Mbeki lets them have it!

Mbeki showed his brilliance with a fantastic speech at the Wits Origin Centre. He essentially said that the ANC members should stop their pathetic rivalries and control their emotions, and address the nations problems. Its about time somebody tried to refocus the parliamentarians and ANC about the major issues at hand, and not on their personal issues or Zumas problems. If Zuma had any finer feelings, he would have felt a bit small - especially since he's the main culprit, wasting everybody's time sueing cartoonists for defaming him. It all probably went right over his uneducated head, which is why we all love him so much. I wish he would say something original and intelligent sometime...but then, I suppose, we wouldn't want him for president anymore, because he'd no longer be just like the rest of us.

Unemployment Blues

We were in the shebeen on Sat night, for a change, and there was a new guy there, that is, who isn't normally there, Lekua. He works part time as a carpenter, and was just fired from a job for messing it up. Now Lekua is a master carpenter, everybody in the Sloot has witnessed his excellent work. So what happened? It turns out he screwed up because he was making do with incorrect tools and equipment. The reason is the property owner asked him what to buy for his new kitchen, and Lekua explained as best he could. However, Lekua is not up to date with the latest in kitchen cupboard technology, and this was made worst by the fact that the kitchen owner left Lekua to work while he went to buy the various items. The result was Lekua was landed with a lot of stuff he had no idea what to do with, but attended to the job as any carpenter would under the circumstances. Now Lekua is depressed because, despite being a master carpenter, he can no longer offer kitchen installations. Probably not bathrooms either, and who knows what else? Why? Because he can't update his knowledge. He doesn't have money or time to buy the items, practice, chat with the people in the supply store. How many people are trained or partially trained, or need skill updating, and thats the only reason they're unemployed? How come is there no government sponsored training centre where Lekua, and the thousands like him, can go and find out what he needs to know? No. Instead, we have SETAs and government offices full of employees making strategic plans about skills and training. Why must we always overlook the simple solutions in favour of complicated ones which don't work? Why does no one, especially in the Government, care?