Thomas Johnson - The Blog

This is a follow-up to my previous blog "Reply to Helen Zille: Bad Governance affects the Western Cape too". A ship provides a good example of how organisations should run.  If the captain, executive officers and crew don’t do their jobs, and strictly follow protocol, it could lead to calamity.  On June 17 the United States Navy destroyer Fitzgerald collided with a freighter off Japan.  Seven sailors on the American ship died.  The captain, his executive officer and the senior enlisted sailor were fired, and a dozen sailors, including those on watch, were disciplined. The freighter’s role in the collision in the busy shipping route is unclear, but the US’ Seventh Fleet in Japan said “inadequate leadership” on the Fitzgerald contributed to the collision.  (This is the fifth collision this year involving the Seventh Fleet.) British politicians resign on the whiff of scandal.  This month international development secretary Priti Patel resig...

In her column “ From the Inside ” on Daily Maverick yesterday, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille criticised President Jacob Zuma’s latest cabinet reshuffle – the 11th in eight year and second in seven months. She wrote: “Cabinet reshuffles hit provinces hard, largely because of their impact on co-operative governance that the Constitution requires on almost every issue. Building a constructive relationship between provincial MECs and national ministers is essential to getting the job done. It sets the context within which officials in different departments work together. And often a project requires co-operation between various departments at different levels simultaneously.” Cabinet changes for political rather than governance reasons will affect provinces in terms of inter-level communication. But provinces have their mandates until the next election and budgets for the year, so I'll wager that impact is minimal. More important is the long-term, systemic failure of the pub...

The invisible unemployed Severe, entrenched unemployment is arguably the most significant social and economic problem in South Africa. Its consequences include poverty and inequality.  But articles like this one and this and supporters of the minimum wage (MW) concentrate on its purported benefits on already employed people. Once again, the unemployed are ignored and forgotten. Supporters claim it spurs real and sustainable economic growth without saying how exactly.  As example, they point to developing countries, like Brazil, where it was implemented but omit to say those economies are different to and far more efficient and productive than ours where MWs might painlessly be absorbed, utilised and create "spill over [economic] effects".  In fact, Brazil with its current economic problems is not an economic poster child.  The minimum wage-linked social, pension and unemployment benefits rose dramatically, increasing national debt, which was 60% GDP in 201...

Recently I wrote (about the mattress industry) consumer scams are designed to mislead or part you from your money, and many are permitted under marketing hyperbole.   I looked into the labelling of the breakfast cereal oats. Tiger Consumer Brands’ Jungle Oats (various variants) and Pioneer Foods’ Bokomo Oats Instant state “100% Wholegrain Pure Oats” prominently, but in smaller print on the back of the package under ingredients says it’s actually made from “oat flakes, gluten (allergen)”, i.e., wheat, barley or rye.   A popular “health food” brand sold in supermarkets, pharmacies and health shops says “oats is naturally free from wheat” but the ingredients states: “oats, gluten”.   Other brands including Woolworths, Pick ‘n Pay, Checkers and Spar house brands also have “oats” containing gluten, but at least they don’t claim its “100% pure wholegrain oats”. This is significant to me because as a non-coeliac gluten sensitivity sufferer I’m trying to find an a...