The entire cabinet must surely share the blame for the incredible ineptitude that decided that the nation needed only one machine to manufacture the laminated credit card sized driving licence. The design itself of the small pink card has attracted criticism since its inception. Some of us remember when due to some omission in the information shown the card, it was not treated as a valid ID for dealings even with state entities such as the Post Office. Usage, familiarity and a realistic risk assessment eventually ironed out these problems. But never once did anyone suggest that operating an entire nation’s key registration through just a single machine was insane. The implication that all citizens had the spare time necessary for first the retesting and then returning to collect the new card was disrespectful and stupid in the extreme. Mind you almost all mandatory regulatory transactions with government, require hours of fruitless waiting. Driver and vehicle licences should be issued immediately in a drive through facility. Like a vaccination centre.
It is really alarming when you hear that Minister Gwede Mantashe has some kind of casting vote when it comes to making decisions about anything to do with Koeberg Nuclear Power Station. It’s also worrying when Peter Becker, the fellow representing civil society on the board of the National Nuclear Regulator is pictured happily wearing a t-shirt bearing the message #shutdownKoeberg. That’s makes clear his position toward any engineering program for prolonging the vital continuation to the nation’s power supply The ignorant and the uncompromising. What could go wrong?
It's not a new phenomenon. It’s just the latest case of baffling incompetence. How exactly do 160 firearms “go missing” from a police station. That’s a big number and even if they were all small hand guns, comprise a heavy and unwieldy load to be transferred from one place to another. The sort of load that that goes “bump” a lot and gets the station commander wondering just what is going on? So how much cash changed hands or moved through the bank accounts of the crooked cops? And no one knew anything. Now these weapons were being held because they had been recovered from the scene of a crime. And there’s a piece of legislation being trailed which requires all gun owners to hand over their weapons to the government so that ballistic tests can be performed to see if the guns might have been used in a crime. Presumably it would have had to be fired and the bullets recovered for such a test to be carried out. Owners are assured that their weapons will be returned just as soon as the tests are complete. Amazingly, however gun owners are deeply sceptical of this assurance and the current “disappearance” comforts no one. Pictures of the filing system at the national firearm registry suggest this will not be a one-day game. Pity it wasn’t stored in that top floor room in the Parliament building.
Nearly the end of January, and the school leaving exam results have at last been released. Understandably there will be scenes of jubilation and disappointment among the more than a quarter of a million young folk who battled all manner of odds, but particularly the unpredictable interpretations of virus science. Their teachers did a pretty good job too and already this year we have been treated to the usual guilt-inducing photograph of a crowd of youngsters seated at the feet of their docent in the shade of a tree. Unfortunately, the bureaucrats and politicians in charge of this particularly important government portfolio serve their clients particularly ill. It is misleading and cruel to label those pupils who may have achieved sufficient marks to apply for further education at a university, as having attained a Bachelor’s Pass. Sadly, the raw facts indicate that very few school leavers will ever be capped as baccalaureus of anything. The most extreme form of this over-inflation of educational achievement are those high schools who award “doctorates”. Our post school training is in crisis and unfit for the needs of the nation and the youngsters, This year’s sample of idiocy is the near fanatical adoption of the principals of POPI (Protection of Personal Information) by removing candidate’s names from all published results.
African Soccer teams have evolved elaborate dance celebration rituals after a goal is scored. Reportedly the commentators at Afcon have taken to rating these rituals. Bafana Bafana unfortunately practiced their cart before the horse and are not there.
James Greener
Friday 21st January 2022
