taxi lunacy

Ok, so it is a sort of unwritten, accepted fact that, when you live in Africa, life is seldom logical and predictable. In fact it is one of the attractions of living in this crazy-colourful-charismatic-chaotic continent.... you know, life on the edge, adreniline rush just by waking up, that kind of thing!

But sometimes the things that happen in society, and the way the government reacts (or fails to react, most likely, in our current dispensation) are so gobsmackingly illogical, destructive, STUPID, that even when allowing for the 'life in Africa' factor, they cause you to sit back and shake your head in wonder.

Minibus Taxis are the subject of much heated debate in South Africa. The industry emerged out of the repressive Apartheid years, mushrooming as freedom of movement was suddenly allowed, and government control over public transport ended.

They quickly set themselves up as the mafia of movement, the terror of transport, the scourge of the streets, the killer of commuters....... you get the picture.

Over the years, a kind of dumb acceptance has settled in, there is one set of rules for taxi drivers and another for the rest of society. The rules of the road apply to normal drivers, taxis have only 1 rule... 'stay off my turf or prepare to die'.

Now I know all this sounds extreme, and by now you are thinking "what is this woman ranting on about? She must be exaggerating."

Well I wish I was. In South Africa, to enter a minibus taxi is to play Russian Roulette.

• If you are a woman,or even a child, there is a very good chance that you will suffer some form of abuse. It has been publicly announced that any woman boarding a taxi in a short skirt is making a declaration that she wants to be raped.
• Overloading is the norm, and taxis designed with tight seating for 14 have been frequently found to have up to 30 onboard.
• Roadworthiness of the vehicle seems to be a relative thing.... normal cars need to meet certain standards, taxis can fall to pieces around their passengers with impunity.
• if you happen to enter a taxi involved in a turf war, you stand a good chance of being caught in crossfire, shootouts between taxi drivers have become so common that they often don't even make it into the press. Occasionally if an innocent child or bystander gets killed, it may receive a mention.
• speeding down multi lane thoroughfares, weaving in and out of the traffic, stopping suddenly in the middle of a lane of traffic to pick up or drop of passengers, and hooting loudly the whole way is standard taxi behaviour.
• the traffic accident statistics are regularly boosted with horrendous taxi accidents in which, due to the overloading, unnecessarily large numbers of people are killed or maimed.

The latest actions of the taxi owners in Port Elizabeth eclipse all this selfishness. Because of all the rah-rah over the 2010 World Cup Soccer, and the sudden realisation that we need infrastructure to cope with the hoped for influx of visitors (don't even get me STARTED on that subject, we'll be here all day!)... the powers that be are constructing a special bus route and upgrading the public transport system.

Perceiving a threat to their strangle-hold on the transport of workers (after all if people have a choice about how to get to work, you can be sure a lot fewer would subject themselves to the abuse handed out by the taxi drivers) they decided to go on strike! Their plan is to let a few hundred thousand people miss work, bring industry to a halt, jeopardise the jobs of the workers which are already under threat due to the economic crisis, and shoot at any bus or car that tries to help them get to work, in order to force the Municipality to abandon plans for improving public transport. To read the response of the Mayor of Port Elizabeth to their letter of demand, go to MyPE.

Now that all this liberty has been won, and the democracy achieved at so high a price, I find it hard to come to terms with the type of people, taxi drivers, politicians and fat cat business men amongst them, who are set on a path of self enrichment at the expense of their own people. There are many thousands of people who depend on taxis to get to work every day, and who work on a 'no work, no pay' basis. Thousands of scholars also rely on them, and those writing their Matric final exams have been unable to get there. They are the ones who are paying for the greed of this handful of people who control the lives of so many.

I will give you just one example. I have a domestic worker who comes to my house twice a week. She works for someone else for another two days. She is a widow in her mid 50s, with 4 children to support. One is studying, (on a bursary) one is still at school, and the other two have left school but have been unable to find work. She is an unskilled worker who works slowly and not very well, largely due to poor health. I pay her well above the average that is paid for such a job, but even so, she earns a pittance for her 4 days of labour. Every cent counts. She was in despair this morning when she phoned and said there were still no taxis or busses, so she can't come to work today. I offered to collect her, but she said no, it is not safe. Even though I said I would pay her, because it is not her fault, it will still be only next week before she can come and collect her money.

Now the things I battle to come to terms with are these....

The people who are most at risk in all this are the passengers, who are PAYING CUSTOMERS!! These are the people who had the courage to stand against a repressive regime and use passive resistance and mass action to win their freedom. Yet they tolerate this abuse and blatant disregard for their lives from the taxi drivers.

I cannot comprehend how someone will, day after day, PAY someone for a service, and willingly submit to being treated so badly. With the high level of unionization in this country, and emphasis on human rights, workers rights, consumers rights, democratic rights and freedom to choose, it is just beyond me why a lobby has not yet been formed to insist on the taxis putting the comfort and safety of their customers first.

And I also wonder where the law enforcement in our country is whenever the taxis break the law.

Do the taxi operators think that being "previously disadvantaged " gives them the right to trample on the rights of all the other previously disadvantaged people who stood side by side with them, to bring about the freedom from oppression that makes their industry possible?

The best quote that comes to mind in this regard is one of my favourites from former President Nelson Mandela...

"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."

I LOVE A RAINY DAY!

PE has a reputation for being the "4 seasons in 1 day" city.... so rapid changes from 1 extreme to the other are no surprise to us. Funnily enough, our climate is actually relatively mild, in terms of heat and cold, we never get snow and whine if it goes below 6 degrees C, likewise if it is hovering at 30 degrees C we are swanning around feeling the heat, so the label might be a bit misleading.

Having said that, it is true that in PE, we get into the habit of dressing in layers, that can be peeled off or added on as needed, because we never quite know what the day is going to turn out like. Yesterday seemed like a standard, slightly drizzly day. As a point of reference I have included this picture of how a normal rainy day looks from our dining room window, taken around this time last year....



But yesterday around 9am, after the sun had already been up for over 3 hours, A belt of mist came across and it suddenly got so dark that the streetlights came on. It is the first time I can remember that happening in the morning, since we got here 30 years ago, it was VERY dark.



We couldn't see the little church down the road at all. Even the street lights were barely visible!



It cleared slightly, and the cold front was clearly visible curving across the sky, with a tumbling mass of clouds below it on the horizon.



As you can see from the grass in the park, it has been quite dry lately.This was taken at 9.18 am, just as the heavens opened in earnest, thunder, lightening, the whole 9 yards.



By 9.47 the park looked like this....



Throughout the day there were warnings on the local radio station of high winds, hail and heavy rain, road closures and traffic accidents, as we followed its progress across the region. Today it is cold and very windy, and the mop-up begins! So much for spring ..... Think I'll curl up with a book, a cup of coffee and a couple of cats on my lap..... !

......Nothing like a bit of escapism when it seems that the world around you is going completely mad! In the midst of all the hectic activity in our lives, running from one art exhibition and neighbourhood watch meeting or late night patrol to the next, we woke up one morning recently to find our State President had been fired... Now don't get me wrong, he was pretty useless, and spent so little time in South Africa that he was totally out of touch with what was going on here, but in comparison with the alternative, he was a way better proposition. It has been nothing short of disgusting (not to mention a little discouraging) to see the ANC wrangle and tangle, with no regard for the country that elected it, in order for a few leaders to get themselves out of legal hot water, and establish their power bases. With the unbelievable situation in Zimbabwe dragging itself out to the North of us, and the economy free-falling, it seems like the former sane and stable part of Africa is on the brink of becoming like the rest of the continent.

But wait, who is this knight in shining armour we see riding over the horizon? And he seems to have a jovial companion in a purple robe......
Looks like former defense minister Mosioua Lekota and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have had enough! They have taken a stand against what the ANC is doing, and have spoken out against all the members who are so busy chasing their personal agendas at the expense of the Nation. Good for these courageous men, all strength to them as they try and turn the tide of political self interest that is sweeping our nation!

In the meantime, kettle is on, where's my book? ..... come kitties.....

Enough is Enough

This is the slogan of a movement called the Million Man March, held in Tswane (formerly Pretoria ) yesterday. It is an anti crime initiative, led by comedian and actor Desmond Dube, who was inspired to arrange the event after a neighbour, Bashimane Mofokeng, was killed in a hijacking.

The idea is to mobilise citizens across the country to stand up and be counted, and make a statement to both the Government and the criminals (often one and the same...more about that later) that the people of South Africa have had enough!
Here is the mission statement of the MMM movement:

The Million Man March is an anti-crime initiative formed as a direct response to the unacceptable levels of crime in South Africa.
The March aims to:

• Unite all South Africans against crime, crime can only be defeated if confronted with a collective will, a combined commitment and a united plan of action.The March endeavours to empower people who feel helpless, vulnerable and alone by giving them a specific time and place to join together with others, and provide them with a voice against that which they fear the most.
• The March will call on the Government of the Republic of South Africa to act decisively on the crisis of crime in South Africa. Urgent attention needs to be given to combating crime, more resources need to be allocated to our police, with efficient mechanisms put in place to combat corruption.
• Law abiding citizens have the constitutional right to have an efficient justice system to support them. We want to call on the people of South Africa to recognise that we are part of the solution. We call on each and every individual to take responsibility of his or her actions.
• We aim to challenge the perceptions that our society have about crime and use this opportunity to engage government, business, religious groups and individuals that this is the platform to launch and extensive and aggressive MORAL REGENERATION PROGRAMME.
• Remind one another that there is a lot to celebrate about our country and need to make sure that the negativity of crime does not take away from all the good that has been accomplished.
• The integrity of the march is dependent on the peacefulness of its nature. It is scheduled and planned to take place within the boundaries of the law.
• This march is for all citizens of South Africa who feel passionate about making a positive contribution towards the country, it will not be used as a platform to advance political or financial gain.

The march took place yesterday, and although the goal of a million marchers was not reached, a large number of people did participate, and it was a peaceful event. A memorandum was handed over to Minister Balfour, who received it on behalf of Government. ..... somewhat ironical, since this is the Minister of Correctional Services (the new euphamism for Prisons) who, in response to overcrowding in prisons, resorted to a special remission of sentences, whereby all offenders irrespective of their sentences or offences got 6 months off their sentences. This trivialized the sentences of the courts and was a slap in the face of victims of crime.

Placards saying "where is Mbeki" emphasised the weak leadership this Government has suffered under. From the start of his Presidency, Thabo Mbeki has been involving himself in international diplomacy, at the expense of his own country. Many are deeply outraged that our taxes are used to fund his little jaunts around the world in the Presidential jet, so that he can angle for International glory and a crack at the top spot in the UN, while back home, the country spirals out of control on many levels.

My advice to anyone who considers offering him any leadership post after his term is over would be... DON'T do it! His so called 'quiet diplomacy' in Zimbabwe basically translates into "Mugabe is my buddy so keep your hands off him and leave him to finish the plundering of his country in peace". Every important crisis here is met with "crisis, what crisis?" His silence over the recent spate of Xenophobic killings and attacks on foreigners is nothing short of criminal, weeks went by before he issued a lame statement, and not once did he bother to show his face at any of the hot spots or personally intervene to show how unacceptable it is.

However, I digress, sorry, at the moment the word Mbeki is a bit like a red rag to a bull, I am outraged by his silence on so many critical issues in his own country, and his total lack of concern over the suffering and deaths of people here. And I assure you this is not just me ranting about the ludicrous lack of leadership, check out these cartoons...

To me the statement at yesterday's rally that really hit home hard, and for which I want to applaud Desmond Dube wildly and loudly is the one he made to the effect that "crime is not just when someone holds a knife to you and threatens you. Crime is someone taking money from an institution and failing to provide services to that institution."

Yes Desmond, you hit the nail firmly on the head. We have become so conditioned to extreme levels of violent crime in this country, that we sometimes fail to even see day to day dishonesty and lack of integrity as crime any more, and the threshhold of what is acceptable keeps sliding further and further along the continuum from petty to extreme crime.

But every civil servant or Cabinet Minister who receives a salary at the end of each month, and fails to do the job for which they are being paid, is STEALING from the tax payers who employ them.

Well Done Desmond for highlighting this fact! I salute you for this initiative, for using your celebrity status to get the attention of the nation, and for giving so freely of your time and money to organise this initiative.

(Going back to the irony that it was Minister Balfour who was sent by Government to receive the anti-crime memorandum, it is Ngconde Balfour, the Minister of Correctional Services, who said that 738 members of his department had been suspended on full pay in the 2005/6 financial year, costing the taxpayer over R34-million!!!)

I hope the MMM initiative will continue to snowball, and that ordinary citzens who are tired of being victims of crime will stand together and clearly let the criminals inside and outside of Government know that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

No way, it can't be Friday already!

.......so that means Skywatch.... I don't know where this week has gone! I intended to do all sorts of posts, (and visits) but as usual time got away from me. And the few times I did manage to sit down long enough to marshal my thoughts, the power was off. We have had some pretty brutal load shedding this month, but are learning to work around the power outages.

Speaking of brutal, I hope things in Zimbabwe don't go the way of Kenya! Oh dear, I feel a rant coming on..... so I'd better post a pretty sky pic first for those who can't handle all the politics, and then those with strong constitutions can read on................

This little wooden treehouse is on a farm on the outskirts of town that has been set up as a 'touch farm' for kids to make friends with a whole selection of farm animals. Our 3 year old grandson LOVES going there! The sun going down behind the stormy cloud really gave it a great atmosphere.

By the way, the trees are Australian blue-gums, which thrive in this country, as they lack natural enemies.

Ok, ..... ranting again......

I must confess to being HUGELY frustrated by our current State President. He has set a clear pattern of being out of the country whenever there is a crisis, and the silence from his office is deafening. He is so busy, involving himself in the affairs of the rest of the world, that he has totally abdicated his responsibilities to his own nation, and its neighbours. Of all the countries that actually need his input right now, Zimbabwe is top of the list, but as usual he is sitting on the fence, and refusing to take a stand. He has a total paralysis when it comes to dealing decisively with the misdemeanours of former "heroes of the liberation struggle." It seems he is incapable of separarting their past actions from any current law breaking, and it seems that, if anyone took a role in the struggle, he is willing to turn a blind eye to even the most extreme abuses of power or position. He has done this repeatedly on behalf of his cronies such as the Commissioner of Police and the health minister, among others, and of course old fatcat Bob Mugabe is one of his untouchable heroes too.

It is also with growing concern that I view the way the Eskom issue is being managed at Government level. As the economy teeters, the man in the street is squeezed from every side. Many are already on the brink of losing their homes due to price hikes, and the poor are battling to cope with rising food prices. Yet Eskom demands a huge 60% price increase and then has the cheek to refuse to disclose all the facts behind it. (They claim that diclosing all the figures will weaken their position in negotiating coal prices!)

If Eskom was being led by people who had established their credentials as trustworthy, pro-active managers, that might make it easier to accept. But clearly this is not the case. They have already created serious doubts about their ability and integrity, both in the mismanagement of the power supply, and more seriously, in the disturbing details which keep surfacing regarding huge bonuses being paid to the head honchos, and preferential deals with neighbouring countries, who have uniterrupted supplies guarenteed, at well below the price we are currently paying. Not to mention all the ducking and diving that has accompanied these disclosures.

The lame reasons that are being given for refusing to be transparent about the enormous price hike are not acceptable. I believe that a reluctance to disclose the true nature of the deals with the neighbours is more likely to be behind it, because the public will, quite justifiably, be outraged if the full truth emerges. And of course, any future juicy bonuses and pay packets would also be embarrassingly hard to justify. To write a blank check in these circumstances would be irresponsible in the extreme, and would be a blatant breach of taxpayers trust.

But again, Mbeki is gallivanting somewhere else in his personal presidential jet! (Although apparently, his hand having been forced by Zambia's President calling for an urgent meeting tomorrow, he will return for that....) It is time for firm leadership. We need the office of the State President to take an interest in affairs closer to home, and not to follow the usual pattern of deafening silence in the face of issues needing urgent attention. The lives of too many are being affected by the goings-on at Eskom. Transparency, efficiency and sound management must be demanded from those in charge of our power grid, and we cannot afford for our leaders to sit on their hands while Eskom steamrolls this price hike through.

You know a President is doing a lousy job when his probable successor, (a man currently on trial for corruption, after already recently facing rape charges, and whose favourite song is "bring me my machine-gun" ) is starting to look like a better proposition as our leader! He may lack any political wisdom, and probably a lot of ethics too, but at least he has the balls to take a stand and say what needs to be said, even if it means offending a former hero of the struggle. He has already taken a clear position on Zimbabwe, and called for an immediate release of the election results. (Don't worry, I am not becoming a rabid Zuma supporter.... far from it.... but at the moment he certainly appears to be the lesser of two evils!)

I was thinking the other day that I really need to think through my position on one country taking a hand in the affairs of another... on the one hand I find myself totally opposed to Bush and his war on Iraq, yet I am frustrated at the lack of intervention over Zimbabwe.... but I think it is not an opposition to interference per se, as much as being disgusted by the cynical way a revenge attack for 9-11, and opportunistic attempt to control a major oil producer, was sold to the world as a noble attempt to save the poor Iraqis from their brutal dictator.... give me a break!

On a lighter note, I must tell you that I am doing aquarobics twice a week, and loving it. This may not seem like an earth shattering statement, but anyone who knows me well will have heard my views on going to any form of gym, and any regular exercise routine is like an allegen for me, I come out in a rash at the very thought of jogging and that sort of thing... but this is amazing. After an hour in the water, doing a workout that isn't percussive to painful joints, I feel great! And it is cool because the classes are led by a physiotherapist, and all of us are overweight, on the wrong side of 50 and have ricketty joints, so we don't have to endure the gorgeous sylph-like and immaculately togged babes in the gym wailing because they are SOOO FAT because they are 300 grams overweight! Ok, I'm off to squeeze into my swimsuit....thank goodness it is a heated pool, winter is definitely on its way. Hope to catch you later, (but it might be difficult, load shedding is scheduled for another 2 and a half hours tonight....Some amazing statements were made by the deputy minister of Safety and Security this week, encouraging Police to "shoot to kill". I am dying to tell you all about it, but again time is the enemy, so it will have to wait!) Have a great weekend!

hehe, time for a rant

Well the powers that be have been spared the tongue-lashings in recent weeks, due to my attention being focussed on things closer to home. However, I can't let the latest monuments to idiocy pass by without comment!

Our occasional supplier of power, Escom is still at it..... it has become a bit like the old politician joke "how can you tell the Escom spokesman is lying?" "Because his lips are moving."

Amidst urgent applications to Government for a 60% increase in electricity tarriffs, to cover costs, we hear that the top brass have voted themselves further outrageously generous 'bonuses', which incredibly, are performance linked. (I can only assume that the link is in inverse proportion to performance!)

At the same time WHILE WE WERE IN THE MIDST OF THE BLACKOUTS, and being told to be patriotic and use less power for the sake of the nation blah blah blah, Escom had the audacity to sign yet another contract with a neighbouring country, guarenteeing them power at a substantially reduced rate. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Meanwhile, not to be outdone, the powers that be in charge of fighting crime (who seem to be under the illusion that this means fighting victims of crime while doing everything possible to make life easier for criminals) have now decided that they want to ban the carrying of 'non lethal weapons'. Included in this definition are all self defence items such as pepper spray, sticks etc.

This is one law I have every intention of breaking flagrantly. We already put our lives and security on the line by going for a simple walk around the neighbourhood, and I am certainly not going to let some fat-cat politician, who has his own army of personal body guards looking after him 24-7, deny me the most basic right of self defence, since no-one else in power is going to do anything about defending the average law abiding citizen!

Luckily, if I do get arrested, you will not need to worry about me, because, in line with their policy of making things as comfortable as possible for criminals, my rights in prison will be well cared for, and I will be having a nice break with a tv in my cell, and all my meals paid for by the law abiding suckers who remain out there.

Where's my pepper spray, I'm off for a stroll!!!!

But before I go, here are the promised photos from the gathering of the clan. Please excuse the horrible quality, too much noise and activity, not enough light, general chaos, but at least family from afar who read this can see a little of the event!

The host, Aubrey, bewildered by the men going mad with cameras on one side, and the reunited sisters trying to catch up on a year's news in 10 minutes on the other!

Even the toddlers were getting in on the act with cameras.

The guests of honour, Connie chatting to my sister Ali, and Dad chatting to nephew Pete.

The morning after..... breakfast on a cold and rainy deck at the guesthouse.

While little Jake didn't mind at all,

Ethan decided the best bet was to snuggle up and sleep off the excitement of the previous night!

After the lunch at the beachfront restaurant, we said our farewells and tackled the 3 hour drive back to PE on VERY full stomachs!

While all this was going on, little Felicity cat stayed home with the big cats, and kept an eye on Fergie to make sure he didn't miss a spot.

yay Poachers captured!!

Hi guys, had a good chuckle at your comments about the new car. Isadora said it reminded her of Chicago ganster movies, hehe, never thought of it but you are so right! It does have a sort of retro look like the PT Cruiser (which I have been mad about since they first came out) but when it came down to it, I could have gone for the Cruiser now, but when we looked inside it was snug to put it mildly!



Tom, you are right about the ground clearance, it is going to be an issue because the front bumper is lower than most curbs, so I will have to to avoid misjudging, which is tricky because it is impossible to see the front of the bonnet. Will just have to experiment until I have a true sense of the space around me in the car.



We all went out for dinner last night to celebrate, and the kids couldn't get over how much room there was in the back, so that's cool. I bought 2 cane easy chairs for the new studio today and they fitted in the back with ease! (Bought from one of the Zimbabwean craftsmen on the side of the road, I have featured them before, and love to support them when possible.)



Since she is black, we thought a nice Xhosa name would be apt, so she is Thandi, (pronounced tun-dee.) Thandi is a Xhosa word that means "nurturing love", which might sound a bit corny for a car's name, but since she is not a sporty model like Bloublitz (blue lightening BTW) and is full of safety features, it is not too bad. I'm afraid any loving nurturing from my side will extend to regular services, but is unlikely to include much in the way of clening if my past track record with cars is anything to go by!



Speaking of cleaning, I took Bloublitz for a farewell car wash yesterday.... she looks great now that most of the paint and food are off the seats (bashful blush), but it was an amazing coincidence. She is not a common car, especially in that metallic blue, but as I pulled in, the car next to me was almost identical, except he didn't have a skyroof but he did have very fancy new mags. I saw the owner looking her over, and eventually he came up to me and asked if I wanted to sell her.



I told him that even a week ago, if he had asked me that, the answer would have been no. The Kadett 200IS is something of a cult car, especially amongst young guys, and over the years so many have asked me to sell her, I have even been stopped at a roadblock so the cop could ask me if I wanted to sell to him! So this guys timing was perfect!

He said he has an identical twin brother, and it would be cool if they had identical cars. We chatted for ages and I gave him a 24 hour first option, it might all have been bull, but who knows.... let's see if I hear from him!



Anyway my phobia about washing my cars (born out of growing up with a fanatical father who was so obsessed with his cars that family came a very poor second) was vindicated, because when I got in to leave after the car wash, she was as dead as a post. I thought it was the battery, but the central locking was also playing up. It came right later after standing in the sun for a while, so I think they must have got some water onto the electrics or something. Anyway it just goes to prove that a dirty car is a happy car! Hehe.



On a completely different note I am DELIGHTED TO REPORT that some of the Perlemoen poachers operating in St Francis that I told you about last week were captured and arrested yesterday! It was apparently quite a show, the headline in this morning's paper said "Dramatic sea raid forces poachers to throw illegal bounty overboard." Luckily, a SA Air Force helicopter was on the scene and divers jumped from it into the sea and managed to retrieve it before it hit the seabed. So now they have the rotten so and so's red handed. Both blue rubber ducks, with trailers and diving equipment were seized in the operation.



I have a meeting with a member of the special Marine Task Force tomorrow, to give them copies of all the photos we have taken on our last two visits to St Francis, showing faces, car registration etc. I hope the law makes it stick to these guys.



It is time to take a stand against greedy individuals who plunder the earth's resourses for their own gain, with no thought of future generations. Shame on those randy Asian men who pay a fortune for Perlemoen (and also Rhino horns) because they see it as an afrodisiac, and thus keep the illegal trade going. Imagine what a sad and pathetic speciman of humanity you must be to happily send another species into extinction, just so you can get a bit hornier?



Anyway well done on catching them guys, and I hope you continue to have success in stamping out this trade.

DESTRUCTION OF HERITAGE

If you have spent any time on this blog, you will know that one of the hobby horses that I get a lot of exercise on is the issue of people who own heritage sites and then destroy them. In Port Elizabeth, our bete-noir is Irish Slum lord Ken Denton, who, in the eyes of many, is like a one man plague when it comes to heritage destruction.

Sadly, we are not alone. Last week a real treasure in Johannesburg was demolished, in blatant defiance of an order to protect the site. It was done by the company Imperial Holdings, and I want to appeal to all of you who read this and care about this issue to express solidarity with the people of Johannesburg by boycotting this company. I will do some research during the week and let you know what companies and products are involved.



I have already lodged a protest with Imperial Holdings, and sent letters to friends, MyPE chat forum and the local newspaper asking people to stand together and not allow this company to get away with such cynical and selfish actions. We need to send a strong message to all property developers that, no matter how big or rich they are, they cannot get away with robbing us of our heritage!



I received a fascinating newsletter today, written by Neil Fraser, and as he has put it all so eloquently, I am copying the letter here, rather than trying to rehash the facts.





"CITICHAT 3/2008

25 January 2008

Laundry Lamentations
At the end of the day what is it that makes some people care and others not give a damn? Why do some people thrill to experience examples of cultures and structures from a previous way of life whilst others see history and heritage as a stumbling block to their concept of progress? Why do we allow our lives to become so busy that in always focusing on the urgent, we forget about what is truly important?

Thousands of people a week must have driven past the Rand Steam Laundries buildings on the corner of Barry Hertzog Avenue and Napier Road without so much as a glance. With the actual laundry long since closed, some might have visited to do business with one of the small traders - blacksmiths, carpenters and furniture repairers - that operated from the site for the past 27 years. Few may have known the story behind the site and the buildings on it. Even fewer may have appreciated the sophistication of some aspects of the design and construction of the buildings to house what, in the early 1900s, was a new technology. Yet the complex encapsulated an amazing story that was part of the history of this crazy mining city. Now the buildings are gone, another example of man’s greed and of deliberate flouting the law of the land.

Charles van Onselen (“Studies in the Social and Economic History of the Witwatersrand 1886-1914 – ‘New Nineveh’) provides a fascinating history of the development of capitalism in Southern Africa. “The South African transition to capitalism – like that elsewhere - was fraught with contradictions and conflicts and its cities were thus capable of opening as well as closing economic avenues, and there certainly was always more than one route into or out of the working class”. One chapter that exemplifies this statement and provides amazing detail of this transition is that on the ‘AmaWasha’ – the Zulu washermen’s guild of the Witwatersrand.
The AmaWasha appeared to have emerged in the early 1870s in Natal through the lowly washermen’s caste of ‘Dhobis’ who had emigrated to Natal and started practicing their traditional profession – “the commercial washing of clothes”. Local Zulus were quick to recognise the opportunity to also earn an income from such work and even quicker to seize on the opportunity that the later discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand presented, accompanied as it was by rapid growth and services needs. By 1890, van Onselen records, there were already a couple of hundred AmaWasha, who had even adopted the ‘Dhobi’ turban, at work in the Braamfontein Spruit to the north of the mining camp. By 1896 there were over 1 200 washermen located at eight or more sites, the bulk of which appeared to have been concentrated in the Richmond area which was “by far the best developed of the sites….the owners provided eight wood and iron structures to accommodate some of the washermen and a small building in which the laundry could be safely stored overnight.” In October 1895, the washing sites were closed by health inspectors following a drought in that year that basically resulted in contamination of the work places. In 1896 a sub-committee of the Johannesburg Sanitary Board was, inevitably, appointed to examine longer-term solutions for public washing. As one would expect, the process provided an opportunity for capitalist connivance and corruption with vested interests trying to steer the process to their own interests even as far away as Witbank as well as to start mechanised processes in opposition to the labour intensive ‘AmaWasha’.
The first steam laundry was in fact founded before 1895/6 whilst the Auckland Park Steam Laundry Company was floated in June 1896 “with a registered capital of 12 500” (pounds Sterling). This was situated on the Richmond Estate, the centre of AmaWasha activities until they were forced to Witbank. There are still some rocks near the canalised stream on the site – the last exposed natural section of the Amawasha site.
The saga continued over a number of years; a return of some AmaWasha to the city, then their removal to Klipspruit, the growth of Chinese laundries and, of course, increasing technology. Of their removal to Klipspruit, van Onselen records that “the municipality was laying long-term plans to develop a permanently segregated community at Klipspruit” which would be both largely self-supporting bur possibly income generating. “The idea of segregation being paid for by the segregated held enormous appeal for white administrators. By 1906, an ironing room, a fenced in drying site and the first of one hundred specially designed concrete washtubs had been erected at Klipspruit. With blind ruthlessness and staggering cynicism the Council prepared to move the washermen for the last time – this time to an uneconomic washing site that shared its setting with the municipal sewerage works.”
History repeats itself! This time it is an aptly named corporation, Imperial, that‘with blind ruthlessness and staggering cynicism’ has destroyed not just one of the last local examples of steam driven industry, but crushed a place where South African history converged: the struggle of poor people to earn an honest living; colonial segregation; indifference; displacement; discrimination; lack of compassion and the eventual disintegration of the AmaWasha.
So how could this happen? After all we do have good legislation in the form of the National Heritage Resources Act of 1999, the Preamble to which contains, inter alia, these fine words: “This legislation aims to promote good management of the national estate, and to enable and encourage communities to nurture and conserve their legacy so that it may be bequeathed to future generations……our heritage is unique and precious and it cannot be renewed…..It helps us to define our cultural identity and therefore lies at the heart of our spiritual well-being and has the power to build our nation……it deepens our understanding of society…….”
Well, the story appears to be that the Imperial Group, through their property company, bought the site in March 2006 specifically for the construction of a showroom. The previous owners evidently warned them that this was a heritage site; the Parktown and Westcliff Heritage Trust (PWHT), knowing the importance of the site and what it represented, applied for the site to be ‘provisionally’ protected in terms of the National Heritage Resources Act of 1999 and the Provincial Heritage Resources Agency of Gauteng (PHRAG) gave notice to that effect in the Provincial Gazette of 20 September 2006. PWHT also lodged an objection to any rezoning of the site for motor showroom purposes. A reporter who covered the purchase at the time was told by someone from Imperial that they weren’t interested in keeping the old buildings – they would demolish first and risk the fine, “It’s only R10 000.” The company’s attorneys denied that this comment had been made, stating that their clients were fully aware of the National Heritage Resources Act and that they had no intention of doing anything that would contravene the Act!

On Wednesday 9th of January this year preparations for demolition were underway, the roof sheeting was being stripped. PW&HT’s Flo Bird spoke to the responsible Imperial executive pointing out that they were acting illegally – he claimed that they had a demolition permit from the Chief Building Inspector of Johannesburg. Flo pointed out that the City does not outrank the Province in such matters and requested that the demolisher be instructed to stop work, which was done. Apparently the Johannesburg building inspector had issued a Dilapidation Notice, but he had warned Imperial that they needed a permit from the Heritage Authority (PHRAG) before they could proceed with demolition.

On Thursday 10th the demolition work started again, but this time with a difference. In Flo’s words “There was a mechanical grab smashing the buildings to pieces. Several large laundry buildings, two of the oldest on the site, already lay in small pieces. The grab hauled the masonry smashed it to the ground and then drove back and forwards crushing it. Any metal piece that survived that treatment was lifted in the air and crashed down until it crumpled. It was horrifying. Clearly the instruction was to destroy the buildings completely.”

At 3.30pm a stop order was delivered by PHRAG. At that stage there were still a number of heritage buildings left standing including the picturesque cottages at the corner of Napier and Barry Hertzog. Ignoring the stop orders from both PHRAG and the City, Imperial demolished the cottages on Sunday.

So what sanction can now be applied? I would think that there must be parts of the Companies Act that have been transgressed as well as all kinds of issues related to King 2 on Corporate Governance (can corporations take decisions that, knowingly, are against the law of the land for their own ends, as seems to be the case here?). But the main legislation would be the National Heritage Resources Act of 1999. Section 27(18) of the Act states ““no person may destroy, damage, deface, excavate, alter, remove from its original position, subdivide or change the planning status of any heritage site without a permit issued by the heritage authorities authority responsible for the protection of such site.”

Section 51 (1) (a) that any person who contravenes the above “is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine or imprisonment or both such fine and imprisonment as set out in Item 1 of the Schedule.” Item 1 of the Schedule states “a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or to both such fine and imprisonment.” In a previous case, the fine was R300 000-00 with a five year suspended sentence!

However, the Act goes further – in terms of 51(8) a court may also order the guilty party to ‘put right’ the result of their actions or order the party “to pay a sum equivalent to the cost of making good” AND in terms of 51 (9) an order can be served on the party that no development should take place on the site for a period of ten years except for making good the damage and maintaining the cultural value of the place.

Seems to me that a seemingly deliberate and premeditated breaking of the law needs the whole book thrown at it. The previous heritage structures must be rebuilt and the story of Amawasha and the mining town they serviced must be told and portrayed so that “it may be bequeathed to future generations” – the cottages can once again house the craftshops and the site should be turned into an active place for the community. The story of the perfidy of Imperial and the punishment meted out to them in terms of legislation should also be encapsulated so that everyone becomes aware of the law and the consequences of arrogance in disregarding it. Anything less would be a travesty.

London has the Imperial War Museum, at least we could have the Imperial Rand Steam Laundry Museum!

Cheers, neil

PS. Want to help? I had this message from Flo Bird:

“Please support us in pressing for the perpretrators to be brought to justice, for the land to be frozen for development for 10 years and for the reinstatement of the heritage buildings on the Rand Steam Laundries site.

They were not marble palaces, but simple industrial buildings built of wood and iron, bricks and plaster. Even Imperial should be capable of rebuilding those.

Please go to our website: http://www.parktownheritage.co.za/heritage.htm and press on the newsflash. If it doesn’t come up immediately you need to press the refresh button.

1. Please copy and paste the petition, filling in your name, and e-mail it back to us.

2. Please pass on to all people on your mailing list. "

lest you think I have been exaggerating.....

The Power shortage has been declared a National Emergency. Here is a news article on the latest mind boggling measures to contain the crisis.

It is very hard to swallow authoritative sounding reassurances about everything being well in hand from the same morons who let it get this bad in the first place! After all they only woke up to the fact that there was a serious problem, and called a meeting to deal with it this week, when the country was already in a crippling position. It makes it difficult to place any faith at all in the emergency measures being put in place to remedy the situation.

Our economy is in very serious danger of a meltdown due to the long term effects of this crisis and the measures which will have to be taken to sort it out (like putting a moratorium on all future capital growth plans and initiatives, closing down our major mines etc!!!), and we are being told that all South Africans are going to have to dig deep in our pockets to help pay for all this, yet these are the same morons who are supplying as much power as the output of a whole power station to Zimbabwe FOR FREE!

I don't need to tell you how bad it really is, if you think of the long term ramifications of closing the mines down to save power in the short term, not to mention the impact on thousands upon thousands of poor mine workers whose livelihoood is on the line. In the end it is people like them who will pay the worst price for the criminal ineptitude of the Minister of Minerals and Energy Affairs, and the big wigs at ESCOM (who, BTW, were given multi million rand performance bonuses over the last 3 years!!)

Again the interesting dichotomy that South Africa is a 1st world/3rd world nation comes into play. Let's face it, millions of our citizens have never had the benefit of electricity in their homes, and the huge irony is that, when the new democracy was born, addressing that injustice was high on the priority list of changes to be made.

So to them all this ranting about power blackouts must seem like so much spoilt elitist whining. But the reality is that our economy and cities are run on a 1st world basis, and are entirely dependant on a stable electricity supply. It is not the inconvenience of darkness that people are complaining about, it is the fact that our hard won economic growth since democracy is being wiped out in a flash.

I suspect that, when Nelson Mandela and others made impassioned speeches about bringing about racial and economic equality, what they had in mind was bringing the living conditions of the poor up to the 1st world standards of the rest of the country, not reducing the entire country to the 3rd world standards which look more and more likely if this kind of ineptitude is allowed to continue unchecked!

I just want to clarify one thing. Anyone who is new to this blog and only reads this post in isolation might get the idea that I am one of the rabid old racist diehards who are, sadly still among us, and that nothing the new government can do is right. This is really not the case, and overall I am very happy to be a proud South African as we build the new democracy and redress old inequalities. Much has been done that is good, and there will always be sacrifices made in bringing about social change.

So, for example, those who are constantly harping about poor healthcare must bear in mind that in the past, 10% of the population got superb care while the rest got practically none. Obviously the 10% will have to accept some falling standards while the remaining 90% now get some care. Yes, stupid mistakes have been made, yes, it could be better, but change is a dynamic process, and there have been big strides along the way.

But having said that, just because I am basically pro the whole new setup, I will not sugar coat the stuff that IS wrong, and there are issues like this ESCOM debacle, and the crime situation, which are being handled very badly.

I think that is why this whole ESCOM debacle is starting to get to me so much (and yes Tom, you were right, more and more I AM finding it upsetting as the real long term effects and implications sink in!) because it is the poorest of the poor who end up suffering for the ineptitude of the few fat cats who are too busy lining their own pockets or following their own agenda for International recognition to care much about what happens to the poor masses who elected them. At the end of the day, the previously advantaged middle class whites, and the fat cat politicians can afford to pay a little more for the stuff which is going to sky-rocket when the full effects of this come into play. It is the poorest of the poor who will be the real victims once again, and who will be unable to meet the rising food and fuel costs.

When all those lives were lost to bring about social change in this country, are they not the ones who it was all about? The need to improve their lot in life was paramount? So when all the steps that have been taken in the right direction are wiped out at the flick of a power grid switch, it is DEEPLY upsetting and I believe those responsible for this should not get off with a mere "sorry, we made a mistake, now let's move on." They need to pay back the huge bonuses and pull in their belts and pay for the suffering they are causing...... but if recent coverups are anything to go by, I don't hold out much hope for seeing justice done in this case.

the next thrilling instalment of our soapie…

Shopping South African style…



This was Woolworths yesterday, the tills and one or two lights running on emergency generators. Arriving and leaving were another story, it is an interesting exercise driving through a city without traffic lights at peak time!

If you live here, or follow South African blogs with any regularity, you will know that we have regular power cuts, which are euphemistically referred to as “load shedding” by ESCOM. (Which is a State run entity with a supply monopoly by the way, naturally if there was some healthy competition in the private sector this would never be happening).

Port St Francis last weekend... the light you see in the one window is candles!

Which brings us to the next thrilling instalment of our soapie…

Here in soapie land, we leave our police commissioner and his lawyers to wrangle about court dates, and get back to the National Prosecuting Authority, and particularly the Public Prosecutors Office. Having won round 2 against Zuma and round 3 against Selebi, they are turning their spotlight onto our national electricity supplier, ESCOM.


The plot so far:
It all seems to have started back in about February 2006, when The Nuclear Reactor at Koeberg got screwed …. No really, I mean it literally; someone dropped a screw into the main reactor!

This coincided with the other reactor being shut down for refuelling, so initially Cape Town and eventually most of the country was plunged into chaotic and expensive darkness. I heard an estimate on the radio this week that, according to the Cape Town Chamber of Commerce, the 3 day shutdown alone cost Cape Town 5 billion Rand.

I happened to be there for a design seminar during the crisis. Try and imagine what it was like attempting to get through rush hour traffic in a major city with not a single traffic light working!!!! And huge high rise buildings which rely on air conditioning for ventilation plunged into darkness, computers crashed, elevators jammed, shopping malls closed, security systems were disabled. They were prepared for short outages, but 3 solid days was more than most back-up systems could deal with. I had trouble trying to leave because Cape Town, and all the small coastal towns up to Knysna were without power, and so petrol stations were unable to pump fuel. Even those with generators battled, because their computers had crashed and the modern pumps could not operate without them. I eventually made it to a small country garage which had a small generator. It was like something out of Hollywood!

In the Echelons of Power, questions were asked. There was much scrambling about and covering of excessively paid butts, until it was finally admitted that the power provider already had less capacity to produce power than the existing infrastructure needed, even when no breakdowns were occurring, and had nothing in the pipeline to meet growing demand. We have been warned of ongoing blackouts around the country for years to come, at least until 2012!!

Apparently the ‘powers-that-be’ had not realised a few basics about running the country’s power grid.

• Things wear out and plans need to be made well in advance to maintain/repair and eventually replace them.
• Demand for power in a growing economy increases, and infrastructure needs to be planned for, budgeted for and put in place to supply extra power to meet the growing demand.
• Supplying power to neighbouring dictatorships that have not paid their bills for years, while cutting power to paying consumers at home, and simultaneously ruining the economy of the country, is a bad idea.
• Increasing charges to local consumers by extortionate rates in order to pay for one's blunders and charity to the northern neighbours only causes chaos at home, as consumers rebel and the economy suffers further.

So while they learn these lessons and try to do some damage control, the shutdowns have become a regular way of life across South Africa. It seems that, we will continue to get POWER ALERT screens popping up on TV every night, red or brown to say 'we are about to have a major shutdown unless people immediately save power, switch off all appliances, lights etc.', followed by either an orange one to say 'thanks, it is stabilizing', or darkness!

What makes it worse is that ESCOM seems unable to grasp the concept of forward planning, so instead of letting industry, hospitals, retailers etc. know when to expect outages, so that they can plan around them, they appear to just spring it on whichever area takes their fancy at the time. They have schedules on their website, but the reality and the schedules do not coincide.

Yesterday at Johannesburg General Hospital, a major surgery was underway when the power to the Hospital was cut, and it took 10 minutes for the Emergency generators to kick in with enough juice to run the life support unit. Luckily the doctors managed to keep the patient alive, but it was touch and go.

So now these are the latest developments in soapie-land:

To make up for their blunder, ESCOM are now fast-tracking the building of nuclear pebble-bed reactors around the country.... riding roughshod over strong public opposition to them. It is a frightening prospect to leave so much nuclear capacity in the hands of an entity which has so far displayed such a shocking lack of management ability. I just hope they have at least trained their technicians to stop dropping screws into the reactors!

In the meantime, flushed with success at having laid charges against both the President Elect, and the Head of the Police, our intrepid Public Prosecutors have asked ESCOM to answer some searching questions about the management of the country’s vital power supplies, and if the answers fail to satisfy them, this might just end up being the NPA’s hat trick of major prosecutions this year!

It won’t stop the power failures, but maybe while they are busy in court, someone competent can run things and make a plan? Anyone got Bruce Willis' phone number for us?

Birds of a Feather....

It just keeps getting stranger.... I refer to the latest move by Jacob Zuma.

In an act of either
a) complete insensitivity and stupidity
or
b) in-your-face defiance and lack of respect for social values
but definitely
c) setting a scary tone for the values of the future leadership of our country,

our new leader of the ANC, and therefore the de-facto leader of the country, has agreed that his first major public engagement will be as keynote speaker at a function in honour of boxer Mike Tyson..... (you know the one I mean, the guy who did time for rape, beat his wife, bit off an opponents ear?)
hang on a bit, I am almost speechless! ....
But we all know that never lasts long, hehe!

On the other hand, maybe it is just a case of birds of a feather flocking together... there are a few worrying similarities...Like an apparent delight in violence....

This man , our illustrious new leader, overwealmingly elected by rampaging crowds, has a "theme song" which he sings to the crowd at all his political rallies, called Lethu Mshini Wami (Bring me my machine gun), a song used during the war against Apartheid. The relevance of such a song in a free democracy is questionable, one can only assume he is trying to remind his comrades of the part he played in 'the struggle', and arouse in them a willingness to do anything in support of him and his political agenda.

When he has been in court on various charges, his supporters have blatantly stated that the courts will run with blood if he is convicted, and this brings us to his rape charge. Zuma supporters rallied outside the courthouse, arousing criticism by anti-rape groups for regular attacks on the integrity and moral standing of Zuma's accuser, insults yelled at a close friend of the accuser, and even stones thrown at a woman that members of the crowd mistook for the accuser.

After Zuma was found not guilty, because the prosecution was unable to prove that the sex was not consentual, she has been forced to flee the country because she was threatened with death by his supporters. The trial also generated political controversy when Zuma, who headed the National AIDS Council, admitted that he had not used a condom when having sex with the woman who now accuses him of rape, despite knowing that she was HIV-positive. He stated in court that he took a shower to try to reduce his risk of infection!!

All we can do is wait and see how the corruption case against him pans out, because unless he is convicted, it is likely that in 18 months time, this will be our new State President. Is this truly the best person our nation can come up with as our next leader? How sad! If the lack of political wisdom and common morality we have seen so far is any indication of what is to come, we are in for a bumpy ride!

And in the mean time, I am sure he and Mike Tyson will have a great evening together, they certainly have a lot in common to talk about.