Thomas Johnson - The Blog

Former South Peninsula High School principal Brian Isaacs’ demand model C and private schools must go may be motivated by a politically correct, egalitarian idealism, but it does not have the interests of education and country’s future at heart.  Like similar grand gestures, it’s big on ideology and short on practicalities. First, eliminating private education for those who want it eliminates freedom of association and to make economic decisions that’s a cornerstone of democracy.  These ideologues are hypocrites because democracy is not a buffet from which they can pick elements they like and discard the rest.  And they have that luxury they would not have under a restricted political system.  Did Fidel Castro give Cuban citizens choice? The relatively few quality government (model C and other) and private schools are literally South Africa’s last line of defence against the nadir of educational mediocrity.  This is no exaggeration. SA ranked second last...

After 5pm on Sunday December 18, 2016 a stranger drew our attention to two kittens up a tree along a busy road.  She had been walking along and heard their cries.  She returned with food and tried to get them to come down. (Thank you, kind lady.) They were three to four weeks old.  I got both down and took them home.  We fed and watered them - a tortoiseshell and ginger.  Almost immediately they explored their environment, doing what kittens do, the ginger more nervous than the other, bringing smiles to our faces. Matthew Michael Jackson* (left), Eve This part of the road is separated from houses.  Kittens this age would not leave their mother, and it's too far for them to accidentally have walked off - it just doesn't happen.  We concluded they had been dumped there over the past few days. To the person who did this, it was cowardly and cruel.  First, why did you not spay the  mother cat?  Second, there are ...

In my opinion the only chapter 9 institutions that have any credibility are the auditor-general and public protector.   About the latter, f ormer public protector Thuli Madonsela elevated its reputation in the public’s mind that under her predecessors had withered away. On 9 November 2016 I asked the public protector’s Cape Town office for a report on a complaint I had lain.   Despite reminders, a fruitless meeting with regional representative, Sune Griessel, when she also promised to report back by December 3, and Pretoria head office official Betty Ngobeni whom I had copied herself asking Griessel for a “briefing”, I’ve had no word and am none the wiser.   “Why the fuss”, you may ask, “It’s early days”?   My complaint is five years old, brought on 26 January 2012.   It concerned political pressure the Western Cape government applied on CapeNature (CN) about its predator policy following pressure and threats from agri-groups on the government an...

A child in a poor community near Cape Town is hit on the hit with a hammer for taking a playmate's packet of chips. This attack caused reported gross damage and he is seriously ill in hospital. The alleged perpetrator is the playmate's father. This type of incident is commonplace in South Africa, so common it's relegated to the inner pages of newspapers, or completely ignored. (I recently reported this incident in a letter to the Cape Argus. As far as I can tell they didn't report on it, and neither did they publish my letter.) But racism and alleged racism are latched upon as the worse thing ever to have happened. The outrage, particularly on social media, is exaggerated and self-perpetuating - for example, recently where a (black) waiter identified patrons as "blacks" - and is often fanned on by the media's breathless, over-the-top coverage. In a recent article former UOFS rector and now Stanford fellow Jonathan Jansen asked " why are we outr...

The IMF’s World Economic Outlook published on Monday reported SA’s labour market skills mismatch as one of the concerns.   However, Business Live/Day reported this as “ IMF flags SA’s skills shortage ”.   This is misleading and inaccurate.   It repeats the false narrative there’s a dire shortage of skills that’s “harming the economy”, as Western Cape economic affairs MEC Alan Winde and Wesgro’s Tim Harris said about two years ago without presenting evidence (I asked). A skills mismatch is not a skills shortage. The World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Employment ( Matching skills and Labour Market Needs , January 2014) describes it like this: “ Skills mismatches occur when workers have either fewer or more skills than jobs require. Some mismatch is inevitable, as the labour market involves complex decisions by employers and workers and depends on many external factors. But high and persistent skills mismatch is costly for employers, workers and ...

Cape Town's dam levels have dropped to 42.5%, which is very worrying. The city’s mayco member for water services Xanthea Limberg said restrictions will be strengthened.  Water restrictions, now at level 3, are almost exclusively concerned with domestic recreational use – gardens, around the house, pools and cars, etc.   In other words, to the city's thinking, by not following restrictions ordinary households are solely responsible for dam levels dipping from 51.2% to 42.5% in the past month (what about evaporation?) and increased consumption from 859 to 890 million litres a week.   This is irrational and probably false.   How can they say with 100% certainty residents are responsible?   If we assume a slight majority of households – those who had previously watered their gardens, hosed their cars, etc – are obeying restrictions by using less city water than before, then according to the city, a minority has doubled their consumption, ie, inadverten...