Pieter Muller

I am a South African software engineer and dad

[Aron Hyman @aron_hyman]

The City of Cape Town has stirred a hornet's nest. For decades journalists, citizens, researchers, and senior police officers have warned of the dangers of the taxi bosses, a national mafia which hides under the veil of an essential service. They attacked the Rea Via bus network in Johannesburg and the army had to be deployed, but there were no consequences for them.
They embarked on a national strike in 2008, shut down Johannesburg, shot at the police and civilians, but there were no real consequences for them.
They gunned each other down in successive bloody wars over routes, but there were no consequences for the ones who called the shots.
Now that they are being challenged by legitimate authority the true shape of this monster is being revealed for all to see. National government has ceded power to taxi bosses through negotiations as they have with other organised crime bosses around the country.
In doing so the ANC itself has been infiltrated by criminals. Look at the murders of ANC councillors in KZN using taxi hitmen. Did the ANC come out against the taxi bosses when their own members were using hired taxi hitmen to kill people in their own organisation? They did not, because they have been co-opted into the cycle of a violent criminal economy.
The taxis bosses, and other crime bosses, have taken over from the state in townships like Khayelitsha.
That is why when Fikile Mbalula wore both the police minister and transport minister hats the Metrorail Central Line in Cape Town, which up to 2017 served hundreds of thousands of people with cheap transport, died and could never be resurrected.
The ANC has systematically ceded power to thugs and the state lost its ability to govern in townships around the country.
People in these communities live in fear. They are held at ransom, and they cannot speak out. They are thankful for any patronage that the township crime lords give because in their situation it's the small mercies that count. You just hope the madman ruling in your area is generous.
If the City of Cape Town and Western Cape Government finds a way to curb this violence without buckling under the unlawful demands of this mafia they may regain ground which was lost by the state.

[Werner Smit @wernerbeest]

@DonaldDavhie @StatsSA This is by far the biggest crisis we have 🇿🇦, and it doesn't often come up as news. It should be in the headlines every day. Debates should every day be about which economic policies and governance models bring the best economic opportunities, growth, and jobs. #silence ⬛🟩🟨

[VT @VusiThembekwayo]

@MightiJamie THIS IS NOT OKAY.

THIS IS NOT NORMAL.

THIS IS NOT HOW A FUNCTIONAL DEMOCRACY WORKS.

[Max du Preez @MaxduPreez]

All the dressing up, all the limousines ferrying "VIPs", all the rituals, the self-importance. At a time of grave crisis. Makes me sick. #SONA2023

[Jacques Maree @JacquesMaree73]

Utterly disgraceful.

[Tawanda Nyahuye👨‍💻 @towernter]

Installing Python

[Forrest Brazeal @forrestbrazeal]

Listen up, Silicon Valley…

“Hardcore Engineer”

[Pieter Muller @pietermuller]

@cherdt @radiocolin @simonw And good old 'sort | uniq - c | sort - n'

[Pieter Muller @pietermuller]

@Ms_ZamaNdlovu "the crime problem without solving the policing problem"
Would it make more sense to put the unemployment problem above the policing problem?

[Pieter Muller @pietermuller]

@TableMountainNP morning! Any reason why the Deer Park gate is closed this morning?

[Pieter Muller @pietermuller]

We don't need strikes and mass action to address the Eskom failure. We just need to vote the ruling party out. Even if the opposition is just as bad. The important thing is to build a culture of voting according to party performance. The government works for the people.

[Eusebius McKaiser @Eusebius]

South Africans are JUSTIFIED to be outraged about lawlessness and joblessness but let's not fool ourselves.The ANC government enabled lawlessness with the politicisation & collapse of the value chain of justice.

The "concern" about immigration is a tactic to change conversation.

[Simon Grindrod @SimonPGrindrod]

The common thread running through the collapse of Eskom is the ANC. They alone are in power. They are the governing party. They alone have failed. Period. 🇿🇦 #Stage6 #ANC #Eskom

[David Fowler @davidfowl]

Tip: Starting code reviews by looking at tests is a good way to get a sense of what the change is about (it'll reveal things often hard to spot in the change itself). If there are no tests, stop reviewing and ask for tests.

[Pieter Muller @pietermuller]

@JamaicanVision When we look at this past (even more recent in South Africa) we must immediately reflect: "What are we doing today, that will be shown to be clearly unjust when we look back in 10, 20 or 50 years?" Let's spend our energy changing that, now.

[Pieter Muller @pietermuller]

@mrleewp @OfferZen Wow the swag has multiplied since I got a t-shirt in 2016! Looks awesome.

[Pieter Muller @pietermuller]

@jossiesideways Very happy to hear about great people moving back!

[Pieter Muller @pietermuller]

'n Belangrike gesprek om aan die gang te hou.

Bou só as jy in SA wil bly

https://t.co/UvO3cNTFOR

[Pieter Muller @pietermuller]

@CityofCTAlerts Still no water in adjacent Bedford Street. Is there an estimate or progress report available?

[Zakes Mda @ZakesMda]

1/8 Just historical facts that have nothing to do with why you should choose to support which side in the current war in the northern climes:
The Russian Federation is NOT the former Soviet Union. The United Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a federation of 15 republics.