Meanwhile in another African country...

[rainbow]

CAPE TOWN - Police Minister Fikile Mbalula says that the army will be deployed to crime-riddled areas in various provinces, including Gauteng and the Western Cape, before Christmas.

Mbalula had previously requested that the army be rolled out to assist police with crime fighting.

President Jacob Zuma has the final say on the deployment.

Mbalula insists that the deployment of the South African National Defence Force in crime-riddled communities will happen soon.

“We are processing it and thereafter the president will give us a green light. It will happen before Christmas.”

Mbalula says the army will be linked to specific police-driven operations during this period.

“The defence force does not do policing, so when we deploy them, we must link them to an operation and for a specific period because we do not want society to feel under siege. We want the police and the police generals to map out a plan and they are now cooking that plan as we speak.”

He says that the deployments will be made in specific hotspots in the Western Cape, in Port Elizabeth's northern areas, and in parts of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

http://ewn.co.za/2017/11/16/mbalula-san ... -christmas

[rainbow]

Not that the timing could have anything to do the the ruling ANC conference.
It is pure coincidence that they will take place at the same time...

iven all this, setting this scene, let us now look at some scenarios that will play out in December if the above miracle does not happen

Scenario One

Immediately after the credentials report is contested, the CR17 group realise that they do not have the numbers and that huge irregularities have occurred in the process running up to conference, so they decide to walk out of conference, causing a legitimacy vacuum to occur. The Zuma group continue with the conference, each side claiming that they are the legitimate representatives of the members of the ANC. This will be put before the courts.

Scenario Two

Immediately after the credentials report is contested, the Zuma group realise they do not have the numbers and the only option open to them is to disrupt the conference (like what we saw in the Eastern Cape conference) and ensure that whatever happens, this conference will not take place. Chaos will be the order of the day with police and all security personnel being put in a very awkward position. The courts will later come into the fray.

Scenario Three

Reason prevails from both sides and a third compromise candidate is agreed upon to ensure unity, peace and stability and a likely guaranteed victory at the polls in 2019.

With the options this bleak, what is to be done?

Do not be surprised if this ANC leadership decides at the last minute, unlike previous conferences, that no media will be invited inside the conference and that a perimeter fence is created, where the spokespersons meeting with them somewhere far removed from conference proceedings.

Second, they will decide that no mobile phones will be allowed inside the conference hall so as to ensure that no amateur footage finds its way to news outlets. Anyone found to violate these recommendations will be summarily told to vacate and return to their respective provinces at their own cost. I do hope that the curbing of these fundamental rights will not occur but I will put nothing past this current leadership.

So, in the final analysis, it’s really not about what will be the outcome of the December conference but whether there will be an outcome at all.

Chaos will erupt at the December conference, of this I am certain. The only question of any relevance is how fast the ANC will kill itself over the weeks to follow and leading up to the 2019 general elections.

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinion ... g1KxDdx2Uk

[Hermit]

The article you provided a link to is very much worth reading in full. And, yeah, you live in interesting times. Democracy is always threatened by power mongers anywhere. South Africa is no exception.

[pErvinalia]

I'm trying to remember, was it the police or army who massacred those miners a few years back?