LOVELY RITA METER MAID

The total rand amount of the earnings reported by the constituent shares of the JSE All Share index over the past 12 months has recovered enormously since the low recorded in the last quarter of 2020. In common with many informal and anecdotal reports in the same vein, this is welcome news but very had to explain. Where is the money coming from to fuel the reported surge in demand? Tidemarks suggests that we are witnessing the most perfect example of trickledown economics ever recorded. Public money raised by taxes and loans pass effectively and efficiently almost directly into the hands of those eager and unafraid to spend it. On themselves. This is a chain which is unlikely to be broken by seeking to install incorruptible and civic minded officials and bureaucrats who will deliver what the citizens expect and more significantly need if this nation is to become competitive. The chain is large and seemingly comprised of networks of a small number of large families. Their most annoying characteristic of this self-denoted A-list elite, after a talent for grand larceny, is a complete denial of any arithmetic which demonstrates that their lifestyle depends on a very small number of increasingly disillusioned payers of very large taxes. Their insistence, for example, that there is demand for the resurrection of the SAA the state- owned airline has no basis in any financial or transport universe. Recently Tidemarks wondered who was brave enough to take on the minibus taxi industry and break the news to them that “Really it would be jolly sporting and patriotic of them to start paying income tax”! And now the government want these same taxi drivers, along with everyone else in the country, to give up their hand-guns. The government’s thesis is that there is no need for individuals to have a weapon for self defence. Really? This was a bad time to choose to release a photograph of a suite of rooms, presumably in Pretoria, where the Firearm Registry, operated by the police, reportedly store their records. It was, one must say, surprisingly neat. But the sight of tonnes of paper stacked from floor to ceiling without a shelf, bookcase or filing cabinet to be seen raises doubts about just what is being controlled in this manner. Presumably these records are the original sheafs of A4 forms completed by gun owners over the past few decades when the previous system was changed. So now there is RTIA - the Road Traffic Infringement Agency, another grammar-challenged newly formed outfit that feeds on public money. It is tasked with administering the “Aarto Value Chain” an oxymoronic and meaningless concept. RTIA is complaining that it will need to rely on other state agencies like the Department of Transport and the South African Post Office to do its job. Further, RTIA is dependent on the NCR which is administered by the Road Traffic Management Corporation. And perhaps worst of all, The Government Printing Works is responsible for printing the Aarto notice books. Oh no! How will they ever do their job? And do we actually need it? The TV producer who decided to start interviewing athletes hasn’t bequeathed us a universally winning idea. While their appearance on the screen is normally due to noteworthy or exceptional performance in their discipline, not all are gifted speakers or natural and interesting commentators. Especially not if they have just completed a gruelling session of physical effort. Euphoria, excitement and adrenaline will carry them only a few sentences down the road before their words – often in a foreign language – are banal and embarrassing and only their parents are still listening. Unwisely producers often welcome the sports man or woman who is articulate or emboldened enough to use the TV exposure to espouse a cause that is unrelated to their talent and achievement. Naomi Osaka the very successful tennis player has announced that she won’t fulfil the media obligations (i.e. answer trite and silly questions on camera) required of her at the forthcoming French Open. She will be fined for this breach of contract and has chosen to pay her penalties to a charity. It certainly raises the question of just who owns Ms Osaka’s time when she is not on a tennis court. James Greener Friday 28th May 2021