Then and Now

Recently in the press, one hears about the goings on in the land of my birth. This disturbs me as I came to Australia not because of fear of living in South Africa, (I actually consider myself an African after being born there and living the first 47 years of my life in the Country for goodness sake) - but for friends and family who were not as lucky as myself to find a lovely job in Australia, get sponsored to come over here etc. But, at the heart of it all it is very difficult to settle here as well, given that one has left behind, life long friends, relationships and children.

Then you read this in the press:

This was reflected in the final declarations of Cosatu's congress, one of which urged "collective ownership through the state, worker control and co-ops, including nationalisation of mining and other commanding heights of the economy as provided in the Freedom Charter".
"These resolutions restate the kind of centralised command economy which, with the collapse worldwide of the Communist project, is no longer seriously pursued anywhere, besides in such isolated - and utterly unworkable - pockets as Zimbabwe and North Korea," he said.
"What makes the declaration all the more astonishing, however, is that these arcane ideas should receive such currency from Cosatu at a time when South Africa's economic competitiveness is waning."
According to the 2006 Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum (WEF), South Africa dropped five places to 45th out of 127 countries surveyed - now trailing emerging markets such as India, Thailand, South Korea, Chile and even Barbados.
"It should be obvious, then, that South Africa's economy desperately requires a long-term drive for growth, rather than Cosatu's short-term populism - a commitment to more labour flexibility, not less, with fewer burdens such as tax on business and a concerted drive to make our economy more not less attractive to overseas investors.
"In the light of these troubling developments, it is disheartening to note that the spheres of society who would be most affected by a possible shift to the left are the most silent."

and then this to boot: where does it end??

A Jacob Zuma presidency will be disastrous for South Africa's economy and yet, the business sector remains silent on the issue, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Friday.
In his weekly newsletter on the DA's website, Leon urged business to speak out against the possibility of the ANC deputy president taking up the country's presidency as the "useful idiot" of the left.
With his fraud and corruption case struck off the roll, Zuma's presidential aspirations had been given a turbo-charge, underscored by the extraordinary events at the recent Congress of SA Trade Unions' (Cosatu) national congress.
There it was clear Zuma was the darling of the left, as tripartite alliance partners defied President Thabo Mbeki's closest associates.
Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka was booed, anti-Mbeki songs were sung on the floor, and Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi was so fiercely heckled while attempting to defend government's economic policies that he was forced to cut short his speech.