There are countdowns for
everything at the moment. The Olympic games, the local government elections,
the demise of SAA and SABC, the junk status downgrade for our poor country and
then the US presidential elections. More personal is the growing tally of
relatives and friends who have decided to leave South Africa for good. The most
common reason offered for their move is to reunite families already splintered
and seeking safety and sense elsewhere. Most of us are too polite to suggest that
racial discrimination has reached intolerable levels. Ironically none of the young
skilled and competent citizens who are now the most affected by the current
policies of social engineering and quotas were alive when previous governments were
making the same mistakes. Only a few us might now remember in bemusement our
conviction that we could make SA a better place for everyone with our protests
against apartheid and votes for an opposition. But fortunately despite our
cynicism there is still an encouraging number of fellow citizens who believe they
can get this country to the place it deserves to be. But it will take courage
to sack most politicians, half the civil servants and remove the restrictions
on capital and labour that several generations of politicians have piled into
the statute books.
The unexpected decision by Eskom
to phase out their policy of buying power from anyone with a windmill or solar
panel is really interesting. Firstly, they seem to be admitting to the incontrovertible
technical fact that these so called renewable sources don’t deliver electricity
all day and every day and this doesn’t match the kind of supply that users
demand. And secondly it is rather embarrassing that the price of power from
these systems is substantially lower than even the published and massaged costs
of building power stations and buying and burning coal.
Here in Durban the great and good
as well as the loathsome and dubious have gathered to offer us their views on
what should be done about AIDS. Mostly absent from this jamboree of course are
the ground troops working in clinics, hospitals and laboratories. Their efforts
and successes have been remarkable. Also missing is a report in person from
Number One on his experiences of showering as a preventative measure in virus
transmission.
There is some kind of unwelcome
race to the bottom going on as Governor Kganyago underbids the IMF (who called
0.1%) with his forecast of 0% growth for our poor nation this year. Fortunately
for the politicians, these folk and their utterances are so remote from the
understanding and experiences of most of the electorate that there is little chance
that they will be turfed out of office for failing to perform. This week an ANC
party bigwig assured his audience that the party had been anointed by his deity
to rule in SA. So far no one has pointed out that the track record of the party
in achieving a prosperous and happy nation doesn’t say much for that assurance.
For a considerable sum of money,
the Joburg Municipality has purchased a fleet of emergency vehicles designed to
support police at the scene of accidents and incidents. Among the equipment and
facilities squeezed onto these trucks are bar fridges and a mini conference
room. Soon after their official unveiling the fleet was dispatched to attend a
riot but failed to arrive because of an unspecified “technical difficulty”.
Well at least the cops on board could have sat around the table and had a cold
drink or two and argued about who forgot the map book.
How long before Minister Mabalula
discovers that the Tour de France is a sport and that the South Africans taking
part may be in need of his talents. Louis Meintjies is lying second in one of
the categories and the chance of a photo op on the Champs-Elysees on Sunday for
Fikile must be very tempting. Now we are down at the sharp end of the Super
Rugby competition and Lion’s supporters are still smarting from last weekend’s
loss in South America. Nevertheless, there are 3 SA teams to shout for this
weekend.
James
Greener
Friday 22nd
July 2016
