July 20 2004

Been slaving away at work rolling out a new Windows 2003 network. That's my excuse - what's yours? Seems technology is catching up with us (or is that age Bill?) as it's taking more and more effort to keep up with all the changes in the computer field. It feels like just the other day playing around with an Atari and playing Space Invaders! How time flies..

The same applies to government. After ten years of democracy they're still struggling to keep to their promises and "good intentions". Die pot se deksel is (sorry, no English translation for that one - that I know of) the people in this country overwhelmingly voted the same party back into power. Strange as it may seem, a promise is all it takes with the majority (certainly looks that way).

I have to admit though that our economic growth of 3.9% and the drop of interest rates so far this year is at least one thing government seems to get right. For an emerging market though, a growth of at least 6% is needed to start making any sort of impact on unemployment.

This week though I want to tell you a story about service delivery. A household in Strubens Valley reported sewage pouring out of a manhole into their garden. The Johannesburg Metro gave them a reference number with the promise that the problem will be attended to within 24 hours. The problem was that this toxic waste was just about window height 8 hours later! And the Metro was not going to budge on their 24 hour service delivery. What do you do 3 o' clock in the morning with all this "crap" in your property? You knock a hole or two in your fence. By-laws state that it's the next persons' problem if drainage is insufficient on your side. Fifteen hours later Metro arrived to a scene that even I cannot imagine. With the liquid part running down storm water drains in the main road, the rest remained behind - all over. Eventually a councilor arrived on the scene and started making calls. The environmental officer sent someone else to attend to the problem who insisted that they followed procedures which state that they have 24 hours to attend to problems, no matter the scale of the problem (effectively that's what he said). The Metro plumbers decided that the best way to get rid of all the excrement was to shuffle it down the storm water drains. A promise was made to treat the affected house and the neighbours property with a special air freshener but not the neighbourhood which obviously is unacceptable. At least the councilor tried his best, but with government red tape, lax staff and even worse attitude he probably won't get very far. (Report from People's Free Press August 18, 2004).

This is but an example of government departments inefficiency. Mbeki can stand up there and promise (again, or is that still) that government department staff need to shape up or shift out, not much has happened since the last election. And it's not just the Metro services.

A teacher goes on retirement with a nice holiday planned for him and his wife. After 22 years service he applies for his pension which should take five to six weeks to pay out. Procedures were followed, documents were completed and delivered yet eight months later this poor man is yet to see any money. His file has gone missing! This is a crucial file as it not only contains his retirement documents but also his records of employment. Without proof that he was employed as a teacher he cannot lay claim to any sort of retirement benefits. And no-one can help him. Not the Education Department. Not even the Ministry! Can you support yourself for eight months with no income whatsoever? I can't.

I'm sure the press is having a field day with the Thatcher saga in Cape Town all over the world, especially in the UK. Two "alleged" mercenaries were released in Zimbabwe only to come home and face possible charges here in South Africa. The so-called leader of this group has admitted to a planned coup attempt in Papa New Guinea but stated that the rest of the group had no knowledge of this. Of course the state is demanding the death sentence for this guy which is where South Africa will come in (hopefully). With Thatcher being arrested for his "funding" part of the deal, the case in Guinea has been put on hold indefinitely, or until they can question Thatcher. Six months in a jail in a foreign country. No family visits, no help from your government, no legal aid - how long will you last?

This has always been my outlook on life, do unto others as you would like them do unto you. If these guys knew why and for what they went there they should be big enough to suffer the consequences.