Paul Janisch

Oliver at three

 
It is hard to believe that another year has passed.  As you read this we'll be travelling back from a holiday at the coast.  It's been a hell of year for all of us especially Kath.  We needed the break.

We have hopefully lived through the terrible twos (I am told that the fucking fours are worse) - I am also expecting them to end today!  Every sentence is peppered with "why?" so much so that I have had to revert to a technique that my father used on me which I vowed never to use and that is "because I SAY SO!!!".  There is no guarantee that this will be a successful response.

Still - it has been a wonderful year for us and him.  He is no longer a baby - he's a little boy with a growing sense of reason and an even greater vocabulary (probably as a result of the perpetual "why").  He is a total character and stands out where ever we go.  And he is absolutely adored by everyone - especially his mother and father.  Next year he's off to nursery school.

There are too many highlights in the last year to even begin listing.  I really look forward to walking him to school in the morning - he's a companion who loves to tell me stories about Lunar Jim and his hover scooter (Lola Jim as Oliver calls him).  This hover scooter is so important that we have been tasked to go and find one in America at the end of the year. I'll be sure to report back on our success.

As many of you will know, Oliver was born on Peter Green's birthday (I have Green's and Oliver's birth certificates mounted on my study wall).  And the tradition is to post one Green and one Ollie Halsall song to celebrate the day.

02 - Fleetwood Mac - If You Be My Baby

 

I've always loved this tune and I think we'll attempt to cover it at some stage.  Before the band starts playing Green calls the tune in C (a tone lower than the studio version).  The band turns this into a BB King  (with a hint of Buddy Guy) number with Green packing in the maximum amount of innuendo.  A stunning rendition from 1969.  Happy birthday Mr Green (64 today).

 

Patto - Holy Toledo BBC 2-12-73

 

Patto fans don't like this track because of the sax.  I love this song, admittedly it would be better without the sax (because it does detract from Ollie's guitar playing), but it is a great song about a smitten 17 year old (27 is not that old you know).  It never made it onto an album so we have to do with the BBC version.

Happy birthday gorgeous Bun, thank you so much for choosing us as parents and we look forward to every day with you.

(PS - that's Oliver with his paternal grandmother - no she's not his sister)

Mzanzi accounts working for banks

Development organisation FinScope’s research shows that between 2004 and 2008 the number of banked adults increased from 6m to 20m, with the Mzansi initiative accounting for two- thirds of the newly banked. But with almost 12m adults still unbanked, it is an ongoing process. Standard Bank alone is opening 40000 Mzansi accounts every month

via www.fm.co.za

There is a perception that empowerment programmes must be cost centres. A sustainable programme has to be mutually beneficial. I am very glad to see that Mzansi is working for the banks - you can expect to see more products coming out.

Bun's birthday tomorrow - be sure to read the blog

(Namibia) Security of fuel supply vital for economy says Katali - by Albertina Nakale

Katali made reference to Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) in the downstream industry. He said entry barriers to the industry are quite high and require, among others, huge amounts of investments. Katali said this makes it difficult for small operators and new entrants to access the industry. He called on both wholesalers and retailers to continue to promote BEE participation in the industry while waiting for TESEF.

via www.newera.com.na

There have been some comments from readers on the various aspects of TESEF. It must be imminent.

Isak Katali is the Minister of Mines and Energy in Namibia

Potential child abduction - Astrid Fleming's blog

On Friday morning at 11am, one of our lovely Parkwood domestic workers (let’s call her Ms A) was walking her 3 and a half year old ward (a little girl) home from the Parkview library’s reading hour. They walked around the Zoo Lake and as they reached the children’s play area opposite Moyo, she noticed a group of 10 loitering adult men. One of the men split away from the group and approached Ms A. The little girl scampered across to play on the climbing gym.

The man spoke to Ms A in English with a Nigerian accent, wore jeans and a tee-shirt and had a dark complexion. He asked how Ms A was and did the usual longwinded greeting. After a few moments, he said he wanted to make a deal with Ms A. He wanted the child, he explained. He would pay a LOT of money for the child. He needed a white child, he said.

via www.astridfleming.com

I think you can only speculate that the man was a Nigerian. Please circulate this to everyone because this is a serious threat to any parent.

More on the KZN DPW - or a reader writes (rights too)

When people send me emails in response to the blog I can only assume that they don't want their names on this stunning piece of virtual real-estate.  This is a response to last night's post - None more black - not so say the KZN DPW

You may be reading that rubbish too narrowly.  If it excluded people who received the franchise as a result of 1983 Tricameral crap, what it is doing is excluding Coloured and Indians aged 18 and below in 1983 (in other words Coloureds and Indians under 45 year presently)

Now what’s interesting about this unthought-through garbage is that if you follow the logic to its natural conclusion, Africans aged under 35 should be excluded from the ambit of the law also. 

The level of legal support given to state agencies writing these policies is shocking beyond shocking.

This point has been made to me before (by the same reader).  The reader is correct - it's a simple mathematical equation.  

There is no doubt that the legal advisers to these entities are not up to par.  Or maybe they give the correct advice but the departments/ municipalities etc are still determined to push it through.  I believe that you can add in an element of "let's put it out and see if they stop us" in this process.

As Peter Green would say

 

None more black - not so say the KZN DPW

Rumours have abounded for many years that the government has an unofficial view on the definition of black and that there are in fact degrees of blackness. Perhaps Julius "I wouldn't know a hammer if it hit me" Malema was actually echoing this same policy when he bleated "We [black people] cannot just be reduced to security and the very important issue of economy is given to minorities,". The KZN Department of Public Works has gone so far as to publicly state that if you are African you are blacker than any other type of black person (this reminds of a quote from BB King which went along the lines of "if you black and you play the blues then you black twice (sic)").

A client of mine sent me a confusing document known as ANNEXURE A KwaZulu-Natal Department of Public Works Application for Registration on the Professional Service Providers Roster. Unless you are interested in being a PSP I wouldn't bother reading anything other than pages 11 and 12.

Page 11 gives a variety of definitions, most of them derived from the PPPFA 2001 regulations. They also define what a black person is (and this is a perversion of the PPPFA combined with a liberal dipping into the B-BBEE Act)

Black person: a South African citizen who, due to the apartheid policy that had been in place, had no franchise in national elections prior to the introduction of the Constitution of the RSA, 1983 (Act 110 of 1983) or the Constitution of the RSA, 1993 (Act 200 of 1993) (the interim Constitution).

Note: Such persons are commonly referred to as Coloureds, Indians and Africans

The underlined section is my emphasis.

This is where the alarm bells should start sounding. To the best of my knowledge (and my knowledge is the best) there is only one act that proffers a definition of a black person and that is the B-BBEE Act (a generic term for African, Coloureds and Indians). This same act has been largely ignored by all government departments because they are shackled by the PPPFA (and the constitution, although Lester argues to the contrary). The DPW is therefore limited by the definitions of the PPPFA which only speaks of HDI.

As you read further those gongs in your head should really start pounding because the KZN DPW now starts getting into the meat of blacker than black with their Priority population group: an individual who is a South African citizen and who falls into a population group that had no franchise in national elections prior to the introduction of the 1983 constitution and tricameral parliamentary system. (Note: Such persons are commonly referred to as Africans).

For those of you who were not around in the '80s, the tricameral parliamentary system created two other houses that extended franchise rights to Coloureds and Indians [House of Assembly (White representatives), House of Representatives (Coloured representatives), House of Delegates (Indian representatives)]. It was a complete joke  andwas perhaps a sign of how demented PW actually was. You'll notice that African voters are excluded from this.

In other words – African is now a "Priority population group." The strange thing is that there is no single piece of legislation (comment if you think I am wrong) that backs this up. The EE Act places a greater emphasis on African people but that is because of their statistical representation in South Africa.

But it gets better on page 12. They have created a points' system that confirms that African is the blackest of black.

See what I mean.

I am conflicted by this, I can see where that are going with it, it is an attempt to encourage greater African representation because they are still the poorest of the poor. But they do not have the legislative mandate to do this. This is actually discriminatory and as such must be viewed as unconstitutional (especially section 217).

I'll leave the last word to Nigel Tufnel who after examining a black album cover concludes that it can only be "none, none more black" (starts at 1:13)

This is why we exclude mandated investments

n Why is the 8% number understated? The 8% direct shareholding by black shareholders on the JSE may lead one to the conclusion that the other 92% is held by white South Africans. This, of course, is not true, as the JSE’s research highlighted. Some of the residual interest is held by offshore investors and a large proportion is held by “mandated investors”. On this basis, the JSE illustrated that the 8% direct holding by black people translated into about 36% of the shares held directly by South Africans. While this might sound like meaningful transformation, this reassuring number is still only a magnification of less than 2% unencumbered ownership, and desperately little benefit trickles down to the grassroots level.

via www.businessday.co.za

I know Louise hated this article - but this paragraph is a very succinct explanation why mandated investments are excluded from the ownership calculation.

Dear students - a laugh a line with Lennon

Quite a thought - if only he were still alive.  Lennon's birthday is best described by er.... John Lennon.  The back cover of "In His Own Write" claimed

I was bored on the 9th of Octover 1940 when, I believe, the Nasties were still booming us led by Madolf Heatlump (who only had one). Anyway they didn't get me. I attended to varicous schools in Liddypol. And still didn't pass -- much to my Aunties supplies. As a member of the most publified Beatles my (P, G, and R's) records might seem funnier to some of you than this book, but as far as I'm conceived this correction of short writty is the most wonderfoul larf I've every ready.

God help and breed you all.

There is little doubt that John Lennon has touched us all in some way.  But he more than touched me - he made me (and countless others).  And he'll touch many more in the years to come.  His death is the most significant turning point in my life - from that day on my life revolved around music. 

The internet is full of tributes but the one tribute that most people won't pickup on is Google's.  This is their search bar today (not the best screenshot).

It is so difficult to think of a single song that might be a decent representation of John Lennon.  I was never a fan of the song Imagine or the album, so I'll go for the lesser known Hamburg tapes.  These were recorded on old year's eve 1962 so Ringo is on drums as a Beatle (not sitting in as many people believe).  The Beatles included numerous Chuck Berry songs in their live set and also recorded a few of them (bet you Chuck is still smiling).  On the Hamburg set Lennon sings two of them - Sweet Little Sixteen and I'm talking about you.  I was going to post one of them - but this is a significant day so I'll post them both.  Listen to Lennon mixing up the words on both songs - he often couldn't remember verses so he'd repeat the ones he did know.  The "Shitty Shitty" reference at the end of Talking about you is typical stage banter at the time.  There are all sorts of references to the war all over the tapes.  A heckler can be heard shouting "Go home" and McCartney and Lennon retorting with "Shut-up" (but not on these recordings).  Enjoy the tracks and whilst you're at it - haul out a Beatles' album or two and consider what life would be like without them - bloody empty.

 

25 - I'm Talking About You

05 - Sweet Little Sixteen

 

Peter Bruce » Blog Archive » Nothing is free and retribution is inevitable

young Julius had better remember that more than half our mining industry is owned offshore and if he steals other people’s property, under whatever guise, the country — rich and poor — will have to pay it back with interest. There’s nothing he can do to remake history or to rewrite international law.

Retribution may not be instant, but it will be inevitable.

via blogs.businessday.co.za

If you don't read Peter Bruce's blog you should.

It would seem Mal Emma is headed toward something - hopefully it is his ANC demise. One can only hope that he is in fact as thick as we think he is.