The major event this next week is the budget
to be delivered on Wednesday. We are all aware that Minister Mboweni is quite
clear that state expenditure has to be cut drastically but our President obviously
hasn’t been following Tito’s Twitter account. He announced during the SONA
fiasco that the budget speech would be used to provide the details of starting both
a sovereign wealth fund and a state-owned bank. These will need a bit of spare cash
one would think. Prepare for tax increases. The President has a dream
If one of these students busy burning and
destroying their campus ever gets around to returning to work, a wonderful
research topic for a small project would be to find out how there is always a
steady supply of mattresses and
appliances to set alight. The problem might be firstly to find a supervisor, as
most lecturers beyond a certain age have no experience of burning useful
appliances and household goods. The other difficulty would be to define a
faculty interested in this topic. While the old PPE mainstay (Politics,
Philosophy and Economics) is often the course of choice for those students who
need sufficient free time to pursue their extramural interests, perhaps the
sourcing of goods like these is the realm of Commerce. Just a thought.
Dealing with people who want or need to
change their country of residence is undoubtedly a task for a skilled branch of
government. Just the words used to describe people who are every type and
version of immigrants or refugees, hint at the problems which largely have to
do with the resources of the host country. The main issue of course is to
determine who and how many they are. Interestingly there is invariably
opposition from some of their own citizens to this obvious step. In places
where benefits are worthwhile and freely obtainable a market in forged
documents is another obstacle facing even the charitable and well-meaning hosts.
This week our minister of education buckled and issued instruction that public
schools must accept children even if they have no ID. In the UK, an equally
contentious program is apparently underway to root out and expel those who “shouldn’t”
be in their kingdom. It works both ways though because news from Canada is that
their recent new residents from England, now banned from using the descriptor “Sussex
Royals”, are not entirely welcome by everyone in that country
Its alarming how quickly the spokesman for
our defence force jumped to the suspicion that distributing the clip of a tank
veering out of control and stopping just short of a crowd of watching soldiers
is a conspiracy to heap scorn on our military. Lighten up lieutenant. Its just
a very funny incident that thankfully ended up without injuries. One might
comment however, that the audience seemed to comprise a very mixed squad in
terms of uniform, hair style and body weight.
When it comes to premium brand cars,
wearables and liquors this country refuses to pay any attention to just how
poor it is supposed to be. Next Sunday, in Franschhoek – South Africa’s answer
to a Disneyworld type fantasy park – The Veuve Cliquot Polo Series
International is going to be held. A very limited number of single tickets are available,
priced at R4 900 each. To show just how exclusive and expensive the
shindig will be, the price of a corporate VIP pocket (?) for 10 people
–including unlimited amounts of the sponsor’s bubbly -- is just R49 000. Rich
folk don’t do discounts!
This week the Australian cricket team arrived
in SA for a T20 series. The touring party includes at least two members who in
2018 played a Test Match against Proteas in which they intended and prepared to
cheat. They were caught. Current commentary and remarks lean towards being
conciliatory towards these cheats, taking the view that they were caught and
served their period of suspension. I strongly reject this notion. Who can be
certain that there are no players (on either side) planning to influence the
outcome of the forthcoming matches by illegal means? The cost of discovery
clearly falls well short of the benefit of winning.
James Greener
Friday 21st February 2020
