Once again the machinations of bureaucrat-think leave one breathless. This time it’s the definition of unemployment which one would imagine should be pretty straightforward. It turns out that to be counted as unemployed it is necessary to have been actively trying to find a job. But during lockdown when there were no jobs and people were locked down, job-hunting came to an abrupt halt and so the count of unemployed also plunged! But wait there is more. The gnomes at StatsSA noted that domestic workers were particularly hard hit compared to other professions, because they were unable to work from home, during lockdown. This cynicism is probably not just a South African speciality but likely follows international methodologies. But what it does do is highlight the near worthlessness of data collected by people who are not going to use it themselves to add value.
This is very similar to government money claimed and borrowed from (in the end) people. The story about our leader’s hope to spend R2.3 trillion on infrastructure has been resuscitated as the pandemic loses its ability to scare people into compliant behaviour and dominate headlines. This is an incredibly large amount of money even if it is to be spent on an “infrastructure program” over the next 10 years. Even the government realises this and the talismanic “Green Bonds” phrase has been pressed into service in the belief that terms like sustainability and carbon-neutral will hide from prospective lenders the nasty fact that the borrower is basically bust. Undoubtedly the nation is in dire need of an infrastructural upgrade, especially since the hungry, desperate and criminal took the opportunity of police occupied arresting surfers and stripped the country bare. It will need a great deal of money just to get the nation back to the condition it was two decades ago. Only then should we think about bullet trains and teaching robotics. The wholesale theft of railway lines has produced astonishing pictures of shunting yards without any track and raised questions of just where it went to. But the biggest concern is that, as the Gupta debacle reveals, government is simply incapable of controlling and spending large sums of money without corruption and decimating the value obtained for the money raised.
An unexpected benefit of Covid is that the everyone, especially government, has been unable to spend very much on official jaunts. Our peripatetic President Cyril who has shown a penchant for popping off to pester people for loose change has been largely confined to barracks. This week he delivered a virtual address to a UN conference on biodiversity in which he told his audience about the need to get women and indigenous populations involved in bioprospecting. Whatever this is, surely the embarrassing success of our species is proof that over the last several million years our ancestors successfully identified which plants should neither be eaten nor smoked. He also promoted the idea of a “circular economy”, which presumably refers to the ANC’s practice of recycling deadbeat and crooked party members through successive posts.
Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza has announced the immediate release of 0.7 million hectares of underutilised government-owned land for lease to those who think they could put it to better use. Now that’s a step in the right direction. Anything that loosens the clammy hand of the state from any assets is a welcome move. Now can she please go and slap some sense into her idiot colleagues still trying to resuscitate SAA.
The debate between the two US presidential candidates prompted the proposal that it could be the basis of a drinking game where one takes a glug every time you find yourself “staring at the TV gripped by the harsh reality that those two men are the only 2 options in a country of 328 million people.” {The breaking news that President Trump and his wife have both tested positive for Covid-19 is a gamechanger}
It is rather sad that the farewell game for the venerable and historic Newlands Rugby Stadium will be without any fans in the seats. The match itself should be interesting with so many new names running out as potential ‘bokke. Meanwhile the maybe unlamented demise of the Super Rugby format seems to have triggered a squabble between the antipodeans. They miss us already.
James Greener
Friday 2nd October 2020
