A stinking idea

This is one of those commentary that may sound patronising. But it is not meant to be.
I completely understand that we pay people badly in this country. The argument that half a loaf is better than nothing is a bit dodgy for me.
The municipal workers fall in the category of those people who believe their lot can improve. With food prices up and electricity and whatever else skyrocketing, I understand the clamour for more money.
But after wading through trash in Braamfontein because municipal workers think they have a right to do so because they are not being paid properly is just bull. That I do not understand. I don't get the point of capsizing dustbins.
What is the point? Why do you mess up where you will sleep later? I have no other issue as some of my learned friends will tell you about international hosts and the like and what they think. For that I dont give a toss. But I fail to get the point especially when the leaders play it down as if it is the most understandable thing on earth.
What is the point? Somebody...

Riding the recession in Mpumalanga

The house that Esther built... Pics: Musa Zondi

Esther Shongwe had to give up most of her life’s comfort. Her quest was to supply the capital of Mpumalanga with one of its conference facilities Nelspruit so desperately needed. It was not enough that she was making some money from the bed and breakfast – The Nutting House.
That is probably is one of the wisest decision she made. That investment and the belt tightening may be paying dividends now. Big time. As she watches her business colleagues reel under the effects of depression, she can only smile and thank her lucky stars.
“I realized that the province and particularly around here in Nelspruit there was a shortage of conference places. The establishment had a 50-seater which was not enough. We had to turn away a lot of business because of that.
“That is when I decided to invest in a conference centre which can take up to 1200 people. So when people of talk of recession, I cannot relate to it because our business is thriving,” she says without any hint of bravado.
This has also meant that her 33-bed establishment has not gone begging. “In fact, I have had to book a number of people in other lodges near to ours as I cannot accommodate all the people who need a bed,” she says.
The figures for tourism in the province are not encouraging. Lyndi Grimbeek, an official at the Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism says it has been downhill from last November. December and January saw tourism incomes diving by at least 30 percent.
“What saved the situation was that a lot of people decided to take their holidays locally. But importantly we have learnt a lot from the experience. We have learnt to listen to our clients, contain our costs and provide clients with what they want,” she says. This sector is better than others like car dealerships and estate agents who have either closed shop or drastically downsized their operations. “This has led to a number of people losing their jobs,” she says.
The owner of Nelspuit Wholesalers E Minty attests to a tougher trading climate. His establishment which trades in anything from garments, buckets, chairs, food, catering equipment – you name it, has seen a decline of at least 15 percent in the last six months or so.
“The food part is fine. The isn’t much difference there except that some specific items don’t move as much as before. It is in other items – the non-food sections - that we see a real difference. One

of the items that moved a lot before the elections was a kanga in the ANC colours with the picture of the party’s president Jacob Zuma,” he says with a chuckle. When we arrived to interview him, the shops were relatively empty for a Saturday morning. But he is not fazed. “We plan for periods like these and so even though we lose out a bit, we make it up in the economic upturn,” he says.

As we leave the shop, we see a few kangas on display near the till points.
Most of his clientele is locally-based – bunking a belief that it would come from Mozambique or Swaziland. The point of the interdependency between the province and the adjacent countries was alluded to by Grimbeek when she said that citizens of those countries are depended on Mpumalanga economy. “Most of the companies that invest there are South African. So in a way, the economies are interdependent but we drive the main economic activity,” she says.
Chief executive of the Maputo Development Corridor, Blessing Manale ascribes the soft landing for Mpumalanga to a number of macro-economic movements that have shielded the province from the full might of the recession.
“Before the recession, it was projected that the growth of the Mpumalanga will be at least 4.7 percent. Now that projection has been moved upward to at least 6 percent,” he says.
Surely that bucks the trend and flies in the face of common wisdom about recession and how the whole country will be affected.
“Not really,” counters Manale. “ You have to remember that Mpumalanga is home to the Medupe power station that Eskom is building. That project alone has injected a lot of money into the province. But besides that, there are a number of other projects which have lessened the impact of the downturn.
“One of these is the Moloto Rail which is a project between Prasa and the provincial government for moving people around the province. Then there are projects in Mozambique itself which are driven from the province like Mozal, the $562-million Matola Water scheme which will rival the Lesotho Highlands Scheme.
“There are plans for the automotive supplier park and work to this end has already begun. There is a gas pipeline from Mozambique which has benefitted the province greatly. These are some of the flagship projects that have made a difference and cushioned the province. Also the 2010 investments are beginning to show in construction and road rehabilitation because Nelspruit is one of the host cities,” he says.
Most of these projects fall within his ambit including the N4 project. “In the last ten years after the rebuilding of the N4, we have found that suddenly a lot of traffic is moving through Maputo port which has increased Mpumalanga’s currency. This means that as a province we need to jack up our infrastructure to take advantage of the opportunities offered by these developments,” he says.
The one sector that has suffered is mining but “we believe the other developments have balanced it out” and the effect has not been as bad as it would be. All in all, Manale is positive that the province will see through the recession without any structural damage to the province.

Daylight robbery

I think Multichoice runs the biggest scam ever. First they advertise all these specials. And you think, Aggh! whats R199 a month. You summon the strength to call them and voila you are connected. But you see, even though the retailer of your dish will give a voucher to the installer, it will be for one plug point only.

Then you ask the guy for another point in your bedroom - where you should not have the television in the first place - and you part with your first R250. Then he says what about the kiddies bedroom and before you know it, R500 is gone. Or you get these ads for pvr - private video recorder - and you think! it will be cool to be able to stop, rewind, pause ...

You shell out R2500 minimum. Now that you have an installer, he comes around, gets the voucher from the retailer. Suddenly he tells you about splits for this and that so that you are able to watch three channels at the same time - in different rooms hopefully. Yeah, why not you say with that disdainful voice. In reality you are saying: What is an extra R250. Bloody snob. And then there is this and that. You pay.

Then they advertise high definition on your normal screen and what you see is so clear. You go out, buy a flat screen that the salesperson says is HD compatible. You go home and think you can watch HD. No, the Multichoice people inform you. You need an HD decoder.

Can I trade in my PVR? You ask. NO NO NO! That thing. its obsolete, they are short of saying.

Off you go, get the HD decoder come home. The installer comes. He links it up through the multiswitch and voila you can now play channel 170 and watch tv become lifelike.

Three months later Multichoice tells you about the Xtraview. You think what the hell, another expense. You ignore. They follow up with messages that come on your decoder. You read and ignore. Two months later your statement reflects double billing, On enquiry you are told that because you did not choose Xtraview you are being billed separately for the two decoders. But if you take Xtraview and a few rands more... The installer comes, and says you need a heartbeat connection... R700 later you are sorted.
I await the next scheme with bated breath.

Who holds the key of life

The biggest lie human beings continue to perpetuate is that we are the clever species. We shout it with all our might and browbeat our chests like gorillas. In fact at every turn we convince ourselves of our superiority that we do not see the small creatures, things and other stuff plotting our downfall.
Yeah brethren, there are other life forms that are plotting quietly and laugh while we sit in complete arrogance. We can think yes, but are we sure we are the masters of the universe? Take the lowly globe for example. In a bigger scheme of things it may not be very important. In fact you can do without it by lighting a candle, a fire a torch (oops it has a globe also).
There may be feelings of earlier disorientation as the bulb goes and you are suddenly plunged into darkness.
But as you would have noticed, the eyes gradually get used to the darkness and you can pretty much get around with bruised legs and dislocated knee caps. Jump into the car and race to your nearest supermarket or convenience shop. As you make it just in time before closing, you let out a huge sigh of relief that choice is wide. And herein comes the challenge.
All these globes stare back at you. They are tired of the dust and the cold shop they want to go and be useful somewhere. Is your dead bulb a screw on or pin on (or whatever it is called)? How many watts is it? Is it the big screw in or the smaller version? In the near panic you take different bulbs just to widen your choice and to ensure you have light. Hopefully you remember to buy batteries – and a bulb – for the torch.
Before you know it, you have sets of different bulbs in your house that you cannot use at all. Who wants to take them back? Besides you always throw the receipt away and you have no stomach to haggle with a Spar employee who thinks smiling is a swear word.
And then there is milk. It does not matter whether you warm it with the microwave oven or on the open stove. Two out of three times, milks finds a way to spill. And then there are socks. Whatever happens to socks? Somehow you end up with a host of them without partners.
There are many of these strange happenings we cannot explain and yet we think we run the universe? Ask the socks, bulbs and milk.
They may just hold the secrets to the universe.

On a song and prayer

How things have changed.
Who would have thought that one would find time and fun freezing in the lowveld winter listening to Afrikaans music? Perish the thought, I say. And that is exactly what the last two days have been. In between violent coughing bouts, I have been serenaded by Afrikaans music, have spoken more Afrikaans than I have for the whole year and have been a real sucker for punishment. I am just glad I dont drink otherwise I would be adding adding brandy as one of the culprits for the misery of my life right now.
There are those who cannot put serenade and Afrikaans music in one sentence. It would be sacrilege, they say. I understand. Maybe it is the combination of drugs I am taking to fight the flu that makes the music sound cool. (A friend says it is not possible I could be suffering from swine flu. I am already a swine)
Maybe it is the cold. Maybe it is just wanting to reach out and understand a culture close yet foreign to me. But seriously, De la Rey is a great song. Take away the politics and it is easy to understand why certain people find it so stirring. Ok, I have not been moved to tears listening to it. But it does remind of the scene in White Wedding...
Anyway things are really happening here at the Innibos Kunstefees or arts festival in Nelspruit. I have had a chance to network, drink awful coffee with powdered milk, get introduced to something new and wonderful in the Afrikaans culture. There was a whisky tasting yesterday by M-power with cigars aplenty. All the vices I have given up. Forget the cold. Live a little and once in your life, tell your kids you were at the Innibos in Nelspruit. It is a great marketing event and the big players have seen its potential.
Mpumalanga Development Corridor has pumped in some funds into the showpiece. CEO Blessing Manale says it is money well spent. It makes sense. The funds that are flowing into the province and the town are huge. Who needs the Grahamstown festival?

In tune with our world

The happy lush green of summer has given way to the brown almost lifeless cover of winter. The Crocodile River is not as full and gushing. Even the vervet monkeys that dart across the road are not as many.
The winter fires have wrecked their havoc on the landscape and there are still smouldering fires on the Patatanek pass. Needless to say, it is cold even with the smoke from the logs.
The Mpumalanga lowveld is not usually this cold. In fact transplanted anywhere from the colder parts of the highveld, you would be forgiven for thinking that it was summer here.
But alas, the blanket of death that covers everything in winter has triumphed. But hang on. Is it death or is it birth? It is both.
If you could, get out of the car and put your ears to the ground. No. Not the tarmac but the lifeless fields or wild areas that serenade the N4 route. At first you will not hear a thing. As you relax and slowly tune in to the world around you, you hear it. Loud and clear.
It is a cacophony of sound as the seeds underneath discuss with excitement the life that awaits once all this dreary winter passes. They look forward to spring. To birth. They are discussing the colours. “I will be a bright yellow and will dart the landscape like a butterfly that is here, there and everywhere,” says one. But he cannot compete with the reds, mauve, violets and whites.
They discuss the brightness of their colours and the lifespan. “I will be around a lot longer than you,” says one of the less colourful plants. Sure. If others can be brighter, why cant it compete on the basis that its dour colour gives it a longer life. The brighter, the more visible to animals.
There are a range of other unique factors they argue on. The irony of it all is that as they dream of what seems like a better life, they are hastening their end. If they could and would, they would just stay there. Underneath the dying landscape lies the seeds of life. But if they do not sprout, life stops. Period
This is the land of biodiversity par excellence. This is the land of the big five. Of diverse fauna and flora. Of ants and elephants, crocodiles and hippos, human beings and baboons.
If only we can listen to the cacophony of sounds and realize that life is at its best when all seems dead or dying. Nature can teach us a lot. We just need to put our ears close to the ground or open our eyes wider.