ANC Today

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Volume 7, No. 20, 25-31 May 2007

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THIS WEEK:

* Letter from the President: The ANC, our government and Nazi propaganda 
* Palestinian solidarity: Call to mobilise against Israeli occupation 
* What the media says: Lousy research and false messages 

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LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

The ANC, our government and Nazi propaganda

On Saturday, 19 May, SABC Radio broadcast a startling news item reporting what
the General Secretary of COSATU, Zwelinzima Vavi, had said at a meeting in Port
Elizabeth, held to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the foundation of the
National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA).

In this regard, on its 20 May website, "News24" said: "Congress of South African
Trade Unions secretary-general Zwelinzima Vavi says a reported economic boom in
South Africa is government propaganda similar to that used by Adolf Hitler's
regime in Nazi Germany, the SABC reported Sunday. Vavi was speaking at Numsa's
20th anniversary celebrations.

"Vavi condemned as propaganda language used by government to convince the public
that there is a better life for all and that South Africa has entered a season
of new hope. Vavi says this language is being used to detract from the more
accurate picture, which includes deepening inequalities between the rich and the
poor. He says while the black elite continues to develop slowly, the overall
quality of life for black people in general is not improving."

Reporting on the same matter in its 21 May edition, the "Sowetan" headed its
article - "Vavi says boom reports like 'Nazi propaganda'". This article said:
"Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said reports of an economic boom in
South Africa was government propaganda similar to that of Adolf Hitler's Nazi
Germany, the SABC reported yesterday."

The charge that our government and the ANC are behaving in a manner akin to the
Nazis is very serious in the extreme. More often than not, we have declined to
comment on various negative statements that Vavi has made over the years about
both our movement and government. However, it is not possible to ignore the
grossly repugnant statement he made in Port Elizabeth.

What was German Nazism?

Nazism was the most reactionary, chauvinist, predatory and anti-human political
system to emerge in Europe and the world between the two World Wars. Based on
deeply repulsive ideas of racial superiority, it visualised a world dominated by
Germans, described as an "Aryan race", with a manifest destiny to rule the
world. Accordingly, as a matter of policy, it launched World War II to achieve
such domination.

As a concrete expression of its pernicious racism, it slaughtered millions of
Jewish people in the infamous Holocaust. The war it launched led to the death of
over 20 million citizens of the Soviet Union, again driven by ideas of Aryan
superiority over the Slavic people and people from the East. On this basis, it
also sought to annihilate all the Romani (gypsy) people in Europe.

It was irrevocably opposed both to democracy and socialism. It openly proclaimed
itself in favour of what it described as authoritarian rule. It therefore put
force, including military force, on a high pedestal as an instrument of state
policy. It therefore deliberately set out to destroy the democratic and
socialist parties first in Germany, to establish a dictatorship over the German
people, which it would later extend to all countries it conquered.

It sought to secure global economic domination by the German monopolies, even
creating the space for these monopolies to use unpaid labour. Necessarily,
therefore, it destroyed the German trade union movement and marshalled the
people imprisoned in the concentration camps, the prisoners of war and others in
occupied Europe, to provide slave labour for the benefit of the German
monopolies.

In a well-known Report delivered in 1935, the Bulgarian communist, Georgi
Dimitrov, described fascism as "the open terrorist dictatorship of the most
reactionary, most chauvinistic and most imperialist elements of finance
capital".

He went on to say: "The most reactionary variety of fascism is the German type
of fascism (Nazism). It has the effrontery to call itself National Socialism,
though it has nothing in common with socialism. German fascism is not only
bourgeois nationalism, it is fiendish chauvinism. It is a government system of
political gangsterism, a system of provocation and torture practised upon the
working class and the revolutionary elements of the peasantry, the petty
bourgeoisie and the intelligentsia. It is medieval barbarity and bestiality, it
is unbridled aggression in relation to other nations.

"German fascism is acting as the spearhead of international counter-revolution,
as the chief instigator of imperialist war, as the initiator of a crusade
against the Soviet Union, the great fatherland of the working people of the
whole world...

"It is the organisation of terrorist vengeance against the working class and the
revolutionary section of the peasantry and intelligentsia. In foreign policy,
fascism is jingoism in its most brutal form, fomenting bestial hatred of other
nations."

In our country, the most rabidly racist sections of the National Party aligned
themselves with Nazism through such organisations as the Ossewa Brandwag. As in
Germany, this domestic representative of Nazism stood for "a government system
of political gangsterism, a system of provocation and torture practised upon the
working class and the revolutionary elements of the peasantry, the petty
bourgeoisie and the intelligentsia,...medieval barbarity and bestiality,...and
unbridled (oppression and exploitation of the black majority)."

Who was Joseph Goebbels?

COSATU General Secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, described what our government and
movement have been saying about our economy and the gradual improvements in the
standard of living of our people as 'propaganda similar to that of Adolf
Hitler's Nazi Germany'. We must therefore reflect on the role of propaganda in
the pursuit and implementation of the unimaginably evil agenda of Nazi Germany.

In this regard we must underline the point that this propaganda was an inherent
and inevitable part of the project to establish in Germany, Europe and the rest
of the world the Nazi dictatorship we have already characterised. Outside of
Nazism there could be no Nazi propaganda: without Nazi propaganda Nazism could
not make the advances it sought. For these reasons, from the very beginning,
Nazism openly proclaimed that propaganda was one of its principal instruments.

Joseph Goebbels was, unquestionably, the pre-eminent propagandist of the Nazi
regime, and one of its top five leaders. To avoid capture by the victorious
anti-fascist coalition in 1945, and having murdered their six children, he and
his wife, Magda, committed suicide, soon after Adolf Hitler and his wife, Eva
Braun, had taken the same route.

Goebbels on propaganda

Speaking in 1934, Goebbels had said: "The concept of propaganda has undergone a
fundamental transformation, particularly as the result of political practice in
Germany. Throughout the world today, people are beginning to see that a modern
state, whether democratic or authoritarian, cannot withstand the subterranean
forces of anarchy and chaos without propaganda. It is not only a matter of doing
the right thing; the people must understand that the right thing is the right
thing. Propaganda includes everything that helps the people to realise this...

"Even during the time when we were in the opposition, we succeeded in rescuing
the concept of propaganda from disfavour or contempt. Since then, we have
transformed it into a truly creative art. It was our sharpest weapon in
conquering the state. It remains our sharpest weapon in defending and building
the state. Although this is perhaps still not clear to the rest of the world, it
was obvious to us that we had to use the weapon with which we had conquered the
state to defend the state. Otherwise we faced the danger that we could lose the
people even though we had power, and that, without the people, we would lose
power."

In the same speech, explaining the Nazi victories up to that point, he said:
"There are no parliamentary parties in Germany any longer. How could we have
overcome them had we not waged an educational campaign for years that persuaded
people of their weaknesses, harms, and disadvantages? Their final elimination
was only the result of what the people had already realised. Our propaganda
weakened these parties. Based on that, they could be eliminated by a legal act.

"Marxism could not be eliminated by a government decision. Its elimination was
the end result of a process that began with the people. But that was only
possible because our propaganda had shown people that Marxism was a danger to
both the state and society. The positive national discipline of the German press
would never have been possible without the compete elimination of the influence
of the liberal-Jewish press. That happened only because of the years-long work
of our propaganda...

"We could eliminate the Jewish danger in our culture because the people had
recognised it as the result of our propaganda. Major cultural achievements such
as the unique 'Kraft durch Freude', (the 'Strength through Joy' leisure
organisation run by the Nazi state), are possible only with the powerful support
of the people. The prerequisite was and is propaganda, which here too creates
and maintains the connection to the people."

Goebbels and Chauvinism

Again explaining the importance of propaganda for the realisation of the grand
Nazi design, Goebbels said in a 1942 article entitled "Don't Be Too Fair!":

"At vital moments in our history, we have lacked sufficient national egotism to
enable us to rise above objectivity and fairness to give full service to our
national interest, undeterred by any false sentimentality. If the German people
suddenly became leaderless today, they probably would wander around the world as
so often in the past, spreading morals, culture, civilisation, and education,
but entirely forgetting to bring food and fuel along. The German people are the
heart of humanity, and our mission today is to give it a broad foundation for
its existence. That is an ideal, but a realistic one worthy of the greatest
sacrifices.

"If we once again stood with empty hands at the end of the war, we should be
ashamed before the mothers who lost their sons, the children who lost the
fathers, and the women who lost their husbands. We therefore warn against any
danger we see, and particularly against those with roots in our national
character. The bourgeois era with its false and lying idea of humanitarianism is
over. We are in the middle of a hard century. It will be won not by good nature,
but by manliness and strength. The world is divided by love and hate. To be on
firm ground, one must know whom to love and whom to hate."

At the beginning of 1943, the Nazi "Sixth Army", commanded by Field Marshall
Friedrich Paulus, was defeated by the Red (Soviet) Army during the famous Battle
for Stalingrad, and surrendered. This was after the Nazi "Army Group Don", under
the command of Field Marshall Erich von Manstein, had been defeated by the Red
Army as it tried to come to the rescue of Paulus' "Sixth Army".

The Nazi surrender in Stalingrad

Paulus' surrender, which infuriated Hitler, marked the first time in history
that a German Field Marshall had surrendered rather than fight to the death. In
this regard, Hitler is reported to have said: "(Paulus) could have freed himself
from all sorrow and ascended into eternity and national immortality, but he
prefers to go to Moscow." The fact of the matter however is that the defeat of
the Nazi "Sixth Army" in Stalingrad in 1943 marked the strategic turning point
in WW II, which ended with the capture of Berlin in 1945, the suicide of such
Nazi leaders as Hitler and Goebbels, and the liquidation of the Nazi regime.

Ever confident about the power of Nazi propaganda, Goebbels addressed a mass
rally in Berlin soon after the defeat at Stalingrad, ending with the words,
which were rapturously applauded - "Now, let the nation rise up and let the
storm break loose!"

During this speech he said: "Two thousand years of Western civilisation are in
danger. One cannot overestimate the danger. It is indicative that when one names
it as it is, International Jewry throughout the world protests loudly. Things
have gone so far in Europe that one cannot call a danger a danger when it is
caused by the Jews...

"Behind the oncoming Soviet divisions we see the Jewish liquidation commandos,
and behind them terror, the spectre of mass starvation and complete anarchy.
International Jewry is the devilish ferment of decomposition that finds cynical
satisfaction in plunging the world into the deepest chaos and destroying ancient
cultures that it played no role in building...

"The great crises and upsets of national life show who the true men and women
are. We have no right any longer to speak of the weaker sex, for both sexes are
displaying the same determination and spiritual strength. The nation is ready
for anything. The Führer has commanded, and we will follow him. In this hour of
national reflection and contemplation, we believe firmly and unshakably in
victory. We see it before us, we need only reach for it. We must resolve to
subordinate everything to it. That is the duty of the hour. Let the slogan be:
Now, let the nation rise up and let the storm break loose!"

Goebbels and the rest of the Nazi leadership understood the true meaning of the
defeat of the Nazi military machine at and around Stalingrad, as led by its most
outstanding frontline commanders, Field Marshalls Paulus and von Manstein.

However, Goebbels believed that he could turn the tide by continuing to tell the
German people lies, which was characteristic of, and intrinsic to Nazi
propaganda, and by inciting blind German chauvinism, including a rabid and toxic
anti-Semitism, themselves an inalienable feature of Nazism.

As we have already said, this manner of proceeding was an inherent part of
Nazism. Nazi propaganda was integral to the Nazi project, and could not have
existed outside the context of the pursuit of this project.

What have we achieved!

It must therefore follow that when Zwelinzima Vavi accuses our movement and
government of "propaganda similar to that of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany", as he
did in Port Elizabeth, he believes that the ANC and our government represent
policies that, at least, represent "a system of provocation and torture
practised upon the working class", as Dimitrov said. To hide this, and according
to this proposition, we are obliged to use Nazi-like language "to detract from
the more accurate picture, which includes deepening inequalities between the
rich and the poor,...(and the reality that) the overall quality of life for
black people in general is not improving".

Vavi expressed this sentiment earlier when he addressed the National Congress of
the Young Communist League (YCL) on 15 December 2006, consistent with what he
said later in Port Elizabeth, during the public meeting convened to celebrate
the 20th anniversary of the birth of NUMSA. At the YCL Congress he said: "Daily
we are informed of a sustained economic boom. We are told that the growth is
propelled by a huge demand, including for credit. The Governor has increased
interest rates four times this year and we are told there will be more. We are
told this is a logical response to dampen this demand. We are told that this is
a season of hope. This is a world as it exists in the minds of the elite. They
have a consensus that things are going well. You can't blame them if you visit
their houses and see the cars they drive - indeed things are going well in their
small planet."

As before, like all rational people in our country and elsewhere in the world,
including our ordinary working people, we would have no difficulty in
demonstrating what we have achieved to rescue and rebuild a South African
economy that was in terminal decline when we were democratically elected to
govern in 1994.

Similarly, we would have no difficulty in proving that, during our short age of
freedom, our economy has experienced, and continues to experience the longest
period of economic growth and development in its history; that, for the first
time in decades, our economy is creating a significantly large number of jobs;
and that we have restructured the national budget the better to focus on meeting
the needs of the people, especially the poor.

Neither would we have any difficulty in showing how all this has helped our
nation to improve the quality of life of the black people, and how what we have
achieved during the years of freedom has laid firm foundations for the masses of
our people, especially the poor, realistically to entertain the certainty that
their hopes for a better life will be realised.

At the same time, we would have no difficulty whatsoever in demonstrating that
our movement and government have led the effort to educate the people to
understand that we still have a long way to go before we eradicate the colonial
and apartheid legacy of poverty, underdevelopment, as well as our inherited
racial and gender disparities and imbalances. To warn against the seduction of
reckless demagogy in this regard, which promises honey for all, tomorrow, we
have cited the words of the great African revolutionary, Amilcar Cabral, - tell
no lies: claim no easy victories!

Propaganda against the ANC

As demonstrated in his speech in Port Elizabeth, at the YCL National Congress
and elsewhere, Zwelinzima Vavi is determined to ensure that as many of our
people as possible, especially the organised working class, develop an
understanding of our real and objective situation that bears no relationship to
the truth. In this regard, Goebbels said: "(propaganda must ensure that) the
people...understand that the right thing is the right thing", as defined by the
propagandist.

The truth that Vavi seeks to deny is that the ANC and our government constitute
the very antithesis or opposite of Nazism in all respects, including racism and
chauvinism, hostility to democracy and freedom of thought, contempt for the
people and the working class, and deification of force and military power.
Accordingly, resort to propaganda similar to Nazi propaganda has no place and
has never had any place in our struggle, our political and ideological work and
our information processes.

The truth that he wishes to deny is that our economy is developing very well,
but needs to grow at higher rates and to continue to modernise itself. The
standard of living of the masses of our people is improving significantly:
however, we must accelerate our advance in this regard.

The truth, repeated by our movement and government everyday, which Vavi wants to
present as his special discovery, is that millions of our people remain mired in
poverty and underdevelopment, with no access to jobs, basic services and
therefore a decent life.

As we have said repeatedly, including in our Election Manifestos, this dictates
that the central and continuing objective of the policies and programmes of the
democratic state must remain the creation of jobs, pushing back the frontiers of
poverty, and building an egalitarian, people-centred society.

The Age of Hope

In the 2006 State of the Nation Address, shortly before the last local
government elections, we said: "The results obtained by Gallup International
have been confirmed by a recent domestic poll conducted by Markinor. According
to this poll, 65% of our people believe that the country is going in the right
direction. 84% think that our country holds out a happy future for all racial
groups. 71% believe that government is performing well.

"With regard to the economy, late last month the Grant Thornton International
Business Owners Survey reported that 84% of South Africa's business owners are
optimistic about the year ahead, making them the third most optimistic
internationally. Again last month, the First National Bank and the Bureau for
Economic Research reported that the consumer confidence index was at its highest
in 25 years.

"What all these figures signify is that our people are firmly convinced that our
country has entered its Age of Hope. They are convinced that we have created the
conditions to achieve more rapid progress towards the realisation of their
dreams. They are certain that we are indeed a winning nation."

Our movement has constantly communicated these truths to our people in all our
democratic elections since 1994. With every successive election, because they
believe in us, the masses of our people have demonstrated their confidence in
our movement by electing the ANC in increasing proportions to lead our national,
provincial and local governments.

Whose interests are served by whom?

The statements made by Vavi in Port Elizabeth, at the YCL National Congress and
elsewhere, pose the question - whose interests do these statements serve? In the
end, the true test whether any action, however well-clothed in revolutionary
language, actually serves the revolution, resides in an objective and
dispassionate answer to the question - whose interests does this supposed
revolutionary action serve!

The suggestion that our movement and government have resorted to "propaganda
similar to that of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany" seeks to discredit our movement
and government, our political platform and transformation programme, and
mobilise the entirety of our population, as well as the global democratic
movement, to join in a concerted struggle to defeat our movement and government.
From all this, the question arises naturally - who would benefit from such an
eventuality?

In its 4-10 May 2007 edition, the weekly publication, "Mail & Guardian",
published an interview with Tony Leon, the outgoing leader of the largest
opposition party in our country, the Democratic Alliance (DA), which is also the
strongest political and ideological opponent of the ANC.

Answering the question - "Wasn't your open hostility to the trade unions a
miscalculation?" - Tony Leon replied: "My attitude has shifted. They have a role
in advancing certain values, and Cosatu's (Zwelinzima) Vavi has been a more
strident opposition leader than I have been. I'm not scared of being on the
right side of an argument with the wrong people. On labour legislation, I feel
they have too much power; on other issues - because they're completely sidelined
in the ANC - too little."

Tony Leon stated the matter clearly that he and the DA would like those he
described as "the wrong people" within the context of DA politics, who
nevertheless stand on "the right side of an argument" - specifically against the
ANC - should have more power stridently to oppose the ANC, to reinforce the
anti-ANC offensive of the DA and the domestic and international forces it
represents.

Thus did Tony Leon answer the question for all of us - whose interests are
served by the grossly malicious and insulting allegation that, to disguise an
offensive against the working people, the ANC and our government have resorted
to "propaganda similar to that of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany".

Thabo Mbeki

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PALESTINIAN SOLIDARITY

Call to mobilise against Israeli occupation

South Africans have been called on to turn out in their thousands during a week
of national protest action in solidarity with the Palestinian people from 4-9
June. The week of action coincides with activities around the world
commemorating the 40th anniversary of the occupation by Israel of the West Bank,
Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

Addressing a media conference this week, ANC National Executive Committee member
Ronnie Kasrils described the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory as
"criminal and intolerable".

Activities in South Africa are being coordinated by the End the Occupation
Campaign, comprising almost 20 civil society organisations, social movements,
solidarity organisations, political parties and faith-based organisations.

In a declaration issued this week, the campaign said: "We face a new crisis of
war and occupation, a crisis in which Palestinians continue to suffer, even more
than the suffering already imposed by decades of brutal occupation and
apartheid... The conditions of Palestinians living under occupation continue to
deteriorate and Palestinian refugees continue to be denied their international
rights, including their right of return. Palestinians in Jerusalem and elsewhere
face ethnic cleansing."

The group is calling on the United Nations (UN) and its member states to provide
international protection for the Palestinian people living under occupation. It
called for the acceptance of the Palestinian people democratically to choose
their leadership. It undertook to campaign for the recognition of the
democratically-elected Palestinian government, and for an end to the blockade
imposed on the Palestinian people by Israel, United States, European Union and
other countries.

The religious community will begin the campaign. The plight of the Palestinian
people and the call for an end to Israeli occupation will be highlighted in
mosques on Friday 1 June and in churches on Sunday 3 June.

During the week beginning 4 June, there will be lunch-time pickets in various
centres around the country. This will include a picket by MPs and a candle-light
vigil outside the US Consulate in Johannesburg. The ANC has also called for a
parliamentary debate on the occupation of Palestinian territory.

On 8 June, most constituent members of the Campaign will hold pickets outside
selected stores selling Israeli goods, with a call for South Africans to boycott
products from Israel. The ANC will, however, not join the call for a boycott of
goods as the organisation has not adopted such a position.

The week's events will culminate in mass marches and rallies on Saturday 9 June.
In Cape Town, there will be a mass march from 10h00 to 12h00, ending with a
rally. In Johannesburg, a mass rally will be held at the Johannesburg City Hall
from 15h00 to 17h00.

Organisers of the campaign expressed their shock and disgust at the seizure
earlier this week of more than 35 Palestinian leaders, including the Minister of
Higher Education, Dr Nassereddin al-Shaer. He was among a delegation of three
Palestinian legislators invited to South Africa to participate in the national
protest action. The South African Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor, had also
extended an invitation to al-Shaer to meet with her.

Palestinian Ambassador Ali Halimeh said it was now uncertain whether the
detained Minister would be able to visit South Africa as planned. Halimeh said
the arrests come at a time when Palestinian organisations have declared a truce.
"The Israelis never wanted to see stability in the occupied territories," he
said.

Speaking at the briefing, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)
President Willie Madisha said protest action against Israel "must be sustained
for as long as possible beyond the week we have identified. COSATU will campaign
among organisations of the working class around the world to support this call."
He said COSATU supported a campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions
against Israel.

South African Council of Churches (SACC) General Secretary Eddie Makue said his
organisation, together with the World Council of Churches and the Christian
Council of Sweden, had made a concerted effort over the past three years to
accompany Palestinians and Israelis in non-violent actions and advocacy efforts
to end the occupation. The SACC, he said, was working with faith-based bodies in
Israel and the Occupied Territories in this effort.

The campaign compared the occupation of Palestinian territory with the system of
apartheid: "We, South Africans who have lived through apartheid, cannot be
silent as another entire people are treated as non-human beings, without rights
or human dignity and facing daily humiliation. We cannot permit a ruthless state
to use military jets, helicopter gun-ships and tanks on civilians. We cannot
accept state assassinations of activists, torture of political prisoners, murder
of children and collective punishment."

The week of action will also mobilise against the 'Apartheid Wall', that has
surrounded and isolated Palestinian communities in the West Bank and will result
in the further annexation of land to Israel. Despite the advisory opinion of the
International Court of Justice that held the wall to be illegal, construction is
nearly complete. "The wall encircles Palestinian towns and cities in the most
massive land-grab since 1967," the declaration said.

Kasrils said the response from various sectors of South African society to the
campaign call had been "overwhelming".

"We are confident we'll see South Africans respond to this call in a way that
has never before been seen in support of the Palestinian people," he said.

"We are, citizens of the world, in a critical and historical moment. We can no
longer shut our eyes to the urgent crisis facing the Palestinian people and the
obligations of the international community to end it; we must seize this moment
to push for a real movement forward in order to achieve a just peace. We have
decided to be part of those working towards creating a new reality - based on
justice, human rights and international law - to end the occupation and realise
the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to self-
determination and the right to establish an independent, sovereign Palestinian
state with its capital in Jerusalem," the End the Occupation Campaign said.

MORE INFORMATION:

Stop the Wall Campaign 
http://www.stopthewall.org/

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WHAT THE MEDIA SAYS

Lousy research and false messages

What follows is a transcript of part of a discussion that took place on SAFM on
2 May 2007, when Xolani Gwala anchored a phone-in programme in which Dr Johan
Burger, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Strategic Studies, was the guest.
Of particular note is how the public broadcaster succeeded to communicate a
false message because of its dependence on what is reported in the commercial
media. The mistakes it made further underlined the doubts whether it can in fact
act as an independent public broadcaster, the most reliable and objective source
of news and information about current affairs in our country, not influenced by
whatever the commercial media might choose to report, consistent with its
interests and agenda. Given what we have observed in terms of the general
posture of the public broadcaster, exemplified by the circumstances surrounding
the broadcast whose partial transcript follows, we wonder whether the Burger
report would have been featured on SAFM if the commercial media had not
falsified Dr Burger's report.

The Transcript

XOLANI GWALA: You may have seen the response yesterday by the Local Organising
Committee of the 2010 Soccer World Cup responding to comments attributed to FIFA
President Sepp Blatter, in an interview by the BBC where he said there were
countries standing by to take over in case South Africa is unable to put
together and prepare for the World Cup. But on the other hand then, what we are
hearing this morning is that there might be serious concerns, there are indeed
genuine concerns that South Africa might not be able to provide proper security
for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. That's according to a new Institute of Strategic
Studies report. Now joining us on the line to talk to us about this report and
what it suggests should be done, we are joined by Johan Burger. Johan Burger is
a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Strategic Studies. Dr Burger, it is
always nice to have you on the programme...What are these genuine concerns? What
do you base them on?

DR BURGER: I must first correct you in the sense that my conclusion on the
security situation for South Africa is that (the police) are already well
prepared. They have already done a lot of planning. I'm quite convinced that we
will be able to provide good security for 2010. But at the same time I'm saying
that we must look at possible areas of concern. Those areas of concern are two
things, generally speaking. The first one is the restructuring process. It's a
large restructuring process going on in the Police Service which creates in many
areas a lot of confusion and which also negatively affects the morale of many
police officials, and one really hopes that the Police Service can sort out the
problems they are facing with this major restructuring process...There are (sic)
still time to sort this out...The other problem that I have is that in many
instances senior police officers that served at Head Office, at national,
provincial and even area level are placed at police stations in commanding
positions, and the assumption is made that because these officers are senior in
rank, they will necessarily be suitably qualified for the top management
positions. I'm not certain that this will be so in every case. Many police
officers that have senior ranks have not been exposed to police station
management ever before or have they serve in police stations in junior
positions. That in itself may create problems. So those are my concerns that
might create problems...

But they are in fact minor in terms of the overall security setup for 2010
which, in general, I am quite convinced will allow us to provide adequate
security in 2010...We have shown since 1995 that there were a number of big
events, the Rugby World Cup...the All Africa Games...the Cricket World
Cup...There were a number of international conferences. The one thing the police
in this country proved themselves to be good at, is to provide security at big
events...Of course the Soccer World Cup will be the biggest event we have ever
had since 1995. But on the positive side we need to point out that the Police
Service increased its numbers since 2003...At that time they numbered 130,000.
Already they are at approximately 160,000 and it was announced earlier this year
that the aim for 2010 is 190,000, which means that we will have 60,000 police
officers more in 2010 than we had in 2003. That in itself gives us some
reassurance that government and the Police Service are really serious about
providing real security in 2010. Also the sort of operational concepts we
developed - the Police Service developed in this country...impressed a number of
people. It impressed the United Nations when they were here, when we had the
WSSD [World Summit on Sustainable Development], and they adopted those
operational security concepts for future use in United Nations security
operations...We do have the ability and we do have the will in this country to
provide adequate security in 2010.

A CALLER: Xolani, I understand you were not focussing on 2010 itself. But in
your introduction you said that Sepp Blatter had said this and that...I think
that by now the SABC knows Sepp Blatter did not say that. So even if it was not
the focus of your topic, you have left the listeners with an impression that is
wrong. The second thing that I wanted to say is that also in your introduction,
you said that this research suggests that crime is a major concern, whereas the
conclusion (of the research) is quite the opposite. So I'm really quite worried
about that. At the end, when you summarise, you should correct your script,
whoever wrote it.

XOLANI GWALA: Alright. Fair enough. I agree with you that there may very well be
perceptions created out of this...But there's an article that appeared on (sic)
the Cape Times. The introduction to the article is that that there are genuine
concerns that South Africa may not be able to provide proper security for the
2010 World Cup according to a new Institute of Strategic Studies report. (It
said) Institute of Strategic Studies Senior Researcher, Johan burger, says the
high crime levels...and clumsiness in handling the restructuring process are
leading to a serious distrust of (police) ability to handle the event...Dr
Burger is disputing this, which is fair enough.

CALLER continues: What I'm saying Xolani is that you and your producers should
know better than to base a whole story on an article in the Cape Times when the
research is available...You should have looked at it and said this is what Dr
Burger says and not what is reported in the Cape Times.

XOLANI GWALA: But what I'm arguing here is that it's fair enough that Dr Burger
is here to dispute what the Cape Times is reporting.

CALLER continues: Yes, but when you start your introduction, you start from the
premise of what the Cape Times says. You don't say this is what the Cape Town
newspaper says. You quote it as though it is an SABC researched thing, to say we
have found out this, this...If you are inviting a person, the least you could do
is to study his document, not the Cape Times.

XOLANI GWALA: Okay, fair enough.

DR BURGER: I have not seen the article in the Cape Times and it is a pity that
they reflect my report in a negative way...I concluded that (my concerns) are
not really...valid in view of the fact of our situation...Our crime situation
has certainly improved since 2003. There has been an 18% drop in our overall
crime rate...and those are all positive signs. And as I have said, the Police
Service has increased tremendously and is still increasing, until 2010. All
these are positive signs, and I am convinced and have a lot of confidence in our
ability to be able not only to further contain the crime situation, but also
then to provide adequate security...Our murder rate has decreased 40% since
'94/'95.

[Editor's Note: Xolani Gwala did not correct the wrong impressions he
communicated in his introduction. With regard to the matter of the comments of
FIFA President Sepp Blatter as reported by the BBC, we refer our readers to ANC
Today Vol 7 No 17.]

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