The Week That Was

Gerald Potash,

Hello again,

My newsletter was written and completed in draft and as I always do before I send it off I send it for proof reading to Robin.
And I wiped the whole draft letter out in error.!!!!
Deleted.
Gone.

I had written about Mandela Day and the 67 minutes that we all use to do charity work on Tuesday. And how the flame of Mandela is fading because the 20 year-olds hardly remember him and they believe that he didn’t do enough to elevate blacks socially and financially. And that a third of our country is 20 or younger.

I had written about Ramaphosa being taken to court by the DA on Friday to make public his letter to Putin about coming to SA next month for the BRICS meeting and his declaring that arresting Putin in terms of the ICC directive would start a war between Russia and SA and a nuclear war at that.
That is now all moot. Last evening Putin let it be known that he would not be coming but Lavrov will come in his place.

I had written about AGOA and Cyril sending big knobs to the US to curry favour because of our closeness to Russia and the likelihood that we would no longer benefit from that lucrative trade agreement.
But I still have the Zapiro cartoon:

I had written about Claire Bisseker’s article in Business Day where she warns that SA’s fiscal situation is far worse than most realise. She quotes Prof Michael Katz who paints a dismal picture of the Treasury’s over-spending, our slowing economic growth and the higher interest rates that could cause social unrest. Katz calls the government’s plan for National Health, Basic income grant (BIG) and free education a joke where SA’s debt ratio is likely to reach 80% in 2025 and that is just not sustainable. It’s an article that I can share.
I wrote that we should already start tightening our belts; it’s going to be a rough ride.

I had written about the lorries burning and the xenophobic gangs behind those dastardly deeds that started the riots exactly two years ago. And that the perpetrators are mostly from KZN and Zuma supporters. 

I had written about the Stalingrad tactic court case which Zuma had lost and his sneaking off to Russia for “medical treatment” just before the 3 minute judgement was delivered on Thursday. And his likely arrest should he ever return.
And I don’t have still that Carlos cartoon from News24 but i found an old Brandan cartoon showing Zuma’s time running out:

I had written about the Good News from Steuart Pennington in his weekly blog and the quiz to guess who has the freest press in the world. Where SA is 25th ahead of UK and Australia and America at 45th in a list of 180 countries.

I had written about the trouble at Koeberg nuclear power plant just outside Cape Town which is having very, very, very serious delays with its refurbishment which will cause even more electricity black outs.

I had written about the 126 arrests of Eskom cadres who had benefited illegally from coal contracts. I had written about the R11billion Eskom has already recovered from illegal coal contracts and the further R3.5 billion it is trying to recover.

I had written about Cape Town being chosen as the Best City in the World again and the reasons. I had written about visiting SA which is also listed at No 1by the Telegraph’s 30,000 voters.

I had written about the rugby, the brilliant All Blacks and our loss in New Zealand. 

And Spurs first friendly in Perth not being great and losing to West Ham 2-3 and……….

IT        IS            ALL       GONE.

PS.

I will be flying to England this afternoon to spend a few days with my kids. There will be no newsletters for two weeks. As always,                                                                                              

Gerald