Category: Current Affairs

My view on current affairs, locally and internationally. I’m not an expert, but feel I have to air my views now and then

Legalised Corruption

It looks like government has gone for the legal way of corruption.  On Friday I saw this article in The Star,  ‘Joburg Roads CEO get R767 000 performance bonus’.  (Do you think I could find a link to the article online?)

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. Continue reading Legalised Corruption

Bloggers for a Free Press #SpeakZA

Last week, shocking revelations concerning the activities of the ANC Youth League spokesperson Nyiko Floyd Shivambu came to the fore. According to a letter published in various news outlets, a complaint was laid by 19 political journalists with the Secretary General of the ANC, against Shivambu. This complaint letter detailed attempts by Shivambu to leak a dossier to certain journalists, purporting to expose the money laundering practices of Dumisani Lubisi, a journalist at the City Press. The letter also detailed the intimidation that followed when these journalists refused to publish these revelations. Continue reading Bloggers for a Free Press #SpeakZA

“Green” tax – just an excuse?

I have no idea what the government is thinking with the proposed “green” tax on new car sales.

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? Continue reading “Green” tax – just an excuse?

An idea for a more effective social grant system

I was just reading a user letter on News24 about the effectiveness of AA, and had this idea.  I do not disagree with the fact that previously disadvantaged people need a hand up in life, but I do disagree wholeheartedly with the way it was implemented.  My reason for disagreeing…

In the large parastatals, highly skilled people were replaced willy-nilly, without making sure that the replacements could actually do the job that was expected from them, and without making sure that there was some kind of knowledge transfer on exactly what was required in these jobs.

As we all know, this has come back to bite the country in a big way.

Continue reading An idea for a more effective social grant system