Talk:Kgalema Motlanthe

M&G article
Interesting that the Mail & Guardian lifted two paragraphs directly from this article (errors and all) in their breaking news article about his appointment as president:
 * Motlanthe is the youngest of thirteen children, and he was influenced by the revolutionary ideologies of the Black Consciousness Movement of Steve Biko. He was detained by the apartheid government in 1977 at 28, the year after the 1976 Soweto uprising. In 1967 he was detained for 11 months for pursuing the aims of the ANC. 
 * He was later sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on Robben Island. Shortly after his release he was elected secretary general of the National Union of Mineworkers. In 1997 when politician-businessman Cyril Ramaphosa retired from politics, Kgalema was elected secretary general of the ANC.

Zaian (talk) 11:25, 22 September 2008 (UTC)
 * The date of 1967 should probably be 1976. It was changed to 1967 date in this edit in August - probably just vandalism. It's been reproduced in so many articles since then. Lots of journalists out there seem to be relying on this article for their "facts". Zaian (talk) 07:00, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

BBC article
Motlanthe: South Africa's safe hands Tuesday, 23 September 2008 13:12 UK, notes: "...and on his Wikipedia entry, it says he was the youngest of 13 children."

This should probably be reffed. Journalists should probably go to the library as well. T L Miles (talk) 13:56, 23 September 2008 (UTC)


 * It seems some BBC journalist is using Wikipedia to "wash" his/her unreferenced factoids. This information was added here on 22 September by a BBC IP then mysteriously ended up being cited in a BBC article here. Tisk. T L Miles (talk) 14:12, 23 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Oh look. Same IP, minutes before, added the same factiod to a different person: Baleka Mbete. Policies are lax round Bush House, apparently.  I'll remove both "facts" and post a vandalism warning.  T L Miles (talk) 14:35, 23 September 2008 (UTC)


 * When referring to someone's edit, please link to the diff, not the revision. It's quicker, clearer, and more conclusive.  It might be worth commenting on dubious journalistic ethics  at "Have Your Say" on the BBC site. LeadSongDog (talk) 15:54, 23 September 2008 (UTC)


 * As I mentioned in your talk page, I don't see how you can call this vandalism. It is an unacceptable edit but not likely to be vandalism. Anyone not aware of that should check out WP:Vandalism. There are a whole bunch of things which are unacceptable but not vandalism. Calling every bad edit vandalism doesn't help anyone since it doesn't help editors understand why their edit is unacceptable and it confuses the problem of real vandalism. Nil Einne (talk) 18:45, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

Pronunciation of name
Phonetic transcription of his name is missing. The pronunciation of such an exotic name is hardly obvious to an Anglophone reader... Neko85 (talk) 18:04, 25 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Apart from the "Kg" consonant (which is like the "ch" in "loch") it's not too hard to pronounce. ka-LEH-ma mot-LUN-teh.  I've got no idea how to write that in phonetic script. Zaian (talk) 09:56, 26 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Based on your information, would be basic guide. However, I suspect it's not that simple, and I've probably misrepresented the vowel sounds. Can anybody upload a sound file?  Balkan  Fever  12:40, 26 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I have placed a IPA pronunciation template on the page. See the article. Jor  dan  Contribs  17:42, 26 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I've corrected the IPA based on Motlanthe's own pronunciation in the BBC video, information at Sesotho phonology, and information from User:Zyxoas's talk page (he's a native speaker of Sesotho). —Angr 16:12, 27 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, I was close ;)  Balkan Fever  01:07, 28 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks Zyxoas for clarifying. Zaian (talk) 11:15, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Missing biographical information
place of birth (a village in todays limpopo AFAIK); affiliation to nation (northern sotho?)

--Severino (talk) 06:07, 26 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Birthplace is mentioned, take another look. He was born in Alexandra (Johannesburg).
 * His nationality is South African, don't confuse it with ethnicity. Roger (talk) 11:32, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

OK, so is there any information about his ethnicity? --Severino (talk) 10:13, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

Correction. He is Sepedi speaking not Sesotho. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.122.129.160 (talk) 17:33, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

Land Bank controversy
this edit (Zaian says  Delete this section - it seems out of place, speculative, and I haven't seen any recent media sources which thought it deserved mention) removing Motlanthe's connection to the Land Bank is unwarranted. There are 2 references, including this (from Christian Science Monitor) :-


 * In February, auditors revealed that an 800 million rand (about $112 million) loan by the Land Bank, a government institution established to help farmers, had gone sour. The loan, given to a company whose shareholders include ANC General Secretary Motlanthe, amounted to nearly one-third of the Land Bank's total assets, and apparently cannot be repaid. The government has since fired the Land Bank chairman and agreed to inject 700 million rand to keep the Land Bank operative.

Why do we care about 'recent media sources' ? The Land Bank scandal is still very much in the news. Wizzy… &#9742; 14:13, 1 October 2008 (UTC)


 * I restored the section, and added another ref. It seems he was not directly involved, merely a shareholder, so if someone wants to lighten the section, or remove it again, I won't argue. Just discuss it here first ? Wizzy&hellip; &#9742; 08:57, 2 October 2008 (UTC)
 * When I first saw this section it was headlined "Corruption", i.e. implying that Motlanthe was corrupt, although this wasn't supported by the text under that heading. When I looked around, none of the many media articles about Motlanthe becoming presidency mentioned the Land Bank connection, which suggests to me that the connection is not notable.  In fact the section now says fairly clearly that there is "nothing to report", so I'm not sure what purpose it serves, other than to insinuate something that isn't backed up. I won't remove the paragraph again just yet, but it seems to have undue weight. Zaian (talk) 17:55, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

Author neutrality
Author seems to be part of or sympathetic to the ANC. Would that be a problem ? --91.57.155.238 (talk) 22:35, 16 December 2013 (UTC)