h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi again folks! Today we held elections here in South Africa! As always it is the duty of everyone here to make a positive contribution to the democratic system. We cast our votes in the hall of the local primary school ... the very same place where we held our art exhibition! When we got there, there was a very long queue of people. But my dad got in at the front because he has cancer and can't stand up for a long time. My mom and I got in with him because he can't stand around waiting for us either! So we were in and out quite fast! I dunno for whom my parents voted but I voted for the Democratic Alliance. They're the party that disgusts me the least, let's say that ... and *only just*! I think the voters deserve better choices. Anyways I'll tell you soon how the overall election turned out.

Thank you dear Willem,

It was really interesting to hear about the election. My thoughts were with you. but they were also far away, because a very dear Hootoo friend pheloxi, whom I have known since I first joined in 2001/2 died this weekend.

It has knocked me sideways, because he was a real friend, and was such a loyal and wonderful person although he was not in very good helath.

And then, to crown the day, K. decided to go back to where we used to live. !!

So here I am. Well. It was lovely to hear your news. And I hope that your Democratic Alliance gets in. Ek wonder. I think that the lady who leads it is someone that I knew when I lived in Die Kaap. I heard her speaking the other night. Was not madly impressed. Still we still have marvellous Nelson Mandela . He appears to have got very old.

But then, "Yours trooly" is going to be 81 next month. I am so much better at the seaside. My brother, when he phoned me from the states on Sunday told me that he thought that I would live to be a 100.

But I do not want to be a 100. !!

With sincere greetings to you and my kind regards to your parents.

Christiane M. E.
Alsoran80

C

Willem,

I was reading in the papers about it today, and the one who appears to be the likely winner doesn't seem to have a lot going for him

I am glad you didn't have to wait around. My husband can't either, and we get a lift to the polls, even though it is not far.

Let us know the outcome. It will be interesting to get a local viewpoint instead of relying on the media all the time.

Websailor

WHAT??!! Pheloxi dead?! That's terribly sad news! I've never known him very well but we did see each other around. He's always been so cheerful! This is very shocking news. I'll pop around and post a message of condolences ...

Why did K. leave?

Anyways ... sorry, Hello Christiane! And Hello Websailor too!

Anyways. I strongly doubt the DA will get very far. The leader is Helen Zille ... locally called 'Godzille' (hope you get that pun AR80!) ... I'm not that impressed with her either. But I'm very, very much less impressed with Jacob Zuma, the ANC 'boss man'. The only other alternative to the ANC was the new party called 'Cope', 'Congress of the People'. I was very tempted to vote for them since they are the only party who said something about preserving the environment in their manifesto. BUT ... some of the 'Cope' leaders are outright liars, deceivers, and convicted criminals. Thus ... I can't trust them. Call me old fashioned but I believe in 'virtue' and that a person must have honesty and integrity. Doubly so for political leaders. There must not be the slightest taint of corruption. The ANC is rotten with corruption, I'm sorry to say but it is true. No more mission to better the country for everybody ... it's now about enriching a small elite.

The DA has its faults ... I don't like their style of attacking others instead of focusing about what *they* can do to really better the country. I do think they have good political ideas ... not always though. Like I say, they won't win, but at least they'll take some votes away from the ANC. I feel there needs to be a serious opposition for the ANC to keep them on their toes; someone to vocally criticise them about their nonsense.

I'll tell you about the results as I learn them.

. A covenient new smiley for the way I feel about Southern Africa. Even most of Africa. It's dispiriting - but this kind of progress is always slow, has been everywhere and maybe is actually happening faster in Africa than it has elswhere in the past.

Here's hoping for the best, eventually. And it's good your father didn't have to wait. That was consideration.

Willem, It seems to me that it is true of most govts. these days. I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them.

I hope something decent comes out of your election though. The country has enough troubles, as ours has.

Have you noticed you are on the Front Page today?

It would be nice if you could go to a Meet some time. I wonder how many people from SA are on h2g2?

Websailor

Wed. 30th april 2009 9.00 BMT
Hi WS

Willem has already started planning a meet in S.A. There will be three of us to start!! K. Willem and myself. I had hoped that Bassman would be there, but he has returned to the UK

there is one in Namibia I seem to remember.

So now we must get some others together. !

Perhaps your migrating birds could drop us a note. !!

go well,

Christiane
AR80

Hi again Christiane and everyone else!

I seem to be the only long-time active South African here (please correct me if you know of any others!). At any rate I am NOT AT ALL SURE I would get along with other South Africans who might be here ... in my own country I am very much a loner, to a large extent by choice, and I am very frequently distressed by the topics spoken about by others here or the way they speak about them, and I don't want to argue with them either, I just keep my mouth shut and wish I wasn't there. Many people here, though 'my own people' are in so many ways very prejudiced or disrespectful or insensitive or simply ignorant (and obstinately ignorant at that) ... or they simply have personal values way different from mine.

Websailor noted it in her entry of the Birmingham meet, being a bit intimidated by being in a large group. Well I'm like that too. I can stand talks with one person, or a few people ... and they must be people I know a bit already and have reason to trust.

In a way it's better for me to deal with people from other countries. I don't mind the idea of meeting people from Britain, America, Japan or wherever. Such a meet being 'multicultural' from the outset means there will be respect for different ideas and viewpoints. But when other South Africans are there they might expect me to behave more like a 'typical South African' or member of the local 'ethnic group' I belong to, and if I don't they might be puzzled and if I explained why they might feel insulted.

It would be OK to go to a local meet though if the other South Africans already know me a bit and I know them and feel OK around them ...

At any rate I would love to meet up with you and K Christiane!

OK moving on to the election.

The ANC got 65.9% of the vote ... down from over 69% in the previous election. The significance is this: if they get over 2/3 of the votes - that is, over 66.7% - they can change the constitution unilaterally. They therefore *lost* this advantage due to losing ground since the last election. We (I mean most of those opposing the ANC) don't think they *would* change the constitution, but we feel a bit worried about them having the power and the opportunity to do so.

The problem is there are still too many power-hungry politicians and there are those who would abuse power over others and deliberately hurt them. There are those who would 'bash' members of groups they don't like or who would institute new kinds of discrimination.

The problem with Jacob Zuma is that he has character flaws one doesn't want to see in the supreme leader of a country. He also has been linked to numerous instances of corruption. Furthermore he has managed to avoid going to court for certain charges against him, with the consequence he's seen as being 'above the law'. Those of us who are concerned about justice, would want to see that NO ONE is above the law - the same laws must apply to the high and mighty as much as to 'regular' folks. We want to see that even a very high political person, even the president himself, would be held accountable when he messes up.

Corruption in politics is a HUGE issue. Some people don't understand why I am so very much against it. Some people may be cynical and simply say, politicians are always corrupt and so it always shall be and we must just get used to that. But in practice, corruption causes immense hurt and damage that is just unacceptable. I'll go into that perhaps in an 'article' ... but the bottom line is, a country must be run *right*. People are dependent on the various institutions, and if the institutions don't work right, people are hurt or even die. In Afrikaans we say 'hulle mors met mense' which is difficult to translate but means something like they mess with people or they waste people ... they waste human lives, they waste human abilities and human potential and the magnificent opportunities that exist for us ... and this wastage and mess is abominable to me because I have a feeling for how much better things could be.

So many politicians still do nothing except collect money from the taxpayer. There's no sense of having a sacred duty to serve by performing the various tasks necessary for the governing of a country of millions of people (and I would say, billions of important non-human living beings as well). Important decisions need to be made by considering the virtues of various alternatives, not accepting bribes for favouring certain interests. We need a government truly interested in solving the huge problems facing our country on so many fronts: education, employment, housing, food, water, energy, public health ... we need wise people who can understand problems like maintaining and developing infrastructure while protecting the environment at the same time, and allocating resources most effectively. We need fine upstanding leaders who can uplift the people intellectually and spiritually as well. Leaders who understand the enormous influence they can have and the enormous responsibility of weighing every word that comes out of their mouths. THATS what government is supposed to be.

At any rate. The DA ended up getting 16.7% of the votes which I think is not too bad. The newly formed party COPE got 7.4 % which I also think is a good showing for such a new party. I don't mind them getting votes though I wouldn't vote for them. There are some good people in COPE and they have some good aims. If only there weren't those scoundrels in the party along with the others ...

Oh ... Waz, I just want to say ... there *is* something very positive here: enormous enthusiasm for the 'process of democracy'. The people helping out at the voting station at the school all seemed to be very happy to be doing what they were doing; the organisation was mostly quite good ... the voter turnout too. Porportionally many more people go to vote here than in the US elections!

Websailor, thanks for mentioning the front page article! By the way for whatever reason is an smiley supposed to represent 'offtopic'?

Oh hi Anoldgreymoonraker and thanks! We almost simulposted.

Willem, I have no idea

Perhaps it will become clear in time. I think the h2g2 people are a bit busy.

Websailor