Well, well, well. They are at it again. An illegal strike by the Gautrain bus drivers is currently crippling the service to a great degree.

Not long ago, they also had a strike, and demanded that they receive transport from home to work and back home when their shifts are completed. That time, strike was a legal strike, but the outcome was not favorable for the strikers. Their demands were not met. It is a logistical nightmare to arrange something like that – I do not blame the Gautrain management for not giving in to that demand.

In my opinion, the best that the Gautrain management could’ve done was to give them a pay raise so that they could pay their transport – and in effect they would’ve had the transport they demanded, but the problem with this approach is, that should they NOT use the increase to pay for their transport, but on other needs, a month or two later, they will still demand it, because now they do not have transport, due to their wage increase being used for something else than what it was intended for.

With a reference to my previous post of today, regarding the fact that affirmative action is in favor of a majority with complete political control, I have to ask the following question: 18 years after apartheid, and with so many public sector jobs occupied by black people, why do only black people demand things like this? I have never heard of a strike where white people demanded transport to and from home! I have not ever demanded that. Actually, I have never even gone on a strike. A friendly 4 hour protest once in my own time, yes, but not a strike in the time that I am supposed to be working!

Where will this end? Let’s say that the Gautrain management give in to these demands. What will they demand tomorrow? A green leprechaun hat with a pink flower on? If they don’t get it, will they do another strike?

Ridiculous!

“South Africa is the only country in the world where affirmative action is in the favor of the MAJORITY, who has complete political control.

The fact that the political majority requires affirmative action to protect them against a 9% minority group is testament to a complete failure on their part to build their own wealth making structures, such that their only solution is to take it from others.”

This statement will outrage a lot of people, but I see the truth in it. Some people will call me a racist, and I can also live with that – because even though my posts come across as racist, you will consistently find that my post will deal the same way with white people in the event that they are displaying the same behavioral stance.

Let me try to get into their shoes. I’ll try my best, but I will not claim that I do it correctly or even partially successfully, but let’s try.

“My name is Sipho. I am 22 years of age in 2012. I was about 4 years old when apartheid was abolished. [1] The white man will say I was not affected by apartheid, which is an incorrect statement, as apartheid was ended in 1994, but the mindset of people didn’t change yet. [2] So, although to a lesser degree than my father, Phinias, I was still affected by apartheid. I have a real problem, because: “I don’t have a job, I don’t have any education, I have to do crime to make a living. [3]”

[1] – Apartheid was legally abolished in 1994.

[2] – As a white man, I believe that if you feel that Sipho was not affected by apartheid, you need to have your head examined. For many years after apartheid was abolished, nothing really changed, except that the leadership of the country shifted from a predominantly white Afrikaner regime to a black ANC regime. So, up to this point, I am with Sipho in this.

[3} – Here is where I am throwing my toys out of the cot. Sipho does NOT have to do crime to make a living. Sipho had the benefit of free education, as he was not yet a school-goer in 1994, and was thus allowed in previously dubbed white schools to get a proper education like everyone else. If he didn’t learn, or didn’t go to school. I would consider it the fault of his family who didn’t send him, or his unwillingness to forge his own future. It could be argued that the system was broken and that black children were abused in the previously dubbed white schools, but if that was the case for everyone, why did so many black South Africans rise to the occasion to get their degrees and all training they have? In government positions, in the apartheid era, the majority of employees were white by far. Now, in the ANC regime, by far the majority of employees in the government are black. Sipho could’ve studied, and either got a job in government, or in a private sector firm that recognised his talent and potential, if he decided to forge his own future. Heck, he could even have been an entrepreneur!

To come back to the statement that I opened with, I am not absolutely 100% sure that South Africa is indeed the only country in the world where this is the case, but the premise that affirmative action in favor of a majority with complete political control is simply disgusting. With complete political control during the apartheid era, the white minority was able to establish a firm (yet unfair and immoral) control over black and colored people. How come the current regime has to resort to BBEEE and other bullshit policies to take farms from white owners at a fraction of its worth, and give jobs requiring a particular skill set or education to black people who are not qualified or skilled enough to do them, simply because of affirmative action?

Where will this end?