Comments on: ANC and Democratic Alliance 2004 versus 2009

By: Richard P

Richard P — Mon, 25 May 2009 06:34:46 +0000

@ Phillipa Lipinsky

“I use the term black in its broad and CORRECT sense to include Africans, Coloureds and Indians.”

Nonsense: all residents of SA, regardless of race, are Africans.

You strike me as one of those right-on struggle bunnies (rich white girls guilty of daddy’s wealth but safe in the knowledge that daddy would always pay their bail and for the best lawyers) who I encountered at Wits in the 1980s.

By: Avishkar Govender

Avishkar Govender — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:16:45 +0000

from 1999 to 2006 the DA achieved an average of zero growth staying static at about 1.5 million votes. between 2006 and 2009, the DA doubled its support from 1.5 million to just under 3 million votes, on the back of the profile of Helen Zille.

clearly the DA’s restructuring (2006 – 2009) brought no benefits as evidenced by the 16% brought in by the branch structures in 2006 and the 16% brought in by the bogus “constituency system” in 2009.

the DA, COPE and the IFP made significant gains in 2009, while the ANC has been on a consistant downward trend since 1994 in terms of the number of votes it has polled

and yet the fact is that COPE is taking votes off the ANC and the DA IFP and ID are splitting each others votes – one wonders how long it will be before the big cahunas realise that the current status quo is bad for business?

By: Lyndall Beddy

Lyndall Beddy — Sat, 09 May 2009 12:02:56 +0000

Peter Win

Phillipa was “educated” in communist Poland and only came here as an adult.

It is interesting to read what she was taught about Africa.

By: Peter Win

Peter Win — Thu, 07 May 2009 02:18:03 +0000

Phillipa,
I’m curious to know whether you have a qualification – and whether you feel ashamed because you – as a white person – took away a learning opportunity from a black compatriot ?

By: Charles Mbeni

Charles Mbeni — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:55:30 +0000

COPEs results are very impressive, considering their virtual lack of an election campaign. Watch them closely, but I still think they are really nothing more than ANC lite. DA starting to make inroads to non-white/coloured voters (I am one of them). Very impressive by them as well. ANC- I am not convinced, I heard way too much about
Chris Hani and too little about TODAYS SA! I think that approach appealed to old ANC loyalists, and I think this will slowly change. Personally, I feel that the biggest progress in this election is a move away from purely race based politics to the addition of socio-economic divisions. DA DA DA!!!

By: Lyndall Beddy

Lyndall Beddy — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:22:43 +0000

Sarah

Depends which moderator is on duty. They seem to change after on Tuesdays.

By: sarahH

sarahH — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:56:02 +0000

M&G online editors, I think I have a right to know why you arbitrarily censor some of my contributions. I get this right from the fact that (1) if you are still in partnership with mweb, I pay for this subscription. (ii) You claim to stand for freedom of expression – should you not then have the decency to inform me why you are withholding comments that do not in any way break your rules? I really am perturbed and taken aback by your actions, which smack to me of censorship, something that you as the media jump up and down about. I will not allow anyone to away my right to be an engaged citizen! Not even you.

By: Lyndall Beddy

Lyndall Beddy — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:32:35 +0000

The previous two elections did not have large turn outs. These results should therefore be compared to 1994 not to 2004. People have even said that this is the first time they voted since 1994.

By: sarahH

sarahH — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:54:26 +0000

This City Press article by Khathu Mamaila is just the most wonderful take on the bigger picture surrounding the elections that I have read thus far http://jv.news24.com/City_Press/Columnists/0,,186-1695_2507132,00.html

By: GS van Zyl

GS van Zyl — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:50:16 +0000

Dear Phillippa

You should noticed by now that there are about ten times more blacks in the country than whites (give or take). If (by your numbers) there are “only” four times more white accountants than black accountants, you are actually saying that if you are white you are 40 times more likely to become an accountant than if you are black. So if the populations were equal in numbers there would only be 2.5 black accountants for every 100. Capeech? Or am I going to fast?

You should also take note of the fact that there was various efforts by the accounting profession to train black accountants to fill the void that unfortunetly exist.

I do take note of the fact that you see it yet again as your prerogative to demean whites.

And no – I did not say that is alright for any race to overproduce Humanities graduates. What I am saying is that Universities should produce the graduates needed by the country – no matter which race. At this specific point in time there need to be a bias towards the training skills not related to the humanities, the country needs it!

The graduate with a Science degree asks, “Why does it work?” The graduate with an Engineering degree asks, “How does it work?” The graduate with an Accounting degree asks, “How much will it cost?” The graduate with an Arts degree asks, “Do you want French fries or baked potatoes with that?”

Kind Regards,
GS van Zyl