The African News and Politics Thread

[smalishah84]

What constitutes massive? We've had 4-8 hours daily for quite a while now (although we got told yesterday that it may be easing up in the coming week).

Yawn.

We had 8-12 hours in major cities. In rural areas and small cities it went to 18 hours a day. And summer in most of the major cities is 45 degrees celsius plus. So yeah, it was awful

 

[MrPrez]

Yawn.

We had 8-12 hours in major cities. In rural areas and small cities it went to 18 hours a day. And summer in most of the major cities is 45 degrees celsius plus. So yeah, it was awful

Christ. 8-12 hours is likely where we're headed, unfortunately. Utter madness.

 

[trundler]

https://www.timeslive.co.za/politic...cyclone-idai-and-must-therefore-pay-says-blf/

Ignoring the obviously problematic racial overtones, what do you guys think of the basic premise?

 

[smalishah84]

Christ. 8-12 hours is likely where we're headed, unfortunately. Utter madness.

At least you guys have good weather.

I was actually visiting some rural areas in the late 00s summer. I was there for a week. The electricity would go for 3 hours and then return for an hour. The mercury never dipped below 45 celsius and the hotter days were 48. It was hell. I even got sick because there wasn't enough electricity to cool water and make ice etc. Was just awful. 12 hours and beyond starts too feel like there is no electricity.

 

[trundler]

At least you guys have good weather.

I was actually visiting some rural areas in the late 00s summer. I was there for a week. The electricity would go for 3 hours and then return for an hour. The mercury never dipped below 45 celsius and the hotter days were 48. It was hell. I even got sick because there wasn't enough electricity to cool water and make ice etc. Was just awful. 12 hours and beyond starts too feel like there is no electricity.

This carried on well into the 10s too. During PPP's tenure (08-13'), I vividly recall 14 hours of load shedding here in Jhelum. After hours and hours we'd get electricity for like 15 minutes and then it'd be gone again. It was unbearable.

 

[smalishah84]

This carried on well into the 10s too. During PPP's tenure (08-13'), I vividly recall 14 hours of load shedding here in Jhelum. After hours and hours we'd get electricity for like 15 minutes and then it'd be gone again. It was unbearable.

yeah this terrible period of loadshedding basically went from late 00s to mid 10s.

The summers were indeed unbearable. Thankfully i was in karachi most of the time. It was slightly better there. Other places were ridiculously bad.

 

[vcs]

At least you guys have good weather.

I was actually visiting some rural areas in the late 00s summer. I was there for a week. The electricity would go for 3 hours and then return for an hour. The mercury never dipped below 45 celsius and the hotter days were 48. It was hell. I even got sick because there wasn't enough electricity to cool water and make ice etc. Was just awful. 12 hours and beyond starts too feel like there is no electricity.

This carried on well into the 10s too. During PPP's tenure (08-13'), I vividly recall 14 hours of load shedding here in Jhelum. After hours and hours we'd get electricity for like 15 minutes and then it'd be gone again. It was unbearable.

yeah this terrible period of loadshedding basically went from late 00s to mid 10s.

The summers were indeed unbearable. Thankfully i was in karachi most of the time. It was slightly better there. Other places were ridiculously bad.

Seems like the whole of Pakistan is like UP/Bihar.

 

[MrPrez]

https://www.timeslive.co.za/politic...cyclone-idai-and-must-therefore-pay-says-blf/

Ignoring the obviously problematic racial overtones, what do you guys think of the basic premise?

It's stupid.

But by BLF standards its actually not that bad - they're such an egregious and idiotic party.

Fully-fledged racists they are; this at least is based upon a relatively rational argument.

Their latest stunt was this

After a concrete bridge at a school broke and killed 3 students, one BLF member tweeted: "Why should we frown on the ancestors’ petitions to punish the land thieves including their offspring."

https://ewn.co.za/2018/12/11/blf-defends-kill-white-people-statement is another example of their blatant racism.

 

[andmark]

It's stupid.

But by BLF standards its actually not that bad - they're such an egregious and idiotic party.

Fully-fledged racists they are; this at least is based upon a relatively rational argument.

Their latest stunt was this

https://ewn.co.za/2018/12/11/blf-defends-kill-white-people-statement is another example of their blatant racism.

After a concrete bridge at a school broke and killed 3 students, one BLF member tweeted: "Why should we frown on the ancestors’ petitions to punish the land thieves including their offspring."

When people say "it's impossible to be racist against white people", I often wonder whether they're just being euro-centric because nutcases like those guys exist in places outside the immediate area of the west.

 

[smalishah84]

Seems like the whole of Pakistan is like UP/Bihar.

It was probably worse at that time. Generation capacity wasn't there and it took time to a point where this thing came under control. It was almost 7 - 8 years of misery.

 

[andmark]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-47710945

The Algeria situation continuing to escalate.

 

[Victor Ian]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-47710945

The Algeria situation continuing to escalate.

Is that Ian chappell in Algeria?

 

[StephenZA]

Cameroon continues with their struggles.
africanews.com_351000-displaced-in-anglophone-cameroon-un-wants-219m-in-aid/

Background on Cameroon conflict for those who are interested.
foreignaffairs.com_cameroon/2018-11-08/whats-driving-conflict-cameroon



I did not know this was even a thing....
theconversation.com/why-western-sahara-remains-one-of-africas-most-divisive-political-issues

 

[MrPrez]

Cameroon continues with their struggles.
africanews.com_351000-displaced-in-anglophone-cameroon-un-wants-219m-in-aid/

Background on Cameroon conflict for those who are interested.
foreignaffairs.com_cameroon/2018-11-08/whats-driving-conflict-cameroon



I did not know this was even a thing....
theconversation.com/why-western-sahara-remains-one-of-africas-most-divisive-political-issues

It certainly puts the issues we have in South Africa into perspective.

For all the government incompetence, we're still safe and devoid of war and politically-motivated violence.

 

[MrPrez]

In other news, thoughts on the ZACP? https://capitalist.org.za/

While I'm pro-liberty etc, they seem to me to be nothing more than a bunch of opinionated people with too much time on their hands.

All they seem to want to do is get seats in parliament so they get a platform to talk. No actual action.

Also, their website is horrible.

 

[StephenZA]

It certainly puts the issues we have in South Africa into perspective.

For all the government incompetence, we're still safe and devoid of war and politically-motivated violence.

I`m not so sure about that one.... internal ANC fighting (and other parties) within KZN and places like Mpumalanga are pretty intense and serious. But yeah at least we do not have war.

 

[MrPrez]

I`m not so sure about that one.... internal ANC fighting (and other parties) within KZN and places like Mpumalanga are pretty intense and serious. But yeah at least we do not have war.

Yeah fair enough - I'm more referring to violence on a larger scale.

 

[StephenZA]

In other news, thoughts on the ZACP? https://capitalist.org.za/

While I'm pro-liberty etc, they seem to me to be nothing more than a bunch of opinionated people with too much time on their hands.

All they seem to want to do is get seats in parliament so they get a platform to talk. No actual action.

Also, their website is horrible.

No... just no. I'm sick of ideology.

All I would like to see is some basic governance. Lets get rid of the corruption, keep the lights on, fix the potholes, get the text books to the schools; And as a bigger long term goal try to tackle the inequality. That is do basic governance despite ideological opinions. But basic governance is far more difficult to achieve, than sprouting one-liners, of one solution fixes all problems bullshit.

 

[MrPrez]

No... just no. I'm sick of ideology.

All I would like to see is some basic governance. Lets get rid of the corruption, keep the lights on, fix the potholes, get the text books to the schools; And as a bigger long term goal try to tackle the inequality. That is do basic governance despite ideological opinions. But basic governance is far more difficult to achieve, than sprouting one-liners, of one solution fixes all problems bullshit.

Exactly. I'm all for a genuine classic liberal party, but there's no point if you have no intention of actually running for an office that gets control of anything.

They've explicitly stated that they have no desire to actually run for local or national office; only to get a few people into parliament to put their views out there.

Seems pretty pretentious to me.

 

[StephenZA]

Two interesting opnion articles on the upcoming elections.
news24_Columnists/AdriaanBasson/battleground-gauteng-will-push-anc-above-or-below

news24_/Columnists/HowardFeldman/ill-vote-for-hope-if-you-ask-me-to

The 2nd one truly resonants with me....