The sound of one gun clapping You know that sound?

It happens when it's really dark, and you can't sleep; a weird little clatter somewhere off in the distance. And you snuggle up, think "ah, it's probably just a dog going through a trash can, or some drunk falling against a shutter, or something." but theres a dark voice skulking in the shadows of your mind, refusing to listen, muttering "Nah, man... something bad is going down. Be afraid. I get that feeling a lot, these days. The ANC uses language that reminds me of Soviet Communism, purges and party loyalty and redeployment. The Cope leader in KZN sounds like an over-bling, under-brained rapper - always armed, a selftitled soldier, willing to die for his beliefs. The Vice-Chancellor of UKZN demands obedience to the institution, in an environment where youre meant to be true to your beliefs, accountable to the public, and free to say what needs saying, immune from political pressure. In the background, Security minister Mthethwa talks about disregarding human rights and using excessive force. Still, the really funny thing is that all the bad things look to me like good things in disguise. Admittedly, its a very good disguise, but its there to see. The ANC, in using this language and these tactics, is doing itself more harm than Cope can dream of doing; Philip Mhlongos gangster posing use the same rhetoric the ANC used to, nicely feeding off their ANC-for-life voting base. The VCs actions are becoming widely publicised, forcing a tactical retreat in the last few days no details yet, but when there are, youll know. In his defence, hes trying to build the premier university of African scholarship, and his behaviour is very African; just not the African that you can be proud of. As for Mthethwa well, let me put it this way; Michael Polanyi talked about the tacit knowledge needed to live in a culture. You can't just have the laws, he says; the people need to know the art of living those laws. Like the yanks learnt in Iraq, he's right; you can't just expect people to take up liberal democracy with upraised arms, singing hallelujah; they need to know what it is, learn how to live it in all the gory detail. So maybe hes right, and the police need to use excessive force. Certainly, the cops here have taken it to heart; every time I open a paper these days, they've shot someone else. but it's always someone in a cash-in-transit heist, or who's killed a cop. Sure, the problem is the justice system - people need to be tried in absentia, and sentenced quickly, for punishment to be perceived as punishment but, dark as it is, maybe its the right thing, since everything else seems to have failed. Look. It's a truism, and it's one that you've heard a hundred times, but it is always darkest before the dawn. The scandals now are all at the highest level, involving the biggest players at institutional, local, and national levels; this is the point at which the system breaks down, one way or the other, the same as everywhere else, everywhen else. And SA is the last resort; if anywhere in Africa works, itll be here; and if it falls, Africa at large might as well be written off. Sure, everybody's using incredibly dramatic dialogue, but these are dramatic times. I think it'll work

out alright, though; still, I can't shake off that little voice, muttering in the darkness....

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I deserve all this for being born, you know Inbred, arrogant, childish, responsible for the deaths of millions and the wasting of huge sums of cash on gold statues of themselves no, the traditional image of royalty is not a good one. The Zulu royal family are doing their best to keep it up, though. This week, it turns out that the head of the royal department household, one V.Shongwe, has entirely ignored resolutions by the finance and public account committees on counting the pennies, and has instead spent R63,000 on kitchen appliances out of his budget of R5,000 and R179,000 on entertainment (budget 20000). Presumably, theres a lot of really fancy blenders and, ah, unusually expensive consumables at the parties as part of a total R15m overspend by the department. Hooray for democracy! http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0fr9gz00Wu2Bl/340x.jpg http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/02fU9dn2oV2Dj/340x.jpg http://www.fitsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/burning-money-cigarette.jpg http://pintofstout.files.wordpress.com/2006/10/money_burning.jpg