Some guy from an activist group on HIV/Aids made the following statement on TV the other night - some 80 South Africans die per day due to Aids related illnesses and a further 1000 contract the disease (per day)!
Now that's scary...
How on earths name is government suppose to provide for those left behind? With times as tough as it is these days, the basket is empty. Charity organisations are fighting a loosing battle as funds dry up. Less people play the lotto and the Nelson Mandela Children Fund is earning some 18 million Rand less on investments per month.
More and more parents discard their youngsters as they cannot provide anymore. This with the hope that charity organisations can take better care of them. And a sad statistic is that more white kids are abandoned than ever before.
If one look at the relation of whites against blacks, this is indeed worrying. The effects of BEE coming through eventually?
In Pietersburg (Polokwane) black people are building houses as if they'll live forever. They once quiet little town is growing like there's no tomorrow. Millions have been spent on the new stadium where one soccer game will be played in 2010. Roads are being fixed (I knew there must be an upside to this whole soccer thing) where there was no money before to fix it and money is being spent like there's no tomorrow.
Where does this money come from? Where do all these people work? Surely they can't all work for government? We know that's where the money is and that's where the big spenders get their income from, but so many people?
Let's rather look beyond that and concentrate instead on the Confederations Cup that was played in South Africa. What a wonderful occasion this has been. And a good practice run to what's to come in 2010. Of course people will be watching with them eagle eyes and blame every mishap on the fact that crime is out of control here.
Two teams had the misfortune of tasting crime here. Hotel rooms were broken into and money was lost. It could've happened anywhere in the world. It definitely is not uniquely South African. And of course an armed robbery after a major game at a local pub made the cops revise their plans for future games. Sh*t happens as they say. The SAPS can't be everywhere, but withdrawing straight after a game with no regard to all those supporters either celebrating or on their way home, was a major oversight. I'm confident that this won't happen again, not with the world watching.
I've been critical and sometimes totally against the fact that we won the bid to host the world cup. I could not see our government pulling this off. We have a workforce notorious for boycotting the scheme of things at the eleventh hour and history have shown us that they know when they have the power to negotiate ridiculous deals. And of course it happened. And is still happening. Some 50 000 workers now threaten with another strike, which if it goes ahead, will jeopardise the completion of all our stadia in time for 2010.
So much for soccer uniting the nation then.
Our doctors are causing havoc with the government health system. Now this is how it works - you study for six years with the help of government. You take up your post at a government institution for two years after which (the way I understand it) you have to perform community service. You can expect an eight grand salary when starting off. With overtime you'll clear about 12 grand. After your two years and specialising you can expect around 18 grand out (after tax) with overtime.
Let's put this into perspective - you're expected to work. Sometimes you'll work from 6 am to 6 pm the next day. All the time you'll be expected to work with no water, no electricity and minimal equipment. And the rest of the equipment might be broken (for years on end). One of our biggest hospitals (Baragwanath) has been without water for two days at one stage with frequent power interruptions. Would you like to try tending to terminally ill patients under these circumstances? Bara did ground breaking work at one stage (some time long long ago when apartheid still ruled). J.G. Strijdom Hospital set the de facto standard with Johannesburg Hospital for training the best nurses and doctors in the world (some time long long ago - you know the rest). Today it's been reduced to a hostel (last time I heard).
What happened? Post 1994 things just got weird. So weird in fact that I'm still trying to come to grips with it. I might not understand politics and the intricate workings of the big machine overall, but I have a good idea of what this machine should be able to produce. Maybe the operating system became corrupt. Some dlls' are missing or misbehaving, or maybe the drivers are corrupt. A reload should fix it, but who will reload this? Who's prepared to stand up and put that CD in the drive?
Analogy that might be, but some things are so similar it's scary.
Let's have your ideas -
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