PRACTICE OF DUPLICITY

The last time the rand was this strong against the US dollar was just before we went into lockdown. There were moments this week when one could buy a dollar for less than R15.50! The price of gold is falling, and the traditional signals of fear are leaking away. President Cyril renewed the state of disaster for another month, but one could see his heart was not in it. He threw open our borders and bottle stores but did grumble a bit about people’s propensity to party in the face of a pandemic that isn’t going away. In fact, it seems it may never go away totally and most of us have now come to terms with that and have each adopted our own strategy for coping. These include schools, many of which are now gearing up to offer a wholly online remote teaching experience. This is very sad but obviously the demand is there and its not as if we could have a very much worse state education system than we have at present. The smorgasbord of opinions, recommendations and undoubted facts about this wee bug grows larger every day and this week there was a flurry of information about vaccines. The one was a notice about the hurried termination of trial of a potion – presumably because it was proving harmful. The second was a very excited claim by Pfizer, a major pharmaceutical house, that their vaccine was ready. This good news was somewhat tainted by the story that the CEO of the company had simultaneously sold a large portion of his shareholdings in the business. Not the greatest of timing there. The cold hard truth is that chemical control of this virus is likely to be a long way off and it is still difficult to separate facts from things we would like to be true. Official responses to alarming “second waves” of infection have become increasingly erratic and inexplicable and one wonders if governments are not competing for some sort of award for managing to inconvenience and terrify their populace the most. Only three South African bars made it into a list of the globe’s top 100 such establishments: They are called: Sin + Tax (69th place), Cause Effect Cocktail Kitchen (75th place) and Art of Duplicity (88th place). None of these are in Durban and with names like these it seems unlikely that they specialise in serving bitterly cold Castle Lite in Zulu Dumpy bottles. Readers must not therefore expect any reviews from Tidemarks. Nevertheless, it’s nice to report yet another sign of our pre-virus old hedonistic lifestyles returning. Also, it feels as if more of the tunnels have real lights at the end of them. One of the nation’s head honchos, Ace Magashule, who is the secretary-general of the ANC ruling party, will soon appear in court on corruption charges related to a R255-million contract that he signed while he was premier of Free Sate province. The details are tedious and grubby but as always relate to money moving in unusual directions. Reportedly Ace is riffling through his pack of “get out of jail free” cards and so far, has played the conspiracy one. Nameless forces are out to get him it seems. The race card is sure to follow. Should these proceedings end in jail time for Ace – and provided the case does not drag on for years – others will begin to get uneasy. And why can’t we get the extradition agreement with Dubai ratified and haul in a few Guptas? Augusta National golf course in the northern hemisphere autumn is a sight normally available only to members. But because of COVID-19, this year’s Masters tournament had to be postponed from its usual spring timing and is only now being played. The lack of azalea blossom along the course is causing even more commentary than the competitors, but it still looks like a very special place. Even non-golfers are interested to watch the new generation of muscle men who can drive a golf ball 400 yards. Tidemarks is going on holiday and I am really looking forward to getting back to the Kruger National Park after a two-year break. The next letter should be offered on 11th December, by which time who knows what 2020 will have served up. James Greener Friday 13th November 2020