To this point:
Groetnis
I really don’t want to starting talking to or about Ernst Roets, but what does he mean with “no-one is being held accountable”? Did a judge just stamp their loyalty card and wish them a pleasant day? It’s not like society is letting them off the hook, our investigations are just terrible.
If we really want to ask that question, how’s the Steinhoff case going? I mean the Reserve Bank has made the most progress there, not the police.
It also looks like Saphra (Health Products Authority) is doing more to investigate Tembisa than the police.
So this all points to a useless police force which is investigatively incompetent, even if you assume they mean well.
However, the Independent Directorate (investigative arm of the NPA) has now been made permanent, so there’s that. SARS’s investigative arm has also been doing very well lately. We’ll probably catch all these people because they lied on their tax returns when selling health products without a license, not because they shot 10 people in a ditch. I’ll take it.
So yeah, Mr Hat will have to go.
Not saying anything about Mr Roets, just pointing out what the media does, it’s observed by many….
Groetnis
@mariusm I’m all for it getting better, and you are right, I also mentioned before, things are changing, it seems, for the best.
And I don’t want to spend money on a plane ticket either. The grass is not greener on the other side of the fence. Problems are everywhere.
And I want to help to fix it. Do my part IF there is anything I can do.
Just don’t want my teeny granddaughter to be settled with debt, incurred by nefarious participants decades before she was born, then being left to continue feeding at the trough for another 2 decades.
Enough is enough.
Be positive, but also get very angry, and do something with your vote, tell everyone around you how angry you are, that we all get angry for the same reasons at the same problem, so that we can fix this when we get off our collective arses.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph in the world is that good (people) do nothing.
I will hazard to say something about him. I put him in the same box with Steve Hoffmeyer. Are they racist? Well, on a scale of 1 to 10… maybe a 6 or a 7, mostly of the latent kind, but inherently no… I don’t think any of them wants the old times back. What we are dealing with are people who are extremely passionate about a cause – and make no mistake, as a parent with kids in an Afrikaans school those causes overlap sometimes, and nobody else is fighting this as hard as they are – but unfortunately in their zeal the guard that should be stationed in front of their mouths sometimes takes a leave of absence…
As loudly as they are, usually coupled with complete tone-deafness and incompetence. You don’t want either of them on your side, because they distract from the issues for likes.
I mean, Roets and friends made a huge stink about Malema’s “Kill the Boer” song, and I also think it should be banned. But they made a huge deal of fighting it, showed up ill prepared and got their asses handed to them. And not by the defense, but by the judge. They were trying to curb someone’s protected speech, but were completely unprepared, almost like they don’t care about winning, only to be seen fighting.
They did a huge deal of damage by not taking that seriously. There are other examples too.
Now Solidariteit seems like a much more competent organisation. Why? Because their actions have very deep consequences for their members – they know why they’re fighting, and they fight to win.
Right. I think you are spot-on there, and I stand corrected. Being louder doesn’t mean you’re fighting harder.
For me the singing of “Dubul’ ibhunu” falls in the category of not doing things that, even if you are free to do them, will cause your brother hurt (it’s in 1 Corinthians 8 for those who swing that way). Now of course you cannot expect everyone to live like that, and some people are also exceedingly easily offended, but outside of that: If I know that singing a certain song hurts other people, I should stop doing it right? And if I know displaying a certain flag makes other people sad, I should stop doing it, right?
It really is that simple, is it not.
To reply to my own comment here, Mr. Malema should have the freedom to sing his song, but because he is a gentleman, he won’t. Mr. Roets should have the freedom to display the old flag, but because he is a gentleman, he won’t.
This is a splendid observation!
Back in the Zuma presidency (when I was still in Joburg) they dreamt up that plan to toll the Gauteng highways. I was already at this gatvol stage and said no way was I going to voluntarily pay a cent to this racket…
Remember this, been looking at them numbers on here:
https://energytalk.co.za/uploads/default/original/2X/e/e80ac4e1a5c9730df62bf669e941db845399439b.png
After looking at it some more I can only conclude that the age of the plant is not the problem. Remember the Coal truck switcher with scrap, that is just one form of corruption/sabotage. The oldest coal-fired power station in its fleet, Komati, achieved an average EAF of 65% over the last year. It is higher than the EAF of Eskom’s four newest power plants Kusile (33%), Medupi (63%), Majuba (59%), and Kendal (48%). Another example showing that the impact of age is less important than operational excellence comes from Lethabo and Tutuka.
Both these power plants were commissioned in 1985. However, Lethabo achieved an EAF of 75% over the last year, significantly higher than Tutuka’s 28%. Tutuka, it is claimed, is rife with corruption and mismanagement, which is the main reason for its poor performance it is claimed. Remember the plant is the same age.
Groetnis
Makes me wonder what the chances are that “they” wrote off one station as a “payment office” for letting others be left alone. This was happening in broad daylight.
The bottom line is it can be fixed, all of it, but at the cost of the political party staying in power.
Let me put it like this.
If the patronage networks, the “voter employment” are tackled it will lead to massive riots and strikes all over SA, driven by nefarious organizations fueling up people’s emotions, blaming everything else.
Take Eskom’s total employees, if one was to do what one must, thousands would be out of a job, with no chance of new employment. The Unions will grow in numbers again.
Hence my positive view, it can be fixed, versus the actual problem that must be fixed.
Much much simpler systems like water purification, sewage systems, road infra and education failed…
Just drive down the streets of many small dories, and large towns?
Groetnis
There’s a name for this: civil disobedience
So were a lot of us. Last time I checked, my “bill” from E-tolls were standing at R26 000.
Standing together showed government that we will not pay, nor support that corrupt scheme.
Those living in Gauteng were faced with this choice unlike the rest of the country. It made one more critical and vocal about what was happening. (Little did we know!)
That shift didn’t happen in CT until a lot later I reckon.
Wow …
Some interesting / devastating analysis I’m doing to justify putting a 15-20MWh/day factory on backup power.
Now, that would be a lovely project to be involved in.
It is quite … looking at 2 x 800kWh Freedom One batteries and 2 x 600kW Atess inverters, integrated with 600kWp solar and a 650kVA diesel generator. When done it should make a very cool case study.
