| In a previous article I mentioned a R350 grand contract in Pretoria that blossomed to R7 mill. Surprise surprise, that now stands at R8 million. This was due to an advertising agency that was contracted to advertise posts for 35 managers. The council didn't pay the agency and subsequently got sued. Good on the agency! Government regulations stipulate that a contract can only be extended once..., Tshwane extended this contract five times! Now if government departments has so little respect for their own rules and regulations, what do they expect from ordinary citizens? Onto sad news. For those who still don't know, one of our most popular disgraced citizens died (we only had one!). Hansie Cronjé played in 68 test matches of which he captained 53. In April 2000 he was sacked as captain on allegations of match fixing. He admitted receiving between 10 and 15 thousand Dollars. Tape recordings backed the investigators claims. Most of this money was more for information regarding upcoming tours than actual game fixing. The man has had a steep climb to exonerate himself. Though news about him has been pretty scarce since his lifetime ban from cricket, I am sure he was hard at work in making up for his transgression. Ever since he appeared in the public eye most people had the utmost respect for him. Even during the courtcases and investigations, people were feeling for him. He was a guy you could easily forgive. His openness and honesty (except of course for the match-fixing episode) has endeared him to many people. Hansie died in a plane crash in bad weather. Despite CNNs' report of "running out of fuel", it was pure bad weather. After a shocking fuel increase of 26 cents a liter, we are given some reprieve with a 13 cents drop. This despite market researchers and the AA claiming a drop of 20 cents were on the cards. After the last price hike everything has gone up in price. Don't expect anything to come down in price! And with the next fuel increase, expect further increases in shops. This all despite the Rands' performance against the Euro and the Dollar. Nowadays it even looks a lot better against the Pound. And with the gold price hovering above the 300 Dollar range for the past couple of months, we are still in a tight spot. The Reserve Bank is still considering an increase in the repo rate which in turns mean higher interest rates for all of us. Damn inflation! At least this is one thing that the Reserve Bank has decided to do, to get inflation down - and for a change they're sticking to their guns. Who cares if the Rands performance against the Dollar is because of a dropping Dollar value? All we want is to make a decent living! All this "up and down" is enough to make anyone seasick, never mind trying to make a living. Further to my story on "Sign of the times", Mbeki pardoned 33 prisoners. Now this is not a bad thing, what is bad though is that all these guys were turned down by the Truth and Reconciliation committee for general amnesty. The TRC found that their criminal acts were not purely politically motivated, therefor no amnesty. Well, Mbeki thought better and had these guys released. Of course they are all ANC and SACP members! Now old Janus and his comrade, who assassinated a prominent ANC freedom fighter, has applied for amnesty. So has Eugene Terreblanche and I'm sure a lot of the others, including the former Vlakplaas 'booitjies'. We'll have to wait and see. I have added some more pictures in the picture gallery and added a profile on the deceased Steve Tshwete. And after all of this, I'm still proud to say that I am a South African. No arguing that point! |