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It is astonishing that the government does not know how much was paid or received, who paid, what was done and by whom, for the upgrade of Bhisho-Bulembu Airport in the Eastern Cape prior to the arrival of this remarkable aircraft Expedition to the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE’s) ruling class, can’t bear to think.
But worse, expect anyone to trust the Emiratis to reveal everything in the ‘exit interview’. (The “entry interview” presumably went well.)
Read more in Daily Maverick: ‘Exit meeting’ with UAE leaders before Eastern Cape Transport can learn more about airport upgrade
Whose country is this?
To answer this question, imagine the roles reversed, with a South African billionaire head of state buying a vast expanse of desert in the UAE, along with one or three exotic oases for hedonistic junkets, and getting admiration for it. Subsidies from the UAE government.
Quit the interview? pull another one.
When a visiting head of state lands a squadron of private jets on an airstrip for a South African security agency for a boring sojourn, deja vu deja vu Disturbingly tense. Despite the breathless insistence of half the cabinet that whatever the reasons for choosing to travel to these areas, the visit is bound by the high standards of the diplomatic process by which royals are received.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Ministerial Show of Force – ‘We Can Be Accountable To Every Visitor Accompanying UAE President’
This communication nugget is taken straight from the “Exit Interview” handbook.
Now we see the grotesque spectacle of more than 500 people from the Arabian Peninsula arriving in a gorgeous caravan on a massive colonial-style safari in the Eastern Cape – Home to an epic 100-year battle against colonial invaders, The birthplace of the Liberated Giants, with exceptionally beautiful landscapes and seas, is one of the poorest regions in Africa – facilitated, aided and abetted by provincial polities whose flattery emulates those willing to trade their dignity for some silver and twist legal governance to people who welcome the rich Bowanas to our shores.
After years of insulting and shocking our collective psyche with our Governor’s appalling profligacy, compounded by an inability to curb corruption, people may be used to yet another abuse of power.
But while UAE caravans are favored by a government that cannot run a fully functioning service in a single department within its remit – citing instead the same defensive, After the fact, and hastily deploying official affairs, customs and whatnot from home in order to invest in this stupid thing with a modicum of legitimacy – game over.
A reasonable default suspicion is that this is a corrupt enterprise. The parallels in the Gupta family’s machinations are no coincidence, given the fiasco surrounding their non-extradition to the lovely Eastern Cape.
beneficiaries and victims
The most frustrating aspect of this tedious, colonial-inspired adventure is how it reveals the real beneficiaries and victims.
No fewer than 1,200 wild animals—Africa’s inspiring, enduring but hugely threatened treasure, plundered for 400 years before Europeans and Arabs enslaved Africans—were hunted from colonial conquest Herded into the private sanctuary of the UAE leader, with its terrifying taxidermy infrastructure and “professional” hunters.
The 1,200 animals, reminiscent of royal hunts in medieval Europe, were made for the shooting pleasure of 200 Emirati royals and various members of the Gulf tycoons (and more than 300 servants, because that’s how they rolled).
According to reports, the intermediary is to accompany A plane full of Russian and Asian “female companions” living in luxury accommodation in the sanctuary, when an antelope, giraffe, elephant or canned lion is unskillfully shot in an enclosure by an underage chief , they might squeal with delight imagining themselves big game hunters on the vast grasslands, but who pees their pants at the first rustle in the bushes.
(According to reliable sources, professional hunters will be careful to rescue these living beasts from suffering, so as not to dent the newfound self-esteem of their extremely wealthy clients.)
The enterprise, with its arsenal of high-powered rifles, cheesy traveling harem, and industrial-scale wildlife slaughter, is making headlines across the global hunting enterprise, appalling in its raw bloodlust and brutality.
All thanks to the courteousness of the Eastern Cape provincial government.
The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy, is a man of great respect.But, after bowing to colleagues who saw those values ​​as an inconvenience, she signed off on something no sane government would support — a Exempt the Kusile Power Station, allowing it to spew deadly amounts of toxic gas in densely populated rural areas.
They are now also asking Creecy’s department to allow unspeakable atrocities to SA’s wildlife.
profound tragedy
These are times of deep tragedy for our nation. With every crack of a rifle, and the howl or grunt of a sentient beast bewildered in terror, shock, and pain before falling to the ground, we rewrite our stories of violence and death.
For those in the government who boast about how the visit will create a lot of jobs for locals, it’s not about creating lasting jobs, it’s about creating lasting jobs. It’s just a short-term hire. Of course, little is better than nothing, but no one but the state confuses the two—certainly not those who provide the labor.
For those who baselessly and firmly claim that recreational hunting is good for the economy, the only positive bank balances are contractors who build custom temporary accommodation for passing monarchs and their entourage, hunting businesses of all kinds, local brokers, scammers And political mediators, the resulting tax revenues are paltry compared to the priceless bonanza that has been swindled away.
For those who, with scientific sleight of hand, have managed to fool credulous governments into believing that hunting is essential to conservation, well, it’s easier to argue that adultery is essential to maintaining virginity.
We were clearly no longer among Luturi, Pico, and Tambo’s companions.
Adults have to run this country, not just for the rather obvious requirement of keeping society connected to reliable electricity; protecting people from criminal predators unafraid of law enforcement; It would not be sufficient to provide adequate food for all, and because only adults have the wisdom and courage to forbid the recreational hunting of wild animals, as a savage pastime.
But no one is at the helm.
It is even more regrettable that for a troubled nation, for a generation whose passions were bound but held back by a hierarchy that refused to open the way, for whose precious biodiversity was left to die by merchants whose promises were not kept, And those commitments are paid up front. DM/MC
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