Eroding privacy for imagined safety
(My latest column, on the rush to enact age-verification, anti-encryption and surveillance laws, supposedly to protect children.)
I have received this text of a letter addressed to World Rugby chairman,
@BillBeaumont
, about Ramaphosa's presence on the Rugby World Cup winners' stage. It's a great letter. If anyone knows who wrote it, please let me know.
Just a reminder that
@GwedeMantashe1
, who called André de Ruyter a traitor, is personally responsible for *all* the loadshedding this year. De Ruyter asked him to commission 5-6GW urgently, three years ago. Gwede chose not to. You tell me who betrayed who.
"It's our collective mistake," says Ramaphosa on Eskom.
No, fuck you, Mr President. It is not my mistake. I did not sit on the board. I was not in cabinet. I was not part of the Eskom "war room" since 2015, as you were. It's YOUR mistake. Own it. Fix it.
Please don't express gratitude to Ramaphosa. Don't thank your abuser for giving you a break. Our economic crisis was not caused by Covid-19. It was caused by a harsh and often irrational lockdown. We have yet to count the real costs, in lives and livelihoods, of months of abuse.
Watching videos of store owners and staff defending their shops and themselves from violent looters, with no police in sight, is an excellent argument why guns for self-defence should be an absolute right. Down with the Firearms Control Amendment Bill!
SAPS helicopter, four vans, a truck, several small boats, and a platoon of police were at Buffalo Bay yesterday to keep people off the beach. Two cops could have done that job. That is a criminal misallocation of resources.
No wonder real crime is out of control,
@bhekicele_rsa
Has anyone figured out who paid for SA's ICJ application, and who lit a fire under the ANC government to make it happen? It has neither the spare money nor a reputation for such efficiency. This seems to me an important question for our investigative journalists.
It looks like liquor stores will be able to operate Mondays to Thursdays, but tobacco products will remain prohibited under Level 3.
Irrational. Arbitrary. Incomprehensible. Unless Dr Zol is benefiting from the black market cigarette trade, in which case it makes perfect sense.
There's no rhyme or reason to these regulations. You can go to a church, cinema, or casino, but not a theatre, library or museum. You can eat in a restaurant, but you can't walk on the beach. You can sleep in a guesthouse, but not an AirBnB. It's all big business lobbying.
My car never broke down during the nine years I didn't have it serviced. Now, suddenly, it won't go, and I'm told it needs a whole new engine! Incomprehensible!
I can't believe someone sat in a high-level meeting saying, "Indoor venues must be well-ventilated, and also let's close the great outdoors and wide open spaces."
We are ruled either by braindead nincompoops, or by vindictive bastards.
@AlanWinde
@CyrilRamaphosa
@DrZweliMkhize
It would have made far more sense to extend the alcohol ban and lift the tobacco ban. Alcohol has public order and emergency room consequences that tobacco does not.
Just watching David Mabuza defend his trips to Russia for 'medical reasons'. It's disgusting that party officials who propose to remove choice from citizens by nationalising healthcare in South Africa have the luxury to choose overseas healthcare themselves.
In Knysna, we're refilling 5l bottles for people who haven't had water for weeks. Reservoirs empty due to broken pumps and pipes. No budget for diesel or maintenance, so water trucks aren't running. (Nor are most refuse trucks.)
This is what 2 yrs of ANC/EFF/PA rule gets you.
The ANC is in a flat panic about the 2024 elections. Grasping at straws. Making outrageous promises. Taking credit for the most banal achievements. Hurling blame indiscriminately at everyone except themselves. Outright vote-buying they're not even trying to hide. The game is on.
Pieter du Toit: "The Boks' victory was magnificent. But politicians have shamelessly & cynically tried to cash in on Kolisi and his team's success... It was utterly embarrassing. Cringeworthy, even... The contrast between sporting excellence & governance failure was glaring."
Alcohol to be sold for home consumption, but tobacco will remain prohibited "due to the health risks" of smoking. The thing is, those risks have always existed, so why ban it now? This has nothing to do with Covid-19.
Rich countries banning travel from South Africa should be ashamed of themselves. It's against WHO advice. It won't protect them against the new variant. But it will have catastrophic consequences for South African tourism, causing bankruptcies, job losses, poverty and suicides.
Dear
@AlanWinde
,
How did you let
@CyrilRamaphosa
close the Garden Route's uncrowded, expansive beaches, thereby forcing people to malls, bars and indoor spaces where the virus spreads faster? Who thought this was a good idea?
So now people are getting threatened with fines or arrest for not wearing masks when they're alone in their cars. How on earth does this help combat the spread of coronavirus? And what about people with glasses who risk having them fog up while driving? Capricious and irrational.
So now we'll get thousands of tourists on the Garden Route who aren't allowed on our wide, expansive beaches and will crowd shopping malls and indoor venues instead. This will accelerate the spread, not slow it down. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Ramaphosa is just flat out lying. "Great progress has been made in bringing all these perpetrators of malfeasance to justice."
Not a single notable conviction. Not one.
I know it is unfashionable to give weight to 'technical points', but Malcolm Shaw is tearing SA a new one over its diplomatic conduct leading up to its filing, its lack of compliance with the rules of the court, and its outright dishonesty over these matters.
BREAKING | British American Tobacco in new urgent court bid to undo cigarette ban
(They never should have abandoned the first bid. That was spineless, and proved you can't trust government. Let's hope they have the gumption to see this one through.)
Another
@PresidencyZA
'imbizo' tonight. They're worthless. The questions are screened and asked by amateurs. It's time
@CyrilRamaphosa
made himself available for a proper media grilling at a two hour press conference.
What fresh hell is this? Nurseries were opened to the public and allowed to sell fruit/vegetable plants on 5 May. By order of national government, they've just been shut again. Wouldn't want people to grow their own food when they're supposed to be dependent on ANC food handouts.
So
@jsteenhuisen
says the ANC should end the lockdown. The very next day, the ANC is all over the Western Cape like a rash, telling
@alanwinde
to go back to level 5 and to lock even asymptomatic patients up in field hospitals. I'm sure it's just coincidence.
Ramaphosa's speech is a clear violation of the Electoral Code of Conduct, "abusing a position of power, privilege or influence to influence the outcome of an election," which in turn is a violation of section 94 of the Electoral Act.
Jaw on the floor, listening to Vaughan Lowe KC argue that Israel does not have the legal right to defend itself against attacks on its civilians launched from Gaza.
Yesterday, I heard
@FNBSA
is sharing customer location data with the government. Today, FNB requires me to turn on my GPS before it will allow me to transact. Who authorised FNB to spy on clients on behalf of the government? And don't tell me it's for my own good,
@Rbjacobs
.
I think Israel acquitted itself very well today. I'd be surprised and disappointed if the ICJ proceeds with an order for substantial provisional measures.
If it does, the attack of 7 October will be rewarded, and terrorism will have won.
I have no issue with Discovery Bank giving 10% of its shares to black depositors. A private company can give shares to whomever they like. Voluntary programmes like this could be a great way to redress past racial discrimination. Beats government force any day of the week.
There he goes again, closing outdoor spaces. Don't they realise that Covid-19 hardly ever spreads outdoors, and closing outdoor areas just forces people into malls and other indoor venues where the virus does spread rapidly? Sheer insanity.
Funniest part of EFF's manifesto ():
"The EFF government will restructure the ship docking arrangement such that international vessels offload their goods into our domestic fleet in the Ocean. Only domestic vessels will be allowed to dock in our harbours."
After staring death in the face every day for almost a year, testing, triaging and treating Covid patients, with one close colleague dead and another still ventilated in the ICU, my wife has finally received her J&J vaccine today. I'm very relieved.
It says a lot about the government's priorities that Eskom bends over backwards, at great cost, to suspend loadshedding on holidays, only to reintroduce it as soon as people get back to work.
They're not investing in economic productivity, they're buying political approval.
Oh joy. His Highness
@CyrilRamaphosa
has deigned to proclaim the latest edicts to his subjects tonight at 8pm. Whose lives or livelihoods will he destroy next?
Fikile is both unfathomably stupid and a brazen liar. Loadshedding started in 2007. AdR was hired *because of* loadshedding. It was the ANC that brought us loadshedding. The same ANC that pursues the NDR, which is a Soviet ghost in Luthuli House.
“Andre de Ruyter a CEO with ideology and politics, a man who brought us loadshedding and left us and said that we are still in the Soviet Union and there is a ghost here in this building Luthuli House”
@MYANC
SG Fikile Mbalula
So somewhere between the draft regulations and the final regulations, beaches and public parks were closed again. Why? They're perfectly amenable to social distancing, in fact more so than the pavements along roads, or churches, or office bathrooms, for that matter.
This is truly pathetic. The ad does *not* say 'real men drink real beer', but the regulator claims to discern 'unspoken communication' which promotes 'toxic masculinity'. This is a new low for woke nannying. By inventing non-existent content,
@ARB_SouthAfrica
could ban anything.
Bragging about the achievements of the government in a national address, three days before the election, is to campaign for the ruling party,
@ThuliMadonsela3
. Cyril is even using the ANC slogan, "working together". That violates the IEC Code of Conduct, and the Electoral Act.
So we go to Level 3, and everyone rejoices. But we're warned hotspots, including all major metros, will return to Level 4/5 if things go pear-shaped. And then they reopen places of worship, guaranteeing that things will go pear-shaped. Genius! Welcome to the forever lockdown.
Zille accused of suggesting ‘all black men are rapists’ after sharing cartoon
(Anyone who thinks that cartoon suggests 'all black men are rapists' is vindictive, stupid, or both. And that includes the Shitizen. It makes exactly the opposite point.)
Tobacco ban expected to create a nation of quitters, Dlamini-Zuma says
(And yet nobody authorised anyone to institute a tobacco ban for this purpose. This is naked nanny-state opportunism on
@DlaminiZuma
's part. It's a disgraceful abuse of power.)
Israel doing an excellent job explaining that its military actions, its official statements, and the tactics and strategies of the enemy it faces, make an interpretation of genocide, or genocidal intent, untenable.
Remember, every business is essential to someone. Whether it sells diamanté dog collars, anime cellphone covers, bumper stickers or garden gnomes, each business is essential to its owners and employees.
Yesterday, Level 4 lockdown meant alcohol could be sold during limited hours, in limited quantities, for off-site consumption. Today, Dlamini-Zuma nixes that idea. They're just making it up as they go along, it seems. See these two posters, yesterday and today:
Come on,
@GunFreeSA
, where's your action plan for stopping the looting, burning and killing? Ramaphosa is out of ideas. The cops are massively outnumbered. How do citizens defend themselves and their properties? With sticks and butter knives?
Are army doctors assisting with processing SASSA disability grants? Are army medics assisting in hospitals? If not, why not? Why are they patrolling beaches, instead?
Huge court victory for Amazon’s new South Africa headquarters
(Brilliant news. The professional activists that falsely parade as an 'indigenous people's movement' and 'civic organisation', but actually just hate capitalism, must get lost.)
I'm pleased to see everyone in the Western Cape and Garden Route, from the premier and the mayors to the health department and police, believe the decision to close Garden Route beaches was irrational, and will be taking it up with national government.
I am so inspired by Ramaphosa's speech last night I'm spending today making promises, doing nothing, and daydreaming about all the cool shit I want.
#SONA2019
I hear it took a police minister, four generals and 47 officers to shut down a perfectly legal advertising shoot at Camps Bay. Imagine if the police bothered to fight real crime with the same enthusiasm.
Just what South Africa needs: infighting among the opposition. This sort of petty shit,
@MmusiMaimane
and
@helenzille
, is why the ANC will likely remain in power. Stop it.
SA must settle for ‘significant’ load shedding for rest of 2023, says Gordhan
(What happened to, 'We can fix this in six to 12 months once that saboteur De Ruyter is out of the way?')
I think Ngcukaitobi just made a serious mistake in his testimony to the ICJ, when he claimed that Israel is an occupying power with effective control over movements inside Gaza. If it was, 7 October would never have happened.
For a government that claims to seek dialogue between the two parties, they sure work hard to shut one side up. They're also entirely one-sided in their allegations of war crimes. This just underscores South Africa's irrelevance in global affairs.
[BREAKING NEWS] South Africa's parliament has voted and resolved to close the Israeli embassy and cut diplomatic ties. MPs also voted to suspend the Israeli ambassador to SA. Parliament says measures will be in place until Israel agrees to a ceasefire and participates in
How is this even legal, three days before an election? Abusing state power for nakedly party-political purposes again, clearly. Or is the SABC going to let all other major political party leaders "address the nation"?
PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA TO ADDRESS THE NATION
President
@CyrilRamaphosa
will this evening 26 May 2024, address the nation.
The President will address the nation as follows:
Time: 18h00
Date: Sunday, 26 May 2024
ISSUED BY THE PRESIDENCY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
If it wasn't for
@Our_DA
in neighbouring George and the Western Cape province,
#Knysna
would have had a stinking mountain of garbage in the middle of town during the tourist season. This is what happens when
@MyANC
captures a municipality: corruption, delinquency and collapse.
The crowd at the
@Our_DA
Rescue Rally in KZN. Yet leftwing hacks keep saying the DA is a racist party for white people. They're a disgrace to journalism.
Can't have an ANC speech without brownnosing Cuban communists for selling us a few doctors at many times what we pay our own doctors. All hail communist profiteers!
@phathu_1
@BillBeaumont
Rassie stood right at the back, giving Siya and his team the winner's stage. Cyril stood right at the front and immediately took the cup off Siya to lift it himself. Big, big difference. One is humble in a deserved victory. The other stole undeserved glory.
“Hear me very carefully, this country will be turned into civil war the day the MK Party is not allowed to campaign and to be on the ballot paper. No one will vote we will make sure that no one will vote” MK Party Visvin Reddy
“We are sending a loud and clear message that if
This is wonderful news. This could single-handedly add 3% growth to GDP, provided the ANC doesn't replace him with another communist obsessed with racial engineering, permit and tariff extortion, and master planning.
Dear
@vodacom
. Responding to my request to cancel my contract by telling me you can offer me more minutes and the same data for less than half what I'm paying now just means you've been charging me double for the last few months. Thanks for admitting you've been ripping me off.
If the vaccine rollout was intended to show off the benefits of NHI, it worked perfectly. Massive shortages of both vaccines and staff, long queues, interminable waiting for appointments, more rich people getting vaccinated than poor people. NHI will be just like this.