Category: in the news

There goes the election…

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Many people had thought that the ANC might sink to below 50% of the vote in the upcoming national elections. And to be honest, given their performance over the last n years, that seemed like a very reasonable suggestion.

But that was before the ANC asked… er… the ANC to pray for… er… the ANC “to renew itself”.

I can’t comment on all of the other political parties in South Africa (because there really are an awful lot of them), but I certainly haven’t heard of any of the others asking themselves to pray for themselves.

Oops. Missed opportunity right there.

God isn’t going to be looking favourably at any party – no matter how honest they are or how good their policies might be – if their members haven’t been in touch with Him and prayed for self-renewal, now is He?

That’s just not how He works.

So I guess we might as well just hand the election – and what’s left of the country – to the ANC for another 5 years. After all, we’re not just fighting the last of the pre-1994 generation, but also the Lord Almighty too now.

Oh, and the “renewed” ANC, apparently.

Yeah right.

KLM hires private security to get its flight crews to and from Cape Town International Airport

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I mean, from their hotel in Cape Town to and from the airport.
Not from Amsterdam. They have planes for that.

I dunno. This might be a well known thing. It might be a very regular thing. But while we were waiting at International Arrivals the other day, we were watching these two guys from a private security firm hovering between the barriers and the doors, doing security stuff.

We were wondering if some celeb like Ant from Ant & Dec or Romanian football wizard Gheorghe Hagi was going to be coming through the magic doors from customs and be whisked away, but it turned out that they were waiting for the flight crew from KL597. And that made us understand that the bus in convoy with the private security vehicle that we’d seen going into the airport earlier was probably the flight crew for the outgoing KL598.

Now, I know that the N2 around the airport isn’t the nicest bit of road – especially at night – but this does seem a bit drastic. After all, the guys from the Air France flight were left to find a completely unguarded bus by themselves. And literally none of the passengers from both those flights had heavies or goons to get them safely to their hotel. Mind you, maybe none of them made it. We’ll never know.

Has there been a specific incident? Was there a specific threat? Or were these guys actually very clever robbers, picking their targets early on and then stealing all their stuff once they were safely on board the bus back to the hotel.

Of course they weren’t. They looked very professional, and as long as any crook was within arms length and there was no running involved, I’m sure they were very capable of capturing and detaining the baddies, as well.

But this isn’t a great look immediately as visitors enter SA. OK, we might not be Oslo-safe, but really, we’re not in Lagos territory either.

I’d love Capetonians thoughts on this. Is this the way we’re heading now? Because I can’t afford private security detail to get me to and from the airport each time I need to get somewhere.

So I guess it’s just as well that I can’t afford any flights either.

Losing the battle?

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The fire which has been burning above Simonstown for more than 3 days now is not showing any signs of giving up, despite the best efforts of hundreds of firefighters, and several (or more) water-bombing helicopters – and now fixed wing aircraft – working throughout the daylight hours.

In fact, using the AFIS app, it actually seems to be getting worse. Spreading across the peninsular towards Scarborough and Misty Cliffs, ably assisted by a stiff South Easterly wind.

To add to their woes, a second (and then a third) fire broke out slightly further North last night in Glencairn. The Deep South is in Deep Trouble at the moment, and the bold statement from Cape Town Security MEC JP Smith that “This Ends Today”, seems rather optimistic.

No major injuries and no significant property lost as yet, but unless they can get a handle on this, given the forecast winds and hot temperatures (and no rain, obviously), that’s sadly going to be a difficult record to maintain.

Getaway

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We’re out of town for a few days (beaglesitter services have been engaged), and while I love the urban environment, I’m very much looking forward to being surrounded by nature, and there’s one thing I really, really won’t miss.

Leaf Blowers.

And – in case you needed to be told – they’re actually absolutely terrible in every way shape and form:

There are many reasons to hate leaf blowers. They are loud and their sole purpose is to over-manicure nature. They disperse debris rather than gathering it, and they kick dust and small particles up into the air.

The world is not worse off if the leaves are left unblown.

The article goes on to lament the additional inefficiencies and detrimental effects of the two-stroke petrol engine. To be fair, our local daily blower is electric, but every morning it’s still right there in your ears for an hour, being annoying and useless, forcing people into poetry:

Leaf Blower

Leaf Blower
Scourge of the suburbs
Nosily moving the street detritus from your bit.
To my bit.
Briefly. For Nature will put it all back again.

Just now.

No leaf blowing where we’re going. Well, just natural stuff.

I have been assured that there is wifi, so I’m sure I’ll be in touch again tomorrow.

Until then…

Your long read (not by me)

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And not really that long, except maybe by modern-internet-induced-tiny-concentration-span standards.

It’s pretty heavy, but it – as the author explains – needs to be said.

My Personal Struggle In A Time Of Global Pain – Branko Brkic

Difficult to read in parts, and clearly deeply personal, but with many seemingly obvious, yet hugely important messages:

Such a divisive conflict was bound to offer rich pickings to horrible people everywhere.

Angry people conflated the violent actions of a small group of people with entire nations and religions, sparking hateful rhetoric and physical threats.

For all of us to have a future together, this has to stop. Anti-Semitic, anti-Palestinian and anti-Islamic attacks cannot be explained away.

The tragedy of the Palestinian and Israeli people is that they are led by “leaders” who have a “greater mission” on their minds, one that does not concern itself with civilian deaths.

Sadly, he is, of course, absolutely right.