The Circus has hit town

Nope it’s ain’t Boswell Wilkies it’s not Brian Boswells and it’s definitely not Circus de Soliel………..Its the Municipal elections soon so the Political circus has hit town and they want your vote and will do anything it can to get it. Posters are popping up like mushrooms on lamppost all over PE with the faces of the party hopeful beaming down. The normal empty promises and the handing out of T shirts and caps will placate the povo, its no wonder the government don’t place their attention on sorting out schools and education (much easier to control idiots than those of us that can actually think for ourselves). I have to laugh in a number of places in SA (including PE) at the moment residents of areas that have been promised everything under the sun since 1994 are throwing their toys out the cot, as well as tyres, bricks, street poles, barriers etc etc…….why well they don’t want the ward councillors there that they have at present. Which is good, but alas give them a T shirt a free chicken lunch add in another bunch of empty promises and the X gets marked for the very idiots the have just destroyed half of their community complaining about.

In fact a local survey shows the following - Only one in 10 South Africans has expressed satisfaction with the performance of local government, according to a recent survey Idasa has released its latest service delivery survey, barely three weeks ahead of the important local elections due to be held on May 18 across the country. A similar poll conducted by the institute in 2006 showed that at least 39.5% of South Africans were satisfied with service delivery by municipalities, while the latest finding shows that this level of satisfaction has declined rapidly. In terms of the constitution, service delivery is the prime responsibility of local authorities, while the provincial and central governments act as the channel for funding. IDASA survey interviewed 2 375 adult South African citizens in 21 municipalities in Mpumalanga, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and North West, and offers three reasons to explain this decline in support.
It also asked whether declining citizen satisfaction with local government performance might impact on the outcome of the poll.

Dissatisfaction

According to the survey results, the first reason for dissatisfaction is that the service delivery gap (the gap between what people expect and what government is realistically able to deliver) is increasing as citizens expect government to do more on the promises made by campaigning politicians. The second reason is the lack of responsiveness of the council to the issues identified by its citizens as most important to them, like inadequate water provision and lack of good local roads. "This suggests many priorities are decided at national level, leaving councils with limited power to address their constituents' priorities and weak consultation and participation processes," the IDASA survey said. The final reason is that citizens assess their local governments not only on the basis of poor service delivery, but also take into account weak communication, lack of transparency, increased corruption and nepotism.

"It will be very interesting to see how these perceptions inform the voting behaviour of citizens during the upcoming local government elections," the survey said.

In contrast to that In Belgium they have not had a government for 1 year……1 year and no one has really noticed, things carry on like clockwork, can you imagine many other countries (and not just African) if that happened …………..Frikken chaos.

On Wednesday I was in Uitenhage (about 40kms) from PE to do a audit at a building site, they are renovating a building built in 1898 and was great to be able to see this old lady getting a facelift, when its finished I am sure she will look awesome. Managed to get a few nice photos on the cell phone while I was there.

My niece Amber who not yet 3 and lives in the UK is going to be going to swimming lessons from end of April (just waiting for the pool to thaw out) while I am sure she will really enjoy it cant say I understand why you want such a youngster to learn to swim in the UK (SA I can understand) its not like UK kids have access to pools like in SA and if you live at the sea in the UK or SA you do not want a toddler swimming in it.

Japan I still battling with is Nuclear problems and will take up to 5 years to overcome the earthquake/Tsunami that hit them a mere 3 weeks ago, I was sent this via e-mail and it’s a tribute to those that survived this disaster and how as a nation they will overcome.

10 things to learn from Japan:

1. THE CALM - Not a single visual of chest-beating or wild grief. Sorrow itself has been elevated.

2. THE DIGNITY - Disciplined queues for water and groceries. Not a rough word or a crude gesture.

3. THE ABILITY - The incredible architects, for instance. Buildings swayed but didn't fall.

4. THE GRACE - People bought only what they needed for the present, so everybody could get something.

5. THE ORDER - No looting in shops. No honking and no overtaking on the roads. Just understanding.

6. THE SACRIFICE - Fifty workers stayed back to pump sea water in the N-reactors. How will they ever be repaid?

7. THE TENDERNESS - Restaurants cut prices. An unguarded ATM is left alone. The strong cared for the weak.

8. THE TRAINING - The old and the children, everyone knew exactly what to do. And they did just that.

9. THE MEDIA - They showed magnificent restraint in the bulletins. No silly reporters. Only calm reportage.

10. THE CONSCIENCE - When the power went off in a store, people put things back on the shelves and left quietly.

Talking about Japan I was sent a photo of a highway that was all but destroyed in Japan from the earthquake that hit on 17 March, by the 23^rd march (6 days later) that highway was ready to be used……….”Wow” here we are finding it difficult to fill in pot holes.

I am off to London today …..Sorry forgot East I will be training in that coastal metropolis on Monday and Tuesday. And then back home. So far East London is the furthest I have done training for the company. Hopefully all will go well.

I have booked my Nebosh Health and Safety exam for August, I have to write in JHB so will stay with the folks. Must say I am both confident and nervous that I will pass this UK aligned course, but will still need to put in hard work to ensure that I do well. strange that this is the course that got me started in the industry and the suggestion was from Doug in the UK who was considering doing the same, i took up the cudgel and Doug decided to stay in parking management (sorry boet not trying to be funny, but don’t know what to call it).

Last Sunday thanks to Steve Walsh and the 2 blind linesmen the Crusaders beat the sharks at Twikenham. To be fair the Crusaders probably were the better team on the day, but the 44-28 score line did flatter them. Doug my “Pommie wanna be, still loves everything South African” had a great time, he did not however enjoy the 2 and a half hour………….supposed to be 45 minute journey to get to Twikenham and missed the first few minutes of the game but got to see his beloved Sharks. Glad you had a Jol boet.

In the Super 15 this weekend the Cheetahs nearly beat the Blues and only lost by 7 (so they get a bonus point, the Bulls started their overseas leg with a good win 26/14 against the Hurricanes, the Lions lost 20/25 against the Reds and the Sharks lost 6/16 to the Stormers

The CWC final saw Sri lanka taking on India in the final, a dream final except of course if you a long suffering Protea supporter as we were certain this year we had the team to at the very least watch the final. Alas this was not to happen and I see that Smith is in trouble again for going to shag his girlfriend in Ireland rather than take the heat a home for the teams dismal performance in the CWC. He really is a Muppet and I would not be surprised if this petulant prick does not pack his bags and head for greener pastures, citing that the SA public forced him to go.I beleive like this T shirt we need to get behind the boys.

The final was not without controversy after India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni spun the coin, it looked as if he thought he had won the toss but umpire Crowe did not hear a call from Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara who, as the visiting skipper was supposed to nominate 'heads' or 'tails' while the coin was in the air. There was a brief discussion between the two captains before former New Zealand skipper Crowe ordered a re-toss - an almost unheard of event in any cricket match and certainly one of this importance. Sri lanka won the toss and decided to bat scoring 274 of their 50 overs. India started badly being 1 for o after .1 of an over, not exactly the start you want in a CWC final. Tendulkar did not last long but India won and with Gary Kirsten as their coach it was nice to see a South African also win the CWC.

With BP polluting the Gulf of Mexico and Shell wanting to F&^k up he Karoo for gas that we will have to buy at double the price I now have 2 reasons not to buy petrol from those two petroleum giants. May just be a small gesture on my part but the more of us that do it the more they may take notice when it hits their bottom line.

Well that’s about it, Have a great week, be good, and Jeanelle I am sure the Sharks will win again, so don’t get despondent.

A question a friend sent me: If a midget tells you that your hair smells nice………is that sexual harassment ??

Ciao

SPAD