He has four wives and faced 783 counts of corruption: PETER HITCHENS on S. Africa's next president

The Daily Mail (U.K.) ^ | April 22,2009 | Peter Hitchens

[Stoat]

Imagine how you would react if Gordon Brown opened and closed his election rallies by bursting into a song called Bring Me My Machine Gun, swaying and jigging to the hypnotic chorus of this menacing ditty.

And how would you feel if the Prime Minister were alleged to be taking campaign money from Colonel Gaddafi; faced 783 counts of fraud, racketeering, tax evasion and corruption which somehow never came to court; and had been acquitted of rape while his fearsome supporters mobbed the courthouse?

Then ponder how you would despair if, despite all these things, Mr Brown's party was certain to win the election whatever he did or said.

If you can picture all this happening here, then you have an inkling of the horrible process South Africa is now going through. Except it is much, much worse.

 

This fast-approaching catastrophe is a source of shame and apprehension to millions of honest people, white and black, in South Africa itself.

It is also a tragedy for Africa as a whole, a continent hungry for any reason to hope. And it is grave news for the civilised world, which needs no more failed states.

Yet I can promise you I will be accused of alarmism and pessimism for saying so, and quite possibly of 'racism' too.

Why? All the soppy admirers of Nelson Mandela - especially the BBC - gave the new South Africa a free pass when apartheid ended 15 years ago.

[dfwgator]

Imagine how you would react if Gordon Brown opened and closed his election rallies by bursting into a song called Bring Me My Machine Gun, swaying and jigging to the hypnotic chorus of this menacing ditty.

I'm gonna get me a shotgun and kill all the whiteys I see/I'm gonna get me a shotgun and kill all the whiteys I see/When I kill all the whiteys I see/Then whitey won't bother me/I'm gonna get me a shotgun and kill all the whiteys I see

[Stoat]

A great analogy, thanks. I’m having a bit of trouble locating that original SNL clip on YouTube...I wonder if they’ve pulled it? hmmmmm....

[The Breaded Fish]

Yes......I suppose I would just have to leave that question up to those rather industrious Chinese men hanging around the docks.