Free Republic

..... To look for self-defeating behaviour at work we don’t have to go back to ages past. And there is nothing like trouble over public access to water to bring out behaviour of the worst kind. In 2019, touring the Eastern Cape I encountered towns and trendy resorts with this trouble. The government blamed drought. Residents who knew better blamed comrades out of their depth who’d got winks and nods from higher comrades to run town councils. Israel stepped up to the plate. The ambassador put Israeli know-how for desalination and other fresh water solutions at the disposal of dry...

Alienating blue-collar whites is a sure way to keep losing. One of the laws of gravity in American politics is that the opposition party gains ground in the midterm elections, so the Democrats should be a lock to win control of at least the House of Representatives in November, requiring a net gain of 23 seats. Then again, it’s hard to say what rules still apply after Trump’s win. Maybe the slate’s been wiped clean and we’re starting from scratch again. While there are plenty of signs that the Democrats can fulfill historical expectations four months from now, a recent...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday blasted President Trump’s push for a citizenship question on the 2020 census as an effort to “Make America White Again” — claiming, “it’s not what our founders had in mind.”“They want to make sure that people, certain people, are counted,” Pelosi said at a press conference in San Francisco that focused on election security.“Just their people vote and not the general population,” said the Democratic lawmaker. “That’s why they’re fighting the census.”White House officials did not immediately return requests for comment from The Post on the statements.Pelosi, who was visiting her home district Monday, repeatedly called the idea...

outh Africa’s parliamentary elections on May 8 were the sixth since democracy was introduced in 1994. They were held in an atmosphere of unparalleled national crisis almost entirely self-inflicted by the ruling African National Congress. Unemployment, 3.7 million when the ANC took over, is nearly ten million now. Poverty and inequality have grown exponentially while the governing elite loots and steals all it can. The country is now in its fifth consecutive year of falling real incomes, the chronic power cuts—suspended artificially for the election—are expected to last at least another five years, two out of the three rating agencies...

The number of skilled professionals committed to a career in South Africa is declining according to the 2019 PPS Graduate Professional Index (GPI) published on Wednesday (April 22). PPS, a mutual financial services company that focuses exclusively on graduate professionals, conducted an independent survey of 5,837 members at the beginning of 2019 to gauge their perceptions on a number of issues affecting their professions, both now and in the near future. Graduate professionals working across the accounting, dental, engineering, legal, medical, pharmaceutical and other sectors were polled, and the findings of the survey shed light on the state of South...

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law the national minimum wage bill, his office said on Monday, part of efforts by the government to tackle wage inequality in Africa’s most industrialized economy. The National Minimum Wage Act sets South Africa’s minimum wage at 20 rand ($1.45) an hour, equal to 3,500 rand per month. […] Supporters of the minimum wage say it will reduce inequality and stimulate economic growth as workers spend more. But critics say it could lead to increased unemployment, already at record highs, because some employers won’t be able to afford higher wage bills. …

SOUTH Africa’s white farmers could face land seizures after the country’s parliament recommended controversial reforms which put their future in doubt. The proposals would see the introduction of laws allowing the state to expropriate land without compensation “in the national interest”. White South African farmers still own around 73 percent of the country’s commercial agricultural land despite making up just nine percent of the population. And supporters of sweeping land reform insist the state must step in to transfer ownership of some of the land to black farmers more than two decades after the end of apartheid.

UMZIMKHULU, South Africa — Their fear faded as they raced back home, the bottle of Johnnie Walker getting lighter with each turn of the road. Soon, Sindiso Magaqa was clapping and bouncing behind the wheel of his beloved V8 Mercedes-Benz, pulling into familiar territory just before dark. Minutes later, men closed in with assault rifles. Mr. Magaqa reached for the gun under his seat — too late. One of his passengers saw flashes of light, dozens of them, from the spray of bullets pockmarking the doors. The ambush was exactly what Mr. Magaqa had feared. A few months before, a...

Their fear faded as they raced back home, the bottle of Johnnie Walker getting lighter with each turn of the road. Soon, Sindiso Magaqa was clapping and bouncing behind the wheel of his beloved V8 Mercedes-Benz, pulling into familiar territory just before dark. Minutes later, men closed in with assault rifles. Mr. Magaqa reached for the gun under his seat — too late. One of his passengers saw flashes of light, dozens of them, from the spray of bullets pockmarking the doors. The ambush was exactly what Mr. Magaqa had feared. A few months before, a friend had been killed...

ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule says only land expropriation without compensation will help achieve the country’s goals. He was speaking before Parliament begins four days of land reform presentations from experts and civil society groups. Magashule warned US President Donald Trump to respect South Africa’s sovereignty. ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule has outlined the brutality of white rule in South Africa and called on citizens to unite behind the ANC and its efforts to expropriate land without compensation to address poverty and inequality. Magashule was speaking in Sebokeng on the 34th anniversary of the 1984 Vaal uprising and said expropriation without compensation...

The African National Congress (ANC) said that the bill which would have the power to take land away from white farmers to rebalance racial disparities needed to have further consideration. Nonceba Mhlauli, a spokeswoman for the ANC’s chief whip, said: “The bill in its current form would need to be re-considered in light of the process of reviewing Section 25 of the constitution for the expropriation of land without compensation. “Were the bill to be re-introduced, it would contain a clause or clauses reflecting expropriation of land without compensation if that is the way that South Africans have chosen to...

During the years of the ANC’s guerilla struggle against white rule in South Africa, Zuma was its head of military intelligence. He and other political associates received training in the Soviet Bloc, then one of the ANC’s allies. Putin and some of his close associates today were officers of the Soviet intelligence and security services during this period. An important ANC policy document in 2015, A Better Africa in a Better and Just World, reflected a pro-Russian worldview. It extolled the value of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and quoted Lenin approvingly on the tranformation of society. The document also...

JOHANNESBURG—South Africa’s government on Thursday criticized a tweet by President Donald Trump in which he said he asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to study efforts to overhaul land ownership and “large scale killing of farmers” in Africa’s most-developed economy. Mr. Trump’s overnight tweet referenced a report by Fox News host Tucker Carlson attacking the U.S. government’s stance on land reform in South Africa, which he suggested was too lax. South Africa’s rand fell against the dollar after the tweet, and was 1.3% lower in Thursday morning trade. The ruling African National Congress has said it plans to change the...

South Africa's state-owned Land Bank said on Monday a plan to allow the state to seize land without compensation could trigger defaults that could cost the government 41 billion rand ($2.8 billion) if the bank's rights as a creditor are not protected. Land Bank is a specialist bank providing financial services to the commercial farming sector and other agricultural businesses. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Aug. 1 that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is forging ahead with plans to change the constitution to allow the expropriation of land without compensation, as whites still own most of South Africa's land...

"Strongman politics are ascendant," Barack Obama warned in South Africa. He spoke passionately about "the politics of fear and resentment" at the Mandela Lecture. He worried that we were entering a world, “where might makes right and politics is a hostile competition between tribes and races and religions.” While the media used the remarks to attack Trump's meeting with Putin, Obama had shared a stage with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa who had come to power promising to seize land from white farmers. Ramaphosa was the latest in a series of ANC strongmen, including his predecessor, an alleged rapist, beginning...

South African ruling African National Congress will push ahead with plans to amend the constitution to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday, a move likely to unnerve investors. The ANC had said in May it would “test the argument” that land redistribution without compensation is permitted under current laws, a plan that would have avoided the risky strategy of trying to change the constitution. The proposal was first adopted in December by the party. “It has become pertinently clear that our people want the constitution to be more explicit about expropriation of...

The notorious "Speedway Bomber" served 17 years in prison for his crimes but is now a left-wing activist Convicted terrorist bomber Brett Kimberlin was revealed this week to have worked with shady Democrat operative Alexandra Chalupa in a campaign to discredit President Trump. “That work culminated in a Washington, D.C. meeting in December between” Chalupa, “Speedway Bomber” Kimberlin, and a South Africa-born Israeli man identified as Yoni Ariel, the Daily Caller reported.

South African anti-apartheid campaigner Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has died aged 81, her personal assistant says...

People walk past the building that houses the offices of Cambridge Analytica in central London, March 20, 2018. Share WASHINGTON — Long before its controversial roles in the 2016 Brexit vote and U.S. presidential election, Cambridge Analytica influenced elections in Africa. The data mining company, under fire for its alleged use of 50 million Facebook accounts to shape campaign messages for then-candidate Donald Trump, also played a role in elections in Kenya and Nigeria, according to new reports. The company's first involvement in Africa dates to the general election in South Africa in 1994. That election marked the end of...