EDITOR – Many of us tend to think of North Korea as an outworldly place, controlled by crazies.
Personally, I think South Africa and the DPRK have a lot in common.
The constant abuse of power and crude phraseology that characterises North Korea reminds me a lot of South Africa controlled by the ANC.
Take for example Jang Song Thaek, Kim Jong Un’s summarily executed uncle. Poor Jang is variously described as a ‘reactionary’, a ‘counter-revolutionary’ and ‘despicable human scum’, among other things. This is rather crude rhetoric but no less so than the regular fare we get from the ANC and its apparatchiks.
Let us not make the same mistake as Uncle Jang. He ignored the signs and totally underestimated his dear nephew. He failed to listen. No different to the many ANC members and opponents who made the same mistake over the years and paid the price. This is nothing new, just a matter of fact.
When Jacob Zuma war dances in public, singing: “We are going to shoot them with the machine gun. They are going to run. Shoot the Boer”, I believe him. When he demonises whites, I believe him, and his supporters who applaud with gusto. When NUMSA hot-shot Andrew Chirwa publicly talks about ‘mass democratic revolution’ and exhorts workers to ‘confront the continued political and economic dominance of white monopoly capital and imperialism in South Africa post-1994,’ I certainly get the message.
So much for our much-vaunted Constitution. Actually, North Korea has a constitution, but like ours, regularly subverted by the state.
We may talk about North Korea being outworldly but a recent tip-off confirms my belief that we are not much different. Apparently, the Mpumalanga Health Department is ‘probing a R182-million circumcision contract’ which was not put out to tender. From what I can gather, the private company involved is registered as a ‘supply and construction’ company. One can only guess as to the methods used. So, who’s crazy now?
