In n the last ten years 4.5 million households have been provided with free basic water, 4 million have been
given access to sanitation (flush or chemical lavatories), and 2 million have been connected to the national
electricity grid. Despite these successes, discontent with local government is increasing and citizens are no longer content to wait patiently for the promised improvements to their lives.
According to Municipal IQ, an organisation that monitors and assesses local government in South Africa, between January and July 2013 there had been 97 protests sparked by issues that are the responsibility or the perceived responsibility of local government.
This is compared to 10 in the whole of 2004. Also, according to the 2013 South African Reconciliation Barometer, only 49% of respondents said they had confi dence in local government.
Serious challenges such as corruption, skills shortages, large discrepancies between municipalities in the provision of services, increasingly violent service delivery protests, and mismanagement abound. This helps to explain why protests, specifi cally against local government, have been on the rise since 2004.
In his keynote address at the National Summit for Organised Local Government in 1996, Nelson Mandela said that local government was the vehicle through which citizens could ‘make their voice heard and [that
should] provide an effective instrument for them to improve their lives’. The challenges that confront local government impede its ability to deliver on its mandate to provide services, such as water and electricity,
which improves the lives of its citizens. This is in evidence in the vast differences in service delivery between the municipalities.
Courtesy of South African Institute of Race relations
To what extent will loyalty and gratitude to the ruling party outweigh disillusionment and apathy in the forthcoming election?
As South Africa heads towards national and provincial elections, the ruling party — the African National Congress (ANC) — has to contend not only with other political parties but also with the apathy and disillusionment displayed by a large number of people in the country.
Apathy is showing itself through the overall increase in the proportion of eligible voters who did not vote at all in past elections, and disillusionment through the sharp increase in the number of ‘service delivery’ protests around the country. While support for the ANC has never been below 60% since the fi rst national elections in 1994, the proportion of eligible voters who did not vote has risen from 14% to 41% in the 2009 elections. This share is even higher in local elections, where voter apathy has hovered around 60%. The increase in the number of major ‘service delivery’ protests, from 10 in 2004 to 155 in 2013, completes the picture.
The South African Police Service reported a 93% increase in the number of incidents of public violence, from 974 cases in 2004/05 to1 882 in 2012/13. The increase may refl ect a ‘crisis of rising expectations’ as delivery falls short of the high expectations created. Faced with an official unemployment rate of almost 26%, many South Africans struggle to join the formal economy, thus increasing their frustration with what
they perceive to be the State’s slow delivery.
Despite the disillusionment, many may still be loyal to the ANC given the roll-out of services by the State. In 2012 some 56% of learners attended no-fee schools and the number of social grant beneficiaries increased from 2.4 million in 1996/97 to over 16 million in 2013/14. In addition, 47% of households receive free water and 28% receive free electricity.
With declining confi dence in state institutions, rife corruption and the lack of accountability among public officials, yet an increase in state provision of services, voters’ decisions at the polls are now more diffi cult
to predict than in previous elections. Another unknown factor is whether disillusionment at local level will affect national voting patterns.
Courtesy of South African Institute of Race Relations
The late
Grammy-winning American stand-up comedian, actor, author, and
philosopher, George Calin once said, “never underestimate the power
of 'stupid' people in large groups.” I am sure Mr. Calin could have witnessed an incident or occasion that made him utter these
sentiments.
The
famed quote materialized into my psyche when part of the crowd that
gathered at Nelson Mandela's memorial service held at FNB stadium in
Johannesburg to pay their last respects to a leader who
curbed them from apartheid, booed and scoffed off their leader
President Jacob Zuma in his own country and in front of a global
television audience let alone in the presence of world’s most
powerful leaders.
I
am not labeling whoever contributed to the booing of Zuma a stupid
because that would be out of context, but i rather envied to feature
this quote with regards to how influential a large group can be
irrespective of what names we call them.
One
would say the jeering and that kind of “mental attitude”
exhibited by South Africans who thronged at this renowned event,
which is thought to be the largest since Winston Churchill's 1965
state funeral, was ill-timed and uncalled for.
I
beg to differ with anyone whose line of thinking rests in the above
sentiments taking into consideration quite a number of aspects that
materialised the kind of embarrassment President Zuma encountered on
a day that he was meant to boost the his party's (ANC) political mileage ahead of the country's general elections in the coming six months.
The
aggressive reception granted Mr Zuma is a clear reflection that South
Africans had always wanted an opportunity where they would clearly
tell their leader there were not a happy people hence they had to
capitalise on that illustrious event.
Mandela’s
passing on came so soon after contentions such as Nkandla and the
government’s refusal to shift on the broadly rejected e-toll
payment strategy for upgrades to Gauteng’s highway system.
While
this was the first international event at which Mr Zuma was booed, it
is not the first time South Africans have called for him to be
recalled from his post. The Democratic Alliance threatened to call
for Mr Zuma’s impeachment after the Mail & Guardian printed
extracts from Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s draft report on
the Nkandla saga. Ms Madonsela tentatively found Mr Zuma had misled
Parliament and profited considerably from about R20m worth of work
that had nothing to do with security features at his home, including
a swimming pool.
The
crucial aspect to note about yesterday is how representative were the
people who booed? If they did represent the view of many, then the
message is that its high time the president should practice self
introspection, not that citizens must behave in a way the elite
group wants tantamount to what happens in other countries where the credibility of a leader isis not directly questioned but rather the masses hide behind the media
for fear of being silenced.
Its
common knowledge that Mandela had carefully managed the anger and
frustration of the oppressor and the oppressed in South Africa’s
transition to democracy. He had also never hesitated to speak his
mind, no matter who he was speaking to, or how uncomfortable his
words may have been to his listener. It is in line with this
background that part of the crowd that gathered on that day did not
hesitate to speak their mind to their president whom they have many a
times accused of corruption and poor administration.
Mr.
Zuma was wrong if he took his people for granted, not to mention
undermining them and tag them a 'stupid' people because such cannot
happen in a country like South Africa where civilians are not afraid
to independently express their feelings to anyone despite their race,
political affiliation, gender you name it.
Lets not forget that this
is also election season and people would believe that (the memorial)
is a platform to express themselves and to say that everyone who
behaved in that manner should be ignored is a huge mistake.
Democracy
is a system of rules in which, if masses want to boo a sitting
president at a memorial, they can freely do that without interference
and this is what happened to Zuma yesterday in sharp contrast to the
cheers that greeted his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, and the vast cheers
for US President Barack Obama, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and
even for former apartheid president FW de Klerk.
People
cannot celebrate Madiba's contribution to achieving democracy and at
the same time scold people for exercising the rights which democracy
brings. That day was a warning for Zuma to act up and put his house
in order, the crowd spoke and that was something one should not
ignore hence he (Zuma) should walk the talk.
Presidential
Spokesperson Mac Maharaj shrugged
off the booing and maintained that Zuma
remained a popular leader. He
might have wanted to dampen the humiliation by saying, "It
passed – in four minutes it was over, and it didn't happen again,"
and that "we will not take a small event and make it into a
crisis in our democracy," but the fact is that his
boss and the world over realised that his (Zuma's) popularity was
fast becoming a history let alone loosing credibility in the
country's politics.
Where are the leaders of our time?...The Mandelas, the Ghandis, the
Kwame Nkhrumas, the Martin Luther Kings, the Joshua Nkomo, the Josiah Tongogara, Edgar Tekere...etc? Are all gone...All we
have left with are their quotes and speeches that we love to recite and quote but
never put into practice ...Are we a generation of cowards? Or is it
because the issues those great leaders stood for are no longer a part of
our struggle? Are we truelly a free generation? Are we no longer
oppressed? Or has globalization made us blind to think we are living in a
globalised world where we are all equal? Or has the technology of our
time and the journalism of our time distracted us from the real
struggles? This is food for thought!
Three provinces contribute overwhelmingly to turning the country’s wheels. They come to the fore in more ways than one.
Together, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape occupy only 20% of the total land area of South Africa. But Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, the country’s most populous provinces, account for more than 40% of the total population. Higher levels of urbanisation are also evident, with Gauteng having as many as three of South Africa’s eight metropolitan areas. The United Nations also ranks Johannesburg and Cape Town (located in Gauteng and the Western Cape) seventh and eighth respectively among the ten most populous cities in Africa.
Gauteng alone accounts for more than a third of total South African gross domestic product. The fi nance sector is the single largest contributor to the economies of the three provinces. Manufacturing and trade also
account for significant shares of economic activity. Almost two thirds of all employed people and just over 70% of individual taxpayers are registered in the three provinces combined. Gauteng and the Western Cape have the lowest ratios of people who do not work and are dependent on those that are employed.
Educational outcomes are also significantly better in these areas. The proportions of adults with no education are lowest in Gauteng and the Western Cape. Those that are literate and have higher education are also
most likely to be living in these two provinces. The proportion of people who have attained grade 12 is also relatively high in KwaZulu-Natal.
People in Gauteng and the Western Cape are also better placed to afford medical aid and are more likely, because of their education levels and income status, to have better nutrition levels. Not surprisingly, many of South Africa’s internal and international migrants head for Gauteng and the Western Cape. Statistics South Africa’s estimates for the period 2006-11 indicate that most of the people moving out of the Free State, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the North West, and the Northern Cape headed for Gauteng. Those from the Eastern Cape largely chose to move to the Western Cape.
The data presented in this article bears witness to the disparities between the provinces. An improvement in the fortunes of poorer provinces would certainly help to ease the burden borne by better performing ones.
Courstesy of South African Institute of Race Relations
Many people often fall victim of resolving issues just by thinking about them, captivating act is
the means to countering such tribulations and if you see yourself going through this kind of setup,
then know that procrastination is taking a dig on you.
To make this whole subject more remarkable i would propose that i define what procrastination means.
According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, in psychology, procrastination refers to the act
of replacing high priority actions with tasks of low-priority, and thus putting off important tasks to
a later time.
Considering this description, do you often find yourself “fiddling around” when you know you should be working, studying or doing something more than “fiddling around”? If so,chances are very good you are procrastinating. What would one do when they become typical of this horrible conduct? I would suggest that they stop, " talk the walk but rather walk the talk,” so as to get out to this. This is especially the case with regard to self-help, just thinking about things that trouble you, but not taking action to change them is likely to be effective.
Even though it is ineffective, the tendency to just think about things that trouble you and avoid taking action to address them is so common that other multiple names which go along with procrastination have been developed to describe it, including “intellectualization”, “rumination” just to name but a few.
Keeping away from intriguing action on troubles is not an effective or useful strategy for self-help because at the end of the day nothing happens when you do this except that your thoughts go round and round hence Eva Young argues that, “To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing.”
Young’s submission on this subject is a “Stop Planning and Get Started Now” tip, taking into account that each plan, operation or procedure ought to be designed out with an objective in mind but a lot of over thinking and over-planning can be nonconstructive since there is no such thing as a “great preparation” so sketch out a plan and get on track now.
Distress and meditation not including action require an essential component required for forward motion and optimistic change. A bicycle cannot move on its own unless one rides on it and do what it takes to keep it in motion thus like a bicycle with no-one to cycle it, prevention and anxiety in the absence of an action plan cannot get you where you want to go.
One can consider reducing tasks to the next step. How? If you have a pile of papers on your desk, take the first paper of the top pile and start there. To get started, just take the first step. To finish, take the next step, then the next until your task is completed. To prop up this tip, one King said to his servant, “Begin at the beginning, then go until you reach the end. Then stop.”
When one procrastinates, they want to do something but they do not take the action that is in alignment with that thought and they become conflicted within. The easiest thing to do when confronted with such circumstances is to make a decision hence Theodore Roosevelt put it that, “In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”
Most people occasionally procrastinate but not enough to interfere with functioning at home school or work. However, for some people procrastination becomes a major obstruction to their success in school and to their ability to earn a living. For these people life is fraught with the fear of being fired from work or failing out of school.
Fearing that a task is above one’s ability is something that often annoys adults and children. In my research on this subject i have revealed that Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a dominant cause of procrastination amongst children where when they are excellent in school work often get more privilege calls like being a prefect, attending various workshops and meetings. Such will result to paying attention to a number of things hence they can quickly fall apart, feel overwhelmed and stop performing well in school work.
To counter ADHD i would recommend that one should focus on aspects or challenges they are able to tackle. Having a horde of errands at your disposal can shift attention on some other important goals one might need to achieve and such breeds confusion, boredom, anxiety, despair to name a few. When one feels this way is one aspect which usually lacks amongst them, a sense of belonging. Why, because when you are working as a team and you discover that at the end of the day you have not archived what others have, you consider yourself a misfit.
A chain of strange activities normally occur when people go through procrastination, if you consider yourself a misfit the next thing you do is isolate yourself from others whom you feel they are better than you hence you cannot associate yourself with them. My advice is that one should make it a point they engage themselves into activities which meet their adequate attention lest they find themselves in such scenarios.
Procrastination thrives on displacement hence you often hear people say, “If i watch a movie instead of working, I don’t even enjoy that movie because what i should be doing is just hanging over me!” When you procrastinate it feels uncomfortable, so the way out is to focus on how you will feel later if you do not do what you need want to do.
There is a kind of purity to doing what you should that you just never get when you pursue displacement activities. It might sound funny but you will find it worthwhile in the near future, i am talking about signing a
declaration of independence from this “ghost” called procrastination which keeps on haunting you.
Research has it that signing a letter of intent in front of witnesses makes it much more compelling to honor your intent. Write up or print out a letter of intent in the presence of trusted friends or colleagues. Tell them that when you have completed your task on a certain date, you will sign off in front of them. This may sound a little insane, but can be incredibly compelling.
There are numerous special ways of helping yourself overcome troubles, and not all of them will turn up at first glance to be remedial. Doing your own taxes, fixing your own car or even serving yourself at a buffet lunch is all legitimate and useful self-help activities that can make you feel better about yourself.
Given the response to the article What do men Want, its worth it to look at what women want. Perhaps this can do “justice” to women especially since the aspect of equal rights has become a concern of all governments.
Before I start listing down some of these facts one important aspect men should take note is that there are many things we do not realize about women and this is what I found common in almost every women I spoke to.
Women often do not know what they really like in a guy. Women are much more susceptible to their emotions than men and it is the man who understands how to use this knowledge that has the advantage with women.
Allow me to be clear. It is not easy to win the heart of a woman as most men believe. What makes it hard is when guys do things for women that guys would like, but do not create an emotional moment with a woman. They often focus simply on being romantic or charming. While women do love those aspects, those alone are not enough before one answer the below questions:
·Have you ever found yourself wondering just exactly what women want from men?
·Do you want to know what women talk about behind men's backs?
If you answered "Yes!" to either of these questions, then you deserve to know what most women have thought must be the best ever Christmas present every men should have for 2011.
Love them: I am well aware that to say this is similar to announcing that the sun revolves around the earth. Most of the times, we have been told that what women most want is professional success and equality. And to the extent that a modern “liberated” woman does admit to wanting a man to love, she will say that she wants a “partner” who is her “equal.” And girls and women have been told that equality means that both sexes are essentially the same and therefore want the same things. Equality and sameness have been made equal. That is why she cannot say — and ideally would not even admit to herself that she wants a man to admire; that would be “sexist” as it would imply.
Respect. Show them through your actions that you respect their opinions, careers, interests, friends, bodies and minds. You do not have to agree with all what they say or do, but try to honor their opinions as valuable contributions. Follow the golden rule and treat them as you would like to be treated. In essence be honest, fair, kind, and considerate.
Romance. This aspect had numerous views but what I found sticking was what this woman told me, she said: “Just because we're staying in doesn't mean the evening can't be romantic. Light a few candles and see where the night leads. Treat us like your girlfriend, even after we become your wife. Date nights, making out in the car, kissing like when we first started dating all of the things that made us fall in love with you don't have to stop just because now there are bills to pay, a house to be cleaned, and kids that need to get bathed. Bring home flowers for no reason. We're not talking $100 bunch of roses here. Even the $10 bouquets from the supermarket are enough to make us smile.”
Time. We understand relationships cannot be all wine and roses; simply making the time to be with them and treating them like your top priority says "love" more than all the fancy gifts and lovely letters ever could. This includes helping around the house. The realities of a 21st-century relationship are that both partners probably work. If you happen to get home before they do, why not take vacuum the living room or throw in a load of laundry?
Dinner. You may not be good at cooking and you may not know how to boil water. But greeting them at the door after a long day with fish sticks (or whatever you can wrestle up) can make them lose consciousness, because it shows that you have been thinking about them and their hectic day.
Communication. Women are vocal creatures. They know we love them, but it is nice for them to hear us say it, too. So let us know when you think they are hot. Tell them they are beautiful. It helps them feel good and when they feel sexy they are more likely to act sexy. Words of appreciation are not half-bad either. Tell them you love the food they make. Thank them for driving the kids to school. Notice that they cleaned the house and the kitchen. It does not have to be over the top, just let them know that you see the effort they put in, and you are grateful. Above all, one woman said to me, “Ask yourself which love language do you speak?”
Consistency. This does not mean be boring and predictable. It means that they know you will give them the love and support they need. Knowing that you are coming at this with the same desires and energy as they are goes a long way to making them feel secure.
Engagement. You do not have to like everything they like (they might be a little concerned if you do), but showing interest in their passions, be it career-related, a sport or a hobby, goes a long way. Listen when they talk to you. They are not speaking just so they can hear their own voice; they want to connect with you and this is one valuable way they do this. This also means paying attention to the little things.
Good looking. This aspect does not dwell on someone’s handsome alone; it also touches on things like smartness. Of course most women wouldn’t like dating a guy who is not good looking. One weakness some men have is that they make a sudden shift on the way they handle themselves when they become rest assured “she is now mine.” This is a dangerous perception taking into account that most women want consistency on such kind of things and one important thing to take note is that you will share the same bad with her and it is advisable you take a shower all the times to avoid her sleeping with her back on you or you rather risk loosing her.
