PigSpotter's World

Volvo #MadeForYou Experience

2013-09-05T09:58:00.000-07:00

Anti E-Toll protest ride

2013-07-19T12:43:00.001-07:00

Good day!

This is a quick last minute blog to highlight the planned protest, scheduled for tomorrow morning, 20th July 2013, departing GreenStone at 9:00am. Not only will there be MANY bikers on the road, cars are more than welcome too. So join us for a slow breakfast run!

Hope to see you ALL there...time to put your words into action.

@AfriTrack vs @PIGSpotter

2013-06-06T09:53:00.002-07:00

I am a racist, by: TheFridaFactor

2012-05-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

A South African artist called Brett Murray has been causing a huge stir since his painting of South Africa’s president titled The Spear was put up in a local gallery. The ANC have worked themselves up into a total frothy about the painting and their biggest issue with it - It’s racist. ???????

Disrespectful, maybe. Rude, maybe. But racist???

That little word that has become the political whip with which the ANC work the masses up into angry mobs and riots anytime something happens that they don’t like. And it’s becoming really really tiring.

In South Africa, the word racist has lost it’s original meaning and now only get’s used to describe a white person doing something a black person doesn’t like. You never hear it used in any other context. You can’t say to a black CEO that he is racist because he won’t hire white people, no - he’s just making sure that only blacks get hired because of BEE. You can’t call a university racist because they won’t accept an application from a white student with straight A’s for 8 subjects - instead taking on a black student who barely passed matric. Nope, they’re not racist, they’re just correcting the wrongs of the past. But god forbid you do hire the white person or you do admit the white student, you’ll be branded racist by the government quicker that you can say “colour shouldn’t be the issue here” because how dare you choose a white person over a black person in a democratic South Africa.

Most of the time when you are a white person and you call your fellow countrymen to be held accountable for their unacceptable words and actions such as corruption, nepotism, fraud, theft, you’ll be branded a racist.

Today, I shouted at a taxi driver who pushed in-front of me nearly driving me into the curb with no regard for the fact that I have a child in the car - I must be a racist, because only racists care about road safety it would seem.

I complained to the manager of my bank because the woman handling my account is so incompetent and hasn’t responded to one email or message I’ve left her for over 2 months! Nevermind that my account is about to be shut down because of FICA. I must be a racist then because only racists expect service from a bank and stupidly think an organisation is going to actually do the job they promise to do in all their marketing material.

The other day my husband confronted a woman outside a shopping centre after she carelessly threw her fast food packet on the floor less than 10cm from a dustbin. Her response - "you’re just a racist". Yes, you’re absolutely right, because only racists care about keeping their city clean and litter free.

I fired a lady who worked for me once because I caught her rummaging through one of my cupboards and she had taken my passport and other belongings which I found in her bag. Her only response - "you’re a racist". Yes, yes I am. Because only racists think that stealing is a criminal offense and is done by people with no morals or conscience.

I swear being a white person in this country can be very bloody exasperating at times. The ANC has brainwashed the masses with this little word - racist - to the point that it’s actually completely lost its meaning and now get’s used totally out of context. Most days I just let it pass and I don’t go into effect of it. But today is not one of those days. Today I’m angry and today I’m sick and tired of it.

I’m not shouting at you because you’re black, I’m shouting because you’re a maniac on the roads who is a danger to society.

I’m not complaining to your manager because you’re black. I’m complaining because you’re an incompetent moron who is incapable of doing her job properly.

I’m not firing you because you’re black. I’m firing you because you’re a thief.

I’m not confronting you because your black, I’m shouting at you because you’re a messy pig who expects other people to clean up your mess.

Please get over yourselves and move out the way of the remarkably amazing black people who DO take total responsibility and who actually want this country to work for ALL the people who live in it.

If being a racist in this country means that I will stand up for my rights, fight for what is fair and true and hold everyone around me accountable for their words and actions, then I am a racist through and through. If being a racist means that I believe in freedom of speech and expression and that everyone’s point of view is relevant, no matter what colour, age or sex, then I will proudly announce to all who can hear that I am a racist. If being a racist means that I believe we should all be treated with the same rules and consequences and that no-one, especially not the President, is above the law and exempt from criminal prosecution when that law has been broken, then print me a t-shirt saying “I am a racist” and I will wear it in the streets. If being a racist means that I will not stand idly by while the few, corrupt pigs in the ANC rape this country for everything they can get with no regard for the poor and the homeless and the uneducated, then I’ll get I’m a racist tattooed on my back.

Mr Zuma and the ANC - you need to get a different vocabulary. Instead of shouting at someone like Brett Murray about a painting being offensive, maybe you should be asking yourselves why he painted it in the first place. Instead of wanting to take Zapiro to court every time he depicts the president & his shower head in one of his cartoons, why don’t you stop to realise that there is truth in everything he draws and that your angry responses are really due to the fact that he keeps hitting a nerve that’s a little too close to home.

Maybe, Mr Zuma, it’s time to take a long, hard look in the mirror. If you were honest with yourself you’d see that people actually have very little respect for you because some believe you have lied and cheated your way through your Presidency. According to reports you have been involved with more seedy, corrupt criminals than Horatio Cane and that you have abused funds for personal gain. Even the great Oliver Tambo’s daughter doesn’t think much of you based on what she had to say about the painiting: “He should inspire the reverence he craves. This portrait is what he inspired”

You Mr Zuma and your ANC are a bunch of CANTS!

CAN’T let go of the past
CAN’T stop operating from a place of revenge and hate for what’s happened in the past
CAN’T stop the out of control corruption that is rife throughout every government department
CAN’T seem to get the education right in this country
CAN’T say goodbye of Affirmative Action and BEE which is ruining businesses across this land

But what do I know?

I’m just a white girl talking about a black man.

I must be a racist.

end.

The controversial painting of President Jacob Zuma, who had a rape trial, married lots of women, fathered a few kids, divided his party and split the people along political battle lines. So ask yourself, is the painting far off?

As a legendary newspaper cartoonist, Zapiro, who I truly respect, depicted in his follow up cartoon....

We need to see a change in this country, and it needs to happen very soon.

Kind regards

Cliff

aka PigSpotter

P.s..... I'd just like to take this moment to thank all my followers on Twitter (@PigSpotter) and Facebook (Pig Spotter) and on Instagram (@pigspotter) for all their assistance, support and appreciation. Thank you.

One year of @PigSpotter

2011-08-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

If you had told me a year ago, I’d be where I am today, know who I know and have the following I have, I would never have believed you. So this blog is dedicated to all the followers, all the regulars who supply the updates, comedy relief and inspirational/motivational messages.

In the midst of my “discovery” in September, My lawyer, now friend, Mr Karl Schuler stood by my side, reassuring me that there was nothing that the cops could charge me with. There were 2 incidents which made the whole experience earth shattering in the early days.

The first experience was straight after puppet Wayne Minaar said on TV they would criminally charge me with Defamation of character and defeating the ends of justice. I was standing in the office with my father, when suddenly we heard cop sirens down the road, loud and clear, drawing closer. Before the sirens go to our office they were switched off. I relaxed slightly. Suddenly the intercom outside rang. Heart failure. Was some dude trying to sell a broom. Never in my life had I ever expected to be so relieved to hear someone at the gate trying to sell a broom.

The second experience came when Karl gave me a call and told me to sleep at a hotel because the police could know my exact address and would try to arrest me. So I took my girlfriend at the time and our beautiful baby girl to a hotel in Edenvale. As serious as the situation actually was, it felt seriously rockstar! J Consequently since those days, we submitted representation, and a YEAR later the docket has been travelling back and forth between Sophia Town Police Station and the DPA. Apparently STILL looking for SOMETHING to charge me with. So if it is taking “top” investigators so long to find something criminal in my actions, how could I have any idea that what I’m doing is supposedly wrong? Maybe just the fact I’m affecting their usual monthly extra income from bribery and corruption is upsetting them. Or perhaps the uncovering of their actions in victimising the general public after hours could have something to do with it. Or just maybe, they don’t like being called an internationally used term for their line of work.

Last night was the @PigSpotter 1 year birthday, celebrated with @DJFreshSA and @_CHIXwithSTIX_ www.chixwithstix.co.za , who were sponsored by @XL_Security. Other sponsors who came to the party were Cleo, RedKen, Nu Metro, to name a few.

So it started off pretty well, Doors open at 9pm, club was packed by 10pm, queue was still out the door, as friends started arriving, I was running around trying to keep everyone happy. Finally time came when the gorgeous Chix with Stix girls had to go up and play on stage, something I had been anticipating for 5 days, because I was going to be lucky enough to play a song with them. Took me an hour and a half to learn a 2 minute song! Lol! Overall, up there on stage, it is a little nerve-wracking, but luckily I didn’t mess it up. Had the time of my life! J Next up, came the legendary DJ Fresh, with the sexiest twin dancers organised by Lisa Woollacott of Lisa Jane productions. By 2am the club was still packed. Truly an awesome experience, something I would never have imagined a year ago.

Thank you to all those who came through, to all those who sponsored and all those who organised the event. I appreciate the support and will strive to continue doing my best to make a change.

PIG corruption at it's worst

2011-07-02T10:35:00.001-07:00

The events of the 18^th turned out more interesting than anticipated

I decided to have an early night, hit the hay at 10pm on the 17^th. I was awoken by a phone call at 2pm, where a friend proceeded to inform me that a very close friend of hers had just had a run in with Metro police and was battling to get info out of her as she was so shaken up. I tweeted a warning to my followers straight after that to hopefully ensure another lady does not get sexually assaulted by the same bunch. I reported it to 2 BBM groups containing police, only one responded, and told me to call the anti corruption hotline as the reservists were all on strike due to being abused by the SAPS. After about 5 attempts, I had no joy with the “Hotline”, and proceeded to throw some clothes on and drive 40km’s to where the alleged roadblock was.

Upon arrival, I saw nothing, no cops within 2 km’s of cnr Main and Sloane in Bryanston. Drove up to Witkoppen road, saw a couple SAPS vehicles, one who followed a guy out of a parking at the corner of Main and Witkoppen, and proceed to pull him over without any blue lights. I found this particularly strange, so I took a photo within plain view of the officers, made a u turn further down the road and then got pulled over by the SAPS guys. I did this intentionally, wanted to see if they were going to give me hell, I recorded the conversation. I put the phone in my top pocket, as I approached the vehicle I read out the number plate and vehicle call sign. The cop was suddenly quite aggressive, wonder why, when I then asked him if they are allowed to pull vehicles off without a light bar on the roof, he said that because it is a marked vehicle they are. I will continue to investigate this. So I was told to step out the vehicle so the guy can search me, I complied, and the other officer said “take his cellphone and delete the picture he took of us” in Zulu. I said “You guys have absolutely no right to touch my phone”, to which one responded, “No problem, we’ll take you to the police station for operating your phone whilst driving”, to which I concluded “No you want, it is a fineable offense and not a criminal offense, so you can give me a fine, but you will not take me to a police station”. At this point both officers became very quiet, understood I KNOW my rights and what is fineable and what is criminal, and they let me go on my way. Upon further investigation I found that it is perfectly legal for the cops to pull people over in a marked or even unmarked car, as long as they can provide identification. If however you do feel uneasy for any reason, you have the right to drive to the nearest police station.

The above turn of events made me realise, that if we ALL knew our rights, react calmly in the presence of the chops, and do not let them try intimidate us but being respectful at the same time, corruption would be halved, people’s rights would be respected and they’d think twice before trying to solicit bribes or sex from people they pull over late at night. Well, back to the case in hand, the reason I crawled out of bed at 2am to help a friend’s friend. She was pulled over in the roadblock on corner Main and Sloane drive. Admittedly says she was a little over the limit, but the events that then took place are nothing short of criminal. They pulled her over, a short supposedly well built guy walked over to her vehicle, told her to step out the car as he could smell alcohol. She complied. He gave her a breathalyser test to blow into, and before she could properly blow, he told her the reading came up as 4.something and that she was going to be arrested. He then started asking if she has a boyfriend. She said no. asked if she’s married… again, no. Then he started saying how sexy she looks and that he can’t believe she’s not spoken for, then said “So who is going to bail you out of prison?”. By this point the girl started panicking, he ordered her to get back into her car and climbed into the passenger’s side.

He asked her to check how much money she has in her wallet, and they can maybe make a deal. Continued to say how sexy she is, and how he wants her, saying “Don’t disappoint me, and I won’t disappoint you”, and “I’m going to FK you so hard”. She found she only had R150 in her wallet and gave it to him, he replied he just has to clear it with the other guy as well and told her to follow him. She got out the car, they walked over to the other van, and the cops put her in the back of the van, where they continued to sexually taunt her and put their hands down her top. They ordered her to give them her number, so they could call her later. They also said they were going to test the number she gave them to make sure it is valid. So she HAD to give them the correct number. After all of the above, they allowed her to drive on, over the limit and completely devastated. So not only had they solicited a bribe, sexually assaulted her and abused her rights in the worst possible way, they allowed her to continue, endangering not only her life, but my life as well, and everyone else on the road! Not only did she now have one demon to contend with, alcohol, she was also hysterical and panicking. She managed to get to my friend at a convenient meeting spot, on her way, the cops again called her from an unknown number, making comments about how they won’t “Disappoint her” if she doesn’t disappoint them. I arrived at the meeting point, she was STILL crying and shaken up, 2 HOURS later, and after numerous futile attempts to call the “Hotline” we gave up and resided to call in the morning.

The morning came, and the lady in question decided, despite my requests, to rather not report the perpetrator, for fears of reprisal, and perhaps hope that this would all be forgotten. This morning, 2 July, I believe the cop called the lady again. So clearly he has intentions of acting out his disgusting threats. I was informed that she has then taken the opportunity to go to the police station to lay charges.

This begs the question, who the hell (Imagine the word I’d rather use here) can you trust if you cannot even trust the cops?!?! The JMPD should be shut down in my opinion. They are corrupt in everything they do! They trap behind walls and trees and cars for monetary reasons, they illegally send off traffic fines via standard surface mail rather than registered mail, they illegally stop you at roadblocks and force you to pay fines “on the spot”, and now this….. Either they need to get new management and the whole lot fired, or they should be shut down completely. As one JMPigD told me on the day when I almost had a smash and grab, “I cannot help you in this regard, you’d better call real cops (SAPS)” WTH?!

Take care everone, learn your rights, it's not safe out there.

All my best to you.

Cliff

Travels and Experiences

2011-05-30T14:31:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone

For those who follow me quite closely, you’ll know that I was away for a week in both England and Portugal. There was a 24 hour period where I did not tweet at all, all thanks to Vodacom’s inability to activate my international roaming on time. But never fear, I managed to get a new sim card pay as you go from Vodafone in the UK, and 30 Pounds later, PigSpotter was back in action.

Upon arrival in the UK, I was amazed at how easy it was to get around. From landing, it took me 2 hours to collect the baggage and pass through customs. After that, within 20 minutes I was well along my way via the Underground “Tubes” railway service to the centre of London. For a mere 8 Pounds, I purchased an all day pass, well worth the money. The efficiency of the system was unspeakable, as those who have been there will know, I was greeted with friendly service by the security personnel, who were willing and very able to assist, the trains ran at approximately 2 min intervals. Along with clearly marked directions and maps at every turn, you’d be foolish to get lost. One rule of thumb one should always remember, if you’re not in a hurry and are just going to stand on the exceedingly long escalator, stand to the right, so everyone else may pass you on the left.

From the underground I stepped out into the sunlight. Yep, sunlight! I was blessed with gorgeous weather. There were immediately several bus services that offered tours around London, For 28 Pounds for a 24hour pass. This bus would take you along two routes, red or blue, depending on how much of London you wanted to see. At any point, you would be able to disembark from the bus, walk around town for a while, knowing full well another bus would be 15 mins behind, and it runs like clockwork., to the minute….. Sadly I did not venture further into England, would have been interesting to compare the efficiency of the transport system between a tourism impacted city, to one on the outskirts. Needless to say I walked a heck of a lot for the pure adventure of it. Strangest sight I’ve ever seen in my life, about 300 men and women dressed in suits, making their way speedily to the tubes, flooding the streets as they crossed them at the intersections, all in a blur.

Next, my journey took me into Portugal. Here I rented a vehicle and in driving between major cities and tiny villages, what occurred on the motorways is what REALLY bewildered me. Bear in mind they drive on the opposite side of the road to us in South Africa, EVERYONE on the motorways keeps right. There are 3 lanes. When a car approaches another vehicle to overtake, the move to the middle lane, once they’re past, they move back to the slow lane. There is absolutely NO trapping on the highways! Instead the Portuguese have adapted a secret weapon….. Undercover police vehicles that follow you, and calculate your travelling speed. If you are speeding or driving recklessly, they pull you over, whip out the laptop, check for any other offences, and make you pay, on the spot. No cash? No problem, you can use your card. They carry a portable swipe machine. Strangely, everyone does generally stick to the speed limit, respectful of others. Another surprising invention discovered in the little towns in Portugal, are the speed detecting robots. They are continuously check your approaching speed, if you’re even 1km/h hour over 50km/h, the robot changes to red and forces you to stop. Stick to 49km/h and you get afforded the luxury of not stopping. Win-win situation!

There are tolling systems as well. 2 types of systems are implemented. 1 being for permanent residents, who can simply drive through, and the toll figure is automatically deducted from your bank account. The other type is an automated system. As you get onto the highway, you collect a ticket, as you get off at any exit, you then pay into the machine, much like at a parking garage. People generally are very mindful and respectful of others and almost never hoot even if someone makes an error. I say generally because in all the 5 days I was there, whilst on a bus, there was some clown in an X6 BMW who decided to take on a bus at a circle, and very nearly came short. Pity, I even had my camera ready!

Well, I just thought I’d bring those points to light with regards to the public transport of those two countries, and hoping that perhaps the Eish-bein of South Africa can re-think their strategy of road safety, and move away from the monetising aspect towards the intended goal of keeping people safe on our roads.

Take it easy out there

Best Wishes
PigSpotter

There ARE solutions!!

2011-05-05T10:38:00.000-07:00

Attention all my fellow animal lovers:

Straight to the point. There is apparently a crisis on the farms in Pretoria where they have an infestation of pigeons, rendering 47 hectares of a 50 hectare farm useless for harvesting. It has also been said that they have tried various possible solutions which have all failed, and a solution involving sterilization will take 18 months to effect, which they are not prepared to wait for.

There’s a school in PTA, called Koster School, who have decided to hold a “Fun” competition, getting parents and the children involved in an organised mass murder of these Pigeons. A competition to see who can KILL the most birds. Competition organised for 13^th and 14^th of May 2011. What They had to say about it has been added to the bottom of this blog for those who are interested in reading THEIR point of view.

This is barbaric and I feel it teaches the kids that it is ok to shoot whatever is considered a “pest”.

So if a neighbour’s dog is barking all night and you regard it as a pest, feel free to pull our daddy’s gun and blow a hole in it’s head, cause the school says it’s fine. What morals are we teaching them at school? Why not try come up with another environmentally friendly and NON- harmful solution? What you ask? Here’s what I came up with, with a little help from some special people.

At airports, they’ve been using systems to deter flocks of birds from the airspace around to avoid them getting sucked into engines and causing engine failure, thereby causing the place to crash. Why can we not implement these sonar emitting devices near farms?

I called up a gentleman named Gerard, 083-456-2487, from Bird Control SA , who gave me some valuable information. Firstly, if the Pigeons are Rock Pigeons with red eyes, they are endangered and protected. Secondly, Pigeons are deaf to the sonar emitting devices. So this would have no effect on them. The other VERY effective alternative is a device that emits a SONIC BOOM. The cost of the devices is around R4k. They come with a solar panel and battery back-up.

Now for a 50 hectare farm, you would require between 15 and 20 of these units (around 150m coverage distance each) which would set a farmer back between R60 000 to R80 000. Would it be worth it if he was then able to harvest the remaining 47 Hectares? Absolutely! I also negotiated with Gerard who said they’d be willing to drop the price of these emitters further if we are able to get 2 or more farms to install them together at the same time.

Alternatively, and this is where the community can come in, we need to find out where the pigeons are roosting/nesting, where they go at night to sleep. We then need to remove the nests and place maybe 4 of the SONIC BOOM emitters to prevent the pigeons from returning to the nesting area. Which will in turn force them to leave the area and find an alternative food source, WITHOUT KILLING A SINGLE BIRD! So perhaps we need to raise funds for the 4 emitters, R16 000. How can we go about this?

Perhaps the school concerned can have fair of sorts. Selling cupcakes and pancakes, holding a fun run or soap box derby. Perhaps a better idea to teach kids responsibility in looking after nature and finding better solutions to problems, rather than shooting them…. But hey, that’s just my opinion.

Hoping we can stop this senseless murders and come to an agreement

Best Regards

Cliff aka @PigSpotter

---------------------------------------------------------------------

This is what they published and had to say:

Afrikaans to English translation (mostly google translation - please read this only as a guide as translation from Afrikaans to English is not so easy!)

20 April 2011
Dear correspondent

Thanks for your opinion about the pigeon shooting competition. Each person is entitled to an opinion - informed or not.

After my conversation with Mr. Andrew Venter of the National Council for Animal Protection, the following points came to the fore:

The NSPCA is still against this initiative.
Understanding of the current situation.
In conjunction with the South African Agricultural seeds and seed protection department will be communicated on alternative methods of combating pest-control animals - specifically birds - what is practical and can be effective.

The following information about the shooting without trying to change your opinion:

Koster is located in the seed producers upland area with few trees and protection.
Every year at harvest time there is a high population of pigeons in particular and other pest birds such as finches and guinea fowl.
From a 50 hectare [seed name] harvest, only about 3 hectares can economically be harvested.
Sunflowers lose a third of the seeds (pips) before harvesting.
Farmers who put the food on your stores shelves at at their wits end.
Please Google" agriculture and pest control" for those claiming that birds are not a terrible plague for the agricultural industry.
Refer also to an article in Beeld - 20 April 2011 about predators
The Bible also speaks of pests like small foxes and grasshoppers. (WHY IS RELIGION ALWAYS BROUGHT INTO IT???? PigSpotter comment)
Unlike kwela-finches which are controlled with poison or fire fighting and insects with poison pest control, we try to be more specific in target selection.

Farmers have approached the school for help and the project was decided because:

Alternative methods such as introducing owls and hawks to the area have already been tried, but failed. This is not good habitat for them and hawks are just being driven into neighboring land. Owls are nocturnal - they focus on the mice and insects and not pigeons.
Farmers have already used pesticides sprayed from aircraft, but then all the birds die, including insects and crawling organisms as well as some scavengers.
Other farmers put burning trees [? not sure] under trees to control finch pests - put it out in the evening when birds sleep.
Target-oriented pigeon shooting ON THE LAND of the farmers as an option has been identified.
Thus, we try to put food on the shelf for you as a consumer.
We use people from the local village to collect the dead and wounded birds. At the end of the day we offload the birds into the community where they have "fist-fights" to secure it as a food source.

To elimenate misperceptions:

Only licensed weapons during the shooting may be used. Conservation [society] issue bird hunting permits on Friday May 13, 2011 and Saturday morning May 14, 2011. It will only be issued if the licence holder shows proof of his/her license and ID document. According to legislation no gun may be borrowed to another person.
No [school] pupil is involved the day when the pigeon shooting takes place - they are unlicensed. However, they are aware of the competion. As children of local farmers they themselves shoot the pest birds on their own land to save crops.
No shooting takes place in the field [bushveld]. Even less so on the school grounds as many falsely believe that pigeons are transported [taken to] to be shot . Only land where the crops at the time is ripe has been identified as shooting areas.

Pest Control now serve as a source of food on the shelves of shops and in the community where pigeons are being shot.

Until discussions of alternative control measures such as sterilization - which takes a long time before the population is thinned out [population control] - is successfully planned, we are bound by an cry-out from farmers in our area to find a solution like shooting of pest animals.

We invite you to visit us the week prior to the event to observe the scope of the pigeon plague . You are also welcome to attend said well-organized day with us and then you can re-evaluate your opinion.

On behalf DUIFUITDUNKOMITEE [pigeon population control committee]

-----------------------------------------------
A number of people have sent mails to the school requesting them to cancel this cruel event, however they are going ahead with their plans, which entail killing wild birds for fundraising and for "fun". Please send emails to: paula@kosterskool.co.za

Contact numbers in the advertisement: Dawie Naude +27 14 543 2013 , +27 83 994 0814
and Paula Klaasen mobile number +27 84 707 6989.

What you NEED to know

2011-04-25T09:36:00.000-07:00

Hi there everyone.

Due to high number of requests I get from followers and friends with regards to the fining system, what is legal and what isn’t, I decided to do an actual blog about it. This is going to be really long and possibly even drawn out, but the idea is to get the point across, so everyone knows where they stand, what their rights are and just how Director Gerrie Gerneke and his cronies are running the JMPD show illegally despite numerous cases being brought to light by the JPSA (Justice Project of South Africa)

The Joburg Metro Police Department has issued, and continues to issue, millions of invalid traffic fines. Director Gerrie Gerneke’s attitude is they must still be paid to avoid motorists being “inconvenienced at roadblocks”. This is a euphemism for “illegally arrested and jailed”.

The cause of the trouble is the fact that in section 30 of the AARTO Amendment Act, it states that all camera infringement notices (AARTO 03) must be served on the infringer by registered post. Since one doesn’t collect a registered item from the Post Office by accident, the use of registered post to deliver camera fines is an elegant way of making sure people don’t weasel out of fines by claiming they didn’t get them, made more elegant still by the proviso that proceedings may continue against you if you don’t collect the registered item within ten days.

However, it also means that if a fine arrives directly in your post box, it’s automatically invalid. If any further AARTO processes are subsequently taken against you in respect of that fine, like attachment of assets, they are illegal. You also cannot be arrested at a roadblock for not paying the fine. The only times you can be arrested for a traffic violation are when you commit a serious traffic offence and are directly apprehended by an officer at the scene of your folly, or when you have been summonsed under the Criminal Procedure Act to appear in court to answer a charge arising from an traffic violation and you fail to appear, resulting in a warrant for your arrest being issued against you.

You cannot, under any circumstances, be arrested for failing to pay a fine stemming from an AARTO infringement, valid or otherwise. The worst that can happen is that the sheriff may attach your assets to the value of the outstanding fine plus costs and that won’t happen if the fine was invalid to begin with. But do not for one moment think that you may simply ignore these invalid infringement notices. You must deal with them and I suggest that you visit www.aarto.co.za/ssm.asp to see how you should deal with them.

Do not be fooled by Gerneke’s claims that JMPD is applying to have the law changed to legalise the department’s issuing of AARTO notices by standard surface mail – no such step has been taken and no such proposed amendment has been issued by the Department of Transport for comment. Section 30 of the AARTO Act stands as it is written and the JMPD (and the RTMC’s AARTO unit) are committing an offence every time they send out a notice by standard surface mail. In fact, the latest proposed amendments published in Government Gazette 34208 on 17 April 2011 for public comment actually further strengthens the requirement for registered mail to be used instead of abolishing it like Gerneke has hoped will happen.

So when Gerneke says that motorists may be “inconvenienced at roadblocks” (ie. arrested) for not paying an AARTO infringement notice that was illegally issued, he is manufacturing law as it suits him, a privilege which not even Parliament or the President enjoys! You cannot be arrested at a roadblock except when a warrant for your arrest exists or you have committed an arrestable offence at the roadblock itself. Any other arrest is illegal and if it happens to you, you should sue. Indeed, a month or two ago, Judge Billy Mothle of the North Gauteng High Court awarded R50 000 in damages to the victim of an unlawful arrest and issued a harsh rebuke against the police for the skyrocketing number of unlawful arrests. He emphasised that people should only be arrested and detained for just cause.

Getting right back to the point though, since when were roadblocks supposed to be ‘convenient’ anyway? Their function is to catch criminals, not provide roadside entertainment. According to the latest NIMMS stats, almost 59% of drivers killed in traffic crashes are under the influence of alcohol. I find it personally very inconvenient that I have to share the roads with such people and it annoys me that the JMPD is so concerned with people paying its illegal fines, yet so indifferent towards drunk drivers. Research the JMPD arrest rates for drunk driving some time – they are abysmal. When you research the conviction rates, you will absolutely fall on your proverbial backside as these are incredibly low – countrywide.

I can’t imagine that a law-abiding driver would have a problem with the convenience or otherwise of a roadblock should it be there to check on the roadworthiness of cars and drivers. Why should they have anything to fear if their car is roadworthy, they are properly licensed and they drive in accordance with the law? If their sole purpose was to catch the criminals and drunk drivers, and NOT an attempt to extort bribes from fellow road users, then I’d fully support them, but when ‘inconvenience’ is a euphemism for ‘illegal arrest’ and the roadblock is actually a revenue collection operation masquerading as road safety, I feel then that I am having my time wasted for no good reason and I’m being inconvenienced in the extreme.

The JMPD’s disregard for the law is based on an admittedly good understanding of human psychology: most people, when they receive a fine, will automatically assume that justice is being served in a fair and even-handed, equitable way. The thought doesn’t enter their minds that the enforcers could be the real criminals, and in most cases citizens don’t have the knowledge to tell a legal fine from an illegal one. The JMPD (and also the RTMC’s AARTO unit for a short while) are operating in flagrant violation of the law by issuing infringement notices in contravention of Section 30, and they demonstrate their contempt by knowingly continuing to issue them nearly a year after the fact was first reported in the media.

More to the point, even if the JMPD claims that the notices are just a courtesy prior to the actual issue of an AARTO infringement notice and there is no breach of Section 30, the courts have held over and over that if something looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it IS a duck. If you hold up a bank with a realistic-looking toy gun, you’re going to go to jail for as long as if it was a real one. If the ‘courtesy notices’ are so realistic that they are indistinguishable from the real thing – and if the JMPD accepts payment of fines based on them – then I can’t see how they are not in breach of section 30 of the Act.

The average consumer wouldn’t reasonably be expected to know the difference between a real infringement notice and one of the JMPD’s straight-to-your-post box notices, and the fact is that the two are identical. I would love to see the JMPD try and present the ‘courtesy notice’ argument before a judge...

I therefore advise everyone who has received an infringement notice by standard surface mail to urgently read the webpage http://www.aarto.co.za/ssm.asp and pass it around to all who may be affected - you may be entitled to have your fine refunded to you if the notice on which it was based was invalid. South Africa’s drivers need to take a stand against officials who don’t see the irony in enforcing the law by breaking it. The chairman of the JPSA is Mr Howard Dembovsky, who can be contacted via email at howard@jp-sa.org or on 082-418-6210.

However, do not think for one second that we are encouraging you to speed or try get your fines “squashed”, we are attempting to force the JMPD to follow the laws as stipulated and in accordance with section 30 of the AARTO Act and the regulations that are attached to that Act.

Best Regards,

Stay safe and be vigilant

Cliff aka PigSpotter

What really happened...

2011-03-21T05:08:00.000-07:00

What to write, where to start…..

Although many people, if placed in my position, would want the events of the 14^th and 15^th of March to rather be forgotten, I don’t. I would like to explain the exact occurrences, the way the media completely blew it out of proportion and the way that my supposed followers suddenly turned around and threw obscenities towards me, rather than question my motives and reasoning for tweeting what I did. Everyone quickly jumps onto their high horse, jumps the gun, broadcasts their unjustified opinion based on a single tweet which admittedly was sensitive in nature and perhaps incorrectly worded.

It started off by me tweeting that if people wish to help the Red Cross with donations for relief efforts in Japan, they could sms Japan to 47499, and R2 will be deducted from your cellphone account.

Shortly afterwards, I received numerous BlackBerry Messages all containing the same opinion, which said the following “ I see many new profile pics asking to pray for Japan. Go to Google images from your BB and enter; Japan Whales--- see why I find it difficult to pray for a nation that still harpoon Whales and kill over 20 000 dolphins a year! Mother Nature uses weird way to say when enough is enough! Just a thought??? Japan placed more animals on the endangered list than any other nation! They just don’t care!! Difficult to say, but why should you???”

The above is the exact message I got. Being limited to 140 characters on UberSocial, an alternative to Twitter’s BB application, I had to cut out pieces and edit it to try compact it onto one tweet. The reason I do this is to not over fill people’s timelines. The reason I tweeted it however, is I wanted to get people’s opinion as to what they thought about it, if they feel that the whole killing of Whales and Dolphins issues goes out the window when the entire nation is in crisis. Let me state that the above message received on BBM, the tweet I put out, did NOT represent my views. The fact that ANYONE could think that the WHOLE of Japan deserved to get slammed by an earthquake which resulted in a Tsunami, is simply ridiculous and inhumane. When I used the word Karma, I was implying that the fishermen who SLAUGHTER and MURDER the dolphins and whales, got their Karma revenge. Ideally I’d have preferred if a whale came and ate them up rather than an entire country be devastated. This all does not boil down to Karma though. An arbitrary example however, imagine in Zimbabwe, Mugabe and all his murderous followers, lived right by the coast. Now we all know the stories about how he ordered his henchmen to kill and chase away the farmers, to kill innocent voters who were trying to vote for an opposition party, so on and so on. Now picture them being affected by a natural disaster, and Mugabe with all his followers get washed out to sea and drown. What I’d like to know, is would YOU still pray for them? Which brings me to another point…

Why would people say “Pray for Japan”, I do not want to get into religion because we are all so diverse and all have our own beliefs and views, but this is MY blog and within which I can express MY view and MY beliefs and if you have your 5c you’d like to add, I welcome it…. Ok, back to the point. As far as I’m aware, Japanese are generally Atheists. So is it not a slap in the face to claim you’re going to speak to YOUR God to help them? I myself am Catholic and do believe in God, however I am MADLY against people thrusting their religion unto others. Each to his own, believe what you want to believe, and keep it to yourself! Driving down to PE last year, I came across a farm that had all the 10 commandments posted on massive boards amongst his crops. This really upset me. I respect your choice to believe what you want to, but don’t try to change what I believe. Moving swiftly along….

Now the beef I have with the media….. Very quickly they, being one specific “DJ”, jumped to the opinion that THAT is my belief that Japan “Deserved what they got” (Which is utter rubbish), within a couple minutes I was getting HATE tweets left, right and center. I wasn’t even given time to respond or make it clear I was looking for an opinion. I had supposedly “friend” followers who turned on me, the “DJ” who was filling in for another DJ, jumping on the air and broadcasting it LIVE. Truth be told, I don’t know WHAT it is that she said, but suddenly people who weren’t even following me started throwing threats my way. I can handle it, but it did hurt how quickly people turn around with venom, without giving you a chance to explain. Disgusting, in my opinion, was how the “DJ” called me a twat, and then when I turn around and say “If you cannot have an adult discussion/debate, then sit down and shut up”, I get a message from some dude saying that’s no way to speak to a lady. A lady? She called me a twat. Where’s the equality? Do unto others as you’d have done unto you. Right? I’m sorry, but if you disrespect me, I disrespect you. Fair is fair. To top it all off she sent this tweet:

“I've got DM's from @pigspotter but because he doesn't follow me I can't DM him back. Let's chat publicly. I'm not scared - got balls! You?”

Now, we all know I’ve got the proverbial “balls”, otherwise I wouldn’t do what I do, I’d have disappeared like PigSpotterKZN when he heard the heat that was coming down on me. So feeling as though I did NOT have to prove myself to the “DJ” I simply said she is not worth my time. She then suggested we wait for the proper DJ of the show to return and then go on air… I agreed to that. Then the “DJ” responded saying, “ but it’s my opinions, not DJ Fresh’s.”

Later that night, well, the following morning at 1:30am I chatted to DJ Nicole, @ThatNicole on twitter, and was able to get my point out to the listeners who would tune into the radio at that time, and it was suggested that I chat to the “DJ” the following day…. So I DMed the “DJ” my cell number and said I’ll chat to her at 4pm the following day. She never replied. Via the grapevine, I get an e-mail, 2 hours before the show, stating that she would not be interviewing me and would leave out my name as professional courtesy… Professional courtesy???? Was it professional to slander my name to the MILLIONS of listeners the REAL DJ has attained over the time he has been on air? I think NOT. So by the “DJ” cancelling the interview, I simply laughed when I remember the “ I'm not scared - got balls! You?” tweet….. so I guess you just don’t have the “balls” do you sweetheart? Well, you definitely didn’t have the “balls” to even phone me to cancel…..tsk tsk tsk.

I get an e-mail the following day from the “DJ” saying,

“after getting a couple of nasty tweets from your fans, i responded to a tweet saying "@PigSpotter said we shouldn't pray for the Japanese cause of what they do to the whales/dolphins and I basically said he's a twat" I apologise for writing that, i was angry at that point, but I never said on air that you were a twat.”

I replied that the apology was accepted…. However the public damage to my reputation on that day to several “people in the right places”, was and is still an issue for me. There were nasty words received by both of us from the other’s followers and all in all an unpleasant experience. I’m happy to put it behind me and as a professional courtesy I will not mention the “DJ”’s name, I wouldn’t want to hurt Catherine’s feelings further.

I’m sorry this blog was extremely long winded but I had a bit to get out. Hope you all now have the facts straight and there is no more confusion or conflicts about what was said. As ALWAYS, comments are welcome, I read every single one and will respond if you leave an e-mail address. I enjoy debate, from debate we can learn so much about what everyone else is thinking and gain new perspectives and ideas….keep it flowing.

All the best and stay safe

Cliff

Blown Away!

2011-03-10T16:12:00.000-08:00

Good morning. It's Friday morning, 1:39am to be exact. I'm messing around with my Blogger features and I came across the most astounding information. I just realised there are people who have viewed my profile from all corners of the globe! This actually REALLY surprised me! This image below for example:

Which basically shows that just for my last blog, I had 695 views from South Africa, 86 from the UK, 25 from the USA, 15 from Germany, 4 from Canada, 4 from Hungary, 2 from Belgium, 2 from Morocco, 1 from Australia and 1 from Bahrain.

Yes granted, these are relatively small numbers I'm sure, but fascinating nonetheless that my blog was viewed around the world.

The below picture (hope it isnt as small when published as it is when previewed) shows All time stats

So for the last 4 blogs i had, I had 1263 views from South Africa, 495 from the UK, 65 from the USA, 15 from Germany, 6 from Canada, 4 from Hungary, 2 from Belgium, 2 from Morocco, 1 from Australia and 1 from Bahrain. Wicked!!

Below is a diagram showing which blog received the most views, the latest blog bringing in 1604 views

and lastly a diagram illustrating pageviews all time history, 2762.

I think the thing that has also really got me thinking is how everything is monitored, locations recorded, on what medium it was suggested and viewed. Just thought I'd share my amazement with you. Right....02:11. Bed time. Night night everyone

Cliff

Why I started PigSpotter

2011-03-09T11:33:00.001-08:00

Why I started PigSpotter…

I started PigSpotter to alert fellow drivers where the cops are speed trapping and setting up roadblocks. I chose the name purely for comical reasons. A friend did warn me and say, “maybe it’s a little too in your face”, but I thought, hell, what are the chances they’ll EVER find out?? Boy was I in for a wake-up call.

I started tweeting to all of 3 followers that I had on day one, asked a “high profile” friend to retweet one or two tweets, which she did, and that brought my following up to about 40 by the end of the 3^rd day. As I continued to make the tweets comical and lighthearted, so the following grew. On Fridays the Twitterverse has a ritual, #FF, where you tag a person you think people should follow. Initially I set a target for myself, hoping to reach 3000 followers, so I would then be able to have a reliable network, small, quiet and under the radar. Like a subculture.

So I started on the 28^th of July at 15:47, with 1 follower, my private Twitter account, Sandbrat__. Just before I hit the news, I had 5547 followers on the 15^th September. Now if my maths serves me correctly, that was 49 days until I was discovered. My following grew at an average of 113 per day at that point. Within 2 weeks from the national and international broadcastings, I gained 15000 followers, that’s something crazy like 1071 followers per day. I was getting messages from Brazil, the UK, Tanzania and even Australia, all of support. Of course no “hero” would be complete without the occasional death threat right? I had the occasional email detailing the exact location and description of my house. Luckily I guess, it was an old house’s address…so I feel sorry for the poor guys who live there now. Probably had these psychos stalking outside their house without even realising it. Currently while typing this blog I have just hit 40 000 followers. Beyond my wildest expectations! Growing again at about 120 per day. Actually, truth be told, I lose about 40 a day and gain 160 requests to follow. Protecting my tweets has enabled me to track this.

In the above paragraph , you’d have noticed I’ve described myself as a “hero”. Reason for that is I am NOT a hero. I simply came up with a new way to inform friends of traps and roadblocks. With the increased following I became aware that I actually have quite an amazing tool with which to do some good in South Africa. If out of my currently 11712 tweets, I managed to have made one speedster slow down which avoided a death on the road, made one lady driving alone at night observe a criminal who was approaching her car and drive off unscathed, managed to get paramedics to an accident scene JUST in time to save a patient’s life, then this all becomes worth it. I have at times become despondent with a poor turn out when it came to helping the general public to learn about their rights at roadblocks and traffic fines, and of the 3 evenings we held, a total of 80 people arrive. Ok, the advertising was only via tweets I put out 4 days before the evening, and the cover charge was R50 for the venue. So perhaps that played a role in the dismal attendance. Well, either way, I will strive on and hope to save a life, prevent corruption, prevent a smash and grab, spot them porkers hiding and educate as many people as I can along the way.

Different approach to crime

2011-02-17T12:34:00.000-08:00

My topic of choice today is crime. It's all around us and affects us all. Directly on indirectly, it's an issue.

I see a lot of crime all around me. In my day to day job as well as in PigSpotter. Typical seeing we live in possibly the most dangerous city in the world right? Wrong. We’re apparently 11^th on some “Official List”

Rank City Country

1 Ciudad Juarez Mexico
2 Baghdad Iraq
3 Swat valley Pakistan
4 Kabul Afghanistan
5 Mogadishu Somalia
6 Washington DC United States
7 Rio de Janeiro Brazil
8 Caracas Venezuela
9 Medellin Colombia
10 Guatemala City Guatemala
11 Johannesburg South Africa

We all know there are MANY variations of crime…. Corruption, bribery, murder, rapes, hijackings, kidnappings and burglaries. The thing I feel that makes our crime seem far worse or have more impact on the listings is due to the violence behind it. The violence we have behind our crime is almost put down to hatred, in my opinion. Imagine we had friendly criminals. Considerate criminals. Criminals who do what they do because they are hungry and want to feed their families, not because they feel that what you have belongs to them, hatred stemming from previous generations.

Picture this if you can. It’s 20:00pm on a quiet road in Bryanston. You’re a lady alone in your car. You’ve forgotten your handbag on the passenger’s seat. Once you’ve stopped at a robot you hear a knock-knock noise outside. You look over and see a guy standing and pointing a gun at you. He asks you to roll down your window and give him your bag. Now shaking, you hand it over in fear of being shot. Surprisingly, instead of bolting down the street and you never seeing your handbag again, leaving you to organise a new ID, licence card and deal with the incompetence/ running around one ALWAYS experiences at the licensing departments, he stands there, going through the bag, taking the money, stuffing a couple eyeliners and God knows what else you keep in those bags, pulling out your cell phone and then pausing for a second……disconnect the battery, pulls out the sim card and hands it back to you. Gives you back your wallet with your bank cards and all those necessary items. Hands over your handbag, says thank you and walks away….. How would that mess with your mind? Here’s a criminal who thought, he needs to sell some stuff to feed his family, he chose you, but had enough RESPECT to also understand what an emotionally damaging experience it could be for you, and RESPECT to not want to cause you unnecessary setbacks.

Would this not change your whole perspective of getting “Smashed and grabbed”?

How about a hi-jacker? Knocks on the window. “Good day sir, I really don’t want to inconvenience you on this lovely night, but I have been ordered to take this vehicle from you today. Please step out the car and give me your keys. Do you have a phone to call a taxi?”

If things were this friendly, I honestly feel that firstly, we wouldn’t be as emotionally traumatised when being held up or robbed. I feel that we could understand and actually respect one another, understanding he does it because of lack of jobs and wanting to feed the family, and he’d understand that this sort of thing can be emotionally scarring and knowing you are fully compliant, he will win at the end of the day, he’ll feel less threatened and less panicy. If things were this friendly, there would be far less murders, maybe NO rapes and psychotherapists would be out of a job. (So much for Job creation)

I know the above is probably impossible and not likely to ever happen in South Africa, or in the world, but hey, it’s good to dream right?

Cliff

P.S.... next topic, the start of PigSpotter, why i did what I did. Any other requests, feel free to add as a comment and i'll give it a bash. Peace

Month Of Love

2011-02-16T12:51:00.000-08:00

After writing the first blog, I came to thinking…..what the heck am I going to write about next time.

Today I felt the need to write about romance and friendships, it being the “Month of Love”

I’ve learnt something during these last couple of years that has changed my whole perception of life. As children we are raised to believe that you will grow up, meet the man/woman of your dreams, fall deeply in love, have children and live happily ever after. What they failed to mention are all the little detours and disappointments along the way.

I’m an Aries, 19 April to be exact, meaning I enjoy challenges and I’m a fairly passionate person, meaning if I find someone I’m attracted to, I give them my all, sharing details and form a relationship or bond fairly quickly. Some people take longer, others take quicker and then there are those who stalk. I’ve been blessed with all of the above (except maybe the stalker one, that was a curse). I’m not going to go into all the intimate details, but along the way I’ve learnt a few valuable lessons I’d like to share.

1 – Friendships. Friends are those who you can call upon at anytime, who will help you out of a tough situation and maybe even dispense a little of their life learned knowledge to you. However, TRUE friends are those who call upon YOU at anytime, who are THERE WITH YOU in a tough situation and with whom you SHARE the same of life’s learned knowledge. Friends are everywhere, TRUE friends are rare.

2 – Love. For all you kids who have just met the proverbial “The One” and you’re oh so in love, guess again, you’re not. You’re infatuated, smitten or even lustful, you’re not in LOVE. The only way to truly experience LOVE, is to have a child. Only then was I able to experience true LOVE. The kind where you would die for someone without even thinking twice, it is beyond description and cannot be measured. In fact trying to sit and describe it would be wasting time.

Don’t waste your time on people who don’t take the time for you. You will only end up hurting yourself. Don’t stay with someone for the sake of something, be it riches, fame or a child. If you’re not happy, and there is NO way things will ever look up or come right, get out. Children can understand far more than what we give them credit for.

I am by no means a professor or an example. I don’t think I have succeeded yet in life, nor am I in a comfortable situation at the moment. All I can do is share what little bit I can of my own meandering experiences. We all have lessons we need to learn for ourselves through experiences. Life is never easy. It wasn’t meant to be.

Cliff
xoxo

Starting out

2011-02-13T08:41:00.000-08:00

This is my first attempt at a "BLOG"

I've never really been one to share every aspect of my life, but I figure it'll be fun. Maybe even help me get a little off my chest as well as let people out there know what/how i feel about certain aspects and issues that i cant really discuss on Twitter.

The reason I've even decided to blog today is because I received the most inspiring/motivational e-mail on Saturday which i really wanted to share... I will keep the sender anonymous for obvious reasons:

Dear Pig Spotter Cliff

I have been wanting to write for a while now – I guess I have procrastinated, being human, putting off the important for the urgent; a horrible habit we earthlings have.

In a nutshell I want to thank you for all you do in your quest to stop corruption and be the ‘eyes’ and ‘ears’ out there for the Gautengies! Without boring you and very briefly I want to tell you my story as it will help you to realize exactly what impact you have had in Johannesburg and the surrounding areas.

12 years ago, whilst stilling living in KwaZulu Natal, I was hijacked. Unfortunately not just my car was taken. I was taken too. I was forced to drive at gun point from one town to another and then half way, stripped, beaten and brutally raped. By the time I managed to escape, I was not only a physical wreck but severely emotionally damaged and traumatized. It has taken a long time for me to get over this. 10 years of my life, wasted on therapy, trust issues, fear, nightmares, paranoia and an intense darkness and overwhelming ‘aloneness’. 18 months ago we moved to Johannesburg and knowing it to be crime riddled, old fears started emerging and I had to quickly deal with them before I spiralled down again. One of the anger issues I had to deal with is how men, the physically stronger gender and the gender who is meant to be the protector, the provider, the stabilizer, could hurt me so much. I have had to deal with this anger so that I did not paint all men with the same brush.

Enough of that – what I wanted you to know is that it is extremely comforting to know that there are male ‘eyes’ and ‘ears’ out there doing exactly the protector thing! If I ever had to be faced with the same situation in Johannesburg and please God don’t allow that ever again, I would feel that somehow between my family, Pig Spotter and 702, I would be rescued (Don’t let me down hey!)
When I read your tweets “Hijacking in ....” or “look for this registration....” it makes me feel a little safer in this scary city.

I just wanted you to know that you are making a difference. Like the man on the seashore faced with all the washed up starfish – he started throwing them back and when asked “How can you make a difference with all of these thousands of thousands or starfish?” He was able to say, as he threw one more back into the sea “I made a difference to this one.”

You cannot save the world, or make a difference for everyone, but you have made a difference to this one.

Thank you.

The above e-mail motivates me far more than anything I have ever recieved and it is due to cases like this that i will strive to do my best despite any opposition I may encounter.

I've run out of time today, feel free to comment if you wish, I'd really like to hear your thoughts and opinions.

All the best, stay safe

Cliff