Couple lose R30 000 to Sangoma....

Nosive Titsolo of Khayelitsha, who is unemployed, decided to consult a sangoma after her house was burgled and her purse disappeared. (from IOL)

The sangoma promised to perform three rituals to end her run of bad luck. One of these involved buying a bag for R12 000 into which a R1-million gift from the ancestors would appear on a certain day.

Titsolo paid R1 000 for a goat for the cleansing ceremony. She also borrowed R12 000 from a relative for the the bag for the ancestors' gift.

In the third ritual, she borrowed R15 000 from a bank to buy cows which would "protect and cleanse" her house.

She was also charged a consultation fee, bringing the amount she said she paid to the sangoma to R30 000. She was told to open a bank account and deposit the money in it.

But the day she was due to receive the R1-million "gift from the ancestors" came and went.

Titsolo went back to the sangoma, who was based in Harare, to find out what had gone wrong, only to be told by his assistants that he had gone to the "mountain in Kenya".

"My husband and I believed in him and trusted him, but we now realise that he brainwashed us," said Titsolo.

Titsolo's husband has a job.

She says they had expected some good luck, but had just had more bad luck.

Titsolo said she had tried to lay a charge with the Khayelitsha police but they refused to open a docket if people were going to be so stupid?

Minister's racist view underpins agricultural policy

Government will make R1bn available for support to emerging farmers, the SABC reported on Wednesday. (from News24)

Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson said 2 000 land reform beneficiaries and 1 000 extension officers would be trained. She said broad-based black economic empowerment would also be monitored.

"We have, with the industry stakeholders launched the Agri BEE charter council to monitor and report on BBBEE initiatives.

"Not enough has been done to monitor BBBEE in agriculture and this will be intensified and monitored with scrutiny."

The government wanted to tap into the goodwill that existed among white commercial farmers to help grow the black farming sector, she said.

Speaking at the end of debate in the National Assembly on her department's budget vote, she warned it was wrong to label white commercial farmers as "the enemy". (Too late, she's already let it slip?)

"We must work together to do more. We will listen to all stakeholders. We will listen to those who have competence and skills. We do not have the luxury of time to reinvest in these.

"There are historically advantaged commercial farmers who have the knowledge and who have the know-how. And there is goodwill among white commercial farmers. There is goodwill; they want to help.

"It is tapping into that goodwill that is important, and not to always blame and label white commercial farmers as the enemy. There are patriotic white South Africans who want to help this country," she told MPs.

Government would work together with farmers who believed their collective future lay in South Africa, but not with those who were "condescending, patronising and racist" in nature.

"We are going to need... [farmers who] will share the risk of failure. If a farm collapses, it is going to be the responsibility of both white and black white farmers to address the failure," she said

The goodwill the minister crows about was all dribbled into the dry dusty earth by one Lulu Xingwana. It will take more than just saying that "they are not the enemy" to get that trust back. Does it matters to you what the colour of the skin of the person growing your food is? It matters to the minister. That is the racist foundation of the minister's approach. I will see you as black and white, but will not work with anyone who is "condescending and racist"? The minister just turned her back on South African farmers investing in the rest of Africa in a "condescending, patronising and rascist manner". These are farmers heading INTO Africa, so how does that make them rascist? To see a hypocrit the minister need only look in a mirror.

Agricultural minister unveils first harvest of sour grapes

Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson said the government will not stand in the way of farmers investing in other African countries but "cannot help protect their investments." (From IOL)

Duh UH DUH! The minister can't get it into her teensie little brain that the white farmers of this country are seeking greener pastures elsewhere because of this government's policy targetting their farms. The minister is also ignoring the matter before the Constitutional Court regarding the governments dismal failure to lift a finger to help Mr von Abo when he was losing his farms in Zimbabwe. No pressure, no request, nothing from our government. Perhaps it is because Mr von Abo is white?

"South Africa would not be able to protect their risk in another country, and we wouldn't be able to provide them with any security or any insurance for their money. So if they invest, they face the risk like any other investor." (She means to say South Africa WILL not protect their investments in other countries? She is the person in the position to negotiate bilateral protection treaties with these countries? Maybe she knows something about the way Africa seems to work. An area is colonised and developed until the local population decides to lose the plot Zimbabwe style? What are you saying to foreign companies wanting to invest in South African agriculture when you are not willing to provide our citizens basic protections on racial terms? What about black entrepeneurs who want to invest in African agriculture?)

"We have also spoken about security of tenure and security of land, that they should understand the policies of the countries they are investing in - particularly around land." (You don't think the farmers have read the LARGE print regarding this country's land policy? Why do you think they are looking elsewhere?)

"We had high risk impacts in Zimbabwe, where South African farmers went to Zimbabwe, lost their farms and were looking for some form of compensation," she said. (While the South African government fiddled on the sidelines?)

"We are not trying to scare away South African investments in the rest of Africa...but we caution our farmers to say that make sure that you understand what you are negotiating, what you are signing up for. You need to read the fine print." (She is doing her best to discourage external investments and sounds panicky. Could it be that the grass really is greener on the other side? Or could it be that the minister realises that the white farmers are just leaving, taking their skills, money and equipment and escaping from under her jackboot? Lady, use the royal "we" all you like, you still sound panicked!)

Zimbabweans witches fly in baskets!

A HARARE magistrate has called in witchcraft experts after a Murehwa woman found NAKED outside her brother-in-law’s house in Highfield claimed she FLEW there in a winnowing basket with two others on a mission to kill him. (from newzimbabwe)

Refusing to take chances, Harare magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe said the woman should be remanded in custody just in case she “flies back to Murehwa”.

Guvamombe then told prison officers: “If she escapes, the Prison Service should explain.”

Experts from the Zimbabwe Traditional Healers Association (ZINATHA) were expected in court on Thursday to provide guidance on the bizarre case which is set to reignite a national debate on witchcraft.

The practice of witchcraft is illegal in Zimbabwe after witchcraft laws were changed in 2006. Under the colonial-era laws that existed before then, it was a crime to accuse anyone of practising witchcraft.

New laws say anyone accusing another individual of witchcraft must show proof of their allegations. The Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act 2004 says judicial officers can rely on expert evidence “as to whether the practice that forms the subject of a charge… is a practice that is commonly associated with witchcraft.”

The spirit of Nongqawuse is with us today! "Pssstt... Kill your cattle... The MDC and the white man will turn into grasshoppers and mice and swept into the sea by a big wind... New cattle will issue forth from the soil and the farms will grow wheat and maize and tobacco and... " It is incredible that the magistrate would play along. He must BELIEVE. Add in that the "experts" are coming to give evidence.... this "witch" is in trouble. What constitutes proof of witchcraft? Perhaps TRIAL BY DROWNING? This is getting very close to waterboarding... Perhaps a simple stripsearch will reveal her WITCHES TEAT - an unnatural protuberance (usually in the armpit or in the crotch) that was insensitive when pricked?

"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" Exodus 22:18

Land Invasion South African style

DISGRUNTLED land-reform beneficiaries have invaded a farm near Malelane in Mpumalanga, ousting its managers and assuming control of the farm workers and the running of the farm. (from the Business Day)

The 3200ha farm, Foroma, is part of Tenbosch, a R10bn land-restitution project, SA’s biggest by value. It is one of several farms handed back to four communities who lost their land under apartheid legislation since 1923. In Tenbosch, farming had slowed down on some of the farms. (Slowed? They mean to say the farm has slipped into subsistence farming)

Agribusiness Umlimi, which controls the joint-venture farm management company Makhombo for the Lugedlane community, has confirmed the land invasion, saying a group of people armed with knives and machetes arrived on Foroma last Thursday, threatened managers and seized control of the farm.

The invasion of Foroma farm comes among other indications that the Tenbosch project, the government’s showcase land restitution project, is beginning to fall apart.

Attorney Richard Spoor said the trustess had entrenched themselves by selling membership to the community and then setting up what amounted to pyramid schemes, which paid out unsustainable dividends to cronies.

Although there has been no profit so far, Makhombo pays "the community" about R180000 a month in rental.

Through Makhombo, Umlimi has disbursed about R3,5m to Mjejane Trust on behalf of the Lugedlane community in the past three years, but none of the income was passed on to the community, the group of concerned community members allege. (We want the farm, we want the money, we want the car, we want the edukation, we want the health care, we want...)

Food for Votes.... follow the leader - Zanu-PF..

The ANC is enticing voters with food parcels — using taxpayers’ money.

The Sunday Times has established that ruling party councillors and representatives have been accompanying officials from the Department of Social Development in dishing out food parcels since February, declaring that the largesse is from “an ANC-led government”.

The electoral code of conduct states that it is an offence to offer a reward to a person to vote in a particular manner.

“They wore their ANC T-shirts and told us that the food was from the ANC, and that we should vote for the ANC if we want to get more parcels in the future,” said Sheila Xasa, a domestic worker from CC Lloyd township, East London.

A Gauteng recipient said they were told to vote for the ANC because it would continue to give them food and services. The woman, from Diepkloof, Soweto, said they were told they would starve to death if they did not vote for the ANC. “If you know what is right for you, you will vote for the winning party,” people were told while standing in queues, the woman said.

The party officials dishing out the parcels gave preferential treatment to those wearing ANC paraphernalia.

“We know that strategy; they want us to vote for them. After the elections they will disappear. It’s food for votes. They know that we are hungry, so they target our stomachs."

The ANC has clearly learned from the Zanu-PF and their long standing tradition of buying votes from starving poor people with food. Of course it's time to play stupid....

"ANC spokesman Jessie Duarte emphatically denied the party was buying votes with food, but indicated that “it was true” that parcels were coming from an ANC-led government.

“The fact of the matter is that the ANC-led government will continue to provide social assistance,” she said.

But the IFP, DA, UDM and COPE have accused the ANC of abusing the social distress relief grants. NGOs, including the Black Sash, have also condemned the practice.

The Black Sash’s Sarah Nicklin said it was “one of the lowest, most unscrupulous forms of electioneering, especially when it leads to a scramble for food and the death of vulnerable people in need”.

Lindiwe Sisulu and the truth

Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has been heading up an ANC "task team" on Jacob Zuma's "Legal Affairs" and spoke to the Mail and Guardian.

Wasn't the case won on a technicality?
No - the truth is indivisible. The NPA had to get the point across that although their process was flawed they at least had a solid case.

The Truth is Indivisible? What does that mean?
The Truth is Inadvisable, The Truth is Incredible
The Truth is Jacob Zuma is Guilty


This is not an acquittal. Aren't future charges possible?
This matter is over. Finish and klaar.

What about a private prosecution?
Once this decision to withdraw charges has been confirmed by the court, how can anyone challenge the decision? On what basis would this not amount to an acquittal? If this is not an acquittal, then I will have to revisit my bush law degree.

The head of the ANC's Legal team looking into the legal affairs of Jacob Zuma has a bush law degree. They don't do private prosecutions in the bush you know. Getting your legal advice from someone with a law degree from the bush is like getting your financial advice from Pollsmoor Prison Golf Driving Range! No wonder the housing crisis just gets worse and worse year after year.... it's cause Stupid is in charge.