In the utter
shambles that is Brexit, where the fallout from an unexpected referendum result
several years ago demolished reason and civility, something may finally be happening.
The pound sterling is getting stronger. It needs nearly 20 runts to buy just
one. Is this because there is a growing acceptance that entering a new political
and economic relationship with what has become a sclerotic union run by bureaucrats
fearful of losing their jobs shuffling paper, might provide opportunities for
profit? That is, individuals are putting the money where their instinct suggests
and not where legions of partisan politicians predict. Of course, it’s not too late for yet another
U-turn by the crazies in Westminster though!
Jacob Zuma,
this nation’s previous Number One, has been back in court. Seeing past
presidents in dock is frequently a sign of third worldliness. The charge, as
always, is related to the way that power renders individuals incapable of
distinguishing the difference between their own money and someone else’s. After
all, the notes all look the same. In JZ’s case it was particularly hard. Not
only does he have a well-documented difficulty with counting, but the bank
notes bear a picture of one of his pals from the miserable days on “The Island”[1].
Further they even bear the signature of another of his buddies who JZ undoubtedly
had a hand in appointing to his current job. Maybe they need to try spraying
all civil servant wages with a purple dye to show that their money is free of
the proceeds of crime. Oh, wait a bit! That’s already being done isn’t it?
Is it
terribly colonial to be uneasy when confronted by a man wearing a hat indoors?
But when the individual is the fellow responsible for supplying the nation with
that most colonial of commodities – electrical power – it may be justified. Behatted
Mr Jabu Mabula, the acting CEO of Eskom (yes, our key utility still does not
have a permanent boss!) has been explaining that a conveyor belt supplying the
coal to one of our newest power stations has broken and that therefore the power
supply is being rationed. This is bad news for rugby fans with the World Cup
quarterfinals starting tomorrow, let alone the small matter of getting an
economy to grow. That he has now activated an “emergency command centre” and is
also pinning his hopes on the cabinet approved Integrated Resource Plan is not entirely
comforting. He should be firing the staff who failed to notice a conveyor belt
close to failure and all the other minor but critical items necessary to keep
the lights on. A (presumably genuine) clip doing the rounds shows electricity
pylons that have been stripped by scrap metal thieves of vital steel support
beams. When these pylons collapse a lot of the West Rand could be dark for a
long time!
Unlike the
dubious desperados who are so often called in by government and its agencies to
provide advice on matter financial, the public relations consultants may be
cheaper and more fun. For example, they togged out Communications,
Telecommunications and Postal Services Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams in a
natty blazer complete with pocket badge bearing a stylish 4IR logo. She was on
a podium to announce that the first draft of the Presidential Commission's
blueprint on the Fourth Industrial Revolution is expected to be released in
October. She also said "4IR will be enabled with 5G… but we need to
look at the ecosystem of 5G." This statement probably lost whoever
remained of her audience as that trigger word “eco” will have sent many diving
for cover before teenage eco-warriors burst upon the stage. For a nation
battling to keep the lights on, schools from being torched and creating an
economy growing at least as fast as the population this alphabet soup of acronyms
is very sadly meaningless.
Conspiracy theorists who suggest that the broken conveyor belt and
consequent power cuts may be a blow aimed at ‘bok rugby fans are totally out of
touch with the level of ineptitude of our government. Also, many of them are
fans of the sport even if of other teams. Everyone is currently synchronising the
match and power cut schedules with lists of friends and bars with back-up generators.
Even if held in the dark the post-match braais will be epic affairs. I wonder
what impact the French referees are going to have.
James Greener
Friday 18th October 2019
