Big Surprise... The South African Broadcasting Corporation had a R400 Million financial shortfall this last year and no one seems to know how to resolve the ongoing management problems at the State Run Monopoly!
It's a bit like someone not being able to spot the wood for the trees...
The SABC has no CEO; it's Board of Directors can not agree on anything (2 weeks debating on the price of toiletpaper); it is a year behind on paying the royalties for the programmes that it transmits over its network of television stations and it has a massive problem in securing new funding from various investors (due to fiscal impropriety); as well as public refusal to pay the licences for owning televisions and/or radios (due to public complaints about grossy outdated programmes and movies that have been rerun endlessly by the SABC - "Why should we pay repeatedly for the same programs that we have already seen?".
The SABC Chairperson, Ben Ngubane and his board of directors were recently rebuked and ridiculed in a session of Parliament when the Chair of the investigating comittee had to listen to puerile excuses for the SABC's Performance Report not being submitted for examination. There were several other Ministers that lambasted the SABC as "a bunch of incompetent fatcats with no concept of public accountability or responsibility".
One can only just shake your head in regard to the Troubles at the SABC, because their have been enough warning signs that all of these things would occur... But no one wanted to listen and everyone blindly expoused the Political Correct Motto: "It's not their fault, but the Legacy of Apartheid". This is a sad fact that instead of looking for proper management and skilled employees, the government resorted to cronyism and Affirmative Action appointments that have left the SABC (the National Broadcasting Corporation of South Africa) in an absolute shambles and the laughingstock of the world's watchdog organisations.
Many are calling for the resignation of the Minister in charge of the SABC, as well as the wholesale firing of the SABC Board of Directors (Cleansweep), as well as the implementation of a Caretaker Management Team to takeover and clear out the deadwood blocking the efficient productivity at the corporation. This would be the only conceivable way of getting the SABC operating properly, according to international standards: As the Caretaker team would have to completely overhaul the SABC's policies and internal regulating systems.
The Problems at the SABC are as follows:
1. There is complete fiscal anarchy in the corporate structure, which will need to be eliminated by regular public audits and reports to parliament.
2. The Management structure at the SABC is woefully top-heavy and contains numerous superflous unnecessary positions.
3. The group of Employees working at the SABC are untrained, unethical and by and large untrustworthy. This can only be remedied by instituting mandatory training workshops to acquire the sorely needed skills developement, professional ethics and then the Caretaker Team will have to weed out those employees that are "just there for the paycheck and not there to work".
4. The SABC's Standards of broadcasting to the South African Public have deteriorated massively in the last ten years, to the point that the pre-established broadcast schedule is not followed or the wrong episode is broadcast or the programme material is interupted by random "operator error" (paused, stopped, rewound, etc...) or the programme material is of such a bad condition that it is either inaudible or unviewable.
5. The Standard of Presentation has also slipped alarmingly in that the people presenting the various programmes have poor training on how to speak/pronounce words (even in their own language), refer to erroneous cues that don't exist, as well as a whole range of technical glitches that should be prevented with a little bit of operator vigilance and initiative...
6. At least half of their progamme material is woefully out of date or rebroadcast ad-nauseum, which is ridiculous as at the 60% of their programming should be new (only viewed once in a 12 month period) and reruns should be scheduled for after midnight or Saturday mornings.
In retrospect one can only wait and hope that saner minds prevail and someone, with the ability to innovate, can get involved and pull the SABC right before it becomes completely irrelevant to the needs of the South African population...
Friday, October 29, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Walmart: The Only Hope to Combat South Africa's Rampant Union Activities.
The advent of the international Walmart company into the South African economy could not come at a better time and it has the potential of shaking the local employment market wide open. There are many reasons why the introduction of the Walmart company into the South African economy will be both good for the average person and for the country, not just for continued evolution in the employment sector of our society.
Walmart is a major international retail company with decades of experience at running a competitive commercial enterprise in a whole range of economic and social environments, which has tremendous financial advantages for South Africa as a whole. Namely, a greater diversity in corporate business practice, while making the individual corporation much more accountable to the public in regards to their business practices, as well.
It has a monumental wealth of skilled experts, who know how to set-up and manage a whole variety of different retail ventures and special market outlets. Even in a tough competitive market with already high saturation levels (high advertising and exposure to brand names).
While Walmart has a tough stance against Trade Unions in the workplace (Walmart is orientated primarily towards a capitolist economy), it is a strong exponent for progressive individual promotion by merit instead of South Africa's current race-based criteria and this alone holds a tremendous potential value for all South Africans in that they will that there is far greater scope for empowerment, promotion, skills developement and social upliftment, through individual anchievment and ambition (merit-based rewards). South Africans will see that they can achieve a lot more if they personally take responsibility for improving themselves and taking the initiative to develop their own situation, than by waiting for the government or organisations to do these thing s for them, like a charity.
The problem is that South Africans have become too complacent and reliant on communist or socialist methods to achieve the same things that all countries/people have to overcome. Even trade unions can not force companies and goverments to change the economic policies of the country in which they operate. Yes, there are many jobs that require an employee to work atrociously long hours in appalling working conditions for far less than the official minimum wage. However, this will never be resolved solely by the massed mobs of the trade unions going on public strikes and protesting violently in the streets - It needs the South African government to establish severe penalties for corporate misbehaviour and offences, as well as initiating commissions to investigate and enage the corporations actively in correcting any problems. Strikes just loose Workers a large section of their potential wages that they otherwise would have earned and therefore, actually make the Workers more impoverished.
Walmart's corporate structure allows the free market system of the Supply & Demand of employees determine the wage standard in regards to renumeration. Where companies have an unacceptable wages level or workplace environment, the workers will not seek employment and the company will experience a skills shortage. Which will drive the company to increase its wages level and/or improve the workplace environment.
Many people have argued in the media about Walmart's trade practices and pricing system, as being monopolistic and anti-competition. However, Walmart has always been transparent in how their prices are generated (through market research, bulk-retailing and keeping costs low) and that is more than any of the local South African retail supermarkets can say! Pick'nPay, Checkers, Spar, Woolworths, and Shoprite, ect, have routinely been involved in alleged price-fixing scandals with Suppliers and each other (plus they all fail to live up to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (1967) and the Government's minimum wage of R56.50 per eight hour shift (this includes them remaining within the 160 hour maximum working month).
Walmart does adhere to these two requirements and has a better track record of equal employment initiatives than any of the local companies, even though it doesn't implement South Africa's uniquely absurd version of Affirmative Action...
It would be incredible to see just how much of a effect that Walmart will have on the South African economy and Employment Sector. as well as on South African standards in the retail trade industry.
Walmart is a major international retail company with decades of experience at running a competitive commercial enterprise in a whole range of economic and social environments, which has tremendous financial advantages for South Africa as a whole. Namely, a greater diversity in corporate business practice, while making the individual corporation much more accountable to the public in regards to their business practices, as well.
It has a monumental wealth of skilled experts, who know how to set-up and manage a whole variety of different retail ventures and special market outlets. Even in a tough competitive market with already high saturation levels (high advertising and exposure to brand names).
While Walmart has a tough stance against Trade Unions in the workplace (Walmart is orientated primarily towards a capitolist economy), it is a strong exponent for progressive individual promotion by merit instead of South Africa's current race-based criteria and this alone holds a tremendous potential value for all South Africans in that they will that there is far greater scope for empowerment, promotion, skills developement and social upliftment, through individual anchievment and ambition (merit-based rewards). South Africans will see that they can achieve a lot more if they personally take responsibility for improving themselves and taking the initiative to develop their own situation, than by waiting for the government or organisations to do these thing s for them, like a charity.
The problem is that South Africans have become too complacent and reliant on communist or socialist methods to achieve the same things that all countries/people have to overcome. Even trade unions can not force companies and goverments to change the economic policies of the country in which they operate. Yes, there are many jobs that require an employee to work atrociously long hours in appalling working conditions for far less than the official minimum wage. However, this will never be resolved solely by the massed mobs of the trade unions going on public strikes and protesting violently in the streets - It needs the South African government to establish severe penalties for corporate misbehaviour and offences, as well as initiating commissions to investigate and enage the corporations actively in correcting any problems. Strikes just loose Workers a large section of their potential wages that they otherwise would have earned and therefore, actually make the Workers more impoverished.
Walmart's corporate structure allows the free market system of the Supply & Demand of employees determine the wage standard in regards to renumeration. Where companies have an unacceptable wages level or workplace environment, the workers will not seek employment and the company will experience a skills shortage. Which will drive the company to increase its wages level and/or improve the workplace environment.
Many people have argued in the media about Walmart's trade practices and pricing system, as being monopolistic and anti-competition. However, Walmart has always been transparent in how their prices are generated (through market research, bulk-retailing and keeping costs low) and that is more than any of the local South African retail supermarkets can say! Pick'nPay, Checkers, Spar, Woolworths, and Shoprite, ect, have routinely been involved in alleged price-fixing scandals with Suppliers and each other (plus they all fail to live up to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (1967) and the Government's minimum wage of R56.50 per eight hour shift (this includes them remaining within the 160 hour maximum working month).
Walmart does adhere to these two requirements and has a better track record of equal employment initiatives than any of the local companies, even though it doesn't implement South Africa's uniquely absurd version of Affirmative Action...
It would be incredible to see just how much of a effect that Walmart will have on the South African economy and Employment Sector. as well as on South African standards in the retail trade industry.
Monday, October 18, 2010
2011 South African Census: The Long Overdue Update to the South African Statistical Reality Figures.
The envisioned 2011 Census of the South African population is a political powder-keg of potential information, as it will reveal the ANC's track record over the last 16 years in power and blow the lid off of the long contentious "National Unemployment Figure". As well as revealing the amount of foreign nationals living illegally in South Africa.
The National Census will be a critical judgement of the ANC's achievements to date (which is partly why the ANC has repeatedly refused to allow a new census to be carried out) and will reveal the magnitude of the ANC's success or failure on the giant screen of the national and interantional media. Some of these issues are: Housing (failed); Education (barely passed); Job Creation (failed); Economic Strategy (passed); Fiscal Competance (barely passed); Insitutional Transparency & Accountability (failed); Crime Fighting & General Law Enforcement (failed); Anti-Corruption Stance (failed); and Racial Reintergration & Reconciliation (barely passed).
For nearly ten years now the ANC has been putting the political spin on the media about the Real Unemployment Figure in South Africa and this has allowed them to dodge a ton load of bricks in regard to political accountability. For nearly ten years now, the opposition has been saying that the Unemployment Figure is a lot higher than or even double that which is officially accepted by the government. Some have even suggested that the figure is more likely to be between 35 and 60 percent of the national population, which is completely astounding but believable.
The other increasingly vexing issue for the ANC is the presence and effect of the Illegal Immigrants living within South Africa's borders and their effect on the South African economy. Even by conservative estimates, there are roughly 10 to 15 million foreign nationals residing in South Africa, which isthe equivalent of one quarter (25%) of the natural citizens within its populations. This is an astounding concept to understand, in that South Africa is one of the only countries in the world that has elected to accept, support and assimilate foreign nationals equivalent to one-quater of its natural inhabitants. The presence of these illegal immigrants puts an enormous strain on the South African economy and on its social infrastructure, as well as severely limiting the already strained resources (Land, Water, Food, Jobs, Housing & Health Provision).
The presence and social effects of the illegal immigrants on the citizens of South Africa has caused an outcry, becuase South Africa can not provide for its own population, as it is (in any logical analysis of the issue), and is grossly falling behind and short of its obligations to its citizens and voter demographics.
One can only hope that with the completion of the 2011 National Census, the government of South Africa will accept the rsponsibilities arising from it and pull this country out of its quagmire or otherwise someone else will have to do it for them...
The National Census will be a critical judgement of the ANC's achievements to date (which is partly why the ANC has repeatedly refused to allow a new census to be carried out) and will reveal the magnitude of the ANC's success or failure on the giant screen of the national and interantional media. Some of these issues are: Housing (failed); Education (barely passed); Job Creation (failed); Economic Strategy (passed); Fiscal Competance (barely passed); Insitutional Transparency & Accountability (failed); Crime Fighting & General Law Enforcement (failed); Anti-Corruption Stance (failed); and Racial Reintergration & Reconciliation (barely passed).
For nearly ten years now the ANC has been putting the political spin on the media about the Real Unemployment Figure in South Africa and this has allowed them to dodge a ton load of bricks in regard to political accountability. For nearly ten years now, the opposition has been saying that the Unemployment Figure is a lot higher than or even double that which is officially accepted by the government. Some have even suggested that the figure is more likely to be between 35 and 60 percent of the national population, which is completely astounding but believable.
The other increasingly vexing issue for the ANC is the presence and effect of the Illegal Immigrants living within South Africa's borders and their effect on the South African economy. Even by conservative estimates, there are roughly 10 to 15 million foreign nationals residing in South Africa, which isthe equivalent of one quarter (25%) of the natural citizens within its populations. This is an astounding concept to understand, in that South Africa is one of the only countries in the world that has elected to accept, support and assimilate foreign nationals equivalent to one-quater of its natural inhabitants. The presence of these illegal immigrants puts an enormous strain on the South African economy and on its social infrastructure, as well as severely limiting the already strained resources (Land, Water, Food, Jobs, Housing & Health Provision).
The presence and social effects of the illegal immigrants on the citizens of South Africa has caused an outcry, becuase South Africa can not provide for its own population, as it is (in any logical analysis of the issue), and is grossly falling behind and short of its obligations to its citizens and voter demographics.
One can only hope that with the completion of the 2011 National Census, the government of South Africa will accept the rsponsibilities arising from it and pull this country out of its quagmire or otherwise someone else will have to do it for them...
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Tarmac Serial Killers: The South African Combi-Taxi Industry
For years, the South African public has been forced to deal with the completely uncontrollable and unregulated presence of illegal taxis on South Africa's roads. The government has known about this problem since before 2000 (Some estimates are that the problem was already evident in 1995, during the Rugby World Cup), but as yet no one has done anything to remove the criminal elements from this industry nor is there any visible public official who is willing to get involved, as the Taxi Associations are hypersensitive towards any mention of regulation and immediately engage on road protests.
Yet almost everyday, the South African news media are filled with the stories of incidents in which someone or some gourp of people have been injured or killed by these combi taxis on our roads. Further reports from many eyewitnesses state that, in general, the taxis completely ignore the traffic laws and all acceptable standards of driving motorvehicles on South Africa's roads. Even more startling is the revelations revealed by investigative journalists that a majority of the taxis are both unroadworthy and unlicensed, which beggars description.
Several half-hearted attempts to correct the inherant problems within the taxi industry have either met with disaster (bad construction and planning), violent opposition (from Taxi Owner Association) or beaurocratic ineptitude and corruption. All of these factors were evident in the disappearance of the Rea Vaya (Bus Rapid Transit - BRT System).
If the government ever really wants to resolve this issue decisively, then they are going to have to completely regulate the taxi industry, through coordinated law enforcement and judicial fast-tracking of court cases. They will have to isolate and subdue all of the subersive criminal elements that are constantly destablising the industry and instigating voilent protests.
If the Taxi Associations do not want to conform to normal standards of operation and regulation, as implemented in many overseas countries, then the ramshackle choatic miasma of informal pucblic transport (the Taxis) will have to be made illegal and banned from the roads of South Africa...
Yet almost everyday, the South African news media are filled with the stories of incidents in which someone or some gourp of people have been injured or killed by these combi taxis on our roads. Further reports from many eyewitnesses state that, in general, the taxis completely ignore the traffic laws and all acceptable standards of driving motorvehicles on South Africa's roads. Even more startling is the revelations revealed by investigative journalists that a majority of the taxis are both unroadworthy and unlicensed, which beggars description.
Several half-hearted attempts to correct the inherant problems within the taxi industry have either met with disaster (bad construction and planning), violent opposition (from Taxi Owner Association) or beaurocratic ineptitude and corruption. All of these factors were evident in the disappearance of the Rea Vaya (Bus Rapid Transit - BRT System).
If the government ever really wants to resolve this issue decisively, then they are going to have to completely regulate the taxi industry, through coordinated law enforcement and judicial fast-tracking of court cases. They will have to isolate and subdue all of the subersive criminal elements that are constantly destablising the industry and instigating voilent protests.
If the Taxi Associations do not want to conform to normal standards of operation and regulation, as implemented in many overseas countries, then the ramshackle choatic miasma of informal pucblic transport (the Taxis) will have to be made illegal and banned from the roads of South Africa...
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Henry Okah & South Africa, The Haven for Terrorists and Drug-Smugglers
This has been an ongoing problem and one that was foreseen by many, because of the complete porous nature of the South African borders and the predisposition of the ANC governement to grant asylum to many former dictators and war criminals in the past (since 1995).
There are many recorded incidents of coups and terrorist attacks having been planned from South African soil even back during the Apartheid Era: the failed Commoros Coup; and several clandestine operations to destabilise neighboring southern african countries. Recently, there was even the failed Central African Republic Coup that was launched from South Africa directly.
However, the really worrying reality is that currently South Africa is hosting several former dictators, despots and warlords (some even at the expense of the South African taxpayer!). This does not even include those that have illegally entered into South Africa...
Jean Bertrand Aristide, formerly of Haiti, has been staying here ever since being ousted from power in a cout d'tat and has various financial ventures underway at present, but has no plans to return to help his former country to recover from the January 2010 Earthquake.
At one stage, even Mobutu Seseseko of the then Zaire was being offered asylum in South Africa, when Kabila ousted him and he very nearly did agree to, but changed after security concerns. The people of the DRC are still trying to recover money that he siphoned off over the decades that he was in power.
There are always unsubstantiated rumors of a number of other foreign ex-leaders (Charles Taylor of Liberia handed blood diamonds to Naomi Cambell at a Nelson Mandela Children's Fund in South Africa) and criminals either being resident or having travelled through South Africa repeatedly. This includes Somali militia leaders, Al-Qaeda operatives (linking up with the South African QIBLA militant Muslim organisation, Vietnamese and Myanmar Military or Consular officials transporting drugs or banned animal products (like Rhino Horn), as well as war-criminals from Serbia or Bosnia-Herzogovina travelling through Southa Africa to by and or selling arms. There was even reports that the people involved with the two East African Bombings in Kenya, etc, had also travelled through South Africa.
Is it so surprising that someone like Henry Okah, a former rebel leader fighting for the liberation of the Niger Delta was in South Africa and might have been involved with the twin bombings in Nigeria recently... He certainly had the means and the political support of the ANC to stay here and there are many other expatriot Nigerians living in South Africa illegally for almost ten years now.
Yes... So there is veritable grounds for seeing the purpose of Henry Okah's involvement with ridding the Niger Delta of Foreign Companies that are raping the natural mineral wealth of the region to profit themselves. There is also some basis to the assertion that it is an endeavor to liberate the people of the Niger Delta from exploitation and oppression...
But, it in no way justifies the use of South African soil as a base for international terrorism or fundraising, even in the pursuit of democratic ideals. Beacause there is no justification for using violence (Rape, Murder, Kidnapping, Extortion and Torture) against innocent civilians under any circumstances. Especially, when it is orchestrated from another sovereign country like South Africa!
And this is the crux of the problem, in that no matter how supportive the ANC government is of fellow African liberation movements, they can not allow these movements to carry out their activities on South African soil, because it gives the national governments opposed to these movements the right to retaliate against South Africa from supporting or assisting rebel groups and terrorists.
Which is definately, not something that South Africa or its people could afford to be labeled as or want to deal with the ramifications of the retalitory actions...
There are many recorded incidents of coups and terrorist attacks having been planned from South African soil even back during the Apartheid Era: the failed Commoros Coup; and several clandestine operations to destabilise neighboring southern african countries. Recently, there was even the failed Central African Republic Coup that was launched from South Africa directly.
However, the really worrying reality is that currently South Africa is hosting several former dictators, despots and warlords (some even at the expense of the South African taxpayer!). This does not even include those that have illegally entered into South Africa...
Jean Bertrand Aristide, formerly of Haiti, has been staying here ever since being ousted from power in a cout d'tat and has various financial ventures underway at present, but has no plans to return to help his former country to recover from the January 2010 Earthquake.
At one stage, even Mobutu Seseseko of the then Zaire was being offered asylum in South Africa, when Kabila ousted him and he very nearly did agree to, but changed after security concerns. The people of the DRC are still trying to recover money that he siphoned off over the decades that he was in power.
There are always unsubstantiated rumors of a number of other foreign ex-leaders (Charles Taylor of Liberia handed blood diamonds to Naomi Cambell at a Nelson Mandela Children's Fund in South Africa) and criminals either being resident or having travelled through South Africa repeatedly. This includes Somali militia leaders, Al-Qaeda operatives (linking up with the South African QIBLA militant Muslim organisation, Vietnamese and Myanmar Military or Consular officials transporting drugs or banned animal products (like Rhino Horn), as well as war-criminals from Serbia or Bosnia-Herzogovina travelling through Southa Africa to by and or selling arms. There was even reports that the people involved with the two East African Bombings in Kenya, etc, had also travelled through South Africa.
Is it so surprising that someone like Henry Okah, a former rebel leader fighting for the liberation of the Niger Delta was in South Africa and might have been involved with the twin bombings in Nigeria recently... He certainly had the means and the political support of the ANC to stay here and there are many other expatriot Nigerians living in South Africa illegally for almost ten years now.
Yes... So there is veritable grounds for seeing the purpose of Henry Okah's involvement with ridding the Niger Delta of Foreign Companies that are raping the natural mineral wealth of the region to profit themselves. There is also some basis to the assertion that it is an endeavor to liberate the people of the Niger Delta from exploitation and oppression...
But, it in no way justifies the use of South African soil as a base for international terrorism or fundraising, even in the pursuit of democratic ideals. Beacause there is no justification for using violence (Rape, Murder, Kidnapping, Extortion and Torture) against innocent civilians under any circumstances. Especially, when it is orchestrated from another sovereign country like South Africa!
And this is the crux of the problem, in that no matter how supportive the ANC government is of fellow African liberation movements, they can not allow these movements to carry out their activities on South African soil, because it gives the national governments opposed to these movements the right to retaliate against South Africa from supporting or assisting rebel groups and terrorists.
Which is definately, not something that South Africa or its people could afford to be labeled as or want to deal with the ramifications of the retalitory actions...
Monday, October 4, 2010
The ANC Coalition: The Rise & Fall of Demogogues...
The ANC Coalition stems from the alliance between the ANC, Cosatu and the Communist Party, otherwise known as the Tri-Partied Alliance during the Liberation Struggle against Apartheid up until the 1991 release of Nelson Mandela.
However, since then, the three partners have had many serious disagreements between themselves, as the ANC Heirarchy clings to total power and the wealth that that can accrue from being on the "Gravy Train": fast cars, million-Rand houses, luxury hotels and all expense paid trips overseas. Not just the mnumerous opportunities to enrich themselves through becoming shareholders in major companies and Black Empowerment Enterprises.
The problem that Cosatu has discovered is that the ANC no longer is paying significant attention to the plight of the average South African citizen anymore. Sure they (ANC) make all the campaign promises: free education; free houses; free water & electricity. But they have yet to deliver on any of these promises and in todays South African economy there are actually less people with jobs than during the Apartheid Era, as unemployment now stands in excess of 26% of the working-age population.
The conditions of employment have also gone down, as most employees find themselves working long hours (180 to 235 hours a month) for ridiculously low wages (R1500/month, minus deductions, ect...) and in conditions that are absulutely atrocious, even a violation of their human rights... Their employers do not care, as all they want to do is to satisfy the Affirmative Action requirements and then scrape off as mush profits as they can for themselves. This situation is absolutely dispicable, as this is not why Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in Prison, just so that all of the leaders (politicians and employers) can enrich themselves at the cost of the average South African citizen's rights to honest representation by accountable leaders in a government with entrenched transparency...
This stiuation is both deploraqble and reprehensible to the generally accepted international standards of political governance and, if the World's Media and Watchdog Organisations don't want to see South Africa also turning into another Zimbabwe, then they need to stand up and voice their protests against this inherant moral corruption that taints the so called "New" Post Apartheid South Africa!
Or there will be mobs in the streets protesting the gross inequalities between the egalitarian despots that are hoarding political power in South Africa and leaving the impoverished "currently disadvantaged" population to scratch in the gutter for survival, while they live in 5-star hotels and cover themselves in misappropriated funds and the proceeds of corruption (like blood diamonds, rhino horn smuggling, drug dealing, bribes, illegal stockholdings in private and public companies and para-statals!
Oops.. Sorry! That has already happened...
However, since then, the three partners have had many serious disagreements between themselves, as the ANC Heirarchy clings to total power and the wealth that that can accrue from being on the "Gravy Train": fast cars, million-Rand houses, luxury hotels and all expense paid trips overseas. Not just the mnumerous opportunities to enrich themselves through becoming shareholders in major companies and Black Empowerment Enterprises.
The problem that Cosatu has discovered is that the ANC no longer is paying significant attention to the plight of the average South African citizen anymore. Sure they (ANC) make all the campaign promises: free education; free houses; free water & electricity. But they have yet to deliver on any of these promises and in todays South African economy there are actually less people with jobs than during the Apartheid Era, as unemployment now stands in excess of 26% of the working-age population.
The conditions of employment have also gone down, as most employees find themselves working long hours (180 to 235 hours a month) for ridiculously low wages (R1500/month, minus deductions, ect...) and in conditions that are absulutely atrocious, even a violation of their human rights... Their employers do not care, as all they want to do is to satisfy the Affirmative Action requirements and then scrape off as mush profits as they can for themselves. This situation is absolutely dispicable, as this is not why Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in Prison, just so that all of the leaders (politicians and employers) can enrich themselves at the cost of the average South African citizen's rights to honest representation by accountable leaders in a government with entrenched transparency...
This stiuation is both deploraqble and reprehensible to the generally accepted international standards of political governance and, if the World's Media and Watchdog Organisations don't want to see South Africa also turning into another Zimbabwe, then they need to stand up and voice their protests against this inherant moral corruption that taints the so called "New" Post Apartheid South Africa!
Or there will be mobs in the streets protesting the gross inequalities between the egalitarian despots that are hoarding political power in South Africa and leaving the impoverished "currently disadvantaged" population to scratch in the gutter for survival, while they live in 5-star hotels and cover themselves in misappropriated funds and the proceeds of corruption (like blood diamonds, rhino horn smuggling, drug dealing, bribes, illegal stockholdings in private and public companies and para-statals!
Oops.. Sorry! That has already happened...
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