Puh ... leeeeeaaaaase !!!!!

One of the items on the news this morning was about the security arrrangements around the State of the Nation address. How many police officers and soldiers would be deployed in Cape Town, in the and around the parliamentary precinct and even in the suburbs.

For what?

In my view it is simply to feed Jake's puffed up self importance; if there is such a security presence he must be a really important guy. From long before he was president he was renowned for his coterie of 'protectors' and this has become a common practice with so many of our puffed up politicians. Get real and get down to some real work for the good of the country instead of feeding your egos.

I would love to see the threat assessment for this evening and whether it bears any correlation with the security deployment.

What If ....

What if the moon is made of green cheese? What if Jacob Zuma is really being unjustly pursued over the arms deal? What if Helen Zille is really a white supremacist?

What If allows us to explore possibilities and help us make choices between those possibilities. What If gives us freedom to explore. Exploring through What If can somesometimes help us better understand What Is. So I choose to ask What If in some different contexts to explore various things and maybe identify some ways we can make positive differences in our beloved South Africa.

So I will start exploring a What If right now ...

What if our government leadership were to fall under a different remunuration model? What if a significant portion of their total salary package was payable only on achievement of all of a set certain objectives, measurements, KPAs?

I know there is discussion on the effectiveness or otherwise of using KPAs. Let's for the purposes of this What If assume that KPAs are viable and take this What If further.

What if everyone holding a significant position in government was to receive a significant portion, say at least half their total salary package only on achieving all of their KPAs? Let them receive half their total salary package for continuing business as normal, simply for pitching up at work. Now I am sure there are some that would find even that challenging. We need only think of Winnie's woeful parliamentary attendance record.

I am suggesting that from the president down through cabinet ministers, members of parliament, through directors general, provincial premieres, mayors, city managers, heads of departments, and so on be assigned no more than five measurableKPAs.

Let us start witht he president. As the head of government what could be measured that would have a positive impact on the state of our nation.

 Hmmmmm ....

I would start with holding the president responsible for ensuring that every government department and every province obtains a clean audit every year. This means that if just one department fails to get a clean audit Jake loses half of his total remuneration package. Hands up anyone who thinks that won't have a positive impact on South Africa.

That's a totally objective, measurable and non-political objective. I can't imagine anyone in their right mind not wanting financial accountability in government.

Take a moment and imagine in your mind's eye Jake hassling and harrassing his cabinet ministers to ensure that every cent is accounted for. What a pleasure .... Then he'd be an action man.

For Whom the Toll Tolls?

So much said about tolling. With COSATU about to launch more anti toll action today I express some of my thoughts on the GFIP project and the associated tolling.

I need to start by saying that I am not inherently opposed to the concept of tolling. It embodies the principle of "user pays" thus providing a direct connection between the provision of a service or facility with the payment for that service or facility. The principle fits neatly into homogeneous societies where the capacity to pay and the need to use are similar for the entire population.

Things get more complicated in a hugely unequal society like South Africa where there are huge gaps between the haves, the barely haves and the have nots. The haves and the rest can claim equal need of the tolled roads. Their capacity to pay is hugely different and so their relative costs are vastly different. This difference supports that arguments of people like COSATU who say tolling is hugely discrimatory against the poor. I have to agree.

Before I look at other objections to tolling I want to explore things from a different persepctive. For this purpose let's start by assuming that tolling is an appropriate and equitable model for providing necessary infrastructure. Let's also assume that all the work that was done should have been done and the roads that are tolled should be tolled.

First question I want asked: Are we paying a fair price for the work that was done? In other words were the costs for the work appropriate and not inflated through industry collusion or to cover kickbacks and other perverse transactions.

The government and its agencies is, or should be, responsible to provide citizens of South Africa the best quality infrastructure at the best possible price.

This leads to the second question: Will the money to pay for the improvements be collected as efficiently as possible? In other words is the absolute minumum overhead cost incurred in collecting the money to pay for the roads.

In a nutshell:

- Did the responsible authorities exercise the necessary diligence to ensure that the appropriate infrastructure of the necessary quality was provided at the best possible cost?
- Did the responsible authorities exercise the necessary diligence to ensure that the most effective and efficient method was selected in order to recover the costs with the minimum impact on the citizens of South Africa?

Victor Ntoni (1947 - 2013) RIP

  
I was a youngster and just starting at university when I first heard Victor Ntoni. I grew up a fairly typical lower middle class white kid. I was sheltered from much of the reality of South Africa.

1974 and a very few "non-white" students obtained permission to study at "white" universities. I was fortunate to make friends who exposed me to a different music. I had yearned for some kind of music other than the standard pop fare of the times.

As a youngster I remember being entranced by the sound of pennywhistles, which could be heard occasionally in the city around where my grandfather worked. I was awed by the sight and sounds of gang labourers singing and working in unison. Towards the end of my high school I was introduced to Cream and began my lifelong love of blues. Then at university I was exposed to jazz and "African jazz".

Victor's bass was a recurring voice in this new music I came to love and I am sure the beauthy of his playing contributed to my love for the whole gamut of African music. I think one of the key things his playing did for me was to bridge the gap between my "white" ear and the wonderfully visceral spectrum of music from the whole of Africa.

Thank you Victor. From the bottom of my heart and on behalf of the many, many other lives you touched for the good.

22 January 2013 - Sprint Session Cancelled

My apologies for the Sprint session on 22nd January as I will not be able to be there for the session due to work commitments.

Action Man Inaction

Just the other day Cyril Ramaphosa was telling us how Zuma is the "action man" for South Africa who will lead South Africa into prosperity. I understand his words were along the lines of "The time for talking is over. We want action, and action man Jacob Zuma will ensure that this country moves forward."

Thank you Cyril, old buddy, for those reassuring words. I find myself wanting to take comfort from those words ....

But ...

Considering it is 13 months since Judge Willem Heath resigned as head of the Special Investigating Unit and Action Man Jake has yet to appoint his successor I find myself responding to Cyril's words with cynicism.

But hold on ... while we're speaking of crime fighting and especially corruption, one of the SIU's areas of specific concern, wasn't the dismantling of the Scorpions done under Jake's watch.

So maybe Jake is an action man ... Now all we need to do is find the actions that have moved this country forward.

Oh Susan, Susan, Susan .....

Mines minister Susan Shubangu spoke today with intensity and vehemence. She expressed anger and outrage at the announcement by Anglo American Platinum that it is considering significant cuts to its operations.

Hearing a cabinet minister speaking with such vehemence was a refreshing  experience. We are so used to deadly pronouncements that are more concerned with demonstrating allegiance to Jacob "Action Man" Zuma.

She expresses disgust at actions that put many people's livelihood at risk. I believe it is commendable that government ministers should be deeply concerned about the livelihood of South Africans. 

I'm not writing this to engage in a discussion regarding the merits or otherwise of minister Shabangu's position. The question that I hope she gets to hear and answer is where was this commendable anger when the Aurora debacle was unfolding. Months went by while workers were simply not paid and it appears that the mine was simply stripped of assets.

Today minister Shabangu was very vocal about the responsibility of mining companies towards their employees. Where was she while Aurora showed callous disregard for their employees.

Hmmmm ....

I wonder if it had anything to do with Action Man Jake's nephew Khulubuse Zuma and Nelson Mandela's grandson Zondwa Mandela being directors of the mine .........