News for Expats

SA wine

Time Magazine's September 7th edition said South Africa only exports wine that is "crud." No, they didn’t say South African wine is crud. They actually praised SA wines but stated that the best wines are consumed locally while the "crud" is being exported. Personally I think this is a half truth. Yes, some great wines don't get exported but some great wines do.

Shack Dwellers attacked by organized armed hit squad

On Saturday, September 26, about 40 heavily armed men ambushed a meeting of the Kennedy Road Development Committee of Abahlali baseMjondolo, South Africa's shack dwellers’ movement. It was an organized attack and it seems that members of the ANC were involved. The shack dweller movement also states that police were very well aware that the attack was going down and left the area before it happened. At least two people died.
Zuma urges police to shoot to kill

Well, a tough stance on crime is very important. I believe police should always use the least force required to combat crime and arrest criminals. A trigger happy police and stray bullets isn’t anyone's friend. Tomorrow they mistake you as a robber or something and blow your head off. I do believe that anyone that even reaches for a gun when the police try and arrest them should be shot. The police should protect themselves and the law should assist them.

South African Airways makes profit

South African Airways (SAA) reported a profit for the year ending March 31 of 398 million rand (53.8 million dollars). Well done SAA.

Nuwe Expat Blogger van Duitsland

Ons het 'n nuwe Expat blogger van Duitsland. Gaan loer hier.

Jesus found in Dubai mosque.

As an Expat, one tends to hear or see things that are so different from good old SA, it sometimes boggles the mind.

Today I read a story here in our local newspaper that I find extremely...funny. For those of you that don’t know, I live in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

A man was "questioned" by police here in the UAE after he entered a Mosque and claimed to be Jesus Christ. You can read the story here as reported by Gulf News.

In the UAE it is against the law to insult any "recognized" religion.

Strangely enough, the prosecutor mentioned, "In case preliminary interrogations prove that he did claim & that he is a prophet then this suspected act is incriminatory and punishable by law." You see, certain factions in Islam consider Jesus as a prophet.

I think many Christians may be offended on the prosecutor's stance that Jesus is a prophet and not God. Will they charge him?

Personally, I think the guy that claimed he was Jesus Christ, was most probably crazy. You must be to do something so stupid in a Mosque. We will have to wait and see how this plays out.

Do you have any strange stories to share from the respective countries you find yourself in?

Boycott Nestle?

I see the press is reporting on Nestle, whom is buying approximately 1 million liters of milk from a farm seized by Robert Mugabe. Strangely enough this farm now belongs to Bob's wife, Grace Mugabe.

This just shows how corrupt Bob is. Taking successful white owned farms for him and thereby enriching himself and his family.

*Nestle defense are that since the collapse of Zimbabwe's dairy industry it has been forced to buy milk on the open market "from a wide variety of suppliers on a non-contractual basis" for its factory in Harare. "This includes milk from the Gushungo Dairy Estate which today accounts for between 10 and 15% of Nestlé's local milk supply," the statement said.
"Had Nestle decided to close down its operations in Zimbabwe, the company would have triggered further food shortages and hundreds of job losses among its employees and milk suppliers in an already very difficult situation.

Well, I’m sorry to hear that Nestle. I’m pretty sure that your main concern wasn’t the poor people of Zimbabwe, but most likely keeping up the profits. Don’t try and bullshit us. You are buying stolen milk from a dictator.

I definitely won’t be buying any more Nestle products soon.

* Source BBC.

A chance to whine about crime

I guess I won’t be a true expat, if I don’t take this opportunity to have a rant about the latest crime stats in SA.

Firstly, the stats are terrible, horrendous, dreadful ... add any synonym you wish. South Africa is a dangerous place and sadly the poor suffers the most because of crime. It still boggles my mind that they keep electing officials that clearly doesn’t care. That is part of another discussion though.

For the people out there that say, "It isn’t so bad, people shouldn’t whine about the crime etc." Please tell that to the 36 000 + people that was raped this year according to statistics. Experts say that only about 1 in 9 rapes gets reported so nearly 300 000 women get raped a year. Also tell it to the families of the more than 18 000 people that were murdered last year. We should keep whining and complaining until the day South Africa has the lowest crime rate in the world. Then we can pat ourselves on the back and say well done.

The scary thing is that these are only crimes that was reported and made it to the stats. Thousands of crimes are being committed that are not being reported, or which the police simply don’t record. Things like attempted breaking and entering or small theft seldom gets reported.

When I was in SA a couple of months ago, there was an attempted break in at my brother in laws place in Stellenbosch. The police told them they can’t do anything. This statistic went unrecorded. Also a lady friend got mugged of her cell phone and wallet. The police told her to provide witnesses that this crime occurred, otherwise she may be lying. This also didn’t go into the statistics.

I really hope the government will tackle this problem head on and make South Africa safe for all people. Sexual and violent crime must be the number one priority at this stage.

It is Braai time in OZ

For the Saffas in OZ, New South Wales

Date: 26 Sep 2009
Venue: Goulburn area
Time: 3.30pm - Middernag
Contact: Christo en Ebrentia 0409 393 657/(02)4844 2303
Details: Jaarlikse Spitbraai, kontak die bogenoemde vir meer inligting.

Real culprit in Caster Semenya affair is South Africa

news.com.au (Australian Newspaper) makes a good point about the whole Caster Semenya affair.

South Africans have been crying about the Australian media reporting that Caster Semenya's test shows she is a hermaphrodite.

I quote from there article:

"It's unfair, cruel, callous and potentially devastating for such a vulnerable young person, they say.

We couldn't agree more - but South Africa has only itself to blame.

South African sports officials have exposed this young woman to the world purely for their own gain.

They selected her for the national team when it was obvious to any rational observer thatthere might be serious questions about her eligibility. They paraded her before the world, in pursuit of sporting success, and now are flinging accusations of sexismand, predictably, racism.

South African athletics president Leonard Chuene has resigned from the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) council and a South African MP, Butana Komphela, has made a formal racism complaint to the United Nations.

How disingenuous. Race, of course, is the one issue on which some South Africans believe they hold the moral high-ground - a safe place to retreat when anyone questions their conduct on any issue whatsoever.
To play the race card in this case - especially against an IAAF that has a black African as president - is pure desperation.

Why did South Africa's sporting "leaders'' not stop Semenya's career as she rose through the ranks?

Even as a junior competitor, she was clearly extraordinary: faster, stronger and bigger than all the other girls. She was a completely different shape. Her voice was different. She had no breasts.

Sporting officials have a serious duty of care to the young, often naive, people they are entrusted to guide. They must help them make the right decisions and protect them from the tough world of international sport.

It's a lesson that some Australian sport officials could learn - like when Australia's swimmers were put into full body suits for the Beijing Olympics, with officials angrily rejecting suggestions that these would damage the sport in the long term.

Those fears have been proved correct and authorities are scrambling to undo the damage the suits have done to the careers of Thompson's proteges and the sport itself.

Semenya cannot be blamed for being encouraged to compete in entirely inappropriate circumstances. She's young, unworldly and suffers a traumatic, confusing condition.

She deserves compassion and understanding - and an apology from the officials who exposed her so shamelessly."

Does the government fancy Caster Semenya because she is black?

Reportedly Caster Semenya's test says she is a .... well, "the test shows the 18-year-old has no ovaries, but rather internal male testes." (Daily Telegraph)

That is a tough one for athletics to deal with.

Firstly, I don’t care much about athletics, but I do feel little sorry for Caster Semenya. The way she was born is not of her making and I wish her all the best. Clearly she feels she is a woman and I hope that people will treat her accordingly to her wishes. That said, fairness in athletic competitions is very important and should be upheld. Some difficult decisions have to be made by the IAAF, because this surely won’t be the last time something like this will happen.

The handeling of the South African government on this issue was good at times and shockingly bad at other times. I’m very happy the government is supporting Caster Semenya, but that whole racism tirade was really shortsighted and uncalled for. This certainly wasn’t an issue of race but an issue of gender and it pains me that the government has to jump on every opportunity to play the race card. It seems like if they don’t know how to deal with a situation, they try and play the race card.

One also has to wonder, if the athlete was blond and blue eyed Sannie van Der Merwe from Boksburg, would the government have responded in the same manner? (See how I played the race card?) Still, this is a very relevant question.

The fact is, they have set a precedent on how to deal with these issues and we hope they will extent the same courtesy to all their citizens irrespective of race or religion.

My best wishes to Caster.

Another famous South African director

Neil Blomkamp may be the talk of the town these days with his directorial debut of District 9, but there is also another famous South African director lurking around in Hollywood.

Remember Gavin Hood? He started of as the Wester Province Rugby fullback in the South African TV series, The Game. This is the same guy that went on to write and direct the Oscar winning Tsotsi. His follow up film to Tsotsi was the critical acclaimed Rendition starring Reese Whitherspoon and Jake Gyllehaal. The movie only went on to make around US $27 million. That is not a lot according to Hollywood standards, but it did deal with some issues that makes the American public little uncomfortable. It certainly wasn’t a mainstream film.

The next movie he directed was none other than X-Men Origins: Wolverine starring Hugh Jackman. He got a little stick from the die hard X-Men fans for it, but the movie still went on to make a whopping US $ 363 million and had a budget of US $150 million.

That is a good profit by any means. It is always good seeing Saffas making it big.

Why I don't like jokers like Peter de Villiers

Pieter de Villiers is the head coach of the South African Rugby Union team. Not only does he represent South African rugby, he also represents South Africa.

Every time he runs his mouth of spewing some B.S., I cringe. I simply can’t believe this guy is representing South Africa on the world stage. Unfortunately people have a natural inbred ability to put people in little boxes. We call it stereotyping, racial profiling, whatever. We do it. We speak of the Americans, the Canadians, the Indians, stupid Blue Bulls supporters etc.

Although this practice is short sighted and stupid, it unfortunately does happen. This is why organizations, political parties etc. put there best face forward to deal with the public.

Peter may be a good coach, but can someone please tell him to shut up or at least think before blabbering? He is making us South Africans look bad.

Here is his latest rant. At least he stopped comparing himself to Jesus this time.

South African – Picnic / Braai - Brisbane

Date: 12 Sep 2009
Venue: Kangaroo point, Brisbane
Time: Arrive from 14:00 onwards. Fireworks at 19:00.
Contact: http://www.africaclub.org.au/ for more details

Mr. Apartheid is armed and dangerous!

There is apparently a criminal on the loose in SA whom is causing huge devastation and tragedy in the community. Senior police officials have identified the man as Mr. Apartheid, whom is described as a bitter white male.

Government officials has blamed Mr. Apartheid as being responsible for the spate of hijackings, rapes, murders and thefts South Africa is experiencing over the past 14 years. He has been seen running around our streets, with a 9mm in his hand committing all these crimes all by himself. Just yesterday he was seen entering a house, raping a woman in front of her husband and children and then executing the whole family. Mr. Apartheid is considered armed and dangerous and shouldn’t be approached by the public.

Mr. Apartheid has reportedly also single handedly screwed up our judicial system from the cops to the courts. He somehow has the power to influence the appointment of total incompetent fools as senior police officers as well as crooked judges.

Further Mr. Apartheid is spreading his sickness called AIDS through the community because he seems to be unable to operate a condom.

Mr. Apartheid has also been blamed by senior black politicians for the lack of service delivery to the poor. It is apparently Mr. Apartheid who gives lucrative government contracts to his friends and family and then fails to deliver on them. It is also apparently Mr. Apartheids whom is stealing himself blind in the government.

Conspiracy theorist has brought up wildly controversial theory that Mr. Apartheid is in fact scapegoat for failure by the current government to do their job. Government officials have labeled these conspiracy theorists as Racist Paranoid Whites, who should shut up because anything they say is racist as holding a opinion that differs from the government is clearly racist.

Congratz to Wandering Saffa Chick!

Congratz to Wandering Saffa Chick on her new baby girl! Enjoy the new adventure!

Are whites and other minorities under attack?

I see some other international news agencies have picked up on the story of the white South African being granted refugee status in Canada.

The Canadians ruled that he qualified because:
1.) There is clear proof that racial attacks by blacks against whites are happening.
2.) The South African government's inability and / or unwillingness to protect him.

Please take note that these are the findings of the Canadian immigration board. This doesn’t necessarily reflect my views on the issue.

What are my views? Whether black people are attacking white people in SA and whether the government care or not, I don’t know.

My biggest concern is that there are very large portions of the white community that perceive this as true. It doesn’t matter if the perception is right or wrong. It exists and that is dangerous in so many ways. What if these folks start taking things into their own hand? Things can quickly escalate into unpleasantness.

Unless the government addresses this issue head on, this perception will keep growing. Many white people feel oppressed and they feel as second class citizens in their own country. Again, whether they are oppressed or not doesn’t matter. They perceive they are.

Any group of people can only take so much crap until they flip out. Especially if they feel their government doesn't care. In fact, politicians like Malema etc. are just aggravating the issue.

While the above post are focusing on the white minority group to which I belong to in SA, I would suspect other minority groups in SA probably might feel just as disenfranchised.