Bullying and Budgeting

Yesterday's events are already well known. To sum up, there was a huge crowd outside the High Court in Johannesburg to support Jacob Zuma, who appeared, spoke and sung "Umshini wam'" with them. In the court his legal team called for the recusal of Judge Ngoepe, the judge who had issued the infamous search warrant three months ago, when it became clear there was no "prima facie" case against Zuma after all. The raids turned up nothing. The rape accusation followed immediately after. Ngoepe had to recuse himself and the court reconvenes tomorrow with a new judge. If the new judge postpones the hearing it will not be so good for the Zuma side. We want a speedy result. Zuma's persecutors are determined to run him out of time in an attempt to prevent him being acclaimed as ANC president at next year's conference. But even so, the forced recusal of Ngoepe is a victory against one of the perpetrators of arbitrary persecution. There will be a picket against an entirely arbitrary regime today at the Swaziland Consulate, Braamfontein Centre, Jorissen Street, Braamfontein at 13h00. The full Central Executive Committee of COSATU, currently meeting at COSATU House, also in Braamfontein, will be there. There will be a Food Rights seminar at Elijah Barayi on Tuesday February 21st. See linked document below. Blair, Lamy and Mandelson are all in South Africa at the same time to try to bully us into sacrificing for the sake of the further continuation of Imperialism. Do turkeys vote for Christmas? These colonialists should be sent home with a flea in their ear. Of course the bourgeois press plays them up, as if they are more important than the COSATU CEC, which they are not. Want a budget run-down? Here are two. One is from the People's Budget Campaign and the other from the NEDLAC Community Constituency. These comrades have done research and they are available to comment or to be interviewed. If these messages are looking a little different it is because the "Blogger" service is not working. Hence I have had to devise a slightly different procedure so as to get the messages out. Links: Feb 21 Food Rights Seminar, AIDs-law, NALEDI, COSATU, CHI Blair, Lamy and Mandelson, Imperialist Bluster, B Day, B Rep (2111 words) Peoples Budget Campaign Budget Expectations 2006 (1522 words) NEDLAC Community Constituency Budget Summary 2006 (2495 words)