A while ago I stared into the barrel of a gun for the second time in my life, and could see the intent of the guy holding it...."fight me and I pull the trigger"

So I decided that he can take what he wants, and whatever is not insured I will have to replace out of my own pocket.  I originally insured my bicycle in case I crash in a race, my thoughts never covered the possibility that someone would want it enough to take it from me at the business end of a gun.  But luckily it was insured, and I was able to replace at least some of what was taken from me.

The sad thing is, I know that the people who took my stuff have no idea of its value, and will probably sell it to cover their next splurge at the liquor store, where they could be buying a small car.

The previous time this happened, I was lucky, I only lost a cheap cellphone and some cash, they probably knew that an expensive bike would look totally out of place where they lived and would be caught in a flash.  Now, the criminals just don't care anymore, they know that our police force is so swamped with work, that they'll probably never get caught, and if they do get caught, they're probably be able to bribe their way out of, so who cares.

Our government has let this happen, they've let corruption and cronyism fly at the highest levels to the detriment of everyone that actually contributes to the coffers that they are raiding.

I'm under no impression that the same corruption and cronyism is not prevalent in most, if not all, first world countries, but there they at least have the decency to get the basics right before scooping the cream off the top.  Here the whole milk bucket is plundered, including the cream.

Will this improve?  IMHO, I don't see that happening soon. There's a lot of talk, a little action, but mostly apathy from the government side as well.

What am I going to do about it?  First of all, I'm not going to change my life because of this incident, I will continue cycling, I will continue doing it when and where I want to do it.  But I'm not that worried about me, I'm worried about my children, things have degenerated, and will probably continue sliding downwards, where does this leave them when they grow up?

Maybe I should then seriously start thinking about moving them to a place where there is at least a possibility of a better, safer life for them...Yes, this will affect their relationship with their extended family, but what should I do?

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The current strikes are for increases that are double or more of the current inflation rate.  Now, knowing myself that the inflation rate is the biggest farce out, I can see their point, especially seeing that quite a few CEO's and top management of parastatals are handing themselves increases of more than double what the workers are asking for.

They also want to get rid of labour brokers, and a few other requests.

Why strike

Now here is where my understanding ends.  Labour brokers help a lot of the union members to get work, why get rid of them?  There are the ones that take advantage of blue-collar workers, but then, there are full-time employers that do exactly the same.  Are we going to get rid of employers next?  We need to make sure that workers are not getting taken advantage of, which is what the unions are for.  But then...

What the unions are doing is perpetuating the catch-22 we currently have.  If the workers don't strike for a month or 2 out of every year, then the increase that the employers are offering would be enough, because remember, even though you can strike legally, there is still a rule of no work, no pay.

So for every month you strike, you are effectively giving up 8.3% of your annual salary.  That's more than the difference you are striking for.  But seeing that the unions and govt are also perpetuating the situation of low to no education, the workers cannot quite work this out for themselves.

All the unions are effectively doing is to make sure that every worker out there strive to be as mediocre as the next one, because with the strikes no employer wants to be seen to give anyone a deserved increase or promotion for outstanding work, because they would have mutiny on their hands.

Where does this stop?

The Violence

The biggest problem with the strikers, is that they violently intimidate people who cannot afford to not be paid, to go on strike.

This has to end, if you want to continue working, nobody should be allowed to keep you from it.  Your right to strike does not give you the right to force anyone else to do it too.

A law has to be passed in this regard, strikes can only be legal as long as there's no violence and no intimidation.  The moment either of these surface, the strike should be declared illegal, and whoever is not back at work the next day gets the axe, no questions asked.

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People should not install the transponders but still use the highways and force the government to issue accounts and summonses to all motorists until such time they drop the prices. The government will be forced to send out millions of accounts every month and they don't have the man power to do it. This is the best and easiest way to boycott the system. What is the government going to do about motorists from other neighbouring countries that don't have these transponders?

South Africans are too complacent and its time we fight back. WE have paid for these roads. Now they are also proposing a 1% tax to fund SABC. If two people are working in one house hold how much is it going to cost?? Where is it going to stop?
Has anyone thought just how much tax we are already paying?

a. 35% on your salary

b. 14% on everything you buy (bar fresh produce) and services rendered.

c. Carbon tax if you buy a new car (besides the 14% VAT you have to pay)

d. Tax on the fuel you put in your car to run it.

e. Toll on our roads – and for some it is going to come to a whopper of 10% of your salary (If you earn R10 000.00 a R1 000 would go toward tolling if you migrate between PTA and JHB every day.) – Bully to try and pacify me with the idea that I can claim it back from my income tax!!! I have to fork out the money first. Going on holiday to DBN? Remember to save up your R1000.00 for tolling.

To say the least – For every R10.00 you earn, the government is already taking approx R6.00 and still they want more. Are you happy with the R4.00 you are getting?

NICE!!!!!

When are we going to get up and do something about it? Where is all the money going to? It is definitely not being spent on what it should be – our hospitals are in a state of disrepair, our schools in shambles, our roads full of potholes, our water contaminated, sewers not working, left in the dark because Eskom failed to do their upgrades, the poor are poorer still, municipalities on the brink of collapse, and so the list goes on.

Heard about the youth day celebration that cost R100 million? Mmmm... did you pay for it?
Oh yes sir/madam you did! R100 million that could have paid for a couple of things our country needed more.
And to put the numbers in perspective:

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.
·         Building Permit Tax
·         Cigarette Tax
·         Corporation Tax
·         Income Tax
·         VAT
·         Fishing License Tax
·         Food Licence Tax
·         Fuel LicenceTax
·         Petrol/Diesel Tax
·         Hunting Licence Tax
·         Luxury Tax
·         Property Tax
·         Service charge taxes
·         Capital gains Tax
·         Social Security Tax
·         Road Usage Tax
·         Local Tax
·         Vehicle Licence Registration Tax
·         Vehicle Sales Tax
·         Workers Compensation Tax

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 20 years ago...
And our nation was one of the most  prosperous in Africa.
We had absolutely no national debt...
We had the largest middle class in Africa And Mum stayed home to raise the kids.
What the HELL happened ?
ANSWER :
Look at who controls the Government.....and is 'running' the country....
INTO THE GROUND - on YOUR and MY 'billions'!!!

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We are in our strike season again, a bit later than usual after everyone behaved so nicely during the World Cup, and since yesterday there has been reports all over about violence and intimidation by the strikers.  This is totally uncalled for!

Everyone has the right to strike, as long as all the processes are followed to ensure that the strike is legal and for the right reasons.  The current reason is that our public servants are not happy with an increase that is already slightly higher than the official inflation rate, which is more than what most people in the private sector got.  The official inflation rate is a farce according to my calculations, but that's a story for another post altogether.

What is sad about the increases is that our government ministers and other politically connected officials received increases far higher than what the workers are asking for.  So there are two new "laws" I am suggesting in this regard.

1) A committee, made up of the President, Finance Minister, and 2 or 3 other people with the right qualifications, needs to determine increases once a year according to the official inflation rate, and that is what everyone in public service gets, from the top to the bottom, as long as they have achieved their personal performance goals.

2) You still have your right to strike.  But at the first signs of violence or intimidation, whether committed by the strikers or not, the strike is declared illegal, and everyone has 2 hours to get back to work or lose their jobs.

I dare you dear South African Government to fast-track these 2 laws, because it can only have a positive impact on the country as a whole.

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How does he get to this?

Lets look at the fruit exporting business.  They are currently in peak season for a number of different fruit, and cannot ship any of their product out of the country.  That means that the industry as a whole will not make their profits, and may make a loss if they have to dump all of their produce on local markets.  Who suffers?  The farmers, and the workers that they now cannot afford to pay anymore.   Their estimate is that they will lose R1billion equalling 30,000 jobs.

Economists say that the economy will probably lose R15billion therefore some 450,000 possible jobs will be lost, taking the scenario of the fruit producers. Take 10% of that and it amounts to some 45,000 additional jobs that may be lost. If this is not theft legalised what is it then?

The Coal industry, probably the largest Transnet customer.  Their system is normally running at capacity, which means that for the 2 weeks lost so far, they've lost 2 weeks in production, because they cannot cath up on lost shipping, there is no more capacity available.  Who suffers?  The coal miners, the workers.

So please, fire your greedy union leaders and accept the 11% offer, it is more than what most of us got.

Why do I say the union leaders are greedy?  Remember that the union takes a percentage cut of your salary, 4% over 100,000 workers is a lot of money.  If they get you 15%, a figure which is probably their upper target, I'll put money on them getting paid "super" performance bonuses, out of the extra money that you're now contributing to the union's coffers.

Update: According to Business Report, government wants to declare the fruit farming issue a disaster.  I've included some figures above, all in italics.

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The current government/Eskom management will probably come up with some feeble excuse to blame the previous dispensation, but these contracts were signed in 1997, 3 years after the ANC took office.

This means that either a BEE candidiate with not enough experience & knowledge negotiated the deal, without taking into consideration that production cost could rise significantly.  Like it did.

Or we're looking at some hidden corruption, with the person/people that negotiated the contract taking some bribes to sell electricity below cost.

Which is it?

Either way, us regular household and small business consumers are being screwed. Eskom has received permission to hike their tariffs by almost 100% over the next 2 years, yes they say 3 years, but the first hike happen now, and the 3rd will happen in 2 years time.

Surely these hikes have to be retracted and investigated now that this has come to light.

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Where our current government went off the tracks was to try and get as many previously disadvantaged people into as many posts as possible, with dire consequences for our country.  They neglected to make sure that the people they appointed had the necessary skills to perform before getting rid of the people that had the skills.  It bit them, hard.

At the same time, they failed on the education side, twofold.  Our youth were never provided with the correct training, and their parents were never educated on why it is important to make sure that their children attended, and actually learnt something.

You cannot blame the previous dispensation for this, because the stats show that things have been going backwards for the last 15 years in this critical area.

Where does it stop?

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But hang on here, this cannot be, how can he get such a big performance bonus?  Utter bullshit male bovine excrement.

Taking a step back here, lets see how a performance bonus works in the private sector.

Normally, you and your manager, or in the case of a CEO, you and the board set your objectives for the year.  Then you get measured on these, most of the time on a 5 point scale, 1 meaning that you missed the boat completely, and you're on your way out the door if you don't pull up your socks in the next few months, and 5 meaning that you exceeded expectations on every one of the goals that we set.  And in the middle, 3 means that you're doing a good job.

Added to that is the performance of the company, so if the company doesn't perform, you don't get a bonus, or you get a small one, no matter how well you perform.

Individual Performance

Now, the way that you get measured differs from one company to the next, but most places I've worked at least part of the measurement came from a 360 review, meaning that everyone around you gives some feedback on your perceived performance from their point of view.  If this is the way that our public servants get measured (and IMHO, it should be) then I should have had input in the JRA CEO's performance review.

Back to the article.  In the article they mention that they measured him on percentage of potholes fixed within 3 days, which came in at a staggering 86%.  Not sure where in Joburg they measured, because the roads I frequent never got service like that.  But that measurement is flawed, because if you measure him on potholes fixed, then he's failed already.

If our roads got the maintenance they need, then the chances of potholes forming in the first place  are limited.  But the maintenance, meaning resurfacing and repainting doesn't happen, or at least it doesn't happen on the large number of roads that I frequent.  Being a cyclist, I think I see more roads than most people, and I also see the state they're in, because I travel at a lower speed, and have a better viewing angle from the bike.

So my input on the CEO's performance comes in at a 1, at a push, maybe a 2.  In my books, that does not get a bonus, and if my staff come in with those measurements, they don't even get an increase.

Company Performance

Ok, so here you cannot measure the same as in the private sector, because a government department is not profit or turnover driven, or at least it shouldn't be, but this is questionable in South Africa.

So the way I'll measure the company is to see whether they are getting done what they are employed to do.  Every government department is there to serve the people, in different ways.  The City of Johannesburg, is there to provide services to keep the city going.

Are they performing well?

Ignoring the department of the individual in question here, let's name a few other examples.

• Billing is a disaster, and they admit it.
• Metro cops aren't enforcing any laws, except the ones that make easy money (you shouldn't be profit driven, remember)
• Electricity sub-stations are being maintained, so they burn down (then new ones have to be built, much higher cost)
• Long term planning is not being done, or not being done properly (The sheer amount of roadworks required now shows this)
• Public transport is a shambles, instead of fixing metro bus, they bring out a new service, covering very little of the city (once again, at a much higher cost)

I could go on, but you get the picture.  So overall, the company in question is not performing like it should, and therefore no-one should be getting bonuses.

That leaves me with the only possible conclusion, that the bonus is legalised corruption, and they're skimming as much as they can before the city goes bankrupt.

What do you think?

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We condemn in the strongest possible terms the reprisals against journalists by Shivambu. His actions constitute a blatant attack on media freedom and a grave infringement on Constitutional rights. It is a disturbing step towards dictatorial rule in South Africa. We call on the ANC and the ANC Youth League to distance themselves from the actions of Shivambu. The media have, time and again, been a vital democratic
safeguard by exposing the actions of individuals who have abused their positions of power for personal and political gain.

The press have played a vital role in the liberation struggle, operating under difficult and often dangerous conditions to document some of the most crucial moments in the struggle against apartheid. It is therefore distressing to note that certain people within the ruling party are willing to maliciously target journalists by invading their privacy and threatening their colleagues in a bid to silence them in their legitimate work.

We also note the breathtaking hubris displayed by Shivambu and the ANC Youth League President Julius Malema in their response to the letter of complaint. Shivambu and Malema clearly have no respect for the media and the rights afforded to the media by the Constitution of South Africa. Such a response serves only to reinforce the position that the motive for leaking the so-called dossier was not a legitimate concern, but a insolent effort to intimidate and bully a journalist who had exposed embarrassing information about the Youth League President.
We urge the ANC as a whole to reaffirm its commitment to media freedom and other Constitutional rights we enjoy as a country.

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Personally I don't think that it makes sense.

It looks like the government is just trying to appease a few activists with this tax.   Or, and probably closer to the truth, adding just another tax for the few to support the many.  Your guess is as good as mine.

Why tax new vehicles? If you do a bit of research you'll quickly see that even big cars like the Hummer puts out a lot less toxic fumes than the average old car on South Africa roads.  Start looking at the taxis and trucks that are out on our road, average age is probably 5years or older.  And the maintenance on these is just enough to keep them running, most definitely not to minimise the output of harmful gases.

In my mind it would be much better for the environment to put a "green" tax on older cars that are spewing out far larger amounts of carbon than new cars.  This is the actual target of these "green" taxes, isn't it?

But once again, our government is scared of offending the, proven violent, taxi industry.  Far easier to tax new cars, these people want the cars no matter what, and they will pay the price.  Yet another reason not to buy a new car then.

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