The Good and the Bad.

A couple of posts back I wrote about the mixed messages coming out of South Africa. Here are a few extracts from one edition of the 'Witness' Where private enterprise is involved everything goes swimmingly but the Government just makes a mess of everything with their infighting,corruption and holding on to power by all possible means.

“See yourself as others see you” is a useful maxim, and even the most genetically cynical, miserable and negative citizens will surely reflect on this past week and accept that, notwithstanding enduring poverty, crime and corruption, somebody must be getting something right within these borders.
First, this is a fantastic country to visit. Locals may take for granted the sunshine, the beaches, mountains, winelands and the game parks, but visitors are bowled over by the beauty of the place, complemented by easy internal air connections and a fast-growing inventory of excellent restaurants and hotels where value for money is matched by the quality of food and service.Second, South Africans have proved they can get the job done. Next month? No problem. Major sporting venues are staffed by skilled people with extensive experience of handling big crowds and big matches, and the SA Police Service and private security companies know how to secure sports events.Third, this is a great country with so many great people, enthusiastic, warm, hospitable, quick-to-smile people who rock up to the stadium, get involved and enjoy themselves and collectively create that special, priceless vibe.
Edward Griffiths is a journalist, author, former CEO of SA Rugby and GM of SABC sport, and is involved in various SA bid campaigns.

The whole thing is an atrocious mess, and it is in that condition that we approach our most important election since 1994. With the country facing the worst global economic crisis in nearly a century, with ballooning unemployment and key parastatals on the point of bankruptcy, there is no clear leadership about what to do. We are bogged down in a quagmire of blunders and scandals, led by a once-great liberation movement that has lost its way if not its soul as well.
Allister Sparks, a former editor of the Rand Daily Mail, is a veteran South African journalist and political commentator.

South Africa has been in the place at the right time. But that is only part of it. This country has also become an acceptable destination and its cricket administration has shown a willingness to have a crack. At all sorts of levels, that ought to stir pride in locals.
•Peter Roebuck is an international cricket correspondent who is based in the KZN midlands.

In truth,most of the top structure of the ANC today is virtually wall-to-wall communist. Motlanthe, Zuma, Mantashe, Yengeni, Vavi and Nzimande all carry Communist Party membership cards in their back pockets and pull them out whenever it suits their purpose and not too many people are looking. Of course they aren’t really the communists of old. They are “Gucci” communists, living very well, thank you muchly, driven in big, blue-light escorted vehicles, eating at fancy restaurants (ask Comrade Premier Paul Mashatile), and wearing underwear, suits and dresses that nearly all of us could not afford. I wouldn’t mind all that much if they at least stood for Parliament under the banner of their first loyalty, the SACP. But of course that would be madness. None of them would be elected. Infiltration is a far safer and more sophisticated option, don’t you think?David Dalling is a former Member of Parliament.

Alister Sparks writes 'led by a once-great liberation movement' Is this really right or is that what people would like to believe? What about Quotro and the 20000 deaths of ANC dissidents? How is it that some of us knew exactly what was going to happen?
From a post of Sarah Maid of Albion. 'Peter Carrington was asked, after the collapse of Zimbabwe, what he thought of the outcome of that “independence”. “No one could have anticipated this outcome” was his way of excusing his failure.'

I have always said that the pessimists are the ones that are never disappointed.These are articles from just one edition.