Strikers Terrorise South Africans !

This is definitely how it is in Zuma's Land - today entrances to hospitals were blocked and tomorrow teachers plan to block a freeway.

 

from: iAfrica
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What these people think this has to do with strikes is incomprehensible - a strike is simply the withholding of one's labour to show one's worth, not terrorising the public and trashing the cities as they do in South Africa.

The unions "deplore such behavior" but do nothing about controlling or directing their members - unless of course they support this type of action.

Strikers should maybe remember that in the 70's British Unions lost their power after strikers started stoning cars leading to the killing of an innocent motorist!

 

What Can ANC Claim About The Succesful World Cup? - Patricia de Lille was Wrong!

At the DA's congress Patricia de Lille, in identifying the need for the Government to start delivering, implied that the ANC had succeeded in delivering on the World Cup.

The ANC had missed their service delivery targets for many years, but suddenly it had managed to organise the World Cup, she said.

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Whether government should claim that for themselves is debatable - FIFA surely managed everything as was clear from all reports. Without FIFA continually forcing the issue its my contention that it would have been very different.

Is that not after all what is wrong with the current actions - everyone knows we need to create jobs and eliminate poverty! Just read your RDP or ask Jay Naidoo. But the government is incapable of converting money consumption into outputs!

This inability to implement is aggrivated by what de Lille sees:

"The problems are often a result of poor governance and greedy leaders. President Jacob Zuma is in the media for all the wrong reasons and in the meantime service delivery protests are on the increase.

"The real source of poverty is ANC corruption and greed."

SAA Board Issue a Summons for R31 million from Former SAA CEO Who They Gave a R 13 million Golden Handshake!

Its no wonder state companies spend millions on world cup tickets and ministers R 40 000 for a stay at a hotel. All these people have some kind of entitlement feeling, although there's seldom anything to justify it!

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Even if its Legal & Constitutional it Can Still Be Wasteful! Especially at R 2 700 a night!

The ANC press release regarding Minister's hotel costs is off the point and develops political rhetoric out of incorrect facts.

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We only consider Blade Nzimandi's Mount Nelson stay, as that is based on a statement from his department

The report accuses the press of not informing itself that

"There is nothing immoral, illegal or unconstitutional in public representatives staying in hotels as this is no breach of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) or the provisions of the Ministerial Handbook."

However the press have never said it was illegal or unconstitutional expenditure and the PFMA surely doesn't concern its self with moral issues!

The press says it is wasteful which is defined as using or expending something of value carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose). To stay 15 days in a hotel that costs R 2 700 a night surely meets that definition. Other There are other options that could be used - these are not some kind of superior class who need luxury.

The real cause of the wastage is the incompetent planning that undertook the refurbishing when the minister was attending parliament and not when he was in Pretoria.

Thats all pretty straight forward and not arguable - another post will address the less concrete issues.

 

 

So R 3 000 a night was sensationalism by the press - it was only R 2 700 - The Department of Higher Education!

So the reports that Blade Nzimandi paid R 3 000 a night for his room at the Mount Nelson was incorrect. Ranjeni Munsamy said the Saturday Star had "sensationalised that figure" and it was actually very reasonable.

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So it turns out he had to stay in a hotel while his official house was being renovated - it would have made more sense to do that while he was in Pretoria, rather than while parliament was sitting. I don't suppose we can expect him to lodge with one of his comrades to save money - so what else is there except the Mount Nelson for 15 nights, not the "sensational" R 3 000 a night but the reasonable R 2 707 Rand a night!

Lets hope this is not a reflection of how Higher Education is going to go.

 

Add another R 4 million, to Admitted Government Spending on Worldcup!

The Gauteng province spent R4-million on 4613 Soccer World Cup tickets according to Premier Nomvula Mokonyane. Of these 3 000 went to "deserving Gauteng residents who would not be able to afford to buy tickets".

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I would assume these were therefore medium to low priced tickets in the knock out phases, lets say R 300 a ticket. That means the other 1 613 were used for "the purpose of hosting and networking with the government's strategic partners." This then gives an average price of R 1 920 which seems rather extravagant given that this was more than the price of a semi final ticket in the second best category of seats.

 

A Party and a Prayer To Celebrate SA's Success in Staging The World Cup.

I am proud that a fantastic World Cup took place in South Africa!

I don't agree with Zuma's ideas of what we should do now!

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If there is to be a prayer lets not forget to thank FIFA for pushing very hard to get us to succeed. Also lets please stop the celebrations and get down to some serious work now!

Finally lets not drag the rest of Africa into our success - let us see Zimbabwe or Somali organise anything!

 

How well does the Government use South Africa's wealth? Not at all!

The diagram below from Gapminder shows that generally the richer a country is (the horizontal axis is the GNP, a measure of per capita income) the higher the life expectancy. This presumably because people live better, have a better environment and get better health care through income effectively spent by the government.

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With a high GDP one expects a country to have a good life expectancy, but South Africa's is around where Angola is and has a life expectancy of something like a third less than many other countries at the same GNP level. Conversely SA's life expectancy is similar to that of Zimbabwe which has a GDP only a 25th of South Africa's.

So I conclude the Zuma government and its predecessors has not given us a good health return on our wealth, maybe because too much leaks through corruption and the expenditure is not efficient.

 

The Blue Light Convoy - A Pathetic Symbol of Perceived Importance

Blue light convoys are groups of cars traveling together to get VIPs to their meetings. This is one of several stories where these convoys have caused serious problems leading to criminal charges against members of the convoy.

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As is common in Africa, the politician enjoys being and in fact often is venerated as some kind of super human. The important VIP seems to believe they need a high speed group of cars to get them to their meeting late! Late so that them delaying the meeting for many others shows reinforces their importance. Maybe we don't want to suggest they walk, as in the new UK government, but something more modest along with some planning could eliminate problems.

I have been passed by one of these on a motorway and even there it is unpleasant. A total lack of respect for the people they make wait and real danger for the road user!

 

More Spent Defending Selebe Than Supporting Young Entrepreneurs!

After his recent rant about how the youth were involved in burning public property, President Zuma went on to show how well his ANC government was looking after the youth through the NYDA which had made more than R3-million worth of loans to small and medium enterprises.

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There we have the problem - South Africa spends many times more (R 10.7 million in Zuma's case apparently) defending public servants who have been charged with corruption. Thats not to say the lawyers aren't making debatable livings out of these cases.

The sad part of the story is the many young people who are unable to move forward!

 

Advertising IEC on Woman's Day and Correctional Services

The radio advert by the IEC on Woman's Day seemed a bit extravagant as the connection or motivation is not clear. In 2007 a radio advert was run in 11 languages for Woman's day but not any other of the days!

But it looks like they have been topped!

Correctional Services
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The Department of Correctional Services spent R 340 000 on a Sunday Times advert to outline their plans for the year.