Aan Ben wat altyd ‘n ware gasheer is.  Baie dankie vir jou bereidswilligheid om jou perseel beskikbaar te stel vir jou volk en medemens. Pieter en Nico het hulle goed van hul taak gekwyt om alles so vlot as moontlik te laat verloop. Elkeen van ons wat die opleiding gedoen het, het (glo ek) met ‘n meer positiewe gemoed huis toe gegaan deurdat dit ‘n gevorderde radio kursus was , wat vir baie ‘n uitdagende toekoms voorspel. Ons het meer van die digitale kommunikasie geleër, maar ook dat ons in sekere opsigte aanpassings moes maak, om in tye van nood te kan oorleef.

Ons het steeds voorbereiding om te doen en deur naweke soos dié te reël sal ons elke keer net verbeter. Aan almal wat deel was van die naweek, dankie vir jul toegewydheid en laat ons voortgaan met wat ons mee besig is. Van my kant af was dit aangenaam om weer saam met julle te kuier en te werk.

Onthou: Eendrag Maak Mag.
God’s Seën aan jul almal

Groete
Frik de Villiers

Ms Joffe said that except for Monday, the system had been operating with a bigger reserve margin in recent weeks than during March and last month. During this period the system was constrained due to unplanned outages that included one unit of Koeberg and far-reduced supply from Cahora Bassa. The Koeberg problem has now been rectified.

Eskom warned last month that South Africa would face a tight system over winter. In a special briefing along with Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba, Eskom CE Brian Dames said going into winter the company faced both increased demand and routine maintenance that could not be deferred any longer. The growth in unplanned outages was a sign that maintenance had been neglected, he said.

“The country must understand that for the last five years we have managed to keep the lights on. We did this by operating our power system much harder. Now it requires substantial maintenance to maintain performance,” he said at the time.

South Africa, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is facing social instability.

David Lipton, senior deputy MD of the IMF, told Business Day on Wednesday that South Africa has failed to deliver more inclusive growth.

Lipton told the newspaper that in the long run, this would be a grave threat to social stability.

I personally believe that South Africa’s social structure has now begun to collapse. There is a groundswell of often fierce labour strikes and more violent service delivery protests.

This week, the Soweto township of Kliptown was burning while the government was busy trying to put a spin to the events leading to the Gupta wedding scandal.

Gun-wielding inhabitants of the township fired live ammunition into the air, right in the middle of a heavy police presence.
 
They allegedly pulled electricity cables through the streets trying to rewire cables disassembled by the City of Johannesburg. 

In the past few months, rating agencies have downgraded South Africa and violent worker strikes and service delivery protests have been among the major reasons behind this move.

It also emerged this week that the unemployment rate surged to 25.2% in the first quarter of the year from 24.9%. This basically means one in two young South Africans is jobless.

Business Day quoted Stanlib Economist Kevin Lings as saying: “The ingredients for social unrest are already in place.”

Can South Africans create firm and honest representative governments?

The answer to this is probably no. It looks as though the old system has been substituted by corrupt gangs that make it hard for the decent governance needed to develop the potential of millions of poor South Africans.

Now if one in two young South Africans is unemployed, then it means few youngsters currently represent the country’s hopes.

I believe the youth should be the real agents of change. If they are not, then social instability will set in long before we are even  aware of it.

The IMF has highlighted something that is very important in South Africa.

Can President Jacob Zuma and his cohorts please stand up and take note?