Thomas Johnson - The Blog

 Since last year when Eskom plunged the country in darkness, perhaps for the first time professional critics - media, professional analysts, business - are acutely assessing the parlous state the country is in. It's approximately where South Africa was during the late 80s. Then it was the state of emergency, internal and external conflict and President PW Botha's kamikaze rule that threatened to take the entire country with him.  Now it's different but no less severe with a dangerously schizoid president and ANC in charge. The difference between then and now is this time there's the real danger of the lights - figuratively and literally - going off and with it calamity. For all the NP's faults, and without romanticising the time, they kept the lights on, industry going and infrastructure working (how Ukraine manages is something Ramaphosa should ask during his pointless and biased so-called peace initiative). But the ANC has found even the simplest governance tasks ...

 Editor of DM168 Heather Robertson yesterday wrote in her weekly column, "Today, 29 years into democracy and with a bumbling Bheki Cele in charge of the police, Ramaphosa nominally in charge of the country and an enfeebled, under-resourced National Prosecuting Authority under Shamila Batohi, our country feels just as ungovernable and lawless as it was then.” The national mood is worse now than it was when Ramaphosa was elected by ANC MPs. It's due to Eskom and unremitting loadshedding that's crushing the economy and national spirit; failure of government, and equally corrupt, SAPS and NPA to make headway against systemic corruption (also Eskom's), and failure of the economy to grow under so-called reformist Ramaphosa and of his numerous promises.  Eskom is the canary of SA's coalmine.  Depression set in after former Eskom CEO Andre De Ruyter revealed the extent of Eskom corruption in the eTV interview.  But still ANC from president down are in denial (what's ne...

 Cape Town's mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis presents as a sincere, energetic officer, like Patricia de Lille before ennui and cynicism got the better of her. But he is a politician and indulges in politicians' hyperbole. In his Daily Maverick op-ed ”Budget comparison confirms Cape Town delivers the most for the poor while offering ratepayers value for money”, he responds to criticism of the ”narrative the city - and by extension the party that governs it - only looks after some (read affluent) communities and doesn't do enough for the poor. Variations of this narrative are often trotted out without any substantiation, as though it were self-evidently true".  Hill-Lewis compares the budgets of South Africa's metros to find "Cape Town manages to outspend the other cities on pro-poor support and infrastructure for basic services while affording ratepayers by far the biggest bang for their rates and tariffs buck". I'm not going to debate whether his/city's ...

 University of Cape Town Fitzpatrick Institute of Ornithology's Dr Rob Simmons has done yet another study of domestic cats' predatory habits.  Every few years he supervises master's students - by my count three - whose research topic is the same: cats are predators that kill prey (duh!). The recommendations are they must be controlled. Reactions typically border on hysteria with one caller to CapeTalk calling cats "vermin" and journalists urging cats be controlled.  Simmons has made a career of demonizing the exaggerated threat domestic cats pose to wildlife. In doing so he appears not to be concerned about other, pressing threats like traffic, development and agriculture which individually and together are worse and unnatural to the environment (cats are natural predators and existed for thousands of years).  Unfortunately the media pick this up, sensationalise it more and don't interrogate and ask trenchant questions of this "research" - assumption...

 Supporters of President Cyril Ramaphosa - ”Ramaphorias” - turn against their man. It's taken a long time for Ramaphosa's supporters to turn against their superhero. From the time he was appointed interim president in 2016 after Jacob Zuma’s "recall” to president the following year, he's had their unequivocal, devoted support. Until now. The Ramaphorias, so named during his run for ANC president in 2017, campaigned hard for their man. While he had supporters within the ANC, his election was never a certainty because mainstream ANC was Zuma supporters. These put their lot behind Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.  Ramaphosa's, himself a BEE billionaire, campaign was backed by the group known as CR17, among them Stellenbosch billionaire Johann Rupert. Other Ramaphorias were the liberal-left media Primedia, Daily Maverick, Business Day, etc and their contributors. Even centre-conservative media were cautiously optimistic or withheld judgement. Hope was needed after Zuma and his ...

A group of grant applicants attending SASSA's Athlone office mid-2022 did not have to wait in a queue like other applicants and we're given priority. They did not even live in Athlone's area. This according to a 65 year-old who was in the group, they were taken there by an organiser known to staff. Allegedly, the organiser offered staff a gift, a "little something" for the favourable attention. SASSA's grant applicants at all branches must queue early, even 5am although offices open at 7am, and wait up to 8 hours on the first-come-first-serve basis without a guarantee of being seen. Often they're turned away and must return again and again. Applicants for pension called "old age grants", disability, child welfare present themselves to the nearest SASSA office to where they live with their ID and bank statement. During the screening interview officers tell them what do documents to bring if they haven't already done so. They may have to return...

 After all that's happened in 2022 - Eskom's on-going meltdown and load shedding, Phala Phala, Jacob Zuma's numerous court cases - South Africa's left media, Daily Maverick in particular, is still enthralled to Ramaphoria, the cult of ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa. It shows how out of touch they are with reality that Daily Maverick named suspended public protector Busisiwe Mkwebane as its villain of the year in an article written by Marianne Thank on December 29. Not Eskom which is slowly strangling the life out of the country, not the three stooges responsible for it - Ramaphosa, Gwede Mantashe and Pravin Gordhan.  Not lame-duck-since-he-was-elected president Ramaphosa under whose "leadership" the country is declining.  Not Ramaphosa personally who has his own scandal - Phala Phala - and if the law were really equal would have, should have been impeached and criminal charges brought against him. But the media has been relatively quiet about his transgressions. I...