South Africa’s next president

His election rallies burst into a song called Bring Me My Machine Gun, swaying and jigging. Jacob Zuma has been acquitted of all charges!

He was alleged to be taking campaign money; faced 783 counts of fraud, racketeering, tax evasion and corruption which somehow never came to court; and had been acquitted of rape!
This fast-approaching catastrophe is a source of shame and apprehension to millions of honest people, white and black, in South Africa itself.

South Africa dominated the nightly news for weeks on end. Now the media barely mention anything. Why not? Because post-apartheid South Africa is a failure.
Here is terrifying crime, corruption and the absurd purchase of needless submarines and aircraft for a country with no serious enemies except its own elite.

The huge epidemic called AIDS, given the acres of graves that the government’s moronic policies, to do nothing but follow folk remedies (including beetroot). Electricity blackouts are now frequent as Koeberg is beginning to fail, raising fears of an African Chernobyl.

Then there are the railway system, costing millions for the 2010 World Cup. Taxi strikes from the millions of illegal drivers saying that their jobs are being taken away! The man who will lead it there is called Jacob Zuma.

Zuma has four wives and 18 children. He has for years avoided standing trial on fraud and corruption charges. Nobody seriously believes he ever will: his approaching election is already spreading fear in South Africa’s legal establishment.

On April 22 he will become President of one of the world’s most important countries.

Schabir Shaik, has just been released early – on medical grounds, from a 15-year sentence imposed in 2006 for fraud and corruption.

Jackie Selebi is currently suspended, accused of having a ‘corrupt relationship’ with a convicted drug smuggler and also ‘defeating the ends of justice’.

The once-admired Scorpions, a police anti-corruption squad symbolising the country’s determination not to follow the rest of Africa ,have been disbanded, helping the country further into the dark cave it already is in.

A breakaway, called the Congress of the People (COPE), has just scored surprisingly well in council by-elections, putting fear in the face of ANC. They are one of the only true oppositions for the elections.

We will have to wait till the 22nd of April 2009 to see who will live happily ever after.

Taken from: Peter Hitchens, ” a good deal of the nightly news….”

Kiwi Coincidence?

So the IRB have decided to change the World Cup seedings for the next Rugby World Cup. Based on the current system, the seedings for 2011 would read: 1. South Africa 2. England 3. Argentina 4. France.

The All-Blacks would, at best, be a lowly fifth. Surely the IRB is taking this bold step with a view to representing the four-year cycle of international rugby more fairly, not just to step to appease New Zealand, which hosts RWC 2011. What do you reckon…

Question – who is sick and tired of Kiwi moaning? If New Zealand arrived in France as top seeds, rather than England, they would have drawn South Africa, Tonga, Samoa, and USA, rather than Scotland, Italy, Portugal and Romania. It certainly doesn’t take a rugby genius to work out who had the easier route to the knock-out phase…

It looks likely that the All-Blacks will be rewarded for being consistently the best team in world rugby –  and I’m sure their fans are already surfing naked in celebration. But form counts for diddly-squat in knock-out tournaments. It’s all about holding your nerve and showing that big match temperament when it really matters.

If the All-Blacks can’t realise that throwing wild miss-passes on your own five metre line in a World Cup quarter-final (see Dan Carter) represents a dangerous combination of arrogance and mind-boggling stupidity, then the seedings aren’t likely to help them get what they feel they so richly deserve.

Too many of their greats go missing in the big games and they always find some excuse – food poisoning in 1995, France’s dirty play in 1999, Anton Oliver being brutalised in 2003 and referee Wayne Barnes’ visual aberration in 2007.

With nothing to show since 1987 we continue to hear ludicrous statements like ‘we’re still the best team in the world’ within hours of an inglorious World Cup exit. Whatever happened to notion that if you’re going to win it, you must beat the best?

Pumas take-on the Springboks

The Bok team to face Argentina in a one-off test on Saturday in Johannesburg.

Nelson Mandela will be back at the same ground on Saturday as when he was wearing a Springbok jersey with No.6 on the back at the Rugby World Cup 1995 Final while holding the World Cup and gazing at Francois Pienaar

Prediction: South Africa by more than 15.