The Week That Was

Hello again

Geordin Hill-Lewis of Cape Town and Solly Msimanga of Johannesburg are the two leading figures in the race for the leadership of the DA. The election will be held next month but the politicking is going forth furiously. From here it looks as if our local fellow has a slight lead over the Gauteng DA leader, Msimanga who will then, if I’m correct, take over the  Chairmanship of the DA’s Federal Council, the position Helen Zille currently holds.

It looks as if the ANC is at war with itself about its next leader. A group of Patrice Motsepe supporters have started a ‘PM27’  campaign against the rules of their Party. The ANC has made it clear that it wants this campaigning, which is anti-Party rules, to stop immediately. What is interesting is that the billionaire, Motsepe, has not issued one word about accepting the position or even accepting the campaigning,

The Middle East war is front page and centre of all our newspapers. There is no question that SA is seen as an Iran ally. For that we can thank the wuss, Cyril Ramaphosa for SAfrica’s political ties to Iran. That closeness is likely to cause renewed pressure on our country. Already there is a warning that the petrol price will spike, that fruit exports will suffer because of the shipping lines newly levied surcharges, caused by the danger of shipping in this war time. Then experts like Dr Iraj Abedian, former Political Professor, warn that if the war continues for more than two months things (including the value of our currency) could get very much worse. Dr Abedian is talking at the CTPress Club next Friday and I hope to be there to listen to him. 

Ramaphosa announced that SA, if asked, would be prepared to mediate the Middle East conflict. Coming from one of the most biased countries in the world which is so anti-Israel and so pro-Iran it is the very height of “ghutspa”.

Brandan Reynolds, in Business Day on Wednesday got it right with his cartoon. It is our Min of Finance pushing the economy in the wheelchair:

The Mail & Guardian this week highlights an article on what S Africans think of their municipalities. The latest thoughts are not very complimentary and the reason is obvious; service is almost non existent and the reason is not only blatant corruption but also that too many municipal councillors struggle with basic literacy and comprehension. That is what happens when you do as the ANC does; friends get jobs ahead of qualified people. The country is falling apart because the cadres simply have not a clue how to run a city or a town. Justus Malala, in his book ‘We have now begun our descent’ wrote that as the State weakened, citizens would resort to private solutions and so become independent of the crumbling municipalities. Is this acceptable? I think not.

Paul Hoffman SC, of Accountability Now, in a short, sharp article points out that BEE does not stand for Black Elite Enrichment, a term first used by Neil Emerick. The ineptitude, mismanagement, corruption and inefficiency in governance since 1994 is far more to blame for the disadvantages suffered by so many.

A building in Johannesburg (in Ormonde, in the South of the city) collapsed on Monday and nine people were killed. It is the third building to come crashing down in three months. As you guessed the developer did not have permission for his building, but this is Gauteng. He probably paid the “correct” official plenty to get his building underway.

This week we read again this week that half the suburbs of Johannesburg are still without water. This includes a Dr whose surgery has been without water for months and who has complained about a lack of any response to his regular calls for assistance. It is going to cost billions (and much time) to fix this immense problem in Joburg.

In the meantime, we, in the Cape are not altogether in the clear.  Our dams in the Western Cape are 20% lower than they were at the same time last year.  Early this week Stellenbosch Municipality put Level 2 Water Restrictions in place as a precautionary measure.

The Burger newspaper this week highlighted a story that had me nodding my head in belief.  Three ex-MPs, from Zuma’s MK Party of course, who were kicked out of parliament 19 months ago are still (illegally) occupying MP homes in the Cape Town suburb where parliamentarians are housed at our cost. The DA, as part of the GNU has now threatened those three with court action and costs unless they vacate immediately. But don’t hold your breath. They will almost certainly find a reason to appeal.

The Director General of the Dept of Health and two of his top-shots have been arrested and charged with fraud and money laundering. Cadre deployment where criminality and corruption is commonplace just doesn’t stop. The ANC and no-one elsen is to blame for the scandalous corruption running throughout the government. 

The Madlanga Commission looking into police corruption has had a busy week. You can see from this Zapiro cartoon in the weekend Daily Maverick at what level the corruption is being exposed. It’s more than disgusting, it’s worrying. Read the names of the fingered police Generals at the bottom of the cartoon.  Let us hope that all of these top-shots get properly investigated, brought to trail and then suffer the consequences of their nefarious deeds with long years in jail.

The SAfrican Open Golf Championships was played at Stellenbosch over the past weekend. I’m very proud to tell you that I love going into the Stellenbosch golf clubhouse, to show anyone who is half interested that in the 1950’s and with a wooden shafted putter, and playing off a 3 handicap, my Dad won the club championship. The tournament this year was won by 22-year-old Casey Jarvis, a local from Boksburg . Last weekend, in Kenya Jarvis won  the Kenya Open.  The young fellow is in good form! He is heading for Johannesburg where he will be competing in the Johannesburg Open this weekend. Can he make it three in a row?

The cricketing Proteas continued their winning ways at the T20 World Championships on Sunday by beating Zimbabwe who had beaten Australia and Sri Lanka. Today they played in the first round of the knock-outs and were bundled out of the tournament by the  New Zealanders. They were actually murdered and having the coach on the couch reminded me of our watching Spurs.

Richard, our son from Sydney was on the couch with the coach and me on Sunday afternoon to watch Tottenham play their league game. The less I say about Tottenham Hotspur, the better.

As always, Gerald