Struwwelpeter: Welcome to 2015: It is priceless
How a father can win his custody case in court
THE other day, at the local craft market, the DA were handing out pamphlets in order to get people to sign a petition. My pamphlet said the following about Eskom:
• R300bn is the estimated cost of load shedding since 2008
• R633 000 is the average annual salary of Eskom’s 46 000 employees
• 0 is the number of statements by president Zuma on the energy crisis
• R176,6bn is the estimated budget overrun for Medupi and Kusile (initial combined budget R149.7bn; current estimate R326,4bn)
• R22,8m: salary and bonus of former CEO, Brian
• R275: cost of installing a back-up generator at Nkandla
• 5: the number of years that Medupi and Kusile are behind schedule.
Of course I signed the petition to get a court order to get these Eskom bonuses recovered and to freeze further bonuses.
But that is not all: in this morning’s editorial, Die Burger commented that Eskom were already in such deep trouble that it was foolish to burden them with social engineering as well. But it seems that the Department of Labour is determined to force Eskom to fire 1 000 experienced white engineers, so as to “get the quotas” right.
If they do the quotas might be right, and the minister who is so short-sighted might get kudos – but the blackouts could be semi-permanent.
Of course we, and Eskom, need black engineers, but why not then use the experienced white engineers to train and mentor new black engineers? When Struwwelpeter was appointed to run a largish chemical complex at a relatively young age, he had a mentor who kept him on the right track, helped him to keep his nose clean and taught him the tricks of the trade.
I have such respect for this man that I would like to thank him publicly: His name is Dr (hc) AG van der Bergh, and he lives in Kempton Park. Baie dankie At!
But to get back to the point: Eskom simply does not have the luxury to experiment with a quota system. Not now, they don’t.
* * *
Mugabe was visiting a primary school and the class was in the middle of a discussion related to words and their meanings. The teacher asked Mugabe if he would like to lead the discussion on the word “tragedy”.
So the illustrious stand-in teacher asked the class for an example of a tragedy.
A little boy stood up and offered: “If my best friend, who lives on a farm, is playing in the field and a tractor runs over him and kills him. That would be a tragedy.”
“Incorrect,” said Bob. “That would be an accident.”
A little girl raised her hand: “If a school bus carrying fifty children drove over a cliff, killing everyone inside, that would be a tragedy.”
“I’m afraid not,” explained Mugabe, “that’s what we would refer to as a great loss.”
The room went silent. No other children volunteered. Mugabe searched the room.
“Isn’t there someone here who can give me an example of a tragedy?”
Finally, at the back of the room, Knowledge Kosasa raised his hand and said: “If a plane carrying you and all the Zim cabinet ministers crashed, and everyone was killed, that would be a tragedy.”
“Fantastic,” exclaimed Mugabe, “and can you tell me why that would be a tragedy?”
“’Well,” said Knowledge, “it would be a tragedy, because it certainly wouldn’t be a great loss, and it probably wouldn’t be an accident either.”
* * *
A man and his wife were getting a divorce at a local court in Greece but the custody of their children posed a problem. The mother jumped to her feet and protested to the judge that since she had brought the children into this world, she should retain custody of them.
The man also wanted custody of his children, so the judge asked for his side of the story. After a moment of silence, the man rose from his chair and replied:
“Your Honour, when I put a coin into a vending machine, and a Coke comes out, does the Coke belong to me or to the machine?”
DON’T LAUGH, HE WON!!
* * *
WELCOME to 2015:
• Our Phones – Wireless
• Cooking – Fireless
• Cars – Keyless
• Food – Fatless
• Tires –Tubeless
• Dress – Sleeveless
• Youth – Jobless
• Leaders – Shameless
• Relationships – Meaningless
• Attitudes – Careless
• Babies – Fatherless
We are speechless,
Government is clueless,
And our President is worthless!
And this is priceless!
