Councillor's Corner
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| To Advertise In This Space CLICK HERE FOR A FREE QUOTE |
| To Advertise In This Space CLICK HERE FOR A FREE QUOTE |
Lifetime Bluff resident serving his third term in office as representative
of the area. Member of the Democratic Alliance.
of the area. Member of the Democratic Alliance.
This weeks Councillor comments
| Duncan Du Bois |
Phone:467-0343 or mobile:083 291-4913
Municipal Manager - Dr Sutcliffe: Tel 311-2130 ;
SutcliffeM@durban.gov.za
SutcliffeM@durban.gov.za
Report dumping or unauthorised use of verges; Phone 311-7448
Metro All-Call / All hours Tel No.: 361-0000
Metro Police: Tel 402-0680
Brighton Beach SAPS: Tel 451 8060 / 8059
Brighton Beach Community Policing Forum Chairman: Carl Knauff : 082 449-6503
Metro All-Call / All hours Tel No.: 361-0000
Metro Police: Tel 402-0680
Brighton Beach SAPS: Tel 451 8060 / 8059
Brighton Beach Community Policing Forum Chairman: Carl Knauff : 082 449-6503
Useful Contacts
| South Durban Community Environmental Alliance |
| To Advertise In This Space CLICK HERE FOR A FREE QUOTE |
| Educating for Eternity |
Disclaimer: The views expressed are not necessarily those of the owners & publishers of this website and the accuracy is not guaranteed.
| Visitor Number |
| More Interesting Reading Bluff Hostage Boom Ruling well Bluff Movies Can Zim happen here? SUTCLIFFE'S BAASSKAP RENAMING ROADS BEACH NEWS |
COMMUNISM BELONGS ON THE TRASH HEAP
•Fri, 20 Jul 2007
Apartheid in South Africa and communism in Eastern Europe collapsed simultaneously in the
early nineties.
Their passing was universally applauded. In that context the soft, uncritical media coverage
of last week’s South African Communist Party congress in Port Elizabeth is patently at odds
with history.
Both ideologies failed because they are impractical. They both emasculated freedom and
opportunity and relied on draconian measures for policy implementation.
The one espoused separation with equality but was incapable of delivering the latter. The
other promised egalitarianism but delivered an arrested state of development and branded
freedom as a threat to state security. Both discredited ideologies were associated with
crimes against humanity. In the former USSR alone there were in excess of 50 million victims
of communism.
It is, therefore, totally absurd that the SACP, as a tiny, surviving anachronism of a blood-
soaked, totalitarian era should enjoy the extensive, patronising coverage the media
showered on it last week. This is not to say that the SACP should be given the silent
treatment. Rather, its policies should be critically evaluated and exposed for what they are.
Of course, it is only because of its relationship with the ANC that the SACP finds itself in the
media spotlight. Other small parties such as the Freedom Front Plus and the African
Christian Democratic Party do not receive that kind of coverage when they hold their
congresses even though they command more votes than the SACP would get if it dared to
contest elections by itself.
Nonetheless, this all serves to highlight the absurdity of the Tripartite Alliance. On the one
hand, the ANC crows about its role in bringing freedom and democracy to South Africa. Yet
at the same time it embraces a party the very purpose of which and whose track record, is
distinguished by its denial of freedom to dissent. While the ANC has wisely promoted free
enterprise economic growth, its partner seeks to supplant that policy with the failed
economics of Karl Marx. The Constitution enshrines individual rights. If the SACP had its way
those rights would be subordinated to the interests of the party.
The Tripartite Alliance is every bit a contradiction as would be the case if the Democratic
Alliance entered into a partnership with the Herstigte Nasionale Party. Media condemnation
would be unreserved. Political credibility would be beyond salvage. Why is it, then, that the
failed ideology of communism as espoused by the SACP is not condemned, nor is its
partnership with the ANC exposed as a political fraud?
Following the recently reported decision of the Gauteng chapter of the SACP to contest the
2009 election separately from the ANC, it was interesting to hear SACP deputy general-
secretary Jeremy Cronin state on SAfm a view to the contrary. Couched in comradely
phrases, Cronin was at pains to underline the SACP’s dependence on the “populist” appeal
of the ANC. What a cheek! Vote for the ANC so that the SACP can benefit from your
mandate. That’s democratic fraud. Yet that is what is being perpetrated on South Africa as
the unelected SACP piggybacks on the ANC and enjoys representation in high office on a
scale that bears no resemblance to its electoral profile.
It should also be a matter of concern that there are those who see a role for the SACP in
confronting the issue of poverty. The editorial in the Mercury on July 16 is a case in point.
The poverty of such thinking beggars belief because the consequence of socialist
economics is the perpetuation of poverty. Only the elite in communist parties ever benefit.
For 70 years communists promised the people of Russia the deliverance of a workers’
paradise. For 70 years Russians lived in cramped, spartan apartments, were always short of
food and consumer goods, and were at the mercy of a faceless bureaucracy that determined
their lives from the cradle to the grave.
No system can eliminate poverty. But what is a proven fact is that an open-opportunity
society facilitates avenues for advancement based on the recognition of enterprise and
initiative as the key traits of human nature necessary for the generation of wealth and
progress. The majority of immigrants to the United States arrived poor and impoverished. But
thanks to the open-opportunity society that is the U.S., they did not stay that way.
Unfortunately, a mindset prevails in Africa that confers dependence on and renders
subservience to collective authority. It has its roots in tribalism.
Communism, which is simply extreme socialism, fits very snugly into that milieu. It’s that
mindset which is hobbling economic growth and poverty alleviation in South Africa. Inflexible
labour laws and state interference in the economy, prescribing prices on medicines being a
case in point, exemplify the socialist nanny state.
Ensconced in the corridors of power, the SACP is now trying to influence the succession
process within the ANC.
Until the hammer and sickle is consigned to the dustbin of history such a state of affairs
holds naught for South Africa’s comfort.
Published: 20 July 2007
The Witness, Pietermaritzburg
•Fri, 20 Jul 2007
Apartheid in South Africa and communism in Eastern Europe collapsed simultaneously in the
early nineties.
Their passing was universally applauded. In that context the soft, uncritical media coverage
of last week’s South African Communist Party congress in Port Elizabeth is patently at odds
with history.
Both ideologies failed because they are impractical. They both emasculated freedom and
opportunity and relied on draconian measures for policy implementation.
The one espoused separation with equality but was incapable of delivering the latter. The
other promised egalitarianism but delivered an arrested state of development and branded
freedom as a threat to state security. Both discredited ideologies were associated with
crimes against humanity. In the former USSR alone there were in excess of 50 million victims
of communism.
It is, therefore, totally absurd that the SACP, as a tiny, surviving anachronism of a blood-
soaked, totalitarian era should enjoy the extensive, patronising coverage the media
showered on it last week. This is not to say that the SACP should be given the silent
treatment. Rather, its policies should be critically evaluated and exposed for what they are.
Of course, it is only because of its relationship with the ANC that the SACP finds itself in the
media spotlight. Other small parties such as the Freedom Front Plus and the African
Christian Democratic Party do not receive that kind of coverage when they hold their
congresses even though they command more votes than the SACP would get if it dared to
contest elections by itself.
Nonetheless, this all serves to highlight the absurdity of the Tripartite Alliance. On the one
hand, the ANC crows about its role in bringing freedom and democracy to South Africa. Yet
at the same time it embraces a party the very purpose of which and whose track record, is
distinguished by its denial of freedom to dissent. While the ANC has wisely promoted free
enterprise economic growth, its partner seeks to supplant that policy with the failed
economics of Karl Marx. The Constitution enshrines individual rights. If the SACP had its way
those rights would be subordinated to the interests of the party.
The Tripartite Alliance is every bit a contradiction as would be the case if the Democratic
Alliance entered into a partnership with the Herstigte Nasionale Party. Media condemnation
would be unreserved. Political credibility would be beyond salvage. Why is it, then, that the
failed ideology of communism as espoused by the SACP is not condemned, nor is its
partnership with the ANC exposed as a political fraud?
Following the recently reported decision of the Gauteng chapter of the SACP to contest the
2009 election separately from the ANC, it was interesting to hear SACP deputy general-
secretary Jeremy Cronin state on SAfm a view to the contrary. Couched in comradely
phrases, Cronin was at pains to underline the SACP’s dependence on the “populist” appeal
of the ANC. What a cheek! Vote for the ANC so that the SACP can benefit from your
mandate. That’s democratic fraud. Yet that is what is being perpetrated on South Africa as
the unelected SACP piggybacks on the ANC and enjoys representation in high office on a
scale that bears no resemblance to its electoral profile.
It should also be a matter of concern that there are those who see a role for the SACP in
confronting the issue of poverty. The editorial in the Mercury on July 16 is a case in point.
The poverty of such thinking beggars belief because the consequence of socialist
economics is the perpetuation of poverty. Only the elite in communist parties ever benefit.
For 70 years communists promised the people of Russia the deliverance of a workers’
paradise. For 70 years Russians lived in cramped, spartan apartments, were always short of
food and consumer goods, and were at the mercy of a faceless bureaucracy that determined
their lives from the cradle to the grave.
No system can eliminate poverty. But what is a proven fact is that an open-opportunity
society facilitates avenues for advancement based on the recognition of enterprise and
initiative as the key traits of human nature necessary for the generation of wealth and
progress. The majority of immigrants to the United States arrived poor and impoverished. But
thanks to the open-opportunity society that is the U.S., they did not stay that way.
Unfortunately, a mindset prevails in Africa that confers dependence on and renders
subservience to collective authority. It has its roots in tribalism.
Communism, which is simply extreme socialism, fits very snugly into that milieu. It’s that
mindset which is hobbling economic growth and poverty alleviation in South Africa. Inflexible
labour laws and state interference in the economy, prescribing prices on medicines being a
case in point, exemplify the socialist nanny state.
Ensconced in the corridors of power, the SACP is now trying to influence the succession
process within the ANC.
Until the hammer and sickle is consigned to the dustbin of history such a state of affairs
holds naught for South Africa’s comfort.
Published: 20 July 2007
The Witness, Pietermaritzburg
You can contact Councillor D Du Bois by e-mail @ dubois@axxess.co.za