Q (Monday Opinions on Current Affairs)

Spring is upon us, and the weather is most definately great. What a great weekend and the newspapers are covered with BRT news and ofcourse the fight against crime. I'm certain the new commissioner is impressed with the number of failed robberies, the recent one being at Soweto Orlando. Well stay away from robbery period or with the new Nathi and Cele wrath you are bound to end up in a dust to dust scenario ohhh and dumblings. Anyway it appears that NEWS on Caster are never ending. Besides the R60K she received from the ANC Youth League, which was from annonymous sponsors. It appears that her family will also be getting a house, now n ot going to politicise this but it made me wonder about Motjali ( the area were Caster hails from). Now how is service delivery in that area? Besides there is also a village in Limpopo that was adopdted by the current cabinet for turn around strategy with regards to service delivery. I wonder if Diepsloot, Newlands, Khayelitsha. Well, too bad for Mulaudzi and Mokoena then.

I'll be honest, I'm happy for Caster but would have preffered if this turnaround in her family fortune came in the form of endorsements that a sign for political trophy. She has most definately put that area on the map, a few things can be used by the municipality and villages that will go beyond Caster family. Besides with the exception of Eastern Cape, the achievement by Caster at Berlin is really a success story for the village. I mean why not just start a Caster Gallery in Motjali showcasing her medals and pics from the media. This can go a long way in changing the livelihoods of the community and perhaps boost tourism in that part of the world. But instead, politicians are rushing for one party glory in the name of Caster and making horrendous remarks in most cases. The municipality needs to think broader on how can they make this opportunity a win for Limpopo that is beyond a party vote. I stand to be corrected but I think Caster will appreciate this much more. Anyway enough about Caster Semenya.

Driving to work this morning, was really a breeze. Taxi drivers are on the "Go slow". Well this means that for once there are more sane people on the road and no one rushing for the next R6 at the expense of commuters lives. Obviously their Go Slow might be good for other road users but the impact is has on society is much greater. Infact it has the potential to damage families, exarcerbate unemployments, and so forth. I could not help it or rationalise taxi owners and drivers actions. Infact it does not make any economic sense. The number of commuters that were stranded today was in my view to huge and beyond even Rea Vaya, Metrobus, or Putco buses. Now with more taxi than buses on the road, while would members of taxi association be on a Go Slow. The population numbers is in their favour, infact besides their driving their price as well is much better in most cases. Talking to our tea lady at work, she told me that she had to cough R11.50 for a bus trip and generally she pays R6.00 for a taxi. Personally I don't buy the argument that buses are taking business and they don't see the benefit. If the issue is really about money of financial implication. All that the taxi associations need to agree on are really few things

1. A R1 increase across the board ( which makes the taxi still cheaper that the bus service)
2. A licence to also use the route for BRT ( This will lead to less congestion on other parts of the road )
3. Training programme for all taxi drivers in line with rules of the country
4. Only roadworthy taxis must be allowed to operate and taxi associations must ensure this themselves

These are only some of the few things that can be done and I think should taxi associations and members apply their mind they would manage to co-exist with any transport mode. This could be beneficial to us beyond 2010. In addition there needs to be a report back on how the industry helped during the Confed Cup. The industry needs to appreciate their role in society, but more than anything else they need to realise that they have a larger role to play in economic development of the country and should not hold the country and commuters at ransom.

Non Racial Society Debate

My view of non-racial society has always been more theoretical than practical. Well it is much easy to avoid racial debate when you have elevated in class. Our political achievements has thus in some form created a breed of African leadership that has moved up atleast in class terms. This unfortunately has created a situation were, it easier to state that race is no longer an issue. This however is only applicable to those that have elevated to higher class since the democratic dispensation. The 9th annual report of the Commission for Employment Equity released recently paint a scary picture. Infact, even if we choose to look at this from a class perspective and with the rise of black class one cannot help but note that class and race in South Africa are intertwined. And though the majority of the past three elections where somewhat driven by racial discourse, FEAR of the old master and how bad it used to be under apartheid. How soon do we forget that in the past elections the DA campaign of "STOP ZUMA" was seen in racial sense not class or political sense. And it could be argued that race was the winner at the poll even though the ANC is a non-racial political organisation. From an insight point of view, it could be argued that the campaign was solely based on the court appearances and allegations of corruption. The question that is more intriquing though, is at the veterans and citizen level. How was the campaign interpreted at the public level? I think the answer to such a poll will shock even the die hard "No Debate on Race" leadership.

The picture from the report The Commission of Employment Equity is really self explanatory "Whites still occupy the majority of top management posiyions and earn more than blacks even where blacks are in the majority when it comes to skills" ( Sowetan Online 25/08). A colleque of myne the is morning, in reference to visits by Human Settlement Minister night spend at Diepsloot shacks uttered these sentiment "One cannot spend a night in shacks and think that he knows fully how poverty affects the poor, infact that action could be seen as nothing but an adventure" think Diepsploot Survivor one day episode with a bull lights BMW parked outside. I personally would like to give the minister a chance, infact I will like to give the entire South African cabinet a chance ( considering that this morning I was listening to Bheki Cele on 702FM ) so on visible level and positive media coverage and awareness I give cabinet 10.

The score that will matter though, is that which will deal of social inequalities and service delivery and a creation of non racial society. I think I'm losing track here so back to the issue at hand. Non racial society needs to extend beyond a belief system held by the majority party, or an acknowledgement that the ANC has always had comrades of color. The truth is that the same comrades of color journey was more in emancipation of black South Africans or the marginalised. Their participation in the liberation should not in any terms be used as a justification for not addressing the racial issues. Yes indeed the ANC is a non racial organisation, but this does not in any terms mean that we can't debate racial dynamics that are at mimimum robbing the majority of economical survival or advancement. The report on Employment Equity only highlights, what the majority of voters fear. Economical emancipation and benefitting from the proceeds of the land is still largely skewed towards certain race groups. Should the masses, hold this view as a belief system and long for a social journey towards a class discource.

The loser will be the party that is failing to address the racial dynamics prevalent in society and perhaps a rise of a class party. But for now, credit goes to Julius Malema for always raising the issues that we fear to raise.

Privatisation of Profits and Socialising Losses

Reading my Business Report today, I could not help it but agree with Remgro Chairman Johann Rupert sentiments with regards to bank bailouts by governments across the world. My favourate part of this article is what he alluded to "Rupert said that he was appalled at the bank bailouts that has had occured in the UK and the US, noting that it suggested a public policy of "privatisation of profits and socialising of losses". This really got me thinking, about the South African context with regard to two three two parastatals names Eskom and SAA. I would have went three and included the SABC, but for now I would leave them out of this box. Lets face it the problems at SABC, whether financial or otherwise are heavely influenced by the political discourse not withstanding the fact that they generally finance themselves through advertising revenue.

Now back to the two parastatals, it's strange that executives in these two organisations have been getting exorbitant bonuses for a number of years. This is without the foresight to the current financial situation at this organisations. Unfortunately, bonuses were given and the shortfalls in terms of planning has ironically become the burden of governments and as a result rob the poor. Why should we continue to reward contractual obligations, that are not tied to the best performance still puzzles me. It is the citizens of this country that have to pay for the incompetence, via bailouts and loands. These executives are taking developments at grass roots level backwards unfortunately. Resources which could be used to address the inequalities of our society are used to feed huge bellies of executives. The result is that development is delayed, and social injustice prevail the gap between the rich and the poorer gets even wider.

Yesterday GDP figures confirmed, what the people at the ground level have been saying all this time along. This country is in a recession. I hate to paint a negative picture based on the figures, but we ought to hold executives accountable. We cannot afford to have gravy train situations any longer with regards to people that we put in positions of power. The sentiments expressed above are also applicable to the corporate sector. Privatisation of profits, in honesty hasd led to these endless strike marches. Corporate executives have lost touch with core assets of production the labour force in their conquest to impress shareholders with over the top balance sheet and at individual level increased bonuses. It's strange that when times get touch as their currently, it is the same executives that will request leniency from the labour force than from shareholders.