SA police shoot three year-old

Three-year-old Atlegang Phalane was shot dead in Midrand, near Johannesburg, as he sat in the back seat of a car next to his uncle. The police officer is reported to have said that he thought the boy was carrying a firearm, though according to Moses Dlamini, from the Independent Complaints Directorate, no gun or object which could have been mistaken for a firearm was recovered from the car.  BBC News.

One of the first victims of SAs draconian 'shoot to kill' policy has been a three year old boy. Government and police are adamant that they will continue the policy in an attempt to combat the highest violent crime rate in the world. President Jacob Zuma said that the sheer level of violent crime in South Africa made it very different to other countries and said that many police have died as a result of cornered criminals opening fire on them.

Deputy police minister Fikile Mbalula said: "Yes. Shoot the bastards. Hard-nut to crack, incorrigible criminals. Where you are caught in combat with criminals, innocent people are going to die - not deliberately but in the exchange of fire. They are going to be caught on the wrong side, not deliberately, but unavoidably."

Opposition parties have condemned the policy.

What interests me most is the ease with which the so called rainbow nation has reverted to the policies which they vowed never to repeat. A shoot to kill policy was never openly discussed in apaprtheid SA, but was very much part of the way in which the Afrikander elite kept the black population under control. In 2006, The Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Amendment Bill was passed, allowing police to monitor communications between people - supposedly to fight crime.

What is worrying is the way this kind of policy can spiral out of control. Who is next? The 'criminal' who is doing 160 kph mph in a 120 kph zone and who is unable to stop at a police check point? Someone is a hurry running down the street who just might be a bag snatcher? Communications workers protesting about pay? Booze fueled football hooligans fighting in the street during next year's world cup?

Other related issues:

Can Zuma rein in his spies? |:| Foreigners in fear |:|

Brown - Don't keep politics to the rich

A source close to the Prime Minister said Mr Brown would tell Sir Christopher that the vast majority of MPs were "decent, hard-working individuals" who did not come into politics to milk the system, but that the scandal, uncovered by The Telegraph , showed there were also some "bad apples". 

Brown is to tell Sir Christopher Kelly that his reforms should not be so stringent as to make politics the domain of the rich. Could he perhaps leave some leeway for a little corruption, fraud and dishonesty? Perhaps allow a teensy bit of false claiming, grasping what they are not really entitled to, from the scummy taxpayers they pretend to serve? Please?

Unfortunately, politics has, and always will be, the exclusive domain of the greedy and dishonest. I have nothing but contempt asnd disdain for every single one of them.

Methinks Hain protests too much...

Welsh Secretary Peter Hain, who led a campaign to exclude Mr Griffin from Question Time, said: "This is exactly what I feared and warned about.

"The BBC has handed the BNP the gift of the century on a plate and now we see the consequences. I'm very angry about this."

Hain, the man who conveniently forgot to declare a rather large amount of money donated to his campaign to become deputy of the Labour party, is a rather strange chappie. Having cut his political teeth in apartheid SA like myself, one would expect him to have respect for the views of others, be they ultra left or ultra right. This means that the BNP leader has every right to air his views on the BBC, just like Clegg, Cameron and Brown and to even think of preventing him from doing so is to go against the basic rights which are so much a part of our supposedly democratic society. I find it extremely ironic that Hain is now supporting policy which the Apartheid state he claims to have opposed specialised in.

My viewing of the Question Time programme left me absolutely delighted - the BNP leader was thoroughly mauled and I very much doubt that the BNP gained any seats as a result of the show.

I think Hain is making a song and dance in an attempt to rehabilitate himself in the hope of retaining his seat. What better way than to climb on the non-racist bandwagon.

 Labour, represented by Straw, did not come out particularly well either and it is pretty clear that they are going to get their asses kicked come the general election. The forgetful Hain, in my opinion a thoroughly untrustworthy self-seeking poser, will be a casualty.

Good riddance.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8322743.stm

Labour desperate...

The tone of debate at the Labour conference shows a level of growing desperation, with idiotic slurs about Tories being in league with Latvian Nazis, threats against BNP supporting teachers and 'popular' topics like school discipline and university standards being raised.

I'll stick with my least favourite of Labour MPs - Balls - who has stated that he wants to ensure there were sufficient "powers" available "to keep racism and BNP activity out of schools". The point is, Ed, that it is not only BNP supporters who are racist. Racism is endemic in our society, for most people hidden under the blanket of political correctness, but no less vindictive or ugly because of this.

We need to keep racism out of our entire society, and Labour's record on this is not particularly good.  We have had accusations of institutionalised racism in the police force and there seems general trend towards a ghettoisation of our society, all of which has occured on Labour's watch.

Those prepared to give Labour money get honours and are paraded about as an example of Labour's openness while talented police officers get promoted just so far. It is the glass ceiling syndrome repeated, with checks and balances designed to keep the status quo with home born Brits maintaining control of the levers of power. Labour are no less adept at this power wrangling than the Tories or other parties.

Black officer rejected eight times. Tarique Ghaffur case, nothing learned. Met report - Muslims more corrupt than others. Slurs against Muslim student, Staffordshire U. BNP racism in schools claim.

Westminster/ BBC conspiracy: Dyke

"The evidence that our democracy is failing is overwhelming and yet those with the biggest interest in sustaining the current system - the Westminster village, the media and particularly the political parties, including this one - are the groups most in denial about what is really happening to our democracy." BBC News.

Greg Dyke, former Director General of the BBC, has suggested that politicians and the media are threatening British democracy by opposing necessary change to the way government operates.