South Africa P.I.G.: INFRASTRUCTURE

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South Africa Falling Into Decay

By <a href="http://sarahmaidofalbion.blogspot.com/search/label/Poetry.%20Mike%20Wilson">Mike Wilson</a> South Africa – the name conjures up visions of white colonialism, riches of diamonds and gold, beautiful cities, beautiful people, rich farmlands and technical innovation. A strong and vibrant country with a modern army and air force and an air of expectancy, handed down from Afrikaner father to son, that their land would be the greatest in the whole continent. <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6Gm7IzfqWos" width="640"></iframe> Well it does to me and this is what the country used to be like when I lived there 40 years ago. Johannesburg was a thriving metropolis of great buildings and the frenzied rush of people going about their affairs much like any other major city in the world. It was such a powerhouse of people, ideas and innovations and the strong Boer mentality over rode all. Today Johannesburg appears to be a run down shanty town with decrepit buildings, boarded up windows, filthy garbage riddled streets and squalor everywhere. What happened?   <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LW6lOdxqSUE" width="640"></iframe> The infamous pass laws were rescinded in the early 90’s and the black man took over the country. This utopia, this land of riches, this gemstone in the crown of the continent is now like so many other African nations, a struggling mix of different tribes coming to terms with life in the 21st century. Unfortunately for these black Africans, they have not been able to rise above tribal culture and are cursed with a background that has not reached the stage which would enable them to mentally grasp all the requirements that are needed to administer a complex and busy country. From being the underdog to being the dominant force today has created major schisms within the overall South African society. There is an ongoing payback mentality that encourages blacks to take from the whites in many different ways. In one way the houses of white people are regularly burgled and effects stolen. This is not done covertly and gangs of blacks regularly threaten households. In another way there is what is now called ‘Black Empowerment’ or BEE where blacks are given preference over whites for available jobs. This stupid practice gives the unskilled African peasant direct involvement in manning the infrastructure support that runs the country. As a consequence the major power supply company Eskom is unable to maintain its equipment as most of the trained skilled white staff are no longer employed. This has caused frequent power supply problems so that they had to rely on power shedding or in other words maintaining power to select parts of their industry rather than all consumers who need it. The current youth leader of the ANC, Julius Malema, keeps telling his followers to kill the Boer, one man one bullet. He has recently been found guilty of inciting racial hatred and fined 50,000 Rand for his troubles. Not that this has changed his tactic one iota and on a recent trip to Zimbabwe he went out of his way to repeat the phrase to all who would listen. Over 3,000 white farmers have been murdered since the ANC took over in a deliberate government policy to get whites to give up their land. From being a rich farming country under white rule South Africa now faces the prospect of importing food to feed the masses. Many whites claim that there is now a policy of genocide levelled against Boer farmers as a result of the ANC policy to grab land. This is the same process that started in Zimbabwe and will have the same result. On a recent trip to Zimbabwe there were talks between Mugabe and Malema on how to take over the remaining land still in the hands of white minorities. Now there is also talk of the mining industry which made SA very rich, being nationalised for the benefit of the black politicians. Law and order is a thing of the past now. There is no law of protection for whites and no laws for the blacks to abide by. Even Jacob Zuma the current leader of the ANC had a number of rape and corruption charges levelled against him by the then law and order anti- corruption team called the Scorpions. The ANC had an easy answer to all this, they simply disbanded the unit and the charges were dropped! In fact many of the black policemen supposedly upholding what little law and order is left, are themselves involved in burglarising, raping and armed robberies. The number of deaths of whites has been unrecorded although the litany of deaths occurs on a daily basis. Many people felt that with the advent of black rule and empowerment blacks and whites would be able to sit together and maintain a strong and prosperous country that would continue to be the envy of Sub Saharan Africa. Today the situation is so bad that the country is becoming another Zimbabwe and whites are powerless to stop it but can only look on in horror as their once great country crumbles about them. Due to the political process of giving to the black at the expense of the white there are now 450,000 white people living below the poverty line in shanty towns around the country. The majority of these people are from Afrikaans backgrounds who would normally be the underclass looking after fairly menial jobs, railway workers, cleaners etc. Since those jobs are now taken by blacks these unfortunate men, women and children have no recourse but to become part of the homeless generation, forgotten by more affluent whites as well as the black government. Even some soup kitchens that were set up by well minded individuals have been closed by bureaucrats who say that the whites must fend for themselves. It’s only the help from other whites that keeps these unfortunate people with some form of subsistence. White liberalism is to blame for the problems affecting South Africa and the fall of the white Governments pre 1994. The world saw a country with blacks being oppressed and demanded change for the betterment of the black population. Just like Rhodesia several years earlier. Today, who has benefited from these changes? Certainly not the blacks as the majority of them are now far worse off than ever they were under white rule. Again, the classic example is Zimbabwe under the megalomaniac Mugabe who has robbed his country blind whilst 98% of his followers still live in shantytowns without the benefits of modern civilisation and in abject poverty. Every one of the ruling politicians in South Africa lives a life of wealth and privilege, with the latest cars, biggest houses in the best suburbs etc., yet their followers are very much worse off than they were when the whites ruled the country. Apart from the trashing of cities which have become sleazy rubbish dumps the hospital services are almost non existent. It’s hard to accept that the country that pioneered the first heart transplant under Dr. Christian Barnard has now a run down medical service which once used to be the envy of the world. Everything about the country today smacks of total incompetence with inmates running the asylum for the rest of the inmates who just have no idea what is going on. <a href="http://elliotlakenews.wordpress.com/2010/04/18/eugene-terreblanche-last-interview/">The murder of Eugene Terreblanche</a> may be just the last nail in the coffin of apathy that has affected the white liberals in this broken country. Indeed, apathy is probably the correct word to describe how the rest of the world views this former nation. It just seems that the power brokers amongst civilised nations are just sitting on the sidelines waiting for the continent to implode before they go back in perhaps 40 years time or so, and pick up the pieces once more. Although by that time the Chinese will have probably got in first and blacks will have a far stronger, stricter and nastier overseer than the whites ever were.

South Africa Falling Into Decay

By Mike Wilson S outh Africa – the name conjures up visions of white colonialism, riches of diamonds and gold, beautiful cities, beautiful...

8:05 AM

SA Govt repeating past mistakes...Again, Still, Whatever!

Govt's <strike>TOP-10</strike> TOP-15 serious blunders that caused extreme alarm in 2010 <ol><li>The water crisis,<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQZdguT7C2IEhpOcuMhTZM-JkOa5CzZX5etWtx12zwtksfhi3ZTd1FTB6Z_VOBsCIOEK_PXlZMP2e7E5mdH1k6_IQ4sCUtjbA4gALNAZRZF1x_M09U6DcisZg18Iu8-YeylPRATyo5Oh86/s1600/anc-logo.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556269021058784578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQZdguT7C2IEhpOcuMhTZM-JkOa5CzZX5etWtx12zwtksfhi3ZTd1FTB6Z_VOBsCIOEK_PXlZMP2e7E5mdH1k6_IQ4sCUtjbA4gALNAZRZF1x_M09U6DcisZg18Iu8-YeylPRATyo5Oh86/s320/anc-logo.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 256px; CURSOR: hand" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIGGWfVaUkOdaDCWdD3_Zm5sJgnwnLGMkmD1KxE6zUp5T95x3tQf5X54TzfZI3Q4Qu70WxQCUe0qauHutgMF8fVDHEGeAXWBf9ocW0aFsXaxUOeB28Yug8FLAPyASciTKV4hKlWiifR99g/s1600/anc-logo.jpg"></a></li><li>Misappropriation of state funds, </li><li>Efforts to gag the media,</li><li>The ongoing fiascos at semi-government institutions, </li><li>The government's handling of youth matters, </li><li>Road maintenance and potholes, </li><li>South Africa's military readiness, </li><li>CRIME, </li><li>The widespread housing scandal </li><li>Labour problems, </li><li>Hosting of the R69m World Youth Festival by the NYDA; </li><li>Poor service delivery from parastatals; </li><li>The failure to create sufficient jobs; </li><li>A housing scandal involving 2 000 government officials, </li><li>The failure to crush South Africa's "internationally feared" criminals.</li></ol>***Corruption is present in most of the aboveWater crisis state's worst blunder 1. Water crisis Government's denial of the worsening water problems in South Africa in 2010 must rate as one of its more serious blunders. In the same year that Trevor Manuel, minister in the presidency, shrugged off as "ridiculous" predictions that toxic mine water could seep out at various locations in Gauteng before long, government for the first time ever acknowledged its failure to maintain municipal sewerage plants all over the country. The latter issue is a matter of grave concern. According to government's so-called Green Drop report for 2009, only 32 of the 449 plants tested managed Green Drop status. (Only 449 of the country's 852 plants were tested.) This means that millions of litres of insufficiently purified water daily find its way into our rivers. In a country afflicted by a scarcity of water, a fast-growing population and ageing infrastructure, our water predicament has now become a ticking timebomb. 2. Youth One of the most expensive government blunders without a doubt was the 17th World Youth Festival presented by the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) in December. The festival cost almost R69 million, of which R29 million was funded by the treasury. In view of the current unemployment rate of 35,8% among South Africans in the age group 15 to 34 (according to the narrow definition of unemployment), such extravagance flies right in the face of our youth's aspirations. However, a critical 2010 blunder with more far-reaching consequences flows from government's continuing inability to solve our nation's education woes. The matric pass rate for 2009 was 60,6%. Owing to the prolonged teachers' strike in particular, the 2010 figure could hardly be an improvement on last year. Still failing to prepare our youth for the labour market, the education system generally produces merely mediocre school-leavers. 3. Misappropriation Here are just some of this year's shocking blunders regarding state spending: <ul><li>The disclosure in November that the bodyguards of the leader of the ANC Youth League, Julius Malema, had already cost the taxpayer more than R880 000. </li><li>In October it was divulged that R3,7 million had been transferred from the South African Police Service (SAPS) budget to pay for the residence of police chief General Bheki Cele. </li><li>Some R130 million was spent by government and several semi-government institutions on tickets for various matches in the Soccer World Cup Tournament. </li><li>In November the auditor-general revealed numerous government departments' "irregular" spending of approximately R2,3 billion (i.e. spending incurred outside stipulated guidelines). </li></ul>As to the management of municipal funds the picture is bleak indeed. Financial statements of South African municipalities published by the treasury disclosed that consumers of municipal services were overdue by more than R62 billion at the end of September 2010 - with close to R3,4 billion due by the state itself. 4. Potholes keep government stumbling While South African roads face a construction backlog of almost R100 billion, motorists are spending some R50 billion annually to have pothole-related damage to their vehicles repaired. The maintenance of our secondary roads in particular has become a veritable nightmare thanks to the fact that, to a large extent, road maintenance has simply stopped. The Automobile Association of South Africa (AA) issued a warning in October that our roads were fast becoming irreparable. The AA conducted a study in 2008 by measuring road conditions on a scale of zero (worst condition) to 100 (best condition), according to the so-called visible-condition index (VCI). The index dropped to 46 in 2008, as against 65 in 1998. Minister of transport, S'bu Ndebele, admitted in October that bad roads increase the risk of accidents. 5. Media tribunal It would seem that a transparent society, investigative journalism and media freedom are to make way for more corruption and deeper murkiness. This scenario, among others, awaits South Africa if the proposed media tribunal and the Protection of Information Bill were to be adopted. Already experts are describing eventual state control of the media as a disaster. The proposed legislation is aimed at, among others, empowering the authorities to classify information and to prosecute contravening opinionmakers such as journalists and editors. It is highly ironical that the ruling party who clamoured so vociferously for the freedom of speech during apartheid should now be trying to convince South Africans that a free press was indeed a threat to democracy! 6. SANDF Disturbing rumours were again doing the rounds this year that the defence force was nowhere near fighting trim. The low morale in the SANDF is alleged to be very serious; in fact, in November an MP warned that it could even endanger state security. The publishing of a comprehensive report on the combat status of the SANDF is awaited with apprehension. 7. Semi-government institutions Many semi-government institutions are continuing their negative tendencies. Some of these institutions are hampered by thousands of vacancies, weakening their service delivery. In May 2010 Transnet had some 4 500 vacancies, Eskom had 1 200, while SAA lacked 600 workers. Solidarity cited affirmative action as a probable contributing factor behind the vacancies, with service delivery its ultimate victim. 8. Labour Government's target of creating five million new jobs in the next decade is commendable; however, if this initiative was not left to the private sector, it cannot succeed. The failure of the Essa project (Employment Services South Africa) seems inevitable. Essa is a centralised database which is supposed to match jobseekers and employers. Since its inception four years ago, only 2% of the more than 1,2 million jobseekers have been placed successfully. Close to 170 000 jobseekers were registered in 2007/08, of whom only 3% were successful. More than 420 000 people were registered in 2008/09 - the lucky ones came to only 3,5%. And a meagre 1% of the more than 630 000 people registered in 2009/10 are now employed. 9. Housing scandal The housing corruption involving some 2 000 government officials is one of the most disgraceful public sins of 2010. Minister of human settlements, Tokyo Sexwale, said in August this year that syndicates selling and leasing government housing were to be investigated. Numerous government officials, notably in Gauteng, North West and KwaZulu-Natal, are allegedly benefiting underhand from these deals. The authorities' housing promises pose another fiasco. Sexwale announced in April this year that the housing backlog even exceeded the backlog in 1994: the figure has swelled from 1,5 million in 1994 to 2,1 million at present. Meanwhile the need for housing is growing daily; the number of informal settlements has already reached the 2 700-mark, of which at least 70 are inhabited by white people in shanty towns. 10. Crime and law enforcement The authorities are still failing to crush South Africa's internationally feared criminals, despite a growing police force. According to data released by SAPS in September, 16 849 murders, 68 332 sex-related crimes and 64 670 muggings (robberies with violence) were recorded as at 31 March 2010 when the 2009/10 financial year ended. Residential and business burglaries increased by 1,9% and 4,4% respectively. Experts are moreover concerned that a growing percentage of crime victims no longer even bother to report the misdeeds they have suffered. And in March it was revealed that one out of three police stations lacked suitable victim support facilities. Successful policing by police members with a sense of duty is further hindered by affirmative action as well as poor law enforcement and ill-considered strategic planning. Solidarity emphasised the gravity of the crisis, saying that extensive and permanent damage had already been done and that merely pulling up its socks is not good enough for 2011.

SA Govt repeating past mistakes...Again, Still, Whatever!

Govt's TOP-10 TOP-15 serious blunders that caused extreme alarm in 2010 The water crisis, Misappropriation of state funds, Efforts to ...

3:03 PM

'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. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjlnPT7vu_DScC03C57c09ae9za99JdWJkQGpWueYtE8jpnPrsTbGipl5I7UQR54nPs6Qlp20mX0eBC4YLuBO9Bcz8kXJ0bfHwUPryWTVpOrY7WsUc30hNhW8AEUZ4NiCQqGry1JKfgOZ9/s1600/EXPATS.gif"></a>Pros: <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. 2. Freedom of Movement. 3. Great outdoors. 4. Big 5. 5. Huge opportunities. 6. Infectious SA humour and camaraderie. 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... Cons: 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?) 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. 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>. 4. Corruption. There is almost zero appetite for tackling corruption. People get “redeployed” rather than fired and jailed. 5. Education. The highest per capita allocation in the world, and the results are dismal. I say no more. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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? 11. Plastic bags tax. Where is all that money people? 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. 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. 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. 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. My children have a genuine shot at goals. To those who choose to remain and those who cannot leave, I salute you.

'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...

7:23 PM

SA's financial burden

by Ray Over the past few months the South African public has been informed of several additional financial and psychological burdens. We have the SABC, SAA, Water and sewage looming crisis, Eskom, Toll roads, NHI, to name a few. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitl3eYbY8of4t500uyZzI7uVlEueyXLXWZrdykYpCnfGNCzJIZGKyheTrSGNzd6Y5b4KHSXkZG5mHyfyn2_rigzGvBAlDExKTqDnE7u834MkNqWw_ASnUcz2YUV2pW-fMI2TiuGjezg5d2/s1600/zuma-dummie.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533975326183465426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitl3eYbY8of4t500uyZzI7uVlEueyXLXWZrdykYpCnfGNCzJIZGKyheTrSGNzd6Y5b4KHSXkZG5mHyfyn2_rigzGvBAlDExKTqDnE7u834MkNqWw_ASnUcz2YUV2pW-fMI2TiuGjezg5d2/s400/zuma-dummie.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 294px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>Please don't get me wrong. I love this country and think we have so much potential. My only two issues are that the people in power making decisions are not held responsible or accountable, and the general public is too apathetic. Let’s use the road death toll as an example as it can be applied to all the other failing areas. We appoint people into positions that generally fall into one or more of the following categories - no ability for the position, no work ethic, not sufficient management, not sufficient training, nepotism, political affiliations, skin colour, no experience or no moral fibre. The above may be a generalisation but they destroy the work of the few individuals that really try and make a difference in the average South African’s life. To those dedicated individuals we owe much because they carry the rest. Let’s apply the above to the example: where is visible policing on the roads every day, the ministers getting the TV crews there every so often to boost their image. Fines are seen as revenue and that appears to be the focus. Laws are not enforced - taxis, emergency lane driving, not using indicators, u-turns on highways, talking on cellphones and so on. The traffic officers standards are lower than a few years ago (thank goodness for Outsurance pointsmen). They openly ask for bribes, the anti-corruption call centre number just rings, how many officers get punished, and no a slap on the wrist doesn't count. The standards of driving schools are shocking, learners can buy licences for cash or sex, often the driving school is the broker. To get fines squashed pay the officer a portion of the fine. The booking call centres don't work. You can get the learners tests from the driving schools. Financial mismanagement is a given for government departments, but hey let’s throw some more money at them next year. Heads of department that aren't qualified for positions, managers that can focus on urgent things (and no functions and parties don't count), why don't we increase standards instead of lowering them. This decay hasn't just happened and it’s all over our beloved country, if we want the country to move forward, create wealth and prosperity for all then let’s put the right people in the right jobs, regardless of family relations, skin colour or political affiliations. At what point does the political rhetoric and self enrichment stop, so that the average citizen can be put first. While there appears to be no political will to rectify the situation (lip service does not count), a fish always rots from the head. When you enter public office you make the choice to serve South Africans, there is never any justification to steal, accept bribes etc. Ordinary South African citizens should start focusing on what’s important for our well being and that of future generations, actively take part to make South Africa great. You owe it to your children and other fellow South Africans. At what point does the financial and psychological burden become too great for the average South African and they stop seeing advantages in our country and look elsewhere?

SA's financial burden

by Ray Over the past few months the South African public has been informed of several additional financial and psychological burdens. We ha...

2:47 PM

Fire the Johannesburg Mayor, tar & feather him

Just months before the Soccer World Cup, the country's biggest city looks like a minefield, with potholes around just about every corner, accompanied by ditches that lie open like graves waiting for fresh loads. Street signs are either wrong, missing (stolen) or in disrepair; streetlights everywhere need attention; stormwater drains lie blocked and choked, and traffic lights seize up and back up traffic for 10km and more. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4Tsy_2OkzQyc3AVTaiw84fJoLl2odwEbaMVmIU1gOzXiiwysjjfHwwSej7O8kF1pNpHJj6s2AcmTqFdqqYn0kUjoxnFU__nN5heyAg5aR9_v7HvUZtIxo3XXeit8orJpqGMwlx_W1tsc/s1600-h/pothole-4ways.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbZBkIXrjfdtvBzG1-jMd2Xbnhy02eVAzVnm8jX426dBOt0CQ3jBuReFtvNNLcx1gUvV_LO8i6JefF0Sjk6aNSfND02Vb-X9TDmL9drmzU-g8SK6JUCHUBRJZtYg64eXJOdhWLAZOe9JaG/s1600-h/road-accidents-positivity.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448672838772757378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbZBkIXrjfdtvBzG1-jMd2Xbnhy02eVAzVnm8jX426dBOt0CQ3jBuReFtvNNLcx1gUvV_LO8i6JefF0Sjk6aNSfND02Vb-X9TDmL9drmzU-g8SK6JUCHUBRJZtYg64eXJOdhWLAZOe9JaG/s400/road-accidents-positivity.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>There are funny smells everywhere and rats are breeding like flies. Flies are breeding like rats. Residents of Johannesburg, which <a href="http://www.joburg.org.za/">advertises</a> itself as "A world class African host city" are sick and tired of the Masondo's of this world; the ex-Robben Islanders, ANC cadres who were automatically given licences to torture their fellow South Africans for a minimum of a century. Masondo and his cronies were quick enough to slash the 2009/2010 Johannesburg operational and expenditure budgets by R1.1bn to fund completion of the Soccer City stadium, yet another overblown FIFA knickknack. Masondo and his fellow vampires were quick to write off R2.8bn in bad debts, and just as quick to splash out R45m on the "Miss World" pageant, an apoplectic load of schlock. If Masondo and the ANC were vaguely aligned with reality, their focus would be job creation, 24/7. Among the numbers from the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey, published on Tuesday, comes the news that during 2009 as a whole, the South African economy shed 870 000 jobs. That was the year when Zuma was promising . . . the creation of 500 000 jobs. What was he thinking? And if Amos Masondo is still thinking, what is he doing? It's time to go cadre; do yourself a favour and hand over the reins to a professional. Masondo's Mess <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_F6dk3OJYgXeF_IckmFgdu2tQxyqs6MHR-o4L-EraBGVEEuZqmWgmHPue9QhsgPPmvFBhgiIOpkEvr0yznPr2JVZxaJtCkSLQmNI5E2j3pOGEfcJZXWo3eUUh_z8UAAM5g2U67HA8HiR7/s1600-h/melville-7th+ave.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQrCYqz4uEziOdmWQ4z6OyHVdutnTSCgzWQ0lrrMohiFyRnw0J_JTgSeQUMqnJQcmMCwXrD9gyTLS15i7k8uuPfEM1h1TQGgerm_jvh8DBZfxxPVEWhDhhylZrpBNlid2Ar2d4ruShJsgp/s1600-h/moron-index-lge3.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448663189672769266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQrCYqz4uEziOdmWQ4z6OyHVdutnTSCgzWQ0lrrMohiFyRnw0J_JTgSeQUMqnJQcmMCwXrD9gyTLS15i7k8uuPfEM1h1TQGgerm_jvh8DBZfxxPVEWhDhhylZrpBNlid2Ar2d4ruShJsgp/s400/moron-index-lge3.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 217px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>JOHANNESBURG is in a dreadful state. With potholes now so numerous they are a threat to life and limb, street lights and traffic lights broken for weeks on end, roadworks and pavement diggings started and abandoned, SA's biggest metro is looking about as beaten up as a modern city could be. Nothing illustrates better its decrepitude than the hole dug many months ago on the corner of 7th Avenue and 6th Street in the suburb of Melville -- it has been so comprehensively abandoned that for nearly a month it has been home to a TV set. It is a common story. There are literally thousands of unattended holes all over Joburg's pavements and roads. It is an absolute disgrace to SA and to Joburg's own citizens. It is not that Melville is some upmarket, spoilt, white place. Its homes are modest, and its inhabitants mixed. There would have been a time when the city's black inhabitants would have cheered the tarring of a road in Soweto at the expense of one in salubrious Hyde Park, but if any are still cheering they would be badly misguided. Joburg is increasingly one city. Joburg's problems are about leadership, starting with the mayor, Amos Masondo. His most striking political characteristic has been to be absent during Joburg's moments of crisis. Given the job by former president Thabo Mbeki as a reward for running Mbeki's first (1999) election campaign, Masondo has distinguished himself primarily as a cutter of ribbons and a deliverer of projects. Not for him the drudgery of also maintaining what he was given. But a contributing factor in Masondo's failure must surely be the way the municipal machine around him is structured. In Joburg, the municipality has been corporatised into fragments that enable Masondo to deflect direct responsibility for things like killer holes in the roads. The roads (and traffic lights and street lights and drains) are all the responsibility of the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA). There are other agencies for water, garbage, electricity, buses, development and the like. Their effect is to create a distance between the city's leader and its problems that would take a person much, much more engaged than Masondo to overcome. But while water shortages, power outages and untidy rubbish collection are common, the JRA is a special problem. The JRA manages more than 9000km of roads and bridges and 3500km of stormwater drains. That would be a nightmare for the most experienced manager. For JRA MD Dudu Maseko, who made her way to the top as a human resources specialist, it has clearly been an unfair burden. The JRA's own "Stakeholder" booklet is a clear measure of the problem. It is a result of endless "workshops" building up through the "Customer Charter", the "internal controls being put in place", the Mission Statement ("to provide a sound transit infrastructure management system in support of enhanced mobility"), which must be settled before we get to the all-important Vision Statement. Here is part of the JRA's: "The JRA's vision is 'the vehicle that makes the City work'. The JRA regards itself as the ultimate catalyst that makes other services in the City realisable ... the means to a better quality of life for all." So much blather. It costs R100000 to maintain a kilometre of road, a year after it has been built, R1,8m for the same stretch if it hasn't been maintained for five years. Assuming 9000km of roads and that they are all just one year old, Joburg would need a maintenance budget just for roads of R900m a year. Yet the entire JRA budget is less than that. That mayor Masondo can argue that there is money to do the job is beyond belief. We hope the mayor is replaced at the next local elections. But that doesn't mean he still doesn't have a real job ahead of him. He does. It is to find the money to fix the roads. That's easy, unless you're Amos Masondo, deliverer of projects. Joburg collects just over 60% of the rates and taxes owing to it. Collect the other 38% and you'd have enough money to make this a world-class city in reality and not just in advertisements. But that money is largely owed by the ANC's poorer constituency, and collecting it would take political courage and will way beyond anything Masondo has demonstrated in office. President Zuma has made much of ending poor municipal governance. While it is understandable he should care about the backwaters where people struggle for a lifetime against municipal indifference, he ignores large cities at his and our peril. It's about the hole on the pavement that contains a TV set. The will to collect the money to fill the hole doesn't exist.

Fire the Johannesburg Mayor, tar & feather him

Just months before the Soccer World Cup, the country's biggest city looks like a minefield, with potholes around just about every corner...

11:19 AM

Malema's dodgy R27m roads and bridges washed away

AT LEAST three of several multi-million-rand bridges and roads built by Julius Malema’s company in Limpopo were washed away within weeks of their completion. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIQ9Rg4Fhg_JQGR0NpRoRTFNBEEqAT-AGY-FphCpZlTaDxCWM4i-fZr4dRTydNAdpZz-9QKzOjqQR-zyE2i6m30sjwF9pMQVIhisdAPUqfdNjayzAm14aQZc4m39_VTH55DMeUwGi5PaID/s1600-h/malema-stupid.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443722425128011074" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIQ9Rg4Fhg_JQGR0NpRoRTFNBEEqAT-AGY-FphCpZlTaDxCWM4i-fZr4dRTydNAdpZz-9QKzOjqQR-zyE2i6m30sjwF9pMQVIhisdAPUqfdNjayzAm14aQZc4m39_VTH55DMeUwGi5PaID/s400/malema-stupid.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>The City Press newspaper reported on Sunday that several multi-million rand bridges and roads in Limpopo, built by SGL Engineering Projects in which Malema has the majority shareholding, had been washed away within weeks of their completion. It reported that communities affected were demanding that authorities force the company to repair the infrastructure or take legal steps to recoup the money spent. City Press visited several SGL projects in the past week. "At Kgapane Township, about 120km east of Polokwane, only a portion of one of the two bridges constructed last year [is] still in place," the newspaper reported. "A bridge built at the township's Meloding Section is effectively a hill of soil covered with pavement. It has no concrete layers. "Residents said heavy rains in January swept it away just a few weeks after it was finished." - SapaRead full story :-Url - <a href="http://www.citypress.co.za/Content/SouthAfrica/News/2168/39468c96d5f54d0da7ed5ef47d4416b4/28-02-2010-02-00/Juju%E2%80%99s_dodgy_R27m_bridges">http://www.citypress.co.za/Content/SouthAfrica/News/2168/39468c96d5f54d0da7ed5ef47d4416b4/28-02-2010-02-00/Juju%E2%80%99s_dodgy_R27m_bridges</a>_

Malema's dodgy R27m roads and bridges washed away

AT LEAST three of several multi-million-rand bridges and roads built by Julius Malema’s company in Limpopo were washed away within weeks of...

7:42 AM

SA up to its eyeballs in sewage

A full 97% of the country's sewage system infrastructure is 'dilapidated' and the overall neglect of the country's water and sanitation systems will cost R56 billion to repair. At the bottom of the cesspit in the findings was Mpumalanga's waste water treatment works scoring a vile 39 (more than 5 times acceptable risk levels), while the North West ranked second – at 33. Barkly East (Eastern Cape) scored 14 on the cumulative risk rating (twice the acceptable risk levels)Hidden Mortality <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-F79421FBg5eX73AoSQiVC_bCF1bQW0TJwtztr0KmQdPMo6UGfgH-7_4RJd_Ymw8y7wSRjfQB1uNpY2FJZz4fCr8nVs4ZyAwqutV2ikTk9YsD2NfglkK5At9bdvADR0uDaa2QbOTvFHc8/s1600-h/water-neglect.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440692811512202562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-F79421FBg5eX73AoSQiVC_bCF1bQW0TJwtztr0KmQdPMo6UGfgH-7_4RJd_Ymw8y7wSRjfQB1uNpY2FJZz4fCr8nVs4ZyAwqutV2ikTk9YsD2NfglkK5At9bdvADR0uDaa2QbOTvFHc8/s400/water-neglect.jpg" style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 295px; CURSOR: hand" /></a> From January to April 2008, more than 80 Barkly East children died of diarrhoeal diseases amid initial official denial, avoidance and obfuscation about a malfunctioning and decaying water reticulation and purification system. An epidemiological report confirmed that the purification process broke down in October 2007, with water tests revealing elevated levels of bacteria and Escherichia coli from then right through until March 2008. The first 15 Barkly East deaths led to a January report recommending the situation be declared an emergency with a wider probe needed. This led to the grim discovery that the baby and child death toll at nearby Sterkspruit was 4 times worse (62 child or baby deaths). Chief among the reasons identified for the current crisis were <ul><li>a lack of planning and budgeting by councillors, </li><li>the awarding of contracts to inexperienced contractors, </li><li>lack of skilled officials to operate facilities, </li><li>inability of officials to budget for and operate infrastructure, </li><li>vacant managerial and operational posts, </li><li>lack of technical ability to plan+manage capital-intensive water services projects, </li><li>mostly unqualified controllers, </li><li>lack of financial skills, </li><li>poor money management.</li></ul>Source: - SAMJ: South African Medical Journal vol.99 no.8 Cape Town Aug. 2009 Only 3% of SA’s sewage works are operational The best and the worst never happens in South Africa, Jan Smuts once remarked. And how right the old man was, when you consider the mind-numbing banality that passes as news of national importance these days. Amazingly, for a country facing the impossible task of bridging the biggest wealth gap in the world, the ongoing personal foibles of its president (which, to be honest, I truly couldn’t care about, as long as he gets the job done), continually hog the headlines, while the shortfall is made up of the rude outbursts of a township tsotsi who has twigged on to the bright idea that nationalising the mines would, after all, be the quickest way of getting really rich. Meanwhile, the startling revelation that only 3% of the country’s sewage works are operational, makes it only onto page 10 of an Afrikaans daily newspaper, while the English press never get around to actually covering it. In the North West, as exasperated farmers in Swartruggens and Sannieshof can attest to, there are apparently no fully functional sewage works. Not a single one. In the Free State, 99% don’t work. In a country as critically water stressed as South Africa, this should amount to nothing less than a national crisis. There should be a flurry of ministerial activity, as departmental heads roll, and anxious engineers are shuttled to and fro across the country, as they frantically try to stem the rising tide of preventable pollution. Instead, the department of water affairs’ official response is that they have, indeed, commissioned a report on the state of sewage works, but are still putting the finishing touches to it. Meanwhile, livestock carcasses, infected with tapeworm, are turned away at abattoirs after animals drink water with faecal counts way off the charts, polluted water kills hundreds of babies in small-town municipalities, and irrigation farmers wait nervously for their export markets to slam unceremoniously shut. The bottom line is that no one of consequence seems to be particularly interested in the art of moving turds from point A to point B in such a way that they don’t end up where they don’t belong, like in a river. An essential engineering pursuit first perfected by the Romans thousands of years ago, but not deemed important here in South Africa, as we pursue some very dubious other priorities. Like replacing the some 7 374 police firearms that have gone missing over the past three years. Arms that almost certainly all end up in the hands of criminals, who definitely don’t take them out to the shooting range. Instead, they end up being thrust into your face as your house gets ransacked. After all, have you ever heard of burglars using hunting rifles? So amazingly, a fair whack of violent crime could simply be avoided if police would just hang on to their weapons. The official response? The minister of police, without the slightest hint of irony, announces that he would like, eventually, to see no-one in the country armed, except the police! Nothing is ever said about how this haemorrhaging of police weapons will be stopped, or what action will be taken against police officers who lose their weapons. Instead, private citizens, punch-drunk by the criminal onslaught, are threatened with lengthy jail sentences if the new firearm legislation isn’t followed to the letter. One can only still hope that Smut’s prediction will hold. Source: - <a href="http://www.farmersweekly.co.za/">http://www.farmersweekly.co.za/</a> See also:- <a href="http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/">http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/</a>

SA up to its eyeballs in sewage

A full 97% of the country's sewage system infrastructure is 'dilapidated' and the overall neglect of the country's water and...

4:20 AM

While fatcat politicians splurge on luxuries ...

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXmcn2jITy-AhYKQpP3A8NzjHl-BFi2eOGZNvYDW0vK2nABto95SyMfHUIxNsyOTYs86k3SNC__AZuAObfJr6lkWuYwHtmGG2CXmKDK_dS2GpQzkDdLA0MFwhF3u4AW2dif1XuDjcdqmU/s1600-h/nig_image71.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364456936497815090" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXmcn2jITy-AhYKQpP3A8NzjHl-BFi2eOGZNvYDW0vK2nABto95SyMfHUIxNsyOTYs86k3SNC__AZuAObfJr6lkWuYwHtmGG2CXmKDK_dS2GpQzkDdLA0MFwhF3u4AW2dif1XuDjcdqmU/s400/nig_image71.jpg" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 298px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" /></a> Black politicians deserve to live in luxury and to be treated like billionaires, because it sends a message that their subjects are worthwhile people. Only white people really moan about black politicians' expensive habits, because deep down they feel only white people should be entitled to such privilege. How am I doing so far? Wait, there's more. For decades of apartheid and centuries of colonialism whites took it for granted that they should live like kings. Well, white rule was overthrown by the revolution of 1994, and now it is the turn of black people to enjoy the fat of the land. To deny them that is to desire a return to the era of apartheid. It sounds obscene if you put all these excuses for the vulgar materialist excesses of the ruling fatcat politicians and public servants in one place. But I have heard these excuses and versions of them many times from the likes of ANC Youth League jokers, Luthuli House apparatchiks, ANC-aligned intellectuals, BEE beneficiaries, journalists and columnists in the pockets of ANC millionaires and even from propagandists of the Communist Party. But I've been around the block a few times. I've heard many variations of these excuses before, uttered in defence of the politician thieves of the old Zaire, Angola, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea. I have also heard accusations that whites don't criticise the American or European politicians who also get paid vast amounts of money and live in luxury, they only criticise African leaders. Having considered all these excuses properly, I still want to make a few remarks about the way the present government and ruling party are flashing their ultra-luxurious lifestyles, homes, cars, clothes and parties in the faces of millions struggling to feed themselves and their children and put a roof over their heads. And yes, I am classified as a white person. It is my considered opinion that if the president of the ruling party and the country, Jacob Zuma, was indeed serious about his concern for the welfare of ordinary South Africans, he would not have allowed the presidential residence in Durban to be renovated at a price of R150 million; he would have scaled down the cavalcade of expensive new 4x4s and luxury sedans accompanying him wherever he goes from in the 30s to four or five; and he would have slashed his own lavish expenditure on inaugurations, official receptions and parties. Instead, Zuma asks for more patience from service delivery protesters and striking workers, saying it is unfair to criticise the new administration as it is still finding its feet. No, Mr President, it is unfair of you to ask workers and the unemployed to be patient while you and your party and your ministers and senior public servants spend tens of millions on extravagant luxuries. While your comrades in government, including those from Cosatu and the Communist Party, buy the most expensive cars and live it up like royalty, the number of citizens who have given up looking for work has risen to 1.52 million - that is on top of the 4.13 million people registered as unemployed. That means a minimum of 5.65 million South Africans who are potential breadwinners no longer have a regular income. That translates to many, many millions of people when one takes these people's families into account. How do you, Mr President, and your comrades sleep at night when you look at these figures? Just this week the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs declared six district municipalities in the Eastern Cape disaster areas due to "ailing water and sewerage infrastructure". These areas include the birthplaces of national icons Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela. The municipalities are not a lot worse off than many others. Do you close your ears when people tell you these things, Mr President? Do you quickly turn the page when newspapers report on them? If you reject my criticism because I'm white, let me tell you what one of Africa's leaders of the past, President Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso, said more than 20 years ago in Ouagadougou. Sankara said the problem with Africa was that Africans had gained formal political power but their minds were still colonised. They were Africans but really wanted to be like their former colonial masters. Too many Africans suffered from self-loathing, he said. They are in perpetual conflict: they know and honour their own culture and ancestors, but part of them agrees with the European view that perhaps these are inferior and primitive. That was Sankara's take on why so many African leaders were "bathing themselves in gold". By the way, President Sankara's official presidential car was an ancient Peugeot 404 with a cracked windscreen.

While fatcat politicians splurge on luxuries ...

Black politicians deserve to live in luxury and to be treated like billionaires, because it sends a message that their subjects are worthwhi...

3:37 PM

Back to dirt roads in 30 years - AA warning

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcSQW-1VuALyGHZNdTpBGVmKBNhQqSldnJKOhuvCpdk_KLOXxd9yTcLwBtFtxZY5LD3xSkDuMSVCUGrqTkKtqxqKGsmmrwpEuhkYB12ch0x_If67e-KMzGVpkhK51dL9ENFIgKgq5vMHo/s1600-h/road-tax.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343599372699579010" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcSQW-1VuALyGHZNdTpBGVmKBNhQqSldnJKOhuvCpdk_KLOXxd9yTcLwBtFtxZY5LD3xSkDuMSVCUGrqTkKtqxqKGsmmrwpEuhkYB12ch0x_If67e-KMzGVpkhK51dL9ENFIgKgq5vMHo/s320/road-tax.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 252px" /></a>R32bn A YEAR NEEDED FOR RUNNING REPAIRS The number of national and provincial roads in "poor" and "very poor" condition is more than double what it was 10 years ago and the number in "good" or "very good" condition is a third of what it was 10 years ago. These are some of the shock findings made in a new research report released by the Automobile Association of South Africa earlier this week. The report, a review of road conditions and funding in South Africa, was prepared for the AA by well-known civil engineer and roads specialist, Dr John Sampson, and assesses the road network over the last 20 years. South Africa has 596 000km of roads and the replacement value of the country's road network is estimated to be R1.047-trillion. "The findings are very worrying," said an AA spokesperson. "South Africa's roads need R100-billion spent on them to eliminate maintenance backlogs and current levels of funding are only a quarter of what is needed to maintain the country's road network into the future." <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbPOeEbkRC9rf9PSfrV_wnz41yMvZ3PqZVbRucQVzr02kllkRjUmkNrX_yt3q0VOFOqFGjxzbqzObGhwY993s8jFR9dcDmq7g2UTOiesS2MDz5gBL2KPb1ujetbvE90eLWsokEzLATmOo/s1600-h/potholes01.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343599755490847250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbPOeEbkRC9rf9PSfrV_wnz41yMvZ3PqZVbRucQVzr02kllkRjUmkNrX_yt3q0VOFOqFGjxzbqzObGhwY993s8jFR9dcDmq7g2UTOiesS2MDz5gBL2KPb1ujetbvE90eLWsokEzLATmOo/s400/potholes01.jpg" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 198px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" /></a>The AA said inadequate road maintenance also resulted in an increase in traffic crashes. "The report shows that about 60 percent of national and provincial roads are in poor or very poor condition, compared to about 22 percent in 1998," the spokesperson added. "It goes on to say that the cost of operating a vehicle on poor roads is double that of good roads in terms of fuel, maintenance, delays and crashes." Road conditions for the report were assessed using the Visual Condition Index which expresses the condition of a road from 0 (very poor, requires reconstruction) to 100 (very good).The overall VCI for South Africa's roads dropped from 65 in 1998 to 46 in 2008. "The report clearly shows that, in the long term, regular annual maintenance that prevents road deterioration costs about a quarter of allowing a road to deteriorate until it needs reconstruction," he added. The AA called on the government to increase funding to secure the viability of the road transport industry and reduce the number of crashes. "The report states that we need R32-billion a year to keep our roads in good shape - 1.5 percent of GDP," he said. "This is far less that the cost of traffic crashes, unnecessary road reconstruction and losses by the transport industry resulting from poor roads. "If we don't get serious about road maintenance now, in 30 years we might not have any sealed roads left to maintain." - Star Motoring

Back to dirt roads in 30 years - AA warning

R32bn A YEAR NEEDED FOR RUNNING REPAIRS The number of national and provincial roads in "poor" and "very poor" condition ...

3:05 PM

South African Governments 'publicity stunt convenience'

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaaasFWEhW76rCvYy3vQjEo2duYzJu3gFBrPGDhU0Z6Qfbhi-Boa4hl2ARjcgejlNm64RWhoEAuUQ696eC25QQj5Pr60gELa1BjLThoP1e-X00z0Z_d1ZtUzC2YO3tE0dWxi8ZdWXzFgKm/s1600-h/aa-road-deaths-sa.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326125643763855842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaaasFWEhW76rCvYy3vQjEo2duYzJu3gFBrPGDhU0Z6Qfbhi-Boa4hl2ARjcgejlNm64RWhoEAuUQ696eC25QQj5Pr60gELa1BjLThoP1e-X00z0Z_d1ZtUzC2YO3tE0dWxi8ZdWXzFgKm/s400/aa-road-deaths-sa.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 282px" /></a>Here you go... more fudging of statistics by this pathalogical lying Govt of ours. I also noticed the drop in the annual Easter road death toll. But I thought it was because there were fewer motorists travelling due to petrol pumps running dry at filling stations because of the truck driver's strike. Fortunately the Johannesburg Attorneys Association has spotted another cunning lying move by the ANC. The ANC is running around trying to pretend they're governing this country properly. This is no doubt the reason for pretending the road death toll dropped. The ANC are pathalogical liars who lie about EVERYTHING. So none of this comes as a surprise. More of the same. ANC LIES - Government's "disingenuous massaging of the facts". Attorneys question Easter road death toll The Johannesburg Attorneys Association on Friday called into question the Easter road death toll announced earlier this week by Transport Minister Jeff Radebe. It was "impossible" to calculate real fatality numbers so soon after the fact, said the association's Michael de Broglio. "Deaths resulting from serious injuries could not have been included yet," he said, adding that numbers always increased as some of the victims succumbed to their injuries. Radebe announced on Thursday that the 197 Easter road traffic deaths this year were 34 percent down on the 297 in 2008. He said 13 people died in two major accidents this year, while 45 people died in eight major crashes last year. However, the attorneys' association questioned the "publicity stunt convenience" of the announcement. "It makes for a great story at the end of every holiday period to compare total fatalities from the same period, the year before, to the quick-win positive-spin that the premature release of the number of fatalities so soon after the fact provides to Radebe," said De Broglio. The government had announced declines in road fatalities for several years now, but the reality, in retrospect, showed a "disingenuous massaging of the facts". In his announcement, Radebe said there had been a downward trend in road deaths over the past five years, explaining that: "Despite the apparent increase in the national death rate between 2004 to 2007, there may still have been an underlying long term downward trend." De Broglio said he failed to understand why - if fatalities, motor vehicle accidents and related injuries were down and there should naturally be fewer claims - the Road Accident Fund (RAF) needed legislative changes to reduce what it was paying out. "If the Minister's figures are correct, there should be a decrease in claims." Spin would not solve the long term problems increasingly making road safety a challenge in South Africa, he said. "Corruption in licensing departments, the failure of the RAF to adequately insure South Africans against third party claims and continued failure by the government to make a real difference in road fatalities spells disaster. "These days one can connect the dots across South Africa simply by marking the vast number of potholes on any map. It remains unacceptable." THE FACTS AA Road Accidents - Report Bad road maintenance and lack of law enforcement are the main causes of the high number of accidents on South African roads, the AA said on Wednesday. AA spokesperson, Gary Ronald, said about 5% of the accidents on South Africa's roads were caused by bad signage and road conditions. "The lack of road maintenance has led to a complete deterioration of the roads, pushing this number up significantly," he said. Law enforcement was one of the larger problems, he said, with taxis and motorists alike displaying a flagrant disregard of simple traffic laws. "In almost every case, a crash is preceded by a traffic violation," he said. In 2008, there were 9.2 million cars on South African roads and 900 000 accidents, Ronald said. "This accounts for a staggering 10% of vehicles on the road, with a cost to the economy equalling 3% of the national GDP (gross domestic product) and over 42 fatalities each day." 'As big a problem as Aids' Ronald said road accidents were as big a problem for the country as issues such as Aids and crime. "It is estimated that, by 2020, road accidents will be third in the leading cause of unnatural deaths, ahead of Aids," he said. Along with the state of the roads and law enforcement, Ronald said other areas of concern were public perceptions and awareness, corruption, community involvement, road user education and broad education and communication. <a href="http://www.wheels24.co.za/Content/News/General_News/5/c172d0fda9be4e4c9da34eb116fcdbe8//SA_road_deaths_unacceptable" id="ctl00_ctl00_MainBodyPlaceholder_Column2Placeholder_ArticleRelatedLinks1_repArticleRelatedLinks_ctl01_lnkArticle">SA road deaths 'unacceptable'</a> Road fatalities in South Africa are unacceptably high said the newly formed Retail Motor Industry Road Safety Foundation. "We are very concerned about the safety of road users on our roads," said Retail Motor Industry Organisation chief executive officer Jeff Osborne. "With an estimated 800 000+ road accidents, 15 000 fatalities and several hundred thousand injuries per year, the accident and fatality rates on our roads are unacceptably high." Related article:-<a class="articleheadline" href="http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=181&art_id=vn20090419103719976C110466">Holiday road toll higher than stats show</a> Holiday traffic death statistics are skewed, because the government's figures don't include the number of people who died of their injuries. <a class="storylink" href="http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=181&art_id=vn20090419103719976C110466">Full Story...</a>

South African Governments 'publicity stunt convenience'

Here you go... more fudging of statistics by this pathalogical lying Govt of ours. I also noticed the drop in the annual Easter road death t...

12:36 PM

ANC record rules out my vote

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6wMes_UdjCg8EduiHagQM4uGwcbsBQxGD647nFn_QA-zBy6BZQ5dNbeSIi_5R9T5oHVVX8q09TYLzAMdYRIBODHyudhhywcLClm04wLkCfFTQlcaFKDN1zhtubRWcKJkW6I0oCGXacI-s/s1600-h/anc.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321310004686296098" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6wMes_UdjCg8EduiHagQM4uGwcbsBQxGD647nFn_QA-zBy6BZQ5dNbeSIi_5R9T5oHVVX8q09TYLzAMdYRIBODHyudhhywcLClm04wLkCfFTQlcaFKDN1zhtubRWcKJkW6I0oCGXacI-s/s400/anc.png" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 178px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 226px" /></a> "But select capable men from all the people - men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain - and appoint them as officials..." Exodus 18:21 by David Kettles - a resident of East London I AM dismayed that there seem to be many who still intend to cast a vote in favour of the ANC. Consider the ANC's achievements over the last 15 years in those aspects of life that affect each of us daily. Education: teachers trying to teach have to cope with the legendary incompetence of local officials. Schools that are still functional only remain so because they employ a large proportion of their staff with monies paid by parents. Employers or university lecturers will tell you that the graduates of our school system are in many cases only semi-literate, whilst international surveys of mathematics literacy tell the unvarnished truth. Health care: A generation ago the sickest of the sick in our country, black or white, would head towards State institutions for outstanding care. Now the staff has gone – perhaps unwilling to participate in the systematic destruction of centres of excellence. But primary healthcare suffers, too. Incompetence and maladministration ensure that clinics run out of essential medicines: even basic primary care is not afforded to the majority of our population. Not content with having nearly destroyed State health facilities, the ruling party is now turning its attention to the private sector. Infrastructure: Our roads are falling apart. The money is there, but no one can spend it. It will take billions and many years to recover from 15 years of neglect. Rolling blackouts threaten development and investment, not because of a loose bolt at Koeberg, but because of a nut in charge, lack of foresight and planning, and mismanagement. Many municipalities can no longer provide clean and safe drinking water. Civil service: 15 years of affirmative action, jobs for pals, and the employment of legions of incompetents have left us where we are now. Fraud is endemic. Drivers licences are fraudulent while the road carnage is terrifying. Every long trip is laced with trepidation. As for passports, ask UK officials why we now need visas. ID books are yours for the asking, unless you happen to be a desperate, honest SA citizen. Then you’ll wait months. Housing: Our politicians have not yet found a way to spend the money that gets thrown at them to build houses, and will again return vast quantities to Treasury unspent. They cannot deliver on this recurrent election promise. The housing waiting lists remain endless and the houses that are built are frequently so bad that real contractors must be brought in to make them habitable. Emigration: the ANC has been unable to convince many skilled people to stay in South Africa and contribute. Reasons to flee usually include fear for physical safety, discontent regarding the application of affirmative action , the quality and availability of education and quiet desperation as good people observe the rise of incompetence. Who would not be frightened when people of the ilk of Jacob Zuma and Julius Malema are considered leaders of stature and revered? Crime: Under the ANC, crime has been glamorised. The police chief has embarrassed us internationally, and awaits trial at home. Politicians are criminals, too, but that doesn’t stop the ANC redeploying them. Commitment to fighting crime is a joke. If the prosecuting authorities are too effective they are fired. Non-governmental criminals are having a field day, too. Murder, robbery and rape make daily headlines, and make for very scared citizens. <img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321205225652738194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOnOPhlwG4KbZ4cHGYkwn1WVDuCODR_Lklns6TAYTNcJY6Vj9HMQqg6bT-i5oiiTJuutZIecjNNysReuhz3vIQXqQGqxipqViJpuirx18oCOuvIHRb6CdlmuL5YrDaR6T1sUhDAVDGcVj7/s400/zuma-no.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" />Morals, morale, and reputation are apparently not concepts understood in the ANC. We wish, as President, to have a man who has five or so wives at last count, but finds that number insufficient to cater for his needs, and so will resort to the “use” of youngsters half his age. This is not sufficiently frowned upon as to disqualify a man from high office. He wants, but desperately does not want, his day in court. And the ANC has the temerity to offer this man as a candidate for President. This is a slap in the face of every right thinking South African. And an international embarrassment. If you were a property owner, (and not trying to feather your own nest), would you want to rent your property to one of our politicians? I doubt our country has the resources and resolve to survive another five years of ANC rule. Fortunately, we do have a vote. Things must change. Right Now. We can do it!

ANC record rules out my vote

"But select capable men from all the people - men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain - and appoint them as officials...

6:52 AM

Britain's $1bn Africa transport routes in six former British colonies

Road and rail infrastructure improvements aim to boost trade and counter growing Chinese influence on the African continent <img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305284916886844338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-htJJLq6_Tjuq_ZEkEeu3B8g5nzPoDJpK6J3UtcxtFiQtZ1pA_VoSnCcSkMMI6xpOJ8yWPEQggcLU0etgsMnmrsty6wK5Mj1kEpH02u4Fjzuu0cwVBbbYZdQWYfFuJIKEE-zHJ6gMED4/s400/Passengers-on-a-commuter--001.jpg" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" /> Britain is joining the latest scramble in Africa – to reverse decades of decay and even the disappearance of large parts of road and rail systems – with a $1bn (£690m) project to rebuild the transport network across the south of the continent. The UK today announced an agreement with eight African countries and the World Bank that will see the reconstruction of 5,280 miles (8,500km) of roads and the rejuvenation of 373 miles of railways, including some new track and the upgrading of border posts. Britain says the decade-long project will boost trade in the region by hundreds of millions of pounds each year by speeding up transport times, including at border crossings where lorries can wait for days to be allowed through. The initiative is part of a web of investments and reconstruction plans that have taken hold across Africa in recent years, on a scale unseen since the road and rail networks were first laid down by European colonisers. They include massive Chinese construction programmes that have unnerved western countries, which fear loss of trade and influence on the continent. The international development minister, Gareth Thomas, today told a business conference that trade routes across central and southern Africa could be "revolutionised" by the UK's north-south corridor initiative to rebuild the transport infrastructure in six former British colonies – Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi, Tanzania and South Africa – as well as two other countries with close trading ties to them, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Thomas said that the intiative would initially boost regional trade by 10%, and eventually by 50%. "Africa's share of global trade fell from 6% to 2% between 1960 and 2002, and high transport costs are a major reason for this," said Thomas. "Farmers and businesses operating in landlocked countries such as Zambia, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo face transport costs up to 50% higher than coastal countries. "As a consequence, their trade volume is 60% smaller. Without a better route out, supermarkets and traders are missing out on quality produce and African communities are missing the chance to trade, create more jobs and, in turn, feed themselves and school their children." A large part of the road and rail infrastructure inherited by newly independent African countries about 50 years ago has fallen into disrepair. In some states, most notably Congo, it has largely disappeared. Under Mobutu Sese Seko's negligent and plunderous rule, much of the Belgian-built road system was buried under rainforest or destroyed by heavy lorries and lack of maintenance. Travelling just 60 miles drive from the capital, Kinshasa, can take about eight hours. Congo, a nation nearly 10 times the size of the UK, has just 1,400 miles of paved roads – less than a tenth of what existed at independence and not enough for even a single road from one side of the country to the other. The decline has been less marked in countries such as Tanzania and Zambia, but over the years lack of maintenance has seen the road system worn away and the railways becoming increasingly decrepit and unreliable. Zambia has 12,500 miles of paved roads but they are riddled with potholes. Mozambique's infrastructure was wrecked by civil war, sponsored by apartheid South Africa, while the rail network has fared little better. The famed Benguela railway across Angola ground to a halt because of the civil war and foreign invasion, meaning much of it was destroyed. Britain is expected to put about $100m into the project initially. It will focus on linking inland trade routes with ports in Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa, where Durban and Port Elizabeth are the principal gateways for many of the goods moved in and out of southern Africa. China has already had a major impact in other African countries, including Mozambique where it has built thousands of miles of new roads. Other recent initiatives have revived part of the region's railway network – one of the first was the route from Durban, across Zimbabwe and into Zambia at Victoria Falls. It ends at the major mining town of Ndola. It took a lot of money and nearly a decade to make the three rail networks function together, but the end result is that a freight train now takes about three days to run from Ndola to Durban. It used to take more than a month.

Britain's $1bn Africa transport routes in six former British colonies

Road and rail infrastructure improvements aim to boost trade and counter growing Chinese influence on the African continent Britain is joini...

7:57 AM

South Africa P.I.G.