My view on current affairs, locally and internationally. I’m not an expert, but feel I have to air my views now and then
Finally someone in goverment has started growing a set of balls, and will be holding corrupt and incompetent officials accountable for their mistakes. I hope they get it right to collect the funds, and if not, to at least lock the officials up for the "theft" that occurred.
Source: Govt officials 'wasted millions'
I wonder if we'll be seeing more of this in the near future. The robber got lucky, only needing some stitches before getting locked up. But I think this should serve as a warning to the criminals out there. South Africans are tired of crime, and if you get caught out by one of your "victims", you're going to regret it!
http://www.fin24.co.za/articles/default/display_article.aspx?Nav=ns&ArticleID=1518-25_1983078
Apparently Eskom is getting a R300m fine for the whole Koeberg/Western Cape power affair, due to an investigation finding that they have been negligent. They will probably just pass this on to the consumer to foot the bill.
I totally disagree with this fine!
They should be getting rid of the people in upper management that has allowed this to happen. That way the consumer does not get screwed over again, only the person/s responsible for the whole stuff-up.
News 24 blames the violence in school on the lack of empathy in teachers and a few other issues. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1970291,00.html. I say that is crap!
The violence in schools can IMHO be attributed to the lack of any discipline in schools. As someone who had corporal punishment as part of my upbringing at home and at school, I can honestly say it made me a better person. Today's youth have no respect, and no discipline, because it is not enforced on them. Sure, corporal punishment might have had a negative phsycological effect on a few, but for most it had only a positive effect. When you did wrong and got caught, you knew what was coming. Now you can do almost what you want, and the worst that will happen is that someone might have a bit of a talk with you. PLEASE!
As for capital punishment, I think the current spate of violent crime speaks for itself. The criminals know that if they get caught, they'll be out in a fairly short period of time, and there is no danger of losing your own life. In a few other african countries, capital punishment is in place for any violent crime. This would include someone pushing a kid of a bicycle to steal it. Again, their crime statistics speak for itself, the criminals there know that the punishment is harsh, and therefore refrain from doing the crime.
In his column on News24, http://www.news24.com/News24/Columnists/Jon_Qwelane/0,,2-1630-1633_1965414,00.html, Jon Qwelane states that he hopes Zuma wins his lawsuits against the South African media.
For those of you who don't know, Zuma (our ex-debuty president) is suing the media for R61 million for defamation, after they reported on his rape case.
Jon maybe you should wake up! Do you realise that if he wins his case, it will mean the end of free press in this country, it will also free up these "despicable little men of certain newspapers", as you call them, to sue you for defamation for calling them that.
Zuma brought most of what the media said upon himself with his ridiculous statements in court. Let's leave it at that, and let the courts decide whether he has any leg to stand on. I seriously doubt that any judge in his right mind will award the case to Zuma, but this is South Africa after all, and anything is possible.
Two things grabbed my attention on News 24 today.
The one was that they have uncovered a scam in the Gauteng housing department with fraud totalling more than R133 million. People have been awarding themselves and their partners housing subsidies, even though they earn a decent salary etc. People that were dead according to Home Affairs, also received grants.
Very Nice!
When is our government going to live according to their own rules? When are we going to get independant yearly audits on these departments? When are we going to get controls in place to stop this type of fraud?
The second thing that grabbed my attention, was that all 21 municipalities in Mpumalanga decided to have inauguration parties for their new mayor ellects, costing more than R100,000 each. Some up to R300,000. In my book, that's enough to get him fired again. How many people can you provide for with that 2.1 million rand? Then there's one of them, that's budgeted R800,000 for a car! Buddy, you're in charge of a small town, not a big city! Same rules count here than in the corporate world, if you run a small company, you drive an affordable car, if you run a multi-million rand corporation, you've obviously proved yourself, and you get the expensive car. Maybe you should manage your town out of the debt they're in, and will then get the promotion to mayor of a big city, where you get the expensive car.
Even though each municipality is independantly managed, I think it's time that government put certain restrictions and controls in place, same as you would get in the corporate world. The manager of a branch office does not get the same perks as the area/national manager. Not even close! My opinion is, that if the country was run more like a company, with the correct strcutures and controls in place, we would have a much better country to live in.
Don't you find it ironic that while the security guard strike has been going on for the past two months, the reports in the news about Cash in Transit robberies have declined measurably. Surely this is proof that most of these robberies occur because of inside information.
I think it is time that the security industry starts cleaning up their act. Start bringing in measures that makes it almost impossible for any person, except the driver, to know where a certain truck is going to be at a certain time. Randomise schedules etc. If this is the case, no one can be threatened to supply the information to the syndicates either, because they don't know, and they can't find out.