Two Bits – 8 January 2016

The benefit of experience is that it should encourage us to repeat our successes and prevent us repeating our mistakes. So 2015 is in the bag, chalk it down to experience and look forward to a shiny new 2016.
There were several negative events towards the end of last year that caused so many people to be angry and confused about the future. But we have to recognise that the leaders we get are there either because we chose them, or because we did not put forward better leaders.
Better leadership will come from communities like ours here on the North Coast nurturing and developing people who will one day be capable of taking on leadership roles in our community, in our country and in the world.
My heart swelled with pride when I read the tribute three of the country’s top matric students paid to Umhlali Prep School, in laying the foundation for their success. Of course the accolades go to Astra Russell and all the teachers whose hands the students passed through, but it didn’t stop me from giving a mental high five to the community that allowed such excellence to flourish. As the African proverb goes: it takes a village to raise a child.
Let’s try to put aside all the failures and concentrate on the things we can do, no matter how small, to make our communities better places.
It’s a fool who tries to predict the future, but I think I can safely say there are several events that will come about in 2016 that will improve our lives.
The first, on a huge scale, is that the El Niño weather event will end. According to the weather experts, this period of intense drought has probably just peaked but will likely last through the first quarter of the year. Expect more unusual weather, but maybe with a return to the seasonal norm by the end of the year.
Second, and closer to home, is that the Tugela pipeline should be complete by mid-year, if not sooner. The pipeline will carry water from the Tugela River to KwaDukuza and Ballito and other North Coast centres. This will relieve pressure on the coast’s only water supply from Hazelmere Dam.
The third event is that raising of the Hazelmere Dam wall should be well past the halfway mark by the end of this year. The project to raise the wall by seven metres – which will double the dam’s capacity – got underway in September last year and should take until mid-2017.
Fourth, work is expected to start soon on Tongaat Hulett’s housing estate and hotel school at Tinley Manor, which will provide job opportunities. The same goes for the planned development of Sibaya estate at Umdloti and the Blythedale Coastal Resort.
Fifth, North Coast residents will continue to think of others. A national media survey a few years ago showed that 21 percent of locals contributed regularly to charity, the highest of any community in the country. Residents recognise the work done by the Christmas Fair Fund, Vision 153, Food for Life, St Lukes, LIV Village, Haven of Rest, Blessed Gerard’s, Summerhill House, the Courier Orphan Fund and many others in extending a helping hand to the poor and destitute.
We at the Courier will continue to bring you all the news fit to print about the North Coast community. In doing so, we hope to reveal the real causes of events by looking behind the obvious. New information can often challenge long held beliefs and change the way we do things. We will inform and entertain you, occasionally tell you something you didn’t know and hopefully, make you smile.
And lastly, looking forward to 2016 I would like to leave you with this: May all your troubles last as long as your New Year resolutions.
* * *

Oom Piet, an elderly Doringkop farmer, received a letter from the Department of Social Security and Pensions stating that they suspected he was not paying his employees the statutory minimum wage and they would send an inspector to interview them.
On the appointed day, the inspector turned up.
“Tell me about your staff,” he asked Oom Piet.
“Well,” said Piet; “there’s the handyman, I pay him R2 400 a week, and he has a free cottage.
“Then there’s the housekeeper. She gets R1 900 a week, along with free board and lodging.
“There’s also the half-wit. He works a 16 hour day, does 90% of the work, earns about R25 a week along with a bottle of whisky and, as a special treat, occasionally gets to sleep with my wife.”
“That’s disgraceful” said the inspector. I need to interview the half-wit.”
“That’ll be me then,” said Oom Piet.