Mamparas of July 2014: The EFF’s Revolt over the Dress Code

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, SA Heroes and Mamparas 0 Comment

The EFF has launched a new Liberation Struggle. It is not as inspiring and noble as the ANC fight for democracy.

I never did agree with the ANC’s methods for obtaining freedom such as necklacing and the destruction of property, but at least they had a noble cause.

In marked contrast the EFF have now discovered a much more worthy reason to commence a revolution: the latest fashion as decreed by themselves. On Friday [4th July 2014], Julius Malema declared with great verve on SABC that because the EFF members were barred from wearing overalls and maid’s uniforms to the Gauteng Legislature, they would make Gauteng ungovernable. He expounded that all 500,000 EFF voters in Gauteng would embark on mass action to obtain this sacred right.

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The Minneapolis Bridge Disaster

By Dean McCleland in Miscellaneous Topics, Opinion Pieces 1 Comment

Stunning pictures of the collapse of this major eight lane bridge during the evening rush hour. In spite of the catastrophic failure of the bridge during evening rush hour, only 13 people were killed and 145 injured.

Background

The Mississippi River Bridge was an eight-lane, steel truss arch bridge that carried Interstate 35W across the Saint Anthony Falls of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. During the evening rush hour on August 1, 2007, it suddenly collapsed, killing 13 people and injuring 145. The bridge was Minnesota’s fifth busiest, carrying 140,000 vehicles daily.

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Why were 19,240 British soldiers killed on Day 1 of the Somme Battle?

By Dean McCleland in History, Military History 0 Comment

After 7 days of bombardment, the British expected to walk across no man’s land and overrun the Germans without a fight. Instead they were mowed down in their thousands. What went wrong?

 Prologue

On the morning of the 1st July 1916, the British soldiers would climb up their wooden ladders, clamber over the sandbagged parapets of their trenches and then move towards the German lines. The exact instruction as regards their motion was given as walk: not run, not practice fire and movement but walk. The British High Command expected a docile German force dazed and shell-shocked after 7 days of continuous bombardment not to respond at all or if they did, not with alacrity. Amongst many others, this would become a cardinal error of this battle.

Instead, in short order, the British forces were pinned down and massacred.

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Mamphela Ramphele: Arrogance and Ego Writ Large

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces 1 Comment

From holding Mamphela in high regard, her recent behaviour casts her in a completely different light.

Mamphela Ramphele’s recent actions since creating the so-called political movement Agang, have been surreal to say the least. It commenced with the establishment of a political movement. Instead of presenting an alternative to the ANC what did she do: she denigrated the ANC’s performance? Not that the concerns raised were in any way an inaccurate exposition of the current South African situation but what a potential voter needs is some form of action plan.

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