"We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force. " : Ayn Rand in "The Nature of Government"
And after posting the above, i received this story:
KNYSNA NEWS - The peace-loving Rastafarian community members of Judah Square are currently consulting with their legal representatives regarding a possible class action lawsuit against the Minister of Police after an early morning SAPS raid at 06:00 on Tuesday, March 27.
According to traumatised and furious eyewitnesses, at least seventeen police vans and more than 50 police officers from different strike teams were used to raid the Rastafarians while several were attending their morning devotions in their tabernacle.
....
"Funny that the police come to us who they know is a soft target and unarmed, but they have to drive past several Tik homes where there are 'skollies' with 'gunne', to get to us, huh?" said one of the protestors outside Knysna's court on Tuesday. The crowd said they were becoming increasingly frustrated by continued police action against them while a blind eye is turned to serious drug dealers. The same group of residents returned the next day, on Wednesday, to wait for the release of their chief and fellow Judah Square residents.
THE STAGE OF RULE BY BRUTE FORCE.
Friday, 30 March 2012
Thursday, 29 March 2012
Toll roads in SA, a short history
Reproduced here in it's entirety, my thanks to CharlesVan Onselen who is a research professor at the University of Pretoria for his excellent article, and Business Day for publishing it.
BACK in 1886, the discovery of huge reefs of gold on the Witwatersrand caught state president SJP (Paul) Kruger by surprise. The fiercely nationalist but extremely poorly educated Boers of the South African Republic (ZAR) had only just regained their independence from Britain. The earlier, modest mineral discoveries around Barberton scarcely prepared him or his political constituency — made up largely of farmers — for the dramatic influx of foreigners into the country or for the transition from an agrarian to a more industrialised economy. The spectacular growth of Johannesburg, in particular, demanded an infrastructure capable of servicing a modern economy and an urbanising society. A poorly equipped administration, supported by a coterie of handpicked Dutch experts, managed as best it could.
Complex regional politics militated against the rapid development of an integrated railway system capable of delivering mining machinery to the Rand cheaply or efficiently. It was not until 1895 that the ZAR was fully connected to the emerging, regional rail network. A reliance on Afrikaner transport riders using ox wagons to bring in building materials, clothing and food supplies from the coast or the countryside contributed to Johannesburg’s high cost of living. Long-haul transport riders encountered increasing difficulty in obtaining grazing for oxen on overnight stops, while the condition of the roads, scandalously neglected, deteriorated.
Throughout 1886- 95, the Kruger administration remained under pressure from the mining industry and organised commerce to facilitate the arrival of the railways on the Rand. By the time the president got around to dealing with the problem, however, the mining industry was already in a short-lived recession caused by technical problems encountered in the gold-recovery process. He nevertheless persisted with plans for a nation- wide system of road tolls, primarily to raise revenue for the always hard-pressed treasury and, secondarily, to secure an improvement in the quality of the rutted highways. In late 1891, it was announced in the Government Gazette that, from December 1, ox wagons carrying loads of up to 6000lbs (about 2700kg) would be liable to a toll of 30 shillings on all main routes.
Lacking the administrative competence or expertise to run the system, the state looked instead to the market and private enterprise to manage the tolls. The right to collect tolls at stipulated points was put out to tender, with winning bidders being left to manage the risk of making a profit or sustaining a loss. Despite it being a hazardous business, scores of tenders were awarded and toll collectors appointed. The tolls, for some time, produced a handsome return. In just four months in 1894, for example, the state benefited to the tune of more than £9000 — the equivalent of between £4m and £5m (R46m-R58m) a year in current terms.
Right from the outset, however, tolls proved to be deeply unpopular. In urban areas, tolls were objected to because, it was claimed, they increased the cost of capital goods as well as food. They no doubt did; but Pretoria was always inclined to view Johannesburg as more of a cash cow than a city entitled to independent management. The mayor was appointed from the centre, by the government, not elected by the citizens.
Farmers and transport riders, too, objected for equally obvious reasons and, despite their cause being championed by a faction within the Volksraad that was increasingly opposed to Kruger, the president and his cabinet remained obdurately opposed to the abolition of the tolls or a meaningful reduction in charges. In practice, the system proved difficult to manage. It was the subject of endless complaints. Requests for exemption necessitated the appointment of additional clerks, thus swelling a public service not renowned for its efficiency, honesty, literacy or responsiveness. Some toll collectors let friends through without levying charges while others pocketed part of the proceeds. In some quarters, deep suspicions were aroused about where precisely the fees were going and few users seemed convinced the system benefited them. It was not clear the huge returns from tolls were producing a startling improvement in the quality of the existing roads, or funding new ones.
It was in the countryside, or on the outskirts of the city itself, however, where the system ran into its greatest opposition from the sons of the soil. Many farmers and transport riders would have nothing to do with them. They opened up new, often circuitous tracks and minor roads, circumventing existing drifts and highways, thereby giving rise to new problems of grazing, right of way and environmental degradation. Others drove directly through the gates, refusing to render payment for a system they deemed to be in conflict with natural justice. Landdrosts — the magistrates — were kept busy corresponding with their superiors and it proved difficult to estimate what secondary, indirect costs amounted to.
Two of the most hated tolls, however, could not easily be avoided. One of them lay on the road connecting the rich farming district from which Kruger hailed — Rustenburg — to the market at Pretoria, via the intervening Magaliesberg. A formidable toll house stood astride the natural constriction in the pass at Daspoort. The other was at Ferreira’s Battery, on the Kimberley Road exit from Johannesburg. They were the subject of endless complaints but the Kruger administration refused relief to regular users.
In April 1894, amidst an economic upswing, a party of masked Boers set out from the Rustenburg district for Daspoort, using a road that had previously been favoured by Irish highwaymen who had, some months earlier, held up and robbed a post cart of an enormous sum of cash. At the toll, the Boers overpowered the collector and dynamited the toll house. About 12 months later, the toll gate at Ferreira’s was also burnt to the ground under mysterious circumstances. The police, patriotic to the core, had no success in tracking down the perpetrators who, chances were, were all burghers. The ZAR tolling system — attacked, cheated, circumvented and sabotaged — did not collapse in the face of political objections from voters or popular resistance from road users. It may, however, have cost Kruger the votes of several farmers and transport riders in the 1893 presidential elections, which he won by the slimmest of margins.
The eclipse of the tolls was occasioned instead by technological advance in the shape of an integrated national railway system in 1895. With the switch from road to rail transport, tolls became less profitable and, in the end, economically unviable. In 1896, the government, acknowledging the advent of a new era, abandoned road tolls.
All of this prompts a few questions besides the fundamental one about "who owns the roads" and, can they bought and sold and, if so, who bears the profit or the loss?
Can states that lack administrative competence and easy access to an educated workforce ever manage tolling systems without the assistance of private enterprise and state- of-the-art technology? Are most of the funds raised from tolls ever fully employed to underwrite the maintenance or extension of the national road network? How are road and rail systems best integrated, and in what order are they best developed? Is the introduction of a system of road tolls an acknowledgment of failure, or a sign of success — is the economic tide rising or falling? Are tolling systems ever abandoned and, if so, when and why? What constitutes a fair toll and what are the estimates of attrition of revenue as a result of theft — either directly by the private operators, or from treasuries plundering funds for other projects? Or is the system foolproof? Is a state that introduces road tolls succeeding or failing?
These are enduring questions; most of them have been around since tolls were introduced at bridges in medieval times.
Governments come and go, ox wagon or pantechnicon, the game seems to remains the same. Answers — on postcards only please — to Pretoria, and then go out and vote as you see fit.
BACK in 1886, the discovery of huge reefs of gold on the Witwatersrand caught state president SJP (Paul) Kruger by surprise. The fiercely nationalist but extremely poorly educated Boers of the South African Republic (ZAR) had only just regained their independence from Britain. The earlier, modest mineral discoveries around Barberton scarcely prepared him or his political constituency — made up largely of farmers — for the dramatic influx of foreigners into the country or for the transition from an agrarian to a more industrialised economy. The spectacular growth of Johannesburg, in particular, demanded an infrastructure capable of servicing a modern economy and an urbanising society. A poorly equipped administration, supported by a coterie of handpicked Dutch experts, managed as best it could.
Complex regional politics militated against the rapid development of an integrated railway system capable of delivering mining machinery to the Rand cheaply or efficiently. It was not until 1895 that the ZAR was fully connected to the emerging, regional rail network. A reliance on Afrikaner transport riders using ox wagons to bring in building materials, clothing and food supplies from the coast or the countryside contributed to Johannesburg’s high cost of living. Long-haul transport riders encountered increasing difficulty in obtaining grazing for oxen on overnight stops, while the condition of the roads, scandalously neglected, deteriorated.
Throughout 1886- 95, the Kruger administration remained under pressure from the mining industry and organised commerce to facilitate the arrival of the railways on the Rand. By the time the president got around to dealing with the problem, however, the mining industry was already in a short-lived recession caused by technical problems encountered in the gold-recovery process. He nevertheless persisted with plans for a nation- wide system of road tolls, primarily to raise revenue for the always hard-pressed treasury and, secondarily, to secure an improvement in the quality of the rutted highways. In late 1891, it was announced in the Government Gazette that, from December 1, ox wagons carrying loads of up to 6000lbs (about 2700kg) would be liable to a toll of 30 shillings on all main routes.
Lacking the administrative competence or expertise to run the system, the state looked instead to the market and private enterprise to manage the tolls. The right to collect tolls at stipulated points was put out to tender, with winning bidders being left to manage the risk of making a profit or sustaining a loss. Despite it being a hazardous business, scores of tenders were awarded and toll collectors appointed. The tolls, for some time, produced a handsome return. In just four months in 1894, for example, the state benefited to the tune of more than £9000 — the equivalent of between £4m and £5m (R46m-R58m) a year in current terms.
Right from the outset, however, tolls proved to be deeply unpopular. In urban areas, tolls were objected to because, it was claimed, they increased the cost of capital goods as well as food. They no doubt did; but Pretoria was always inclined to view Johannesburg as more of a cash cow than a city entitled to independent management. The mayor was appointed from the centre, by the government, not elected by the citizens.
Farmers and transport riders, too, objected for equally obvious reasons and, despite their cause being championed by a faction within the Volksraad that was increasingly opposed to Kruger, the president and his cabinet remained obdurately opposed to the abolition of the tolls or a meaningful reduction in charges. In practice, the system proved difficult to manage. It was the subject of endless complaints. Requests for exemption necessitated the appointment of additional clerks, thus swelling a public service not renowned for its efficiency, honesty, literacy or responsiveness. Some toll collectors let friends through without levying charges while others pocketed part of the proceeds. In some quarters, deep suspicions were aroused about where precisely the fees were going and few users seemed convinced the system benefited them. It was not clear the huge returns from tolls were producing a startling improvement in the quality of the existing roads, or funding new ones.
It was in the countryside, or on the outskirts of the city itself, however, where the system ran into its greatest opposition from the sons of the soil. Many farmers and transport riders would have nothing to do with them. They opened up new, often circuitous tracks and minor roads, circumventing existing drifts and highways, thereby giving rise to new problems of grazing, right of way and environmental degradation. Others drove directly through the gates, refusing to render payment for a system they deemed to be in conflict with natural justice. Landdrosts — the magistrates — were kept busy corresponding with their superiors and it proved difficult to estimate what secondary, indirect costs amounted to.
Two of the most hated tolls, however, could not easily be avoided. One of them lay on the road connecting the rich farming district from which Kruger hailed — Rustenburg — to the market at Pretoria, via the intervening Magaliesberg. A formidable toll house stood astride the natural constriction in the pass at Daspoort. The other was at Ferreira’s Battery, on the Kimberley Road exit from Johannesburg. They were the subject of endless complaints but the Kruger administration refused relief to regular users.
In April 1894, amidst an economic upswing, a party of masked Boers set out from the Rustenburg district for Daspoort, using a road that had previously been favoured by Irish highwaymen who had, some months earlier, held up and robbed a post cart of an enormous sum of cash. At the toll, the Boers overpowered the collector and dynamited the toll house. About 12 months later, the toll gate at Ferreira’s was also burnt to the ground under mysterious circumstances. The police, patriotic to the core, had no success in tracking down the perpetrators who, chances were, were all burghers. The ZAR tolling system — attacked, cheated, circumvented and sabotaged — did not collapse in the face of political objections from voters or popular resistance from road users. It may, however, have cost Kruger the votes of several farmers and transport riders in the 1893 presidential elections, which he won by the slimmest of margins.
The eclipse of the tolls was occasioned instead by technological advance in the shape of an integrated national railway system in 1895. With the switch from road to rail transport, tolls became less profitable and, in the end, economically unviable. In 1896, the government, acknowledging the advent of a new era, abandoned road tolls.
All of this prompts a few questions besides the fundamental one about "who owns the roads" and, can they bought and sold and, if so, who bears the profit or the loss?
Can states that lack administrative competence and easy access to an educated workforce ever manage tolling systems without the assistance of private enterprise and state- of-the-art technology? Are most of the funds raised from tolls ever fully employed to underwrite the maintenance or extension of the national road network? How are road and rail systems best integrated, and in what order are they best developed? Is the introduction of a system of road tolls an acknowledgment of failure, or a sign of success — is the economic tide rising or falling? Are tolling systems ever abandoned and, if so, when and why? What constitutes a fair toll and what are the estimates of attrition of revenue as a result of theft — either directly by the private operators, or from treasuries plundering funds for other projects? Or is the system foolproof? Is a state that introduces road tolls succeeding or failing?
These are enduring questions; most of them have been around since tolls were introduced at bridges in medieval times.
Governments come and go, ox wagon or pantechnicon, the game seems to remains the same. Answers — on postcards only please — to Pretoria, and then go out and vote as you see fit.
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Web traffic
Thank you Missy2000.
Also note 2 new favourite blogs on the right under transport, Numero 13 and Axis of Oversteer. Very cool petrol head blogs with awesome images, thanks guys.
Monday, 26 March 2012
Sunday, 25 March 2012
Friday, 23 March 2012
Insurgent citizenship
“The title we used for the research we did was The Smoke That Calls. We used this because during our research people said to us: ‘We feel that violence is the only language that this government understands. They will only come when they see the smoke’,” says Mogapi about research done by the CSVR last year into why people engage in collective violence.
Mogapi says vigilantism is an indicator of communities getting increasing despondent about government, failed service delivery and who are losing hope. She says the charred bodies in Khayelitsha are a signifier that people feel they have exhausted all avenues of communication, and that the only language that will “work” is violence.
“There is an increasing sense from society that the only language our government and society understands is violence,” says Mogapi. “When there is violence there is a huge reaction from society, whether it be the media or government at large. When people try peaceful ways of raising their issues, there is usually a very limited response.”
Mogapi says vigilantism is an indicator of communities getting increasing despondent about government, failed service delivery and who are losing hope. She says the charred bodies in Khayelitsha are a signifier that people feel they have exhausted all avenues of communication, and that the only language that will “work” is violence.
“There is an increasing sense from society that the only language our government and society understands is violence,” says Mogapi. “When there is violence there is a huge reaction from society, whether it be the media or government at large. When people try peaceful ways of raising their issues, there is usually a very limited response.”
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Friday, 16 March 2012
Deception
"Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur," a Latin phrase, means "The world wants to be deceived, so let it be deceived." The saying is ascribed to Petronius, a Roman satirist from the first century, CE. "The pontifex maximus Scævola thought it expedient that the people should be deceived in religion; and the learned Varro said plainly, that "there are many truths, which it is useless for the vulgar to know; and many falsities which it is fit the people should not suppose are falsities."
Hence comes the adage "Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur."
Hence comes the adage "Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur."
Thursday, 15 March 2012
Rats!
So we all know Jo'burg has a rat problem, i know at our house it's quite bad, and clearly walls do little to restrict them. So finally i've seen something that actually makes sense:
Johannesburg is introducing OWLS in an attempt to control the problem ... in conjunction with traps etc, but owls!
"The city has opted for the owl solution," he said.
"Owl nesting and release boxes have been installed in three schools in Alexandra as this three-year project will be educating schools on the role owls play in eradicating rats."
________________________________________________
Very cool, a positive approach that does reflect a more natural solution, and long term too. Maybe the owls can develope a taste for hardy-da flesh, that would be awesome ;-)
Pic courtesy of (and shamelessly stolen from) : Aquila ka Hecate (because it's a great pic!)
Johannesburg is introducing OWLS in an attempt to control the problem ... in conjunction with traps etc, but owls!
"The city has opted for the owl solution," he said.
"Owl nesting and release boxes have been installed in three schools in Alexandra as this three-year project will be educating schools on the role owls play in eradicating rats."
________________________________________________
Very cool, a positive approach that does reflect a more natural solution, and long term too. Maybe the owls can develope a taste for hardy-da flesh, that would be awesome ;-)
Pic courtesy of (and shamelessly stolen from) : Aquila ka Hecate (because it's a great pic!)
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Friday, 9 March 2012
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Orion training centre for people with disabilities
I found a happy news story, the Orion training centre for people with disabilities
Our proud projects:
a day care centre for 30 children – 18 months to 18 years old;
activity day care for profoundly disabled people over the age of 18 years old;
residential care facility for 60 disabled adults, including a semi-frail care home;
an art centre where the profoundly disabled can creatively express themselves by painting on canvasses. These artwork are being sold and exhibited.
two training work centres (income generating project) where low to high functioning disabled adults are taught a variety of skills with the aim to eventually place them into the open labour market.
As well as possible accommodation for 15 frail adults over the age of 60 as from April 2012 (awaiting final approval and finalisation of screening etc)
a day care centre for 30 children – 18 months to 18 years old;
activity day care for profoundly disabled people over the age of 18 years old;
residential care facility for 60 disabled adults, including a semi-frail care home;
an art centre where the profoundly disabled can creatively express themselves by painting on canvasses. These artwork are being sold and exhibited.
two training work centres (income generating project) where low to high functioning disabled adults are taught a variety of skills with the aim to eventually place them into the open labour market.
As well as possible accommodation for 15 frail adults over the age of 60 as from April 2012 (awaiting final approval and finalisation of screening etc)
And the artist:
The painting was done by Christopher Edwards (Down Syndrome) and his team who expressed how they perceive our community when it comes to the issue of alcohol and drug abuse. This particular art piece called “Drunken City” is currently used at our events when we address the abovementioned pillars.
Thank you Jonckie at Arrive Alive.
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
Sanity and truth
"Sanity is not truth. Sanity is conformity to what is socially expected.
Truth is sometimes in conformity, sometimes not."
- Robert M. Pirsig
Hat tip to CoyotePrime.
To illustrate this point, i offer a photograph.
Truth is sometimes in conformity, sometimes not."
- Robert M. Pirsig
Hat tip to CoyotePrime.
To illustrate this point, i offer a photograph.
From twitter, this morning. Comment is superfluous.
Kite surfing and shark fighting
Indeed.
Interview with Jan Lisewski about the attempt to cross Red Sea (extracts)
I’ve waited for a week in El Gouna near Hurghada for good conditions, for good wind. Such a forecast, for all day, was for 2nd of March. I started in wind of 4 in Bft scale, which has later reach 5 Bft. When there was around 60 km till destination, the wind has suddenly died, just like fire blown from a match. There was no wind, the kite collapsed. After 1,5 hours nothing indicated that the wind will come back. Waves have, however, started to build up. Sun was setting down, so I called SOS. After about 3 hours I called it again.
At first I’ll say that I owe surviving it to my brother Piotr, who forced me to take a knife. Maybe he had some kind of premonition. I was pushed by the wind to the worst place, a reef, where sharks have been preying. They were about 2,5 to 6 meters. They attacked me through my kite, which must’ve also attracted them because of its colour. I stabbed them in the eyes, nose and gills. The fight, which I’ve miraculously survived, took whole night.
Interview with Jan Lisewski about the attempt to cross Red Sea (extracts)
I’ve waited for a week in El Gouna near Hurghada for good conditions, for good wind. Such a forecast, for all day, was for 2nd of March. I started in wind of 4 in Bft scale, which has later reach 5 Bft. When there was around 60 km till destination, the wind has suddenly died, just like fire blown from a match. There was no wind, the kite collapsed. After 1,5 hours nothing indicated that the wind will come back. Waves have, however, started to build up. Sun was setting down, so I called SOS. After about 3 hours I called it again.
At first I’ll say that I owe surviving it to my brother Piotr, who forced me to take a knife. Maybe he had some kind of premonition. I was pushed by the wind to the worst place, a reef, where sharks have been preying. They were about 2,5 to 6 meters. They attacked me through my kite, which must’ve also attracted them because of its colour. I stabbed them in the eyes, nose and gills. The fight, which I’ve miraculously survived, took whole night.
Monday, 5 March 2012
This is your brain on a bike
Dr Ryuta Kawashima says:
Riding a motorcycle every day might actually keep your brain functioning at peak condition, or so says a study conducted by the University of Tokyo. The study demonstrated that riders between the age of 40 and 50 were shown to improve their levels of cognitive functioning, compared to a control group, after riding their motorcycles daily to their workplace for a mere two months.
The upshot was that the use of motorcycles in everyday life improved cognitive faculties, particularly those that relate to memory and spatial reasoning capacity. An added benefit? Participants revealed on questionnaires they filled out at the end of the study that their stress levels had been reduced and their mental state changed for the better.
Riding a motorcycle every day might actually keep your brain functioning at peak condition, or so says a study conducted by the University of Tokyo. The study demonstrated that riders between the age of 40 and 50 were shown to improve their levels of cognitive functioning, compared to a control group, after riding their motorcycles daily to their workplace for a mere two months.
The upshot was that the use of motorcycles in everyday life improved cognitive faculties, particularly those that relate to memory and spatial reasoning capacity. An added benefit? Participants revealed on questionnaires they filled out at the end of the study that their stress levels had been reduced and their mental state changed for the better.
Thursday, 1 March 2012
Rhino poachers caught!
4 Rhino Poachers are being held at Bedfordview SAPS, opp NewsCafe, caught with Horn in possession. All Anti-Rhino poaching groups should descend and protest.
Thank you Pigspotter!!
I can't include images for some reason, but you can see the following:
Rhinohorn
Rhino Poachers
Apparently the horn was fake ... i have no words ... probably trying to con some rich guy.
Africa ...
Thank you Pigspotter!!
I can't include images for some reason, but you can see the following:
Rhinohorn
Rhino Poachers
Apparently the horn was fake ... i have no words ... probably trying to con some rich guy.
Africa ...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
