[Marxism] IPS: Country Welcomes Cuban Doctors

[Louis Proyect]

Walter wrote:
>One might have thought the South Africa, which evidently was not 
>able to prevent those doctors - probably white, from abandoning 
>their home country, would deserve PRAISE for having made these 
>efforts to replace those who choose to leave with doctors from Cuba. 
>(I've no idea if there were any Black doctors permitted to attend 
>medical school or practice during the apartheid period.) Evidently 
>the South Africa bashers have found yet another way to bash South 
>Africa's post-apartheid government.

Walter, as I told you the other day, privatizing water in South 
Africa has resulted in the death of thousands of children from 
cholera, dysentery and other such diseases. Any government that 
allows children to die in this fashion while erstwhile Black 
revolutionaries join the white capitalist club should not be praised. 
It should be condemned.

http://www.citizen.org/cmep/Water/cmep_Water/reports/southafrica/
South Africa

When South Africa emerged from decades of apartheid rule in 1994 
expectations for reform were high. The new African National Congress 
(ANC) government promised water for all – in a country where only the 
minority, the white people, had access to piped drinking water. This 
access was subsidized by the poor black minority – a policy the new 
ruling party wanted to change.

Access to drinking water has been improved over the past decade, in 
2000 86% of the population had access to improved water services. But 
improvements have come at a high price. The government has relied on 
cost-recovery policies and privatization to deliver water. As a 
result 10 million households were cut off from water in 2001 – more 
households than the government had managed to connect in the previous 
6 years. Concurrently a 3-year cholera epidemic affecting over 
100,000 people broke out after decades without this preventable 
disease. The same year, the government embarked on an internationally 
praised project designed to provide free water for people. In fact, 
this program provides 8KL of water to each household, disadvantaging 
the poorest large households without access to piped water. According 
to the WHO, 8KL water would provide for the very basic needs for a 
family of 8, but not sufficient for long term survival or a dignified 
life. Furthermore, the policy has awarded free water to only the most 
advantaged municipalities leaving the poor municipalities with a 
heavier burden. In order to receive sufficient quantities for 
dignified living poor households spend up to one fourth of their 
available income on water.

The South African government claims that the World Bank has no 
influence over national policies, but leaked World Bank documents 
have proven that World Bank consultants continues to advise the South 
African government on public utilities. World Bank track record shows 
that they have one piece of advice in their bag: privatization.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/08/southafrica.rorycarroll
Black tycoons fail to mask gap in SA equality

This article appeared in the Guardian on Wednesday September 08 2004 
. It was last updated at 23:59 on September 07 2004.
Cruising into the Johannesburg River club for a round of golf, 
lifting off in helicopters for weekend retreats, sipping champagne at 
black-tie functions: they are South Africa's new randlords.

They spend long hours in towers of steel and glass running financial 
empires, but it is when they come out to play that the public get a 
glimpse of South Africa's first black rand billionaires, men who have 
zoomed from modest means to mega-wealth in a few years.

They are saluted by some as models of what is possible in the 
post-apartheid era; condemned by others as the embodiment of crony 
capitalism, which enriches a few and leaves many in poverty.

In the debate on whether they should be encouraged or reined in, the 
latter seem to be winning. The government is cooling its enthusiasm 
for what one minister recently called with irony the "gentlemen of 
empowerment".

But critics say the juiciest deals keep going to the same people, 
invariably men with ANC connections. The most cited are Cyril 
Ramaphosa, Patrice Motsepe, Tokyo Sexwale and Saki Macozoma.

Beginning in humble roles in the ANC and labour movement, all four 
are now immensely rich from stakes in mining, telecommunications, 
newspapers, banking and energy.

Ajay Lalu, an empowerment consultant with Ernst & Young, said: 
"Calling them gentlemen of empowerment is too kind; they are the 
usual suspects. BEE has become part of the inner circle of the old boys' club."

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