Our national anthem ought to be “Send in the Clowns”.

<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXXyDAcFu_RhBLv54i4oPAdaAjlXu8Mor9aanHatGaQ7cPMyIj-7cAtSBJ7-VbW-NPy3YsZK-khdxJdL3peCP2okvdnXQLKjd-h7cVfVoYsIlv7JLxrgCpuxlsmGplKCq9_huv_L6iJBrl/s1600/failing+SA" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="441" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXXyDAcFu_RhBLv54i4oPAdaAjlXu8Mor9aanHatGaQ7cPMyIj-7cAtSBJ7-VbW-NPy3YsZK-khdxJdL3peCP2okvdnXQLKjd-h7cVfVoYsIlv7JLxrgCpuxlsmGplKCq9_huv_L6iJBrl/s640/failing+SA" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By David Bullard</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These days I find myself standing back , shaking my head and having a quiet chuckle at the many economic problems South Africa faces. I’ve even been known to silently mouth the words “told you so”. I realise this is not a good thing but I think it’s got something to do with age and the fourteen odd years I spent “farting against thunder” as a newspaper columnist. I was re-reading my first book, </span><a href="http://www.newstime.co.za/column/DavidBullard/SA_is_the_Amy_Winehouse_of_global_economies/9/3735/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Out to Lunch</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, which was published almost ten years ago, and what I was writing about then I am still writing about today. Nothing has changed. We have learnt nothing and we still seem set on a course of self destruction. We are the Amy Winehouse of global economies.</span> <br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, pointing this sort of thing out inevitably leads to one being labelled a “racist” which is the predictable reaction one can expect from people too stupid to debate important issues. Launch into an attack on our government’s economic non-performance and you’re bound to be accused of wanting the black man to fail/not believing that the black man is entitled to wealth/not having made the transition to a new South Africa etc etc. It’s the biggest load of horse shit you can imagine but what more can you expect when first world thinking has to co-exist with the majority of a country still stuck in the middle ages? Because, let’s be brutally honest here, we may be the Cradle of Mankind but the early settlers certainly didn’t stumble across anything approaching a sophisticated and developed society (over to Biko Lives). After all, why invent the wheel when you don’t plan on going anywhere?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, the confusion comes when a country like South Africa pretends that it wants to play with the big boys in the global playground but doesn’t have the stomach for it. Our latest and, to date, most embarrassing example is the way our government is treating the Walmart deal. Having eventually given a qualified go ahead for the US retailing giant to invest in SA it seems as though our Economic Development (sic) Minister Ebrahim Patel has changed his mind and now wants to put a permanent stain on Walmart’s reputation. This means that, even if the deal does come off, it will always have a taint. One wonders how a buffoon like Patel can hold such an important position but nothing surprises me these days. Most of those holding high office in this country I wouldn’t trust to put bread in a toaster without fucking it up. Our national anthem ought to be “Send in the Clowns”.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I heard on the radio last week that foreign investment had fallen 70% in the past year. Is it any wonder when we are so hostile to anyone who comes knocking on our door keen to do business? But is there any point in any of us suffering high blood pressure because of this? Absolutely not. The best course is to hedge your bets by getting money offshore and to significantly reduce the amount you pay to the taxman. If you have a small business here then wind it down before it gets seized, taxed or legislated out of existence. Why would anyone want to deal with a lazy and uncommitted unionised workforce and a government openly hostile to capitalism? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Forget all the bullshit about the ANC wanting to create jobs. That’s just a guilt trip being laid on the dwindling minority of the economically active. The government’s task is to create an environment conducive to job creation and economic prosperity. They’re clearly too dumb to understand that so why on earth would private enterprise want to try and help when it’s quite clear that the government is going to screw them over?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you run a hospital you tend to put people with medical experience and knowledge in key positions. If you run a university, hopefully you would appoint well respected academics (although that clearly doesn’t apply at some of our Universities so it’s not a great example) as heads of faculties. When you run a country you would hope that people who have some experience or understanding of the business world would be given key cabinet positions but that doesn’t happen. Instead we have a clutch of luxury car driving halfwit Commies with lunatic ideas who simply cannot grasp the fact that we are sailing merrily on to failed nation status and are deaf to advice.</span><br /><br /><strong><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Link: </span></em></strong><a href="http://www.newstime.co.za/" style="color: #0e774a;" title="Http://www.newstime.co.za"><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.NewsTime.co.za</span></em></a><p>

Our national anthem ought to be “Send in the Clowns”.

By David Bullard These days I find myself standing back , shaking my head and having a quiet chuckle at the many economic problems South Afr...

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South Africa "just another country" in Africa

<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsRfxFSgieXBcKeLYG2wPXL6WZTVX8Gm69iDF5jAwrRT8nYjwnzPOKj1gfjPcqLF90_usSg680Duf45s5VLDVm2Xc5JBT2f6xUBfT8MofKcDp429rbLLVp07La-WcvV8GUmATCOP8WzRvH/s1600/boilingfrog.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634904617678309154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsRfxFSgieXBcKeLYG2wPXL6WZTVX8Gm69iDF5jAwrRT8nYjwnzPOKj1gfjPcqLF90_usSg680Duf45s5VLDVm2Xc5JBT2f6xUBfT8MofKcDp429rbLLVp07La-WcvV8GUmATCOP8WzRvH/s400/boilingfrog.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 266px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="color: #990000;"><strong><span style="font-family: arial;"><em>There are lots of South African articles doing the rounds, this is one of the best.</em></span><br /></strong></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><em><span style="color: #990000;"><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><strong> I have always tried to understand why Africa has not prospered with all the mineral wealth and available labour. This is without a doubt the most plausible explanation for me. I do hope I am completely wrong.</strong></span> </span></em><br /><br />I expect, like me, you are aware that there has never been a prosperous black-led country, but perhaps it’s just because of “bad luck”, or whatever, for that incontrovertible fact.<br /><br />Take Haiti as an example. Before the black slaves revolted and killed all the whites and half castes Haiti had a GNP greater than most of what is now the USA . It supplied 60% of all the sugar used in Europe. Today it is a wasteland. Apparently if you Google Earth the place you see is a sere, brown coloured landscape compared to the neighbouring Dominican Republic which is green and verdant. Twice the USA has occupied Haiti , building roads, ports, hospitals and schools while putting in a functional society. The moment the Americans left they reverted to dictatorship, voodoo, witchcraft, corruption and barbarism. They did not stagnate, they regressed to the primitive savagery of their forefathers<br /><br />Since the 1960s, when the Congo expelled the Belgians this has been a mirror of African regression, moving steadily southwards until the example of Zimbabwe . Once a prosperous, well educated exporter of food the population now eat rats to survive.<br /><br />Will SA go the same way?<br /><br />There are those optimists who say “No, we have such a strong economy, such sophisticated infrastructure, such a talent pool, that we can never sink”.<br /><br />My belief is that they have not considered the root cause of Africa’s failure. A cause that is not spoken about as it is fearfully politically incorrect, and probably illegal to speak about. That cause is the deficiencies of the black ”mentality”, for want of a better word.<br /><br />Are there differences between races, or is race just a meaningless social construct? Until recently, I believed all races were the same under the skin variations, and that perceived differences were only the result of cultural differences. I believed in a common and equal humanity.<br /><br />But things did not always ring true, observable anomalies were inexplicable if all men are the same.<br /><br />Why, under apartheid, did the Indians prosper, become doctors, scientists, educators, merchants and professionals while the vast majority of the equally oppressed black Africans remained hewers of wood?<br /><br />Why can black Africans run, jump and throw better than honkies, but why, out of a billion of them, have they never invented a single thing of any worth? Why have they, collectively, contributed absolutely nothing to the advancement of humanity.<br />Well the physical thing, the running, throwing bit is easily and uncontroversial answered. Simple, people of African descent (especially the Jamaicans) are genetically better equipped in this regard. Their muscle fibres are different and the typically have 15% more free testosterone than other peoples. Acknowledging this is regarded as racism. Unfortunately, racist or not, that is proven and a fact. Google it and you will find that for over 70 years, in test after test, done by dozens of university professors and Nobel laureates plus USA government studies, most people of African descent trail other races by a wide margin.<br /><br />Of course I.Q. tests have been attacked, especially by those who perform badly at them, as one might expect them to do. Detractors claim cultural bias, dysfunctional families, past oppression, poor schooling and a host of other reasons for poor black performance, but the professors defend their contention that I.Q. is largely an inherited trait; that differences are inherent, built into a person’s inherited DNA.<br /><br />For every argument attacking the validity of these tests they have a host of results confirming their accuracy and typicality. Fascinating stuff if you are interested in reading up on it.<br /><br />The effect of high/low I.Q. has also been studied in depth, with fairly predictable results. Low I.Q. individuals performed badly in social class, family stability, income, educational levels, illegitimate pregnancy, single parent families, rate of prison incarceration, rape, violent crime etc. etc. etc.<br /><br />I.Q. measurement measures different facets of intelligence and mental competence. Sadly it is in the absolutely vital sphere of cognitive ability that blacks score worst. This means they score abysmally in things like forward planning and anticipating the consequences of their actions.<br /><br />It is this I.Q. (and testosterone) disparity that is blamed for the fact that African Americans are 5 times more likely to be imprisoned than white (including Hispanic) Americans, 9 times more likely than Americans of Asiatic descent. All in line with I.Q. distributions.<br /><br />Once imprisonment for violent crimes are computed the numbers become stratospheric. These are American government collated statistics, so pretty accurate. Our government in SA do not, for obvious reasons, publish similar stats, but a pound to a pinch of salt they are even more astounding.<br /><br />So why the lecture on I.Q.?<br /><br />Well for a start you must understand that our ruling party are voted into power by a largely moronic plebiscite. I choose the word moronic intentionally. If the cut off point for moronic is an I.Q. of 70, half the voting population would be classified as such.<br /><br />Only one in 40 black South Africans achieves the average I.Q. of his white fellow citizens. One in a hundred have the I.Q. to achieve university entrance requirements. That is why only one in ten blacks pass our dumbed down Matric (with a pass percentage of 30% in many cases). One in 6000 black grade one learners will pass Matric with both Maths and Science.<br /><br />Simply put, they are bloody stupid, and they rule us. Furthermore Zoooooma says they will rule us until the second coming. I believe him.<br /><br />This explains why the ANC have such idiots in their positions of power and influence, the likes of Zuma, Malema, Khomphela and Cele. They are, unfortunately, the best they have! Well, they are the best blacks they have. All the critical positions in government are held by Indians, coloureds or whites, something I am grateful for but which pisses Malema off big time .<br /><br />Will this last? I doubt it. The black/white polarisation is growing and the rhetoric is becoming more extreme. Listen to the pub or workplace chatter, read the blogs and comments sections of the newspapers and it becomes obvious. Whites are gatvol at the waste, corruption and stupidity of the black elite. Blacks are demanding, as their right, the wealth of the whites by means of redistribution of assets. No matter that they have not worked for those assets, they claim them as the spoils of war.<br /><br />Just in the past week the Mayor of Pretoria, Malema, a minister and Winnie have gone on record as blaming whites for sabotaging redistribution and exploiting blacks. Malema calls out “Kill the boers for they are rapists” to thunderous applause by university students Four influential ANC opinion makers who are echoing the groundswell of mutterings in the ghettoes. The natives are getting restless.<br /><br /><br />Things are not going to improve. They cannot, there is no reason to believe our slow slide into a failed state can be reversed with our current regime, and there is no prospect whatsoever of there being a change to governance based on meritocracy. Anyone who believes otherwise, or that the ANC can mend their ways, is living in LaLa land. They do not have the intellect.<br /><br />Like the proverbial frog in the slowly heating pot we have become inured to the slow collapse of our hospitals, schools, courts, water supplies, roads, civil service and service levels. They will become totally dysfunctional shortly. Inevitably so. Those in charge do not have the mental capacity to organise things.<br /><br />Our economy and Rand is reliant on short term “hot” funds from overseas that can flee at the touch of a computer button, and probably will if our Rand weakens. Conversely we need a weaker Rand to encourage exports.<br /><br />6 million taxpayers support 12 million recipients of social grants, and that figure is set to rise this year. The National Health Insurance scheme will happen, no matter how unaffordable. That will push our social grant costs up to four hundred billion Rand. Four hundred billion Rand which produces absolutely no product. Inflation is set to stay and worsen. The consequence of being the biggest socialist state on earth. I do not believe the ANC has the intellect to conceptualise how big a billion is, let alone 400 billion, or what effect this will have on the economy.<br /><br />You do not believe Malema’s call to nationalise the mines? This guy articulates what the hoi polloi are thinking, but the ANC leadership will not say yet. The tactic is to set the bar high, then lower it and the victims will sigh with relief and say it could have been worse. So perhaps it will not be total nationalisation but rather 51%, a’ la Zim. Just look north for revelation, Zuma does.<br /><br />Who would have believed that this country would ever be headed by an unschooled, rape accused, adulterous, corrupt, sex obsessed bigot like Zuma. Anything is possible with the ANC.<br /><br />Summary.<br /><br />You have few years left to enjoy what is left of the glorious SA lifestyle, especially in the Cape , but understand it is not permanent. The end could be sudden as the tipping point is reached, just as it was sudden for those Zim, Zambian, Mozambican or Angolans whites. It could, conceivably, be as bloody as the Hutu/Tutsi uprising when primitive tribal bloodlust overcomes a thin veneer of inculcated civilisation.<br /><br />Enjoy it while you can, and enjoy it in the Cape where the population mix is more favourable, but be aware that change is inevitable. Your children must get a world class education, because they will not be adults in SA. Get assets stashed offshore, you and your children will need them there.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"></span><p>

South Africa "just another country" in Africa

There are lots of South African articles doing the rounds, this is one of the best. I have always tried to understand why Africa has not p...

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'Politicians' spending YOUR tax money

<p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">The next time you hear an SA politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about whether you wanted the 'politicians' spending YOUR tax money.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579421992566663058" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih00c5caTtcxRHe0VZZ9rNV-2u9ZdLdL5_CdNxpL9Hi5SBDMP40SZ7VFksJL-vwbtgb24RetZ2u7mbcmjmtnGHYcTONcE5vMWmqkQZes4r84j-Xylfj_vIPz1wYKVGz6m_kwC5IBGHg8Jr/s400/zuma-gravy.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 226px; CURSOR: hand" /><br />A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its press releases.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#cc0000;">A.</span></strong><br />A billion seconds ago it was 1959.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#cc0000;">B.</span></strong><br />A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#cc0000;">C.</span></strong><br />A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#cc0000;">D.</span></strong><br />A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#cc0000;">E.</span></strong><br />A billion Rand ago was only 27 hours and 12 minutes, at the rate our SA government<br />is spending it.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#cc0000;">Building Permit Tax<br />Cigarette Tax<br />Corporation Tax<br />Income Tax<br />VAT<br />GST<br />Fishing Licence Tax<br />Food Licence Tax<br />Fuel LicenceTax<br />Petrol/Diesel Tax<br />Hunting Licence Tax<br />Luxury Tax<br />Property Tax<br />Service charge taxes<br />Capital gains Tax<br />Social Security Tax<br />Road Usage Tax<br />Local Tax<br />Vehicle Licence Registration Tax<br />Vehicle Sales Tax<br />Workers Compensation Tax </span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#000099;">Not one of these taxes existed 20 years ago...<br />And our nation was one of the most prosperous in Africa.<br /><br />We had absolutely no national debt...<br />We had the largest middle class in Africa<br />And Mum stayed home to raise the kids.<br /><br /></span></strong>What happened?<br /><br />I hope this message goes around at least a billion times.<br /><br />What the HELL happened ????? </span><p>

'Politicians' spending YOUR tax money

The next time you hear an SA politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about whether you wanted the 'politicia...

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Prostitutes, Beer and The SA Economy

<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIxyGKH13-UJZdpWy4VKmYLyOt96hHm04VyjCSuTrzlWw9dprgJBEdra-CaakjtpX3fOO9qnpgrCM05dTUiKnQ-AiC8FMHvF5G-u6UU2ntkmiuwNcf7HwnXNz8xSYyLtZiuy27kj3YJHYH/s1600/budget-tax+breaks.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578477484472984226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIxyGKH13-UJZdpWy4VKmYLyOt96hHm04VyjCSuTrzlWw9dprgJBEdra-CaakjtpX3fOO9qnpgrCM05dTUiKnQ-AiC8FMHvF5G-u6UU2ntkmiuwNcf7HwnXNz8xSYyLtZiuy27kj3YJHYH/s400/budget-tax+breaks.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 300px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 225px; CURSOR: hand" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">The South African Government is sending each of us a R10 260 rebate. If we spend that money at The Plaza, the money goes to China. If we spend it on gasoline it goes to the Arabs. If we buy a computer, it will go to India. If we purchase fruits and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. If we purchase a good car, it will go to Germany. If we purchase useless crap, it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the South African economy.<br /><br />The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it on prostitutes and beer, since these are the only products still produced in SA.<br /><br />I’ve been doing my part…..”<br /></span><p>

Prostitutes, Beer and The SA Economy

The South African Government is sending each of us a R10 260 rebate. If we spend that money at The Plaza, the money goes to China. If we spe...

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'Why I left South Africa'

<p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:medium;">There are views for and against SA as it stands now. Here is my 50 cents on the state of affairs.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjlnPT7vu_DScC03C57c09ae9za99JdWJkQGpWueYtE8jpnPrsTbGipl5I7UQR54nPs6Qlp20mX0eBC4YLuBO9Bcz8kXJ0bfHwUPryWTVpOrY7WsUc30hNhW8AEUZ4NiCQqGry1JKfgOZ9/s1600/EXPATS.gif"></a>Pros:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1xh144ieKf8YksdhWUrRjzj0L-eFMXhODscwHjus5wVvLzQrYOyQmprGSCQH5T-TbNNXa3XrRWuediyvU0ZRKZY5qTzHVKTnlgjHICKpOheA5kCXTq_7HTXarul9QMpK9BnuedLnEU2dJ/s1600/EXPATS.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550750283061566210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1xh144ieKf8YksdhWUrRjzj0L-eFMXhODscwHjus5wVvLzQrYOyQmprGSCQH5T-TbNNXa3XrRWuediyvU0ZRKZY5qTzHVKTnlgjHICKpOheA5kCXTq_7HTXarul9QMpK9BnuedLnEU2dJ/s400/EXPATS.gif" style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 250px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 170px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>1. Weather is generally great all over SA.<br /><br />2. Freedom of Movement.<br /><br />3. Great outdoors.<br /><br />4. Big 5.<br /><br />5. Huge opportunities.<br /><br />6. Infectious SA humour and camaraderie.<br /><br />There are many more, and to each person they hold a different weighing of importance. Just so that you all know, I left SA, for these reasons...<br /><br />Cons:<br /><br />1. Crime. Why is there a massive disparity between the police stats and the SAMA stats? Even so, the level of violence that goes with a house breaking etc. is off the scale, and don’t let them bull dust you, it is getting worse. (I have friends who own security companies, and their stats are all going up rapidly; why are the cops going down?)<br /><br />2. Water. Why was the report by Dr Anthony Turton blocked by the CSIR? We have acid mine drainage and Government just set up a task team to “look into the matter” time has gone for this, action is required.<br /><br />3. Sewerage. Government refused to release a report on the state of sewage, saying that it would cause panic amongst people, who didn’t understand. Yeah right. You have to love this minister, who says you only have a crisis when there is a country-wide outbreak of cholera. Just look to Haiti to see how well that idea worked! Read the <a href="http://www.dwaf.gov.za/Documents/GreenDropReport.pdf%20">report here</a><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:medium;">4. Corruption. There is almost zero appetite for tackling corruption. People get “redeployed” rather than fired and jailed.<br /><br />5. Education. The highest per capita allocation in the world, and the results are dismal. I say no more.<br /><br />6. Economy and social grants. People in SA need grants, that’s a fact, but you cannot have 4.5 million tax payers feeding 14 million (and counting) people. At some point, you have to give less to be able to give more. The tax base in SA is too small for all these election promises, SA has to become more prudent.<br /><br />7. BEE. The idea was noble, the execution a disaster. For a white guy to get a shot at goals in SA he has to start a company. Once successful, he has to take on a BEE partner to get business, and the inevitable “SA handshake” Note, not all do business like this, but I have been around enough businesses to know this is de rigueur.<br /><br />8. SARS at roadblocks. I have queried this with about 40-odd people who live in other countries, and they don’t know of any in those countries that have dedicated people from SARS/IRS etc at a roadblock. This tells me the fiscus is desperate for money.<br /><br />9. Land reform. Why not use a partnership model? Who does Government expect someone to walk onto a farm and suddenly know how to run it profitably? The distribution plan is noble, and again, terribly executed.<br /><br />10. Infrastructure. Not enough money to fix the roads. And oh yes, we pay taxes on our licenses, and then again on petrol, why then do we pay AGAIN for toll roads? Where is the money going to?<br /><br />11. Plastic bags tax. Where is all that money people?<br /><br />12. Quasi-militant unions. Utterances like, “we will make the country ungovernable” and “they will be war”, “we cannot guarantee we can control our members” wake up! This is a low-grade war. Since when do soldiers storm the Union Buildings? That is high treason people. We cannot afford to pay more for civil servants but they hold a gun to our head. Why do these people loot and trash the streets, cars and shops? Basal thuggery, endorsed by their handlers.<br /><br />There are many more points I can raise, but stand back a little and look at all the pieces of this jigsaw puzzle and SEE what your eyes and ears are telling your brain. It has been declining slowly for years. Forget the NP or the ANC. Who is running it matters not, how they are running it matters. Unless the so-called great unwashed realise they are getting a raw deal every 5 years, it will keep getting worse.<br /><br />I am grateful to my Father in heaven for the chance to leave. I will not throw stones when asked by people about my former country, but I will be candid about the facts.<br /><br />It is indeed, Cry The Beloved Country. I sleep now with open windows; don’t worry about the guy selling a paper at the traffic light (robot) or the lights behind me on the way home. SA citizens, you are going to have to stand up and demand accountability. Call me what you wish, but I am happier now than I have been in 20 years.<br /><br />My children have a genuine shot at goals. To those who choose to remain and those who cannot leave, I salute you.<br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:medium;"></span><p></p>

'Why I left South Africa'

There are views for and against SA as it stands now. Here is my 50 cents on the state of affairs. Pros: 1. Weather is generally great all ov...

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Rocketing municipal bills hit SA

<p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:#990000;">In the third quarter of this year South Africans shelled out 72.2% more for municipal services than during the same period two years ago.<br /></span></strong><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc_OxBykS2HUa2SeoBnKmQhBF7LUk_Lroi7TWoHBxzNZtMYpWe-0FIVvgDXckMPIM5DtvkQOR4bcO7jg3CzVm4f3Ec1gYns8OhiuL2vJB-WBBoWCnSFdIQVqEaGVpk5zZ8qDzuI-UGidTr/s1600/you_suck.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5547686807509884898" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc_OxBykS2HUa2SeoBnKmQhBF7LUk_Lroi7TWoHBxzNZtMYpWe-0FIVvgDXckMPIM5DtvkQOR4bcO7jg3CzVm4f3Ec1gYns8OhiuL2vJB-WBBoWCnSFdIQVqEaGVpk5zZ8qDzuI-UGidTr/s320/you_suck.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Annual municipal rates and services tariffs were now equal to the total amount that South Africans paid in personal tax. But for this massive contribution they received little value for money, said Economists.co.za director Mike Schüssler, who reported these statistics.<br /><br />He reckoned these large increases equalled a 3.37 percentage point rise in interest rates.<br /><br />It was no wonder, he said, that interest-rate cuts did not have the desired outcome of getting consumer expenditure rolling forward. A large part of these savings were being sucked up by municipal accounts.<br /><br />Schüssler said the R51.7bn that the public had paid to municipalities in the third quarter represented 7.8% of the quarterly gross domestic product (GDP). Two years ago this percentage was 5.17%.<br /><br />Municipalities increasingly demand a greater proportion of the GDP and the tax burden on citizens is always on the rise, said Schüssler. If the situation should continue, within five years all the money would go to the state. This situation was not sustainable.<br /><br />He said local authorities needed to reduce costs, and municipal officers' salaries were excessive. Municipal officers needed money to buy copious amounts of alcohol, expensive houses and cars.<br /><br />It was not a case of too little money. Municipalities were hopelessly ineffective. He said the fact that municipalities' outstanding debts were continually rising was a sign that consumers were being tapped dry.<br /><br />According to figures released by National Treasury last week, by the end of September consumers owed metro councils 12.4% more than a year ago. In Johannesburg the increase was 23.5%. In secondary cities the outstanding debt was 18.3% up. More than 60% of this debt was owed by households.<br /><br />Efficient Group chief economist Dawie Roodt said the sharp rise in municipal costs was moreover unevenly distributed among the county's citizens. For the middle class, which is easier to track down and can apparently afford to pay, the rise is probably even higher.<br /><br />He said if the economy grew by 3% this year, the benefits of this growth could be lost to the individual because he or she would have to shell out more and more to the local municipality.<br /><br />The biggest threat for the South African economy was for the state to break down completely, said Roodt There was clear evidence that South Africa was rapidly deteriorating in the same way that most other African countries had deteriorated which is why many Europeans had done the sensible thing and emigrated back to civilisation.<br /><br />This could already be seen at municipal level.<br /><br />He said municipalities were only supposed to deliver services and should therefore earn money only from levies. But they were actually busy redistributing, which was a function belonging to central government. That was how poverty was simply being spread.<br /><br />According to the municipal budget's medium-term review, which Treasury also announced last week, municipalities' budgets will increase by a further 25% over the next two years. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;"></span><p><br /></p>

Rocketing municipal bills hit SA

In the third quarter of this year South Africans shelled out 72.2% more for municipal services than during the same period two years ago. An...

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SA – Big Question Time

<p><span style="font-family:arial;"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">By Iain Robertson<br /></span></em><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:#990000;">South Africa is at a tipping point. We have a Government that seems to have lost the plot. It is fighting paper tigers in the media while we head towards an economic Armageddon with increasing rapidity. The rapacious plundering of the economy by the not-so-good in Government, their relatives and friends looks more and more like rats deserting the sinking ship.<br /></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5538403977150930290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib_F56Lvm1MSgYMWXq9-RcE6Tm9jF1XKjpkXRWN8t2nr6leXwP2JUnmK7_gyyqwoMPAVZAaS1OLc4SFTS3m4fMx5YzAIBcuFe2ovHzsQs_WlPZ_yfTCw1eRXvaPoXdZqwuVCg8zDYYUivB/s400/anc-fail.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 122px; CURSOR: hand" />B</span>ut the real story is even worse.</strong> We do not have the skills to turn our economy around, we do not have an education system that can provide us with the skilled people in sufficient time, and even if we did, we do not have the warm bodies of a suitable age to receive that education.<br /><br />Point 1 – a people crisis:<br /><br /></span></span><ul><li><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">A population of 52 Million or so, plus an estimated 10 Million legal and illegal immigrants.<br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The official unemployment rate is given as around 25%. Unisa calculate 45%, and the advertising industry use a figure closer to 65%.<br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">About 20 Million people are dependent on welfare grants<br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">5.7 Million people are HIV positive, dying at a rate of about 1000 per day, mostly in the economically active 15-45 age group.<br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Average life expectancy has tumbled from 60 in 1990 to 40 today<br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Disengaged, functionally illiterate, innumerate and uneducable individuals in youth and middle age<br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">By 2015, 32% of all children will be AIDS orphans<br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">There are about 5.3Million registered taxpayers, of whom 1 Million or so are Government employees, thereby just moving tax income from one pocket to another. Of the remaining 4Million or so, about 1 Million provide 75% of the tax income. According to Mike Schussler and others, an unsustainable economy.</span></span></li></ul><p><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Point 2 – an environment crisis<br /><br /></p></span></span><ul><li><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Dysfunctional electricity reticulation and generation<br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">An unmaintained and disintegrating physical infrastructure. Most roadway bridges have not been maintained for the last 15 years<br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Less than 5% of the sewage plants in the country (around 30 out of 930) operate correctly<br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Just over 10% of all municipalities (30 out of 280) can provide clean and safe drinking water<br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Water with the acidity of lemon juice will flood central Johannesburg and poison the Gauteng environment in about 18 months time, the legacy of gold mining.</span></span></li></ul><p><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Point 3 – a governance crisis<br /><br /></p></span></span><ul><li><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">A wholesale loss of skills and expertise from 1994 onwards as experienced and competent civil servants were replaced with deployed ANC cadres. A simple replacement, no handover or skills transfer<br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The concept of “a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay” has gone out of the window.<br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Relocation (theft) of state funds by tampering with contracts, tenders and pay-offs has become an acceptable secondary income stream<br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The result - large areas of society are governed by thieves and incompetents</span></span></li></ul><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />What is suddenly different ?<br /><br />While the gradual erosion of government could be hidden a facade could be maintained, but as soon as the electricity crisis hit, followed by the admission of a forthcoming sewage and water crisis, the inadequacies in governance were literally brought home to citizens. Questions were then asked about missing RDP homes, RDP homes that fell apart after a very short period, and the general appalling level of service delivery. The Emperor then had no clothes.<br /><br />The outcome of the realisation that governance is failing is already being seen. Self-help is now the order of the day as citizens bypass formal government structures that are unable to deliver. Communities repair roads themselves, pay for additional teaching and medical staff in their schools and hospitals. Black communities are demonstrating and physically attacking local and national government buildings. Voices are arising in all communities that they are paying at least twice for everything, once as tax, and a second time to provide paid-for services that are not delivered. At some point very soon, they will stop paying the first time and let the Revenue know in no uncertain terms.<br /><br />We are now beginning to see Government react. It is trying to close down avenues of information, by preventing the media reporting on it, by attempting to close off areas of the Internet, and by adopting the philosophy that everything is secret unless deemed otherwise. Local Government is becoming increasingly dysfunctional and irrelevant.<br /><br />Where do we go from here ? Towards an increasingly autocratic society as we slip into the “African” model of a polarised economy of an ultra rich minority and a subsistence level majority. Unless something changes that is what will happen.<br /><br />It all depends on how we manage our Human Capital as individuals and as small businesses. Without adequate intellectual and human capital in ourselves, our businesses and our customers, we will not be able to regenerate our society. The next year is critical.<br /><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></span>

SA – Big Question Time

By Iain Robertson South Africa is at a tipping point. We have a Government that seems to have lost the plot. It is fighting paper tigers in ...

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Why Africa is Poor: the result of power-hungry dictators

<p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:#990000;">Mills' hard-hitting book pulls no punches about Africa's condition. The first sentence of the introduction to his book, Why Africa is Poor: And What Africans Can Do About It, reads: “The main reason why Africa­’s people are poor is because their leaders have made this choice.” This sentence is repeated in the middle of the book. It is repeated again at the end of Mills’s conclusions. Could this insistent message be plainer? Or will Africa just continue to ignore the lessons of international reform as it suits them?<br /></span></strong><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk7Atw3aj-Jn3TKQVo2cM5HVcoJ_haZs6FrS5i3MrKDXFToPjEFqjlKjNnvOmuKqwwyh5-HeAFXWMxl33L7Rtv8NAo0YHIxCEznf7lsP7DmYUQGZAjsSwtdbwLesg6qDI7eGuhgA2VpDUR/s1600/BOOK%20Why%20Africa%20is%20Poor(2).jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521362221422259666" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk7Atw3aj-Jn3TKQVo2cM5HVcoJ_haZs6FrS5i3MrKDXFToPjEFqjlKjNnvOmuKqwwyh5-HeAFXWMxl33L7Rtv8NAo0YHIxCEznf7lsP7DmYUQGZAjsSwtdbwLesg6qDI7eGuhgA2VpDUR/s400/BOOK%2520Why%2520Africa%2520is%2520Poor(2).jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 250px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 382px" /></a>It reminds me of another book titled <span style="color:#000099;"><em>Africa: Dispatches from a Fragile Continent</em>.</span> (published in 1990), written by Blaine Harden of the Washington Post. In it he made the following observation:<br /><br />There are countless reasons to despair for Africa. At the end of the 1980s, per capita income was lower than it was thirty years earlier. Seventy percent of the world’s poorest nations are in Africa. The region is slipping out of the Third World into its own bleak category: the Nth World.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8xrWeiHnfuLrqwwuMNSKzSjeqgPHdEE5kiaI_AZ_ZXjhe0m3VwMv5nXy2qouqvAem2OT0PIGWnFu8uylWzOfBCEzQeEMoEluWClSXY3PIOO2NdI6a1Cemf0ujfOAHPh80uc9N7NRKDJx0/s1600/Book+-+Africa+a+fragile+continent.jpg"></a>Africa is the most successful producer of babies in recorded history and the world’s least successful producer of food<br /><br />And, like Greg Mills, Harden blames Africa’s power-hungry dictators for the tragic state of affairs:<br /><br />As I travelled around Africa, it was the vulnerability of Africans to the depredations of their own leaders that — more than famines and wars and poverty — sickened me most. </span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><blockquote><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:100%;">If you took a quarter-century worth of His Excellencies the African leader and tossed them in a blender, you would come up with a Big Man who looks like this:<em> </em></span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:100%;"><em>His face is on the money. His photograph hangs in every office in his realm. His ministers wear gold pins with tiny photographs of him on the lapels of their tailored pin-striped suits. He names streets, football stadiums, hospitals, and universities after himself. He carries a silver-inlaid ivory mace, or an ornately carved walking stick or a fly whisk or a chiefly stool. He insists on being called “Doctor” or “conqueror” or “teacher” or “the big elephant” or “the number-one peasant” or “the most popular leader in the world.” His every pronouncement is reported on the front page. He sleeps with the wives and daughters of powerful men in his government. He shuffles ministers without warning, paralyzing policy decisions as he undercuts pretenders to his throne. He scapegoats minorities to shore up popular support. He bans all political parties except the one he controls. He rigs elections. He emasculates the courts. He cows the press. He stifles academia. He goes to church.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:100%;"><em><span style="color:#666666;">(p217, Blaine Harden, Africa – Dispatches from a Fragile Continent, 1993)</span></em> </span></p></blockquote><p><br />Mills’s book should be required reading for every South African cabinet minister, senior (and upcoming) government official, business leader — for everyone interested in the development of what the Economist some years ago called the “hopeless continent”.<br /><br />Mills also discusses South Africa’s resistance to globalisation and generally Africa’s eagerness to attend the myriad international events to which its leaders are invited, instead of submitting strategic and detailed execution plans at these events.<br /><br />“Africa has the biggest voting bloc in the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and other such organisations,” Mills notes. “But what does it ‘trade’ its vote for? Help for Cuba and the Palestinians, blocking UN managerial reform, and manoeuvring around tougher action on Burma and Iran. None of this does one bit for Africa­ or for Africans outside of the New York diplomats, who revel in such posturing, or those leaders overwrought by their own anti-colonial complexes. Africa is often the subject of these meetings, but its leaders generally miss the point.<br /><br />“As the collapse of the global trade talks in Geneva in 2008 showed, the WTO was perhaps the worst example. Led by South Africa, 40 African votes were locked together with China, India­ and Brazil, with the aim of resisting European and United States demands for the South American and South Asian giants to open their markets.<br /><br />“Fine for them, but those same countries had as high — or higher — tariffs on African goods as the EU and U.S. did. If African votes in support of their positions had been exchanged for commitment from those countries to provide duty- and quota-free status to Africa (a small price for them to pay given the limited share Africa would gain in their markets), this position would have made sense . Instead, Africa sold its votes for some form of ‘South-South’ solidarity, without any return to serve its own interests. India, China and Brazil must laugh all the way to Geneva for every WTO session.”<br /><br />For how much longer does Africa want to be known as the failed continent? </p><p>Consider this comment in The Times (UK) by a former Conservative MP and influential columnist, Matthew Parris, responding to the constant squeals from African leaders that the West are trying to recolonise them: </p><blockquote><em>“Great powers aren’t interested in administering wild places any more, still less in settling them; just raping them. Black gangster governments sponsored by self-interested Asian or Western powers could become the central story in 21st-century African history. The continent is in many places run by outfits that resemble gangs rather than governments. You hardly need visit  … the gang’s territory … you simply give it support, munitions, bribes and protection to keep the roads and airports open and it pays you with access to resources. It is when China, then America, and perhaps even Russia or India follow, that the scramble for Africa will truly be resumed.”</em> </blockquote><em><span style="font-size:100%;color:#666666;"><blockquote><em><span style="font-size:100%;color:#666666;">Parris wrote that comment in April 2008.</span></em></blockquote><p align="left"></span></em><br />"Yet it is within the power of African governments to make more civilised arrangements. Why don’t they do it?"<br /><br />Surveying Africa’s record, Mills writes: “In a half-century of independence, Africa has not realised its potential. Instead, its greatest national assets have undermined its prosperity. Africa’s youth, far from being a huge source of talent and energy to be harnessed, are regarded as a destabilising force because they are largely unemployed and uneducated.<br /><br />The principal problem with African economics is politics, and the choices that leaders make in the interests of their short-term expediency of staying in power and ensuring control."<br /><br />Far from being the world's breadbasket, Africa's agriculture potential has similarly been squandered. Despite many African states possessing natural advantages, 35 of 48 sub-Saharan economies were net food importers at the end of the 2000s. Africa's share of world agricultural exports has halved since 1970, to under 4 percent.<br /><br />If Africa's dismal economic performance can be put down to bad choices by African leaders, then we have to ask: Why have they made them?"<br /><br />When African leaders read what further Mills has to say, they should squirm, because they know it applies to most of them: “Things are highly politicised in the small sense of the word — keeping matters in the party’s ambit, rather than true checks and balances on government. </span></p><p></p>

Why Africa is Poor: the result of power-hungry dictators

Mills' hard-hitting book pulls no punches about Africa's condition. The first sentence of the introduction to his book, Why Africa i...

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Good stats, bad stats

<p><em><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">by George Annandale</span></em><br /><em><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /></em><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:#990000;">Seems we are really making progress in this great year that saw the great African event of the century, the Soccer World Cup, taking place right here in our country.</span></strong><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigrGMTrMY-dmIm4isjuOyaMRCDi4JAb8K8VKniEHzkismE-AUihxbWtAjLbSz2d3NbrwUDozDrMwv9NsYrAw58YvT_Bn39Timo9RkBamecSbxUke4FddTGTlN_4NDiUMMxAt46hsU2Yn-X/s1600/crime-statistics.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515363438867978066" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigrGMTrMY-dmIm4isjuOyaMRCDi4JAb8K8VKniEHzkismE-AUihxbWtAjLbSz2d3NbrwUDozDrMwv9NsYrAw58YvT_Bn39Timo9RkBamecSbxUke4FddTGTlN_4NDiUMMxAt46hsU2Yn-X/s400/crime-statistics.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 385px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 296px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>Hot on the heels of the World Cup, we are told that our murder rate is down. We now, collectively, murder only 46.3 people per day compared to 50.7 in the previous year.<br /><br />That is not all. According to the Minister, all but one of the top ten violent criminals are in prison, the only exception being one Msilikathsi WaAfrica, a violent man who, according to the Minister, fought off an army of policemen and was only subdued once the Hawks, Budgies and Parrots stepped in to lend a hand in subduing him, after which he was brought to court where, unfortunately the case collapsed, probably as a result of corruption in the National Prosecuting Authority and he was released.<br /><br />Happily it is not only the murder rate that is dropping; it seems life expectancy is also dropping rather sharply, from 65 years in 1995 to 47 years currently. It is no wonder then that health workers had to take a few days off, to celebrate this milestone and to demand a bit of monetary recognition for their efforts in controlling a rampant population growth rate.<br /><br />Talking about flagging fortunes, our Universities are putting in some stellar performances in the race to achieve African standards with the highest ranked SA university, The University of Cape Town, dropping in world rankings from number 146 to position 164. No wonder a local professor inferred that, given the current deterioration rate, we should soon have our universities competing with the top high schools of the world.<br /><br />Whilst the universities are making solid progress our basic education system has arrived. We are now officially ranked as the worst in Africa. No mean achievement I have you know.<br /><br />We should however not rest on our laurels. If we can stop the striking teachers from sending their children to functioning former Model-C schools, we can still aim lower. Let us however not deny these teachers their just deserved praise; without their dedication to cultural pursuits such as strikes and boycotts and the commitment of several education ministers and the ANC to transform to African standards, we would never have reached this great point in our history.<br /><br />However, like all great champions, this title should not be allowed to go to our heads. If we can get rid of the remaining Model-C dinosaurs and the private schools with their haughty teachers and all we can plunge depths never seen before.<br /><br />As in all things, everything revolves around money. Money obtained from selling and trading things; things that have to be manufactured and produced competitively. Well; we shall not be disappointed.<br /><br />Our efforts over the last 15 years are also being rewarded with the exhilarating, but not unexpected, news that South Africa has dropped nine places, from position 45 to 54, in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Ratings. For a few years now we have just seemed to have gotten ourselves stuck around 45; unable to achieve that critical break through.<br /><br />Now finally – thanks to our remarkable education system, the relaxed disposition of our workers and a shift away from old western styled business leadership, we have finally dropped through that barrier that, to some, must have what seemed like a solid wall of burning tyres.</span> <p><br /></p>

Good stats, bad stats

by George Annandale Seems we are really making progress in this great year that saw the great African event of the century, the Soccer World...

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Where do we get such a sense of entitlement?

<p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">A gigantic whopping R85m lawsuit by Maroga against the utility! <p><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431973537792960386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvy2Lh7nrr-LwJ8E9V93wlVvRSKbBpSUEFGHUy39WmOxPRoHFpqVA0C8FGj3S1ewqijwxHqVuQvoj0C_ZFt-54GsZdzuR_E6SEVbpi28AEBUQFAZoEWCM0pEQhfrWGchk2ppBPOcSfaldX/s400/eskomfzjm.jpg" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 298px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" /><br />In a civil claim filed at the Johannesburg High Court, the sacked CEO demands what he described as reasonable damages unless he is reinstated to the position he left amid controversy last year.<br /><br />He is suing his former employer Eskom, its Chairman and Acting CEO Mpho Makwana and Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan.<br /><br />He accuses the board of illegally conspiring to fire him under the guise of a voluntary resignation. His court papers bear testimony to the lavish lifestyle he thoroughly enjoyed at taxpayers' expense.<br /><br />Maroga, whose five-year contract was due to expire in 2012, is demanding everything he was entitled to when he was still the utility's CEO, including future earnings.<br /><br />This includes R14.5m for the loss of salary, R45m for incentives and R7m for other benefits,<br /><br />According to his claim, Eskom paid R1m a year for dedicated protector and driver, and a driver for his family.<br /><br />This includes R500 000 a year for security at his Kyalami Estates home, and a R100 000 for general home support. This also includes R1m a year for personal assistance, just under R100 000 a year for a petrol and a garage card for his Mercedes Benz C350 and R5 000 a month for medical aid up to the age of 80.<br /><br />He also demands R3m to cancel his housing loans. He has a home in the exclusive Kyalami Estates.<br /><br />In addition to his monthly 2009-2010 salary of R430 833, Maroga's claim details the R45m in incentives he had expected Eskom to pay him during the remainder of his renewable five-year contract.<br /><br />This is made up of an annual short-term incentive scheme performance bonus of R10.7m, and a long-term retention bonus of R34.3m for the period 2006 to 2012.<br /><br />He also demands a sincere public apology for the strife and emotional anguish caused by the drama around his departure.<br /><br />There you are.<br /><br />I ask myself one question: Where do we get such a sense of entitlement? Why do we think we deserve these huge sums of money when we have not even performed sufficiently enough to deserve them?<br /><br />What did Maroga do to deserve what he is demanding from the taxpayer?<br /><br />Is it the black-outs that he subjected us to in 2008 which saw the mines shutting down and other businesses suffering irreparable losses? Does he want to be compensated for the billions that the economy lost every day during those blackouts? Does he want to be rewarded for the 135% tariff hikes (over three years) that he proposed during his disastrous tenure?<br /><br />Hold your breath, because these tariff hikes are going to leave your economy in tatters.<br /><br />Pray, because these tariff hikes are going to cripple businesses and households to such an extent you won't want to do businesses or call this country your home.<br /><br />Those electricity intensive mines will shut down again, and this time for an extended period of time. Kiss foreign direct investment (FDI) goodbye because your country will have become too costly to do business in.<br /><br />What about those disastrous management decisions? And this man wants all this money to feed his obscene lavish lifestyle despite the chaos he left behind?<br /><br />Why this entitlement?<br /><br />This, in fact, brings me back to the Honourable Mr Dali Mpofu, the former SABC CEO who also left under a cloud.<br /><br />The guy was paid R12m to leave. I repeat, to leave after a series of management blunders, which left the public broadcaster literally bankrupt.<br /><br />These experiences show us that there is no alignment between performance and reward at these state enterprises.<br /><br />Why this entitlement? </span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><em>By Sipho Ngcobo - Moneyweb</em></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><em></p></em></span><p><em><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;color:#000099;">See also </span></em><a class="headline_list_bold_new" href="http://moneyweb.co.za/mw/view/mw/en/page326289?oid=342546&sn=2009+Detail&pid=287226" target="_blank"><em><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">The revenge of Jacob Maroga</span></em></a></p><p><em><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>How "morally bankrupt and corrupt" is remuneration of parastatal executives?</strong></span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;"></span></em> </p>

Where do we get such a sense of entitlement?

A gigantic whopping R85m lawsuit by Maroga against the utility! In a civil claim filed at the Johannesburg High Court, the sacked CEO demand...

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Staggering 4.7million South Africans without work

<p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:#990000;">Government's promise to create 500 000 employment opportunities is faltering, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Monday.</span></strong><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAXxyFzpZKPL5TTAurHdF6jUOPyEzRq3rmq6dYtTa2o0ls2iWwBxyGQQSx0McMPTuIJ1HIPVGDmBJ40MxmdiWG4sSFmg39gJ2UjzP3vCLlcZQV0Nl3Z1_UvjpmPncqjG-XR9MQSOHAuG7X/s1600-h/ANC_BULLSHIT.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5430768010651692674" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAXxyFzpZKPL5TTAurHdF6jUOPyEzRq3rmq6dYtTa2o0ls2iWwBxyGQQSx0McMPTuIJ1HIPVGDmBJ40MxmdiWG4sSFmg39gJ2UjzP3vCLlcZQV0Nl3Z1_UvjpmPncqjG-XR9MQSOHAuG7X/s400/ANC_BULLSHIT.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 290px" /></a>"Much more needs to be done to make sure we achieve and preferably surpass this target," he said in a speech prepared for delivery at the Nedlac Labour Sector School.<br /><br />"The fact that 73 percent of those currently unemployed are under 35, and the recent entry of over a million school leavers without any matric or other qualifications and virtually no possibility of a proper job, make it absolutely imperative that we take them off the streets and give them opportunities to work and train."<br /><br />Although there are reports that the country is coming out of a recession, workers are yet to see evidence of this, he told delegates at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac).<br /><br /><strong>Still stuck in a catastrophic recession</strong><br /><br />South Africa came out of a recession during the third quarter of 2009 according to Statistics SA.<br /><br />"On the contrary, they are still stuck in a catastrophic recession, marked by rising unemployment, poverty and inequality. If there is any growth, it is certainly jobless growth."<br /><br />Last year President Jacob Zuma pledged the creation of half a million jobs through the year.<br /><br />But there were nearly a million retrenchments in the first quarter of 2009, and when the final figures are released, this could be over one million, Vavi said.<br /><br />"When you take into account that an average of five people depend on the wages brought home by one worker that means that five million South Africans were plunged into poverty in the course of last year."<br /><br /><strong>R17-billion worth of income lost</strong><br /><br />He said unemployment increased from 23.6 percent of the labour force in the second quarter, to 24.5 percent in the third quarter of 2009.<br /><br />The expanded definition of unemployment, which includes those who have given up looking for work, climbed from 32.5 percent to 34.4 percent in the same period.<br /><br />"This means that a staggering 4.702 million South Africans are now without work, way above the levels in any comparable country."<br /><br />The union body estimated that for the first three quarters of 2009, at least R17-billion worth of income per year was lost by 716 000 workers who lost their jobs.<br /><br />This shrank the tax base and put a greater burden on social spending and meant the government had to support more families with grants.<br /><br />"The capitalists now say that the effects of the global crisis on South Africa have been muted.<br /><br />"They may have been muted for the capitalist class, whose profits have been rising more than the economy throughout the lifespan of our democracy. But for the workers it is a different story."<br /></span><p>

Staggering 4.7million South Africans without work

Government's promise to create 500 000 employment opportunities is faltering, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Monday. ...

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Motorsport R633 million rip-off

<p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:#990000;">Former Gauteng Premier Paul Mashatile’s name has come up in a “motorsport rip-off” that will cost the province more than half-a-billion rands.</span></strong> </span><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><em><span style="color:#000099;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjKulWxypOF8XdHdDKw-qtrJ5a5_H-0tSCpXbpTkCw86wcpdcF5J6DXLqrw-BPSkc3Q6zIZsGVcmLBbvnMjODqksD0-2H1PeklerWoWRCeANZJDyXwuqjkaSoJ6GvNmUCuWP-60GHErGY/s1600-h/A1GP+Team+South+Africa+Tokyo+Sexwale.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402493591607120114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjKulWxypOF8XdHdDKw-qtrJ5a5_H-0tSCpXbpTkCw86wcpdcF5J6DXLqrw-BPSkc3Q6zIZsGVcmLBbvnMjODqksD0-2H1PeklerWoWRCeANZJDyXwuqjkaSoJ6GvNmUCuWP-60GHErGY/s400/A1GP+Team+South+Africa+Tokyo+Sexwale.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px" /></a>Tokyo Sexwale and Dr Irvin Khoza of Safa at the A1 GP</span></em> </span></p></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">“Documents leaked to the Democratic Alliance (DA) show that more than <strong>R600 million</strong> is to be paid for motorsport promotion in Gauteng that will do little to boost the economy or create jobs,” said the party’s Jack Bloom yesterday.<br /><br />Bloom is demanding a forensic audit into the deal which he says is beset by irregularities.<br /><br />“In my view, this is not mere inefficiency and poor judgment, but probably involves high-level corruption.</span><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIAJ4IEz3n7hs5COCna2Kf0DA5uvb3eank3kfVBMCtJulmQ_DRXy9j-qC9m1lHlZSooBU6U-Fq2xW2lN-TSwXaEEMyDCHUR5JdTRLUZLrGD9MtJEKXmBUXZJ2UV4SdXNP_yWvkY2pePls/s1600-h/Mashatile.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUYFTUjdvMuGlr7IPi7SRJvaQFUgfvcPci9KSMt3UCKymd5nCT3IkT16SeIvhNNjcAy34bkzcHYeptfhjf2RPtOjBO-G4zhNs2F78QQzB346DG0LXyoKIA7g8btx8oGqOXJdb6DPwky_4/s1600-h/a1gp-2004-gen-tm-0110.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjybyOI3C8xxdcuJJSsQdfEInhcWKspy0Kf1rajTs4qFFqQ76hz7mYgoekF5ttiqFSeUeaU5CaKtIPfutW1e7sqlw0EgDeU2jlcJyh7df3OmWkv9xLHz_Z0RzFEkK0cE4GW7nDZSpVtLms/s1600-h/a1gp-2004-gen-tm-0145.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402500571358114754" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjybyOI3C8xxdcuJJSsQdfEInhcWKspy0Kf1rajTs4qFFqQ76hz7mYgoekF5ttiqFSeUeaU5CaKtIPfutW1e7sqlw0EgDeU2jlcJyh7df3OmWkv9xLHz_Z0RzFEkK0cE4GW7nDZSpVtLms/s400/a1gp-2004-gen-tm-0145.jpg" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px" /></a>Top ANC figures who must account for their role include <strong>Paul Mashatile</strong>, who pushed the motorsport project as finance MEC and then as premier, and <strong>Tokyo Sexwale</strong>, the seat holder of A1GP Team South Africa”.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiddLArEd8lgdVGw1Y0PWJy1Y_4xTU_cuUbccz3DKzBoyhRL8PvxY_wmqAYa-BgCZSa-PStKV15eEK7BtA7c_PJmqWh-s71H4Cc3TMeFC_fkISzeTP61jmwgFr9wssvbtCfgahPdhc5ChQ/s1600-h/sexwale_large.jpg"></a>He added: “Firoz Cachalia must institute a forensic probe into the motorsport contracts, and hold accountable all those who got us into this scandal.”<br /><br />According to Bloom, the provincial government will be paying <strong>R150 million</strong> over three years for the A1 Grand Prix, <strong>R444 million</strong> over seven years for the Superbike World Championship, and <strong>R39 million</strong> for three years of the Super Stars series.<br /><br />“It is not sufficient for Cachalia to simply pull the plug. There should be prosecutions, not simply dismissals,” he said.<br /><br />He added that a report by Bowman Gilfillan prepared in October last year for Blue IQ, an agency of the Gauteng department of economic development, had identified the following deficiencies in the motorsport contracts: </p></span><ul><li><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Gauteng Motorsport Company was made a corporate entity without Treasury approval. </span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Supply chain compliance is unknown. </span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">It is unknown what amounts have already been paid out. </span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">The assets and licences attached to the project are unknown. </span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">The contracts are either silent on Governing Law or a foreign Governing Law applies. </span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">No breach clauses. </span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">No financial cap on amounts to be spent for hosting the events. </span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">No exchange control clearance from the SA Reserve Bank. </span></li></ul><p></p>

Motorsport R633 million rip-off

Former Gauteng Premier Paul Mashatile’s name has come up in a “motorsport rip-off” that will cost the province more than half-a-billion rand...

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‘Give us R1bn – or else!’

<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgisAAaifMzl4zVuCV0DzHjQvqqffk6hCQylyEdX6NfJqMC-TP9l5-fdo_hJhYN_iAc1ZgOtTrOlZbNFIkHZV2pwba947-5vjbsCh5-XesYDSqFvz_5NNm6Epz_cIkM6pmhH9-1jkWtwd0/s1600-h/ancyl-malema.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5400016459390719794" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgisAAaifMzl4zVuCV0DzHjQvqqffk6hCQylyEdX6NfJqMC-TP9l5-fdo_hJhYN_iAc1ZgOtTrOlZbNFIkHZV2pwba947-5vjbsCh5-XesYDSqFvz_5NNm6Epz_cIkM6pmhH9-1jkWtwd0/s400/ancyl-malema.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 290px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 177px" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">ANC Youth League president Julius Malema launched a scathing attack on the Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan on Saturday for not including the youth in his recent Medium Term Budget Policy Statement.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><em><span style="font-size:78%;color:#000099;">VIVA: Julius Malema speaks at the 65th anniversary of the ANCYL, hosted at the Rotary Stadium in Mthatha at the weekend.</span></em><br /><br />Malema was speaking to about 10 000 Youth League members during the 65th anniversary celebration of the youth movement at Rotary Stadium in Ngangelizwe in Mthatha at the weekend.<br /><br />The firebrand and controversial youth leader said the youth league wanted Gordhan to give R1billion to the newly formed National Youth Development Agency (NYDA).<br /><br />The NYDA is headed by Malema’s deputy, Andile Lungisa.<br /><br />“We are making a call to our minister of finance to put money in the NYDA, because even when he spoke there, he said nothing about the youth,” Malema said.<br /><br />He was not sure if “this minister” knows that South Africa has young people, he added.<br /><br />“I don’t know why this minister is not budgeting for the youth. He is creating a hostile environment with the wrong people,” Malema said, while President Jacob Zuma, who was also at the rally, looked on smiling.<br /><br />The only way that Gordhan could apologise was to put not less than a billion into the NYDA’s account.<br /><br />“Failure to put more money into that account, comrade Pravin, will make you know us (youth) better. You must ask those who came before you … they would tell you what it means to make the youth of South Africa angry.”<br /><br />Malema said that they did not want to be angry with Gordhan but simply demanded what was due to them.<br /><br />“We qualify for this money; we are not begging, we are calling because it is our right to receive this money, we want more money that will service these young people.”<br /><br />Malema’s criticism of Gordhan coincided with his call for African leadership in the economic sector of the country.<br /><br />He said it was not enough that a black person was minister of finance but that a black person was needed in the Finance Ministry.<br /><br />He said when former president Thabo Mbeki appointed former deputy minister of finance Jubu Moleketi he thought that there was a clear succession plan in that department.<br /><br />“Comrades, we must make sure we fight for an African leadership in the economy; it’s not a secret we have never had an African minister of finance. It cannot be just because we want to nurse the markets.<br /><br />“We are told that Africans are incompetent, they cannot handle finances and complicated issues of the economy; there must be a deliberate effort to empower Africans.”<br /><br />He said that political power was useless as long as there was no economic power.<br /><br />He told the audience they could vote until they were green but without economic power their vote was useless.<br /><br />“We must fight the real struggle of the attainment of economic power.”<br /><br />He called on the NYDA to be more vigilant and to put the interests of young people at the heart of their function.<br /><br />He said in each and every local municipality there should be an office of the NYDA to service the needs of the youth.<br /><br />He also called on NYDA to be at the forefront of the fight against ukuthwala, a practice mostly done in the Pondoland areas of forcing young girls into marriage.<br /><br />“In the immediate (future) the agency (NYDA) must fight ukuthwala. This thing of marrying young kids at an early age by old men who cannot propose to people of their own age must come to an end,” Malema said to loud applause from the crowd. </span></p>

‘Give us R1bn – or else!’

ANC Youth League president Julius Malema launched a scathing attack on the Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan on Saturday for not including ...

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SA's global status slipping

<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZfbAvAho_STSI8MdaiTC8u7wK7jIiJy_Cuux_pdd0_fkwSigZYVOgh7imZYeYCROS6BxBtADqahsdpTGBJYW7IZZmAbn-inb5hcKZm-j7Tg4aTA5inflgLW5AbdolMpRonQrdMLX3FwQ/s1600-h/us-sa.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368464328673186802" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZfbAvAho_STSI8MdaiTC8u7wK7jIiJy_Cuux_pdd0_fkwSigZYVOgh7imZYeYCROS6BxBtADqahsdpTGBJYW7IZZmAbn-inb5hcKZm-j7Tg4aTA5inflgLW5AbdolMpRonQrdMLX3FwQ/s400/us-sa.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 367px" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Chris Landsberg</span></em><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">AS US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was recently in South Africa, it is important to try to unpack the United States’ agenda towards our country and Africa. To do this, all those who help to determine South Africa’s destiny should study an important foreign policy address delivered by Clinton at a Washington meeting convened by the influential US Council on Foreign Relations last month, which contained some important messages about the US’s approach to South Africa.<br /><br />In that speech, Clinton said: “Our approach to foreign policy must reflect the world as it is, not as it used to be.”<br /><br />But what is the US view of the world as it is? Clinton gave a clue to the US’s understanding of the global pecking order, and South Africa’s policy makers should have no illusions about where South Africa fits in.<br /><br />According to Clinton: “We will also put special emphasis on encouraging major and emerging global powers – China, India, Russia and Brazil, as well as Turkey, Indonesia and South Africa – to be full partners in tackling the global agenda.”<br /><br />With these words, Clinton made the point that in the world “as it is”, China, India, Russia and Brazil are major global players, while other developing countries, such as Turkey, Indonesia and South Africa, should be content with a lesser role.<br /><br />Be clear that in the ordering of global affairs by the current US government, South Africa will no longer play the role that it has done in the period since 1994, and especially since 1999. The irony is that this marks a significant departure from the policy positions adopted by the Bill Clinton and George Bush administrations. In practice, both those administrations treated South Africa as a major global and strategic actor, and interacted with successive governments in a manner consistent with this designation, major differences and policy fall-outs notwithstanding. It seems clear that in its understanding of “the world as it is”, the Obama administration has determined that South Africa has been “punching above its weight” and should no longer be allowed to do so.<br /><br />Even some of post-apartheid South Africa’s most strategic partners from the global south seem to be sending tough messages to Pretoria. One of these was communicated in dramatic fashion recently, when Brazil, Russia, India and China (the so-called Bric countries) met on their own in Moscow, without South Africa. The effect of such an event becomes all the more clear when we take into account that South Africa is an initiator state of the India- Brazil-South Africa Trilateral Forum, as well as a founder member of the New Asia-Africa Strategic Partnership, a champion of the G-77+China, and a key strategic partner of Russia.<br /><br />South Africa will have to study the new tone emanating from Washington. Among other things, we must understand that it constitutes a deeply disturbing weakening of one of the principal pillars that has supported the programme we have sustained for 15 years to achieve the reconstruction and development of our country.<br /><br />In practical terms, a new US attitude to South Africa means, among other things, that our country will fall ever lower as a preferred destination for foreign direct investment.<br /><br />It also means that, even in terms of the economic and other relations of the Bric countries, with which we have built strong solidarity, South Africa will assume a lower profile.<br /><br />The force of contagion will spread this sentiment to other countries of the north and south, which hitherto had accepted South Africa as a leading country of the south, capable of using its eminent position resolutely to defend and advance the interests of Africa and the south.<br /><br />Immediately, there is a vitally important question we must address: are we continuing to address our domestic challenges relating to issues of democracy, good governance, economic growth, poverty eradication and development, social and political inclusiveness and foreign policy, in a way that positions South Africa in the global public mind as an example of genuine and sustained progressive African and global change?<br /><br />If we fail, it is inevitable that South Africa will lose its status as a pivotal player in world affairs, negatively affecting both the domestic and the African development project.<br /></span><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Chris Landsberg is professor and chair of the politics department at the University of Johannesburg.</span></em> </span><p></p>

SA's global status slipping

Chris Landsberg AS US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was recently in South Africa, it is important to try to unpack the United States’ a...

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Strengthening the weak by weakening the strong

<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9SLnl_4p-90ezFD-DV8p_MXzZ7JDI3JS5IVv0e0JLSHjiBz1tkF9MqVNwbEW6_qUqHXvsjsdvU12lXalecxgQdy8eFIm34eNw83bXDyBTovE6-GCLhDpVyyR1SBuvvzWaY8o7C8DVspA/s1600-h/rich_m16.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349536727933234082" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9SLnl_4p-90ezFD-DV8p_MXzZ7JDI3JS5IVv0e0JLSHjiBz1tkF9MqVNwbEW6_qUqHXvsjsdvU12lXalecxgQdy8eFIm34eNw83bXDyBTovE6-GCLhDpVyyR1SBuvvzWaY8o7C8DVspA/s320/rich_m16.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" /></a> <span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;color:#000099;"><em>Marco MacFarlane</em></span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:#990000;">This week has seen the leakage of an internal African National Congress (ANC) discussion document outlining plans for a proposed national health insurance (NHI) scheme. Unfortunately the plan in its current state looks set to destroy private healthcare, and consequently cause a flight of skills from these shores that will cause untold damage to the economy.<br /></span></strong><br />The details of the plan are sketchy, and most stem from a speech given to the Hospital Association of South Africa (Hasa) by Mr Alex van den Heever, a health economist. Some of the proposals said to be contained in the discussion document include a 5% tax on earnings of those who are not members of medical aid schemes. For those who already have medical aid, some 85% of their contributions would go directly to a newly- created national health insurance body. Finally, all services that could be provided by the public sector could not be insured under a private medical aid. Thus if public hospitals offered cancer treatment, individuals would not be able to have health insurance that covered cancer, and essentially would have no choice but to obtain treatment through the public system.<br /><br />If the choice is between public health care for a chronic disease, or emigration, many South African professionals will answer with their feet. Without a private health care system, it is doubtful whether South Africa can sustain a professional class.<br /><br />The public health sector is floundering, however, and years of bad planning and poor management have taken their toll on a once well-regarded public health system. In 2006, some 32% of all professional nursing posts in the public sector were vacant. By 2008 the proportion of vacant nursing posts had risen to 40%. In the Free State and the Eastern Cape, more than 50% of all public sector nursing posts stand vacant.<br /><br />The story is the same for doctors, as vacancies in the public sector rose from 30% in 2006 to 35% in 2008. In the Northern Cape, 60% of public sector doctors’ positions stood vacant in 2008. The situation has become so dire that public sector health professionals have now engaged in protracted (and illegal) strike action. It is an indictment of the Government that it has allowed the public health system to deteriorate to the point that it has.<br /><br />In light of this, it seems as if the Government is trying to deflect criticism of its poor management of the health sector on to the well-run private health system. The reasoning seems to run as follows: the public sector has been managed to the brink of collapse. The private sector continues to provide top-quality medical care, so much so that South Africa even receives a significant amount of ‘medical tourism’, with foreigners coming to these shores for the high-quality care they can expect in our private hospitals. Despite the fact that taxpayers fund the public health system in its entirety, and despite the fact that they also fund the private sector out of their own pockets, the private sector represents some sort of ‘threat’ to the public sector.<br /><br />The ANC Government has a long history of attacks on the private sector. We need only look back at the last few years to see evidence of a sustained campaign to weaken or perhaps even eradicate private healthcare. Doctors have been subjected to the (unimplemented) ‘certificate of need’ fiasco, which sought to put obstacles in the way of private practitioners when opening their practice in an area of their choice. Next the minister seized control of drug pricing. Then the dispensing fees of pharmacists were controlled to the point that smaller pharmacies could no longer turn a profit. When a private hospital group wants to build a hospital it needs permission from the minister. Somehow the question, “Why has the public health system collapsed?” is being answered with, “Because the private sector is too expensive”.<br /><br />It seems to have escaped the Government’s notice that the money spent on private health care is in addition to the money that taxpayers already spend on the public system. If the private sector did not exist, the public health care system would have the same resources it does now, but would have to take care of 20% more people than it currently does. Thus the hostility towards private health care seems not only misguided, but also lacking in logic.<br /><br />Although the plan at this stage is merely a discussion document, the very fact that such ideas could be entertained at all should cause uproar. Little noise is being made about it, however. There have been some timid comments from the private hospital groups and medical aid schemes. The public has been very quiet about it, possibly since public participation and comment on the process has thus far not been sought. Unions like the National Education, Health, and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) have stepped in and said that the NHI will ensure that, ‘the poor access free healthcare at the point of delivery whether they are employed or not’, ignoring the fact that this is already the case.<br /><br />The debate about health has been hijacked so that it has become about costs of private care, instead of the ever worsening quality of the public health care system. Before such policies are considered in future, the ANC would do well to heed the words of Abraham Lincoln: “You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.” </span><br /></p>

Strengthening the weak by weakening the strong

Marco MacFarlane This week has seen the leakage of an internal African National Congress (ANC) discussion document outlining plans for a pr...

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Moeletsi Mbeki: Black empowerment has failed

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIatxl2z5t1qLKQ3hraEwrV_s0p8rOIJis3whILZ21Cx-OAOtwhENIpYZGiL_ztfpiv7Jjc_vQYhhm4Q4YUG2SNXCxVxGnebQoNHKjFfVD2NQAhO0soBLqaCLgRXMwKxgZY6Ts_MC-NgM/s1600-h/MBEKI-BROTHER.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349089980205837970" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIatxl2z5t1qLKQ3hraEwrV_s0p8rOIJis3whILZ21Cx-OAOtwhENIpYZGiL_ztfpiv7Jjc_vQYhhm4Q4YUG2SNXCxVxGnebQoNHKjFfVD2NQAhO0soBLqaCLgRXMwKxgZY6Ts_MC-NgM/s400/MBEKI-BROTHER.gif" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 228px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 230px" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:#990000;">South Africa should scrap its drive to give black people a slice of the white-dominated economy because it stifles growth and spurs corruption, the brother of the country's former president said on Friday.</span></strong><br /><br />Political commentator, entrepreneur, journalist and critic of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), Moeletsi Mbeki believes the affirmative action policies championed by his brother Thabo have entrenched the rich-poor divide in Africa's biggest economy and could lead to an explosion of violence.<br /><br />"If you made me president of South Africa, the first thing I would do would be to scrap everything to do with black economic empowerment [BEE]," Mbeki told Reuters in an interview following the publication of his book on economic policy in Africa, Architects of Poverty.<br /><br />"If we keep going with these policies, the question is what will collapse first, BEE or the economy, or the country?"<br /><br />As part of a push to right the wrongs of apartheid and give blacks a stake of the economy, South Africa requires firms to meet quotas on black ownership, employment and procurement.<br /><br />The government argues its policy offsets the racism of the past and stimulates the economy by creating a black middle class hungry for its own homes, cars and designer clothes.<br /><br />But the cracks are beginning to show. Several black empowerment deals have collapsed as the global crisis has caused the value of shares used as collateral to fall, and critics argue the drive has enriched a small black elite while doing nothing to boost South Africa's economy.<br /><br />Mbeki (63) goes further. He says the policy entrenches the country's shocking economic inequalities by creating a culture of cronyism and entitlement that discourages black entrepreneurship and education, keeping millions in poverty.<br /><br />"BEE tells blacks -- 'you don't have to build your own business, you don't have to take risk, the whites will give you a job and shares in their company'," he said.<br /><br />"I blame the ANC for buying into this story that instead of blacks working hard ... they should be given a free ride."<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#999999;">Corruption</span></strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><br />Mbeki, who worked as a journalist and trade unionist before starting his own construction, media and agriculture firms, also argues that black empowerment has encouraged corruption, with lawmakers reportedly rigging tenders to benefit associates.<br /><br />He says white "business oligarchs" are complicit because they use the policy to keep a few members of the black elite happy while still dominating the economy 15 years after the fall of apartheid.<br /><br />South Africa's new president, Jacob Zuma, himself the target of a corruption case until it was dropped on a technicality just before the election that brought him to power in April, has vowed to tackle graft but has no plans to ditch empowerment.<br /><br />Mbeki argues that unless South Africa axes the policy in favour of a broader skills development drive, South Africa's underclass, crammed into vast settlements of rickety shacks with no water or electricity, will balloon and eventually turn on the elite.<br />Rampant levels of crime and last year's attacks on foreigners in the townships are warning signs, he said.<br /><br />Asked if he discussed black empowerment with Thabo before he was ousted as president by the ANC last year, Mbeki laughed: "No, he was the driver of these policies," he said. "My brother knows I have been opposing this for some time, but this is what he decided to do." <em><span style="font-size:85%;">-- Reuters</span></em> </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;"></span><P>

Moeletsi Mbeki: Black empowerment has failed

South Africa should scrap its drive to give black people a slice of the white-dominated economy because it stifles growth and spurs corrupti...

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'Sad reality' of BEE

<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqsvAX3OE3Z8lM_sz5R_e-6lxGoaoJfiyv55_z6l0pjlEfBltoV9SgTiibhtmaZHlIWQ_ql2r1pmbZYSTH7_Hmk6dP8yRAcf-64Ei-uYWmxHvWUmlHRP4XNcFmbormJ42U6-J223w3rF0/s1600-h/zuma-wtwcdm.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342131622304500706" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqsvAX3OE3Z8lM_sz5R_e-6lxGoaoJfiyv55_z6l0pjlEfBltoV9SgTiibhtmaZHlIWQ_ql2r1pmbZYSTH7_Hmk6dP8yRAcf-64Ei-uYWmxHvWUmlHRP4XNcFmbormJ42U6-J223w3rF0/s320/zuma-wtwcdm.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 298px" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">The current recession should offer the country a cause for sombre reflection on the need to do the right things, President Jacob Zuma said on Saturday.<br /><br />"We are required to do more in a climate unfavourable to us; a difficult economic climate not of our own choosing.<br /><br />"(This is) a cause for sombre reflection on the need to do the right things to get our country back on track," Zuma said at a National Union of Mineworkers gala dinner in Midrand.<br /><br />He said central to this was spending well over R700-billion allocated for infrastructure projects in the next decade.<br /><br />"We are going to use the task team made up of labour, government and business to forge a partnership that will make this country withstand the current global economic turmoil, as we did in the so-called emerging markets crisis in 1998."<br /><br />On transformation, Zuma said the mining sector must be a shining example of transformation in South Africa.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#999999;">Soldier on with transformation</span></strong><br /><br />"It is clear that this fourth democratic government will have to build on the work of the previous administrations to soldier on with the transformation of the mining industry."<br /><br />He said government would work with key stakeholders such as Num, to ensure that people benefit from the exploitation of mineral resources.<br /><br />He said although Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment has taken place in the mining sector, the "sad reality" was that only a few have embraced its spirit.<br /><br />"We have to do everything in our power to ensure than millions of our people benefit from these transactions."<br /><br />He said one the biggest challenges that was highlighted during the party's election campaign was the role of communities in the mining activities that are taking place largely in Limpopo and the North West.<br /><br />"It is clear that a significant section of our people feel that despite progressive legislation, the mining industry and government are not doing enough to ensure that they too, fully reap the benefits of the mining activities that are taking place."<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#999999;">The scrutiny of government</span></strong><br /><br />Meanwhile, Zuma said there was a need to "vigorously support and entrench" a culture of zero harm in the mining industry.<br /><br />"The safety record of our mines has become a central issue that will be placed under the scrutiny of government. This situation cannot be tolerated anymore."<br /><br />He said all stakeholders must work even harder to put an end to the escalating number of mine deaths.<br /><br />A total of 68 miners have died since the beginning of the year, while 71 died at the same time last year.<br /><br />"This is not a good picture at all," said Zuma.<br /></span><p><br /><br /></p>

'Sad reality' of BEE

The current recession should offer the country a cause for sombre reflection on the need to do the right things, President Jacob Zuma said o...

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Eskom’s R1.3 trillion nuclear plans will bankrupt SA

<p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:#990000;">By pushing ahead with its nuclear plans, South African power utility Eskom will bankrupt this country</span></strong> environmental lobbyists Earthlife Africa said today </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><br /><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340540921582232562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXWVL3mrNpVxqjat41WHwGFo3fTFqCX9_g-m4k5zmZg4rebduCgOKOq8V8Njz740q90oTsv3G4Mh7ZGMTBD7Af4wE7RT_ygkJ6r92m0uzO_bZovh7r1rw4i-oQQk4A6h76_bHPaZYCJEp1/s400/nuclearfail.jpg" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 156px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Accusing Eskom of an “uneconomic U-turn” on its nuclear plans, Earthlife Africa questioned the utility’s ability to fund its 1.3 trillion rand capital expenditure programme.<br /><br />“In just over six months, Eskom has changed its mind on nuclear power.<br /><br />In December 2008, Eskom considered nuclear power to be too expensive. In May 2009, Eskom released plans to build nuclear plants,” said Earthlife Africa energy policy officer Tristen Taylor.<br /><br />South Africa this week outlined tentative dates for a renewed rollout of nuclear power stations with proposed plans indicating it could start preparing the first of three sites as early as January 2011.<br /><br />Three nuclear plants, each with a generation capacity of 4,000MW, would be brought into operation every two years starting July 2018 through to July 2022.<br /><br />Eskom currently operates Africa’s sole nuclear power plant with a total capacity of 1,800 MW.<br /><br />But nuclear power remains the most expensive form of electricity generation.<br /><br />As Earthlife Africa pointed out, it also comes with inherent safety risks, and produces highly radioactive waste that must be dealt with for hundreds, if not thousands, of generations.<br /><br />The costs of generating electricity from nuclear power exceed that of coal, natural gas, geothermal, wind, solar thermal, and landfill gas.<br /><br />“Where Eskom hopes to find the money for this expensive project is beyond comprehension,” said Taylor.<br /><br />Currently, Eskom does not have a funding model to support its current capex programme of 340 billion rand, and its recent application to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa is about seeking a 34% tariff increase to meet rising primary energy and maintenance costs, not to cover its planned total 1.3 trillion rand capex programme, Earthlife said.<br /><br />Recent reports suggest that Eskom will be seeking funding from the government for its nuclear programme, but Taylor warned that ordinary citizens would end up having to pay for an industry that produces radioactive waste, creates fewer jobs than any other form of electricity generation, and is the most expensive form of electricity generation. <em><span style="font-size:85%;">– I-Net Bridge</span></em> <p></span></p>

Eskom’s R1.3 trillion nuclear plans will bankrupt SA

By pushing ahead with its nuclear plans, South African power utility Eskom will bankrupt this country environmental lobbyists Earthlife Afr...

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South Africa goes into recession

<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggGAyLmYd4KLU_5t0nOI0tGmoEVrCgi6KHeA08lySepepebj4klfbGwruRP9RHEardBWlv5z3BzRQ6dir2JtLcHsKE08X8jqHcyhZYbYaYez4WuJ2fPt7VO2cUQVmqv7hypxgb9U_6mK5t/s1600-h/recession.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340145719649393058" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggGAyLmYd4KLU_5t0nOI0tGmoEVrCgi6KHeA08lySepepebj4klfbGwruRP9RHEardBWlv5z3BzRQ6dir2JtLcHsKE08X8jqHcyhZYbYaYez4WuJ2fPt7VO2cUQVmqv7hypxgb9U_6mK5t/s320/recession.gif" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:#990000;">The South African economy has gone into recession for the first time since 1992, following a sharp slowdown in the manufacturing and mining sectors.</span></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#990000;"><a href="http://www.thetimes.co.za/Business/BusinessTimes/Article1.aspx?id=1006878"><span style="font-size:78%;">Kganyago says expects another GDP fall in Q2</span></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span><a href="http://www.thetimes.co.za/Business/BusinessTimes/Article1.aspx?id=1006867"><span style="font-size:78%;">SACCI taken aback by magnitude of GDP decline</span></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span><a class="headline" href="http://allafrica.com/stories/200905260650.html"><span style="font-size:78%;">GDP Drops By 6.4 Percent in First Quarter</span></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span><a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/Publications/statsdownload.asp?PPN=P0441&SCH=4394"><span style="font-size:78%;">Read the Stats SA report</span></a><strong><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span></strong></span><a class="headline" href="http://allafrica.com/stories/200905260261.html"><span style="font-size:78%;">Economists Warn of Recession Shock</span></a></span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Africa's biggest economy contracted at an annualised rate of 6.4% between January and March, compared with the same period a year earlier.<br /><br />It was the biggest decline since 1984 and followed an annualised 1.8% fall in the previous three months.<br /><br />The construction sector, however, was boosted by the upcoming World Cup.<br /><br />South Africa is benefiting from a huge programme of government investment ahead of the football tournament in 2010.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#999999;">Rate cut expected</span></strong><br /><br />A recession is generally defined as being two quarters of negative growth.<br /><br />"It's far worse than we expected," said Elna Moolman, economist at Barnard Jacobs Mellet.<br /><br />"It confirms the recession in the economy and certainly increases concerns about overall growth for 2009, given such a bad start for the year."<br /><br />The Reserve Bank of South Africa is due to announce its latest decision on interest rates on Thursday.<br /><br />It is now expected to cut rates by a full percentage point from the current level of 8.5%.<br /><br />It has started holding its meetings every month instead of every other month to allow it to act more quickly.<br /><br />The central bank has reduced rates from a level of 12% in December.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#999999;">Recovery predicted</span></strong><br /><br />Statistics South Africa, which calculated the latest figures, said the slowdown in manufacturing and the mining and quarrying sector had been primarily responsible for the contraction.<br /><br />Mining firms have been hit by falling demand for their products as a result of the global economic slowdown.<br /><br />The government has predicted that there will be another quarter of negative growth to come before the economy recovers.<br /><br />"Looking ahead, we expect another quarterly contraction for the second quarter, but this is expected to be smaller," said National Treasury Director General Lesetja Kganyago.<br /><br />The weak economy presents particular problems for the new President Jacob Zuma, who has promised to create jobs and fight poverty.<br /><br />"It's easy to budget and make plans in a boom phase," said Johan Rossouw, chief economist at Vector Securities and Derivatives.<br /><br />"Now it's a different kettle of fish. It is definitely going to make things tougher."</span> </p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><a class="title_lk_cs" href="http://iafrica.com/news/sa/1476525.htm">'Blame ANC for recession'</a><br /><br />The opposition Democratic Alliance on Tuesday blamed the ANC government for South Africa's first recession since the end of apartheid.<br /><br />"This not only confirms that our economy is now in a full-blown recession, but also that the ANC government has not taken the necessary steps to ensure that we survive the worst effects of the global economic crisis," DA MP Dion George said in a statement.<br /><br />The country's growth rate contracted by 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2009, compared to the fourth quarter of 2008, when it shrunk by 1.8 percent.<br /><br />The two consecutive quarters of negative growth put South Africa in its first recession in 17 years.<br /><br />"In light of this larger than expected contraction of the economy it is now more clear than ever that government, labour and business need to work together to find solutions to the economy's woes," said George.<br /><br />"These include lowering wage expectations, targeted assistance to certain labour-intensive industries to ensure that we retain much-needed jobs, and government needs to 'unpick' the numerous constraints that stifle business productivity, expansion and job creation."<br /><br />He called on the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates by at least 100 basis points as "a much-needed measure to stimulate domestic demand, and get the economy going again". </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><em><span style="color:#000099;"></span></em></span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><em><span style="color:#000099;">RELATED INTERNET LINKS</span></em></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><em><br /><a class="entry-title-link" closure_hashcode_30f4cv="406" href="http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1006848" target="_blank">SA hits first recession in 17 years<br /></a></em></span><a __eventidglow716529078="83" href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><em>Statistics South Africa </em></span></a><br /><a __eventidglow716529078="82" href="http://www.reservebank.co.za/"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><em>South African Reserve Bank </em></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><a href="http://iafrica.com/business/news/1700960.htm"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Red alert recession</span></em></a><br /></p></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"></span><p></p>

South Africa goes into recession

The South African economy has gone into recession for the first time since 1992, following a sharp slowdown in the manufacturing and mining ...

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Zuma government blocks R22.5-billion foreign investment

<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtLFqVZhPT6yBdJWc4UZRqSsg9pd029moBWfyrsDru0U_xgBleGkEY-I0u2_rf4uIGcJknP44vvhzGPfxU9K_940g9Ogm5awuhyphenhyphenOTQ00rZrFNIN0yjaJ4mt0dnINsLJT23NLePZtgCAOHK/s1600-h/cosatu-sec-gens.bmp"><em><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5336823324515231746" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtLFqVZhPT6yBdJWc4UZRqSsg9pd029moBWfyrsDru0U_xgBleGkEY-I0u2_rf4uIGcJknP44vvhzGPfxU9K_940g9Ogm5awuhyphenhyphenOTQ00rZrFNIN0yjaJ4mt0dnINsLJT23NLePZtgCAOHK/s400/cosatu-sec-gens.bmp" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px" /></span></em></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">South Africa’s reputation as a business-friendly economy is in tatters, thanks to a bid to block a R22.5-billion foreign investment — and the biggest listing on the stock exchange this year.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) and the </span><a class="bodystrong" href="http://www.cosatu.org.za/press/2009/may/press20.htm" target="_blank" title="Cosatu"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">country’s trade union federation</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"> Cosatu will this morning launch an urgent interdict to stop the listing of Vodacom, scheduled for tomorrow.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">The listing, which now hangs in the balance, follows state-controlled </span><a href="http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/performance.asp?s=za:TKG" symbol="za:TKG"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Telkom</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">,’s sale of 15% of Vodacom to UK telecommunications giant </span><a href="http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/performance.asp?s=uk:VOD" symbol="uk:VOD"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Vodafone</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"> for R22.5-billion. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Icasa shocked the markets on Friday when it reversed an earlier decision to approve the deal. The rand weakened by 3% immediately after the announcement. <a href="http://www.fin24.com/articles/default/display_article.aspx?ArticleId=2517162" id="ctl00_repRelatedArticles_ctl00_lnkHeadline"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Rand slumps on Vodacom setback</span></em></a></span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">The Vodafone deal values Vodacom at R150-billion, which would make it the seventh-biggest company on JSE.</span></p><p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"></span></p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">In March the deal was approved by Telkom shareholders, who include government, before being approved by the Competition Commission. Icasa also gave the deal the nod, saying the deal did not need its approval, but suddenly changed its mind on Friday - less than a week after Zuma was inaugurated.</span> <p></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">This despite several international road shows by President Jacob Zuma and senior ANC leaders, where they promised investors that it will be business as usual under his presidency.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Analysts have expressed dismay at the news, saying it sent the wrong message to investors. </span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">It sends a strong message that </span><a href="http://www.fin24.com/articles/default/display_article.aspx?ArticleId=2517860" id="ctl00_repRelatedArticles_ctl05_lnkHeadline"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">SA 'closed for investment'</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">. The message that is sent is that SA does not offer a predictable, stable business environment.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">ICT analyst Lindsey McDonald said the move would be viewed as meddling by the new government.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Analyst Dobek Pater said he was unsure about Icasa’s motives. “This is possibly a case of the new government applying pressure to block the deal.” </span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">The deal, which would add to a growing list of leading South African companies to have relocated or sold big stakes to foreign investors in recent years, has been a hot political topic and is seen by business as a first test of the new government led by Jacob Zuma, president, which took office this week.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Blocking the listing less than 24 hours before it was due to go ahead would deal a huge blow to South Africa's credentials as an investor-friendly emerging market and intensify fears of renewed union power under new president Jacob Zuma.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Cosatu, which regards Zuma as a political ally, has long opposed the deal on the grounds that it threatens jobs and cedes control of a key South African company to a foreign firm.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Investors in South Africa are watching the new government’s first moves, especially after the appointment of senior trade unionists to economic policymaking positions – partly a response to the slow pace of poverty reduction under previous governments.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">The rand fell as much as 3 percent amid fears that it was an early indication of the unions and the left wing of Zuma's ruling ANC being able to sway policy in Africa's biggest economy.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:#990000;">LATEST NEWS UPDATES</span></strong></span> </p><p><a href="http://www.fin24.com/articles/default/display_article.aspx?Channel=News_Home&ArticleId=1518-24_2518032&IsColumnistStory=False" id="ctl00_ctl00_cphBody_cphLeftColumn_Stories_repTopStories_ctl00_lnkHeadline"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Vodacom threatened with boycott</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"> <span style="color:#990000;">May 17 2009 21:04</span><br />The courts stopped Cosatu's objection to the R22.5bn listing of Vodacom dead in its tracks but the union is already plotting a consumer boycott.</span></p><p><a href="http://www.fin24.com/articles/default/display_article.aspx?Channel=News_Home&ArticleId=1518-24_2518044&IsColumnistStory=False" id="ctl00_ctl00_cphBody_cphLeftColumn_TopStory_lnkHeadline"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Vodacom listing gets go-ahead</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"> <span style="color:#990000;">May 17 2009 23:12</span><br />A judge has ruled against Cosatu's action to block Vodacom's listing, with government also taking sides against the labour movement.</span></p><p></p>

Zuma government blocks R22.5-billion foreign investment

South Africa’s reputation as a business-friendly economy is in tatters, thanks to a bid to block a R22.5-billion foreign investment — and th...

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