Sunday, June 3, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
President Jacob Zuma's Human Rights Day Speech 2012
President calls on South Africans to familiarise themselves with the constitution and its liberating features
Address by His Excellency, President Jacob Zuma, at the Commemoration of National Human Rights Day, Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication, Kliptown, Soweto, March 21 2012
"Deputy President of the Republic, Mr Kgalema Motlanthe;
NCOP Chairperson, Mr Mninawa Mahlangu;
The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development and all Ministers and Deputy Ministers present,
Gauteng Premier, Ms Nomvula Mokonyane;
Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg,
Councillor Parks Tau;
Representatives of Chapter 9 Institutions;
The Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, the ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Congo and all Members of the
Diplomatic Corps;
Leaders of Political Parties;
Veterans of the liberation struggle,
Fellow South Africans,
Dumelang, molweni, abuxeni, dimacheroni, sanibonani nonke muzi wakwethu eSouth Africa kanye nabangani nezihlobo abaphuma kwamanye amazwe abasivakashele.
Siyajabula kakhulu ukuba la, eKliptown eSoweto namhlanje, sizogubha lolusuku lwamalungelo oluntu, endaweni lapho okwaqoshwa khona umqulu wenkululeko, iFreedom Charter.
Lomqulu ungomunye waleyo okwathathelwa kuyo uma sekubhalwa umthethosisekelo wezwe laseNingizimu Afrika ekhululekile.
Uma silapha eKliptown, eWalter Sisulu Square, sikhumbula kakhulu ubaba uSisulu, uXhamela, elinye lamaqhawe ayekhona la e-Kliptown, ngenkathi kuqoshwa umqulu wenkululeko ngo-1955.
Namhlanje futhi sikhumbula onke amaqhawe asala enkundleni, ezikhathini ezakuhlukahlukene, eziningi, ngesikhathi sizabalazela inkululeko.
Compatriots and friends,
On this solemn occasion we extend a special greeting to all South Africans who suffered gross human rights violations during colonial oppression and the apartheid period.
We are happy to join the people of Kliptown and Soweto, and indeed the whole country, to mark Human Rights Day.
Today we also remember amongst many tragic incidents, the horrific events of the 21st of March 1960.
On that day, 69 people were mercilessly killed and scores were injured, as police opened fire on demonstrators who were protesting against the pass laws in Sharpeville.
On the same day, police also shot and killed three protesters in Kwa-Langa in Cape Town and injured many others. Another person was shot at a similar demonstration at the police station in Vanderbijlpark.
We remember these patriots and thousands of others who fell inside the country and beyond our borders, in pursuit of freedom and human rights for all.
In their memory, we worked hard to develop a progressive Constitution of the Republic, which enshrines the human rights of all our people, in a Bill of Rights.
On Human Rights Day today, we urge our people to familiarise themselves more with this supreme law of the land, and appreciate its liberating features.
The Constitution has its roots mainly in four documents or processes - the 1923 Bill of Rights, the African Claims of 1943, the Women's Charter in 1954, the Freedom Charter in 1955 and the ANC's 1988 Constitutional Principles for a Democratic South Africa.
In May 1923, at its conference in Bloemfontein, the ruling party the ANC, adopted a resolution on a bill of rights.
It called for equal citizenship, access to resources including land, as well as fair representation in government.
This tradition was further consolidated through the African Claims document adopted in 1943, as a response to the 1941 Atlantic Charter of the European Allied forces after the Second World War.
The ANC, under the leadership of President AB Xuma produced the African Claims as they believed that Africans were equally deserving of the universal rights expressed in the Atlantic Charter.
The African Claims asserted among others the right of people to the government of their choice, freedom of the press and human rights, including socio-economic rights, women's rights and cultural rights.
Therefore the inclusion of socio-economic rights in the Bill of Rights dates back that long ago.
We are proud that our 1943 Bill of Rights was produced five years ahead of the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. South Africa, in particular the ANC as the oldest liberation movement, led the world, so to speak!
Another important document was the 1954 Women's Charter, which was very specific on the protection of the rights of women and children, and helped to promote women's rights as human rights.
On 26 June 1955, thousands of delegates gathered here in Kliptown, including Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Helen Joseph and Father Trevor Huddleston, to adopt the Freedom Charter.
We welcome to this commemoration, the many veterans of the Freedom Charter process, who attended the Congress of the People gathering here in Kliptown.
The spirit and letter of the Freedom Charter can be seen in the Constitution of the Republic.
The Kliptown pioneers declared that:
"South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people".
That revolutionary message proclaimed democracy, non-racialism and the principle of a common nationhood, at a time of the deepening of racism and oppression.
We congratulate the people of Kliptown and Soweto in general, for having been part of this rich political and human rights history of our country.
Compatriots and friends,
Another milestone in the constitutional road map was the publishing of the Constitutional Guidelines for a Democratic South Africa in mid-1988 by the African National Congress, in which the organisation committed itself to the adoption of a Bill of Rights enforceable through the courts.
The initial consequence of this initiative was the adoption of the Harare Declaration by the Organization of African Unity in August 1989. This document used the Constitutional Guidelines as a basis for outlining the minimum principles of a post-apartheid constitution acceptable to the international community.
It was later adopted by the Non-Aligned Movement and the United Nations General Assembly. The ANC further proposed its own Bill of Rights for a New South Africa in 1990, with further amendments in 1991 and 1992.
In much the same way that the Freedom Charter was drafted, the Constitution drafting process touched thousands of people across the length and breadth of South Africa, calling upon South Africans to make their voices heard in the constitution making process.
The result was a Constitution that commits us all, individually and collectively, to build a nation based on the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom, through constitutionalism and the rule of law.
Compatriots and friends,
To give meaning to our freedom and to implement the provisions of the Constitution, from 1994, the democratic governments immediately focused on building a new non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society.
During the first ten years of democracy, Parliament approved 789 laws or amendments to eliminate institutionalised racism from our statute books.
The democratisation of the three arms of the state began - the executive, judiciary and the legislature. Chapter 9 institutions were established to strengthen and protect constitutional democracy and human rights.
To give effect to socio-economic rights, Government, working with the people, has over the years expanded the delivery of social services.
Since 1994, the national housing programme has delivered 2.8 million houses.
This has provided shelter to 13.5 million people, making the programme one of the world's largest subsidized housing programmes.
By December 2011, we had provided 87% of the rural households with water, and 75% with access to sanitation.
The Constitution specifically mentions social security as a human right. Government provides social grants to about 15 million people, mainly vulnerable groups such as children, older persons above the age of 60 and people with disabilities.
Access to education is being broadened through extending no fee schools, enabling eight million children to obtain free education, and also the conversion of tertiary institution loans into bursaries for qualifying students.
With regards to health, amongst many improvements, a total of 29 hospitals in rural and urban areas are under construction, while 17 others are in the planning and design stage.
These facilities will all include services for HIV and AIDS patients, as we continue to expand HIV and AIDS treatment, prevention and support services.
The National Health Insurance system will, in the long-term improve our health care especially for the poor.
Over two hundred and thirty one thousand households gained access to water between 2009 and 2011.
Eighty two percent of households are now connected to the mains electricity supply.
We have done well indeed in a short space of time. However, we are aware that as more people gain access to these socio-economic rights, many more still live in hardship, due to decades of neglect.
Bakwethu, siyazi ukuthi abantu bayayijabulela kakhulu inkululeko. Ingefaniswe nalutho ngokubaluleka kanye nokujula kwayo. Kodwa, siyazi futhi ukuthi indlala nobumpofu kusabhokile. Abantu badinga imisebenzi.
Ingakho-ke sesigxile kangaka ekuthuthukisweni komnotho wezwe, ukuze kukhule amathuba emisebenzi.
We have to grow the economy and improve the general standard of living, in this second phase of our freedom and transition towards a prosperous South Africa.
To achieve prosperity, in 2010 we introduced the New Growth Path framework, and amongst other interventions, announced six job drivers.
These are infrastructure development, agriculture, mining and beneficiation, manufacturing, the green economy and tourism.
In the 2012 State of the Nation Address, we unveiled an implementation plan for one of these job drivers, infrastructure development. I announced several projects around the country, as part of creating an environment for a better life.
When our people marched against the pass laws at Sharpeville and Langa in 1960, and in other parts of the country, they were asserting their right to work and live in urban areas. They were also reflecting the poverty and under-development in rural areas and then Bantustans.
Our infrastructure plan is intended to tackle the legacy of decades of under-development and to respond to the basic needs of all our people.
The infrastructure revolution is about providing housing, sanitation, public transport and running water in the urban areas for millions of South Africans who are urban residents.
The infrastructure plan recognises that black people are no longer temporary visitors in someone else's city - they are city dwellers, they have rights.
Infrastructure for development is also about connecting rural communities to economic opportunities through building dams and irrigation systems. It will connect farms and villages to the energy grid and build schools and clinics in rural areas.
Cities should not be the only places with lights and tap water.
Infrastructure is therefore at the heart of how we will change the lives of our people in the next decade, working with our people and many sectors such as the private sector and labour.
I am pleased to announce that significant process has been made by the Presidential Infrastructure Coordination Commission, since the announcement of the strategic integrated projects, now known as SIPS, in the State of the Nation Address.
The Commission has worked hard to prepare a sustainable implementation framework to ensure the delivery and performance of each of the SIPS.
The 20-year plan has been distilled into clear deliverables for this new financial year.
The Commission is also developing a Skills Plan for each major project, setting out the number of engineers, artisans, technicians and technologists we need.
Work is being done with universities and Further Education and Training Colleges to speed up the production of these critical skills.
I will be meeting principals of Further Education and Training colleges next month to discuss skills development.
But we also need government to work more smartly in implementing infrastructure projects. We cannot talk a dam or railway line into existence.
All of us have to roll up our sleeves and get down to some serious implementation work, to produce the platform for development, decent work and growth.
I will be taking this message of improved delivery to mayors, Premiers and national Ministers when we convene a Conference on the Infrastructure plan in mid-April with the three spheres of government.
The important thing is that we are on the move and spreading the message of getting South Africa working.
Last week I opened the Ngqura Port in Port Elizabeth, a large container terminal that will expand the capacity to export goods and support economic development.
The port is now expanding further, with dredging, construction and new equipment being installed.
It will support the Eastern Cape's growth and development.
Two weeks ago, I joined many to inaugurate the Dube Trade Port in Durban, that is positioning itself as a key logistics hub. The Dube Tradeport is even producing farming products virtually in the airport precinct in order to move fresh produce to different parts of the country and the world.
In a few weeks time I will visit the North West province to mobilise support for infrastructure development.
In the next few months, we will visit different provinces to showcase actual construction projects.
These will include public transport in Joburg, mining developments in Northern Cape, transmission lines in Limpopo, to mention but a few. We will, during these visits, share with our people what we are doing as government to build a better life for all.
We are serious about getting the country working.
Compatriots,
We know that we are driving this infrastructure programme during a difficult global recession.
The recent economic recession of 2009 had also affected our country negatively, and about one million people lost their jobs.
However, there are encouraging signs of job creation, with the economy adding 365 000 net new jobs in 2011.
Our infrastructure programme in 2010 saved us from real impact of the 2009 recession.
We are convinced that our infrastructure focus now, will lay the foundation for 20 or more years of growth, improved service delivery and jobs.
We look forward to working with all South Africans to drive back poverty, unemployment and inequality.
Compatriots and friends,
When we speak of human rights we include the rights of all, including persons with disability.
Last year, the United Nations in 2011 declared the 21st of March as World Down Syndrome Day, to promote the rights of persons with Down syndrome, to enjoy full human rights and dignified lives.
We call on all South Africans to pledge solidarity with South Africans with Down syndrome and their families and accord them the respect and understanding they deserve.
We wish all South Africans with Down Syndrome well on this special day.
Fellow South Africans,
We must never take our freedom and human rights for granted.
On this day, let us join hands to celebrate our Constitution and in particular, the Bill of Rights.
Let us celebrate the right to life, to equality before the law, human dignity, freedom and security of the person, freedom from slavery, servitude or forced labour, the right to privacy, freedom of movement, religion, belief and opinion as well as the rights of workers, women and children.
More importantly, let us celebrate the right of being South Africans and of living in this wonderful country, whose people defeated colonial and racial oppression, to build a country that belongs to all.
May God protect our people.
Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika.
Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso.
God bless South Africa.
Hosi katekisa Afrika.
I Thank You!"
Issued by The Presidency
March 21 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Faith is the beginning of man's success
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Who is Jackie Selebi
In January 2008, Selebi was put on extended leave as national police commissioner, and resigned as president of Interpol, after he was charged with corruption in his native South Africa.[4]
He was replaced as national commissioner in July 2009 by Bheki Cele. Selebi was found guilty of corruption on 2 July 2010 [5] and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment on 3 August 2010.[6].
His appeal against his sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeal on the 2nd of December, 2011, after the court unanimously ruled against him.[7]
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Mixed reaction to Heath resignation
The ANC said it was "regrettable" that Heath had to resign shortly after his appointment.
"In terms of his experience he would have served South Africa better," ANC spokesperson Keith Khoza said.
"We [ANC], however, accept the resignation because of the unfortunate statement he made [regarding former president Thabo Mbeki], which raised many issues, which were taking focus away from the work he was supposed to do."
The DA said Heath proved he was "politically tainted" and a supporter of President Jacob Zuma.
Integrity
"This is unacceptable for someone in that position, as it is vital that in often-sensitive investigations, people must be treated equally and impartially," DA MP Debbie Schafer said in a statement.
"There would have been no public confidence if Heath was using his position to promote the interests of an ANC faction."
Heath had compromised the integrity of the SIU and resigning was the right thing to do, said Schafer.
Justice Minister Jeff Radebe said Heath handed in his written resignation on Wednesday and Zuma accepted it.
The Inkatha Freedom Party said although it welcomed Heath's appointment in November, it was "mindful" of the "substantial political baggage" he brought with him because of his relationship with Zuma.
"Unfortunately, the storm that erupted following Advocate Heath's attack on former president Thabo Mbeki, made him no longer suitable to lead the SIU - a position that requires complete impartiality," IFP MP Velaphi Ndlovu said in a statement.
"We were disappointed to see that when he assumed the role, he immediately started acting like a politician, instead of an independent crime-fighting boss."
Accusations
Former national director of public prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka, commended Heath, saying the move was in the best interests of the country and the SIU.
"It was the right thing to do for the president [Zuma] and the minister of justice [Radebe] to prevail on the matter, as it would have been indeed untenable for Advocate Heath to continue as the head of the SIU," he said in a statement.
By Thursday evening, Heath himself could not be reached for comment.
Last week, Zuma asked Radebe to help his office probe Heath's accusations against Mbeki. Heath told the City Press newspaper earlier this month that Mbeki had allegedly initiated rape and corruption charges against Zuma. He claimed Mbeki abused his position by blocking some investigations into corrupt practices.
Heath, whose appointment as SIU head was announced on November 29, expressed gratitude to Zuma and Radebe for showing confidence in him by giving him the job.
Zuma was taking steps to fill the vacancy. In the interim he appointed advocate Nomgcobo Jiba as acting SIU head.
Heath replaced Willie Hofmeyr as SIU head. He was first appointed by former president Nelson Mandela in 1996 to establish the SIU.
Heath, however, resigned in 2001 after the Constitutional Court found a sitting judge could not head a long-term investigating unit.
The City Press reported that Mbeki, who was president at the time, refused to grant Heath an early retirement. As a result he had to resign, a decision that, according to Heath, left him a "pauper".
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/Mixed-reaction-to-Heath-resignation-20111215
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Tuesday, September 7, 2010
kenspeckle (adjective)
Kenspeckle comes from Scottish and Northern English dialects, ultimately relating back to Norwegian
What does this word mean in your language? Share with us.
rubric (noun)
2. A direction for the conduct of divine service.
3. Any established mode of conduct or procedure.
Rubric's origin relates to its color; the source is the Latin rubrica, "red ocher."
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
House Warden for Majuba Residence
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Monday, August 16, 2010
South African Women in Science Awards by Trevor Manuel
Source: The Presidency
Title: SA: Manuel: Address by the Minister in the Presidency responsible for National Planning, at the South African Women in Science Awards, Johannesburg
Programme Director, Dr Pamela Dube
Minister Naledi Pandor
Deputy Minister Derek Hanekom
Director General of Science & Technology
Representatives of Co-sponsors of Women in Science
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am indeed pleased to be here with you this evening, and to be able to address you on this auspicious occasion. I want to thank all Women in Science in South Africa and congratulate all the nominees for this evening's awards. Ahead of us are significant challenges that will demand the attention and intellect of all of us, but especially of those best equipped to read the moment and respond appropriately - and who better than our Women in Science?
In just over 700 days, the 7-billionth human being will join us on the planet. She is likely to be girl child and to be born in a developing country - probably in Asia or Africa. What shall we tell her, as soon as she's able to comprehend our words? What would be her life expectancy - would it be the 83 years that Europeans and some East Asians now enjoy - or will it be the 37 years that Zimbabweans do? What will we tell her about inequality in income distribution? For what kind of employment, if any, should she prepare herself? What shall we know of her risk to the exposure of disease? Will malaria still remain the threat that it is? We have just seen the return of polio - how much of a risk will this be in her lifetime? And has the risk of smallpox been eliminated for all time?
What about the public services that she will have access to? How much progress would her country have made towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals? How many years of schooling should she expect? What about her access to public health care? How equal or unequal will her society be as she develops?
And what shall we tell her of the state in which we have left the earth? Would we, by the time of her 10th birthday, have contained our carbon dioxide emissions at the current rate of 430 parts per million? Or if it increases, where will it peak? What would the impact thereof be on climate in her part of the world? Might she expect to be impacted upon by the extensive monsoon flooding that we are now witnessing in Pakistan, or the fire ravages such as we are seeing in Russia?
What, indeed, will we tell her of her access to resources like clean air and water? What would be her chances of ever eating a fish caught wild from sea? What about the many species of bird life that would have gone the way of the dodo? How real will biodiversity be in her part of the world?
Let me share with you a bit about just one aspect of all of this, namely, water. There is clearly insufficient water to sustain the lifestyle that too many of us have become accustomed to. "The amount of moisture on earth has not changed. The water the dinosaurs drank millions of years ago is the same water that fall as rain today"..... (according to National Geographic). The difference is that there are now almost 7 billion of us. And, of the earth's moisture, only 0.8% is fresh, and only a percentage of that is potable. Since we have not managed the processes of industrialisation the water that does reach us tends to be too unpredictable - it reaches us as floods, hurricanes, rising sea levels, melting glaciers or it stays away, starving the earth of much needed moisture. And, when we have it, we consume it at alarming rates. I am not referring merely to the purer form for drinking. Far more scary is the hidden water consumption in everything we consume. Now, in an endeavour to have you share your dinner with me this evening, let me tell about water and beef - one kilogram of beef needs 14 982 litres of water for its production; it would have consumed 3 kg of grain for feed, plus the irrigation water for that grain; it would have needed 16.4kg of roughage or grasses for feed plus the irrigation water for the grasses and that single kilogram of beef would have needed 70.5 l of additional water for drinking and processing. Now, having convinced you to become vegetarian right here and now, let me tell you how much water a bushel of wheat or a kilogram of beans consumes in its production...... no, let's not go there.
I raise this not as a turn-off, but as a challenge. The resource challenge is the biggest of all staring at us. It is a challenge that demands that the scientists amongst us approach it with enthusiasm and vigour. We know that science is not neutral in respect of class or purpose. Too much of scientific research is paid for by corporations that seek to maximise the fruits thereof. In the consequence, the issues that matter particularly to poor people do not benefit from the same extent of scientific enquiry as the problems that confront the rich. Nowhere is this more evident than in medical research. It is for this reason that I would applaud the breakthrough by Doctors Quarraisha Abdool Karim and her husband, Prof Salim Abdool Karim for the successful tests on the microbicide gel. The gel, as developed, empowers women - it gives them control over their lives and that is the success we should applaud.
Scientific breakthroughs, ought to be understood in terms of who it empowers. There appears to be no shortage of avenues for research, and apparently no real shortage of research grants - if the scientists are happy to place the results at the benefit of the few. And so, we must continue to campaign for space for scientists whose orientation is the service of broader humanity, particularly the poor.
This is one of the strongest motivations for the development of more women in science, and an even stronger motivation for the recruitment of women from poor backgrounds into science. Women have a much better grasp of the nature of the problems to be solved. And they're frankly much more practical than us men. A few days ago, we attended the book launch of a dear comrade, Ronnie Kasrils, who wrote this book about his late wife. There he regaled us with stories about how much better a revolutionary she was because of her practical sense. He recalled this one incident when they were to rob an explosives store to steal half-a-ton of dynamite - the macho guys had all kinds of schemes for how they would break the door down. Eleanor went to the store, saw the padlock, recorded the number and promptly went to the hardware store to buy a similar one - and the key fitted. So, practical sense is an important part of discovery.
We must work to overturn the archaic notions that have kept sufficient women from the frontiers of discovery. So seldom do we even pause to question the origins of this perversity - the novelist Charlotte Perkins Gilman reminds us that, "the original necessity for the ceaseless presence of the woman to maintain the altar fire - and it was an altar fire in very truth at one period - has passed with the means of prompt ignition; the matchbox has freed the housewife from that incessant service, but the feeling that women should stay at home, is with us yet." She wrote those words in 1860.
This is now 150 years later and we still do not have nearly sufficient women in science. Somewhere in the 18th century, Johann Wolfgang van Goethe wrote, "None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe that they are free." Let us accept that women are not yet free. Let us make the commitment to that liberation together. Let us measure that freedom in the enrolment of girl children in schools. Let us advance that freedom with progress in the teaching of mathematics and science. Let us commit to opening the doors of learning fully to all of our youth. And may you continue to be the role models that our young will want to emulate. Let us together understand the place of science in freedom.
Again, thank you for the opportunity to share this evening with you. My warmest congratulations go to this year's winners.
Thank you.
incunabulum (noun)
2. Extant copies of books produced in the earliest stages (before 1501) of printing from movable type.
Incunabulum derives, in the early printing press industry, from the Latin incuna, "to place a baby in a cradle."
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Unlawful protest action on DFC
CIRCULAR TO ALL STAFF AND STUDENTS
2010/469
Students at DFC participated in unlawful protest action on the Doornfontein Campus yesterday and again today. Classes have been disrupted, staff and students have been threatened and intimidated and property has been damaged.
About two weeks ago, the DFC SRC initiated protests over what they perceived to be unfair financial and academic exclusion of some students in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at DFC from the second semester. A meeting was held on 28 July 2010 between representatives of the SRC and the Registrar and the DVC (Finance) to discuss their concerns. A follow-up meeting between the Registrar and the SRC President took place on 3 August to further clarify matters. The Registrar analysed the concerns expressed by the students on academic exclusions and took immediate steps to address the matter. The decisions taken by the Registrar were implemented in the Faculties of Science and FEBE. Last week the SRC informed Management that they were dissatisfied with the fact that not all their demands had been met and that some students were prohibited from registering for modules in the second semester, after having failed these modules in the first semester. They informed Management that they would "strike" on Tuesday 10 August, to force Management to meet their demands. On Friday 6 August a series of discussions between various roleplayers took place, in an attempt to avert the "strike", but to no avail. Students were also informed that the proposed protest action was unlawful.
When the protest action took on serious proportions on Tuesday, the Pro Vice-Chancellor went to DFC to speak to the student leadership. A meeting was arranged for Thursday 12 August between SRC representatives and members of Management to again discuss the issues. Students have chosen to continue their unlawful activities, despite having been informed of the meeting that will take place on Thursday.
Management deplores the activities of the students and also deeply regrets that normal teaching and learning activities have been interrupted and that staff and students feel unsafe. Management is doing its best to manage the situation. The SAPS has been called in, and in collaboration with the UJ Protection Services are trying to normalize the situation.
PROF DEREK VAN DER MERWE
PRO VICE-CHANCELLOR
2010-08-11
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Nelson Rholihlahla Mandela
"I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die". (Nelson Mandela)
Nelson Rholihlahla Mandela was born in Qunu, a small village near Mthatha in the former Transkei, (Eastern Cape) on 18 July 1918. As a member of the Madiba clan, he was raised amongst amaXhosa royalty.
He was a paramount figure of the formation of the ANC Youth League and, in 1991, he was elected President of the African National Congress.
Upon returning from Algiers after military training, Nelson Mandela was arrested and charged with attempting to overthrow the Apartheid Government. Convicted of sabotage and treason, he was sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island (South Africa's Alcatraz).
The South African government responded to international pressure by releasing him on 11 February 1990 after 27 years imprisonment. He and South African President FW de Klerk jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize 1993 in recognition of their combined efforts towards reconciliation and peace in South Africa.
On 10 May 1994, he became the first democratically elected President of South Africa after a landslide victory in the April 1994 elections; it was the country's first ever election where all people (all races) of South Africa were allowed to vote. As an act of reconciliation, he appointed FW de Klerk, his formal rival, as one of two vice-presidents.
He retired from public life in June 1999, and is currently residing in Houghton, Johannesburg with his wife, Graca Machel. They exchanged vows on his 80th birthday in 1998.
He regularly visits his birthplace annually hosting local children to a Christmas Party. He has also founded the Nelson Mandela Children's Home, who take in AIDS orphans. They are educated and cared for by the tireless efforts made by volunteers and staff of the home. The 46664 Concerts which were held in Cape Town and Johannesburg respectively and the profits thereof were donated to the home for children.
This great man, whose second name, Rholihlahla, literally means "the one who pulls the tree branch" and means "trouble-maker", united his country by urging citizens to stand up for themselves; to "make a noise" and "shake things up" for the further development and just treatment of all human beings, world-wide; to reconciliation, not revenge.
Nelson Mandela remains South Africa's best known and loved hero. He is the world's icon of peace and reconciliation, and throughout history he will be seen as personifying "a spirit of freedom" internationally.
Errors and Omissions Excepted
(Courtesy safari-central.com)
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Saturday, July 10, 2010
Walk with the Giants in life
A story goes: a mouse was crossing a bridge with an elephant. The bridge shook while they were crossing. Once they got to the other side the mouse exclaimed "Boy! We shook that bridge, didn't we?!"
You see, when you hang around with the big boys, the rich, the clever bunch, and so on, you will first feel that you are also big, rich, clever, until you really learn the skills and one day be what they are.
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Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Reitz 4 to be served court papers
Bloemfontein - The Equality Court in Bloemfontein is to serve papers on Wednesday on four former Free State University students who made a video in which five black workers were allegedly humiliated.
The SA Human Rights Commission's Free State head Mothusi Lepheane said on Tuesday the commission handed in its papers at the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein last Wednesday.
A High Court official said the papers were to be served on the men on Wednesday.
In a statement, the commission said it asked the Equality Court to grant the women punitive damages of R1m each.
The commission said the students should also be declared guilty of unfair discrimination, by making and distributing the video.
The four students - RC Malherbe, Johnny Roberts, Schalk van der Merwe and Danie Grobler - made a video of an initiation-type ceremony in 2007 while living at the university's now-closed Reitz men's residence.
The video was leaked to the media in February 2008.
Humiliated
In it the four women cleaners and a man are seen on their hands and knees eating food which had apparently been urinated into by a white student. It also showed the women drinking from bottles of beer, racing against each other, dancing and playing rugby.
On Tuesday, the Freedom Front Plus criticised Free State HRC's "unforgiving" attitude towards the students. FF Plus youth leader Jan van Niekerk said the commission had found the students guilty without a hearing.
"What is worrying is the fact that the HRC already decided who was guilty, without any input from the Reitz students."
Van Niekerk said various complaints made by the FF Plus at the HRC's local office had never been investigated or followed-up.
"The FF Plus leader in the Free State (Abrie Oosthuizen) on 2 October 2009, even complained to President Jacob Zuma, at the way the HRC handles its cases."
Van Niekerk said the R1m claimed from each of the students in the Equality Court matter showed a clear grudge against the students.
The students had already suffered a huge loss due to the "unjust" publicity and views expressed before their hearing, he said.
The four also faced charges of crimen injuria in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court. This matter was postponed to July 27 for trial.
SAPA
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New curriculum, new language options
Pretoria - Pupils now have the option of learning in their mother tongue for the first three years of schooling as part of the new curriculum, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said on Tuesday.
"The language chosen by the learner as a language of learning and teaching shall be taught as a subject, or as a first additional language from Grade 1," Motshekga told the media in Pretoria.
However, Motshekga emphasised that English would not replace pupils' home languages in the early grades.
The new curriculum Schooling 2025 would replace the highly criticised outcomes based education (OBE) system introduced in 1998.
However, OBE would not be completely scrapped but would be modified to improve the performance of school pupils.
This followed calls by teacher unions for OBE to be scrapped instead of modified as had been done.
They believed the system was biased and blamed it for the country's high failure and drop-out rates.
Admitting that the old curriculum had major problems, Motshekga said her department was reviewing the design and methodology of the OBE system.
"We have and will continue to make changes on an ongoing basis where they can be made with minimal disruption.
We expect better outcomes from the system."
Some of the changes in the system included the reduction of the number of projects for pupils with every subject in each grade consisting of its own concise curriculum, mapping out what teachers must teach and assess.
The department had since the beginning of the year done away with the need for portfolio files of pupils' assessments and discontinued the Common Tasks for Assessment for Grade 9s.
These changes followed recommendations by a ministerial committee tasked with the review of the implementation of the National Curriculum Statement in 2009.
The committee supported complaints by teachers that they were overloaded with administrative work and that curriculum goals were unrealistic as some pupils lacked resources like study material and access to the internet.
'The last ghost of 1998'
This was the third time the curriculum had been reviewed since its introduction 12 years ago.
Motshekga said this shuffling was "removing the last ghost of 1998" but was not a wholesale abandoning of the system.
"We now talk of a national curriculum and not OBE... It can't be true that we are phasing it out, we want to ensure stability and no fatigue."
Motshekga commended teachers for working hard despite the difficulties with OBE in the last 12 years - a system which she said paid little attention to knowledge but focused on skill and attitude.
"Things will from now on sail smoothly for them... We are giving them a solid base to move up... we are giving them more of less," she explained.
The policy of continuous assessment had also changed, particularly for Grade 7 to 9. Matrics remained unaffected with 75% of their marks coming from the year-end exams and 25% from continuous assessment.
Motshekga said the phasing in of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements in primary schools would only happen next year to allow time for the orientation and training of teachers.
"We will phase in other grades in 2012 so that we can make the necessary preparations," said Motshekga.
She said because some of the changes had policy implications, her department would follow due process and invite public comment.
"Our overarching priority is to bring about a fundamental change in schooling outcomes."
Director general for basic education Bobby Soobrayan said they were comfortable with the curriculum as it now stands and that it would ensure that pupils sufficiently understood key areas like literacy and maths.
He said workbooks were an important addition to the new curriculum as they would provide support to 6.5 million pupils from Grades 1 to 6 and to 180 000 teachers in nearly 20 000 schools.
The reshuffle was well received by those in the industry.
Western Cape education minister Donald Grant said if properly implemented, these changes could improve education outcomes.
"We are also especially pleased that the changes will bring back a far greater focus on the use of textbooks and on content knowledge - two aspects we are already focusing on strongly in the Western Cape," Grant said.
"The changes will go a long way to restoring a reasonable balance in the delivery of the curriculum."
Grant said teachers would now have more time to plan classroom schedules and support individual pupils instead of being overburdened with administrative duties.
Leader of the National Professional Teachers' Organisation of South Africa Esrah Ramasehla, commended Motshekga and Soobrayan for embarking on a "coherent" long-term plan for improving education in the country.
"The review process should herald a period of stability and greater confidence in the curriculum."
SAPA
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Wednesday, June 2, 2010
FW de Klerk on land reform
SPEECH BY FW DE KLERK - CAPE AGRI EMPLOYERS ORGANISATION 1 JUNE 2010 LAND REFORM
It would be a mistake to underestimate the emotional commitment of many black South Africans to the need for land reform. For them, the revolutionary struggle will not be complete until a substantial - and perhaps demographically proportional - area of South Africa has been restored to black ownership.
ANC statements on land reform almost invariably refer to the historic dispossession of black land by 'colonialists'. Last week, in a speech to the National Council of Provinces, the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Mr Gugile Nkwinti, once again referred to the 'colonialist' use of land to subdue the conquered population, to divide and rule them and to break down the traditional system of 'ubuntu'. He repeated the remarkable statement that he had made in Parliament on 24 March that "all anti-colonial struggles are at the core about two things, repossession of lost land and restoring the centrality of indigenous culture to underscore all nation-building endeavours."
The Freedom Charter calls for the redistribution of land among "those who worked it" to end hunger and "hunger for land". The need for land reform has been a constant theme of the ANC government. It was renewed at the 2005 Land Summit which called for an end to the willing buyer, willing seller approach. It was again evident in the resolution on land reform that was adopted by the ANC's National Conference at Polokwane in December 2007.
The Polokwane resolution described organized commercial agriculture as "the outcome of centuries of dispossession, labour coercion and state subsidy for the chosen few". It renewed the call for "the redistribution of 30% of agricultural land before 2014" and demanded the abandonment of "market-driven land reform" and the immediate review of "the of willing-seller, willing-buyer" principle.
The Polokwane resolution found expression in the controversial Expropriation Bill in 2008 which, in effect, tried to by-pass the courts in determining fair compensation for expropriated property. Fortunately, the Bill was withdrawn after an outcry from civil society, organized agriculture and foreign and local investors.
In a speech to Parliament on 24 March 2010, Minister Nkwinti launched a new land reform initiative. He said that national sovereignty was defined in terms of land and that land was a national asset. It was therefore 'fitting and appropriate' that his department had adopted a strategy of 'Agrarian Transformation'. The goal was a 'rapid and fundamental change in the ... systems and patterns of ownership and control of land, livestock, cropping and community.'
The new strategy would be promoted by the introduction of a three-tier land tenure system that would make provision for
- state land under leasehold;
- private land, under freehold with limited extent; and
- foreign-ownership under "precarious tenure linked to productivity and partnership models with South African citizens".
Presumably "freehold with limited extent" means that there might be a limit to the number, or the size, of properties that South Africans can own. The position of foreign land owners would be precarious and would require them to enter into partnerships with South Africans if they wish to retain an interest in their land. These proposals were supposed to have been set out in greater detail in a Green Paper that should have been presented to Parliament by the end of April - but which has still not appeared.
In a subsequent TV interview, Minister Nkwinti made it clear that one of his goals was to break up large farms - despite the fact that they produce 80% of South Africa's food. The Minister's position was in line with the Polokwane resolution that called for the abandonment of all policies that favoured large-scale, capital intensive agriculture and proposed a special land tax to encourage the sale of under-utilised land and the deconcentration of land ownership.
Before the agricultural community could fully digest the implications of Minister Nkwinti's announcement, they were confronted with fresh and apparently uncoordinated proposals for another form of land reform from the Minister of Agriculture, Tina Joemat-Pettersson.
In an interview with Die Burger, she said that the ANC was considering a share scheme for black farmers in terms of which commercial farmers would relinquish 40% of the value of their farms to black shareholders. This would help the government to reach its land reform target which she said had been impeded by the 'willing buyer, willing seller' principle. The proposal would apparently be set out in new Black Economic Empowerment legislation for the agricultural sector. This would presumably require the renegotiation of the agricultural sector empowerment charter, which was signed in March 2008 after exhaustive discussions. The proposed agricultural share scheme will apparently be discussed at the ANC's National General Council meeting in September.
Joemat-Pettersson warned that "If we did not break the deadlock and solve the land question together we were headed for a situation that would make Zimbabwe look like a teddy-bear's picnic." However, President Zuma subsequently denied that there would be "similar kinds of land invasions in this country, because we do things within the law." He said that the current land distribution method would have to be revisited and that significant changes would have to be made in the "willing seller, willing buyer" model. The government was looking for a less costly and more pragmatic approach.
It is clear from all these developments that we can expect far-reaching new land reform initiatives later this year. It would be wise for all those involved to consider the following realities:
- Property rights are at the very heart of the negotiated constitutional consensus. Section 25 makes provision for expropriation in the public interest - which specifically includes land reform. However, compensation must either be agreed by the affected parties or approved by a court in a manner that reflects an equitable balance between the public interest and interests of the landowner. Any attempt to deviate from this principle will have very negative consequences for agriculture; for national unity; and for future foreign and domestic investment in the economy.
- Although land reform enjoys high priority with the ANC, the great majority of black South Africans do not want to become farmers. According to a survey by the Centre for Development and Enterprise in 2006 only 9% of black non-farmers have clear aspirations to farm. Only 2% identified rural land as a priority.
- Although less than 6% of agricultural land has been transferred to black South Africans in terms of government schemes, more than 25 million hectares are either owned by the Government or are in the former homelands. Private non-recorded land sales might have transferred as much as 7% of agricultural land to black owners. All this land added together is not too far short of the ANC's 30% goal.
- 5% of agricultural land comes onto the market every year. The main problem is most often not that farmers are demanding exorbitant prices but that the state bureaucracy is incapable of effectively handling the transactions.
- Food security is a national priority. It is essential that redistributed land should not result in reductions in food production.
- Successful modern agriculture often requires large farms with high levels of capital, expertise and luck.
- Small scale farming does not present a panacea for black development. The agricultural sector contributes only 2.6% to gross domestic product.
- It is meaningless simply to set percentages as targets for land redistribution. Ten thousand hectares in the Karoo can support fewer people than 100 hectares in well-watered parts of the country.
- By the end of 2009 29% of redistributed farms had failed and 22% experienced declining productivity. One of the main causes of the failures was the inability of government to provide the necessary support and assistance.
South Africa urgently needs successful and sustainable land reform. To achieve this we should consider the following approaches:
- Everything we do should be consistent with the letter and spirit of our carefully balanced and negotiated constitution.
- We need a comprehensive land reform audit. How much government land is available for redistribution? How much land has been transferred to black South Africans through normal sales? To what extent has the willing seller, willing buyer principle actually failed?
- We need a rapid and effective approach to granting farmers in the traditional homelands proper freehold or leasehold title to the land that they farm.
- Urgent steps must be taken to improve the effectiveness of the government departments and institutions involved with land reform.
- We need genuine and effective consultation and cooperation between government and organised agriculture on workable approaches to land reform. Organised agriculture has proved repeatedly that it is willing to assist in this regard.
- We must not abandon the willing seller, willing buyer principle as the first option for land reform. We cannot afford a situation where South African citizens - simply because of their race - are forced to abandon farms which their families might have developed over generations.
- We must abandon ideological and racial approaches to land ownership. We need to give very careful to consideration to the implications of Minister Nkwinti's statement that "all anti-colonial struggles are at the core about two things, repossession of lost land and restoring the centrality of indigenous culture to underscore all nation-building endeavours."
We should pause for a moment to consider the implications of this statement:
1. the first is that the anti-colonialist struggle is not over;
2. the second is that white farmers are evidently still regarded either as 'colonialists' - or as the beneficiaries of colonialists;
3. the third is advocacy of the centrality of the indigenous culture. Presumably other cultures will play a peripheral role in the nation that Minister Nkwinti is endeavouring to build.
Such attitudes are entirely irreconcilable with our Constitution and with the need to promote national unity.
Just as it would be a mistake to underestimate the emotional commitment of many black South Africans to the need for land reform - it would equally be a mistaken to underestimate the emotional commitment of white farmers to their land, to their profession and to South Africa. Land reform remains an urgent priority for us all. We will not achieve success if we oppose one another as 'colonialists' and 'anti-colonialists'; as indigenous and non-indigenous; as those who claim a central cultural position - and those who are consigned to the periphery. To achieve success we will all have to work together as fellow South Africans, as equals and as fellow children of the African soil.
Issued by the FW de Klerk Foundation, June 1 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Supervisor II: International Admissions
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Thursday, April 29, 2010
Results of Match
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Regards
T Elephant
MJB RAM
X1337
0824913404
0718080805
Soccer Game
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Regards
T Elephant
MJB RAM
X1337
0824913404
0718080805