15.9.08
Commuters burn train because it's late
Here's a story for anyone who's ever sat fuming on a stationary train in England. In South Africa, commuters don't take that kind of thing sitting down. Here's an extract from the New York Times article:
Commuters in suburban Pretoria set two train cars on fire after losing patience with efforts to repair a fault that had stopped traffic on the train's line, the commuter authority Metrorail said. The train had been stopped by a red signal at the Greenview station, but when technicians arrived to make repairs, some furious commuters threw stones at them, injuring two repairmen and three commuters.
So not only do they vent their frustration by burning the train, but also attack the technical guys arriving to actually fix the train! Not the cleverest thing to do if you plan to use the train again in the future. Damage to the trains was 150 million Rand - about £10m.
10.8.08
Ski-ing in Africa!
The road into Lesotho begins winds steeply uphill shortly after you cross the border from South Africa. This tiny land-locked country is sparsely populated, very rural, and very poor. But the scenery is pretty impressive. On the sides of craggy mountain peaks perch picturesque villages consisting of rondavels - round mud huts with thatched roofs.
We'd left Joburg at some ungodly hour that morning in order to miss the traffic and be on the ski slopes by lunchtime. After breakfast in Bethlehem (worth the visit just so I can say I've been to Bethlehem), we arrived at the border about 9, and for the next hour we drove through the mountains of Lesotho.
The ski resort itself was quite an extraordinary sight - in amongst the deserted, barren hills lies a white strip of snow. It does snow here, but this slope was maintained by a series of snow cannon. The slope itself was perhaps 600m long - not exactly Val d'Isere. We found our swiss-style chalet, which was comfortable enough, got our ski gear sorted out, and tramped off to the slope.
I hadn't skied for about 5 years, but it soon came back. I spent a fair amount of time teaching beginners, and then on the second day switched to snow-boarding for a bit more of a challenge. Conditions were surprisingly good considering how old the snow was. I must admit I did feel slightly smug that I was actually better than most of the people there. The South Africans tend to be very good at most sports, and very competitive, so this was a rare feeling for me!
The apres-ski was of course great fun - a very small bar packed with drunken South Africans. At one stage a group naked run in the snow took place - I stayed in the nice warm bar thanks very much.
5.7.08
Maids - brilliant!
Yes, I have a maid. For those of you who are from South Africa, that is not a surprise. But for most other people, it makes me sound like an aristocrat! Truth is it's brilliant, and you very quickly get used to it. She does the washing up, cleans the house 3 times a week, cleans the kitchen every night, makes my bed, does my laundry, cleans the pool, and generally looks after me. The other day I bought some shoe polish with the intention of polishing my boots - and the next thing I knew she'd done it!
Casalina is from the Transkei, and has 3 kids and one grand-child, who occasionally come to stay. I must admit to feeling some pangs of guilt, particularly when she has people round and they're all squished into the tiny room in which she lives, and I'm on my own in the huge house! But I soon get over it...
Police officers in shootout with ... er ... other police officers.
Yes, you read that right. You really can't make this stuff up. Here's an extract from Bloomberg's report from the events of 26th June, where 2 different police departments began shooting at each other.
A gunfight between Johannesburg's police departments blocked one of the city's main highways and may result in crime fighters being charged with attempted murder. Striking traffic officers, known as the Metro police, last night blocked the M2 highway that runs along the southern edge of the city center and fired live ammunition at riot police, who were trying to disperse them with rubber bullets, a spokesman for the South African Police Service, or SAPS, said.
My friend Marisca witnessed this from her office window in central Joburg. She and all her colleagues were unable to leave the office until about 10pm. Read more about this story here and here.
Some (unintentionally) amusing comments came from the representative of the police union, Vincent Vena:
"Obviously it (the stayaway) will hit the public hard, which is not our aim," Vena said. "Nobody will die on the roads if the traffic officers are not there."
Asked what effect this would have on crime fighting, he said: "Whether we are on the streets or not, it won't deter criminals from their wrongdoings."
So there you have it - what better admission of ineffectiveness can you think of?
Motorists who dared to ask the metro cops why the road was blocked got a face full of pepper spray.
The more awake of you may wonder why the police can go on strike. Aren't they an essential service, and not allowed to strike, in most countries? Answer: of course they're not allowed to strike - welcome to Africa!
19.5.08
Black Economic Empowerment
Imagine you work in a major bank. You have many years experience and qualifications, you work very hard, long hours, and you are good at what you do. One day you are asked to supervise two new employees. They don't report directly to you, but you assign them work. They are both lazy, turning up at 10 and leaving at 3. They don't want to take responsibility for jobs which you have assigned them, and you often end up having to do the work yourself. They have very few qualifications and little experience.
Now imagine that these people earn FOUR TIMES what you earn!
Welcome to South Africa. The black economic empowerment regulations mean that this is not an imaginary scenario, but one which was related to me first-hand by a good friend of mine here.
The way it works is this: BEE is about empowering the blacks who were discriminated against under apartheid - trying to even out the economic iniquities between black and white. Now one can see that in order to even out a patently unlevel playing field, the long term solution is to focus on education, so that young blacks growing up get the same standard of education, and hence the same opportunities. However this is a long-term solution, and in 1994 BEE was put in place as a short-term solution.
It works like this. If a business wants to be "BEE certified" it must meet a target for the number of blacks it employs. For the banks in particular, it's very important to be BEE compliant, for if not the bank will not be eligible for any government contracts. And with the government having a stake in most of the valuable mining concessions, it's clearly good business for banks to be BEE compliant. Because of the huge lack of qualified, skilled black employees, and the demand by employers (due to legislation), blacks with even a modicum of experience can charge a huge premium.
Hence the apparent paradox of a poorly trained, lazy, under-qualified employee earning four times their capable experienced white counterpart.
You can imagine the effect this has on the bank - the morale of qualified and experienced staff reached rock-bottom, and they leave, only to be replaced by more lazy, inexperienced people who think the state owes them a job as recompense for apartheid. Result - the bank loses its edge.
There is more to BEE than this - for example, when Vodafone wanted to buy the remaining 50% stake in Vodacom, you can imagine their surprise when they were told that they would have to pay for 50%, but would only receive about 20% - the rest would be given to a BEE company practically free of charge.
You will often hear from whites here that they don't see a future for their children in South Africa. Almost everyone has plans for emigration or either Australia or the UK. Being intelligent and well-qualified is not enough to get you a job here - you need to be black.
Imagine you work in a major bank. You have many years experience and qualifications, you work very hard, long hours, and you are good at what you do. One day you are asked to supervise two new employees. They don't report directly to you, but you assign them work. They are both lazy, turning up at 10 and leaving at 3. They don't want to take responsibility for jobs which you have assigned them, and you often end up having to do the work yourself. They have very few qualifications and little experience.
Now imagine that these people earn FOUR TIMES what you earn!
Welcome to South Africa. The black economic empowerment regulations mean that this is not an imaginary scenario, but one which was related to me first-hand by a good friend of mine here.
The way it works is this: BEE is about empowering the blacks who were discriminated against under apartheid - trying to even out the economic iniquities between black and white. Now one can see that in order to even out a patently unlevel playing field, the long term solution is to focus on education, so that young blacks growing up get the same standard of education, and hence the same opportunities. However this is a long-term solution, and in 1994 BEE was put in place as a short-term solution.
It works like this. If a business wants to be "BEE certified" it must meet a target for the number of blacks it employs. For the banks in particular, it's very important to be BEE compliant, for if not the bank will not be eligible for any government contracts. And with the government having a stake in most of the valuable mining concessions, it's clearly good business for banks to be BEE compliant. Because of the huge lack of qualified, skilled black employees, and the demand by employers (due to legislation), blacks with even a modicum of experience can charge a huge premium.
Hence the apparent paradox of a poorly trained, lazy, under-qualified employee earning four times their capable experienced white counterpart.
You can imagine the effect this has on the bank - the morale of qualified and experienced staff reached rock-bottom, and they leave, only to be replaced by more lazy, inexperienced people who think the state owes them a job as recompense for apartheid. Result - the bank loses its edge.
There is more to BEE than this - for example, when Vodafone wanted to buy the remaining 50% stake in Vodacom, you can imagine their surprise when they were told that they would have to pay for 50%, but would only receive about 20% - the rest would be given to a BEE company practically free of charge.
You will often hear from whites here that they don't see a future for their children in South Africa. Almost everyone has plans for emigration or either Australia or the UK. Being intelligent and well-qualified is not enough to get you a job here - you need to be black.
10.3.08
The Argus 2008
Another day, another big bike race. The Cape Argus cycle challenge (or simply The Argus) is the world's largest timed cycle event. Over 30,000 people take part each year, and this year yours truly featured among the masses. My friends Geoff and Barney had flown down from the UK for the event (some take their cycling more seriously than others - ahem!) so I stayed with them in Camps Bay, which is one of the most scenic residential areas in Cape Town.
As usual, a ridiculously early start was required - although at least the sun was up - just. We cycled the 10km to the start line and joined the huge throng of people being herded through pens like lambs to the slaughter! Thankfully comparisons with the slaughter ended as soon as we started. The race was a delight - after about 30km we reached the beautiful coastline near Simonstown.
I suppose I must have done enough training because I had time to enjoy the scenery - and it really was beautiful. Sweeping roads down past huge cliffs, beaches - you get the picture.
Anyway my time was around 3:40 - fairly respectable I thought for a first time. See you again next year!
Another day, another big bike race. The Cape Argus cycle challenge (or simply The Argus) is the world's largest timed cycle event. Over 30,000 people take part each year, and this year yours truly featured among the masses. My friends Geoff and Barney had flown down from the UK for the event (some take their cycling more seriously than others - ahem!) so I stayed with them in Camps Bay, which is one of the most scenic residential areas in Cape Town.
As usual, a ridiculously early start was required - although at least the sun was up - just. We cycled the 10km to the start line and joined the huge throng of people being herded through pens like lambs to the slaughter! Thankfully comparisons with the slaughter ended as soon as we started. The race was a delight - after about 30km we reached the beautiful coastline near Simonstown.
I suppose I must have done enough training because I had time to enjoy the scenery - and it really was beautiful. Sweeping roads down past huge cliffs, beaches - you get the picture.
Anyway my time was around 3:40 - fairly respectable I thought for a first time. See you again next year!
1.3.08
An Interesting Thing in the Bank
Today I was in the bank to pay the rent as usual, and as is also normal for the first few days of the month, a large queue had developed. The woman a few places in front of me in the queue was chatting on her mobile phone when a guy walked up behind her and slapped her round the side of the head, and grabbed her phone. Needless to say her reaction was immediate and furious. She berated him (in good English) and he didn't seem too concerned about arguing his point or responding to her complaint. It transpired that he worked as a security guard for the bank, and apparently in South Africa it's generally not allowed to use your mobile phone in a bank - something unfathomable to do with security. So instead of asking her politely to desist, he considered it appropriate to slap her and grab the phone!
Anyway the point is that the people around me murmured their approval at the way he had treated her! Very strange I thought - but talking to friends afterwards revealed that in black culture, it's quite normal to treat women like this. A man talking on his phone would never have been treated the same way.
Today I was in the bank to pay the rent as usual, and as is also normal for the first few days of the month, a large queue had developed. The woman a few places in front of me in the queue was chatting on her mobile phone when a guy walked up behind her and slapped her round the side of the head, and grabbed her phone. Needless to say her reaction was immediate and furious. She berated him (in good English) and he didn't seem too concerned about arguing his point or responding to her complaint. It transpired that he worked as a security guard for the bank, and apparently in South Africa it's generally not allowed to use your mobile phone in a bank - something unfathomable to do with security. So instead of asking her politely to desist, he considered it appropriate to slap her and grab the phone!
Anyway the point is that the people around me murmured their approval at the way he had treated her! Very strange I thought - but talking to friends afterwards revealed that in black culture, it's quite normal to treat women like this. A man talking on his phone would never have been treated the same way.
25.2.08
Parents
My Mum and Dad came out to visit me the other day. It was actually quite interesting being just the 3 of us, given that they've been divorced for 25 years! Driving around with them in the back I occasionally turned round to say "no fighting in the back you two or I'll leave you by the side of the road" - much to everyone's amusement.
They stayed in Joburg for a couple of days, then Dad took the train to Cape Town while Mum and I went to Pilanesberg to look at the wildlife. Before that, however, we took a tour around Soweto - which I found a fascinating experience.
You might imagine Soweto to be a poor, dirty, dangerous township. 30 years ago, that would have been an accurate assessment. But one of the things which surprised me most was the level of affluence in some areas of Soweto. Flash cars sat on the driveways in front of houses. Conspicuously absent from the scene were the 2m walls topped with electric fences which you'll find in all the white suburbs. That said, there is still plenty of grinding poverty. We were escorted down an alleyway of tin shacks and had a look in one of these houses. I must admit to being very nervous, as between us we were carrying cameras worth more than the annual wage of all the people around us.
Then the obligatory Hector Pietersen museum - the eponymous boy was the first to be shot during the Soweto uprising of 1976, when students protested against being taught in Afrikaans at school.
Next up we found ourselves in a small non-descript shack which was where Nelson Mandela lived from 1946 - 1962. Very interesting - did you know that he was labelled a terrorist by the CIA, who helped pass on intelligence about him to the South African government of the time? His house now boasts an official apology from that same agency.
My Mum and Dad came out to visit me the other day. It was actually quite interesting being just the 3 of us, given that they've been divorced for 25 years! Driving around with them in the back I occasionally turned round to say "no fighting in the back you two or I'll leave you by the side of the road" - much to everyone's amusement.
They stayed in Joburg for a couple of days, then Dad took the train to Cape Town while Mum and I went to Pilanesberg to look at the wildlife. Before that, however, we took a tour around Soweto - which I found a fascinating experience.
You might imagine Soweto to be a poor, dirty, dangerous township. 30 years ago, that would have been an accurate assessment. But one of the things which surprised me most was the level of affluence in some areas of Soweto. Flash cars sat on the driveways in front of houses. Conspicuously absent from the scene were the 2m walls topped with electric fences which you'll find in all the white suburbs. That said, there is still plenty of grinding poverty. We were escorted down an alleyway of tin shacks and had a look in one of these houses. I must admit to being very nervous, as between us we were carrying cameras worth more than the annual wage of all the people around us.
Then the obligatory Hector Pietersen museum - the eponymous boy was the first to be shot during the Soweto uprising of 1976, when students protested against being taught in Afrikaans at school.
Next up we found ourselves in a small non-descript shack which was where Nelson Mandela lived from 1946 - 1962. Very interesting - did you know that he was labelled a terrorist by the CIA, who helped pass on intelligence about him to the South African government of the time? His house now boasts an official apology from that same agency.
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