Warren Buffett, an iconic investor who resides in Omaha, Nebraska, has given the world many words of wisdom and wit extending far beyond money matters. One indelible quote left his lips during the 1995 annual general meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, his mother company. He told shareholders that “it’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked”.
South Africa’s long-term tide started going out during 2006, and there’s no knowing when it will turn again. It started coming in around 1994, when the country held its first democratic elections. Those were the joyful times when practically everyone in the country, on the continent and indeed in the world believed in a rainbow-hued future. It seemed that an impossible fairytale, held on the fingertips of valkeries, had descended from the clouds.
In South Africa the rot is everywhere. At the provincial level, take, for example, the putrid Eastern Cape provincial administration that was unable to account for R30,2bn (89%) of R34,1bn it spent during 2005/06. The Eastern Cape auditor general issued five provincial departments with disclaimers for the 2005/06 financial year, including each of the four major service delivery departments, viz., health, education, social development and housing.
But now the tide is really going out. The nakedness of those running the country is becoming increasingly apparent. It is not a pretty picture. According to the United Nations development programme 2006 Human Development Index (HDI), South Africa now ranks 121 out of 177 countries. Of all the measures and indices and statistics that conspire to drown daily lives, there is possibly none so profound and useful as the HDI…
…Jealously guarded police statistics show that 18 545 South Africans were slaughtered in the year to March 31 2006, equal to 51 people a day, holidays included. South Africa is a crime economy. This year’s UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report showed how South Africa and its neighbours comprise one of the world’s biggest growers and exporters of cannabis… MoneyWeb
South Africa’s long-term tide started going out during 2006, and there’s no knowing when it will turn again. It started coming in around 1994, when the country held its first democratic elections. Those were the joyful times when practically everyone in the country, on the continent and indeed in the world believed in a rainbow-hued future. It seemed that an impossible fairytale, held on the fingertips of valkeries, had descended from the clouds.
In South Africa the rot is everywhere. At the provincial level, take, for example, the putrid Eastern Cape provincial administration that was unable to account for R30,2bn (89%) of R34,1bn it spent during 2005/06. The Eastern Cape auditor general issued five provincial departments with disclaimers for the 2005/06 financial year, including each of the four major service delivery departments, viz., health, education, social development and housing.
But now the tide is really going out. The nakedness of those running the country is becoming increasingly apparent. It is not a pretty picture. According to the United Nations development programme 2006 Human Development Index (HDI), South Africa now ranks 121 out of 177 countries. Of all the measures and indices and statistics that conspire to drown daily lives, there is possibly none so profound and useful as the HDI…
…Jealously guarded police statistics show that 18 545 South Africans were slaughtered in the year to March 31 2006, equal to 51 people a day, holidays included. South Africa is a crime economy. This year’s UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report showed how South Africa and its neighbours comprise one of the world’s biggest growers and exporters of cannabis… MoneyWeb
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