King Dinuzulu and others

The Mercury of September 5, 2008, reports that the SA Police Service has sprung a surprise on is members and declared them all to filling vacant posts. Everyone is going to have to reapply for their positions and only have days to to do so. Nobody is apparently going to lose their jobs so I wonder what the whole thing is for.

President Mbeki has reviewed the Navy's fleet and the paper carries a picture of our four frigates in False Bay. I hope that having all four of them at sea at the same time hasn't blown the Navy's budget for the year...

There has been a very weird thing going on in the park adjacent to the Technikon at the bottom of Berea Road. It has a statue of General Louis Botha, the famed Boer war leader and first prime minister of the Union of South Africa. Something like two years ago, a statue of King Dinuzulu was erected in the park but was left wrapped in hessian until it could be officially unveiled. Now, two years later, the unveiling still has not occurred but the Mercury did report that KZN Premier S'bu Ndebele has announced that the unveiling of the R600000 statue will happen this month. I can't imagine why it has taken so long, but doubtless the King will be glad to see the sun and to be free of his itchy hessian coat, at long last.

An article by Patrick Compton in the paper reveals that the brain drain is just as bad in cricket as it is in other sectors. He lists over 30 names of South Africans players playing for county sides in England, and gives the example of a recent game between Northamptonshire and Leicestershire which had 10 South Africans playing in it.

It seems a no-brainer for me that talented white youngsters may seek a career abroad in the face of racial quotas, inspired by affirmative action principles, which apply to South African cricket teams. Add to that a highly attractive pay package, and we may soon have the situation where team talks in the England dressing room are conducted in Afrikaans.