SICK OF LOCKDOWN? HERE, FILL IN THESE FORMS.

Our currency is doing champion-like things. It is at one-year highs against most major currencies and pretty soon the whole nation will be able to afford cars like that Rolls Royce SUV, as its price softens below the R16m that Mrs Mpisane has paid. This lady is an extremely successful contractor serving municipalities in the Durban area. Reportedly she has her friendly personal tax collector’s phone number on speed dial. Also looking perky are the US share markets where indices like the Dow and the S&P are in virgin territory. So really it would appear that there is absolutely nothing to worry about. Covid has been conquered, Presidents Biden and Ramaphosa have led their countries into broad new uplands free of concern and despondency where violence and crime no longer worry investors and the Proteas are back. No wait. Not so much that last one perhaps. And the first one is a puzzle. Come to think of it, the middle one is not altogether true either. The most terrifying instruments in the markets (crypto currencies) are setting new highs too. So, it’s situation normal. Confusion reigns. And to confirm the normality, the government has published a raft of regulations to read and forms to complete for anyone who employs a domestic worker. Naturally, once completed, the forms together with a copy of the employment contract need to emailed to our caring and vigilant state. Just how this will aid anyone on this most menial and vulnerable rung of the employment ladder is unclear. It’s really despair-inducing how socialists believe that it’s possible to regulate everyone into positions of security and wealth. Just before beer time today our nation will move quietly into phase 2 of its Covid vaccination program. It comes with a fancy Compensation Fund – paid for entirely by the state (don’t ask) -- and an electronic vaccination data system (EVDS). Whether any other associated things are yet in place is unclear. What about at least one manufacturer’s request for an indemnity against patient claims in case of unexpected side effects? Or a plan to speed up the “jab” rate so that the nation reaches a meaningful vaccination level before something else catches our attention. Over 60s can now register online and expect to receive an SMS telling them what next to do. This technology stuff is just amazing – provided the power stays on. Talking of which, President Cyril’s skipped his usual monthly fireside chat in which he rolls the National State of Disaster on by a further 30 days All we got his week was a brief statement from NDZ who had been given no goal posts to shift. She must be simply itching to ban the sale of something. One of the important indicators that our poor embattled country needs to display as a sign of a possible recovery is to shut down SAA completely and immediately. This week it appointed a new Chief Executive Officer. Mr Thomas Kgokolo’s position is only interim mind you, but he comes with an impressive list of qualifications, sadly none of which reveal any experience of running an airline during one of the most challenging periods for that industry ever. Its unfair on the man, the remaining alleged employees of the utterly moribund enterprise and the shareholders. And all this is ordered so that cabinet ministers can be pampered by other civil servants when they travel at the front of an aircraft (with reportedly dodgy permits and licences) to a meeting that should never have been called. Its alarming to realise that the people who run two major motor sports have no idea that their fan base and viewership overlap. This week again the two events of Formula 1 and Moto GP all but clash. Why? And while I am sure to be shouted down by proper fans, the way in which European football organisers have packed their calendars this year is rapidly making at least one viewer lose interest. Obviously, the fear of having to take a salary cut meant that no governing body could contemplate dropping or pruning even one heavily sponsored tournament. Tedium threatens. Not to say player injury. James Greener Friday 16th April 2021