June 24 2004

Haven't been here for while. Okay, we need to lay blame somewhere - first the wife came back to "visit". She's been in the UK most of the time for the past couple of months and we had quite a bit of catching up to do. Then I went hunting with a couple of friends o' mine. Yes I know. Some things do come before others and with the stresses of "normal" life in this country, we need a break every now and again.

I've always maintained better the devil you know than the one you don't. And I've always had this fear in the back of the mind about Jacob Zuma, being vice-president and all. Heard some interesting theories about our Jacob whilst on the hunting trip. More than one person agreed that our Jacob is where he is purely to pacify the Zulu nation and that he does not have a chance in ever becoming the president of this country. We all know that within the ANC hierarchy the second in charge always came out on top (eventually). Mbeki proved that theory wrong. And looking at trade unionists we now have the same guys that used to fight government for the sake of the people, now fighting that very same people due to their own high positions in government.

This country is a "mengelmoes" (mixture) of very different cultures. It is so bad that our government attempted to ban the rainbow as there's no black in there! Seriously though, the cultural differences are huge and for government to get as far as they did is no child's play. Simple example of intolerance amongst black cultural groups - someone dies, the dead person is a Tswana (for instance) and the spouse is Zulu. Obviously all parties / groups get invited to the funeral. Funerals are big on tradition so both parties (Tswana and Zulu) will arrive in traditional clothing which includes traditional (and the not so traditional) weapons. If for any reason there is discord amongst the groups, the two chiefs will sit down and discuss the issues. If they cannot resolve it and the problem lies with two individuals, the will have their own little barny. If the problem is greater than that, it is just about guaranteed that a massive fight will break out. That is why traditional weapons have been banned at funerals. This applies to all public gatherings.

Now imagine how industry tries to survive with this lot! We have a specific department where other than Zulus don't survive. The white man need to know these differences otherwise a business won't survive.

After three months in captivity in Zimbabwe the guys accused of being mercenaries now eventually have a court date set. Of course their family on this side is still fighting to have them returned to South Africa as chances are good that they might end up in an even worse situation. In the meantime Mugabe is still the one-eyed sod spending money left right and center. Zimbabwe has placed an order for jet fighters to the value of over $240 million from China. The MiG 33 based FC-1 comes close to the JAS-39 Gripen's South Africa ordered some time ago. Kofi Annan requested that African countries spend only 1.5% of their GDP on defense for the next ten years. So much for that. And short on the heels comes South Africa itself with a request by the Minister of Defense that we need to spend at least 2% of GDP on upgrading our defense force. We've seen the blatant disregard for the people all over Africa, why should we be different?

There are a couple of major issues with the new medicine dispensing laws put in place by government about a month ago. Maximum mark-up by pharmacies are now set at 26% which pharmacies claim is unsustainable in the long run. Another pressing issue is property taxes. Local municipalities informed people that taxes will now not only be calculated on the square meters but also on the value of what's on the property according to the latest boom in house prices. A lady in Alberton used to pay R700 a month on taxes. This will now go up to over R2000. Any which way to make more money. And the services we receive in return still suck!

A family member bought a property at Marine Beach on the Natal coast about two years ago. He paid R30 thousand for this undeveloped stand. Marine Beach is going through a massive boom with that same property now valued at over R300 thousand.

And old Eugene is out of jail. What does he do first? He jumps on a horse. A black horse this time which did not stumble and fall like a couple of years ago in Pretoria. Come on, in this day and age is that really the image of a proud South African boer we want the world to see? But Eugene has come down to earth. He wants to get on with his life and be left alone. Jail did him well. And maybe all those hooligans that raced up to Bop on their bakkies and in their cars to wage a war that had nothing to do with them, will also calm down now and accept that change is upon us. There is nothing anyone can do about it but take a positive stance and try make a difference. We need to scrutinise governments every step.