Moonstruck Mr Mbalula

Dear Mr Mbalula 

Thank you for your tweets advising us that you had just landed, first in Ukraine, then 'in' the moon.  At least you went one better than the Americans. They only landed on the moon.

I don't know how we would have got through the day without that information. You are, after all, said to be our own Kim Kardashian of the twittersphere.

Had you really landed in Ukraine, you might have noticed, between state business, (translation: shopping, according to some), that their trains are running in the midst of a war. I imagine that your insightful response would have been: 'Hawu'.

Had you really landed 'in' the moon, you would probably have scoffed at its vaunted craters. Thanks to you and your party, we already have those on our roads in Mpumalanga and elsewhere.

Sir, what possessed you, a ninja and jedi of transportation management, to pen such twaddle?  I don't know if you see yourself as a jolly, good-old-boy, minister-of-the-people. No sir, that only comes with achievement. Ask man-of-the-people former president Zuma. You and he should have learned from the inimitable Cat Stevens: "It's hard to get by just upon a smile, girl".

Sir, one can but make some assumptions:

You tweeted after some copious tea consumption (like the revered judge who drove into a wall), or

As Dryden put  it: "Great wits are sure to madness near allied. And thin partitions do their bounds divide". Some would argue that you are innocent of the 'great wits' charge. You have spent time in the company of intellectual titans: Ms Duarte, queen of logic, Dr Ace, philosopher-king in waiting, that internationally renowned mathematician, geographer, and emperor-in-limbo, Mr Zuma. Others, too numerous to list. And as the Roman philosopher, Flatulus Maximus, wrote: "He who spends much time in the company of the wise shall, in time, be as wise".

Or, it may be that you were merely doing what so many South African politicians do with impunity: mooning us.

Yours in the love of travel, particularly flights of fancy.

Richard 

Tips for the blogger gratefully accepted 

Capitec Bank, South Africa  

1378565477

O Tichmann 

+27 833970723

Going South

Does South Africa confuse you? Here's a beginner's guide.

The ANC is the ruling party. However, it's not clear who is really in charge in South Africa. This is because of a delightfully laissez - faire  approach to the rule of law, governance, responsibility and much else. Those little things that silly politicians fret about in less jolly parts of the globe.  'In-charge' contenders are Afriforum, Julius Malema, Gift of the Givers, Operation Dudula, the RET faction and an assortment of crime corporations.

In like fashion, borders (like much else) are elastic and optional. People pass through as freely as the wild geese migrate. Some welcome, and even encourage this, as a sign of the uhuru-like, brotherhood of all African peoples. Others maintain that we have sufficient numbers of our own unemployed, as well as our own accomplished criminals. No doubt, this conflict will rumble on, unaffected by lawsuits, demonstrations, tiresome orations, commissions and task teams.

South Africa has world-class cricket and rugby teams. I've heard that we also play soccer. The sport in which we really excel is large-scale looting. Age is no barrier to participation  and some of our ablest athletes are senior citizens.

We are also excellent talkers. Conferences, task teams, committees, commissions are our bread and butter.Nothing ever comes of these. Nothing happens. But that's not the point is it? We should just enjoy the fact that we're a world leader. A cynical friend said that's why we have eleven  official languages. There's lots of k..k to talk. We should have a twelfth, he said. As I abhor crude language, I stopped him before he could say 'bullshit'.

We have developed a unique language similar to Orwell's newspeak. 'Revolutionary' for example is an adjective used freely to make the most commonplace things sound..well, revolutionary. We have revolutionary buildings which don't do anything different from what your average, dingy office block does. We have revolutionary oratory that sounds remarkably like pre-masticated stuff from every underwhelming socialist  / workers' paradise on the planet. Nothing truly revolutionary actually happens. Excellent service or innovation , for example. 

Just as nature abhors a vacuum, so the South African authorities seem to abhor anything that works efficiently. We have dismantled the rail network, education, training, all state owned enterprises. It is now difficult to find other things to dismantle but I have no doubt that we will. You can't keep a good wrecking ball down.

One cannot fault South African politicians when it comes to humour. One suggested that there are no alternatives to the ANC for South Africa. A bit like saying that there are no alternatives to Russia for Ukraine (of course, some do believe that). Another made the side-splitting recommendation that politicians fingered for possible corruption should be allowed to self-correct. Jack The Ripper, Al Capone and other jolly persons of interest would have loved that. A recent corker was that we should cease to be a constitutional democracy and let parliament have the final say. Suffice it to say that that's not too far different from handing the school over to the worst playground bully. Or the prison to the most hardened inmates? And I don't mean the wardens. Or the henhouse to a fox grinning with blood-smeared jaws?

South Africans have come through some very difficult times. I have no doubt that they will also survive the antics of the clowns and asses  which we've been blessed with an abundance of.

It's just that it's a long, brutal comrades' marathon.

Tips for the blogger gratefully accepted 

Capitec Bank, South Africa  

1378565477

O Tichmann 

+27 833970723

Russia, Ukraine: The Wisdom Of Zuma

 Dear Mr Zuma 

So glad you took time off from your literary endeavours to present us with a cogent, clear-eyed analysis of the current Russian peace initiative and the history behind it. 

Indeed, after reading your piece,  I felt as if I'd  just been blessed with a double dose of McCords Hospital's  Eye Division's special eyedrops. You know, the ones that make everything look clearer and brighter.

In a piece as dense and rich with logic and wisdom as a good fruitcake is with fruit and brandy, it's difficult to highlight specific nuggets. Sir, I'll give it my best shot.

Mr Putin, the man of peace has been tormented by Western warmongers and their running dogs for decades. They have now forced him into a position where he has no choice but to murder great numbers of people. And shell cities to smithereens. The cruel bastards. To force a man of peace into such a position.

The same dark (or pale?) Western forces were behind your redeployment to inKandla. I should think also behind Mr Mbeki"s redeployment. The Russians, faithful friends, have not forgotten. I believe that the letter Z on their war machines is a tribute to you. 'Remember Zuma'. Similar to 'Remember Stalingrad'.

You pointed out that the West has bombed many cities into ruins. Our Russian comrades are going through Ukraine as gingerly and gently as a herd of elephants in the Knysna forests. 

Sir, there's much more to chew, meditate and ruminate on in your seminal piece and I hope, like Schwarzenegger, to be back soon.

Yours in the struggle to pierce the propaganda veil and to cauterize the warts on the mottled face of history 

Richard 

Tips for the blogger gratefully accepted 

Capitec Bank, South Africa  

1378565477

O Tichmann 

+27 833970723

Espionage And Education

 Dear Mr Fraser

Like other comrades, yours truly among them, you have had accusations  and innuendo hurled at you touching your academic struggle. An excerpt from a News24 report:

'Referring to the allegation that he might have lied to various state departments, including the SSA, about his degree, Mabuza said on Fraser's behalf that it was "preposterous and shameful" to suggest that he had lied about the qualifications that are recorded on his "official CV".'

As a former bouncer and student of life, I am compelled to come to your defence. I attended several institutions of learning between bouncing assignments. Although I didn't register for any particular course and was there mainly for the free coffee, I did learn a great deal from the odd free lecture. I can recite Hamlet's famous soliloquy from memory. And just to prove that it was not mere parrot-fashion.learning, here's  an insightful  analysis of the piece:

1. It reminds me of our president with the whole 'Eish! To be or not to be' thing.

2 It would make a powerful  rap song against a background of some throbbing percussives and a rolling, rhythmic chant of 'That is the question'

3.That Danish guy could have summarized it all in a few sentences e.g. 

'Should I die,  put up with being dissed or donner somebody? Tough choices. Don't know what's out there. I'll chill for now.'

An approach adhered to by SA politicians to this day.

(I've shared this with a UCT professor for inclusion in his lectures, free of charge).

The point is, sir, all of the above aligns with the theory of social constructivism  in education. If not all the rage now, at least a significant part of the rage.  

I quote:

"Every conversation or encounter between two or more people presents an opportunity for new knowledge to be obtained or present knowledge expanded".

If you were, indeed, a bouncer, you would have had more conversations and encounters than the average undergraduate student. That would suggest that you are highly educated. It would explain why you were able to transition effortlessly from spy boss to One Who Can Release Persons From Confinement On Grounds Of Ill Health.

As no South African argument is complete without 'whatabout', no-one questioned the credentials of James Bond, The Man From U.N.C.L.E or Mata Hari (all Caucasian).

At any rate, In terms of social constructivism theory, acquiring an education  in spying is fairly simple. We are bombarded  with spy novels, series, movies and news reports. It would not surprise me to learn that, even now, elements of Mossad, American NSI and  our own superior intelligence outfits are scanning this article for suspicious references to insurrections and other subversive stuff. I can confidently say that, courtesy of good books and movies, I've learnt to watch my six, practise tradecraft, shake off or disable shadows and kill with everyday objects ranging from a pencil to a grain of rice. Nothing to it.

The journey is as important as the destination, says the theory. You journeyed all the way to London. That must count for something.

In a challenge to the establishment and WMC, bound to resound in and shake the ivory towers of academia, I'm applying for a PhD on the basis of prior learning completed.  My dissertation, 'Education By Osmosis' will be ready for publication at the same time as my book,  'Espionage Made Easy'.

Yours in the struggle against accusations, innuendo and preposterous and shameful stuff.

Richard 

Tips for the blogger gratefully accepted 

Capitec Bank, South Africa  

1378565477

O Tichmann 

+27 833970723

Last Train For The Coast

Dear Fellow South Africans 

Do you also suspect that commonsense, decency and truth 'caught the last train for the coast' in our country? And we were not even at the station to see them off.

Didn't get there, of course. The railway sleepers had been stolen. The train had been set alight and the province was in flames.

Our television programmes are sure proof. Some wise soul was dispensing advice today on how to cope with steeply rising costs. Apart from stating the obvious, as is customary, he advised: "Don't buy luxuries."

Dear man, it's not the luxuries that people are struggling with. It's the bloody necessities. Unless you consider paraffin, bread and maize meal as luxuries. I rather doubt that my fellow residents are agonizing over which brand of Swiss chocolate to buy, as they stare in horror at the shelves in the local supermarket. Call it a hunch. 

A 'political commentator' listed the shortcomings, blunders and failures of the (barely) ruling party. He then went on to say, in essence, that there are no alternatives to said ruling party. What a useless piece of commentary. "They're destroying the country. We need to let them continue. They just maybe might self-correct before the last bits are gone." (My prècis). Arrant nonsense and an insult to the intelligence of South Africans. "This inferior, dubbed version of 'The Three Stooges' is the best that South Africa and South Africans can do." My advice, Mr Political Commentator: "Go back to standup comedy."

Adding insult to insult were some SALGA people. We don't throw money at problems. We throw words. SALGA guys, if a full grown adult, in a position of trust, is happy to wallow in a mud bath of incompetence, corruption, buffoonery and slothfulness, all the training in the world will not change that. It's too late. All the king's horses and all the king's men can't fix that malodorous omelette. There are other opportunities for them in the big, bright world. 

I don't understand why you need to reinvent the wheel, horse and cart. We've all heard of budgets, goals, objectives. We all know how performance management works. Just do it. And allow those who can't, to depart for their happy places. We don't need more conferences. We don't need a deluge of clichès and platitudes to rival the retching of a reckless clubber the morning after.

We just need, even in this late hour, for officials to shut up and work.

Some commonsense, please.

Yours in the heroic struggle to retain a grip on sanity.

Richard

 

Tips for the blogger gratefully accepted 

Capitec Bank, South Africa  

1378565477

O Tichmann 

+27 833970723