Newsletter 163
18/10/18
An Open Letter to Mmusi Maimane, the Leader of
the Democratic Alliance Party
Hello Mmusi
Thank you for requesting me to be your
Facebook Friend, I am deeply honoured.
I am a political apathetic white South
African male. I am ashamed to say that I have never actually
voted in an election in South Africa. My only excuse is that I
was in Kenya and Zambia during the time of elections.
However the Jacob Zuma era has been a serious
wake up call for me and I suspect many South Africans.
I will most certainly be voting in the next
elections and I have the ability to influence many people
through my books, films and newsletters.
Therefore please regard my E-mail as research
as I in fact know very little about politics.
I am however, well informed on the
environment and man’s destruction of the environment and
therefore you will find my questions very much loaded towards
the environment.
One cannot separate land and politics, so my
first question is, what is the DA’s policy about taking land
without compensation?
I have lived in the Upper Karoo for the last
18 years. I have watched the farmers eke out a living on a hard,
uncompromising landscape. To do this you have to be clever,
resourceful and hardworking.
Does the ANC honestly believe that they can
simply take land away from people that are third generation,
that have invested blood, sweat and tears in the land.
My personal opinion is we will see another
Boer War. What is your opinion?
What is the DA’s position on hate speech.
Julius Malema’s hate speech is broadcasted around the world,
damaging our image and hurting our tourist industry. Under a DA
Government, would you tolerate racial, hate speech? Surely our
Constitution does not allow for this?
As you know from your history, the greatest
biomass of animals ever in the history of the planet, existed in
the Greater Karoo. (Some 200 to 300 million springbuck once
roamed across the Greater Karoo).
These great herds have been replaced by
domestic stock, mainly sheep. Much of the area has been turned
into desert by poor land use and management practices.
After the fall of Apartheid, many of the soft
loans provided by the Land Bank disappeared. Many of the farmers
have become absentee landlords and the land creates few jobs and
continues to deteriorate.
The President, Mr Cyril Ramaposa, said in one
of his early speeches that his goal was to create the finest
tourist destinations in the world in South Africa.
If the DA got into power, would you look at
the land use systems in the marginal low rainfall areas of South
Africa?
It seems to me that a smart government could
change the land use system in the Greater Karoo back to its
indigenous state, introduce tourism and create hundreds of
thousands of jobs.
The design of South Africa’s premier tourist
attraction, the Kruger National Park is unfortunate. In
their "conquer and divide policy", the architects of Apartheid
failed to protect the vital river catchments of the rivers that
flow into the Kruger Park.
The Crocodile, the Sabi, the Sand, the
Olifants, the Letaba are all rivers that have been manipulated,
subjugated and trashed by mismanagement.
In short, in the Homelands of Kangwane and
Gazankulu, millions of people were dumped into the catchments of
these rivers.
My question is, what will be the DA’s
approach be to the management of the major river systems in
South Africa?
As the river systems fail, the water table
drops and the boreholes in the communities dry up. In many of
these communities, the people were promised piped water to their
houses 4 to 5 years ago. These have not materialised.
These communities are becoming frustrated and
angry. They have taken to attacking tourist cars driving to the
Kruger National Park.
This will hurt the tourist industry, which
ironically is the biggest provider of jobs in the area.
What will be the DA’s policy of providing
basic needs like fresh water to rural communities?
The population when Apartheid was designed
was 12 million in 1948. The present population is 65 million.
Overpopulation is a global problem and not
unique to South Africa. However a smart government will realise
that they must come up with strategies that ensure the survival
of their resources and their people.
Countries like Butan are already on this high
road scenario, with zero emissions, complete protection of their
forests and catchment areas. They are working hard to reduce
human population growth rate.
What will be the DA's policy on population,
over population and family planning?
When Nelson Mandela came to power in South
Africa, we had a chance at a high road scenario. Sadly Jacob
Zuma took us into the toilet, where Donald Trump and others
regard us as the “Shit Hole” of the world.
My questions to you is, do you have a Nelson
Mandela or Mahatma Gandhi in you ranks that can get us out of
the toilet?
I work a lot in rural communities. Every
second girl of 18 years old is either pregnant or has a baby.
All are unmarried and all are cashing in on the grant of R400
per child per month provided under SASSA's Child Support
Grants.
If the DA gets into power, will you take a
serious look at the ramifications of the Social
Assistance Act of 2004?
South Africa is mainly a low rainfall, arid
country. It's mineral resources are dwindling and its mining
industry is in disarray.
Many of the farming practices are simply not
suited to low rainfall areas and are destructive to the
landscape.
Beaches, Mountains and Deserts are not unique
to South Africa. The one thing you have that is unique to
Africa, is wild life. The advantage of wildlife is it thrives in
big numbers in arid areas and it is a massive job creator.
Some private game lodges operate on a 4:1
guest to job ratio. In other words, a lodge that accommodates 25
guests, creates 100 jobs.
Whereas, I am not for grabbing land without
compensation, I am for moving away from destructive forms of
lands use.
My question is, will the DA appoint a
commission to investigate the destructive land use systems in
South Africa?
From the time Jacob Zuma took over, we have
lost in excess of 1000 rhino a year. This is totally
unacceptable. Much of the anti rhino poaching is financed by
private enterprise and NGO’s. This too is totally unacceptable.
The Government should regard the theft of our rhino as an attack
on our national assets. It needs to put the full force of the
Defense Force into the rhino war and finish it.
It needs to introduce serious jail time for
offenders and it needs to take care of many prosecutions which
have simply never got to court, because of bribery and
corruption.
My question to you is, does the DA have the
decisiveness and resolve to take care of rhino poaching fast and
do you have someone in your ranks who can be a decisive and
effective Minister of Environment?
The ANC’s last Minister of Environment, was
frankly hopeless.
I look forward to the day when the United
Nations introduces an International Cruelty Status. When this
happens South Africa will be near the top of the list.
If the DA gets to power, will it immediately
remove the Canned Lion Industry, remove cruel and badly managed
zoos and remove all animals involved in circus acts?
If the DA gets to power, will it immediately
investigate the cruelty involved in Industrialised Farming?
If the DA gets to power, will it immediately
follow other countries in an anti plastic campaign which
protects our rivers and oceans?
If the DA gets to power, will they greatly
incentivise the move away from fossil powered motor cars to
environmentally friendly cars?
If the DA gets to power will they greatly
incentivise the move to solar energy?
The only politicians that I have known, were
Nelson Mandela, Enos Mabuza and Thabo Mbeki. These were all
highly approachable people. However the ANC has become an aloof,
arrogant organisation, detached from its people. If the DA gets
to power, will they be accessible to the people?
I am informed by reliable sources that if you
want to win the 2019 election, you need to get closer to Mr
Terror Lekota.
As mentioned previously, I know nothing about
politics, but I know a lot about human psychology. I believe
that the ANC has opened the door for you in 3 major blunders:
1) The election of Jacob Zuma as the
President.
2) Once they realised their mistake, they
failed to deal with it.
3) They allow Malema to continue with racial
hate speech and they are not acknowledging or dealing with farm
murders.
The ANC have opened the door, the questions
is can you walk through the door and the big questions is can
you do better than the ANC is doing?
I will put my E-mail address below, but I
would prefer and answer in a public forum, as there are many
concerned South Africans in the same boat as me.
I wish you all success in the 2019
elections.
Tread Lightly on the Earth
John Varty
www.johnvarty.com
Co owner Londolozi Game Reserve
Founder: Tiger Canyon
Founder: JV Images
Founder: Campfire Singer
Founder: Wild Life Warriors
