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.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
ANC backtracks, slightly
According to the Mercury of September 3, 2008, it seems as if the local ANC, who run the city, have been told by their KZN branch to back off from attempts to rename Mangosuthu Highway after Griffiths Mxenge. Two violent protests, and the certainty of much more where that came from, have prompted the change of tack. The city is adamant that all the other name changes will still stand and I'm not that hopeful that a court case in progress, in which opposition parties are challenging the name changes, is going to help much.
It was the Nationalist Party and Apartheid thing to force things on people without regard to their feelings on the matter. I seem to remember that someone once commented along the lines that the more things change, the more they remain the same. How true!
The thing that could end up finishing off this country, as far as I'm concerned, is the bery hard-arsed approach that our new rulers display. The people with the skills to run the place may have received them as a benefit from Apartheid but, even if it wasn't fair, they are still the ones with the skills.
The bad thing about skills is that they take a long time to get and cannot quickly be replaced if they are lost. Again, it may not be fair, but it seems logical to me that the way to proceed with the owners of such skills is to use kid gloves. It should also be remembered that a majority of these people voted for democracy in the referendum.
They won't understand when someone then comes to them and says in a very democratic way: "Your street is going to be renamed and I don't care what you think or feel about it". That alone, probably wouldn't be enough to send them hurrying off to emigration seminars but it could very well be the final staw for people already worried about the high crime rate, affirmative action, and whether their kids can get a good education and jobs.
It was the Nationalist Party and Apartheid thing to force things on people without regard to their feelings on the matter. I seem to remember that someone once commented along the lines that the more things change, the more they remain the same. How true!
The thing that could end up finishing off this country, as far as I'm concerned, is the bery hard-arsed approach that our new rulers display. The people with the skills to run the place may have received them as a benefit from Apartheid but, even if it wasn't fair, they are still the ones with the skills.
The bad thing about skills is that they take a long time to get and cannot quickly be replaced if they are lost. Again, it may not be fair, but it seems logical to me that the way to proceed with the owners of such skills is to use kid gloves. It should also be remembered that a majority of these people voted for democracy in the referendum.
They won't understand when someone then comes to them and says in a very democratic way: "Your street is going to be renamed and I don't care what you think or feel about it". That alone, probably wouldn't be enough to send them hurrying off to emigration seminars but it could very well be the final staw for people already worried about the high crime rate, affirmative action, and whether their kids can get a good education and jobs.
Deadline will be met
The Mercury of September 2, 2208, reports that about half the new street name signs have been put up around the city and that the rest are expected to be up by the deadline at the end of November. The same paper has a full-page (page 7) listing of the people who have been honoured by the city by having streets renamed after them. The great majority were members of the ANC, the SA Communist Party or the UDF, with a sprinkling from the Natal Indian Congress.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Sea water quality
I've mentioned here and there in these pages that Durban has lost the internationally recognised Blue Flag grading on its beaches. The surprising part, for me, was that the city decided not to reapply, but to introduce its own grading standards. The whole thing is pretty complicated and I'm grateful to Tony Carnie's article in the Mercury of September 1, 2008, for shedding a bit of light on the subject.
What's at issue is how to measure the levels of faecal contamination in the sea water off our beaches and how to determine what the unsafe level is. There are many organisms that could pose a threat to bathers but the city has chosen to follow World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations that tests are done to determine the levels of e.coli and enterococci in the water. These two organisms are used as indicators and the thought is that, if you count how many there are, you can assess how many other baddies are present.
There doesn't seem to be much scientific objection to this way of going about things but the arguments start when it comes to deciding what the acceptable levels of e.coli and enterococci in the water are. The WHO says that seawater can be classed as excellent in quality if it contains less than 40 units of enterococci per 100ml of sea water. The standard for excellent water quality decided on by Durban is that it should have less than 100 units of enterococci per 100ml.
The WHO says that seawater should be classed as poor if the it contains more than 500 units of enterococci per 100ml which, they say, gives swimmers a more than 10% chance of contracting gastroenteritis. Durban has defined poor quality water as that which contains over 2000 units of enterococci per 100ml of sea water. Durban's standards do not seem consistent with the WHO ones, and that that's where the arguments start.
The city's water and waste chief Neil McLeod argues that enterococci flourishes in warmer tropical waters and that you'd get more of them in the seas off Durban, without a corresponding increase in the quantity of other harmful organisms. Scientific opinion seems spilt on this matter leaving at least some room for doubt either way. Durban's response seems to be less cautious than in other locations, such as in New South Wales in Australia. The state has beaches with cold water and beaches with warmer water but has apparently decided to adopt the WHO standards across the board. This will be until it is proved whether warmer water with increased levels of enterococci is really as safe as colder water with lower levels.
Waiting until there's proof! Now, there's a novel idea.
What's at issue is how to measure the levels of faecal contamination in the sea water off our beaches and how to determine what the unsafe level is. There are many organisms that could pose a threat to bathers but the city has chosen to follow World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations that tests are done to determine the levels of e.coli and enterococci in the water. These two organisms are used as indicators and the thought is that, if you count how many there are, you can assess how many other baddies are present.
There doesn't seem to be much scientific objection to this way of going about things but the arguments start when it comes to deciding what the acceptable levels of e.coli and enterococci in the water are. The WHO says that seawater can be classed as excellent in quality if it contains less than 40 units of enterococci per 100ml of sea water. The standard for excellent water quality decided on by Durban is that it should have less than 100 units of enterococci per 100ml.
The WHO says that seawater should be classed as poor if the it contains more than 500 units of enterococci per 100ml which, they say, gives swimmers a more than 10% chance of contracting gastroenteritis. Durban has defined poor quality water as that which contains over 2000 units of enterococci per 100ml of sea water. Durban's standards do not seem consistent with the WHO ones, and that that's where the arguments start.
The city's water and waste chief Neil McLeod argues that enterococci flourishes in warmer tropical waters and that you'd get more of them in the seas off Durban, without a corresponding increase in the quantity of other harmful organisms. Scientific opinion seems spilt on this matter leaving at least some room for doubt either way. Durban's response seems to be less cautious than in other locations, such as in New South Wales in Australia. The state has beaches with cold water and beaches with warmer water but has apparently decided to adopt the WHO standards across the board. This will be until it is proved whether warmer water with increased levels of enterococci is really as safe as colder water with lower levels.
Waiting until there's proof! Now, there's a novel idea.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Brain drain
Yesterday's Sunday Tribune, August 31, 2008, had an article by a reporter and photographer who had ventured into town to canvas opinions on the street-renaming. Those interviewed seem to have been predominantly from previously disadvantaged groups, for whose benefit the changes were allegedly made. They included business people, street traders, taxi drivers and shoppers and most still seemed to be using the old names. Some respondents didn't know that there had been changes.
There was also a long article on the skills shortage which is partly due to the exodus of skilled individuals from the country but also to retirements and resignations and the fact that not enough people were being trained. The 2007 national scarce-skills list reveals that there is a shortage of about a million skilled people. These include 20700 health and welfare support workers and 25000 health diagnostic professionals (??) and midwives and nurses.
There was also a long article on the skills shortage which is partly due to the exodus of skilled individuals from the country but also to retirements and resignations and the fact that not enough people were being trained. The 2007 national scarce-skills list reveals that there is a shortage of about a million skilled people. These include 20700 health and welfare support workers and 25000 health diagnostic professionals (??) and midwives and nurses.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)