What's The Issue

Author: Tomas Yoko
Date: 2012-12-06

Marikana madness abounds and the crazy accusations against the police services are, in my uninformed opinion, completely misplaced. From where I am sitting, or standing, it all looks to me like the police are being hung out to dry, when the blame should lie squarely at the feet of the Union leaders. The little I have heard on the proceedings at the Lonmin inquiry all seem to ignore the fact that there were ten people brutally killed before the day the massacre took place. The lawyer, who intimated that the police were looking to kill the striking mineworkers, because they came armed with R4 and R5 automatic rifles, seems to completely overlook the fact that the striking miners were armed with firearms and were not afraid to use them. So I assume that the lawyer in question would rather have our police turn up with powder puffs to stop the manic crowd of miners, armed to the teeth with lethal weapons. I can see the boys in blue now, waving the powder puffs to and fro as the miners, who believed they were invisible and invincible because of the muthi the witchdoctors had given them, swarmed across the open veld towards them.

No doubt it was a disgraceful turn of events, something we will remain ashamed of as a nation. However we need to learn from this and ensure that striking workers who commit criminal acts of destruction of property and physical violence, have to be brought to a firm justice.

Meanwhile the march against tolling warmed my affections for South Africans. Here is an issue where we can all stand together against a government that believes it can steamroll its will onto the people. They will probably still steamroll their will onto us; the e-tolling will most likely go ahead. But we stood together against something and that is an achievement. COSATU say they will tear down the tolling gantries, and then ANCYL spokesperson, Lamola, asked why there were no white people in the march. Now they say they will take the gantries down gently and hand them over to SANRAL. Maybe some white folk will help with that.

As if violent mining sector strikes weren't enough of an impact on our struggling economy, COSATY and NEHAWU are now inciting violent strikes in the Western Cape. Mildred, our labour minister says she can't meet the promises to increase the minimum wage made by Tina, our agricultural minister, until March next year.

Oh but this is all so trivial in comparison to NkandlaGate, Our presidents story of a bank bond that seems untraceable, more allegations of how the SA tax payer has built houses for Jacob's brothers and lots lots more.

The ANC is thwart with dissent, hooligans invading council meetings and demanding all kinds of impossible stuff. When the police were called in to help in Limpopo, they had still not arrived over an hour after the call for help was made. The Western Cape missed the deadline and only 150 of the 170 branches got it together.

Whether it's Zuma or Motlanthe, Sexwale or Phosa it is extremely important, just as important as Zilla increasing the DA's share of the black vote, something she should have been concentrating on for a long time now, if she hasn't already been doing that.

Springclean

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