General Debate 14 December 2013

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Scott Chris

Result of the referendum on asset sales:

29% of eligible voters felt motivated enough to vote against asset sales. (67% of the 44% voter turnout)

Hardly overwhelming.
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December 14, 2013 8:04am
SPC

33% of the 44% turnout felt motivated to support the government in its asset sales programme.

Or is that, sounds so few, about 14.5%.

One suspects the MRP investors did not turn out to vote …
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December 14, 2013 8:14am
CHFR

A waste of $9 million for a political side show. As a tax payer this makes me very angry as it could have been spent better elsewhere.
Please do not patronise me by saying the money is a drop in the governments coffers cause 9 million is a hell of a drop to me.
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December 14, 2013 8:14am
itstricky

…but still a majority based on Key’s logic of how his Government got in power in the first place right? Voter apathy is not his, nor anyone else’s problem. The result was against at the end of the day.
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December 14, 2013 8:15am
CHFR

And the idiot SPC arrives. Most people who have invested in MRP have voted already with their wallets…idiot.
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December 14, 2013 8:15am
itstricky

Please do not patronise me by saying the money is a drop in the governments coffers cause 9 million is a hell of a drop to me.

Then $100 million to sell well performing assets is a giant ocean.
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December 14, 2013 8:16am
CHFR

itstricky, so was the anti smacking vote and your side kept telling is it was low turnout. Boot on the other foot now and you talk it up, can’t have it both ways I am afraid.

It was a loss for both sides at the end of the day and a waste of money.
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December 14, 2013 8:17am
kowtow

So even with postal voting ,designed to make life easy for an increasingly lazy, unengaged, disinterested electorate,only 44% were bothered to make the effort.

If this were a referendum on postal voting then postal voting lost!
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December 14, 2013 8:17am
iMP

Civility and Satire. Ben Uffindell (22) of The Civilian is starting his own satirical political party. He talks here about Colin Criag, depression, income in NZ, popularity, fame, Gen Y. issues. Disarmingly open. Aired yesterday. Great listen on a saturday.

http://conzervative.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/civil-satire-in-new-zealand-interview/
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December 14, 2013 8:23am
itstricky

itstricky, so was the anti smacking vote and your side kept telling is it was low turnout. Boot on the other foot now and you talk it up, can’t have it both ways I am afraid.

There’s no such thing as “your side”. I didn’t vote in this and I voted the other way around in that referendum. Nobody’s fighting a war here. Your flippant use of the word ‘idiot’ is more so revealing that you seem to class people into categories.

It was a loss for both sides at the end of the day and a waste of money.

$100 million to sell well performing assets to just people who could afford them at the time seems to be more of a waste of money but hey, that’s just my slightly logically, brain saying “what’s 10×10 and how many future dividends/profits has the country lost from companies that will always be well performing?”. Sell Solid Energy & maybe even Air NZ tomorrow – sure – but utilities companies? Short sighted.
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December 14, 2013 8:24am
SPC

There was a 35% vote for National in 2011 election to compare the 29% vote against asset sales in this referendum.

CHFR, do you really want to make an issue of the small the number of New Zealanders who purchased shares in MRP and Meridian? Really?

Or why someone who bought a share at $2.50 now worth $2 might not vote in a referendum?
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December 14, 2013 8:25am
fooman

Scott, by that logic only 32.9% of eligible voters voted for a National government in 2011.

FM
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December 14, 2013 8:25am
duggledog

I would have preferred it if the questions were these three:

Do you support asset sales?

Do you oppose asset sales, but understand there’s no other way to keep your increasingly unaffordable, effectively socialist NZ lifestyle afloat, save even higher taxes or even more overseas borrowing?

Do you not really understand but you have fallen for the glossy rhetoric anyway because that’s easier?
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December 14, 2013 8:25am
gump

I wanted to make an Australian joke, but this story is just too damn horrible.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11171359
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December 14, 2013 8:29am
Manolo

What else to blame but AGW:
http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-snow-israel-egypt-20131213,0,1691393.story#axzz2nMzV6vMp
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December 14, 2013 8:32am
hmmokrightitis

So the gweens and the greys spent $9M of our money to try and make a political point over something that was put up as an election issue, mandate given and already largely delivered on.

The contempt which both of these groups holds the electorate in is frankly astonishing. The greys would be the first to wail at the waste of money in any other circumstances. Mind you, the gweens response would be dont worry, we can print some more.

As noted by smarter people than me elsewhere, if JK had been found by a security guard with his pants down in the Ngati Whatua room, the left noise would be horrific. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds. And thus we have a $9M circus, courtesy of these fucking idiots.

Christ, makes even me think about moving to Australia.

But then Christmas is upon us – 2 more days of work then weeks of boat, bach, bike, BBQ, booze, books and bed. Nice symmetry there. Maybe I will stay 🙂
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December 14, 2013 8:38am
Scott Chris

but utilities companies? Short sighted.

I don’t see why utility companies are any more important than say, food suppliers. Should we nationalise food suppliers too? Personally I see more benefit for the consumer to break the current duopoly and create more competition.
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December 14, 2013 8:39am
kowtow

gump wanted to make an Australian joke!!!!!!

In this link,which i posted yesterday, it states the sorry saga started in New Zealand,when June married Tim and they moved to Australia.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2522483/Children-Australian-incest-cult-living-deformed-mute-valley.html

I suspect over in Oz they’re saying something like…..”Did you hear the one about the Kiwi ferals……”
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December 14, 2013 8:42am
Scott Chris

by that logic only 32.9% of eligible voters voted for a National government in 2011

Indeed. Hardly overwhelming…. but enough.
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December 14, 2013 8:43am
kowtow

hmmokright

Politicians of all hues hold the electorate in contempt.

Look at the anti parental rights legislation that the Greens introduced ,supported by Notional,who could have used that referendum to support parents.

Permanent political class. Useless bludgers.
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December 14, 2013 8:45am
Paulus

What a load of wasted bullshit.
Unless referenda results are compulsory we will continue to waste Taxpayers money, by stupid socialist/communists.
But wait – they will be the Government in 2014.
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December 14, 2013 8:58am
Sofia

The EY Review of Mayor Len Brown does not indicate hotel stays involving Bevan Chuang, but lists bookings Brown [on Campbell Live] insists were made by his wife for ‘family purposes’.
So the $6130 “freebie” rooms and $32,888.50 are additional indiscretions only if Brown is supposed to record ‘gifts’ his wife receives.
Shouldn’t a report that is reputed to have cost rate payers $100,000 be a little clearer.
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December 14, 2013 9:02am
OneTrack

Scott Chris – “Should we nationalise food suppliers too?…”

Dont give them any bloody ideas. KiwiFood maybe. A apparatchik in Wellington can set the price of your corn flakes. And if you dont like that price you can buy them somewhere else. Oh, wait, you wont be able to – oh dear. And if they set the price so its uneconomic, the supplier will stop supplying or limited supply. Queues down the road to get the last packet?

Yeah, KiwiPower is such a brilliant idea. What could go wrong?
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December 14, 2013 9:02am
WineOh

‘Referendum’ on whether Len Brown should stay or go on Stuff.co.nz… 72% say he should go.
Perhaps if the MSM were attune to the attitudes of NZers they would start to shift their reporting??
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December 14, 2013 9:08am
Sofia

The greater the NO response to the referendum, the greater the indication of those who opposed partial asset sales but still voted for National.

Because of this, the larger the NO vote, the better John Key should feel – since Labour swore assets sales was THE single Election issue, and National agreed – but obviously many voters gave away reservations on asset sales to vote National, rather than for parties that would show their true governance and stewardship by paying people to raise signatures for a $9m referendum on an issue their own election campaigning had already decided, an issue legally introduced and almost completed, but somewhat failed because of Opposition sabotage during it.

The bigger the NO vote, the greater the Opposition is fucked – but then, they have already done that to themselves.
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December 14, 2013 9:20am
Pete George

Following on from yesterday re party funding of blogs, both Lynn Prentice and Cameron Slater say there is no party funding of The Standard and Whale Oil. Obviously there are party sources for both blogs, but no admissions of party staffers being authors.

– The Double Standard’s Stalin (see comments)
– Cameron Slater on party funding and influence
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December 14, 2013 9:27am
Pete George

For the Herald poll on Should Brown Go – http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ scroll down the home page, in the middle.

Probably as futile as the asset sale referendum.
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December 14, 2013 9:28am
Pete George

And also a Stuff poll to register your approval of Brown staying http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/
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December 14, 2013 9:36am
James Stephenson

Scott, by that logic only 32.9% of eligible voters voted for a National government in 2011.

Yep, and not voting in the GE is tacit acceptance of whatever the result is, whereas not voting in the referendum is tacit acceptance of the government’s actions, since the referendum won’t change anything.
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December 14, 2013 9:45am
EAD

Interest rates manipulated down to >1% across most of the “Western” World, Printing Money (QE) to stay solvent in order to support their free shit army welfare states, the question needs to be asked

“How will the post 1971 great experiment in paper money end?”

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-13/guest-post-how-paper-money-experiment-will-end
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December 14, 2013 9:52am
Dean Papa

excitement at the darts!!

Rob Szabo (New Zealand) to play Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor in the next round.
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December 14, 2013 10:13am
Longknives

I see both the Stuff poll and the Herald poll are about 75% opposed to Len Brown continuing to be paid to masturbate at the Auckland mayoral desk..

Yet he refuses to budge- His arrogance is staggering.
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December 14, 2013 10:17am
Dean Papa

bloody miserable TAB only offering $11 for a Szabo win!!

match on in the next hour or two..
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December 14, 2013 10:26am
Sofia

Where did Hone Harawira end up – South Africa or somewhere else?
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December 14, 2013 10:29am
Scott Chris

excitement at the darts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHnBppccI0o
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December 14, 2013 10:30am
iMP

A new Conchord is born…

http://conzervative.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/another-conchord-is-born-the-cabin/
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December 14, 2013 10:39am
Fletch

This’ll get you into the holiday spirit.
U.S Airforce Band flashmob.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByfpiTlLlSk
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December 14, 2013 11:36am
Fletch

Iranians walk out of nuclear talks after there is talk of tighter sanctions.

Iranian negotiators abruptly ended nuclear talks with Western powers in Geneva on Friday just a day after the Obama administration announced tighter sanctions on Tehran.

Iran had threatened that new or tighter sanctions would nullify the recently reached interim deal, which is not yet in effect.

The Iranians abruptly “halted” the talks and left Geneva so that they could consult with higher-level officials about how to proceed with talks following the tighter sanctions, which were announced Thursday morning by the U.S. Treasury Department.

http://freebeacon.com/iranians-pull-out-of-nuke-talks/

It looks like Iran would be getting $20 billion out of a deal, not 6 or 7 billion as was originally reported.

http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/12/11/report-iran-may-receive-20-billion-in-sanctions-relief-tripling-stated-figures/
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December 14, 2013 11:49am
Reid

So it looks like the speculation that the offer from Obama to Iran was just a feint in order to justify an attack so they could turn around to the useful idiots and say to them: look we really really tried but the bastards didn’t want a bar of it; was on the money.

No surprises there. Sometimes I wish the useful idiots would wake up, but no sign of that, anytime soon, I’m afraid.
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December 14, 2013 12:07pm
Fletch

SO much for global warming.
Snow covers the Middle East for the first time in 100 years.

Nobody in Cairo was dreaming of a white Christmas, but it looks like they’ll get one. The worst snowstorm in more than 50 years hit the Middle East, blanketing Cairo, Jerusalem and areas of Syria in white powder. It was the first time in 100 years that Egypt had seen snow.

http://mashable.com/2013/12/13/snow-egypt-syria-israel/
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December 14, 2013 12:09pm
Fletch

Looks like the fake sign language interpreter from the Mandela funeral has faced multiple violent charges in the last two decades, including murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, rape, theft, housebreaking and malicious property damage.

eNCA’s investigations have found that Thamsanqa Jantjie, who is being treated for schizophrenia, has also faced rape (1994), theft (1995), housebreaking (1997), malicious damage to property (1998), murder, attempted murder and kidnapping (2003) charges.

Many of the charges brought against him were dropped, allegedly because he was mentally unfit to stand trial.

Jantjie was acquitted on the rape charge, but he was convicted of theft for which he was sentenced to three years in prison. It’s unclear if he ever spent time in jail.

Court records reveal that the 2003 murder, attempted murder and kidnapping case against Jantjie and other people, was referred to the South Gauteng High Court in 2004. It was finalised in November 2006, but the court file for the case is empty.

http://www.enca.com/south-africa/interpreter
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December 14, 2013 12:50pm
Johnboy

I just can’t figure out why Bill has only sold the rat’s and mice stuff that has so pissed the commie freaks when he should be selling the ACC and Cullen fund?

He could flick both off before November 2014! 🙂

Now that would get the leftie tossers going! 🙂

Perhaps he dosen’t have the balls! 🙂
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December 14, 2013 12:54pm
stephieboy

Reid (14,465 comments) says:
December 14th, 2013 at 12:07 pm

In recent times I note you quoted and linked Resne.com a website run by one Jeff Resne. He is notorious for his Anti Jewish views, amongst many other things, and is considered to the Right of Alex Jones.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Jeff_Rense
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December 14, 2013 1:27pm
stephieboy

CoNZervative another wacko far right blog,

http://conzervative.wordpress.com/2013/06/30/facts-on-the-obama-kenya-origins-conspiracy/
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December 14, 2013 1:37pm
Johnboy

Stephieboy…another whacko commenter that no one takes any notice of till I just did cause there is fuckall on TV! 🙂
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December 14, 2013 1:42pm
stephieboy

f…. on TV.?
is that all your life revolves around especially on this lazy and shiny summers day.??
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December 14, 2013 1:48pm
Fletch

Oh dear. Popular sci-fi/fantasy site io9 reviews the Hobbit and starts off with the headline –

The Hobbit proves you can like a movie even if it’s not good

http://io9.com/the-hobbit-proves-you-can-like-a-movie-even-if-its-not-1482668868
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December 14, 2013 2:12pm
Fletch

CoNZervative another wacko far right blog,

stephieboy, er?
Point out what is not factual.
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December 14, 2013 2:14pm
Johnboy

Jackson made them in the wrong place. We don’t have enough crumbling ruins:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/9513055/NZ-worst-choice-for-Middle-Earth

Ed’s never been to Cathedral Square obviously! 🙂
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December 14, 2013 2:18pm
nasska

stephieboy

….”CoNZervative another wacko far right blog,”…..

Obviously you have lived a sheltered life. John Stringer is an ex Nat who one summer spent too long outside without his hat & ended up joining the CCCP. In time & with suitable counselling he may return to good health & rejoin the National Party.

If you want to touch the dark side of Conservative loopery may I suggest a visit to http://nzconservative.blogspot.co.nz/

There you can step back in time & see how exposure to fruitcake conservatism & religious hocus pocus can addle what were probably once normal people.* Watch them do mental backflips to accommodate their Skydaddy….witness the delusions of those who would drag NZ back to the 1950’s.

* A firm grip of reality is recommended before venturing on to this site. At the first sign of nausea depress Ctrl, Alt, Del simultaneously. 🙂
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December 14, 2013 3:11pm
stephieboy

Fletch, here for the umpteenth time,

http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/bookmarks/fact-checking-and-debunking/the-debunkers-guide-to-obama-conspiracy-theories/#bornkenya
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December 14, 2013 3:41pm
wikiriwhis business

stephieboy

Actually, I just found out to qualify for POTUS you don’t need to be a US citizen as long as one of your parents was born there. If this is true I don’t know why the leftist media didn’t inform the public about this.
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December 14, 2013 3:44pm
Pauleastbay

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepresidentandcabinet/a/presrequire.htm

Only native-born U.S. citizens (or those born abroad, but only to parents who were both citizens of the U.S.) may be president of the United States

Wiki

both parents need to be, please do some fucking reading
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December 14, 2013 4:06pm
Reid

http://www.activistpost.com/2013/12/creepy-ai-telemarketer-sounds-human.html
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December 14, 2013 4:38pm
Reid

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131211/05363425529/look-just-how-much-us-is-isolated-its-tpp-demands.shtml
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December 14, 2013 4:42pm
Johnboy

Wouldn’t be neat if we all agreed to a TPP excluding the Yanks.

They could try to join later on and we could screw the fuck out of them.

We could agree to reduce our demands if they would agree to take the fatarse German bastard at their expense! 🙂
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December 14, 2013 5:00pm
jackinabox

Here’s one for you Jacks5 http://laudafinem.com/2013/12/14/lf-names-south-auckland-cop-accused-of-serious-sexual-abuse/
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December 14, 2013 5:04pm
publicwatchdog

Howdy Kiwibloggers – interested in your feedback on THIS one!

MEDIA ALERT: Penny Bright

“When is the right time to reveal an ‘inconvenient truth’ – that neo-liberal ANC President Nelson Mandela championed ‘privatisation’ – not ‘nationalisation’?

It seems that locally, nationally and internationally, people are largely unaware of this following quote from ANC President Nelson Mandela? :

“”Privatisation is the fundamental policy of the ANC, and is going to be implemented …Just because we [government and COSATU] have a working relationship, and they [COSATU] helped put us in power, does not mean that we are happy with everything they say.’ 49

49 Sunday Times, 26 May 1996.

(COSATU – Congress of South African Trade Unions)

How many people know that in 1994, millions of black South Africans voted for the ANC, which swept into power on the following promises / policies:

“The ANC’s 1994 national election campaign was not only premised on delivering democracy and freedom to the citizens of South Africa but was also strongly rooted in the memory of apartheid’s denial of basic resources to black people.

Riding on the crest of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (the ANC’s proposed economic plan for the post-liberation era based on redistribution of the country’s wealth to the poor), the ANC promised to right the wrongs of the past and to give the people what had long been denied them.

Election posters blazing with the black green and gold party colours screamed out to the poor:

“A better life for all!”, “Free basic services!”. “Jobs for all!”,

with a promise to redistribute the wealth accumulated by the apartheid government, white business and the white population.

The poor, trusting the rhetoric, voted in their millions to put the ANC into power as the first democratic government.

When the ANC capitulated to the charms of a market-driven economy, the party ditched clauses from the Freedom Charter and the RDP and emerged with a macro-economic policy that was a ‘fairly standard neoliberal one”. 1

[1 Adam Habib and Vishnu Padaychee (2000), “Economic Policy and Power Relations in South Africa’s Transition to Democracy” in World Development, (vol.28, no.2)3. ]

The choice of a market-driven policy that would ensure maximum profit accumulation by the already rich was made in full knowledge of South Africa’s stratified economy. …. ”

[CENTRE FOR CIVIL SOCIETY RASSP RESEARCH REPORTS 2005, VOL.1
Saranel Benjamin, Durban, September 2005]

But, on the watch of President Nelson Mandela, without consultation or democratic mandate, there was a 180 degree ‘U turn’, when the ANC adopted a neo-liberal agenda:

http://dspace.nwu.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10394/6332/No_42(1997)_Meyer_MJ.pdf?sequence=1

PRIVATISING SOUTH AFRICA BY DICTUM: A REVIEW
Michael J. Meyer
(Department of Development Studies, University of North West)

1. Introduction

Mindful of the experience in the Third World in general, and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)in particular, where in some instances the privatisation of state assets was turned into a farce because of corruption, nepotism patronage and insider dealing, in South Africa (SA) the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) insisted from the outset that the privatisation process is shrouded in secrecy and should be made transparent.

As a consequence COSATU objected to the African National Congress’s (ANC) adoption of a privatisation policy at its December 1994 Conference, which was endorsed without any form of consultation with the labour movement -the ANC’s strongest social partner.’ In order to forestall any unilateral action on the part of the ANC the labour movement insisted on participation and transparency, calling on the ANC to be accountable, not only to its allies but also the masses on any decision taken
on the issue of privatisation.

1 COSATU 6th National Congress: 16-19 September 1997, Book 4, Resolutions, Discussion
Documents (1997), p. 33. ”

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The ANC’s mechanism for these neo-liberalism reforms – was the GEAR (Growth, Employment and Redistribution) policy:

“The Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) policy drew from the main tenets of neoliberalism as installed globally with the main objective of creating an environment which enables maximum private investment.

Hence GEAR proposed cuts in government spending to reduce the deficit, the introduction of tax concessions for big business, a reduction of tariff barriers (in the clothing, textile,leather and car manufacturing industries), the privatization of government assets (which included the provision of basic services), a reduction in state welfare programmes and a more flexible labour market. Adelzadeh 3

[3 In Hein Marais (2001), South Africa: Limits to Change, (Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press) 163] and Saul both agree that the ANC had “come full circle, back to the late apartheid government’s Normative Economic Model.

For the central premise of South Africa’s economic policy now could clearly be clearer: ask not what capital can do for South Africa, but what South Africa can do for capital…”4

[4 Saul 12]

The ANC pushed for GEAR, arguing that the policy framework could help achieve economic growth, attract foreign investment , boost employment and increase socio-economic equality. the verdict so far has been resoundingly negative:

“GEAR has been associated with massive deindustrialization and job-shedding through reduced tariffs on imports, capital flight as as controls over investments are relaxed, attempts to downsize the costs and size of the public sector, and real cuts in education, health and social welfare spending”. 5
[5 Saul 13 ]

This neo-liberal economic framework precludes the the development of any form of social security system for the growing band of unemployed, informal sector workers and the poor. GEAR argues for a decline in state expenditure and, in keeping with global trends, this translates into cutting back on state welfare programmes.

The harsh effects of the GEAR policy have been felt most by those who came into the era of democracy poor. These were black, working class people.

Most were black, women, urban and rural. GEAR has left the poor more vulnerable to increasing poverty and has debilitated most workers by decimating the industries they work in. …”

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Privatisation was not the policy that Nelson Mandela upheld in his 27 years of incarceration on Robben Island.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/12/11/how-the-anc-sold-out-south-africas-poor/

How / when did Nelson Mandela shift from supporting ‘freedom’ to ‘free markets’?

“When you think about Nelson Mandela, you probably think about freedom — free people, free country, free speech. What may be overshadowed by Mr. Mandela’s extraordinary legacy was his complicated journey to support free markets and a free economy.

When Mr. Mandela was released from prison in 1990, he told his followers in the African National Congress that he believed in the nationalization of South Africa’s main businesses.

“The nationalization of the mines, banks and monopoly industries is the policy of the A.N.C., and a change or modification of our views in this regard is inconceivable,” he said at the time.

Two years later, however, Mr. Mandela changed his mind, embracing capitalism, and charted a new economic course for his country. …. ”

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/12/09/how-mandela-shifted-views-on-freedom-of-markets/?_r=0

What a coup for the global elite to have this world-famous anti-apartheid icon, now promoting pro-corporate policies!

Do you really think that Nelson Mandela’s face would be adorning the front pages of the global corporate media, if he had continued to support ‘nationalisation’ instead of privatisation?

Why do you think so many of the global elite were at his funeral, and had so many nice things to say about him?

Yes – Nelson Mandela’s policy of ‘truth and reconciliation’ may have helped prevent a racial bloodbath, but how much did it also help put a ‘lid’ on the fightback against the ANC’s ‘economic apartheid’?

It feels that in ‘blowing the whistle’ and telling the truth, I am not just ‘swimming against the tide’, but standing up to a tsunami.

So be it.

‘Truth is truth’.

In so doing, I believe I am keeping faith with the millions of black South Africans, in whose interests thousands of New Zealanders took to the streets, to help stretch the ‘thin blue line’, to try and make the 1981 Springbok Tour ‘unpoliceable’.

We didn’t march down the street in order for the lot of the black South African majority to be worse off – for racial apartheid to be replaced with ‘economic apartheid’.

Should we have still protested to help stop racial apartheid in South Africa?

Of course.

However, in order to help prevent ‘brand Mandela’ being used by the ANC in the elections next year, in order to continue to push their neo-liberal agenda, I believe that now is the time to reveal this ‘inconvenient truth’.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5giD2KBnQeZ68Jna088YsU_dH0mUA?docId=f342951c-d239-4333-8199-d207feda2af4

In so doing, let me say that this gives me no pleasure.

No one likes being told that their idol has ‘feet of clay’, or that they have been effectively misled.

I am ‘boycotting’ remembrance services for Nelson Mandela, because I hope that this will encourage debate and discussion, and those ‘social movements’ in South Africa who have been leading the fightback against the ANC’s ‘war on the poor’, will get the attention and support that they deserve.

http://www.ukzn.za/ccs

AMANDLA!

Penny Bright

1981 Springbok Tour protestor
‘Anti-corruption/ anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’

2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/AboutCouncil/HowCouncilWorks/Elections/Documents/mayorfinalresults2013.pdf
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December 14, 2013 5:05pm
Manolo

Did the same happen to Norman?
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/rhiannon_admits_a_brutal_communist_regime_schooled_her/
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December 14, 2013 5:07pm
stigie

Please take all your shit to the Strandard Penny.

They just love it there !!~
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December 14, 2013 5:12pm
Manolo

The most corrupt woman, aka Miss Dim, has made a cameo appearance.
5 2
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December 14, 2013 5:14pm
publicwatchdog

Which FACTS do you particularly dislike ‘stigie’?

Penny Bright
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December 14, 2013 5:38pm
publicwatchdog

Of course gutless, anonymous ‘Boyolo’ – you can substantiate your highly defamatory statement:

“The most corrupt woman, aka Miss Dim, has made a cameo appearance” with FACTS and EVIDENCE?

Want to put your name to your post, as I do to mine?

Thought not.

Penny Bright
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December 14, 2013 5:42pm
Johnboy

I have stated here on KB that you would make a fine Mayor of Auk in comparison to the present incumbent Penny.

What say you?….Cometh the moment cometh the..the..the..whatever? 🙂
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December 14, 2013 5:46pm
Johnboy

Penny for Mandiba. Penny for Mandiba I say!! 🙂
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December 14, 2013 6:06pm
Longknives

“I am ‘boycotting’ remembrance services for Nelson Mandela,”

Seriously Penny- How many have you actually been invited to??
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December 14, 2013 6:30pm
Johnboy

I believe they are holding one at the Huia Dam headworks tomorrow. Only those who have paid their water charges are invited to show the respect they have for the man who said..”Those who have paid the water bill are among the chosen”! 🙂

Great man was Mandiba! 🙂

Always paid his accounts…. 🙂
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December 14, 2013 6:37pm
Longknives

It’s quiet in here tonight.

Too quiet…..
4 1
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December 14, 2013 7:01pm
nasska

Okay….that could be a valid reason for disciplinary action. 🙂

Ref: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jaj84grh9l356u3/Detention.jpg
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December 14, 2013 7:19pm
OneTrack

Poor Penny. Mandela is hailed as one of the greatest humanitarians and a key individual in the repeal of apartheid in South Africa, but, because he said free markets might be ok, he is declared persona non grata. After he died. Well done Penny.

But the true hard-leftie started sneaking through when you, somehow, tried to suggest that free markets are the opposite of freedom. They are actually an excellent example of freedom – supplier a can sell to consumer b – job done. So, its pretty clear that when you, and other hard-lefties, say the word “freedom”, you dont actually mean what the dictionary says the word means , do you?
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December 14, 2013 7:27pm
OneTrack

“Okay….that could be a valid reason for disciplinary action. ”

In New Zealand? Nowhere near it.
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December 14, 2013 7:28pm
freemark

Prise for the most seriously fucked up opinion piece for this one. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9516931/Climate-of-fear-during-inquisition
How much is this woman being paid to write such shit for The Left?
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December 14, 2013 7:32pm
wat dabney

Vote Penny Bright. Because Communism was such a success.
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December 14, 2013 7:46pm
kowtow

Why is so much being made of a crook “signer” ,afterall it was at a convicted terrorist’s memorial,whose ex wife was into murdering opponents with burning tyres around their necks,in a country that, since the white handed power to the ANC, has become the rape and murder Mecca of Africa?

The signer was probably one of the straightest people there.Cameron and Obama aren’t saints, they supply war material to jihadis who murder Christians,Shia,Allawites and Druze in Syria.And Obama blows up weddings.
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December 14, 2013 7:50pm
nasska

Little Boy: What will communism be like when perfected?
His Father: Everyone will have what he needs.
Little Boy: But what if there is a shortage of meat?
His Father: There will be a sign in the butcher shop saying, “No one needs meat today.”
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December 14, 2013 8:00pm
Viking2

i hear lots of noise about the Police in NZ and ?Aussie doing a combined push against drunks.
(what the fuck for one is at loss to understand, apart from perhaps cheap advertizing rates).

I’m left wondering if our police are under training. Training of this type of police holiganism.

A SHOCKING video emerges showing a man being punched and kicked during an apparently unprovoked attack in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley.

The video shows a man in a maroon suit in the alleyway next to the Fortitude Valley nightclub The Beat speaking with three police officers about 11pm last night.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/shocking-video-shows-man-being-punched-and-kicked-by-police-in-brisbanes-fortitude-valley/story-fn3dxity-1226783042844

Despite the video and being told of the video the police told the camera man the F off.
Now of course all the weasel words that accompany this type of behavoir by the police are being trotted out.
Does our commissioner still think being publicly associated with police thugs is still a good idea?

“It is important not to pre-empt the outcome, however the circumstances will be investigated thoroughly to determine if the officers have acted in accordance with the high expectations of the Service,” he said.

“Policing can be a complex and dangerous job, and the Service also provides officers with appropriate training to deal with a range of situations, and that is why the QPS has a set of guidelines that govern the use of force options available to officers.”

Really.
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December 14, 2013 8:45pm
Viking2

Solar plans burning hole in family finances

ANNABEL HEPWORTH NATIONAL BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT
The Australian
December 14, 2013 12:00AM

THE renewable energy target, state and territory feed-in tariffs that pay households to generate electricity from roof-top solar panels and other green schemes are responsible for 17 per cent of a typical power bill.

Nationwide, a report by the Australian Energy Market Commission, has forecast that average annual electricity prices will ease over the next three years — rising at 1.2 per cent a year, less than inflation, from 2012-13 to 2015-16.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/solar-plans-burning-hole-in-family-finances/story-fn59niix-1226782827426#

but it’s oh so good for the earth and you.
Fucking stupid Greens.
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December 14, 2013 8:50pm
Harriet

2 chord Lourde has hardly ‘achieved’ anything of note – the competition these days is nearly all 2 chord ‘songs’ – sung by people like Smiley Virus – and black gangsters who ‘mutter’ words ! 😎
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December 14, 2013 8:59pm
Viking2

The sound of applause erupted from the Greerton Senior Citizens Hall this afternoon as Dr Rachel Jones was announced as the Tauranga Labour Party Candidate.

Labour supporters filed out of the hall with smiles on their faces pleased with Rachel’s appointment.

Rachel, who has two PHD including one in English Literature, says she is now preparing to head out into the community and fight for the people of Tauranga.

“We need to show the Tauranga people we are here to protect their future.”
=========================
So another trough dweller is going to save the world.

Tauranga has been run by these types for years and look at our debt.
http://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/60109-tall-competition-bridges.html

http://www.healthpoint.co.nz/doctors/general-practitioner/dr-rachel-jones/
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December 14, 2013 9:24pm
Harriet

Rachel, who has two PHD including one in English Literature,….

the one they won’t mention is a worry……..wimmins shit, education, town planning, or some other ‘studies’.
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December 14, 2013 9:28pm
Viking2

Oh and her claim to fame is that she is taller than simple Simon.
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December 14, 2013 9:33pm
KevinH

A programme of nationalising South Africa’s assets would ultimately be destructive to South Africa’s developing economy and plunge the country into irreversible decline that would include the far reaching consequence of a complete breakdown in law and order and governance as witnessed in Zimbabwe.
Both Penny Bright and John Minto are completely naïve in believing that nationalisation is the panacea to South Africa’s ill’s, it would be a farce and disastrous for South Africa to head down that path.
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December 14, 2013 10:40pm
itstricky

I don’t see why utility companies are any more important than say, food suppliers. Should we nationalise food suppliers too?

No. But we had already nationalised utlities companies (hold, on let’s redefine that as electricty providers, seeing as electricity makes the world go round) providing a good profit (that wouldn’t dip because, again, electricity makes the world go around) that we decided we’d carve up and give the best bits of to those who could afford to buy them. Clearing debt? Sure, but why sell the family silver ahead of the old mouldy couch in the corner? And why not actually get a decent price for them if you’re going to do it? I’m sure there’s a lot of fund managers out there scratching their heads… “why?”
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December 14, 2013 11:41pm
Scott Chris

2 chord Lourde has hardly ‘achieved’ anything of note

The kid’s got talent Harry which is obvious to anyone with more than half a brain.
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December 14, 2013 11:55pm
Manolo

There to stay: China has arrived.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_SPACE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-12-14-08-20-17
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December 15, 2013 7:34am
Manolo

Fuck the poor souls: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/12/02/calif-high-school-push-to-keep-arab-sparks-debate-over-ethnic-mascots/

For decades, a Southern California high school has had a black-haired, mustached man wearing a head scarf known as the Arab as its mascot. He’s about to get a makeover.

After Arab-Americans objected to the use of the snarling caricature to represent Coachella Valley High School…
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December 15, 2013 7:52am

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