Special Forces exercise trains African armies
(MILITARY TIMES) KATI, Mali — A U.S. Special Forces instructor leans toward a steering wheel, showing some 50 Malian soldiers gathered around an army pickup how a passenger should take control of a car if the driver is killed in an ambush.
The elite Malian troops look on, perplexed.
“But what can we do if we don’t know how to drive?” asks Sgt. Amadou, echoing the concern of many of his colleagues.
There are a few laughs, but the Malians are not joking; most of their unit does not know how. The lack of ability to perform such a basic task illustrates part of the huge knowledge gap the U.S. military is seeking to bridge in Africa as it trains local armies to better face the region’s mounting threats.
The exercises Monday in Kita, a shooting range in the savanna near Mali’s capital, Bamako, are but one leg of an ambitious program led by the Pentagon’s Africa Command, or AfriCom, to provide top-tier training in six African countries during three weeks this month. Over 200 of the Army’s Green Berets and members of the Marines Corps Forces Special Operations Command have deployed in Mali, Mauritania and other countries that line the Sahara Desert’s southern rims.
The yearly exercise, known as “Flintlock,” is being beefed-up to face traffickers and al-Qaida-linked terrorists mounting increasingly brazen operations in this vast region of porous borders and lawless tribes.
Western intelligence officers estimate about 400 heavily armed Islamist militants have made northern Mali their rear-base. A kidnapped French tourist is being held somewhere in the desert, and half-a-dozen were held hostage last year.
More worrying still for authorities, the militants, known as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, are now thought to be cooperating with traffickers who increasingly use the desert routes to carry large quantities of South American cocaine to Europe. This brings more weapons and more cash to the region, increasing the militants’ potency.
Small forces from several European countries and about 500 African troops are taking part in this year’s exercise, including countries that don’t directly touch the desert, like Senegal.
“The point is, we’ve got to start getting ready for al-Qaida if they come our way,” said Maj. Cheikhna Dieng, who headed 30 Senegalese soldiers taking part in Monday’s exercises. “They recruit from Islamists, and that’s a threat we’re taking seriously,” because over 90 percent of Senegal’s population is Muslim, he said. Armies in the impoverished countries that militants and traffickers cross are usually no match for the outlaws’ heavily armed columns, and vast swathes of eastern Mauritania, northern Mali and Niger, and southern Algeria are now considered no-go zones.
But Mali’s army plans to reclaim its part of the area in the coming months, said Capt. Ongoiba Alou, the commander of the embryonic Malian Special Forces. “The whole purpose of the exercise is for our troops to be able to fight the terrorists,” he said.
That most of his unit training Monday can’t drive is a sign of Mali’s lack of funds, Alou says.
“These are our elite troops,” he said, stating they’d proven their worth in combat during clashes with a rebellion of ethnic Tuareg nomads that ended a few years ago in the volatile north.
Most of the Malian Special Forces, formed at the American’s prodding, come from paratrooper units. But they lack training, and one paratrooper died last week during a Flintlock parachuting exercise. An investigation is still under way, but Malian and U.S. officers said it seemed the trooper had somehow knocked his head against the plane as he was jumping.
Shooting in live fire exercises and jumping from planes can be challenging for poorly trained and poorly equipped armies in a patchwork of uniforms like Mali’s, but U.S. soldiers say they find the troops very motivated.
“Training with them is also an outstanding opportunity to build contact,” said Capt. Shane West, the U.S. Special Forces team leader who headed the exercise.
Malian and American authorities have given orders for the U.S. Special Forces to only conduct training, and none will launch real operations during Flintlock, West said.
“We’re essentially here to help our host nation handle whatever situation it needs to,” he said. “And we’re taking it step by step.”
http://militarytimes.com/news/2010/05/ap_special_forces_africa_051110/
Pentagon Eyeing Drone Shift to Aid Somalia
(NEWSMAX) The Pentagon is considering dispatching surveillance drones and other limited military support for a Somali government offensive against al-Qaida-linked insurgents, U.S. officials said, part of a cautious move to increase U.S. assistance to the anarchic African nation.
U.S. diplomats are pressing Somali leaders to detail the goals of the looming assault, in order to figure out the most appropriate ways the U.S. can help.
Determined to avoid a visible American footprint on the ground or fingerprints on Somalia’s shaky government, U.S. officials are struggling to find the right balance between seizing the opportunity to take out al-Qaida insurgents there and avoiding the appearance of a U.S. occupation.
Any U.S. moves in Somalia are haunted by the disastrous 1993 U.S. military assault into the Somali capital — made famous in the book and movie “Black Hawk Down.” The strike left 18 U.S. soldiers dead.
American diplomats have been meeting in Kenya with leaders of Somalia’s embattled government, urging them to think beyond military objectives and focus more on improving their governing.
U.S. officials want the Somali government to determine how to provide services to its people once the fighting is over, and work to gain support among more moderate groups.
While American diplomats are huddling with the Somalis in the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Pentagon leaders are preparing a range of options to help boost Somalia’s weak security forces.
One proposal would move surveillance drones to the Horn of Africa from an island in the Seychelles, where several unarmed Reaper systems were sent last fall for counter-piracy operations in the western Indian Ocean. The move would represent a more enduring U.S. commitment, which also would be largely invisible to the population.
Armed versions of the pilotless aircraft have been used to tail and fire missiles at militants in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, but the U.S. has also used them in Yemen to monitor insurgents from the air.
U.S. defense and Western diplomatic officials spoke about the deliberations on condition of anonymity because final decisions have not been made.
While administration officials said that sending U.S. troops into the embattled country is not seen as a viable option, they say they are not ruling out the use of small numbers of U.S. commandos when necessary for specific operations — much as they have done in the past.
Right now, however, there are no American military advisers in Somalia assisting the government there, and the U.S. is not managing or planning any of the military operations. Officials said the Somali government has not yet made any specific request for military aid.
“This is not an American conflict,” Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson told reporters in a recent briefing. “It will be up to the Somalis to ultimately resolve this conflict. The U.S., along with others in the international community, can contribute in a supporting role, which we do and acknowledge, but not to become directly engaged in any of the conflict on the ground there.”
Officials are concerned that any taint of U.S. interference or direct military support will only fuel the Somali insurgency. Over the past year or two, al-Shabab has grown from a clan-based collection of militants to a terror organization more closely aligned with al-Qaida.
U.S. officials have become increasingly concerned that battle-hardened al-Qaida insurgents are moving out of havens along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border into Somalia, where vast ungoverned spaces allow them to train and mobilize recruits without interference. Officials also warn that militants frequently cross the Gulf of Aden, moving between Yemen and Somalia.
At the same time, young Somalis have traveled from the United States back to Somalia to fight with the insurgents, stoking fears that they could return to plot attacks in the U.S.
The bulk of U.S. aid that has recently been sent to Somalia has been delivered to Uganda, Burundi and Djibouti. Several African nations have pledged forces to the African Union’s peacekeeping force in Somalia, known as AMISOM, and there are now more than 5,000 troops stationed in the country.
But in several previous operations the U.S. has provided intelligence and surveillance information, and — as recently as last September — delivered a surgical strike against a convoy that reportedly killed powerful insurgent Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan.
The Somalis have been saying for months that government troops will soon launch an offensive against al-Shabab in an effort to expand the government’s area of control. But widespread problems, including corrupt officials and a lack of supplies, have delayed the launch.
Urged on by Osama bin Laden, al-Shabab is trying to topple Somalia’s government and install a strict form of Islam.
http://newsmax.com/Newsfront/US-Somalia/2010/03/30/id/354284
Private Guards Kill Pirate for 1st Time
(MILITARY.COM) Private security guards shot and killed a Somali pirate during an attack on a merchant ship off the coast of East Africa in what is believed to be the first such killing by armed contractors, the EU Naval Force spokesman said Wednesday.
The death comes amid fears that increasingly aggressive pirates and the growing use of armed private security contractors onboard vessels could fuel increased violence on the high seas. The handling of the case may have legal implications beyond the individuals involved in Tuesday’s shooting.
The guards were onboard the MV Almezaan when a pirate group approached it twice, said EU Naval Force spokesman Cmdr. John Harbour. During the second approach on the Panamanian-flagged cargo ship which is United Arab Emirates owned, there was an exchange of fire between the guards and the pirates.
An EU Naval Force frigate was dispatched to the scene and launched a helicopter that located the pirates. Seven pirates were found, including one who had died from small-caliber gunshot wounds, indicating he had been shot by the contractors, said Harbour. The six remaining pirates were taken into custody.
Crews are becoming increasingly adept at repelling attacks by pirates in the dangerous waters of the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden. But pirates are becoming more aggressive in response, shooting bullets and rocket-propelled grenades at ships to try to intimidate captains into stopping.
Several organizations, including the International Maritime Bureau, have expressed fears that the use of armed security contractors could encourage pirates to be more violent when taking a ship. Sailors have been hurt or killed before but this generally happens by accident or through poor health. There has only been one known execution of a hostage despite dozens of pirate hijackings.
International navies have killed about a dozen pirates over the past year, said Harbour. Hundreds more are believed to have died at sea, either by drowning or through dehydration when their water and fuel runs out, said Alan Cole, who heads the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime’s anti-piracy initiative.
Pirate attacks have not declined despite patrols by dozens of warships off the Somali coast. The amount of ocean to patrol is too vast to protect every ship and pirates have responded to the increased naval presence by moving attacks farther out to sea.
Experts say piracy is just one symptom of the general collapse of law and order in the failed state of Somalia, which has not had a functioning government in 19 years. They say attacks on shipping will continue as long as there is no central government capable of taking on the well-armed and well-paid pirate gangs.
http://www.military.com/news/article/private-guards-kill-pirate-for-1st-time.html?col=1186032325324
Africom – Latest U.S. Bid to Recolonise Continent
(URUKNET) AFRICAN revolutionaries now have to sleep with one eye open because the United States of America is not stopping at anything in its bid to establish Africom, a highly-equipped US army that will be permanently resident in Africa to oversee the country’s imperialist interests.
Towards the end of last year, the US government intensified its efforts to bring a permanent army to settle in Africa, dubbed the African Command (Africom) as a latest tool for the subtle recolonisation of Africa.
Just before end of last year, General William E. Garret, Commander US Army for Africa, met with defence attaches from all African embassies in Washington to lure them into selling the idea of an American army based in Africa to their governments.
Latest reports from the White House this January indicate that 75 percent of the army’s establishment work has been done through a military unit based in Stuttgart, Germany, and that what is left is to get an African country to host the army and get things moving.
Liberia and Morocco have offered to host Africom while Sadc has closed out any possibility of any of its member states hosting the US army.
Other individual countries have remained quiet.
Liberia has longstanding ties with the US due to its slave history while errant Morocco, which is not a member of the African Union and does not hold elections, might want the US army to assist it to suppress any future democratic uprising.
Sadc’s refusal is a small victory for the people of Africa in their struggle for total independence but the rest of the regional blocs in Africa are yet to come up with a common position. This is worrying.
The US itself wanted a more strategic country than Morocco and Liberia since the army will be the epicentre of influencing, articulating and safeguarding US foreign and economic policies.
The other danger is that Africom will open up Africa as a battleground between America and anti-US terrorist groups.
Africom is a smokescreen behind which America wants to hide its means to secure Africa’s oil and other natural resources, nothing more.
African leaders must not forget that military might has been used by America and Europe again and again as the only effective way of accomplishing their agenda in ensuring that governments in each country are run by people who toe their line.
By virtue of its being resident in Africa, Africom will ensure that America has its tentacles easily reaching every African country and influencing every event to the American advantage.
By hosting the army, Africa will have sub-contracted its military independence to America and will have accepted the process that starts its recolonisation through an army that can subdue any attempts by Africa to show its own military prowess.
The major question is: Who will remove Africom once it is established? By what means?
By its origin Africom will be technically and financially superior to any African country’s army and will dictate the pace for regime change in any country at will and also give depth, direction and impetus to the US natural resource exploitation scheme.
There is no doubt that as soon as the army gets operational in Africa, all the gains of independence will be reversed.
If the current leadership in Africa succumbs to the whims of the US and accept the operation of this army in Africa, they will go down in the annals of history as that generation of politicians who accepted the evil to prevail.
Even William Shakespeare would turn and twist in his grave and say: “I told you guys that it takes good men to do nothing for evil to prevail.”
We must not forget that Africans, who are still smarting from colonialism-induced humiliation, subjugation, brutality and inferiority complex, do not need to be taken back to another form of colonialism, albeit subtle.
Africom has been controversial on the continent ever since former US president George W. Bush first announced it in February 2007.
African leaders must not forget that under the Barack Obama administration, US policy towards Africa and the rest of the developing world has not changed an inch. It remains militaristic and materialistic.
Officials in both the Bush and Obama administrations argue that the major objective of Africom is to professionalise security forces in key countries across Africa.
However, both administrations do not attempt to address the impact of the setting up of Africom on minority parties, governments and strong leaders considered errant or whether the US will not use Africom to promote friendly dictators.
Training and weapons programmes and arms transfers from Ukraine to Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Ethiopia and the transitional government in Somalia, clearly indicate the use of military might to maintain influence in governments in Africa, remains a priority of US foreign policy.
Ukraine’s current leadership was put into power by the US under the Orange Revolution and is being given a free role to supply weaponry in African conflicts.
African leaders must show solidarity and block every move by America to set up its bases in the motherland unless they want to see a new round of colonisation.
Kwame Nkrumah, Robert Mugabe, Sam Nujoma, Nelson Mandela, Julius Nyerere, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, Kenneth Kaunda, Augustino Neto and Samora Machel, among others, will have fought liberation wars for nothing, if Africom is allowed a base in Africa.
Thousands of Africans who died in colonial prisons and in war fronts during the liberation struggles, will have shed their blood for nothing if Africa is recolonised.
Why should the current crop of African leaders accept systematic recolonisation when they have learnt a lot from colonialism, apartheid and racism? Why should the current crop of African leaders fail to stand measure for measure against the US administration and tell it straight in the face that Africa does not need a foreign army since the AU is working out its own army.
African leaders do not need prophets from Mars to know that US’s fascination with oil, the war on terrorism and the military will now be centred on Africa, after that escapade in Iraq.
Tichaona Nhamoyebonde is a political scientist based in Cape Town, South Africa.
Copyright © 2010 The Herald. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
http://uruknet.com/index.php?p=m62007&hd=&size=1&l=e
Suicide bombers used U.N.-logo vehicles to strike peacekeepers in Somalia
(CNN) Suicide attackers breached security at the African Union base in Somalia’s capital by using vehicles with United Nations logos to carry out a deadly double car bombing, the organization told CNN.
“The vehicles had U.N. logos on them and they entered inside the headquarters and then exploded,” said Gaffel Nkolokosa, spokesman for the African Union mission in Somalia, known as AMISOM. “We do not know if they were, in fact, U.N. vehicles.”
Jean Ping, chairman of the African Union Commission, issued a statement strongly condemning the attack on the base in Mogadishu, saying it had killed “a number of peacekeepers.” It was unclear how many casualties were caused by the twin suicide car bombs, Nkolokosa said.
The two cars packed with explosives rammed into a building housing peacekeepers from Burundi and Uganda, Ping said. Al-Shabaab, the Islamist militia with ties to al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the midday attack, he said.
Officials say U.S. involved in Somalia raid
September 15, 2009 by POPEYE
Filed under Africa, Featured Stories
(MILITARY TIMES) MOGADISHU, Somalia — Foreign troops in helicopters strafed a car Monday in a Somali town controlled by Islamist insurgents, killing two men and capturing two others who were wounded, witnesses said. U.S. military officials said U.S. forces were involved in the raid.
The commando-style action took place in a village near Barawe amid growing fears that al-Qaida is gaining a foothold in this lawless nation.
Two U.S. military officials said forces from the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command were involved. The officials gave no details about the raid or its target, and they spoke on condition of anonymity because the operation was secret.
Many experts fear Somalia is becoming a haven for al-Qaida, a place for terrorists to train and gather strength — much like Afghanistan in the 1990s. The U.N.-backed government, with support from African Union peacekeepers, holds only a few blocks of Mogadishu, the war-ravaged capital.
Last year, U.S. missiles killed reputed al-Qaida commander Aden Hashi Ayro — the first major success after a string of U.S. military attacks in 2008.
Like much of Somalia, Barawe and its surrounding villages are controlled by the militant group al-Shabab, which the U.S. accuses of having ties to al-Qaida. Al-Shabab, which has foreign fighters in its ranks, seeks to overthrow the government and impose a strict form of Islam in Somalia.
Witness Abdi Ahmed said six helicopters buzzed the village before two of the aircraft opened fire. After the helicopters fired, soldiers in military fatigues got out and left with the two wounded men.
“There was only a burning vehicle and two dead bodies lying beside it,” said Mohamed Ali Aden, a bus driver who drove past the burnt-out car minutes after the attack, some 155 miles south of Mogadishu.
Somalia’s weak government has very few resources and does not have helicopters or other modern equipment.
Witness Dahir Ahmed said the helicopters took off from a warship flying a French flag, but that could not be confirmed. French military spokesman Christophe Prazuck denied the attack was a French operation.
“They are not French helicopters,” he said. France previously has launched commando raids to rescue French nationals.
The U.S. government, haunted by a deadly 1993 U.S. military assault in Mogadishu chronicled in “Black Hawk Down,” is trying to neutralize the growing terrorist threat without sending in troops.
Somalia has been ravaged by violence and anarchy since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other. A moderate Islamist was elected president in January in hopes that he could unite the country’s feuding factions, but the violence has continued unabated.
Mogadishu sees near-daily battles between government and insurgent forces. Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed.
Somalia’s lawlessness also has allowed piracy to flourish off its coast, making the Gulf of Aden one of the most dangerous waterways in the world.
http://militarytimes.com/news/2009/09/ap_military_somalia_091409/
Rwanda pastor on trial for Genocide
(AL JAZEERA) A former Baptist church pastor from Rwanda is facing a life sentence for his alleged role in the massacre of Tutsis in the 1994 genocide.
Francois Bazaramba will face trial in Finland, where he now lives.
He denies having any role in the genocide, and is pleading not guilty to all charges against him.
The case is being heard in Finland because the country signed an international agreement to investigate and try genocide cases if the suspects live in Finland.
It will be heard by a panel of four judges who will also travel to hear evidence in Rwanda.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytB0KjIQPIs
First Blood Diamonds, Now Blood Computers?
In a report released earlier this week, Global Witness claims that multinational companies are furthering a trade in minerals at the heart of the hi-tech industry that feeds the horrendous civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). (Global Witness is the same nongovernmental organization that helped expose the violence that plagues many of the sources of diamonds.) However, the accused companies, with varying degrees of hostility, deny any culpability, saying Global Witness oversimplifies a complex economic process in a chaotic geopolitial setting. (See pictures of diamonds set on onyx and black enamel.)
The provinces of North and South Kivu in the eastern DRC are filled with mines of cassiterite, wolframite, coltan and gold — minerals needed to manufacture everything from lightbulbs to laptops, from MP3 players to Playstations. Over the past 12 years of armed conflict in the region, control of these valuable natural resources has allegedly become a lucrative way for warring parties to purchase munitions and fund their fighting. The Global Witness report claims to have followed the supply chain of these minerals from warring parties to middlemen to international buyers. (How the world must act on Congo — Now.)
By the time metals reach electronics companies, they may have changed hands as many as seven times. This means that without a clear supply history, when a consumer sets her cell phone to vibrate, a function enabled through the mineral wolframite, it is virtually impossible for her to know whether she is using wolframite mined in the eastern DRC, the site of horrific fighting and killing. More than 5 million people have been killed since the conflict began in 1996, some through direct abuse, others through the political and economic chaos that the conflict has created. Armed groups frequently force civilians to mine the minerals, extorting taxes and refusing to pay wages. The report quotes one miner from South Kivu: “We are their meat, their animals. We have nothing to say.” (See pictures of the civil war in Congo.)
According to Global Witness, although the Congolese army and FDLR rebel groups have been warring on opposite sides for years, they are collaborators in the mining effort, at times providing each other with road and airport access and even sharing their spoils. Researchers say they found evidence that the mineral trade is much more extensive and profitable than previously suspected: one Congolese government official reported that at least 90% of all gold exports from the country were undeclared. And the report charges that the failure of foreign governments to crack down on illicit mining and trade has undercut development endeavors undertaken by the international community in the war-torn region.
The study, Faced with a Gun, What Can You Do?, raises questions about the involvement of nearly 240 companies spanning the mineral, metal and technology industries. It specifically fingers four main European and Asian companies as open buyers in this trade: Thailand Smelting and Refining Corp. (owned by British Amalgamated Metal Corp.), British Afrimex, Belgian Trademet and Traxys. And it questions the role of others further down the manufacturing chain, including prominent electronics companies Hewlett-Packard, Nokia, Dell and Motorola. Even though the companies may be acting legally, Global Witness criticizes their lack of due diligence and transparency standards at every level of their supply chain.
British Amalgamated Metal Corp. (AMC) firmly denies the accusations, citing its standing objective to improve visibility so that warring parties do not benefit from trade. “We are disappointed with the number of inaccuracies and omissions in the report and are concerned that all the facts should be properly represented in a balanced way,” AMC said. The company statement went on to say, “We are concerned that Global Witness’ approach will lead to a de facto ban on the trade which we do not believe is in either the short term or the long term interests of the Congo either economically, politically or socially.”
Traxys CEO Mark Kristoff told TIME that his company suspended trade in the DRC in May 2009 until there is a clearer road map for cooperation among companies, the U.N. and governments for a plan of social action. He added that Traxys’ $50 million in trade in the DRC is equivalent to 1% of the company’s total business. Afrimex told TIME via e-mail that its last shipment from the DRC took place in September 2008 and all such transactions have since ceased. “Any link between Afrimex’s past mineral-trading and armed groups remain wholly unfounded,” the statement said. “We remain at a loss to understand why Afrimex is still being mentioned by Global Witness.” Global Witness spokesperson Amy Barry said, “Just because they have claimed to stop sourcing at this point doesn’t change the fact that they were sourcing during our research. So we still think that the evidence we uncovered is worth bringing to the public’s attention.”
Other companies were less confrontational. In a statement, Hewlett-Packard said, “We are helping to address this serious concern through voluntary measures. Ensuring that electronics manufacturing does not contribute to human-rights violations in the DRC takes co-operation and commitment within every layer of the supply base.”
Some of the companies named in the report defend their business in the DRC by noting that their practices abide by the Electronic Industry Code of Conduct or the ethical principles of the International Tin Research Institute. Global Witness calls for higher standards in these industry guidelines to successfully monitor trade systems in conflict areas. “I don’t think there’s an obvious or easy answer” to the supply-chain problem, says Global Witness spokesperson Barry. “We are absolutely not calling for companies to pull out because we acknowledge it is a legitimate source of livelihood.” The group’s chief Congo researcher, Carina Tertsakian, puts it this way: “This is a question of will. If the companies are serious about trading in a way that is clean, they have the means to do it.”
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1912594,00.html?xid=rss-topstories
The Communist War to undermine & destroy South Africa’s banks – Shades of Hugo Chavez & Robert Mugabe…
May 26, 2009 by POPEYE
Filed under Africa, Featured Stories
(AC) I am getting highly irritated by a lot of complete nonsense floating around in the Mass Media about South Africa’s banking industry. For years I have been warning that the Communists are gunning for South Africa’s banks and that they will ruin the banking industry of this country, like they’ve ruined other things. But the impact of the ruination of the banks will affect all aspects of this country, and this country will not be able to function economically the way it used to, and when all is said and done, and all this is over, you will see that the vast mass of people will have become even poorer than they are now.
People out there are going nuts about South Africa’s banks and the banking charges. And guess what, I also pay banking charges, and like everything else, I examine my own behaviour and I try to cut my own costs. But there are discussions in this country that border on the insane.
I actually work for a bank, and during my lifetime, even when I worked for myself, a subset of my work was to do with banking systems. I won’t say I’ve seen every aspect of banking, but I have had exposure to far more aspects of banking than most of you could guess. I know a lot of the low down detail of how systems work, how bankers think, and what they plan and discuss and also the problems they face. So I’m going to tell you a few things.
Firstly, for years now I have warned about the war on banking. I mentioned that the National Credit Act (NCA) is an evil thing and that in the long run it would do great damage. And, nobody writes about it, but the damage is already there, and lots of things happen quietly that people don’t realise. Now that Jacob Zuma and the Far Left are running the show, things are happening again that are really scary.
Westerners have been successfully fooled by Jacob Zuma’s lies that everything will remain the same. One of the lies was that Trevor Manuel, the Minister of Finance would remain in Govt and would remain a powerful influence. This was a deception. Many people do not understand the functioning of the ANC. The theory that Trevor Manuel is the driving force behind economic policy is a red herring. The ANC is a collective, and it functions as one. Manuel’s moves were the moves of the ANC. If the ANC tells Trevor Manuel to go hard left tomorrow, Trevor Manuel will. Trevor Manuel is a loyal lap-dog member of the ANC. A while back the Minister of Health, a white woman, Barbara Hogan, dared to go against the ANC over the issue of the Dalai Lama. Shortly thereafter, Trevor Manuel was one of those who came and attacked her over it. Trevor Manuel is not going to preserve the Mbeki route. Trevor Manuel will do what Jacob Zuma tells him to do. But the Western world was fooled by the fact that Zuma retained Trevor Manuel, just as many whites were fooled when Zuma decided to offer Dr Mulder the position as Deputy Minister of Agriculture.
Very recently, people were totally shocked when the a-political Governor of the Reserve Bank, Tito Mboweni, came out and attacked South Africa’s banks. He came out and really hit them from the left field, and the Banks could not understand it because their relationship with him was good. So why did Tito Mboweni suddenly act “out of character” like that? Well, again, despite deception to the contrary, Tito Mboweni is a loyal ANC cadre, and if the ANC or the SACP (South African Communist Party) tells him to attack someone, he will carry out those orders. This shocks people because for years they were used to Mbeki’s policies. But now the hard left is in, and now, you’re going to see them try their nonsense to shove us into fully blown communism. (Of course, Mbeki was taking us there slowly too; but the main thing is that the pace will now change).
The newspapers are filled with stories of high bank charges in South Africa, and rip-offs, etc, etc. This is similar to what we had in the past, prior to an attack on an industry. Do you remember when they said they would save us money on medicines, and then they drove most of the privately-owned pharmacies into bankruptcy? Those who survived, did so because they joined larger organisations who could help with scales of economies thereby allowing them to survive. The net result is that now most of South Africa’s pharmacies, instead of being privately owned, are under the control of an oligopoly. Most of South Africa’s pharmacies now are owned by Dischem and by Clicks.
Do you remember when they moaned about the high bread prices? Then they went and fired Tiger foods a vast sum of money (as if that would help anyone). I can’t remember if they fined them R50 million or some ridiculous figure.
Let me remind you, that you are watching communism in action. This is an old communist game. It is an attack on FREE ENTERPRISE and the FREE MARKET. The communists come along with their propaganda about how capitalism is “ripping you off”. Then suddenly everyone screams about it. And even sane people, even highly educated friends of mine, even economists are falling for this TOTAL BUNK. Even sane economists stand around agreeing that yes, banks should be kicked in line because of this hideous state of affairs.
Just a short while back I was watching a BBC documentary called: “Don’t tell your mother, but I’m in Venezuela”. The presenter went to Venezuela where he saw people all dressed in red and everyone was a revolutionary and everyone hated America. Then they saw the “economic benefits” of Hugo Chavez’s communism. Oh, said the pro-reds, Chavez is doing so much to help the people. Well, that’s what Communists are always claiming! As I mentioned in my book, Government by Deception (2001), Communists are always telling you how much they love the poor and how much they want to help the poor, but nobody makes the poor poorer than the communists. When the communists are finished with the poor, they will be far poorer than they ever could have believed. And that is what always happens. But it is done in a way that it sounds attractive.
The presenter went into a supermarket. Hugo Chavez had said that businesses are ripping the Venezuelan people off. So Chavez, in a Mugabe-like move, went and forced businesses to sell their goods to supermarkets at much lower prices. (Robert Mugabe did that too, and Mugabe actually forced stacks of businesses to either stop producing or to go into bankruptcy as a result). Well, in Venezuela, the businesses then decided that they can’t sell themselves into bankruptcy by selling to the supermarkets at below cost price, so guess what they did? They EXPORTED all their products! So when you go into a supermarket in Venezuela, you can’t get products that are manufactured in Venezuela! Instead, the supermarkets now import all their good from elsewhere in the world!! Then there are of course shortages as a result. They can’t buy milk. They haven’t seen milk in months. They only get powdered milk, and they don’t have real sugar either, because they actually buy some other chemical which masquerades as sugar. And as with all communist meddling you not only don’t get items, but when you do get some items, there are queues hundreds of metres long for the few items you do get. So if some meat comes in, it is soon sold out, and thousands who wanted to buy it won’t get it.
Robert Mugabe made a big issue out of prices and businesses “ripping off” the populace. And where did it lead? To a destroyed economy. In fact, it led to an economy where the rich can buy anything they want and where the poor CANNOT buy that which they used to buy. Ditto for Hugo Chavez, the modern Communist Robin Hood.
So here we are with a Far Left ANC, supported by the SACP, and suddenly, we have all sorts of propaganda angling for the banks. I’m going to repeat, as I said years before, the communist trash of this country are gunning for the banks and when they are finished with the banks you will see the ruination of it.
Let me tell you things about the banks that you won’t know and won’t see in the press. People are complaining that the banks are inefficient, and they are right. Everything in this country is becoming more inefficient. What nobody is pointing out is how the Govt’s Affirmative Action rules, and their racial quotas in the workplace are the direct cause of this inefficiency. What you don’t know is this: If it were not for our advanced computer systems, most of these businesses would not be able to function at all. Some years ago, we had a certain system which captured homeloans. I had systems which had data fed to them by this system. Then we noticed errors creeping in. More and more errors were occuring. The system feeding ours was crashing more and more. It actually became quite a catastrophe. Eventually, my investigations and discussions with managers, supervisors, etc led me to realise that it was the low quality staff (the AA staff), who were badly underskilled, who were the problem. They had quietly whittled out the competant staff and replaced them with the incompetants, and the net result was that these people couldn’t do the work. Eventually, the company was paying a handful of experienced white staff, overtime and all these people did, from morning to night was fix errors by the new staff. And when I tell you they worked from morning to night I mean that. I knew of two women who would work almost daily, from 6-7am in the morning until 9pm or later at night. All they did was fix errors by other staff. The senior management gave them carte blanche to do anything they needed in order to try to keep the business flowing because the entire dept was dying because there were so many errors in the capturing of homeloans data.
I see systems running which are used by hundreds, and sometimes thousands of staff, and I am telling you, if it were not for some of our computer systems, and the few hundred people who keep them running, the banks of this country would not be functioning at all. We are constantly using every trick in the book to try and make it easier for the staff to use. All sorts of tricks, which I will not describe are used to improve through-put and to try to keep things running. I have seen certain things, which I prefer not to discuss, as to how they manage to keep the banks from totally collapsing. If it were not for some savvy people, with really clever ideas, banks would have folded by now.
I was chatting to a co-worker of mine last week. He was telling me that the car finance portion of the bank is probably now the biggest “Second hand car dealer in Africa”. He was saying that because of the repossessions. He told me that two-thirds of all homeloans are in arrears by one or more months.
While everyone is moaning about bank charges, they have no conception, of the vast amounts of debt and the battles that are fought daily to get cash. I am on the front line of the new systems that are being built and will be built to collect in monies. Large sums of money are being poured into trying to collect monies from delinquent borrowers. High technology, and statisticians and all sorts of mathematical models are being thrown into the mix to try and keep cash flowing in so that we don’t go under. I know how much money is being collected, but I don’t think it is prudent to disclose the internal figures of the company I work for, but I can tell you, a lot is being thrown into this. The economy is bad. Just a week ago, I heard that despite all measures, there was extreme concern about the state of debts owing, and new measures were being sought to fight the way forward.
Banks are losing lots of money in this economic meltdown. And the NCA has not made life any easier. It has made things more expensive. Banks cannot attach and get back the goods from delinquent owners because the costs are so prohibitive. And they prefer not to go after them legally, because of the costs. Instead they try now to just get a deal, any deal, out of those who owe them money. They try to get smaller, regular payments, rather than take legal action because of the costs and hassles involved.
Remember too, in this crime capital of the world with criminals blowing up ATMs, and cash-in-transit heists, etc that banks take a beating in costs all the time.
And, don’t forget, that all the ANC Affirmative Action legislation is largely responsible for lots of inefficiences. Don’t forget that all this new legislation causes system changes, causes them to hire more people just to push paper. All these costs add up. It is making banking more inefficient and is adding to the price tags. Despite many seriously creative attempts at dealing with these problems, the banks will battle. There is only so much you can do.
So I think the first thing to keep in mind is this: This is South Africa, and we are Third World, you cannot expect our bank charges to be the same as those in America or Europe where you have a sound, efficient infrastructure and where you do not have the many hurdles we have.
Even so, the banks have reduced their costs when everyone screams about it, but I’m going to tell you where this will lead to. I have worked my entire life in private business, and when you come and you mess with the price structure of the things which keeps a company afloat, that company will come up with work-arounds.
Take the NCA and the current lending situation. I would say that currently, the company I work for, issues only about 10% of the homeloans that it was issuing just a few years back. In other words, the homeloans business has dropped by 90%. And car finance, and credit cards are all having serious problems. There are vast numbers of people behind or delinquent in their credit card payments.
Already we can see the new pattern: The new pattern is that now MOST PEOPLE who just a few years ago could get a homeloan now cannot. You will see how the banks will be forced to make you jump through more and more hoops before they lend you money. Vast numbers of people who previously could get finance, including businesses, will NOT get finance ever again. This will affect not only people, but companies, the very entities which create jobs. You will see that banking will change, and a lot of products and features which used to be available to everyone will now only be available to a smaller, select market.
If the Govt had left the banks alone, the banks would have been able to do things. Look at when some of the banks tried to run a lottery system similar to the “Bop Bond” in the days of Apartheid. This was in direct response to the rotten way our state lottery is run. The banks made a success of it, but then the Govt stepped in and killed it. This is communism, this is interference in business. I know this country never was 100% free market, but the businesses of this country did have a lot of autonomy. And now that is being taken away. The net result of this, is less jobs. If the banks get knocked here and kicked there, they will merely cut their costs. They will not enter into deals and business which will rebound on them. Instead, they will cut their projects. If they reduce bank charges here, then they will load the costs elsewhere on another product. They’ll introduce a new “admin fee” when you apply for some new product. One way or the other, they will cut their losses and try to make their profits elsewhere. Its that simple. And its not evil, it is just the way that all businesses run. This Govt interference, and this insane talk of “ripping the public off” is completely one-sided and totally ignores a lot of other facts.
A friend of mine complained to me that banks are inefficient and don’t even admit when they’re wrong. I said to him that he has no idea the state of the staff, and the way things work in daily life. The banks are merely doing the best they can and the management are doing the best they can, within the boundaries laid down by the Govt of this country. Those laws tell them who they can hire, and what they are and are not allowed to do. They have to reduce the numbers of certain staff because it affects their racial quotas. They lose people with skills and must replace them with people with low skills. All this is a struggle.
Let me tell you this: The fools can go ahead and can force the banks to cut their charges in the same way that Hugo Chavez and Mugabe force businesses and factories to sell goods at below cost price. All the banks will do is move the charges elsewhere, or charge for things they did not charge for before, or they reduce the facilities and products they make available. The bottom line is that whenever you mess with some functioning business’s pricing model, there will be something that has to give way.
For some years I have been quite convinced that our banking industry is going to be seriously damaged when the Govt meddles with it. And this type of meddling, which is just a slanderous, propaganda attack on businesses, whereby they are treated as criminals, is not healthy at all for this country.
Don’t be fooled by the propaganda that is pervading the media. The Govt is going to seriously damage and undermine the banks, and rest assured, this country used to have so much of its economy directly dependent on most businesses getting finance from banks. If the Govt meddles with the banks, they are meddling with the economy and rest assured it will increase the hardships of the poor and retard any job growth we might have had. I have no illusions about this silly talk. I have worked in business all my life and as a consultant, I have seen many and varied businesses. These idiots are destroying the eoconomy of this country and are going to push everybody (except for the very rich), into greater hardship, and the black masses will be even poorer than ever before.
By: Jan
AfricanCrisis Webmaster
Author of: Government by Deception
