It is not only our economy that is on the junk status heap…

Now that we know that the country’s economic credit rating is a load of junk, it is time to consign a whole bunch of other things to the junk yard.

It is not fair that only the South African economy should be labelled ‘junk’.
I mean, what about the state of many of our roads with their infamous potholes? Could we not also downgrade them to junk status? In that way, no one has to maintain the roads because no one fixes junk.
And what about those party-poopers whose perpetual open air, wild parties continue to get up the ears of residents near Coronation Park? Junk status for them.
And those mysterious people who wangle municipal tenders for their own nefarious activities? Definitely junk.
And then there are those motorists who insist on driving slowly around Dundee with their car windows wide open and deafen all and sundry with the booming, monotonous music that shakes even the Kremlin. Junk, for sure.

Then you get those who cannot park and do not seem to mind if their car takes up two parking bays at Spar or Pick ‘n Pay. Sometimes you get the really Cameroon-type junk status parkers who leave their vehicles on the pavements.
Then you get rude people in queues – be it in banks, outside ATMS or even in supermarkets. Sometimes these junkies shout at you for ‘wasting their time’ when all you are trying to do is sort out a banking query.
Of course, there is a special place for municipal workers who threaten and even assault residents at the dumping site. The irony is clear. Dumping site, where you leave junk.

Then you get those tight-fisted types who appear to be able to cleverly manoeuvre their way around a pub to ensure that they never have to buy a beer – not even one for themselves or their mates. This is a kind of scheming junkie.
These people also do not tip waiters even though the bill could have been in excess of R1 000.
And in our town/s, there are also many others who qualify for junk status – those who abuse animals, those who just dump unwanted pets in the veld. Those who think up scam after scam in a bid to swindle harmless people out of their money at ATMs and through cellphone schemes.

You also get the fake job junksters. Pretend there are hundreds of vacancies at a mine, get applicants to pay in R100 to ensure that they get the job, then disappear.
There are other places that are a bit junkie. Like places of emergencies, hospitals, police stations etc. where the landline telephone will just ring and ring without anyone bothering. Junk.

And the businesses who continually rip-off people and are seemingly immune to press exposes, insults and threats of court. They are not even scared of being labelled junk status. Yes, there is a lot of junk out there. But sometimes you have to search for the diamonds in the junkyard…