to answer the questions suggests he has something to hide.  The theft four years ago was revealed in criminal charges a former intelligence officer laid. Instead of reporting the theft, Ramaphosa's police personal protection officers tracked down the thieves and a domestic worker in South Africa and Namibia and paid them off to keep quiet. Ramaphosa's said the money was from the proceeds of game sales.  While it's  possible  the full $4 million or increments thereof was fr...

The sky circle - elevated traffic circle - proposed for the MyCiti Hanover Park intersection is a political vanity project, like the Cape Flats phase of the MyCiti itself. No mention is made of how much it will cost, but it would be hundreds of millions, far more than the nominal cost of a conventional intersection.  Mayco for urban transport Rob Quintas (diploma in advertising) said the sky circle is necessary to ease congestion, but six-lane intersections, here dual carriage ways plus centre bus lane each way, is common including in Cape Town.  The real reason for it, though, is because the city and their road consultants have boxed themselves into a transport corner on which they're happy to waste our money. The Çape Flats MyCiti model - dedicated central bus lanes with stations - is suited to congested inner cities rather than outlying trunk routes. This model doubles the cost, uses more land and increases the concrete and heat footprint because there are more lanes. Nothi...

  Interdict granted against ‘monstrous’ River Club development. Developer cries foul   Objectors to the Liesbeek Park River Club development in Observatory, Cape Town have obtained an interdict to stop construction, granted on 19 March 2022 by Deputy Judge President Goliath of the Cape Town High Court.   This follows a public outcry over the “monstrous” development by residents and cultural groups about its impact on the environment and cultural heritage. The development is on the environmentally significant Liesbeek River green zone just north of the N2.   Applicants for the interdict were Leslie London, chairperson of the Observatory Civic Association, and Tariq Jenkins of the Goringhaicona Khoi Klan Traditional Council. It followed protracted protests and unsuccessful appeals to the City of Cape Town and Western Cape Government (WCG) to not approve the project, at least in its present form, and when that failed, for them to halt construction.   The ap...