From my heart

Just as we had dinner this evening, the power went out ... load shedding! So we lit the candles, and switched on the emergency light in the kitchen. Before long the laptop batteries ran out, and a while later the cellphone batteries. So there we were, just like when I was a kid, on the farm, no power, no lights and only ourselves to keep us busy. The kids got bored quickly, there were no tech to keep them busy. I was fine, because no phone and no internet meant that I could not respond to support calls. (blessing in disguise). It is fine, but this was the second night in a row, last night we had an impromptu braai, with friends of my wife and the kids had friends to keep them busy. So what brought us to this?  When I was a kid, in the rural areas, any flicker of lightning would cause a black-out. But it was not an issue then. We were prepared for it. And we were not so utterly dependent on technology to keep ourselves busy. Our electricity provider, in the las...

I sit with a dilemma! I was in Mozambique when the Gauteng e-toll raucous started, so I did not give it any serious thought.But I am back in South Africa now. To get to the office I have to take the high-way (e-tolled) or I have to drive through town (I live on the other side of town). I drove through town for a couple of months, avoiding the toll-roads. Then recently I took the high-way. ... and my fuel consumption dropped dramatically. I made a couple of calculations and found that the cost of my fuel consumption through town exceeds the cost of peak hour e-tolls. So I started taking the high-way meaning that I will be billed for using it. ... and just this is my dilemma. Thousands of people in Gauteng are apposed to e-tolling and refuse to pay their e-toll bills. The reasons cited are: the Government implemented the e-toll system without proper consultation (which I believe is true) . the Government did not consider other alternatives (I am sure that they may have...