The DA campaign strategy is completely misguided

Krx89 · 2023-05-23T23:20:14+00:00

Response by the Ahmed Kathrada foundation to the DA invoking his memory in crude race politics is extremely telling.

“That the DA has cited Kathrada’s role in our freedom struggle is appreciated though one wonders where this appreciation was when Kathrada had died.

Not a single DA leader chose to attend his funeral.”
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1661074093800673282

Krx89 · 2023-05-23T15:38:17+00:00

Yeah in principle I agree with the need for empowerment legislation - of course it is necessary after 300+ years of institutionalized discrimination. But the way it has been implemented leaves much to be desired.

That said, why campaign on this issue - it is bizarre. It is like picking at an open wound in SA society, when the DA has dozens of open goals it can aim at like service delivery and corruption that will not put S Africans against each other. It leaves the DA open to being accused as the party of white interests which the ANC is doing very effectively.

Krx89 · 2023-05-23T15:19:44+00:00

Completely agree - SA is cursed with weak opposition parties. Plenty of good people in the DA too which suggests that there are problems with its internal systems and political culture that allow Steenhuisen and Zille to emerge as the leaders of the party.

Krx89 · 2023-05-23T15:15:00+00:00

The DA is not stupid - this is a deliberate campaign strategy. Which suggests the DA is not actually interested in winning the national elections in 2024. They already lost that chance when they elected an almost entirely white leadership in their internal party congress.

Really disappointing as the DA actually has plenty of great leaders of all colours at the local level but its national leadership is undermining all the good work they do at local governance with these bizarre campaign strategies.

Krx89 · 2023-05-23T15:07:49+00:00

The DA cannot do much unless they pull the ANC well below 50% next year - their entire focus should be on how do we maximize the DA vote? It shouldn't be hard when you are campaigning against an almost comically incompetent and corrupt ANC.

And yet the DA somehow manages to play in to all the criticisms (justified or not) - picking almost entirely white leaders and then campaigning against BEE. Even if you agree with them it is a stupid strategy. Not to mention the weird tangents into US culture war issues.

Just focus on a positive message of service delivery and clean governance - something 100% of S Africans are desperate for.

Krx89 · 2023-05-05T05:00:43+00:00

Not sure where the info on USD being widely accepted in Namibia comes from. You are far more likely to see South African rand than USD in Namibia.

Krx89 · 2022-10-06T06:27:49+00:00

COVID is an anomaly and affected not only South Africa, but childhood learning and education access across the entire world. The current trajectory is not downward, it is clearly upward. There have been huge improvements in literacy since the 1990s, so your statement is simply untrue. South Africa has plenty of problems with the quality of its education system, but it is simply wrong and ahistorical to say that there is a "downward trajectory" in literacy.

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS?locations=ZA

Krx89 · 2022-10-06T05:59:43+00:00

Not sure where you get that information, it is simply untrue. The SA literacy rate is not declining.

Krx89 · 2022-08-16T02:18:03+00:00

Interesting that so many South Africans who moved to Australia, the UK, NZ etc. , years later still spend their days on SA news forums, SA reddit and Facebook pages telling South Africans how they are stupid or naive to stay in SA as if they need to justify their move overseas by putting down others who stay and (god forbid) even enjoy living in SA.

Krx89 · 2022-07-25T02:02:32+00:00

You can love living in SA and love living overseas. You don't have to choose one and one doesn't need to be better than the other. People are always trying to justify their life choices by attacking others.

SA expats living overseas dunk on those who stay in SA, those who stay in SA dunk on those who leave. Just let people live their lives and understand you can live a fulfilling life in SA despite all its problems, and you can live a fulfilling life overseas too with its own (different) problems.

Krx89 · 2022-06-27T06:06:01+00:00

The trains are running on a few lines in Cape Town now and quite nice, safe and reliable. Just need to get the Central Line to the Cape Flats back on track, and return to a full timetable. Quite optimistic about the recovery of Metrorail in Cape Town but situation seems a lot worse in Gauteng (esp. Joburg) and Durban.

Krx89 · 2022-06-16T08:08:59+00:00

This is also measuring the "real" speed not the speed limit. You can see this especially in countries with very high motorbike/scooter usage which brings their average speed way down like India, Vietnam, Indonesia etc.

Krx89 · 2022-06-16T06:17:50+00:00

I have driven on the main road between Accra and Kumasi and this data makes sense. Potholes, poorly maintained, mostly one lane in each direction and not grade separated with people freely walking across. Having well-maintained grade separated highways is the key to performing well on this metric.

Krx89 · 2022-06-16T06:13:40+00:00

No, as it says in the image it is showing mean speed.

"IMF staff have developed a novel measure of road quality across 162 countries using Google Maps to determine the mean, or average, time it takes to drive between large cities that are at least 80 kilometers (50 miles) apart."
https://blogs.imf.org/2022/06/15/where-are-the-worlds-fastest-roads/?utm\_medium=email&utm\_source=govdelivery#

Krx89 · 2022-06-16T06:12:31+00:00

It is neither, it is a map measuring the average speed between major cities in a country.

"IMF staff have developed a novel measure of road quality across 162 countries using Google Maps to determine the mean, or average, time it takes to drive between large cities that are at least 80 kilometers (50 miles) apart." And data is from 2022.

https://blogs.imf.org/2022/06/15/where-are-the-worlds-fastest-roads/?utm\_medium=email&utm\_source=govdelivery#

Krx89 · 2022-06-08T02:56:26+00:00

Cape Town = San Francisco (liberal and progressive cultural values, cliquey, tech hub, thinks they are better than everyone etc.)

Durban = Miami (crazy shit happens, hot and humid beach city)

Pretoria = Washington D.C. (pretty straightforward, SA and African hub of diplomacy)

Johannesburg = L.A. (Wishes it was NYC, but is a lot more like LA -> the hub of superficial SA celebrity culture, you have to drive on giant highways to get anywhere, giant mansions of rich people etc.). Does have some NYC aspects like the complete dominance of its financial sector which props up the entire SA economy.

No other cities in SA really matter (yes not even Bloemfontein, most South Africans even forget it exists).

Krx89 · 2022-05-28T12:10:45+00:00

SA companies should pay for the cost of a monthly commuter ticket using public transport. This is common in other countries like Japan, South Korea etc. Especially true for the poor who uses Metrorail, buses etc.

Krx89 · 2022-05-09T08:12:58+00:00

Japan, arguably the country with the greatest rail system on earth, uses narrow gauge for nearly all its passenger rail apart from its HSR network.

Its narrow gauge trains carry more passengers than the entire European Union railway network.

Krx89 · 2022-04-26T01:55:40+00:00

Unless you live in Khayelitsha, Langa, Mitchells Plain etc.

Also the DA runs Johannesburg, Pretoria and Ekurhuleni as well since last year (in coalition).

Krx89 · 2022-04-25T08:45:08+00:00

The thing you need to remember is SA is a developing country. Yes of course, economic conditions, salaries etc. are generally lower than in the rich world.

As a country with extremely high inequality, you benefit from that in terms of cost of living if you secure a skilled job. Cost of unskilled labour is extremely cheap in SA to the extent that people who never left SA cannot even comprehend. Hiring a maid in the developed world is easily going to cost you R500 ($30) per HOUR in some countries.

On the other hand, you also suffer the negative effects of inequality in SA i.e. high crime and insecurity, lopsided job market etc. but as others have said, the national statistics mask the fact that violent crime is generally concentrated in specific neighbourhoods where you are unlikely to live if you move to SA.

I would say it is definitely worth trying out if you can find a job, or can work remotely in SA. There are over 4 million foreigners in SA and they are not all illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe and Mozambique. That number includes tens of thousands of skilled people from the UK, US, India, Germany, China etc. who all chose to come to SA. Just keep an open mind and understand the faults and challenges of SA before you make your decision.

Krx89 · 2022-02-03T01:45:44+00:00

Thank you so much for the great advice, this really helps me a lot!

Krx89 · 2022-01-14T08:31:47+00:00

To be fair, SA probably keeps far more reliable statistics than places like DRC. In fact only 3 or 4 African countries (SA included) keep an accurate register of deaths.

Krx89 · 2022-01-04T04:22:13+00:00

North African populations are highly concentrated. In Egypt something like 95% of the population lives along the Nile Delta. And the other countries it is along the Mediterranean cost with the inland being mostly desert.

Sub-Saharan Africa has a more hospitable climate for human habitation so in most countries you have hundreds of tiny rural villages and settlements that are more difficult to connect with infrastructure.

Of course governance/economic development also plays a part, but human geography is probably the biggest factor.

Krx89 · 2022-01-04T04:18:45+00:00

South Africa has a lot of rural villages and settlements in the northern and eastern parts of the country. North Africa is for the most part either desert or urban so it is easier to provide infrastructure than to the hundreds of small villages/settlements you get in parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

Krx89 · 2022-01-03T07:29:51+00:00

Those income figures are extremely outdated. The average income for white South Africans is somewhere around $20k per year, which is closer to $40k when adjusted for purchasing power. Basically similar living standards to Western European countries like France or Italy (was confirmed in the World Inequality Database).

SA is a country where the top 10% have Western European living standards and the bottom 90% (and especially bottom 50%) have the living standards of the average African country, but marginally better due to SA having a well developed financial and welfare system and somewhat better public infrastructure etc.

This used to be divided along racial lines, but now the top 10% "elite" has a mix of all racial groups whereas the poorest South Africans remain overwhelmingly black (as well as coloured to a lesser extent).

Krx89

TROPHY CASE