Babobski’s Blog: News and opinions from South Africa and around the world

Delivering his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement Speech in parliament yesterday, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said that South Africa is well positioned to weather the current financial crises.

While most of the bigger economies world wide are bracing themselves for negative growth, South Africa’s GDP growth is expected to be 3 % next year, dropping from 5 % over the past four years.

Continuing investment in infrastructure will contribute to the momentum of growth in South Africa and will lead to accelerated growth from 2010, when world markets are expected to begin their recovery.

“Our low level of debt, especially foreign debt, and our prudent approach to fiscal policy, provide us with the space to adjust our policies to cushion the economy against the worst effects of the global crisis” said Manuel.

“The financial stability assessment conducted by the IMF and World Bank during April

and May this year concluded that the financial system in South Africa is fundamentally sound, and noted that our financial sector regulatory framework is sophisticated, modern and effective” added Manuel

This means that South Africans can go to sleep at night safe in the knowledge that our Banks will not collapse as we have seen happening overseas.

China and Brazil are amongst the nations that will kick start the resources come back, once the financial crises has blown over, leaving South Africa is a position to weather the storm.

Food prices have stabilized and the price of oil has dropped, which means that inflation, which hit 13, 6 % in August will also begin to decline in the short term.

Maybe the ANC should look at appointing Trevor Manuel as Minister of Safety and Security in an attempt to take us off the top spot on the list of being the most dangerous non war zone in the world

Anybody who watched the Awesome Foursome (Ryk, Roland Schoeman, Lyndon Ferns and Darian Townsend) win gold in the 4 x 100m freestyle relay at the Athens Olympics in 2004, would enjoy reading the recently released Ryk Neethling autobiography.

The book covers the build up to the Athens Olympics and reveals how the top swimmers started believing they could win the gold medal in the relay, even though they had only finished in eighth position at the World Champs the previous year.

The rest is, as they say is history, and the unforgettable sight of the four South Africans celebrating while a stunned Michael Phelps looks on, will forever be etched in the minds of South Africans.

Neethling describes how he landed up training in America, and the many sacrifices that needed to be made along the way.  The hard work a top swimmers needs to put into the pool is described, without going into jargon that only a swimmer would understand.

It is quite a story about how a boy from Bloemfontein reached the top of international swimming and eventually achieved his dream of winning an Olympic gold medal.

Neethling does not pull punches when telling how Swim SA, the body controlling the sport in the country seemed to be working against the swimmers, instead of supporting them.  Many valid points are mentioned and one wonders what will actually become of the sport in the future.

It is clear, not only from “Chasing the Dream”, but also from events that occurred at Beijing that all is not well at Swim SA.  Neethling covers the build up to Beijing and the clashes he had with Dirk Lange, the disgraced national swim coach.

Lange should have never been appointed as our national director of coaching in the first place and lets just hope he has not caused lasting damage to South African swimming.  His inferiority complex when dealing with our senior swimmers contributed in a large manner to the rift between the local based and the overseas based swimmers.

The incompetence displayed by the administrators at Swim SA compounded the problem and instead of winning medals at Olympic Games, we now have officials  telling us about how many African and national records we broke at the Olympics. 

Let’s hope Neethling’s book will cause some frank discussions about where we are as a swimming nation and that plans to ensure we win medals at the 2012 Olympics will be put into place now.

Ryk Neethling is a prime example of South Africa’s never say die attitude and he is worthy of being called a South African sports legend.  May his book inspire the next generation of South African swimmers who will believe that they can conquer the world, no matter what obstacles stand in their path.

Uganda has replaced South Africa on the influential United Nations Security Council. The council is regarded as the powerhouse of the UN and has the authority to impose sanctions and deploy peacekeepers.

There are five permanent seats out of 15 on the Security Council. America, Britain, France, Russia and China all hold the permanent seats and are the only countries with a veto vote. Elections for the non permanent seats are held every two years.

The General Assembly elected Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey and Uganda to serve as non-permanent members of the Security Council for two-year terms starting on 1 January 2009. The newly elected countries will replace Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, Panama and South Africa. Uganda stood unopposed to replace South Africa. Ten non-permanent members, elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms are not eligible for immediate re-election

Iran and Iceland lost out on their attempts to gain a seat when they were defeated by Japan and Turkey respectively. Australia even gained one vote despite the fact that they were not even standing for election! It is believed that a country became confused between Austria and Australia when voting.

A missile attack launched from an unmanned drone airplane killed two people in Pakistan on Thursday.  In what is becoming known as America’s secret war, this is the 12 confirmed attack in the new front in the war on terror.

There are hundreds of thousands of Pakistani refugees who have crossed the border into Afghanistan to flee the fighting between government forces and Taliban militants.  The refugees say the invasion of Afghanistan caused the problems as many soldiers moved into Pakistan to launch their attacks from the tribal areas against the US led coalition.

According to Richard Engel, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent in Afghanistan there are US special forces who are waging war in Pakistan.  “There are troops in bases in Afghanistan who don’t wear uniforms and who don’t shave to in order to blend in with local populations when on covert operations”.

“They eat in their own chow halls, plan their own missions and don’t talk much. They don’t talk at all to the media.  They’re the men who have been called in to cross into Pakistan when the drones can’t get deep enough to find and kill their targets. 

They are elite Special Operations Forces, the most-highly trained and covert of the U.S. military. They are America’s ghost warriors. According to Pakistani villagers who claim to have witnessed their operations, the “Special Ops” work in small teams, fast roping out of helicopters, air assaulting their objective before the enemy can re-group.

Their strengths are rapid violence, stealth, mobility and surprise. The Special Operations Forces don’t receive much attention or credit in the media, but they’re leading America’s secret war inside Pakistan, at least for now”.

A Pakistani official, according to Engel said that there has been up to 50 drone incursions and around 10 ground force attacks into Pakistan since the new front in the war has been opened.

In further proof that a civil war is also underway in Pakistan, at least four security personnel were killed and 28 others wounded when a police station here came under a rocket attack, followed by a suicide bombing late on Wednesday night.

Swat district police chief, Delawar Khan Bangash told newsmen that militants fired rockets on the station. A heavy exchange of gunfire followed but soon an explosive-laden coach was rammed into the rear wall of the city police station.

Pakistan has turned to China to assist with their financial crises as all western aid goes to the military.  Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani prime minister is on a four day visit to China seeking hundreds of millions of dollars of emergency aid.

The fragile political situation in Pakistan has further unraveled as the country slides into civil war.

The government’s decision to accede to America’s demands that Taliban and Al Qaeda insurgents be rooted out in the tribal areas has ensured a back lash from the insurgents and others.

A suicide bomber rammed an explosive filled motor car into a police station in North West Pakistan on Thursday, killing three policemen and injuring 15.

According to the Pakistani military, 1000 insurgents have been killed since the government began their operations. However, this figure has not been verified.

Suicide attacks are also on the increase, including an attack on the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad which killed 55 people.

Many Pakistani’s are against the government crackdown on the so called insurgents and many in the military are wary of fighting against fellow Muslims.

Meanwhile the war in Afghanistan is starting to unravel for the American led coalition. The Taliban are far from a spent force and are taking back the rural areas of Afghanistan. One thing that must be remembered is that no invading force has prevailed in Afghanistan in the modern era. Britain, at the height of her military power was repelled, as was Russia in the 1970’s. There is little doubt that America will follow the same route, no matter how many years it will take.

Disturbingly, both the American presidential candidates feel that the war in Afghanistan must continue. This is a fatal error of judgment from both of them. The war on terror has created more suicide bombers, combined with a national and religious zeal that is becoming stronger instead of weaker. And the world is becoming more unsafe as a result.

The 2008 global financial crises will already go down in history as the biggest loss in confidence in the markets since 1929. The JSE has plunged by nearly 30 % already and the Nikkei lost another 10 % on 8 October.

Pushed to the back of our minds are other concerns we have about the world. Global warming is hardly mentioned anymore, who knows what’s happening in the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. Pakistan have already had skirmishes with US special forces operating in cross border raids into Pakistan in what appears to be a new front in the War on Terror.

Robert Mugabe has seized power again in Zimbabwe, under the disguise of power sharing with the MDC. And yet again he is getting away with it as the world turns its attention to the financial crises.

There have been mutterings from Harare about why is it a problem when Bob prints money but its fine in the eyes of the world when “that little Bush” prints money. Once again Mugabe’s timing is impeccable as he points out how deurmekaar* (*African word for confused) the Westerners are and that him and Zunu PF know how a run a show better than any Westerner would ever be able to.

Meanwhile Zimbabwe’s financial position implodes even further. 80 % unemployment, a currency that is worthless and an economy that is in total ruins.

There is no more talk about aid packages to Zimbabwe as European leaders scramble to prevent a depression occurring that would affect the entire world, Africa included. It would seem that South Africa will have to provide for the restructuring of the Zimbabwean economy as world aid funding comes under pressure or simply dries up.

Any why not? Our economy has stood up well to the financial crises. The South African government and big business must take hands and take the opportunity to help our neighbours to a prosperous financial future in a democratic political environment.

Give the big corporate’s tax incentives to invest in Zimbabwe and kick start a market driven economy. Tourism, agriculture, mining, construction and banking are just a few of the opportunities that are available to bolster the economy and stabilize the currency.

Let Zimbabwe become the bread basket of Africa again and lets all benefit from achieving it without the help of the rest of the world who can’t care as they try to solve their own economic meltdowns and wars against mythical enemies.