Monday, January 25, 2016

What is it like to apply to be a councilor for the Democratic Alliance?

Recently IOL ran a story quoting James Selfe and how they are going to make applying for 2016 local elections the toughest application process they have ever put candidates through..


The following quote from IOL explains the process that James Selfe is talking about:

DA federal chairman, James Selfe said the party was taking no chances. Future public representatives undergo a rigorous selection process and have to write aptitude tests to ascertain their fitness to hold public office.
Selfe said candidate selection has already started elsewhere in the country.
“Our candidate nomination process has three stages. First, all aspirant candidates appear before an electoral college, elected by the branches in the municipality in which the candidate wishes to stand.
“This electoral college elects a pool of candidates that is twice the size of the number of councillors we estimate will be elected in that municipality,” Selfe said.
He added that “approved aspirant candidates” will then appear before a selection panel, which interviews them and assesses their fitness by scoring them on a series of aptitude tests.
Selfe said there is at least one selection panel for each municipality.
“The selection panel arranges the candidates in descending order of scores.
“It also recommends the candidates that should be nominated in the various wards,” he said.

So what was it like to apply to be a public representative for the Democratic Alliance in 2016 Local Government Elections?

The short version. Very difficult, highly competitive, transparent and fair.

I thought I would document the following process so anyone who wants to become a councilor for the Democratic Party know that its not an easy or simple thing.

I did all the following steps on the back of my current experience of 5 years of volunteer work for the Democratic Alliance, serving first as a Vice-Chair for my ward branch, attending the Young Leaders Programme in 2013, becoming a Chair for my branch, was voted in a constituency leadership position (Vice-Chair for Buffalo City Coastal Constituency), was elected to serve on the RMC (Regional Management Committee) and was placed in the EMTT (Electoral Management Task Team).

Even with the years and time behind my name I still had to go through the following process (like most other candidates).


  1. - Applied to be a public representative for the Democratic Alliance.
  2. - Had to go through interview process to be accepted as a POTENTIAL candidate
  3. - Had to do an ideological test (they use this to assess your political orientation)
  4. - Did 6 month online course through their education portal called, “PCP (Potential candidate program). This was difficult and it often involved having to submit several thousand word essays on a topic. Everything is covered, from party history, structure, and effective counselor training skills (like how to work with a municipality, how to use the auditor generals report for research, research skills, leadership skills, municipal by-laws, working with civil society, time management, effective meeting management, the constitution and what's expected from a DA councilor (the job description is 8 pages long).
  5. - Had to attend many other training sessions and briefings.
  6. - Had to spend several months doing community work in rural areas, going door to door, working with rural civil society institutions, etc
  7. - Was then evaluated on all of this in what they call a PDMS, where you have to prove everything you did, including pictures of you attending every event you say you did, signed forms with your name on it from the meetings, etc. This is a very grueling interview and one that PR`s are now subjected to regularly.
  8. - All PR candidates (including existing councilors) now have to go through the electoral college. The Electoral College in my city considered of about 50 people. Made up of DA party members, some MP`s, some members of civil society (like a local pastor, chairs of the ratepayers associations, etc etc).

    This is actually your first real interview to become a councillor. The other interviews and tests where just to be a potential candidate. At the start of this process there were still about 100 or so people applying. In this first electoral college you are called in from a waiting room outside, and you stand in front of these people. You are then asked to speak about yourself and why you are applying for 3-5 min. After this you are asked a set of 5 questions and some of these questions are simple like, “can you tell us the party principles and what they mean to you?” and others more complicated, “What do you think is the most important piece of local government legislation in regulating local government in context of the constitution”. You are expected to give at least a 3 min response to each question.

    The members of the electoral college then each score your answer and how well they think you answered. All those scored answers are then tallied up and then put with your PDMS score.
  9. - The top people from this get to repeated this process two more times. You are given an additional PDMS and another ideological test, as well as a general knowledge test.
  10. - You get to the final interview. In my case Im applying to be a ward councilor for the ward my family (most of my extended family are in my ward). There were about 4 of us left. In the final interview you are not asked to start off with with introducing yourself. You given 10 minutes to prepare a 5 min public speech. A computer randomly selects 3 questions and from those 3 questions you need to pick 1. After 10 minutes you go in and deliver the public speech. Its worded like, “You are a councilor ...I had to remove this because people are still doing the tests

    You then get asked 10 questions which you need to give a 3-5 minute response to each question. Again, scores are tallied, and the top applicants get chosen from this score.

Okay, this is as far as I am in the interview process. i think that's that, and they will let the winning candidates (which means you will be the DA candidate to contest a ward for them) know at the end of the month :/

The application and vigorous and challenging and not only are you tested a lot, but you also learn a lot. The Job Description to be a Councilor for the Democratic Alliance is 8 pages long. Eventually when you get to this part of the process. You are more nervous about getting the position and been able to fulfill expectations than you are of not getting through. 

Right now myself and hundreds of other candidates are waiting with nervous energy for the incredibly hard task we have ahead of us of rebuilding this country, looking after our constituencies and giving the people of South Africa the service delivery they deserve. 

Sunday, January 24, 2016

When racist do not know history - PART1

This is going to be a multi part series. Sitting in South Africa's largest political form ( Khuluma Afrika ) you get to see all crazy and weird stuff. The strangest opinions with the most bizarre points of view. Generally its harmless, but sometimes the disgusting racists creep in.

Rancid racists come in all forms. Some black, some white, and some that are black that pretend to be white and visa versa. There is a new breed of black supremacist racism that is growing in South Africa.

This is mostly due to the South African Nazi Party which is commonly known as the EFF. They call themselves economic freedom fighters when in reality they are a bunch of unemployed racists who couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper packet.

Anyways, one of the resident black supremacists in Khuluma Afrika decided to post the following idiotic meme:


 He starts out with the statement:

"Did you know it was black people who kick- started Civilization worldwide?"

While people from Africa played a very important role in the development of civilizations (and every human alive today has an African ancestor) they certainly are not responsible for any of the developments he shows in the meme beyond the one in Egypt (which they did not "kick start").

This confusion comes from a short period in Egyptian history where the Nubian Kingdom had basically taken over Egypt and they ruled the Kingdom of Egypt for a short while. A couple of Egyptian statues with bantu features from the Nubian influence is enough to confuse the heck out of a racist who doesnt know his history. And those statues are evidence to a small mind that one demographic was responsible for the Egyptian civilization. Many civilizations played a part in ancient Egyptian culture including the Ancient Greeks, Assyrians, Romans and many more.

Not only that, by the time the pyramids were built and long before Nubian influence on Egypt, European and Middle Eastern civilizations were flourishing.

I don't think I have to spend much time on the ancient Chinese, Mexican, Peruvian and Indonesian ruins. African black people had absolutely nothing to do with their developments on any level. Black people from Africa have contributed greatly to humanity but building or been involved in any of those ancient civilizations is not it.

The most ancient recorded civilization does not come from black Africans nor does it come from white Europeans. It comes from the Middle East.

The oldest signs of sedentary culture can be found in Levant where the Natufian culture is observed evolving from nomadic hunters to an agricultural society. The earliest proto-urban settlements can be found in the Neolithic Age which was from 6900 BC-6500 BC. Again this is from people who who are neither from Africa or Europe.

So what we do know is that civilization did not start in either Europe or Africa, and as much as white supremacists want to think it started in Europe or black supremacists want to believe it started in Africa. Neither group of racist idiots can honestly make that claim.

In the above meme, while he is comparing different ancient civilizations he puts a picture of ancient neanderthal cavemen (pictures from 50 000 years ago). A people who were extinct before civilizations began anywhere and who died out when early humans (homo sapiens aka the children of Africa) migrated into those areas and probably hunted neanderthals to extinction.

Now before I let this go let me show you an example of a Kudzanayi trying to con you with his professional victim act.

"Enough of the lies and colonial falsehoods"

What lies and colonial falsehoods? Colonialists have never said civilization started in Europe. Most colonialists from Europe worshipped a religion that identified several civilizations more ancient than themselves in their holy texts.

In the meme Kudzanayi presents and the words he uses, he insinuates that colonialists from Europe (lets not forget Kudzanayis ancestors are also land conquering colonialists) told black people that civilization started with white people.

I called this first release in this series, "When racists do not know history - Part 1" as I am sure Kudzanayi and other poorly educated racists are going to be giving me a lot of content to work with in the upcoming months. As I come across their lies and intentional disinformation I will be presenting that information here to show to the world, what foolish things ignorant racists believe.



Friday, January 22, 2016

The ANC and perception manufacturing for Elections 2016

Well its election season again which generally means one thing. Whites are racist. That's the theme we see just before every election. The ANC cadres are master manipulators of perception.... and they will stop at almost nothing to manufacture your perception and convince you that such is true.

I remember watching Mbeki talking about perception, I remember him saying, "almost everything is about perception". The ANC know about perception and they know how to manipulate it.

A good example would be the #PennySparrow racist incident. Where a stupid racist white lady said some backwards racist statements about black people.

Now in most places in the world this would have gone unnoticed. Heck, even in South Africa outside of election season no one cares about idiot racists.... but come election season, and then the ANC are on a mission.

In the past (and even still today), dishonest ANC cadres fan out into the rural countryside and tell rural folk that if the Democratic Alliance (a party with white people it) ever gets power, they will bring back Apartheid.

This is a ridiculous statement to anyone who knows the DA and their history. The DA are not an offshoot of the NP, the DA are a non-racial liberal party which has many decades of ardent liberal creds. The DA is the latest form of the PFP (Helen Suzman's political party) and has a long history of fighting oppressive governments. They fought both the racist Apartheid government and now they are fighting the corrupt ANC government. If anything, the Democratic Alliance is probably the least racist and most non-racial of the three biggest political parties.

The Democratic Alliance are doing such a good job of fighting the ANC and they deliver incredible levels of service delivery that this has the ANC terrified. So their reaction? Do what they have always done just before an election.

Create the perception that the DA is a racist party full of racists to scare their traditional voting base into voting for them and to stop people talking about important issues such as Nkandla, Income inequality, Lack of land reform, lack of service delivery, terrible president who is looting our country, the attacks on the judiciary, the incredibly high levels of corruption, the poor employment rate, the terrible education results and about a 100 more important, more pressing issues than the words of a insignificant idiot racist.

Look what they did with Penny Sparrow. She is a no-name, insignificant nobody. She has never held a position in the Democratic Alliance and she has never being involved in any way in its structures.

However, since it's the silly season and the ANC desperately needed ammo, they took Pennys comments and amplified it something silly. On any given day, no one would give a hoot about an idiot racist, but on this day, all of a sudden in absolute and in complete synchronization, the ANC troll factory came out in force.

You would think based on the outcry online, that Penny basically tells Mmusi and Helen how to run the DA. A random voter of no significance who had never even attended a DA branch meeting suddenly became the poster child for a "racist DA".

The ANC troll factory has one job. Manufacture the perception. Manufacture perception that the DA is a racist party, that all white people are racist. This includes painting progressive and liberal Cape Town as a center of racist activity (just because it is DA controlled).

Let me take my hat of to them, even though their troll factory is a little child like (I study propaganda and I am used to the more sophisticated Russian Troll Factory), they were able to manufacture the perception that South Africa is a country in racial turmoil and that the DA is a haven for racists.

It was pretty amazing to watch about 1000 or so real and fake accounts all of a sudden come out of the woodwork from nowhere and all say the same thing. It was almost like they were all reading from the same script and had been told to talk about the same talking points. It was perception manufacturing amplified via social media.

The ANC know this, they planned this. They are spending tens of millions on manufacturing this perception. I have several black friends who were contacted and they were asked to help with perception manufacturing. I knew this racist storm was coming weeks before it hit us. I just never thought it would be so huge. Clearly ANC pockets are deep and they are desperate and will do anything (no matter how evil) to cling onto power.

While the DA has some racists (all parties have idiot racists in them), the Democratic Alliance is the ONLY party that deals with their racists when found out. You have had public representatives for ANC say far worse things, but they were ignored. In the ANC its not considered taboo to be racist against white people. The EFFs whole manifesto is basically built on "wit gevaar" (their version of "swart gevaar") and racists are honored and revered within the party. The entire ethos of the EFF is built on hate. However, they are not behind this manufacturing of perception, the ANC are.

If you look at DA members who are found to be racist, they lose their jobs quickly (if found guilty of being racist). Now compare that to this list of ANC & EFF politicians who in some cases said far more racist comments than Penny... who have kept their jobs (or been promoted).

Lindiwe Sisulu accused Mmusi of been a, "hired native".

Julius Malema has a long record of making racist statements like: "“This is a building of a revolutionary party, and you know nothing about the revolution … so here you behave or else you jump … chief can you get security to remove this thing here … and you don’t come here with that tendency, don’t come here with that white tendency, not here … you are a small boy, you cannot do anything.” He concludes this rant by calling him a “bastard” and a “bloody agent”." and In October 2010 addressing a crowd in Stellenbosch Malema called Helen Zille a cockroach. “If Zille had her way, she would declare the Western Cape an independent republic. You have put a cockroach in Cabinet and we need to remove that cockroach by voting the ANC into power.” (you have to admit, his words sound a lot like something that went through the airways just before the Rwandan genocide) Or the time he talked about Lindiwe and said "She is a tea girl of the madame, and her role must remain there in the kitchen for making the tea for the madame. Because that’s what she chose for herself. So I am not going to be debating with servants for the madame"

In 2009 Anele Mda called Deidre Carter (COPE deputy secretary) a “stupid, white token bitch”" In 2010 Jimmy Manyi (someone who hypocritically had a go at Penny Sparrow and "racists" said, "This over-concentration of coloured people in the Western Cape is not working for them …they are in over-supply where they are" and in July 2015, we had an ANC councilor by the name of Kenny Barrel Nkosi say, "Whites must f***off".

Where was this outrage against racism in all these incidents?

The reason I showed you this is because I wanted to make it clear that all parties have racists... but it  but only ONE party (DA) is actually dealing with the racists. The other major parties (ANC and EFF) harbour and protect their racists.

I know the ANC tactics, I know their next step. The Democratic Alliance are not the ANC's only target, so it was so ironic, watching the ANC troll factory set the tempo for the EFF who happily jumped in on the white bashing (its their thing). What the EFF do not know yet (however I am sure they will soon), is that they are also a target.

The ANC's campaign against the Democratic Alliance is simple. Race, race, race. Make it seem like South Africa has a racist crisis and pretend to be concerned about the "rise in racism". However, the ANC strategy against Malema and his Nazi...er I mean Black Nationalist Socialist Party is going to be a lot different. Instead of hitting Malema on race (which they cant, as there are not enough white people in the EFF) they are going to manufacture the perception that Malema was behind the deaths of the miners at Marikana and that he (Malema) is the main instigator and primary person responsible for the bloodshed at Marikana.

How do I know this? From the same source that told me that the ANC troll factory were going to create a racist storm against the DA. So far my source has been 100% reliable. The ANC have spent at least R20 million so far (according to my source), to manufacture this perception.

All this racial tension that you feel in the air? All the attacks on Malema? Expect them to disappear right after elections.

South Africa has idiot racists like everyone else, however, they do not represent our culture even in the slightest. The average white South African, just like the average black South African is happy to get along with whomever. Most South Africans (white and black) are not racist. Most of us work and coexist peacefully and in prosperity.

It appears I am not the only person to notice and identify the work of the ANC troll factory. Moeletsi Mbeki had the following to say about this race-tension amplification:

"However, Mbeki says recent racist posts that have made headlines over the past few weeks are not a true reflection of South African society. “Many people think, just because of few individuals on social media, that we as a society are riddled with racism and this is definitely not true.

I can honestly say, that in the 5 years I have been a member of the Democratic Alliance in the Eastern Cape (activist, not public representative), I have never once come across a single white or black person in the party who has ever said a single racist comment to me.

To my fellow South Africans of all colors. Dont let the ANC manufacture your perception with "wit gevaar". Its the same tactic the Nationalist Party used (except they had Swart Gevaar). You need to learn to identify manufactured perception and deal with it. Don't let it set the beat to your heart and mind (even though it seems like so many people are saying it, it just has to be true).

South Africans need to unite against those sowing racial disharmony. The people who preach "wit gevaar" are doing it for a reason. The longer you folk are fighting over race, the more they will get away with.

Anyways, this is my two cents. This article will go by completely unnoticed. The ANC troll factory is so hard at manufacturing perception that a post like this is about as effective as a goose farting against a hurricane.

For South Africa to succeed, South Africans need to be able to identify when they are being used and manipulated. I really hope for our country's sake they do this sooner than later.

Ndiyabulela, thank you for taking the time to read this post. 

Monday, January 18, 2016

White privilege is racism

I have to apologize for the click-baity title. A lot of people are going to start reading this expecting one perspective, but in the process learn a whole new perspective.


The theme of this article is, “white privilege”, and how it is racist. Just to clarify, I do not mean that white people are all racists with “privilege”, I mean the actual term, “white privilege” is a racist term that should only be used by racists.


Before we continue lets break down the meanings of a couple of the words that I have used so far. The first and most important definition I want to touch on is the definition of, “racism”. What does it mean? Having recently seen a lot of EFF supporting racists make the statement, “but black people cant be racist”, and then go on to call for a genocide of all white people (often followed by the hashtag, “#RacistsMustFall”), I feel the definition of racism is not something enough young people in South Africa understand.


According to the Oxford English Dictionary (what I consider an authority on the meaning of English words)


“racism


Pronunciation: /ˈreɪsɪz(ə)m/
noun


1.1The belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races”


The next definition I am going to is “privilege”


privilege
ˈprɪvɪlɪdʒ/Submit
noun
1.
a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group.

When they talk about “white privilege” in the South African context, it implies the following:


  1. All whites have this special “white privilege”
  2. Just by being born white you get this privilege
  3. White people cant understand black people and poverty because of this privilege


So before I talk about privilege, lets just see if the comment “white privilege” is a racist statement. Let's go back to our definition of racism which says:

The belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race,”


Using the standard definition of racism, we can see that the term “white privilege” is racist as it applies a certain characteristic, ability or quality to a group of people based on the color of their skin. So yes, it is a racist statement. However is it true?


To a degree it is. Privilege (when wealth blinds people to the suffering of poverty - also known in the USA as "affluenza") is a very real thing. But here is the kicker. It doesnt just apply to white people. It applies to all people with wealth. No matter what their skin color. If someone is born into wealth they often can not identify with the needs and the suffering of the poor. Especially when they live in ivory towers and only view echo chambers online.

But many white people do not suffer from "privilege". Many white people today are born into poverty and inequality just like their black brothers and sisters or come from good homes, but are deeply involved in their communities so see the effects of poverty daily and are not out of touch with the reality of what is happening on the ground.


To highlight how privilege is not just a “whites only” problem in South Africa I have included the following news headlines of a messed up new craze that wealthy black South African youth (born frees) are doing in front of their poorer countryfolk in the townships and squatter camps.

In the following two pictures we see young black South Africans, who clearly suffer from privilege, burning money and brand new clothes directly in front of their poverty stricken fellow citizens in a practice known as, “Izikhothane”.

burn2.png


burn1.png


Privilege is a real concept, and many white people DO suffer from it. This is not some kinda apologetic piece to make it out that white people do not suffer from privilege. White people are humans just like everyone else, so its pretty obvious they suffer from the same conditions as every other human does.


Many white people are in denial about the past. Many white people in their wealthy suburban homes do NOT understand poverty (even though they think they do). They think the only reason why a large group of black people is poor is because they are too lazy to get up and go work for a living. They dont understand that blaming the poor for poverty is like blaming a soldier for a war. Most of these white people do not understand real hunger, do not understand real poverty and do not understand suffering at grass roots.


They also do not see an understand the advantages that the previous Apartheid government has given them that they still benefit from to this day.

However, saying that. I can say the EXACT same thing about a massive portion of South African black people who now live in the middle class.


We must not forget that there has been a huge shift in financial demographics over the last 20 years. So much so, that the black middle class is now larger than the white middle class.


Hundreds of thousands of (born free) black youth are now born into privilege… and like their white brethren, are ignorant to the suffering of poor South Africans. White people are like black people and black people are like white people. There is nothing that the one cultural group suffers from that the other does not


So when people talk about “White privilege”, let them know that that is a racist statement. Get them talking about “privilege” and how it impacts all youth, not just white people and how we can best educate those youth and people to be more sensitive and understanding to the plight of the poor in our country. However, when we make it about “white privilege” instead of just “privilege”. we detract from the issues of social and income inequality and add to the fuel of racial divisiveness.


Not enough is being done to address inequality in our great nation. Government money is being squandered, corrupted and stolen. ANC cadres are looting the system and money is not getting to the people who need it the most.

Been white is not a requirement to suffer from "privilege", being wealthy and having shitty parents is.


South Africa needs to deal with the issue of privilege and inequality. Fighting racism with racism is kinda like shagging for virginity. Its going to get you nowhere and just piss off a lot of people.


Sources:

Monday, January 4, 2016

Are South Africans being racist in their condemnation of racists?

DISCLAIMER: The purpose of this article is not to make out that one group of racists is worse than another. All racists of all skin colors are equally vile. The purpose of this article is to highlight that racism in South Africa is not just a "whites only" problem, and to highlight that white racists are no better or no worse than black racists. I have included a small sample of the comments made, so should not be considered an accurate reflection of racist ratios or anything like that. It was never intended to be. The single most important point this article makes is.... not only whites are racist, and the second most important point it makes, we (us South Africans) are appear to have double standards on how we treat racists. 


So this is a pretty hot topic, one that I am a little nervous about speaking up about, but the inner liberal in me cries out for equal social justice. I am an equal opportunity offender. I despise racists of all colors and all stripes. 

So I was pretty shocked to see a white South African make a really silly, insensitive and racist comment (that is embarrassing to anyone who reads it).

Here is the original comment and her "apology". 




Now Pennys comments are trending all over social media. Rightfully so. She said something horrible and she is being held accountable for it. However, I noticed a racist trend in the condemnation of Penny's racism. It seems the majority of South Africans will only criticize a white racist. Apparently all racists are not equal and South Africans mostly ignored the thousands of racists comments coming from other commentators. I have included a handful of these comments to give you an idea at what I am talking about: (this is not meant to be a volume counter or meter of the amount of racists, there were also white racists who made more comments, but this is to highlight it not a whites only problem - white people already know they have a problem, and its unlikely you will hear a white person say, "but white people cant be racist").




Almost no one had anything to say about Lucky's racism, and he was not the only one.





























































































































































































Now all the comments above seem to show varying degrees of racism, call for violence, give out her personal details (including phone numbers, ID, etc) or other forms of dehumanization.

When I confronted these people to let them know they are fighting a racist by being racist.... my words and the irony of their actions appeared to be lost on them.

Or if acknowledged, a racist response like these was given:





The media and a huge portion of South Africa attacked and rightfully condemned Penny for her racist comments, but that same huge portion of South Africa did not say a word, or ignored the words of Lucky and the other racists.

Why do we seem to have such serious double standards with black racists and white racists? Are we racist in our racist condemnation?

By condemning one group of racists and doing nothing about the other group appears to legitimize the views of those racists. We need to be careful in our condemnation and apply it equally to all people of all colors. Every group has racists. We need to confront ALL racists. Not just the ones of a skin color that is not ours.

OFFICIAL DA RESPONSE TO PENNYS RACIST COMMENTS


A good move from the Democratic Alliance. Racists will not be tolerated on any level within the party. The DA is a liberal party building a multicultural, nonracial society. 

Not all political parties fire the racists in their parties:

http://www.citizen.co.za/419775/whites-must-fkoff-anc-councillor/

UPDATE:



JOHANNESBURG – Jawitz Properties says it's taking serious action against its former employee for posting a racist comment on her Facebook page.
Penny Sparrow took to social media on Saturday and referred to black people as monkeys.

The funniest thing here, is we are all children of Africa. This highlights the levels of ignorance in Penny's comments. We are primates that learnt to make machines. As the quote goes, "these beings with soaring imaginations, would eventually find themselves and their machines in interplanetary space". We are an amazing primate species. I consider myself a proud African primate.

UPDATE:

The EFF`s official response. If you swapped the word "white" out for the word "Jew", you would think you were at a rally in Germany in 1941. Basically their response makes outrageous, hyperbolic claims about how white people in South Africa are, attributes the actions of a few idiots to all white people, complains just about white racists, and contains a motion they want to pass that is a basically a blatant racist law designed only to protect one group of people.