Werner Smit

Interested in the dynamics of life and the universe... Strange Planet! (these are my own views and/or participation in the greater dialogue).

[Sowell Economics @sowelleconomics]

Thomas Sowell: “Among people of every race, color, and creed, all around the world, socialism has led to hunger in countries that used to have surplus food to export.”

[marksconway @marksconway]

@jk_rowling @FacundoSavala Sturgeon has decided to change her pronouns to him/not me.

[Gareth Cliff @GarethCliff]

Yeah just take a drive through what used to be Iskor, see the state of NECSA, look at what used to be our rail infrastructure and see how the hyenas have stripped it all bare.

[F. A. Hayek Quotes @FAHayekSays]

Hayek on why freedom is essential for progress:

“Whenever you have a community completely commanded by an authoritarian system, there is no evolution in a sense because better systems cannot prevail so long as the old system is maintained by force.”

“Evolution is made possible by freedom. What you get in unfree systems is due to the fact that the emergence of the better has been prevented.”

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

I challenge every single person who believes minors should be enabled and even encouraged to transition to read this first person testimony to the end.

1/3

via @IWF https://t.co/3276o4tg8J

[Gareth Cliff @GarethCliff]

It’s now abundantly clear that most left-wing “support” can be separated into only two categories - paid for (with NGO or government money) and debilitating mental illness. Grifters and lunatics. What remains is just a small coterie of dumb communists.

[Werner Smit @wernerbeest]

@Finnthehuman80 When we drink castle we’re filled with admiration…

[Werner Smit @wernerbeest]

@DawieScholtz Slegte nuus vir die Afrikaanse Nationale Kongres. ⚫️🟢🟡

[Giulietta Talevi @GTalevi]

So: happily disregarding the FinMin's instructions, and who is going to pay for your budget-busting wage bill? Oh, right, us suckers with our massively inflated water, sanitation and electricity tariffs? Got it.

[Conscious Caracal 🇿🇦 @ConCaracal]

In summary: Redi believes Elon Musk's Starlink is a "security risk" for South Africa, but she does not believe this strongly enough to uninstall Musk's X app on her personal device.

Saved you a click.

[Werner Smit @wernerbeest]

@CyrilRamaphosa I’ll be there when you solve South Africa’s electricity generation, distribution and cost problems.

[Dawie Scholtz @DawieScholtz]

2/ For historical context in this ward:

2011
ANC 90%
DA 6%

2014
ANC 84%
EFF 8%
DA 5%

2016
ANC 65%
EFF 19%
DA 9%

2019
ANC 74%
EFF 15%
DA 8%

2021
ANC 53%
EFF 18%
DA 16%

2024
ANC 46%
DA 19%
EFF 14%

Yesterday
DA 32%
ANC 32%
EFF 14%

DA won by 8 votes.

[Dawie Scholtz @DawieScholtz]

1/ An interesting piece of history: DA won its first ever (that I am aware of?) 100% black by-election last night in Emfuleni ward 28:

DA 32% (+16)
ANC 32% (-21)
EFF 14% (-4)

Turnout: 36%

Quantitatively speaking, the 'best' DA by-election result ever in my view.

[The Common Sense @CommonSense_ZA]

Gabriel Makin's advice to Geordin Hill-Lewis and the DA. Study Margaret Thatcher.

Not for British nostalgia, but because, Makin argues, the DA needs the courage to stop apologising for the values that could rescue the country.

Too often the party sounds as if it just wants to administer South Africa more efficiently than the ANC.

Makin's argument is that it should be saying something bolder. That too much power sits in institutions that have failed, and that citizens, families, firms, and communities should be trusted with more of it.

Eskom has punished households with unreliable power. Transnet has broken rail and ports. The Post Office has collapsed. These are not neutral institutions.

Thatcher's genius, Makin writes, was that her reforms spoke most powerfully to the lower middle class. Council tenants could buy their homes. Ordinary savers could buy shares.

That is the South African opportunity. Make the aspirant middle class the owners of reform.

https://t.co/xxX5B0YjQl

[Sama Hoole @SamaHoole]

A farmer dies in April 2026.

His son inherits the farm. The farm has been in the family since 1847.

The farm consists of: 300 acres of grazing pasture, a farmhouse built in 1892, a barn, a milking parlour, two tractors of varying ages, a Land Rover that runs about 70% of the time, and a herd of 180 Hereford-cross cattle.

On paper, the farm is worth approximately £3.2 million. This is because land near him has been bought recently by a London hedge fund looking for carbon credits, which has dragged the comparable value of every field within forty miles upward to a number nobody local can justify.

In cash, the farm produces a profit of about £28,000 a year in a good year. In a bad year it loses money. The son also works as a fencing contractor three days a week to keep the operation viable.

The inheritance tax bill on a £3.2 million estate, even at the reduced 20% rate, comes to approximately £140,000 after the increased threshold is applied. The son does not have £140,000. The son has never had £140,000. The son has £4,200 in his current account and an overdraft.

The son sells 60 acres to a developer to pay the tax. The developer puts solar panels on the 60 acres. The remaining herd cannot be sustained on the reduced land. The herd is sold. The barn becomes a holiday let.

A different family eats Brazilian beef this Christmas without knowing why the price went up.

The Treasury collects £140,000.

The land never produces British food again.

[Gareth Cliff @GarethCliff]

South Africa needs more independent investigative journalism.

Joe Emilio is currently raising funds for two new documentaries investigating the land grabs in Hermanus and Grabouw. He’s close to the finish line.

1,500 people donating just R100 each would fully fund the project.

If you can help, donate below. If not, please share.

@Joe_Emilio_

https://t.co/KvSVJotdwm

[Gareth Cliff @GarethCliff]

Oh

[Werner Smit @wernerbeest]

@MbalulaFikile What was wrong with 2025 and 2024 and 2023 and 2022 and 2021.. ? Comrades, your time is over. Your ideology never worked anywhere. Go away.

[Martin van Staden @Martin_ASFL]

A non-ANC government can be constituted in Johannesburg today, right this moment, if the following parties can come to an agreement:

DA, ASA, PA, IFP, FF+, ACDP

Simplicity itself.

Johannesburg only suffers because they can't.