I
Much of the condemnation [of Jacob Zuma] comes from jaundiced whites – those who reluctantly praised the “Mandela miracle” but never accepted the consequences: the demise of their grotesquely privileged existence. I can – and do – dismiss such voices. But I cannot ignore those who sacrificed so much for the freedom struggle, and who are now dismayed at the squandering of Mandela’s legacy. – Peter Hain, The Guardian, 4 February 2016
II
Anyone who is currently neck-deep in tax forms will realise that the system needs far more reform than is currently being pursued. The tax system is still unimaginative, ungendered, ahistorical and neoliberal… [T]he tax system is colonial and punitive. Individuals are not rewarded for engaging in profoundly developmental work. While companies and individuals are given tax breaks for donations to not-for-profit organisations, citizens aren’t rewarded for being law abiding, nor for advancing equality and respect for diversity in a fragile young democracy. Tax regimes also have a dubious colonial past. - Rosabelle Boswell The Conversation, 14 November 2016
III
Don't let the ANC's nyaope politics confuse you. The land does not belong to 'all those who live in it'. The land belongs to black people. Qha! Izwe Lethu! - Ntokozo Sbo Qwabe, Facebook, 14 November 2016
IV
Mpho Tsedu: Are white people safe? You’re saying “we are not calling for them to be, what? Attacked? As yet”.
Julius Malema: Yes.
Mpho Tsedu: So is there time at which perhaps we must anticipate that the EFF is going to call for white people to be killed, or driven into the sea?
Julius Malema: I wouldn’t know, I’m not a prophet. I can only speak for now, because I exist now, and that’s why I can give guarantees now that there is no such a thing. No one will be driven to the sea, let there be a peaceful transfer of land back into the hands of the rightful owners. You know, the ANC was formed in 1912 and it has always pursued a peaceful protest until they realise it’s not working for them, and that’s when they took up arms. And we are traveling the same journey and I wouldn’t know what will happen in the future. But I’m saying, let there be a peaceful transfer of land without any drop of blood, I don’t want to see any drop of blood. And white people are more than safe under Julius Malema, under the EFF. Racist are not safe, the white supremacists are not safe, people who believe in Afrikaner supremacy and nationalism are not safe under Julius Malema. Because I’m not scared of them, I expose them, I confront them, and they are used to being worshipped. They are used to being getting black people to be answerable to them. I’m not answerable to any white person, and that’s why they’re not comfortable with me. You know, I’m like Nigerians to white people. Nigerians don’t tolerate any nonsense that comes their way, and that’s why there are not so many white people in Nigeria. Because they think Nigerians are rude people. They think the Nigerians are not polite people to work with, but that’s not the case. The Nigerians don’t tolerate nonsense, and every time they answer you, you will they are fighting. They are not fighting, they’re emphatic! They know what they want. - Question Time SABC 15th November 2016
V
Edward Zuma said he and other members of the Black Board Foundation were planning to acquire banking licences. “We need a bank registered under us as blacks in South Africa. We will fight this thing. If needs be, we will fight, let’s go to war. We want economic liberation and if it means we attain that economic liberation we have to fight for it and kill people, so be it. We will kill people to attain this economic liberation.” He said they were also going to demand that mining licences be given to black people and would not take no for an answer. “Why are the Jews given that right and why are blacks not given that? They tell us that if you want a banking licence you must have a deposit of R50 million. Deposit of R50 million for who? Who are the owners of this land?” – News24 report, 21 November 2016
VI
"But [Trevor Noah's] recent commentary on race [on the Daily Show] has been discomforting. Noah continues to use South Africa as an exemplar for racial harmony when our own experience has shown that the ways in which we have papered over the cracks has severely impeded justice. What Noah, and indeed others who promulgate this sort of approach to racism, fails to interrogate is how a culture of forgiveness and understanding can be maintained in the face of continuing persecution." - Mail & Guardian editorial, 9 December 2016
VII
Went for a run this am. It's astounding how many domestic workers are walking their employers dogs. It's in my view, wrong and unjustifiable – DA leader Mmusi Maimane, Twitter, 13 December 2016
VIII
"They called it the Nene disaster. But is the nation really aware of what is happening?" [Jacob Zuma] said to a packed crowd of more than 2 000 people. He said in December last year, he took the decision to appoint a new minister. "The monopoly capital and their stooges attacked me," he said… Speaking about economic transformation, Zuma said those that control the economy, control everything - even the media. "They can paint you black, even if you are not," he said.” – News24 report, 31 December 2016
IX
Zille has a long history of putting out incredibly problematic tweets, with often racist overtones, but is never called to account. – Verashni Pillay, Huffington Post South Africa 23 December 2016.
That structural racism exists as a system that encompasses everyone, black and white, is par for the course in this country. For Zille to even question it exposes her hopeless lack of understanding of the privilege she enjoys. For her to fail to realise that being called white is entirely different to being called black is an indictment of her own understanding of how race functions for all of us….
If she took any time to understand racism as a phenomenon that has structured the very world we live in, she would know that's exactly what racism is. By virtue of the fact that we live in a world that is a result of millennia of white men in particular and white people in general being prioritised over others, racism is structural and inherent in most of the ways in which we live our lives. – Verashni Pillay (again), Huffington Post SA, 28 December 2016.
X
It was inevitable that the attempt to move on from apartheid would also be expressed in sport, and the unfair quota system [in South African sport] is the result. The intended subtext is that it is more important to build a just society than win every sporting encounter: in short, to create fairness by way of way of unfairness… The quota system is an attempt to take a system that was created to promote excellence among the few and turn it into one that promotes excellence universally.” – Simon Barnes, The Spectator, 5 January 2017
