In the spirit of Christmas, people have opened their hearts and wallets to help farm attack victims.
During a farm attack near Leeudoringstad on the farm Rietkuil Mr.
Thys Grobbelaar, (81) and his wife Rita, (76), Rita, were seriously
injured while their daughter Karin Nel (53) sustained injuries, and
their grandson, Joe Astle (24) was shot in the mouth.
Mr. Louis Meintjes, president of TAU SA has launched a fundraising
drive to assist Nel and her son Joe, when it emerged that they were in
state hospitals and not receiving appropriate treatment, due to the
shortage of doctors.
Joe was seriously injured. He was shot through the cheek, which
caused him to lose his teeth, his tongue was severely cut, and a bullet
remains lodged near his eye.
Within hours after the shocking incident, Mr. Meintjes, and TAU’s
regional chairman in the Western Region, Mr. Theunis Kruger set out to
assist the family. After the initial transport and transfer costs were
paid, Joe was transferred to a private hospital. Mr. Meintjies received
promises of support for this family and donations are expected from the
generosity of caring people. It is unsure at this stage what surgery and
treatment Joe will require and as there is no medical aid, the costs
can be extremely high.
The Anncron Clinic has offered a consultation and an anesthetist has
volunteered to assist. Several surgeons have indicated that they will
charge a reduced life in an attempt to save the young man’s life.
TAU’s vice president and chairman of the safety committee, Mr. Henry
Geldenhuys, said the fund will be ongoing and used for similar incidents
in the future. He called on the public to continue sending
contributions in order to register a national fund for victims.
Contributions for Mr. Joe Astle’s medical care can be deposited into the following account
HG Kotzee
Absa 628855773
Savings account. Reference: Joe
A new species of dinosaur is described, on average, every ten days. As many as 31 species have already been reported this year and we can expect a few more before 2016 is over. Of course, figuring out what counts as a distinct species is a tricky problem. Palaeontologists are argumentative by nature, so getting any two of them to agree on a definitive list of species is probably impossible. But by anyone’s count, there were a lot of them – 700 or 800 that we know of, probably thousands in total. So how did the dinosaurs become so diverse?
First we need an idea of just how many dinosaur species there were. One study tried to estimate the total diversity of dinosaurs by using the species-area effect – the idea being that if we know how many species one small part of the Earth can support, we can extrapolate how many must have existed worldwide. These calculations suggest that at the end of the Mesozoic, 66m years ago, the standing diversity of dinosaurs – all the species alive at one point in time – was between 600 and 1,000 species.
This seems to be a reasonable estimate, in that if you counted up all of the living land mammals weighing more than 1kg (the size of the smallest dinosaurs) and then added the extinct species from the past 50,000 years, such as wooly mammoths, ground sloths, and giant kangaroos (correcting for losses to diversity caused by humans) you would end up with a similar figure.
However, this is just the number of species around at one point in time, and the dinosaurs were around for a very, very long time. Over the course of the Mesozoic, dinosaurs constantly evolved and went extinct. Doing some quick and rough estimates, and assuming 1,000 species of dinosaurs lived at any one time, and then that the species turned over every million years – that’s 160 times over the 160m-year reign of the dinosaurs – we end up with 160,000 species. Which is a lot of dinosaurs.
This is, of course, a very rough estimate. It depends on a lot of assumptions, such as how many different species the planet can support, and how quickly they evolve and go extinct. If we assume a lower standing diversity of 500 species and slower turnover, with species lasting 2m years, for example, we end up with around 50,000 species. On the other hand, perhaps standing diversity of 2,000 species is reasonable for the warm, lush, Mesozoic, and perhaps they only lasted just half a million years. That gives us over 500,000 species. So it seems reasonable to guess that there were between 50,000 and 500,000 species of dinosaurs – without including Mesozoic birds, which might double the diversity.
So many fossils. Shutterstock
Why so many species, then? It comes down to three things. Dinosaurs were good at specialisation, localisation, and speciation.
Specialisation
Dinosaurs were specialists, and by specialising to exploit different niches, different species could coexist without competing. In western North America, the giant predator T. rex coexisted with little meat-eating dromaeosaurs. Enormous, long-necked sauropods browsed alongside horned ceratopsians, which grazed on ferns and flowers. There were smaller plant-eaters – pachycephalosaurs and ornithomimids – as well as heron-like fish eaters, and even anteater-like insectivores.
And within these niches, there was further specialisation. T. rex was large and had massive jaws but fairly stocky limbs, and was well-suited to preying on the slow-moving but heavily armed Triceratops. T. rex‘s cousin, Nanotyrannus, was smaller but had the lanky legs of a marathon runner, and probably chased down faster prey. This specialisation meant that - based on my recent studies of the fauna – as many as 25 dinosaurs could live side-by-side in one habitat.
Localisation
Localisation refers to how different places had different dinosaur species. Mongolia had one set of animals – tyrannosaurs, duckbills, and ostrich dinosaurs – inhabiting a lush delta that flowed through the middle of a desert. Just a few miles away, little horned dinosaurs and parrot-headed oviraptors inhabited the dune fields. Dinosaurs also show differences across continents, with different species inhabiting different parts of North America, for example. Between continents, the differences are even more extreme. During the Late Cretaceous, North America and Asia were dominated by tyrannosaurs, duckbilled dinosaurs, and horned dinosaurs. But Africa and South America, cut off by oceans for tens of millions of years, had an entirely different set of species. Instead of tyrannosaurs, the horned abelisaurs were top predators. Instead of duckbills, the long-necked titanosaurs were the dominant plant eaters.
Speciation
Dinosaurs evolved new species with remarkable speed. Radioactive dating has made it possible to date the rocks containing dinosaur fossils, and from that, to estimate how long dinosaur species lasted. The rocks forming the Hell Creek Formation in Montana, for example, were deposited over a period of around 2m years. At the bottom of these strata, we have one species- Triceratops horridus, and at the top, we have a second Triceratops prorsusevolving from the first.
This implies that a species lasts a million years or less – a short time, at least in geological terms. Studies of other formations, and other horned dinosaurs, tend to suggest that other species were similarly short-lived. In the badlands of Dinosaur Park in Canada, we can find fossils that show three different sets of dinosaur – the first replaced by the second, the second by the third – evolving in 2m years. Dinosaurs evolved rapidly, driven by shifts in the planet’s seas, climates, and continents, and also the evolution of other dinosaurs. And if they didn’t, they went extinct.
We’ll never know exactly how many dinosaurs existed. It’s so rare for an animal to fossilise and be preserved that many tens of thousands of species, maybe hundreds of thousands, are probably lost to us forever. And yet the remarkable thing is that the pace of dinosaur discovery has actually increased over the years. Most of the species that have ever lived are lost, but we have thousands left to find.
This horrific scene witnessed at Blythedale Beach forces any
patriotic South African to involuntarily vomit, just a little, in your
own mouth.
The way we mistreat our beautiful beaches/coasts reflects a hurtful
lack of respect we have for ourselves as Africans. Ma’ Africa stirs
angrily at this abuse of her goodness.
No
doubt, this is an omen. It reveals the disturbing trend of the moral
character of our people and the challenges ahead as a country. We
suffered for our liberation, and now we vomit, urinate, shit and litter
on the very shores of the African land that has embraced us.
So much for the dignity, our parents fought for.
What is the mindset of these feral people who feel empowered to
behave this way? Are they just carefree? Are they embittered at life?
Are they oblivious to their behavior? Are they brazenly setting the bar
for what is the new norm in South Africa? Either way, it is clear their
descent into wretchedness is disturbing.
Close to 6000 people moved into the village just after 22:00 last night. No police support.
Emergency services could not gain access to attend to a stabbing.
Three bodies were found on the beach, abandoned, this juxtaposed with
early morning sex throes reverberating from the bushes nearby.
These bodies lie cold, like the future, our children can expect
should we continue to let our government silently sponsor the
destruction of moral values and the lack of accountability in our ailing
country.
Of course, there are those who will say that littering occurs in
every country and is a sore issue in many cultures …but why can’t we be
better I ask? Where is our pride?
By Menzi Solomon Shange
Published on South Africa Today – South Africa News
Has South Africa’s entitlement culture resulted in people getting used to living with trash?
After all, someone is getting paid to pick up after you, right? Or,
even worse …my parents picked up rubbish under apartheid, so I detest
doing that now out of resentment.
Let’s
be respectful and be responsible stewards of our country, and treat our
environment like we would like to be treated ourselves.
By Menzi Solomon Shange
Published on South Africa Today – South Africa News
“Orange juice for breakfast is over,” an investor interested in creating large, fair trade coconut plantations recently joked to me. These days, coconut water is king.
Coconut water is being sold by luxury brands, at up to US$7 for 33 cl, about the same price as basic champagne.
A booming market
Even President Barack Obama loves coconuts. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
There is no doubt that the coconut market is exploding. Coconut water currently represents an annual turnover of US$2 billion. It is expected to reach US$4 billion in the next five years.
It is an important livelihood crop for more than 11 million farmers, most of whom are smallholders, cultivating coconut palms on around 12 million hectares of land in at least 94 countries worldwide. The coconut palm is popularly known as the “Tree of Life” – all its parts are useful.
The main products are copra – the dried inner meat of the nut, used for oil – and the husk, which provides a vital source of fibre. More recently, as we’ve seen, there is also high demand for tender coconut water and virgin coconut oil.
Braiding ropes made from the husk of the niu magi magi variety on Taveuni Island, Fiji, 2012. Cogent/Roland Bourdeix, Author provided
Whole mature nuts are exported and sold to factories that produce desiccated coconut and coconut cream. At least half of the coconuts are consumed locally.
Genetic diversity
Over millennia, humans have slowly selected and maintained numerous coconut varieties, used for many purposes.
Diversity of coconut fruits in ex situ genebanks. Roland Bourdeix
This has resulted in an extraordinary morphological diversity, which is expressed in the range of colours, shapes and sizes of the fruits. But the extent of this diversity is largely unknown at the global level. The huge amount of work that has gone into coconut breeding by farmers over millennia, and by scientists during the 20th century, remains greatly under-valued.
The rarest coconut varieties, for instance the horned coconut, grown and conserved on the Tetiaroa Atoll and in India, are not even recognised as coconuts by most people, especially Westerners.
Coconut conservation
The genetic diversity found in coconut populations and varieties, known by scientists as “germplasm”, is conserved by millions of small farmers.
A Samoan teen holds the famous niu afa coconut variety. Roland Bourdeix
A number of initiatives have been launched to recognise and support the role of these farmers, and to sustain them by promoting landscape management approaches, such as the Polymotu concept (“poly” meaning many, and “Motu” meaning island in Polynesian.)
The Polymotu concept capitalises on the geographical or reproductive isolation of various species for the conservation and reproduction of individual varieties of plants, trees and even animals.
Sadly, the coconut is endangered. One of the main challenges of coconut cultivation is the existence of lethal diseases, which are rapidly expanding and killing millions of palms. These pandemics are known as lethal yellowing diseases.
The genetic diversity of the flowers of coconut varieties on display at the Marc Delorme Research Centre, Côte d'Ivoire. COGENT, Author provided
Diversity under threat
Many coconut varieties that could be crucial for the future of agriculture are disappearing because of the loss of traditional knowledge, rapid transformations of agricultural landscapes, climate change and westernisation.
Due to the fragility of insular ecosystems, the Pacific Region is probably the location where the losses are highest.
During a recent survey in the Cook Islands, we succeeded with considerable difficulty in locating a sweet husk palm, known as niu mangaro locally. This is a rare, highly threatened form of coconut.
The husk of its unripe fruit, which in other species is usually tough and astringent, is tender, edible and sweet. It can be chewed like sugarcane. Once the fruits are ripe, the husk fibres are white and thin.
A comparison of the husk of a normal coconut (left) and a rare sweet husk coconut (right). Roland Bourdeix
Our survey was conducted together with a government agricultural officer. During the work, he took a tender coconut and started to chew the husk. Then he stopped, telling me, “I do not want people here to see me eating niu mangaro, because they will say I am a poor man.”
The consumption of traditional varieties being still perceived as socially stigmatising, not embracing a “modern” way of life. On the other hand, the consumption of imported food is considered as a mark of modernity and richness.
During another survey conducted in 2010 in Moorea Island, a Polynesian farmer interviewed about sweet husk varieties, known as kaipoa there, told me:
I had one kaipoa coconut palm in my farm, but I cut it down two years ago … Over ten years, I was unable to harvest a single fruit: all were stolen and eaten by children from the neighbourhood.
So, a traditional variety remains appreciated by the next generation of Polynesians, but the farmer is not aware of the rarity and of the cultural value of the resource.
Coconut lethal yellowing disease in Côte d'Ivoire: state of emergency. A video from Diversiflora International.
Discussions included the constraints and advantages related to coconut biology; links with conservation in institutional field gene banks; farmer’s knowledge regarding the reproductive biology of their crop; socioeconomic dynamics; and policy measures.
Nursery of coconut seedlings from the Green Dwarf variety for production of coconut water in Brazil. Roland Bourdeix, Author provided
In the case of the coconut palm, each accession is generally constituted of 45 to 150 palms, all collected at the same location. They are documented in a Coconut Genetic Resources Database and a global catalogue.
Cultivating legumes in a coconut plantation devastated by the Lethal Yellowing Disease in Ghana. Roland Bourdeix
Despite the upturn in the global market, many coconut farmers remain insufficiently organised, and investment in coconut research is incredibly scarce.
A yearly investment of about US$3 to US$5 million in public international research would be enough to address most of the challenges of coconut agriculture. But private companies benefiting from the market boom are still scarcely involved in research funding.
Coconut harvesters dance between trunks in Ghana. Roland Bourdeix
The coconut is a perennial crop, producing fruit year-round, but it takes a long time to grow. Investors, more interested in rapid profits, remain reluctant to fund the ten-year research programmes that are often needed to efficiently address the challenges of coconut research.
Coconut water brands will only make billions as long as coconuts are plentiful and diverse. More importantly, people all over the world rely on the security of this vital crop. Securing its future must be a priority for everyone who farms, eats and profits from the coconut.
Regrettably, Hendrik Verwoerd lost his life at a time when the
political scene in South Africa was on the brink of a total makeover.
Perhaps his foresight and aspirations to develop, change and turn South
Africa into a first class world country did not undoubtedly match the
plans of international and local people.
In his book, Stephen Goodson’s HENDRIK FRENSCH VERWOERD – SOUTH
AFRICA’S GREATEST PRIME MINISTER, he details mind-blowing information
every South African should know about Apartheid, Rothschild bankers, and
Verwoerd who was a man of fairness, dignity, and wanted equality for
everyone.
The question is whether Verwoerd is responsible for apartheid, based on the perspective order of events.
• 1809 – The Native Pass Law of the British Government at Cape of Good Hope passed compel black people to carry a passbook.
• 1865 – British-born Sir Theophilus Shepstone prohibited blacks in Natalia from having any voting power.
• 1894 – Cecil John Rhodes prevented a colored man Krom Hendriks from joining the national cricket tour to England.
• 1895 – Cecil John Rhodes compelled schools in the Cape to teach separate for whites in English and Blacks in English. (Verwoerd was not born yet)
• 1901 – 8th September 1901 in Amsterdam.
• 1913 – The British Native Land Act 2 prohibited black people to own land. (Verwoerd 12 years of Age)
• 1915 – National Party of South Africa 2nd July 1915. The ideology of
apartheid was never the ideology of the Boers but was a secret agenda
propagated by the paid British press and their agents in the
“Broederbond” to keep control over South Africa for Britain via the
Nationalist Party, which shows a deliberate falsification of history in
order to keep control over South Africa by design with conflict. The
aforesaid is in addition confirmed by the Nationalist Party secret
funds, mostly channeled to home in Britain, in institutions like
Barclays Bank or the Bank of England who was affirmed by the “one
stream” ideology of Jan Smuts and his predecessors with the land grab
and dehumanizing legislation that preceded the Nationalist Party rule
who had to content with the gross human right violations and a systemic
ruggedness with secret control prevent change.
Away from the Smuts/Brittan ideology JBM Hertzog (Minister of
Justice) employed a two stream ideology propagating equal rights towards
English and Afrikaner Communities which was reflected in the election
where Jan Smut (South Africa) seats were reduced from 67 to 54, Thomas
Smartt (Unionist) maintain 39 and JBM Hertzog (National Party) gained
27.
• 1918 – Establishment of the “Afrikaner Broederbond” (Jong
Zuid-Afrika) by the British as a secret extension of their influence in
the same way it was portrayed in the film of Mel Gibson “The Patriot” (Verwoerd was not a member)
• 1925 – British minister HW Sampson promulgated the Labor Demarcation Act to divide black and white. (Verwoerd 32 years of age and not in politics)
• 1927 – Immorality Act was promulgated in Natal controlled by Britain prohibit intimacy between black and white (Verwoerd 34 years of age and not in politics).
British Union Genl Jan Smuts promulgated • 1936 – Separate
representation in parliament. (Verwoerd was 43 and editor of a
newspaper)
• 1945 – The Native Urban Area Act prohibited blacks to stay longer than
72 hours in a white urban area (Verwoerd was 52 years of age into
politics but without a portfolio)
• 1948 – Nationalist Party took over on 4 June 1948 with the Pass Laws
and No Voting rights and other discriminate laws still intact,
established by the Britain.
• 1958 – Verwoerd 2 September 1958 in office as prime minister of South Africa. (State President –Charles Roberts Swart)
• 1966 – Verwoerd was murdered because he started to give the land
progressively back to the black people who were against the rugged
British plan, which was disowned by The British Native Land Act 2 passed
in 1913, for which he was killed. He was not killed by a disgruntled
black group or activists’ which is eminent from the following factual
events;-
o Establishes “Black education” as a national law. Many African countries haven’t achieved that to date
o the inflation rate was 2% or less
o Interest rate was 3%
o there was peace as a result of the transformation and restoration process
o the national growth was 7.9% the second highest in the world.
o the living standards of blacks was rising by 5.4% versus the 3.9 % of whites
o had no needs for foreign loans and/or indebtedness versus the current
indebtedness of approximately 50% and overall indebtedness approaching
70%. At present, the repayment to banks by the government is
approximately R500 million per day.
o Stafendas worked for Anton Rupert in London prior his appointment as a
messenger in the parliament while an illegal immigrant, appointed by
Hendrik van der Berg who was promoted ±6 ranks by John Voster as
minister of Justice at the time, to put him in control of security of
the parliament.
o It is well known that Verwoerd was assassinated by Zionist Banking
Cartel arranged through John Voster with specific input from the
Rupert’s and the Oppenheimer’s being controlled from London promoting
Voster to the prime minister.
• 1970 – Implementation of skimming from policies owners of Old Mutual
Via Old Mutual Bank a non-entity and stash money across the globe for
relocation and take over.
• 1989 – Implementation of SARB Act, Section 33 clause to suppress all evidence
• 1992 – ANC agree to take Political Power only and sign away all
economic survivability of SA (Old Mutual, ABSA, SAB, de Beers, etc.) –
MAS 57/08/92 – Pretoria North Case ref, investigation officer – Lt. Col.
AE Botha conducted an investigation into the irregularities, but it was
never made public or brought to court.
• 1994 – Project Hammer completed, ANC agree for Political Control only.
Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)
habitually incites violence and hate speech against the white minority
group of South Africa. Farm attacks and the brutal killing of white
people can be directly linked to the incitement of hate speech and the
ongoing slaughter of whites keeps escalating.
Ingrid de J. from The Netherlands has contacted the Donald Trump
administration regarding the hate speech and violence against the
minority. Ingrid de J. has received confirmation from the Trump
administration acknowledging their request and a promise to look into
the matter.
Every
South African who wants hate speech and racism to end now have an
opportunity to sign a petition. The petition is to force the SAHRC and
UN HRC to recognize the hate speech and incitement to violence against
the whites and to take action against Julius Malema.
Most people expect to see scenes like this during a full scale war
but in fact this is an extremely common reality in the modern day South
Africa. A plotted map of violent protests around South Africa.
South
Africa, where it is a regular occurrence to burn people in the
communities, and frequently some victims are set alight while still
alive A
place where the police are vilified because they shot dead a group of
charging armed protesters who were told by their witch doctor “bullets
won’t hurt you”… Under
the ANC’s “genius” leadership – South Africa has not only become the
rape capital of the world but also the murder capital of the world.
Brutal
scenes in South Africa. On a farm in Randfontein, an entire family was
killed in the middle of March, including a nine -year-old girl Kayla .
Four uneaten sandwiches in the sink (not in picture) testifies that the
attack came unexpected and sudden. Photo: Nya Tider / Free West Media
South Africa has become a horrible place to live for an alienated and
forgotten white minority. Farm murders are rife and the white people
are attacked regularly young and old.
Farmer beaten during a land invasion crisis – Loteni area – Image – S A RuralAhh the South African Rand. Truly turned into toilet paper by the ANC. So what good has become of South Africa under the controversial ANC? Madness? Democracy? Freedom? A rainbow nation?
That all is BS. There is no democracy when your president has hundreds of corruption charges against him.
There is absolutely no freedom whatsoever when over 50 people are
murdered each day, forcing people to turn their homes into a prison.
There is no rainbow nation because black and white are not in the rainbow.
So, ANC, we thank you for painting a new undesirable flag and turning
South Africa from a first class world country into a third world dump.
The ruling party is dragging South Africa into a pit of horror and
until the current supporters and leader are replaced all hope is lost.
It is the personal ambitions that drive the ANC, and members are there
for self-enrichment, and this is the price of greed. President Zuma is a
real embarrassment to South Africa.
In the near future a crisis is approaching that is unnerving and causes one to tremble for the safety of our country.
South African students who are educated overseas were arrested and locked up.
As announced by the Minister of Higher Education and Communist Blade Nzimande.
Students
are described as noisy, unpatriotic, and rebellious. Thousands of
so-called disadvantaged students study abroad at state expense,
especially in Cuba.
Medical students behavior has also come under scrutiny. According to
SACP spokesman, he was shocked to learn that students urinate in public
and leave streets messy. He described it as typical “location behavior”
especially over weekends.
Woman recorded hitting child at a restaurant at Fourways, Johannesburg.
There is outrage over the incident and people are shocked that a
mother, who apparently was overwhelmed did not know how to respond to
her disabled child’s special needs and slapped him.
Patrons intervened
and the mother lost her temper and swore at the people and hit the child
again. She then overturned one of the tables causing the plates to
break.
At that stage, the manager of the restaurant went outside to intervene, and a security guard helped to calm the child.
The woman apologized for your public rant and offered to pay for the damages caused.
African governments are understandably concerned about how Donald Trump’s surprise election as the 45th president of the United States might affect their interests.
Thus far Trump has given no sign that he will accord Africa any higher priority than his predecessors. His promises to expand and escalate America’s so-called war on terror, however, are raising fears of US military intervention in Africa. Beyond that he has offered no policy views on Africa and his campaign had only a tiny team of foreign policy advisers.
Unlike his opponent, Hillary Clinton, and all previous US presidents Trump has had no previous government or military service. His temperament and personal behaviour, however, have been on public display for most of his 70 years.
These too mark a sharp departure from past standards of presidential behaviour. At this stage, Africans might benefit more from an assessment of Trump the man we already know. His most distinctive personal attributes are not so foreign.
Consider the following leadership traits evident during Trump’s contentious campaign and current transition to his presidency.
Traits that will give demagogues comfort
Favouring strongmen over strong institutions:
His accusations questioning the integrity of the US electoral process and governing institutions were unprecedented in modern US presidential politics. And promises that he alone could save the nation sounded more autocratic than democratic. This will surely reassure the strongman in the Kremlin (Russian President Vladimir Putin) as well as those who still rule many African states and chafed at US President Barack Obama’s call for institutional reforms to limit executive powers.
Crony capitalism:
The bane of many African countries, this risks becoming endemic to the new administration. Trump has demonstrated a disregard for conflicts of interest. In fact, he claims that he is legally exempt from such constraints. If America’s president can profit from public service, why should Africa’s strongmen not seize such opportunities?
Transparency:
Trump’s refusal to disclose his US tax returns is also unprecedented among modern major party presidential candidates. It is also a warning that his administration will lack transparency. Trump, no less than Africa’s strongmen, said whatever he felt served his selfish interests, with little regard for the public good.
Trump is tribal:
His campaign to “Make America Great” became a motto primarily for a return to an America dominated by white, Christian men. This appeal to ethnic rather than civic nationalism has a long history in Africa’s failed democratic experiments. Trump’s appeal to white nationalism may not spur a renewal of African tribalism but it is definitely an example Africa’s democrats will not welcome.
Dignity and equality for women:
Trump’s disregard for dignity and equality of women rivals the most orthodox behaviour of traditional African leaders. His glamourising of male dominance with a modern gloss is likely to resonate perniciously in Africa’s media and society.
Infallibility:
This is another self-righteous trait Trump shares with African autocrats such as Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. It means never accepting responsibility and always blaming others. While Trump cannot ascribe his failures to American imperialism, his so far successful conjuring of conspiracies and excuses for his self-inflicted shortcomings may reassure his like-minded peers in Africa.
Freedom of expression: One of America’s most revered constitutional principles, this was repeatedly challenged by Trump’s extreme campaign rhetoric. And his recent call to make flag-burning a criminal offense suggests he is either ignorant of the constitution he will soon swear to uphold, or considers himself above the law. This is an all too familiar affliction of African autocrats, and even some duly elected.
Repression:
Trump doesn’t accept criticism, whether in the media or from human rights and other civil society organisations. Repression of both groups has a long history in Africa and has recently been shown to be resurgent. Trump’s example that should alarm those in Africa who advocate for greater government transparency and accountability.
Trump’s disregard for facts and scientific evidence could undermine African governments and harm millions of their citizens imperilled by the effects of climate change. His likely failure to honour America’s commitments will deny badly needed relief to African countries, exacerbating local conflicts, imposition of emergency powers and suppression of dissent.
If aspects of Trump’s character and temperament appear as familiar threats to Africa’s democrats, this may be a timely reminder that no democracy is ever secure, including the country that was until recently the continent’s democratic champion, South Africa.
A man recently stole a family’s beloved pet dog, beat and tortured
the animal, and finally locked it in a cage to slowly starve to death.
As soon as angry locals spotted the infamous dognapper, they decided
that the proper punishment would be to give him a brutal dose of his own
medicine.
Each year, around 5 million dogs are routinely butchered to be sold
for their meat to hungry customers in Vietnam. Often times, producers
will snatch family pets to fill their disturbing quota, leaving
civilians distraught and outraged over the loss of their adored canine.
These
dogs are often horrifically abused before they are left to either waste
away in filthy compact cages or suffer the gruesome slaughter that sees
them sometimes skinned, burned, or boiled alive. Unfortunately for one
businessman, he messed with the wrong pooch.
Tuoi Tre News reports that a crowd of furious locals identified the
man accused of stealing a neighbor’s dog and chose to dish out a savage
dose of mob justice. In a 20-minute video, citizens of Nghia Tru Commune
in Hung Yen set upon the unnamed man, tied his hands behind his back,
and delivered the same pain he allegedly inflicted on the poor animal.
After hurling insults at the thief, locals took turns beating him and
tossing him around a muddy trench like a rag doll. Determined to make
him pay for the dog’s suffering, civilians tied the animal’s corpse to
the man and forced him to lie next to his victim. However, they weren’t
done yet. WATCH THE VIDEO -MAN BEATS DOG
Published on South Africa Today
The white minority of South Africa are caught up in something far
worse than genocide; they are caught up in something far worse than a
war. They are caught up in an organized mass slaughter by forging
history, applying unlawful criminal and immoral reassessment of history,
to portray whites as criminals. It is all part of a new world order,
and the video “White genocide – fact or fiction” will give you the answer.
The ANC government have implemented hell-bound laws that deny
survival rights to the minority. The three million white minority is
denied job rights, based on the black empowerment laws, food aid,
medical assistance, and public housing is denied. The hundreds of white
squatter camps around the country confirm that whites are denied the
right to survive. Over one million whites live in squatter camps, and it
is mostly the elderly and children, who are forced into poverty because
they are barred from the job market.
It’s
not hundreds but thousands of whites that are murdered by black
terrorists in and around farms, cities, and towns. It is a regular mass
slaughter of whites.
Six murderers hailed as heroes for killing the Potgieter family
execution style on their farm, during in 2010. A gruesome and motiveless
massacre of a family including a two-year-old girl, by one of the
criminals who held the child by her hair and then fired a bullet through
her skull. This farm murder was racially motivated.
How many gruesome murders have been reported over the last ten years,
and the number of murders escalates all the time. When will the
genocide, the elimination of white people end? It is hard to ignore that
white genocide is happening when you look at the facts.
Jan Van Riebeeck had noted in his journal on February 7, 1654 “We
will never be able to trade peacefully with the denizens, which is an
uncultivated bunch. They want nothing but to steal and plunder all that
they can, without ever departing with one sheep or cow. Only the sick,
lame and cripple animals are traded, despite the fact that they have the
best of everything.” Published on South Africa Today - Please use this link to watch the video"White Genocide"
At one time, it was a rubbish dump, a place where people discarded
rubbish. Useless and obsolete objects in their homes and lives that were
no longer of any use to them. Broken goods discarded because it became a
source of shame.
Now its people that have been abandoned on this rubbish dump. Elderly
men with wrinkled hands. Children with big eyes … only eyes with no
expression. Children who look at what they see, because things around
this place are just there, and has no use or meaning.
A
man sitting in a tin shack, which from a distance looks like a typical
doghouse on a farm stand, but for this man is a form of shelter.
Recently the man was operated on for a hernia and the 13cm long, 5cm
wide wound is open. The smell emanating from the infection of septicemia
is unbearable. “Did you bring me patches?” He asks. The old man walking
beside me said, “I’ll give him another week, it’s the fifth person this
year. The wounds become septic and they die, I have witnessed so many.”
Not far away in another tin shelter, live two elderly 70 year-olds
who left behind a life of security and dignity. While he lived in
Zimbabwe, he was considered a wealthy man and worked as a plumber. He
was driven off his land and could not get assistance in South Africa,
now forced into a squatter camp, his only place of survival. His wife
cannot walk, just lays down while, suffering from fermenting wounds on
the bottom of both her feet. Clinic sisters will not visit this forsaken
place. It’s a struggle; the woman needs support to get her into a taxi
that can take her to a government hospital.
The clinic sisters are not the only ones who choose not to visit this
dreadful place. Pointing to another tin shack the man said, “The woman
over there, her husband died a while back, the ministers did not want to
come here and help. We had to ask a black pastor who works in a field
church to help assist with a burial.”
People do not come here. People do not go to visit a “scrap heap of souls”.
Between the stones a bunch of kids play, it’s a hopeless game, a game
without purpose or reason. They do not understand basic skills, and
when some children learn to count from their mothers who would say, “go
get me 3 eggs” or “quickly run to a cafe with this R20 note and buy a
loaf of bread. Check that you receive the correct change, “the others do
not know. For in this place, it is seldom that you get three eggs and
to hold a twenty-rand note, it is a fortune that they do not know. The
only point of this little game is to make them tired so that they can go
and sleep.
The children usually speak Afrikaans while playing their game and it
is as though the words they utter are not of this rotten earth. It is
not a language that you want to hear upon a dunghill. There is no shade,
no trees or shrubs, no fertile soil for vegetables, no water. It’s just
the gleaming white sun above them that they observe. Yet they play …
It’s the eyes that speak volumes. Large dark pools of blue expectation
of which they cannot identify.
This is the contradiction, the hard diversity of realities that hits
one the deepest when you walk into this place. The inferior huts that
are painfully neat and tidy with the handwritten notice on the door:
“Knock before you enter”. Not because there is something to hide –
because in rubbish dump of human decay nothing can be hidden.
Nevertheless, it is the last bit of self-respect and self-esteem there
is.
In contrast, the loss, shame, and self-respect, is most visible to
the children. There are three boys, two with blond hair, and probably
brothers, and a dark haired child with a crown and scattered freckles. The three boys scratch in the bin behind the black family’s shack. They do it every morning…
In front of one of the shelters is an unsteady wooden bench and a
little girl is sitting there. The curls of her light brown hair cling to
her face and into her neck. Maybe she is three or perhaps six years
old. Children do not develop normally stuck in a place like this. Most
of the children are older than they appear to be. The little girl is
filthy, probably a few days dirt clinging to her body. She coughs as she
calls for her mother. “Her mother left here with the Nigerians and will
return with food for the baby tonight,” said the old man walking beside
me.
Tonight when the mother returns, she will walk over to the clustered shacks and RDP houses where the black people of this place live. At least they have water and toilets. She will beg for a bowl of water to
wash off the stench from abusing her body. Everybody is doing it,
because running water and toilets promised three years ago, were never
delivered. The white people all go and beg for water to drink and wash
from the black shantytown.
The mother will try to clean her body but not the festering ulcer on
her mind, there is no cure, it is permanently etched into her mind. The
man will die from his wound and the black pastor will bury him near the
ashes. He will not be remembered. The little girl who might turn four,
or five or six next year does not know what fate beholds her, orhow long it will be before the Nigerians rape her or lure her into their prostitution ring. Simply because there is no one who can stop this worsening situation....................
READ THE ENTIRE STORY ON SOUTH AFRICA TODAY This is the story about a white squatter camp situated on the West Rand Gauteng. This is the reality of what is happening in South Africa today, whites are forced into poverty by being excluded from the work place, there is no assistance from government and soon, we will all be murdered.........
It is shocking to see how many white people live in squatter camps
and the numbers keep growing. These squatter camps do not always have
enough food to provide for all the hungry people and there have been up
to three days that people have not eaten. An adult might be able to
endure the hunger pains for a day or two but the little children, how
can they be forced to go to bed hungry. Can you imagine the devastation
of a parent not being able to feed his or her child?
The Christmas project is currently running and donations are welcome,
in order to supply food and basic necessities for these homeless
people. Especially the children, they are the real victims here and even
though through no fault of their parents have been forced to grow up in
a squatter camp. We all know that the white people have been excluded
from the job market through the affirmative action laws and that without
work, there is no money and so they lose everything including their
dignity. The only way these unfortunate people can survive is to depend
on the generosity of the squatter camp facilitators. We also know that
the government does not offer support to the white squatter camps.
Open
up your hearts this Christmas season, and know that it will be through
your generosity that a few thousand or more children and adults will
have something to eat on Christmas day and hopefully throughout the
entire holiday season.
Donations of food,tin foods, toiletries, tents, blankets, school stuff,
toys, garden equipment or furniture, cash, clothing(grown ups and
children), toys, building equipment, and any unwanted goods will be much
appreciated.
In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work
we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself
said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ (Acts 20:35 NIV).
Bank Details: Boere Gemeenskap Transvaal
Business ACC FNB
Acc No 62577687381
Branch Code 250141
Florida
Swift Code Firnzajj PAY PALL ACC
Section 21 registreer DROP OFF POINT
Address
15 Church street
Florida
Johannesburg
NPO 162-012 – Section 21 registered
Email Lcronje6@gmail.com / 0736317914
Several month ago, I started another blog. I will continue to post newsworthy articles on "Laura's Page" but would encourage you to visit "Fun With Dee" occasionally and read the posts.
My aim is to -
"Share some thoughts with you. Let me be a source of
encouragement and support. May you never forget your dreams and remember
miracles happen every day. Let us laugh, have fun, and inspire one another."
SANDU the military union’s attorney in Pretoria sent an urgent letter
to the SA National Defense Force (SANDF) on behalf of members who have
been told that they must go home. The SANDF members were told to go home
because there were no further rations available to provide food. The
members, however, cannot leave their base, because they have not been
paid and do not have transport money. The SANDF were given a chance to sort out this situation by November
30, 2016, and to provide SANDU with an undertaking that rations will be
distributed to the relevant basis.
Manhattan – Police video released Tuesday shows a man brazenly swipe
an 86-pound bucket of gold worth $1.6 million from the back of an
unattended armored truck in Midtown before scampering away, NYPD
officials said.
The suspect first cased the open Loomis International truck as it
parked outside 48 W. 48th St., near Sixth Avenue, while two guards went
into a nearby building for another pickup about 4:30 p.m. Sept. 29,
police said.
Loomis transports valuables, according to its website.
Realizing no one was looking, he then grabbed a black 5-gallon bucket
carrying 86 pounds of gold flakes bound for Ontario and ran away with
it in his arms, police said.
Surveillance cameras tracked him weaving around a crowded sidewalk and onto Sixth Avenue where he disappears from view.
The suspect, who hadn’t been arrested as of Wednesday morning, is
about 5 feet 6 inches tall, 150 pounds and in his 50s, police said.
He was last seen wearing a black vest, green shirt, blue jeans and carrying a black messenger bag, police said.
