Category: Current Affairs

I received the DSTV sports newsletter this morning, and this gem was in there

"France did notqualify for the 1994 World Cup finals and won the World Cup on home soil in1998. Germany were written off before the 2006 World Cup and they ended third.So I am hopeful Bafana will produce the goods in 2010." 

Chairman of the 2010 LocalOrganising Committee, Dr Irvin Khoza responds after FIFA President Sepp Blatterwas critical of Bafana for failing to qualify for the 2010 African Nations Cupfinals. 

How confused are you Dr Irvin Khoza.  Yes, your statement may be true, but those countries stayed in the top 10 in the world, they did not drop to 70th.  Our soccer guys are a bunch of lazy sods.  The talent may be there, but I don't see any work ethic whatsoever, all you ever hear is how this one and that one missed the training camp for unspecified reasons, and then still got selected.  And where are the enforced quotas in soccer?  All the focus always stays on the traditional white sports, but nothing is ever said about the traditional black sports.  Let's not make this a racial thing, so I'll end off with another quote out of the same newsletter.

 “Politics has no place in sport. You cannot select people forwho they are or who they are not.” 

South African sportsmenand women will struggle to compete with the world's best if politicianscontinue to prescribe to them, says Tim Noakes, one of South Africa'sbest-known sports scientists. 

Our government's inability to do anything right is seriously costing the tax payer!

Jackie Selebi's case has been postponed to April next year, because the state is not ready.  With his contract just being renewed, it means we continue paying him a fat salary while he's on permanent leave.  That's utter BS.

Robert McBride's court costs were funded by the municipality, his employer.  Show me one company in this country who will fund the employee's court case against them…

There needs to be drastic policy changes in this country, and soon.  If someone is suspended on suspicion of fraud, their salary needs to be suspended as well.  Should that person then be proven innocent, they are entitled to a full back payment of their salary, but should they be guilty, they're entitled to nothing.  If a person goes to court for suspicion, he should fund his own defence, once again, when proven innocent, I don't mind if they then refund the full cost.

There are too many people, most of them appointed by the current administration, that are suspended on full salary for fraud and corruption charges.  I don't see why we should be funding their lavish lifestyles while there's a cloud of suspicion over them.

For that matter, I think anybody in public office should not be getting a salary while in office.  Their basic needs should be paid for by the state, and based on performance, they get a lump sum at the end, with the public having some say in the matter.  And that could even be tax free in my mind, if the person performed their duties well, in the public's interest, they deserve that.

If we had this payment scheme in place for the current administration, I don't believe many of them would have walked away with a payment at the end of their term.

In the business world if you're not happy with a supplier's service, you withhold payment until the service improves, or you find a better supplier.  Unfortunately in this case my payment for services is in the form of taxes, which I have no choice of withholding, my employer pays it to the collector.  So that leaves me with the option of finding a new supplier, in this case another government, in another country…