Fences

People who visit South Africa are often amazed that there is such a thing called 'hijacking'. This is perhaps an example of civilized and evolved society speaking, where such an act does not rear its head as often as it does in Johannesburg. Geographically, Johannesburg is a breadbasket for hijacking, with the areas of the south and east in close proximity to Soweto, the east to Thembisa and the North to Alexandra. What has curbed this savage act over the past few years has been the closure of roads and 'booms', manned by security guards and armed response companies. Because it is so easy to disappear into the locations and townships, the road closures have done exceptionally well to curb the violence in peaceful suburbia. After all, communities taking matters into their own hands, although condemned by sociologists, politicians and liberals has been more effective than the police - seeing is that there is only 1 policeman to 10,000 people in Johannesburg.

So Johannesburg was reaching a stage of maintained control and police resources could look to start moving their patrols to the areas where they are really needed, thanks to the presence of these armed response companies. Was, I said. Because last week, an announcement was made that the 'booms' and road closure's (some 600 of them) are going to be removed, as they constitute a primary offence against the Council of the City of Johannesburg. ' Illegal construction upon council property'. Ludicrous, but it gets much worse. Wait until you hear the rest.

The average 'Treehugger' or 'Muesli breath' hails Naomi Klein, author of 'No Logo' as a God. (Probably about as much as the yoga God). As an environmentally obsessed Canadian, she defined the anti-Christ of modern consumerism: 'Brand - not quality' - a suggestion that inevitably created some red faces in Sandton City and the local Virgin Active. 'We are brainwashed by design, drawn into expense and personalities are shaped not by character, but by marketing and publicity.' The visible culture of obesity in America is a very good example of this; greed and addiction cultivated by big names and expensive marketing (I say red faces jokingly, because there is all round guilt if this theory be true - lost unfortunately on the real perpetrators living in Johannesburg because they are simply too stupid to understand). In her newest book, she again identifies what governments are most embarrassed to suggest; 'Fences and Windows - dispatches from the front lines of the globalisation debate' is a direct review or explanation to the root of protest that plagued The World Summit for Sustainable Development (JHB 2002), The IMF / World Bank Policy (Washington 2002), The G7 Summit (Genoa 2001) and The G8 Summit (Alberta 2002) amongst others. Fences are metaphors - structures erected by multinational corporations to limit or block access to once freely available amenities - water, land and border crossing. Windows are a metaphor for the role the media is playing in the globalisation race; multinationals are using the various mediums to entice people's aspiration. It is a case of not being able to get what you see as the media romanticises banking, government, opportunity and social benefit schemes. It is a 'look but do not touch' philosophy (remember that pathetic, self indulgent 'Who are those people' Nedbank campaign?); and people are evidently becoming increasingly impatient and frustrated with organisations linked to globalisation. It is also a case of making rules up as the game continues.

Iraqi TV has been bombed, fire-balled and completely destroyed. That said, even with no advertising, no programming and dismal picture quality, they have still managed to broadcast. (Bit like etv really.) Another pointless argument another attempt by etv to show that it is right on top of the politics game in South Africa and yet another ANC MP (female) trying to substantiate the decision that the fences and booms, erected by people for their immediate safety, are both illegal and discriminatory. Look, seriously, if the ANC wants to talk to the public, it should do so, and not publicly broadcast a half-wit with a slightly imperfect command of her first language and worse dress sense. Yet, in another bold move the following day, I read a report from another ANC MP who quoted Naomi Woolf's 'Fences and Windows' in a speech given in Parliament calling it 'sick'. A universe unto itself. It no longer needs to define its stance. It just is.

The government, hung-over by crippling poverty and unemployment statistics, appears to be fully behind the movements made by corporations to segment society into brackets, pool the amenities for themselves and let the poor stay poor by creating a societal hierarchy of acceptance or authority through numbers. For anyone who cannot understand this term, the example that was illustrated at The World Summit for Sustainable Development in Sandton last year proved people's worst fears that the summit was indeed match fixed, that it had been set months and even years previously. Ideally, the summit should have catered for the 'little' people; instead, de Beers, Anglo-American, BMW and Eskom all sponsored the advertising that was so 'freely' available and so visually impressive. Each company had a drawcard; for de Beers, it was the sponsorships of various environmental initiatives (such as the removal of indigenous bushmen from earth rich with minerals) - all very complex with little transparency. For BMW, the 'Hydrogen' car made it's appearance - a luxury motor vehicle fit for your Gucci Socialist types - meaning that simultaneously, you can show people how much the environment means to you but also maintain your expensive profile and expressive tastes. Eskom, on the verge of privatisation, designs a slogan for the summit, 'Lighting Africa's way through darkness'. Now, if you take into account that Eskom is supplying Zimbabwe with electricity, that it's Chief Executive, two months ago, paid himself a six figure price for consulting and managing the privatisation transition (for basically doing nothing) - what I'm about to say should not surprise you. Because even after that crocodile tear effort of 'Lighting South Africa's way to Freedom', the new privatisation deal means that 40,000 households are losing electricity each month. The truth is, that the government will crush any moral or ethical obstacle that acknowledges unfair financial gain - it's delivery mechanisms or communication initiatives included. The framework for corporation and government reads much like a David Copperfield performance; all-fancy smoke and mirrors; there has also been suggestion that they are the young, struggling modern South African couple; always fighting, always lying, making up but never without a hint of irony or a game of cloak and dagger. If that were the theory, then the brunt of this union inevitably falls on the 'little' people again - firstly blocked by lack of access and secondly, crippled further by government's flirtatious and inconsistent nature with multinational corporations. Lighting South Africa's way to darkness.

People ask fewer questions than they once did - a fact which maybe attributed to living to undefined standards. Bank accounts are 40 times harder to open than they once were - against what the huge budget television commercials stipulate ('Who are those people?) Budgets are being drained from the Department of Education (right under the minister's nose) and one gets the uncomfortable feeling that the components and individuals of the Freedom Struggle will materialize into a giant corporation for a government. Which is not such a bad thing for a democracy in so much as us capitalists are concerned, as the Japanese model has proved. But, why, and something I'm sure will pique the interest of those affected directly, is it an African country that is becoming the corporation? Why are 'Struggle Heroes (ANC MPs')' now being chauffeured around by the honchos at Anglo-American and Roche?' And why, above anything else, is an African country, leader of the so-called African Renaissance practising 'Cognitive Dissonance' (don't confuse me with the facts) with it' s neighbour?

The music industry in South Africa has been mercilessly punished. It is the one, shining example of the Arts in South Africa that has fallen prey to the knives of politics and the smoke of corporate governance. As much as I dislike Heinz Winkler, I cannot help but feel sorry for the prick as he is about as in control of his future as the North American Indians were of theirs - in fact, if I were him, I keep my singing voice for the frontlines of the May Day protests rather than waste it on a bunch of pre-pubescent school girls in some rural dance hall.

The Council of the City of Johannesburg, I fear, will, with strong sense of courage within it's own decisions (regardless of how stupid or impractical they seem), remove the fences and booms it deems illegal. It will be in this act of unrepentant brazenness that may leave you questioning the integrity of the message it is expressing - but it's reasons will only serve to confirm your worst suspicions. The ANC MP on etv last Tuesday night obviously pulled the shortest straw - to say that booms are a ghost of apartheid is a shallow attempt at having a dig at the wealthy. Like Crème Soda, like Mrs. Ball's Chutney and the worst, television continuity presenters (alleged celebrities or publicity addicted vacuum talents) - we have, in South Africa, a unique form of behaviour called 'Suburban loitering'. This term refers to people, no specific destination in mind, who will happily sit and chat for hours on end miles and miles away from their homes or areas. In Johannesburg, you may drive out your gates and find a small celebration happening on your pavement - for no reason that you can immediately recognise. As apartheid viewed this as a sin unparalleled, it is now a free and popular pastime - completely legal and authorised. The dynamics are complex, but it serves to confuse even the most tested sociological acumen. On the surface it remains both anti-social and inconvenient - but a clear accusation of racism awaits your conclusion and another case of cognitive dissonance will await your report at the police station ('Well, you know, it's very sad that people are partying away in your street and it does sound like there is no immediate backbone explanation, but, sorry, you are confusing me with someone who cares).

This behaviour would increase if the fences go - undoubtedly, and all the work that the police and metro have added to the well being of the public will disappear in the Council's effort to appear politically correct. Hijackings, armed robberies and burglaries would also increase - the police clearly, do not the resources to compensate the removal of specialised security companies. Is the Council, (albeit confusingly) saying that fences keep the criminals out, and that is unfair? Is it saying that criminals should be allowed to walk the streets of Johannesburg freely?

So it is with immense anticipation that we witness the future. The ANC now controls more than 70% of South Africa - the opposition has split and stranded itself into ineffective, smaller parties who will eventually only compete with each other. It is true that the ANC are a dangerous bunch but the vehicle upon which they deliver to their people is far more deadly. Useless information, really, because if I were to take the thought of Arundathi Roy or Naomi Klein and try to live it, suddenly future wine farms disappear from ambition, the clothing rail sees replacement Oxfam in for Prada and Ralph Lauren, the food turns from Jamie Oliver into lentil burgers and the beautiful alcohol cabinet is emptied and replaced with water from Canada, Alaska, New Zealand and India. The Defender sporty finds itself an overnight Afrikaans bicycle, the shoes morph from Tods to Plods and the watch is donated to the Anti - Globalisation Movement's museum in Ontario where people spit at the glass cabinet that hosts it. Expensive tastes are exorcised into Previous Sin and the thought of barricading my road from potential hijackers, rapists and thieves is a cruel form of segregation that stinks of narrow mindedness and apartheid. (Incidentally, when one of these 'Treehuggers' approached a well known politician who was smoking a cigar (obviously the with the label still on - depending on which way you look at it - a mortal sin or a school boy error) and told him that by smoking cigars, one is supporting Fidel Castro and his tin pot cabinet, his answer was as simple: 'Who the fuck is Fidel Castro?'

In times of such buffoonery, one silently prays for the weakest link to control the actions of the deciding element or machine. Mayor Amos Masondo and his dancing entourage that is the Council of the Cit of Johannesburg are just that. In our excuses for opposition parties, no one action committed to the exposure of the ANC's mismanagement has ever been so successful as this (which, for some unexplainable reason - it has taken upon itself); the Council have suddenly opened their true intentions, governed by an ANC motor, for South Africa to see the rusted and broken bits. It is alright to sleep with the people who supposedly erect barriers for limited access to the masses, but also fine to remove the fences held by those it believes wealthier, more successful - the haves vs. the have-nots. This is the kind of open heart surgery that will provide a degree of inspiration to ordinary people under extra-ordinary pressure; people who are seldom upon the receiving hand of the government; the downfall of our leadership may well be a casualty of it's own absent minded administration. Take down the fences and fight with the lawyers - but keep in mind that as the man plays the man instead of the ball and the tool is kept uncool, the shadows that lurk in the hope of destroying this superficial Council and rooting out this country's blatant support of the Zanu PF government in Zimbabwe have never had sharper knives.