Chapter 5

Politics & Politicians
The League of Scoundrels

Extracts and page numbers are taken
from the 316-page soft cover book.

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Politicians worldwide have tended to become a necessary and largely untrustworthy evil in our lives.
In many parts of the world they range from tyrannical warlords, to dictatorial plunderers, with a variety of other unsavoury alternatives in between. The things closest to their hearts are power and self-enrichment while the well-being of their fellow countrymen remains conspicuous by its absence.
In reality, of course, the world is ruled not by politicians, but by their multinational elite masters.
Most forms of service delivery to global communities are entirely dependent upon the will of that elite group.
Neither the multinationals nor their political puppets have any interest whatsoever about how climate change might affect the masses. This is very apparent by the continuing absence of proactive solutions originating from within their dominions.
This chapter exposes the myth of assumed political integrity, and the book provides a comprehensive alternative form of world governance to the failed multi-national political structures under which global communities have laboured for millennia.

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Pg 62. "What is politics actually all about?
George Washington (1732-1799), 1st US President under the Constitution, in his farewell address said:
"Occupants of public offices love power and are prone to abuse it."

John Hospers, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Southern California:
"By far the most numerous and most flagrant violations of personal liberty and individual rights are performed by governments. The major crimes throughout history, the ones executed on the largest scale, have been committed not by individuals or bands of individuals but by governments, as a deliberate policy of those governments, that is, by the official representatives of governments, acting in their official capacity."

Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) Economist and social philosopher:
"The worst evils which mankind has ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments. The state can be and has often been in the course of history the main source of mischief and disaster."

Pg 66. "Politics can be a serious business for those in pursuit of power and wealth, disguised as a selfless crusade fighting the good fight for their constituents in general and the nation as a whole.
It is a business that has nothing tangible to sell other than unqualified assurances of "a better life for all" and a rewarding existence for those who put their trust in the manicured hands of the political candidate and mandate he or she propounds."
Pg 71. "It was the whites exclusively who, prior to the first democratic elections in 1994, responded with a resounding "Yes" vote to the referendum initiated by the state president at the time, F.W. de Klerk, calling upon whites to declare whether or not they were in favour of the blacks taking control of the country’s governance with Nelson Mandela at the helm."
Pg 80. "So why are we experiencing such a massive erosion of political competency?
Is it something new or has it always been there, only to have become so vividly exposed by media investigative reporting and increased awareness through improved information technology?
Is humanity perhaps evolving and progressing at speeds beyond the administrative and intellectual capabilities of politicians and their service delivery structures?
Or has the value of money simply depreciated at such an alarming rate that the cost of providing efficient and equitable governance can no longer be afforded on the scale needed?"
Pg 84. "The fact that more money is spent on security for politicians than on national crime intelligence indicates government’s security priorities for the country’s citizens and tourists are of lesser importance.

By example, there are twice as many posts allocated to the SAPS unit that provides protection to a handful of VIPs in the country, than there are to the unit that protects the country’s women and children from abuse."
(Quotations from Prof. Kader Asmal, when he was South Africa’s Minister of Education in 2000, taken from a letter he wrote to [then] President Mbeki, which accompanied his report on Education):

Pg 92. "Far too many of our (ANC) comrades have accepted their positions, salaries and benefits, while lacking the training and skills to perform their responsibilities, having previously removed those (whites) qualified to do so. If we are to achieve the desired results, these people will have to go and we must outsource the work to the (white?) private sector." (Author’s parenthesis)

"The poor state of management and administration effectiveness begs an important question: Why, six years after the first democratic elections [in 1994], do the weaknesses and shortcomings continue to persist?"

Pg 93. "Too often, problems and challenges in education invoke conditioned responses without sufficient analysis of the nature of the problem and feasibility of solutions.
This appears to clearly imply that when management is called upon to explain non-delivery, their inarticulate and unrelated response shows an utter and complete lack of understanding of the fundamental aspects of the work they are charged to perform."
He also stated: "There is an over-reliance on workshops and consultants that respond to quick and ill-conceived briefs. Although there is very little hard data available, evidence suggests that the impact of these projects is less than satisfactory thus far."

Pg 96. "While views on tertiary education were mixed, businesses predictably had little or nothing good to say about the South African schooling system."

Pg 97."Businesses in South Africa have reacted to skills shortages by paying more for scarce skills, providing in-house training, outsourcing specialized functions and recruiting abroad."

Pg 99. "A 2006 report by the University of South Africa - 'Projection of Future Economic and Socio-political Trends in South Africa up to 2025’ - put South Africa's unemployment rate at "between 30 and 40 percent, depending on which definition of 'unemployed' is used," and concluded that "the economy is not creating jobs - to a large extent it's jobless economic growth."

Pg 100. (Zwelinzima Vavi general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions.):
"Many of the millions who are unemployed, or whose jobs have been casualised, are even worse off than under apartheid. About 20-million of our people are still mired in poverty. We still face many challenges and the task of transformation is far from complete."

Pg 104. "There has been no deliberate policy of planned and monitored improvement in service delivery at the microeconomic levels, from whence a high percentage of human resources are employed to fuel the increasing demands for economic growth at the macroeconomic level.
If service delivery continues to fail at the human resources level, retaliation could result having grave consequences for economic growth."

Pg 112. "There has always been a need to provide sustainable job opportunities for people the world over, but neither the private nor public sectors have been able to do so on a sustainable basis.
The need has become increasingly urgent and desperate over the past couple of decades, as unemployment figures continue to rise globally with no signs of relief in sight.
I don’t believe relief will ever materialise under prevailing economic conditions and a failed world monetary system. Both have run the course and collapsed at the finish.
The pool of gainfully employed ‘haves’ has been evaporating in volume while that of the ‘have nots’ has been deepening exponentially.
The process, fuelled by the incessant demand for infinite economic growth is eroding the quality of life for increasing numbers of people at an alarming rate."

Pg 113. "By adopting a proactive stance now, nation leaders could immediately embark upon the creation, or radical upgrading, of dedicated environmental rejuvenation authorities, geared and equipped to train and employ presently unemployed human resources.
A carefully planned and managed strategy with strong legislative authority could bring immediate relief to existing environmental degradation, plus advanced preparatory measures to deal with the consequences of advancing climate change conditions.
South Africa alone could gainfully employ at least 500 000 people expressly for this purpose, enabling trickle down benefits for perhaps another two million or more."

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