Tuesday 28 May 2013

ANC decries xenophobic attacks, while DA instead decries lack of 'Gender Reassignment' procedures? ...

As heinous attacks on foreigners plague South Africa, the Democratic Alliance emailed our editor urgently at 13h00 / 1 PM Today about 'marginalised' people... not the foreigners being subjected to ethnic cleansing, but rather those individuals denied cosmetic/plastic surgery to appear closer to a member of the opposite sex:

'All too often, individuals who have a genuine and legitimate need for gender reassignment are marginalised. All too often such people are not respected and their dignitary is often impinged on. This happens simply because people don’t, and sometimes refuse, to understand the affected person and his/her circumstances.'

The horrific tragedy saw foreign shop owners chased away from Diepsloot, in Gauteng Province, South Africa, as their businesses were looted in the violence. There are often xenophobic murders in South Africa, most do not make headlines, or even the middle pages of newspapers. This latest rioting occurred amidst false or true allegations that a Pakistani man shot a South African. Another suggestion is that a service delivery protest turned into an attack on foreigners. SABC news reported that locally owned businesses are flourishing, with their competition destroyed in a targeted ethnic cleansing.

The African National Congress has condemned 'so-called' xenophobic attacks, claiming the attackers are merely ordinary criminals.
Maybe this response was lacking, but I got a perplexing email from Manny De Freitas of the Democratic Alliance today, completely ignoring the horrific purge of foreigners, and instead focussing on those who were 'marginalised' by lack of cosmetic surgery upon their private parts.

One party condemns attacks on marginalised foreigners, the other, in emailing us, turns a blind eye, and instead considers this a time to push the cause of people desiring plastic/cosmetic surgery to alter their appearance?

I did not receive any email from the Democratic Alliance on Xenophobia, but they did mention it in a few tweets, blaming it on poverty, and saying the answer is to address poverty, and assist South African entrepreneurs.

Just before I quote the email, the DA has been busy on Twitter: mostly condeming a police strike, but also saying that in response to Xenophobia, which it says it 'condemns' and does not 'condone' on its Twitter, they say the answer is to fight poverty experienced by South Africans:











and on a police strike, this quote was interesting enough to quote:



And foreigners also, right?


And the email quote:


'Department of Health does not keep a database of gender reassignment surgical procedures that are performed in public sector facilities. There are currently two public sector clinics in South Africa with “specialised and skilled held care providers that perform gender reassignment surgical procedures.” These clinics are linked to the University of Pretoria (UP) and the University of Cape Town (UCT).

The Department of Health indicated that information at hand suggests that the UP clinic has performed more than a hundred procedures since its inception in 1990. The UCT has performed more than 10 such procedures since its inception in 2009.

All too often, individuals who have a genuine and legitimate need for gender reassignment are marginalised. All too often such people are not respected and their dignitary is often impinged on. This happens simply because people don’t, and sometimes refuse, to understand the affected person and his/her circumstances.

Acts such as Alternation of Sex Description and Sex Status Act ensures that the golden principles listed in our Constitution and its Bill of Rights is put into practice.

It is now up to each and every one of us to be supportive of this and to educate those that do not understand this issue.

Kind Regards,


Manny de Freitas MP
Member of Parliament
Shadow Minister of Home Affairs
Member of Parliament for Johannesburg South
Democratic Alliance'

Tuesday 14 May 2013

Should South Africa reconsider its giving Al Qaeda alleged safe harbour?

With Alleged Al Qaeda training camps given free reign in South Africa, according to the year of investigative journalism by the Daily Maverick, we note not only the likelihood the report is correct, but the extensive history Al Qaeda has with South Africa. We further note the manner in which the Muslim community has viewed the article as a biased attack against their culture and religion, and their claims of it as fear mongering.

Update: Today, after we published this work, State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele: openly admitted that there are South Africans with links to Al Qaeda, and to terrorist activities affecting other nations. He stated however in a denial of claims of South Africa giving Al Qaeda free safe harbour, that investigations take time to stand up in court. This is in contrast to claims that South Africa refuses to deal with the multiple Al Qaeda camps alleged to exist. Below we detail the extensive reported history of the relationship between the South African government and alleged Al Qaeda. We also detail as promised above, the Daily Maverick investigation, and the likelihood the report from this is correct.

THE PASSPORT AND VISITS PROBLEM AND THE LONDON BOMBINGS

When the head of Al Qaeda in East Africa: Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, was found dead, in Mogadishu, in Somalia, with a South African passport, South African home affairs investigated the matter. Home affairs established to their satisfaction, in June 2011 that it was a forgery of the old design of the South African passport. The passport, under the name of Daniel Robinson, of a birth date in 1971, had a Tanzanian visa within, which passport had convinced the Somalis it was a genuine passport despite apparent design flaws. The issue was dropped.

The Official Opposition Democratic Alliance on the 13th June 2011 claimed at the time that this was not the first use of South African identity passes. In 2004, they claimed: that Tunisian national Ihsan Garnaoui told the Germans he has several South African passports, while suspected as a member of Al Qaeda.

The Official Opposition Democratic Alliance further claimed that British national: Haroon Rashid Aswat, who they allege was the ringleader of the 2005 London bombings, entered the United Kingdom on a South African passport, after residing in South Africa for a period.

The Official Opposition, in these claims by their Annette Lovemore, further noted the alleged use of a fake South African passport under the name Altaf Ravat by Mohammed Gulzar, which use they alleged was to further an intent of exploding transatlantic airliners during flight.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

When the African Union in 2010, asked South Africa to send its South African National Defence force to Somalia, the matter was considered by the Administration of Jacob Zuma, and troops were seemingly never sent.

When Mali's north was conquered by Islamist militia, and when Al Qaeda became involved in the conflict, the state of Chad, was the one to partner with France to preserve peace and security in the region. So much so, that foreign media alleged that Chad had surpassed South Africa as Africa's superpower. South African navy vessels carry troops up and down Africa's coastlines on multiple mostly little reported missions, and South Africa has multiple semi-permanent forces on the continent, including those which stood against the Muslim lead Seleka in Central African Republic, and those set to be deployed against the M 23 forces in Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo. When Al Qaeda is involved in a conflict, South Africa often seems to shy away.

THE ASSASSINATION OF FOREIGNERS

In July 2012, the Daily Voice, an Independent Newspapers title,via their Genevieve Serra, reported on a Christian bishop in the Western Cape, a former police inspector, who feared that a number of murders of Ethiopian Christians, were not mere xenophobia, but rather assassinations at the behest of Al-Shabaab, a group operating in Somalia with ties to Al Qaeda. The killings which took place over a ten month period were conducted across the Western Cape. It was claimed that Al Shabaab, in the guise of Somali refugees, were attempting to halt Christians from taking refuge in South Africa. Another Christian leader, Father Mike Williams, an Anglican confirmed the bishop's story, saying that he knew of seven such killing in his own congregation. According to Independent Newspapers, President Jacob Zuma, was made aware of these killings, and referred the bishop to someone in the police ministry, following which an extensive investigation was reportedly opened, due to a pattern in the deaths of these Ethiopian Christians. No follow up by police has made any headlines which our service was able to access, no Al Qaeda or Al Shabaab cell was paraded around, and there is no report of a finding of the absence of this, almost a year in the waiting.

REUTERS ON USA TREASURY WATCHLISTING OF DUCRAT FAMILY

Reuters says most South African Muslims are moderate and pragmatic, and unlikely to hear the Al Qaeda message. They note the US government listing of the Docrats, but do not see this as definitive, quoting the Docrats on a 'witchhunt of Muslims' against them. This is one of the articles linked to by Muslims after the Daily Maverick story broke: Reuters |'Jury out on al Qaeda presence in South Africa' by Michael Georgy 2 February 2007. The issue with this analytial article, is it appears biased from the start, with the subtitle of:'The Docrat cousins were leading a seemingly normal life in South Africa -- one a cleric at a rural mosque, the other a dentist with a neighbourhood practice in the country's financial capital.' and continuing consistently holding a somewhat one sided view.

OPERATION KANU

The Operation Kanu, launched shortly after the 9/11 attacks on New York city and elsewhere in the United States of America, was launched targetted two cousins, suspected of being Al Qaeda recruiters and funders. The United States of America claims these individuals are both recruiters and involved in funding the Terrorist organization which in Arabic means 'The Base', and has related claims involving the funding of Al Qaeda via the Pakistani Taliban. The Daily Maverick investigation took over a year, and was based on court records, views of those who neighboured these alleged camps, police sources, as well as Professor Hussein Solomon, who's claims of the risk of a 2010 attack by Al Qaeda, was seen as discrediting the article among the Muslim community. He is quoted twice, neither time as a source, but rather simply to give background an a professional or expert opinion. His notation of an Israeli request that South Africa get rid of Hezbolla (Arabic for 'The Party of God') training camps in the 1990s, is one of these, to give a history of the events and alleged Islamist Jihadi camps in South Africa. Muslim journalists, individuals, and groups, have seized on him to attempt to discredit the Daily Maverick piece, which in fact is based on many witnesses, but only refers to him passingly and to give context. To quote just some of the piece, prior the response of the Democratic Alliance and the Muslim community:

'The police’s specialised unit, Crimes Against the State (CATS) and the State Security Agency (SSA) have been monitoring the training of al-Qaeda terrorists in South Africa for several years, without taking any action. A year-long investigation by the Daily Maverick’s DE WET POTGIETER has revealed surprising inaction by police despite incriminating evidence about secret military training camps and sophisticated sniper training at three well-documented locations as well as several others across South Africa. These subversive activities have taken place at a farm near the notorious Apartheid police hit squad camp at Vlakplaas outside Pretoria, as well as a secluded farm in the mountains of the Klein Karoo.
[...]
All spying activities in connection with Operation Kanu were abruptly halted at the beginning of 2010 under yet-unexplained circumstances. The teams of intelligence operatives were recalled from the operation sites, all visual material seized and laptops with the surveillance data and situation reports of deep-cover agents taken away from them. The men were told by their superiors that the orders for the cessation of the surveillance operation had come “from the top”. No other explanations were given and they were re-deployed to other assignments.

In the wake of the cessation of Operation Kanu, British and US intelligence agencies began to pressurise the South African government to act against any possible Muslim terrorist threats emanating from within South Africa.

Top-level intelligence sources confirmed that representatives from both those countries’ intelligence services have been in the country for negotiations regarding the al-Qaeda operations here.

US and British intelligence have warned the South African authorities to stop “pussyfooting” with intelligence regarding international terrorists activities in South Africa. “The fact that no bombs have gone off to date in the country doesn’t mean that the threat doesn’t exist within South Africa’s borders,” they warned.

They have been frustrated for some years with the South African authorities for not taking action against perceived international terrorist threats.

South Africa is a signatory to the United Nations resolution against international terrorism and is thus obliged to act against any such threats.

Despite overwhelming intelligence information gathered well before the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa, no action had been taken to date.

The cause of the anxiety stems from the fact that thousands of illegal immigrants from Pakistan manage to cross into South Africa, while the government appears to turn a blind eye.'

- The Daily Maverick | 'Al-Qaeda: Alive and well in South Africa' by DE WET POTGIETER at 13 MAY 2013 12:44 (SOUTH AFRICA)

The Democratic Alliance has demanded an investigation into Al Qaeda (Arabic for 'The Base'), allegedly being given free reign to establish bases for training camps in South Africa.

The Muslim community has had a very different response, alleging fearmongering, with some interesting statements on social media, some of which may or may not be justified depending on viewpoint, some of which are somewhat deeply concerning, though truly, they seem to take the article by the Daily Maverick as an attack on them, although it does not malign Muslims, anywhere I may note:

Channel Islam International Tweets and Retweets:

















And Tweets and retweets from prominent Muslim Journalist Hasina Gori:

























































Sunday 12 May 2013

Soft Drinks a naughty 'No No' in Mayor Bloomberg's New York, Weed, however is encouraged by Bloomberg.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg might have got a lot of backs up, by his much reported banning of large soft drinks for health reasons. A federal judge, Justice Milton Tingling, thought it unhealthy enough of a ban, to prevent it coming into effect. Soft Drink Vendors, none the less may hate Bloomberg.

Drug lords however, love him, as the City of New York's Mayor Bloomberg's police heads with much encouragement from Bloomberg:  now have New York Police Department police give dealers free reign, and pot smokers, where possible, at most tickets, but not jail, as Cuomo's decriminalisation push gains steam, with Mayor Bloomberg now seemingly on the decriminalisation gravy train. Apparently, health is not such a concern to Mayor Bloomberg after all.


The New York Post Explains:


'Pot arrests and seizures are plummeting as low-level offenders duck jail and cops ease off dealers, who are racking up record profits, police sources say.

Gov. Cuomo vowed in January to wipe out the lowest marijuana charge — fifth-degree criminal possession — for those caught lighting up in public or flashing their stash.

But even without the Cuomo proposal yet etched in law, an unprecedented reduction in enforcement has already begun.

Marijuana arrests in the city plunged 22 percent last year — to 40,661 from 52,220 in 2011 — and are on pace for another 20 percent decline this year, according to data from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.

Decriminalization gathered steam in February, when Mayor Bloomberg announced that NYPD cops would now merely ticket those charged with fifth-degree possession, instead of tossing them in jail.

But it’s not just the casual user who’s catching a break.

Kingpins are also skating.

Figures show that in Manhattan and Brooklyn, police have nailed just three dealers this year for first-degree criminal possession of marijuana — a felony for sellers apprehended with 10 pounds or more.

That’s way down from the 28 such peddlers cops locked up in those boroughs last year.

One source said some NYPD detectives have been told to back off dealers because they’re considered a lower priority than those hawking pills, cocaine and heroin.

“When we have intel on pretty big marijuana cases, we’re being pushed away,” said the source, who works on narcotics cases.

“It’s. ‘Let’s just focus on pills and cocaine.’ Narcotics can still do grow houses, but a guy dealing a pound or two here or there, they don’t have much interest.”'
- New York Post | '‘High’ tolerance: NYC on the road to decriminalizing pot' by BRAD HAMILTON at Last Updated: 9:47 AM, May 12, 2013

University of the Witwatersrand Students Representative Council faces student revolt over anti-Israeli actions.

This fascinating plea by a claimed Witwatersrand Student has over 600 likes on Facebook already and has been tweeted about by the Wits Vuvuzela student newspaper. The student claims that the Witwatersrand University Students Representative Council, has sacrificed actual student needs for party politics. African National Congress Youth which is represented via their Progressive Youth Alliance do currently Run the Wits SRC. Mighti Jamie lists his name as Mighti Jamie (Uhuru Uhuru) [from this point I will call him Uhuru Uhuru]. Uhuru is Swahili for freedom. Swahili is not a native South African language. Uhuru Uhuru has 3 621 friends on facebook, and his address on Facebook claims he is the next Barack Obama. Observing his profile, on average maybe two dozen people like his posts on a day when many do. Uhuru Uhuru belongs to several religious groups on Facebook, and East African students groups, Limpopo University debating union, and African National Congress affiliated groups. He also is a member of the SASCO facebook group. There is suggestion he might have belonged to the Pan African Congress by someone who knew him on a profile picture. SASCO, of which he is a facebook member, has called for free university education. Uhuru Uhuru is also a member of the Witwatersrand Black Lawyers Association group.

Reportedly Uhuru Uhuru is highly influential among Wits African students. His actual name seems to be a mystery on campus, with people calling him just Jamie. He does appear perhaps, as is self proclaimed by Uhuru Uhuru, to be a law student, post graduate, although some on campus have speculated he is not a student, last year. He is confirmed as involved in debating, apparently as President of the Debating Team. Uhuru apparently can also apparently mean freedom from the 'white grip', and favourite topics of Uhuru Uhuru are Apartheid and race. Some of his posts seem somewhat dissatisfied with White South Africans. All of his posts start in letter format. However, the Wits Debating Union Student website lists Zweli Makgalamele as its Committee President. Apparently Uhuru Uhuru has had trouble with the Students Representative Council, and the Debating Union in the past, with a rumoured attempt to dislodge him from his purported position.

These doubts do make his post more interesting, especially his championing of the cause of foreign students, if he is one, or a student at all. None the less, the post going viral has its own power. This is thus newsworthy.

'Mighti Jamie
Dear Wits Student

I love my University , but I do not love what is happening to it.....

I love my University so much I spent two years homeless and hungry trying to raise money to continue my education, and now I am worried about this great institution, I am sure you are too....

The student representative council, has chosen to ignore the 'R' in SRC, they have chosen to turn our University into their political playground at the expense of our issues.

To be blunt, I do not care about Israel and or Palestine, I am a hungry poor black man and I have more immediate issues that bother me, issues like my inability to buy text books, my inability to raise printing money, issues such as the crowded libraries with few computers, issues such as the Kudu buck machines with no coin slots for the poor students.

I have not heard the SRC speak of these issues for the past three months, all they have been making noise about is the Israel Palestine issue, which is not immediate to me.

Other students have different issues, those who have been lucky enough to get cars, speak of the high costs of parking, and the inavailability of parking, they speak of the high costs of drop off tags.

All students have issues with wifi coverage, with printers, library closing times, with security on campus, with the cleanliness of bathrooms and with the registration process.

International students speak of the difficulty of raising thirty thousand upfront, and paying extra fees, they speak of the high costs of medical aid and the low quality of service from the medical aid providers. At Wits international students are on their own! Where is their representation?

White students are on their own, all those viewed to be non comradely are not represented, and that is a shame!!! Where is their representation?

Today the SRC tells us they are fighting for us, for the right to protest, yet the truth is they are telling half the story. They may have a right to protest, but the jewish students also have a right to congregate without being bullied or disrupted. JEWS ARE STUDENTS TOO, THEY DESERVE REPRESENTATION TOO....

Representation requires listening and speaking for all students
The SRC is not the toy of political parties to be used to divide us and to advance your personal ambition. Your job is not to serve some of us , but all of us.

You do not represent yourselves, or only the palestinian students, your job is to represent all of us....and you have not done that.

The SRC is unravelling the Unity we need to create amongst students, and with the adminstration of the University. We are all on the same side, we all want to be better and be in the top one hundred. The new vice chancellor was not allowed to speak and accept their memorandum. How does this build unity and cohesion with even new unaffiliated people?

I love many of the people on the SRC as individuals, they are great people and will do well in politics. But we have had enough of your politics at our expense, you have turned the University into your personal spaza shop and are holding us all at your mercy.

As a student I feel unrepresented by you, I feel ignored by you, but more importantly I feel like you have come to harm the institution I have sweated blood and tears to be a part of....

You have eroded unity, you have disrupted peaceful gatherings and caused commotion at our University....and you have done this in my name as a student....but I NEVER GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO ....

With love
a Concerned Wits student'

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10151617259347394&id=709037393&refid=52

Saturday 11 May 2013

'Love knows no Gender' : Helen Zille's Democratic Alliance claims at 'Gay Pride March'



The Democratic Alliance has a habit of rewteeting the tweets of their hierarchy on the ground. Democratic Alliance News, the party's official voice retweeted a lot from Katlego Suzan, a local branch representative of theirs' in Limpopo Today, including a tweet and photograph of their 'Love knows no Gender' march:



As our editor stated:



Gender originated in languages, where every word is masculine or feminine, it originally related to the attributes of each sex, and cultural context of these. Gender theory, a creation of the political left, disputed that gender was linked to sex, and to date, about 23 'genders' have been added to an ever expanding list in the alphabet soup of LGBT...

Gay men say they have a feminine gender, and only like men. They have specific 'gender preferences', gay women are likewise.

Is Helen Zille's Democratic Alliance suggesting that every person is gay, and that gender is a boundary to happiness? After all, the phrase is rewording: 'Love knows no boundaries'.

'Love knows no gender', is a bit of a strange statement from the always entertaining Democratic Alliance, who named their recent recruitment campagin the Blue Blitz, a reference to the Nazi strategy of Blitzkrieg.

Other Tweets from the Democratic Alliance include one claiming South Africa is not an equal opportunity society for homosexuals, despite massive fines to anyone who gets in the way of this political constituency of the Democratic Alliance, so close to their core, and as our service noted in a quote from a Gauteng Democratic Alliance member of parliament, making up a portion of their positions in parliaments, somewhat disproportionate to the portion of South Africa which kicks with the other foot so to speak (which engages in homosexual lifestyle).

Here are some other tweets from the Democratic Alliance Limpopo Gay pride March:



Faux Pas: Major South African Broadcaster confuses 'Homophobia' and Xenophobia, in relating Union leader threats.



Those foreigners are so gay? Or those gays are so foreign? Either way Eyewitness News... made a bit of an oopsie.

Besides their apology, the offending Tweets have been deleted by the service, fortunately, we managed to quote them beforehand.



What are they apologising for?



Yes, we said sorry what too... in our quoting her...

We asked exactly what:



And Eye Witness News again fumbled:



But all was sorted out as we also noted:





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