March 18 2004
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March 18 2004 |
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Haven't said a word for a while. Sorry to disappoint all the regulars so soon after our third "free and fair" general elections. The normal excuse of hardware failure (luckily this does not happen too often) and work pressure, I'm sure you understand.
Been waiting to see how our new government is panning out. Seems Mbeki wants more women in key positions. Also seems like the National Assembly Speaker (Grene Ginwala) made some enemies during her "reign" as she quit this position. A pity. Proof of friction was seen when the National Assembly gave her a standing ovation with Mbeki staying seated. At least, in the end it seems that you know where you stand with the president.
The short and sweet is that the IFP and the ANC did battle before and during the elections. Buthelezi and Mbeki had a big fall-out which was carried over into election day, where the IFP lodged over 40 complaints to the IEC about alleged irregularities. Needless to say, the IEC did not respond nor investigate these complaints. Strange then that in spite of this the election as a whole was declared free and fair. I suppose it depends on what your definition of free and fair is. Even stranger yet is the fact that the IFP dropped all these "allegations" after the ANC "walked away" with Kwa-Zulu Natal. Is Buthelezi "gat-kruiping" for a position in parliament even after he declared that he's not interested before the elections? Or has he decided that it's better to let "by-gone's be by-gone's" after witnessing the overwhelming support for the ANC?
And our traveling jet setter is president again. Rather the devil you know than the one you don't, as the saying goes. Jacob Zuma spells danger, so we'd rather stick with our ex-alcoholic Mbeki, thank you very much!
Rumors abound about the cost of the inauguration though. An absolute scandal if what I hear is true. 60 Million Rand for the whole "operation". With bullet proof glass, paying for dignitaries from across the world and having the biggest party Africa has seen for a long time (if not ever). That spells about 30 000 RDP houses for the people. But the biggest joke was the "military might" on display (as SABC TV put it). A couple of Ratels with a fresh coat of paint (probably the same ones used in South West with Ops Protea), some extremely old "converted" Puma's and a couple of Rooivalk attack helicopters which our own government were hesitant in buying. Hailed as the best attack helicopter in the world (surpassing the best the Americans have), engineered, designed and built by Armscor in Africa for Africa, and our own government would rather spend "our" money elsewhere! Sorry, had to get a stab in there!
On to another pet hate of mine - speed traps. Doug Kemsley (Top Car Magazine) wrote in the May issue editorial about revenue made out of speed trapping. What an eye-opener! Seems local municipalities are raking in thousands of Rands with the help of contractors with no need of keeping track of where the money goes, or giving any account of what they do with the bucks. As he says "We suspect government itself does not know". An example of Britain is given where R1.7 billion Rand was raised in 2002. Local examples include the Koukamma municipality in the Eastern Cape which collected R15 million in 11 months. Port Elizabeth only managed R600 000 in fines over the same period. What happens with this money? It's not being ploughed back into the roads nor road safety and most municipalities can not (or rather will not) divulge what they do with the money.
As mentioned in my "speed-trapping" story a couple of weeks ago, I promised feedback on my fight with the authorities over my R400 fine. Well, it took me the whole of Monday morning to try and get clarity on the controversial 30 day notification period as was stated by Dulah Omar (rest his soul) on national TV. A state prosecutor explained that this is relevant only on the "capturing" of the relevant data, and not the issuing of the notification. What really took me by surprise was the easy discount I got. Maybe because I only had the one fine on their systems, but I was not going to argue a 50% discount! Sometimes it's better to accept that being offered than waste money and time on an obvious in-efficient money-grabbing "organisation" by going to court. Money and time is way to precious for the working man.
