The rot

Corruption is a worldwide rot. But some countries are more rotten than others. Some have solid control mechanisms in place that cut out the rot before it grows to wide and too deep. Other nations unfortunately are rotten to the core. Terminally ill.

And sadly lots of serious and systematic corruption is happening in African countries. One of the growing worry, according to international organisation that watch these developments, is the downwards spiral in South Africa.

But some light in the tunnel, although the ray of light also exposes the extent of the rot. And thus maybe the ray of light is just a passing train. But at least something is happening somewhere.

The Housing Department, officially called the Ministry of Human Settlements, has gone on the attack.

Because of the legacy of apartheid, the growth of its population and the urbanisation of the country, South Africa faces an enormous housing backlog. Hundreds of thousands of its citizens live in dirty, smelly, sickening, inhuman circumstances. So social housing projects have always been high on the government’s agenda since the dawn of democracy in 1994.

But as the projects grew so also grew the rot. Budgets disappeared. Construction materials disappeared. Houses were built very badly as crap, cheap materials were used and the builders just didn’t care. Builders and material were ‘transferred’ to private residences of municipal officials. And on and on did the rot spread.

But now the housing minister had enough of the shambles and a corruption probe was launched. Is he doing it for PR reasons for self-promotion towards a political (presidential?) career? Or did he really woke up one day and said enough is enough. The future will tell, but in the meantime the pressure is on, dodgy builders blacklisted and corrupt officials taken to court.

7373 Officials were investigated so far. That resulted in 930 arrests of which 762 got already convicted. Justice done. 762 Corrupt officials out of 7373 investigated. That’s about a 10% rot factor. Scary.

On top of that it has now been revealed in South Africa's parliament that whistleblowers on corrupt housing deals are being threatened and murdered while they are in witness protection programmes. The housing rot is clearly in the hands of criminal syndicates who now feel threatned that the corruption investigations is cutting off their cash flow.

Human behaviour is sometimes a crawling decay.

Staying in same African country and on same topic of white collar crime.

Pietermaritzburg is a town in the historically famous Zulu region of South Africa. The city needs every month about US$28.5 million to function. Well, it has just over half a million US$ left in its bank account. The city is currently operating on a 3 day look-ahead basis. After that,.... who knows who will pay what.

Money was just wasted and mismanaged for too long and it took much too long for somebody to raise the alarm bell. The rot has gone to the heart of the matter and thus all is rotten and rotten deep and systematically.

On top of that it seems that 90% of all small and medium sized business in town have tampered with their water meters. The rot is everywhere.

Sad story. Human behaviour is its own demise.

Hope that is what Southern Sudan is living on. Hope that the dawn of being independent will bring a better life. Peace and prosperity after too many years of conflict and poverty.

Southern Sudan is on its way to become a new African nation, cut off from the mother nation Sudan. Next January a referendum will decide on self-determination. And it is widely expected that the Christian south will cut itself loose from the Muslim north. How Sudanese president Al Bashir (and its army) will react is another question. The butcher-of-Darfur doesn’t have too much peace credentials. He already has an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court around his neck. That’s for his bloodbath in the Darfur sandpit. Hope that Al Bashir keeps his MIGs grounded.

But hope makes people grow taller. Lots to do in ravaged Southern Sudan and thus hope that the new government will use its oil revenues carefully, wisely and corruption-free. One has to have hope.

A new nation on the banks of the river Nile.

Staying wet. Spotted that Obama (and daughter) took a dive in the Gulf of Mexico. Great PR exercise to lift the spirits in the ocean of despair since the massive oil spill from the BP well. Years of negative impact to follow for sure, but Obama’s splash has brought hope that the worst is over and recovery of destroyed lives and environment can kick start.

Humans need hope.

Tell that to the Pakistanis. An estimated 20 million people affected my ravaging floods. Walls of destructive water rolling down the valleys and taking everything in its swells. People, animals, crops, houses, factories,...

Very sad affair. And the international community is slow in reacting and committing funds. Donor fatigue it’s called. The quake in Haiti earlier this year seemed to have been a “sexier” cause for good deeds. Pakistan is probably also lacking a positive image, which doesn’t help when massive amounts of cash injections are needed. A bad image doesn’t help when the begging bowl is out.

Remember not so long ago, WikiLeaks published some secret US military documents in which American intelligence operators had very clear fears about links between Pakistani intelligence officials and terrorist organisations. And for years Pakistan’s external image was dented by its political chaos, by its political assassinations, by its links to bombings in India, by corruption, by Muslim extremism in its northern regions, by lack of border security with Afghanistan,.... Just too much stains on its image to built an bond of trust with donors and the so called international community.

Hope is what the affected Pakistanis need. Hope that the future can be better. For now it’s pretty dark (and wet) out there.

Never give up. Never surrender!

Throw out. Troops Of Tomorrow is a new punkrock band from Washington DC. Their 3 track demo has clear influences from the early 80s underground punk(rock) scene on America’s east side. Raw, aggressive, uncompromising tunes. And maybe they choose their band name in reference to an early album by punk heroes The Exploited.

C -Ya

collateral – August 2010 is moving on