TIME TO PULL THE PLUG ON SAA

According to a SAA spokesperson the newspaper request for R16bn through  market funding was to test the appetite of the market.  Maybe so, but it was really a cry for help to all and sundry.

SAA's plea for funding has sunk to the level of a down-and-out street beggar pleading with pedestrians for alms.  No matter what SAA says to the contrary the airline is on failing life support - it is time to pull the plug.  No amount of loans, government guaranteed or otherwise, will result in a financial turn around.  The root causes for the airline's earthbound crash remain -  gross mismanagement, corruption, to name a few.  Private lenders know it, and will not heed SAA's apocryphal representations of financial resilience.

SAA is a text book case of government encroachment in an industry that should entirely be run by the private sector.  Government knows it, refuses to acknowledge it, but will be compelled to privatise SAA.  It should do it now, rather than face the humiliation of having to do so through force of circumstances.

CAN RAMAPHOSA FIND HIS COJONES?

In Monday Morning Matters (The Times 29/8/16), Justice Malala urged Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to find his cojones, and speak his mind.  A tall order indeed.

Ramaphosa is a person exhibiting an apparent contradictory nature.  The word "paradox" is one that may suitably describe his nature.

On the one hand, Ramaphosa exemplifies the gregarious, intelligent back-slapping politician.  However, intelligence does not necessarily equate with good judgment. Consider his steadfast loyalty to the ANC collective in the wake of Nenegate.  The fact that he did not speak out against the appointment of van Rooyen as finance minister leads to one unmistakeable conclusion: judgment deficit disorder wrapped in political expediency.

Ramaphosa typifies the affable politician, well-versed in empty vessel generalities.  He is simply not his own man, and lacks the cojones to be one

TRUMP'S MESSAGE - MAKE AMERICA WHITE (OOPS - GREAT) AGAIN

History doggedly repeats itself, but we learn little from its lessons. Consider the fact that clever people did not take the rise of fascist demagogues in the 1930's seriously. They regarded peacock strutting dictators in their goofy uniforms and jackboots as buffoons. They were mocked, derided and treated with contempt until it was too late to prevent their costing mankind suffering and waste beyond reckoning. History repeated itself in clever people once again failing to take fascist Donald Trump seriously. They were bemused by his unmitigated dishonesty, constant lies, religious intolerance, bigotry, xenophobia and egotism. Now, with 13 million Republican voters in Trump's camp, he is no longer considered a joke. The fact that a sociopath was able to become the Republican nominee for President is un-American in itself. Trump's policy proposals are diametrically opposed to America's founding principles and truths that all Americans are meant to regard as inalienable. Trump's campaign is driven by disaffected white voters who yearn to return to the time when the majority of America's people were white. That's what Trump really means when he says he wants to make America great again. America will cease being America if Trump becomes its 45th President.

ANCYL ROCKS A TATTERED ANC

If the ANC Youth league (ANCYL) believes it is in a position to orchestrate the future role of ANC elders, it is no fantasy. The ANCYL has called for an overhaul of the party's leadership. In doing so, it excoriated Gwede Mantashe for calling on unnamed cadres to resign, and instead Mantashe was told "do so alone". Clearly the ANC's poor showing in the recent election has magnified factional rifts within the party.  For the ANCYL to undermine the likes of Mantashe, who are deemed to be impediments to increasing its sphere of influence within the organisation is clearly a new phenomenon.  Historically the ANCYL has hardly been an influential body within the ANC. No longer, as the shift in power within the country has now afforded the young guns of the ANCYL the means to put the old men and women in Luthuli House out to pasture.

POLITICS & CRICKET - A REFLECTIVE LESSON

It was a tranquil day in idyllic Sandwich Town, Kent, where the sounds of a cricket match filled the air. Besides the ear splitting thump of the ball on a batsman's helmet, the solitude of the game allowed one plenty of time to ponder the big questions. And so, it was for me, recuperating from a mild concussion, to ponder the big questions about South Africa's recent election and its political future. At the outset the obvious must be stated: the ANC under-estimated the deep-seated frustration and resentment amongst its metro supporters. It's ubiquitous T-shirt and food parcel no longer served as catalysts for votes. The DA, on the other hand, understood voter concerns - bread and butter delivery issues. In doing so, it was empirically in a position to demonstrate its competence in governing the Western Cape, and given the opportunity, to govern equally well in other provinces. South Africa's 2016 municipal election was a watershed moment. It has demonstrated a political maturing of its people resulting in the genesis of a new power structure with the DA playing a prominent role. It is up to the DA, metaphorically speaking, not to drop the ball in the country's slips or its boundaries.