Cry My Beloved Limpopo

So, I was asked by two friends of mine, Mahlodi and Michelle to write a piece on the nonsense happening in my beloved Limpopo province. Here it is:



I did a google search for news articles surrounding the financial controversy happening in Limpopo. Needless to say, quite a few reports popped up. In these reports I saw mention of some serious misspending on the part of the Limpopo government, some stating that Limpopo was in debt to the tune of R2-3 billion rand, another claiming that three months into the 2011/2012 fiscal year Limpopo's R43 billion rand budget had been spent already! On what?


Now, being from Limpopo I kid you not when I say reading through those reports broke my heart. Heck, having to write this piece is breaking my heart. I say it breaks my heart because I see reports of billions of rands being "spent" by the Limpopo government and yet I cannot for the life of me see where it's gone. It's not gone to education or health care. Granted, there have been some major repair works on some of the main roads through the province (I'll site the R71 from Polokwane to Tzaneen), but other than that, I've not seen any other notable improvements in the province. Certainly to the tune of R43 billion.


Now, the allegation, which the premier and his, erm...colleagues are denying is simple: tenders and money have been given to people who were neither qualified nor capable enough to deliver on the requirements. In short, tenders were being sold for financial kick backs and "loyalty". I can tell you for a fact, because I know someone who runs a legitimate business which requires tenders for revenue in flows, that this is most likely true.


You see, how business was being done in Limpopo went a little something like this: "We, the people in power and in charge of the tender awarding process are hosting a gala dinner to get to know business owners and service providers a bit better. You, as the business owner/operator in the province are invited to this auspicious event. Please take note that should you be unable to attend this event, we will be unable to consider you for any tenders as we don't 'know' you. Oh, and by the way, a seat at the gala is R50 000."


I don't know about you, but this looks like corruption in its purest form to me. Add to that, there are also numerous reports of companies with suspiciously close ties to people involved in the tender awarding process landing a number of major contracts. These two things (with a host of other factors) had a number of knock-on effects.


First, they lined the pockets of government officials. Second, they increased the cost of doing business in the province, causing a lot of ethical businesses to go out of business while rewarding and enriching the less ethical businesses with lucrative tenders. Third, it added to the cost of service delivery, because as any smart business owner knows, you need to factor in ALL of your costs before offering a service price: in practical terms, these so-called government officials were just using thier younger siblings to steal out of the cookie jar. Finally, (for the purposes of this piece), it meant that the service provider selected for the job wasn't always the best of the lot - meaning that the people of Limpopo got sub-par service delivery.


I'll be honest, when I was considering writing this piece, I was going to take a very emotional view on the topic. In short, I was going to say screw the money, it's gone. Throw ALL of those thieving bastards in jail and lose the keys. I still believe that, and I doubt anything will change my mind.


The thing that gets to me the most about this though, is not the fact that these retards managed to rob my province blind, it's the fact that my province not only gave them the power to do it, they sat back and watched! It doesn't do much for the stereotypes about us Limpopians that knowing full well of the corruption happening in the ruling party that they still have a serious majority in the province come election time. This is even worse given that since 1994, they have done squat in that province. I don't get it, it's like a Limpopo-Eastern cape phenomenon, were the people suffer from battered voters syndrome!


I won't say people need to start an uprising and protest and demonstrate and "burn shit down", but mark my words if things don't change and soon, I'll be more surprised if we don't see an uprising than if we do. Because i don't advocate violence as a means to any end, I hope the change comes when we next go to the polls. I hope people wake up and realize that if you vote someone into power, or withhold your vote knowing that they will win power, that's as good as standing back and watching someone beat your child.


To finish off, I will say this, I am a young black man from Limpopo, I have a lot of potential and you'll be sure to hear about me in the future because I'm going to achieve big things in this life time. In Limpopo, I've seen a million other me's with a million times more potential. I just hope our government steps up to fix this mess and afford them the opportunities they were promised all those years ago.

Protest Insurance - Really?

As I sat in an empty mall, two hours early for work contemplating what I could possibly blog about this week, I read an article on News24 about how South African councillors want insurance against protestors - at the expense of the municipalities! I thought this is too good a topic for me not to sink my teeth into. Enjoy:



So, let's start with an excerpt from the News24 article:

"Councillors should be entitled to, at the cost of municipalities or the state, risk benefits including but not limited to death cover, disability benefits, funeral benefits and cover for assets lost or damaged as a direct result of public violence,” reads a Salga letter to Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Richard Baloyi.

Say what now?? I can not help but CMAO (chuckle my ass off) at the notion that tax payers money should go towards covering councillors for possible property damage as a result of service delivery protests. I'm not saying I support/condone violence in any form, but really now?

Let's break that statement from the letter down into basic, everyday language that you and I can comprehend. Basically, what these guys are saying is as follows:

1. We're failing miserably at performing our jobs, therefor

2. The service delivery we promised people when we got our jobs/got elected isn't happening, so in essence

3. We're being paid to do nothing and this is pissing people off, therefor

4. Seeing as we are the faces of government, people are holding us to task for the non-service delivery through violent protests resulting in

5. Our property getting damaged. Property which we paid for with money we "earned" sitting on our asses playing solitaire on computers, therefor

6. We require protest insurance at the (additional) expense of government to protect our property.


If anyone feels that's an unfair summation of the excerpt please feel free to offer your take on the matter.

Moving right along, I foresee two main problems with the suggestion that government subsidizes insurance for its employees. My first concern here is, in actual fact for the safety of these councillors. Think about it, if a lion watches you walk past it's cage everyday with a fresh steak in hand while it sits hungry, does it make ANY sense at all for you to step inside its cage to retrieve the lettuce you saw growing next to its waterhole? I think not. People are already upset, and protesting violently mind you, about wasted funds and now the very people seen to be wasting these funds want to go and spend more money - ON THEMSELVES nogal! Clearly common sense is not their friend.

My second concern here is that this would be a classic example of addressing a symptom and not the cause. Contrary to popular belief, black (South) Africans are not blood hungry, criminal savages. People didn't JUST wake up one day and decide to stone and burn down other people's property. In case people have forgotten, and I doubt they have, this country earned its civil freedom through violent protests. Is it then really such a big surprise that they would default to the same tactics in a bid to win economic freedom and service delivery that was promised to them more than 17 years ago? What's that saying again, " if it's not broken..."

I have only one piece of advice to give our councillors: get your heads out of your asses and smell the roses. You have a job as a result of promises you said you could deliver on. This might have been explicitly expressed by you, or tacitly implied by the fact that you took on the job. Were you employed by a private institution you most likely would've been suspended/fired by now. So, you can do one of two things here: actually start doing your jobs, or step aside and let people who can do the jobs take over. It really is that simple.

Objectively Speaking

I wrote this piece because I was/am pissed about "racism", politics and our "education" system. Read it, give me your thoughts. (Note: I know some of you had issues leaving comments before cause you had to login, but I changed the settings so hopefully it works now:) Happy New Year by the way. Enjoy:


South Africa's matric results came out on the 4th of January. We achieved a 70 odd percent pass rate. If you celebrated and creamed your pants when that was announced, you're a dumbass and you're part of the problem. I hope that offended you. My second point of offense (to you) has to do with people forever more bitching and whining about how racism prevents them from getting certain jobs or living in certain cities. Get over it! If you feel that statement makes me a self-hating, model-c coconut please refer to the latter half of the third sentence of this paragraph.

Let me break down my two statements economically for you, since everyone in SA is a life taught economist. People go on and on and on about how racism is rife in certain parts of the country and they could never work there. I'll take Cape Town as an example since it was recently in the "news" regarding how racist it is. I have met many a black professional who has said to me "I could never work in Cape Town, there aren't any blacks there (especially in senior positions) therefore it must be racist." Hmmmm. Fair comments, but did you ever stop to think that black people leave places like Cape Town because they're chasing money in Joburg? Did you ever imagine that the large majority of blacks in SA aren't from Cape Town, THEREFORE they choose not to build their lives/careers there? No, you default to racism.

Now let's bring in the economics of the pass rate. People jump up and down like monkies when they see a 70% pass rate. Great, but what does that really mean? I'll tell you what it means: jack shit!

Granted, we broke the mystical 70% pass rate, but that was based on lowered standards. I quiver to think what the pass rate would look like if we used the tertiary standard 50% pass mark. Above and beyond that, the percentage which actually matters, the exemption rate (those who qualify for tertiary) is at 24%. That means, and follow closely boys and girls, a whopping 76% of our matriculants are walking away from high school either empty handed or with nothing more than a glorified piece of paper. Let me not even get into the fact that roughly 50% of kids who started Grade 1 with the class of 2011 didn't even make it to matric.

Now we all know that in South Africa you need one of two things to get ahead in life. You must either have a reputable qualification from a reputable institution, or you need to have contacts. I won't even get into work experience because that's a whole other kettle of fish.

So here's the bit where I need you to apply that life taught economic thinking of yours. Let's say you're in a position to hire (read empower) an individual for a summer internship, knowing full well that your aim is to maximize profit and efficiency for your business/company, so objectivity is key. You have Sipho, who goes to a "black school". He's top of his grade and he does this by following a ritual everyday. Go to school, come home and study. No TV, magazines or Internet because his parents can't afford them, and no friends because they're a distraction. On the other hand you have Mandla. Mandla goes to a former model-c school. He's an average student, but he is well read and up to date with current affairs. He comes from a middle income family so he can afford a good tertiary education - Sipho does not, and he was hoping to save his earnings from this job to pay his registration fees and work his ass off so he could get a bursary (but you don't know this). Given that typical interview questions can include things like: "What's your take on the death of Bin Laden?" or "Do you think it's fair for Iran to withhold oil?" or "What effect do you think the tolls will have on trade in Gauteng?", who do you think will answer the questions better/with more confidence? Now that you've answered that question, I doubt I'd be wrong in saying that's the guy you would hire 10 times out of 10. That means while Mandla continues to thrive, Sipho will lose faith in hard work and most likely end up in a political party siphoning money from the state.

So let me ask this: is it really fair to claim that certain areas are racist because there aren't any blacks living/working there? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying lets shut up about racism, but maybe we should stop defaulting to it as an excuse everytime instead of doing some introspection into ourselves and our people.

I will conclude by asking this, if we define racism as the systematic degradation of blacks by a group of individuals, objectively speaking, is it not those in charge of the education and uplifment of blacks who are not only failing at their jobs but also keep shouting racism who are the true racists here?

Security of the State - POIB

This is my take on the secrecy of information act our "government" wants to pass. It's a "poetic" take on the matter if I may call it that. Enjoy:



Secrecy is like a drug, it's like a pill

Ignorance is bliss they say, and blissfull's how you'll feel

When our leaders smile and say it's all going swimmingly well

When truth be told, this country, our future, is all being raped to hell

But truth won't be told now will it

A tender here, a million there, why thank you, they don't mind if they do

After all, their cars and homes are footed by me and you, so if not for them then service delivery for who

I don't see any potholes here, or leaky pipes there

Too intoxicated by my fresh Houghton air

And besides, who cares, we'll still get our votes

The real majority just stares, on our every word they'll dote

This secrecy bill as you call it, should be renamed ignorance

Because we've been pulling the wool over the eyes of the illiterate masses

This is just a rubber stamp for every body elses dom passes

But we won't call it that, it's for the security of our estates...oh my, a Freudian slip, I meant security of the state.