Disambiguation

All fraud is detectable

noreply@blogger.com (Bart's Blog) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 10:28:00 +0000

I am in the business of fraud risk management solutions, enterprise-wide... with probabilities and certainties, based on assumptions or balanced scorecards. Of course, there are variables (predictive analytics), but that does not detract from the fact that you can model and measure risk.

There are some atypical risks that are largely dependent on mathematical probability and are unpredictable.

That does not mean that risk, being a measurable quantity, is consequently negated. It means that your models built initially on the known are subject, to varying degrees, to variables... in the final analysis.

There is a pure and speculative risk. It is the pure risk we want to manage and the speculative risk that we want to aggregate and predict. The problem is that there can be events that occur that were not expected (considered in the evaluation of the risk) – such as a natural disaster, or other unplanned events.

It is, of course, easier to manage when such speculative risk is known.

Then, of course, there can be dirty data and consequent “black swans” such as the unfolding disaster at Olympus, the Japanese maker of cameras and endoscopes, which has been found hiding losses by treating them as assets since the 1990s.

Once we have that assumption, we can now construct our model to include the absolutes and also the variables. In come the data mining tools and the mathematicians (quants).

We use data mining for practical exceptions (compliance and control) and data analytics. We can apply logarithms, algorithms and equations... mathematical formulae to measure ambiguity – one element factual and the other hypothetical.

For me the challenge isn’t whether risk can be measured, but rather what risk can or can’t, should or shouldn’t be measured based on fact and probability when measured against return on investment.

This in and of itself creates an additional risk – potential oversight based on expediency.

As such, any risk model must start on the systematic identification of known risk (pure) enterprise-wide and drill down into the unknown or the weighting of probabilities based on statistical data.

The only question remaining is to what degree the precise and imprecise impact the efficiencies of the overall model. Therein lies the variable and the common pursuit of the purists.

Risk models can only be developed under enterprise-wide risk frameworks/guidelines.

The principle of enterprise-wide fraud risk management (EWFRM) is younger than the forensic audit profession and even younger than corporate governance.

In order to manage fraud risk enterprise-wide, one needs to study and capture fraud risk enterprise-wide and then map the risks horizontally and vertically.

It is my opinion that most, practically all, risk managers today simply haven’t spent enough time studying and understanding every facet of the enterprise to be even close to calling themselves experts.

From my experience, at least 95% don’t even know what EWFRM is. This presents a challenge - a significant challenge.

It is high time that the full spectrum of audit due diligence, internal assurance and annual attestation is digitised along internationally accepted standards, removing the subjectivity of the individual auditors representing the big firms.

Forget Ansbacher, Enron, WorldCom, Parmalat, Société Générale, Dynegy, Qwest, Freddie Mac, Refco, BCCI, Dexia, Owen Wiggins Group, Regal, Barings and the litany of corporate corpses.

There have been so many massive corporate failures after getting the all-clear from a big four accounting firm that auditor opinions are becoming a joke.

Regulators for decades have tried figuring out ways to get around this fundamental flaw by passing all sorts of rules requiring that auditors be “independent” and that they exercise the requisite standards of care, yet waves of accounting scandals keep coming.

Performing an audit and exercising due care isn’t rocket science.

All fraud is detectable, because all fraud must be expensed. Accounting is a double entry process - for every transaction there must be a flip side to the transaction.

Take Olympus for instance, if Olympus was concealing losses as assets, you can’t create an asset unless you create an expense and you can’t create an expense without creating a payment.

Basically for every asset there must be a “cost of goods” or “cost of asset”.

To make a camera or endoscope, you must buy in raw material or components. To create hundreds of millions of dollars worth of stock, you must create hundreds of millions of materials purchase orders and payments

To conceal these losses by hiding the losses in fictitious assets is a monumental task. In fact, usually these frauds manifest in the form of large and unusual adjustments at year-end because of this complexity. So picking this up shouldn’t be too difficult, and it isn’t.

The answer is the digitisation of the process of audit and assurance – the business intelligence exists, so does the technology.

The race should be on to develop the models and the world bourses should be clamouring for these solutions.

http://www.iweek.co.za/byte-a-bit/all-fraud-is-detectable

Basket case or case for Dr. Livingstone?

noreply@blogger.com (Bart's Blog) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:13:00 +0000

Three years ago or so, I was invited to Zimbabwe to speak on the subject of Fraud Management by the Institute of Chartered Accountants at their winter school in Vic Falls.

I decided to make the trip by road electing to turn the invitation into an adventure.

As that wise saying goes, many a road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Zimbabwe three or four years ago was a wasteland if you ventured into the country by road.

I took the trip in a Nissan 4x4 Double Cab stockpiled with jerry cans of extra fuel that simply wasn’t enough to get me from Pretoria, through Musina, Bulawayo, on to Hwange and finally Vic Falls.

I made the mistake of offering to pay a local familiar with conditions on the ground I found in South Africa to drive my wife and I as far as Bulawayo, where I would leave them with their family and pick them up on the way back.

Our “local” had two things against him, if you discount his personality, I was to discover.

The first was the fact that he only had one eye, and the other, he couldn’t add.

On a road trip where the fact that a country is in the grips of a total economic meltdown can prove reckless and just mildly inconvenient when the consequence of economic meltdown is a complete lack of fuel or food on the shelves.

Hurtling through the night on ill defined and crumbling roads driven by a one eyed Kamikazi pilot is also not as fun or exiting as one might expect.

The fact that he was from Bulawayo and miscalculated the distance from Bulawayo to Vic Falls by 600 kilometres round trip didn’t help?

Zimbabwe at the time was a ghost country.

We travelled for hours without seeing another car in any direction.

We solved the fuel issue by finding black marketeers that sold us fuel for an extortionate R12 a litre?

Vic Falls, which is what this is about, at the time, was a town in the grips of starvation.

It was heartbreaking to witness the coal face of Zimbabwe’s failed policies.

Last week I once again made the trip to Vic Falls to lecture but without the David Livingstone spirit, I flew.

What struck me was the fact that my flight was packed.

So was the sleepy town of Vic Falls.

The place was abuzz with visitors from the four corners of the globe, a veritable league of nations following the footsteps of that intrepid explorer of yonks ago and marvelling at the sights and sound of the great Zambezi River.

I was booked to stay at a place called a-Zambezi River Lodge, a mere kilometre or two from town on the banks of the Zambezi.

Unconvinced by the throngs of tourists any reservation I had about returning to Vic Falls was dispelled.

a-Zambezi River Lodge turned out to be a hidden gem, revamped at a cost of R40 million it is a destination of note and judging from the number of guests at dinner, a not very well kept secret.

Maybe the Government of National Unity isn’t working but someone forgot to tell Vic Falls that?

Well apart from the more obvious, the thing that’s got me thinking is the state of ICT in the country but more specifically internet connectivity and cell phone coverage, signal quality and reliability.

There’s something to be said for enjoying free Wi-Fi access in the middle of the African bush.

Okay, let’s rethink complaining about bandwidth.

Connectivity in Zimbabwe is poor, very poor, although I’m sure Econet isn’t.

The question is where to now for Zimbabwe?

Judging by the patently obvious economic activity funded by cold hard tourist US $’s, the desperate need for spending in ICT for any economy that wants to be relevant, Zimbabwe is stirring.

Naturally the nationalisation debate still has investors spooked.

What can’t be ignored is the fact that our northern neighbour is starting to look viable again and that bodes well for the region.

The question isn’t whether Zimbabwe is or isn’t relevant given the existing climes.

The question is whether the Mugabe Regime is?

The fact is I’ve experienced enough seasons to know that they change and whether the Mugabe Regime is relevant or not, or will remain so if it still is doesn’t really matter.

The reality is that the digital age is here and its here to stay.

Zimbabwe has only one way to go and that’s up no matter what.

Having spent enough time in that country throughout its economic meltdown, the one sector begging for ICT, dripping with opportunity and pointing a more seductive beckoning finger at entrepreneurs than a hooker at a beer fest, its jolly old basket case Zim.

So if you have a bit of the David Livingstone in you, some spare cash and operate in the ICT space, open a little office in Harare and start looking around.

Killers in our midst

noreply@blogger.com (Bart's Blog) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 15:49:00 +0000

This past week the media were at pains to point out that a “gay” man had been found bound and gagged in his home and had it appeared been strangled to death.

My immediate reaction to the headline was why it was deemed necessary to label a victim “gay” or “heterosexual”, as if this mattered a jot?

Someone murdered is simply someone murdered. That in of itself is a tragedy.

In any event it didn’t take too long before I was extremely grateful for that headline.

The reason being that as the news story unfolded my mind kept going back about five years to when I had one of those dreaded phone calls notifying me that a friend of 20 years had been murdered in his flat in Linden.

There were many similarities between the profiles of the two victims.

Sinisterly it also crept into my mind that there also too many similarities in the crime scene.

I couldn’t help myself from thinking long and hard that there was a distinct possibility that this latest murder was the work of a serial killer.

I simply could not let this uneasy feeling rest and found myself communicating with friends and family of the recently deceased via an online memorial site put up on Facebook.

It turned out that the journalist, who broke the story, broke the story because he knew the victim.

After chatting with the journalist for a short while and comparing notes we both felt there was merit to my suspicions and we began to ask questions about the possibility that there may be more victims of this type of crime.

What I discovered rather quickly was that while the crimes were reported to the police as murders often happen to be, the murders themselves were not covered at all in the media.

As I scoured the newspapers for any story at all on the demise of my late friend in such a heinous, lonely manner I discovered I couldn’t find a single sentence.

It quickly became apparent that these types of murders weren’t the type loved ones wanted covered in the media.

Who wants to add insult to injury to a grieving family by seeing a story of a “gay” man, bound and naked, dead in what appears to be a sex game gone wrong?

Not many I can assure you.

Then of course there are the SAPS themselves.

South Africa is a homophobic society whether you like it or not and I suspect the murder of “gay” men doesn’t feature high up on the investigation priority chain.

As a result it seems to me that this type of crime can continue unnoticed and that if a serial killer were on the loose, we wouldn’t notice for a long time if at all.

It seems though, that the journalist is hot on the trail of the likelihood of a serial killer operating in the Johannesburg environs and that there are at least 4 similar murders in the past few months.

Well the SAPS don’t have to break their backs investigating these crimes.

The South African Police Services (SAPS) has allocated more than R3 billion to information systems.

Its digital capacity to detect fingerprints at crime scenes through technology to photograph and enhance fingerprints lifted from crime scenes project is 100% complete in terms of hardware deployment, but the service is 0% complete in terms of training and rollout.

The integrated case docket management system (ICDMS) entailing the management and administration of criminal cases, inquests and enquiries throughout the lifecycle of a case from its inception to its disposal is 10% complete in terms of software deployment.

The automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) is 70% complete, however, is 0% complete in terms of publishing tenders for the procurement of the new AFIS.

The SAPS set a target of replacing 5 052 PCs, 395 notebooks and tablets, 2 740 colour printers, 9 593 mono printers and 1 011 fax machines.

To date, it has replaced 287 PCs (6% progress), 168 notebooks (43%), 219 mono printers (2%), 211 colour printers (8%) and 68 fax machines (7%).

In some cases hardware was rolled out, but no progress was made on implementation, because officials still have to be trained to use the equipment.

It will take decades to fully implement the e-docket systems at police stations across the country.

At the Pretoria police station scanner, printer and computer are all on different floors. In addition, there is no quality control with regards to the e-docket.

It seems to me we’re not getting much for our R3 billion?

It also seems to me the SAPS don’t have to work awfully hard to uncover crime patterns with the correct technology in place.

Heck, all they have to do is capture the data?

Don’t be mistaken folks but there are people culpable for the murderers of our citizens getting away with murder.

They are the ones responsible for depriving the men and women in uniform of the tools to do the job.

Thank you!

noreply@blogger.com (Bart's Blog) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 08:49:00 +0000

To all of you that heeded the call to vote to stop the Info Bill, my deepest gratitude. To those who haven't speak up! While you still can. FIGHT for your right!!!!!

VOTE AGAINST THE INFO BILL HERE NOW PLEASE!

To read why Click Here

Read my Lips! NO!

noreply@blogger.com (Bart's Blog) — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 12:48:00 +0000

No to the Protection of Information Bill. NO!

You will never silence me!

Five Days to Stop the Secrecy Bill

noreply@blogger.com (Bart's Blog) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 10:02:00 +0000

VOTE HERE

In five days, MPs could pass an outrageous secrecy bill that undermines the constitution and South Africa's democracy -- helping the government keep wrongdoing from the people and enabling cover-ups of corruption and human rights abuses. But there are four people that could make or break this bill: the Chief Whips.

Despite top lawyers warning that the bill is unconstitutional, the majority of MPs are expected to vote it through. But it will be up to the Chief Whips to rally the MPs to vote for or against the bill. If we flood their inboxes with messages from across South Africa calling on them to respect the law and oppose the secrecy bill, they could think twice about pushing it through.

Let's appeal to the Whips' sense of democratic responsibility and call on them to protect hard-won constitutional rights and freedoms, and transparent government. Use the form on the right to send a message straight to their inboxes and urge them to say No to the Secrecy Bill, then share this with everyone -- we will release the number of messages sent to the media on the eve of the vote.

Stop the Secrecy Bill -- upcoming events

On Saturday 17 September from 10am to 1pm, thousands of South Africans will join in a march to Parliament to reject the final draft of the "Secrecy Bill". Join the march!

When: 17 September 2011, 10am-1pm
Cape Town: Starts on corner of Tennant St and Keizersgracht St (outside CPUT)
*** Come dressed in red, black and white! ***

On Monday 19 September there will be candlelight vigils in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg from 6pm - 8pm.

When: 19 September 2011, 6pm-8pm
Cape Town: outside Parliament, corner of Roeland and Plein Street
Durban: outside King's House
JHB: Kotze entrance to ConCourt on Hospital Rd

Wiki Wacky Who?

noreply@blogger.com (Bart's Blog) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:44:00 +0000

So WikiLeaks' recent publication of confidential communications between 274 embassies across the globe and the US State Department could push government into a stronger position to get The Protection of State Information Bill, which criminalises the release of classified state information enacted in its current format?

What exactly is contained in these WikiLeaks that affect South Africa so profoundly as to push our State to enact a diabolically sinister Act that serves one purpose and that is to silence?

Not that our State needs encouraging, having fared well enough, without prompting from an unexpected gifted excuse.

So a US legal adviser to the National Prosecuting Authority felt there was enough evidence to find Zuma guilty of corruption after Schabir Shaik was found guilty of trying to solicit bribes for Zuma from Thomson CSF to secure arms contracts?

So what? It’s not like we never knew that from local press and a highly publicised criminal trial?

With the Protection of State Information Bill, there would have been no trial and there would have been no debate.

That’s not to say there wouldn’t have been grumbling, mumbling, hints, allegations and things left unsaid.

Or, take the other cable “that made headlines” detailing ANC Youth League officials telling the US about leadership battles within the ruling party, indicating there were tensions between current president Zuma and then head of state Kgalema Motlanthe.

If this nugget of puerile gossip that was public knowledge and downright unbecoming in any event serves as grounds for bolstering the argument to gag an entire nation, then we have fallen to a level of immaturity and pettiness that defies belief.

Of course WikiLeaks also detailing how AT&T, Cisco, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, and Qualcomm argued leadership shortfalls within the Department of Communications hurt the sector is on the other hand not known and downright subversive and a definite threat to national security?

No-one knew leadership shortfalls within the Department of Communications hurt the sector and this information is profoundly damaging to our country.

If you believe this, and there are enough of you who do, then there is a strong argument for a new reality TV program.

The Wiki Wacky Who Show!

If cables, that disclose a playground spat, between two supposed dignified leaders, or disclose the fact that our Department of Communications, doesn’t errrrr..., seem to actually be able to, or, be capable of, communication, or, that an evidentiary Balance of Culpability Probability opinion, derived from public record findings, based on common law principle, serve as motivation to get The Protection of State Information Bill, enacted, then God help us all.

The Bang Bang Club were four photographers active within the townships of South Africa during the Apartheid era.

Two members won Pulitzer Prizes for their photography. Greg Marinovich won the Pulitzer for Spot News Photography in 1991 for his coverage of the killing of Lindsaye Tshabalala in 1990. Kevin Carter won the Pulitzer for Featured Photography in 1994 for his 1993 photograph of a vulture that appeared to be stalking a starving child in southern Sudan.

On April 18, 1994, during a fire fight between the National Peacekeeping Force and African National Congress supporters in Tokoza Township, cross-fire killed Oosterbroek and seriously injured Marinovich.

On October 23, 2010, João Silva stepped on a landmine while on patrol with US soldiers in Kandahar, Afghanistan and lost both legs below the knee. This was the second time he'd been injured in a war zone, with his first injury being hit by shrapnel in the face.

In July 1994, Carter committed suicide. A documentary entitled The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club was nominated for an Academy Award in 2006.

The Protection of State Information Bill pours piss on the blood of these martyrs and the millions of others that gave us the postulated freedoms and limitations enshrined in our Constitution.

It is these men and women, who brought the true horror of our past into the living rooms of the world and into our collective consciousness and realities, that served more eloquently than any speech to help expose the Apartheid Regime and to bring about its downfall.

It is the men and women, who follow in their footsteps, men and women inspired by and in debt to those that have set the bar of what being a journalist entails, that bring us the truth today, that our current leaders wish to criminalise and imprison.

There is no doubt in my heart and mind that I am served by a Government that is fast becoming the very thing it set out to defeat and that I had come to despise.

There is a dearth inherent in our current leadership, of wisdom, of common sense, of vision, that cannot seem or somehow be capable of grasping the concept of historical consequence.

We will, irrespective of, or in spite of, but most certainly as a result of laws or acts such as The Protection of State Information Bill, reap the whirlwind one day.

If recent world events have taught us anything, it’s that the people will not be silenced and Governments will be held accountable, no matter how omnipotent they think they are, eventually...

Not so Choice ConvergeNet!

noreply@blogger.com (Bart's Blog) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 23:16:00 +0000

ConvergeNet CEO Pieter Bouwer Laments - "This is our first exposure to the black art of liquidation in this country".

I say kak man!

On 13 December 2009 I sent out a rather tongue in cheek Newsletter.

Quote: “Ruminating over these pages (SAICFM) and the Newsletter in general soon after reading this mornings electronic Sunday Times I was struck by a strong sense of déjà vu as the following headline caught my eye -Absa has bad news for its shareholders; BankNotes Dec 12, 2009 11:09 PM | By Stuart Theobald.

What struck a chord were the following paragraphs – “Apart from Blue, it also has a 26% stake in investment company Sekunjalo - that's carried at R71-million on the balance sheet but is now worth only R39-million. The last of the four headaches is ConvergeNet, on the balance sheet for R58-million but now worth R41-million.

When added to the first six months write-offs, the total for the year will be R1.5-billion of write-offs linked to the single stock futures debacle.”

As my wife says, “The problem with free advice, is people attach no value, because it’s free and as such carries none”.

Vesta Technologies Holdings, in which the majority of shares are owned by the Morrison Family Trust, was to be acquired by its CEO, Fred Morrison.

Vesta's performance over the past few years has been poor and its net asset value at the end of its last financial year was only R1,6 m.

But I notice this about some of the architects behind the revival of Vesta.

Deon van Rooyen, a chartered accountant (CA), resigned from ConvergeNet soon after the reconstruction of Vesta into ConvergeNet Holdings quote “happily retaining his shares in ConvergeNet Holdings” unquote.

Well why he left is apparently because he had some or other “conflict of interest” emerging.

So naturally I follow the accountant and find him taking up first a “consultant” position at Sekunjalo and then an “Executive Position” at a company in the Sekunjalo stable called… “Synergy”.

Listed on the Board is one LC Jones?

In March 2007 ConvergeNet acquired 100% of the issued share capital of ConvergeNet SA (Pty) Ltd, 51% of the issued share capital in Structured Connectivity Solutions (Pty) Ltd in April, 51% of the issued share capital in Sizwe Africa IT Group (Pty) Ltd in June and 74% of the issued share capital in Telesto Communications (Pty) Ltd also in June.

Sometime later ConvergeNet Holdings acquire a further 5.2% in SIZWE Africa IT.

Then the entire matter starts becoming more convoluted than a re-run of Dallas .

On or about April 2006 Frederick Morrison, founder of Vesta Technologies, offered to buy out Bevdev, after which the company will change its name, restructure its capital and try to acquire new assets in order to maintain its JSE listing

Follow BevDev and you find more losses and failed deals than even Cliff Barnes could pull off.

I arrived at the appointment of two names to a company that appear directly linked to the Board of a company called ConvergeNet Holdings that grew from a company owned by the same man who left a similar trail of wanton destruction under another stock on the JSE - Vesta.

In fact the architect of the “ Phoenix ” ConvergeNet Holdings is a “Deon van Rooyen” a Chartered Accountant who promptly resigns from ConvergeNet Holdings on “conflict” grounds to act as consultant to Sekunjalo where he winds up on the Board of Synergy.

If it’s the same guy because I’m getting both a Martin Deon van Rooyen and a Deon van Rooyen.

It also seems that behind Marcape (Pty) Ltd as a nominee for Eagle Fund Managers (Pty) Ltd (EFM), “has acquired control of Emergent in terms of an agreement dated 15 February 2008” is, you guessed it again, a Mr. MD van Rooyen registered with the FSB as “Compliance Officer”.

Also on the Board of ConvergeNet Holdings appears a Sandile Swana also on the Board of Emergent.
It seems while confusing to some, to me at least that there are sinister forces at play on the Boards of ConvergeNet Holdings, Synergy (Sekunjalo), SIZWE Africa IT (and a host of Subsidiaries) and BevDev CC.

That “fleas” analogy springs to mind.

What’s my point in all of this?

The recent article by Nicola Mawson in ITWeb - JSE-Listed ConvergeNet is being sued for R37 million for pulling out of an 11th-hour deal to rescue the now defunct Choice Technologies about two years ago.

ConvergeNet CEO Pieter Bouwer laments – “This is our first exposure to the black art of liquidation in this country.”

Hogwash, I say Mr. Bouwer, you are surrounded by able bodied people who have left a trail of devastation in their wake for over a decade.

The cost to investors of all kinds, private and institutional, has run into the tens if not hundreds of millions.

So suck it up Mr. Bouwer . I’m sure you’ll defend the claim against Choice, who themselves weren’t, well very choice.

Just don’t pretend you’re not very good at it.

So what’s the free advice folks?

I just gave it.

In a State of suspended animation

noreply@blogger.com (Bart's Blog) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 21:39:00 +0000

There are probably only three stories that can remotely be regarded as hard news in the IT space currently, that being the state of IT at the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), the state or lack thereof of Governance at SITA, and the fact that there has been no GCIO since April.

Of course there are other glaring challenges in the IT space in Government but these seem to have been driven “under the radar” with little being reported in the media.There are rumours of investigations into contracts and tenders in the ICT space at the SAPS, however there is very little being given away there either.

It’s as if the “off button” has been hit.

I’m not sure what it all means but there are signs of a catastrophic battle brewing somewhere in Government, preceded by two defining indicators, namely the Hawks setting out rather publicly to raid the Department of Mineral Resources seizing computers and documents from department and Imperial Crown Trading in a probe relating to Kumba Iron Ore’s fraud allegations last week.

This was almost immediately followed on Sunday by the revelation that two Hawks investigators having been told to informally approach relevant authorities in Sweden (the Swedish National Anti-Corruption Unit) and the UK (Serious Fraud Office) to assess information to determine whether there’s a criminal case to be answered in South Africa in relation to the Arms Deal.

Now call me paranoid, neurotic, narcissistic or just a plain rightwing, left wing, blerrie agent or fool, but damn if the raid against ICT isn’t a full frontal assault on the son of the current President, the grandson of the ex-President and allegedly the companion of the current Deputy President?

Now, I’ve also been reading the armchair and mainstream Political commentary surrounding the move by the Hawks to send investigators to Sweden to “informally” approach relevant authorities.

There is a high level of cynicism, justly so, in regard to the spirit, intent or chance of something actually coming from this visit.

The statements are after all extremely wishy-washy and without much substance.

I’m also a victim of Verwoed, Brezhnev, Reagan, Castro, Njoma, Savimbi, Hani, Derby Lewis and the rest to the extent that I am probably more wide awake than any would wish to give me credit for.

So much so that the signals sent in these two seemingly disparate events ring in my ears a warning claxon as loud as any on a Bullet Train and just as meaningful.

The President has warned before he will expose all in the Arms Deal when he was attacked previously through the charges brought against Shaik and dropped against him.

The current move against ICT by the Scorpions may not be against the President in office but it is most certainly an attack against him in name?

I am left with the ominous sense that while the wishy-washy Hawks statement may seem, well, less than OMO, there is an underlying potent message, a deadly message, a declaration of intent that simply pulses with menace.

It is the manner in which these two matters clatter ahead in parallel that leaves me glued to the news in anticipation of what is to come as the ruling party once again aligns itself and prepares to battle itself for supremacy.

The massive sparkle and spend that has been a hallmark of the ANC administration in the late 1990’s and throughout the 2000’s in the IT space has almost reduced to a fizzle.

The inertia that has seemingly crept in is I deeply suspect a consequence of the massive upheaval within a Political Party on the precipice of an all out debilitating war with itself.

Any contract of any consequence with the remotest possibility of impropriety is immediately pounced on by a vigilant, opportunistic opposition and strident media, alerting the Ruling Party by proxy and consequently providing the factions at war in the Ruling Party with valuable intelligence on their internal foes and their activities.

The apparent quiet in most sectors creates an impression that this may very well be the consequence of a new found collective conscience, or the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Don’t let that fool you.

The Public Protector’s report is being studied; there are this investigation and that investigation, while the Ruling Party and its deployed Cadres in Government keep their heads down across the country to avoid the inevitable shrapnel.

It’s as if I am looking at a Government in suspended animation.

There is in this seeming calm, a quiet before the storm, a storm that is inevitable.

Having said this, it’s important to plan ahead.

Don’t expect improvement in investment spending, don’t expect great strides in service delivery, and don’t hope for improved infrastructure spending either. In fact don’t expect much of anything.

For the foreseeable future.

© IWeek Magazine

The sheer buggery of it

noreply@blogger.com (Bart's Blog) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 01:53:00 +0000

ITWeb reports “a consumer protection body created by the CPA is ready to force mobile operators to allow SA's 10 million subscribers to carry over minutes and data bundles for three years, getting rid of the current “use-it-or-lose it” policy.

The National Consumer Commission (NCC) says the Act's provision that vouchers can only expire once fully used, or after three years, applies to data bundles and the so-called free minutes that are sold with contract packages.

However, despite the three-year rule, call centre staff are telling subscribers that bundled free minutes can be carried over for a maximum of six months, while data can only be rolled over for two.

SA's largest mobile operators will not officially clarify when bundled minutes and data expire, or whether they will comply with the commission's standpoint.

Instead, the operators argue, clarity will be provided after the Independent Communication Authority of SA's (ICASA's) exemption application – to have some parts of the Act fall under its jurisdiction – is finalised.

The CPA, which came into effect on 1 April, states a “prepaid certificate, card, credit, voucher or similar device” does not expire unless it has been redeemed, or until three years after the date of issue.

Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, says

It took the networks years before they allowed data to be carried over for just a month,

“They've turned deaf ears to the criticism that they are in effect creaming a huge proportion off the top of customer payments for bundled services.”

I like most of you, am a “data bundle” user.

I can never determine what portion of my “bundle” I will use.

In fact, when the time comes to “lose” my remaining data bundle, do I do a “bundle dump”?

Here’s the thing, I pay for the data bundle, and it’s mine. Why if I don’t use it within a predetermined time should I lose it?

Apart from the pure muggery of it, I am equally concerned with the attitude of the mobile operators.

It seems to me they are displaying the same complete disregard for the rules as those that have come to make ignoring norms and values a national sport.

From the Board through management and stakeholders such as employees and shareholders, these operators are populated by citizens who have families.

In fact the beneficiaries of these operators largess must run into the tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people, people who will be quick to bleat about this abuse or that abuse of State, or this or that level of crime or disregard for the law on the part of Government.

They are the first to shout about an injustice against them, loudly.

“Someone must act to stop the corruption”, “someone must stop the crime”, “someone must do something about healthcare” etc.

Always “someone”... someone else yes!

I’ve asked the question before, how is it we shout so loudly about corruption and crime, when we are happy as a society to live with the perpetrators in our families and in our communities.

It seems we only moan about the buggery of our society when we aren’t the beneficiaries of the proceeds?

The underlying greed that underpins the pursuit of profit supersedes all logic or sense of fair and equitable.

Protecting the bottom line at all costs and then making an entire organisation complicit in your attempts to deny the rights of tens of millions is nefarious to say the least and is as odious as any Politician or government employee taking a bribe or violating procurement processes.

Look, I generally just grin and bear it. I have many fires to put out and battles to wage. I can afford to write off R50 or R60 or R100 worth of data bundle.

The thing is, I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth, in fact, I got the wooden spoon.

I feel deeply connected with anyone fighting for their piece of sunshine, so when I think about how important data communication is today and value inherent in the access to information this affords I naturally think about the millions for whom R50, or R60 or R100 worth of data means the difference between empowerment, or disenfranchisement, success or failure.

The mobile operator’s stance as set out in the ITWeb article is repugnant, reprehensible and morally corrupt.

I have a word of advice for the mobile operators and all the beneficiaries of their profits, the next time you find yourself on the receiving end of an injustice, of a violation of your rights, do me a favour, put up or shut up.

Don’t use my Fraud Report Hotline and stop expecting “someone else” to defend you or protect you when you’re shafted.

Bleating about your rights as a “tax payer” does not absolve you of your duty to be human beings?

There are hundreds of thousand of subscribers in essential services that rely on your service, that pay to stay in communication out their own pockets, if not for me, for them, show some class man and demonstrate at the minimum good corporate citizenship by complying with the reasonable request to let people own what you sell them and use it when they want.

Loopy da Duisberg loop

noreply@blogger.com (Bart's Blog) — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 01:05:00 +0000

This week I read the Sunday Times story, “Another bomb drops on the dodgy arms deal”, I assimilated and digested but didn’t seem to learn anything.

I discovered a few new titbits, but learn, nope?

That got me thinking, what’s the purpose of reading all these damned depressing news articles or the papers at all?

I decided to justify the sheer waste of my remaining time on earth to try justifying what has always been a favourite pastime, reading the papers, by trying at least to suck some juice from the information I was “assimilating”.

According to the prescient article, in terms of the strategic defence package signed on December 3, 1999, BAE/Saab incurred an offset obligation under NIPP.

The NIPP programme, administered by the dti, required any state purchase in excess of US10 million from firms selling foreign products to effectively reinvest in South Africa.

BAE/Saab, who supplied the 24 Hawk and 26 Gripen fighter jets, were obliged, in terms of the contract, to reinvest a total of US7.2 billion in South Africa by 2011.

Apparently the dti is responsible for monitoring the NIPP.

Two reports commissioned by the dti suggested that there were problems relating to BAE/Saab's compliance with the NIPP.

A report, prepared by SAB&T Chartered Accountants, relating to BAE/Saab's involvement in a defence department demilitarisation project, found that 'government was not getting ‘optimal value', while another report, prepared by NAD Auditors, relating to BAE/Saab's involvement in Denel Saab Aerostructures, suggests that there was a failure to meet 'key performance areas'."

I guess this is information designed to inform, not to instruct or teach.

Usually one needs to be kept informed to enable objective decision making, assuming a decision is expected or required.

When it comes to the arms deal I’m not sure what the point is because there has been neither decisive expectation nor requirement it seems, from Government at least and more than half the South African population?

I figure if BAE/Saab, who were obliged, in terms of the contract, to reinvest a total of US7.2 billion in South Africa there must be some evidence of this and visited the BAE website in search of some information in this regard.

I found an article, a Press Release, “The BAE Systems-Aerosud strategic alliance forms part of the reciprocal Industrial Participation programme flowing directly from South Africas procurement of Hawk and Gripen fighters from the UK defence and aerospace group and its Swedish partner, Saab.”

Ah, evidence of the much vaunted NIPP, yes.

Aerosud, a South African company were involved in manufacturing the Rooivalk attack helicopter and hold deals worth hundreds of millions from various foreign defence companies.

Airbus Military spokesman Linden Birns confirmed that Aerosud, along with Denel-SAAB Aerostructures are full industrial partners in the A400M project.

ANC heavyweight and Speaker of the National Assembly Max Sisulu held shares in a multimillion-rand defence and aerospace company which is set to make a killing out of the controversial R47-billion deal to purchase eight Airbus A400M transport planes.

Sisulu, along with Jackie Mufamadi, “the wife of the former local government minister”, and Herman Mashaba, a tycoon entrepeneur are listed as shareholders of the company along with Foreign Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa and Titus Mafolo (Thabo Mbeki’s former presidential adviser).

These esteemed leaders held the shares in Aerosud through a company called Phatsima Aviation.

The Chairman of Aerosud is none other than Defence Minister Joe Modise’s wife.

The Industrial Development Corporation acquired the shares in 2003 when they injected capital into Aerosud.

Shakeel Meer, IDC divisional executive: industrial sectors is quoted as confirming that the shares the corporation had transferred to Phatsima in 2005 had been warehoused for Aerosud, as part of an agreement that the company would undergo a BEE restructuring.

He said that the IDC did provide funding for the transaction, but said this money was put up by Aerosud.

So the question is, were these Politicians doled out free shares in arms deal companies on the back of the arms deal?

Maybe they paid for them?

Strange though that the NIPP programme is administered by the dti, and that Phatsima Aviation address happens to be Berea Terrace Office Park, 3 Berea Terrace, Berea 5201, PO Box 19376, Tecoma, East London 5214?

Strange because this is also the address of a company called True Group Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd, a company that targets and provides funding to the niche middle-to upper segment of the SME market.

Strange because Khula Enterprise Finance (Ltd) lists True Group Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd as a Retail Financial Intermediary on their behalf?

Strange because Khula Enterprise Finance (Ltd) is a dti entity?

What’s not so strange is the fact that Aerosud is a cash cow, that in discovered documents in the International Tax Law Institute (ITLI) vs FirstRand matter, Aerosud’s CEO Pierre Dippenaar relied on his boet Laurie’s company to invest some of his moola in a Duisberg loop in the Caymans.

So what does this week’s column have to do with IT?

It was made possible by Google.

A shaynem dank dir im pupik

noreply@blogger.com (Bart's Blog) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:56:00 +0000

Through gritted teeth I say, before you address the failings of anything or lay blame for everything, such as is found in the National Planning Commission 30 page Draft Overview, please, realise, understand, I beg you, everything, the entire country, success, revolves around one aspect and that is, the effective and efficient administration of Justice

This column is about the latest cover story on IWeek, the Editorial Comment regarding the cover story, another article in IWeek, to the effect The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DJCD) will focus on the use of ICT to implement a financial turnaround strategy, and the release of the National Planning Commission 30 page Draft Overview.

The commission is an advisory body tasked with preparing recommendations for the Cabinet on issues affecting South Africa’s long-term development.

I have read the latter from cover to cover gobbling it up.

Regarding the IWeek cover and the editorial, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) launched the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) last year, SANSA says space investment will advance society and bring economic benefits.

IWeek goes on to report several questions have been raised by opposition parties and parliamentary portfolio committee members, around whether money pumped into space initiatives, will not be better spent on more critical needs, like housing and food.

There are fears SANSA is a funding black hole (initially R600 million a year to run SANSA) and should be privately funded.

Jeff Radebe is quoted in ITWeb, on the turnaround strategy for Justice, “we are also taking initiatives to enhance the capacity of the court administration through the Court Capacitation Project of the Justice Sector Strengthening Programme, which is an USAID-funded project.”

“Interventions that form part of the turnaround strategy include the implementation of drastic measures to stamp out corruption, online databases to address the credibility of the administration of insolvent estates, the rollout of the ICMS Masters (Integrated Case Management System) to all masters' offices.”

Which, is where my brain goes, “a shaynem dank dir im pupik”!

I was in Johannesburg last week on my way back from external travel having meetings at my favourite spot.

I bumped into the attorney representing my foe in a High Court matter who upon seeing me immediately apologised thus “sorry Bart but you are a victim of the court system”.

I have a client in New Zealand who has been defrauded of over R9 million. The perpetrator has been subject to a liquidation proceeding which has been held in secret.

The lawyers representing my client have applied to the Master to lift the secrecy restrictions. Months later, in both instances we both wait, me for a date for a simple exception hearing over six months, and my client for a simple signature.

Purely per chance the other day I stumbled on the website of a man, locked in a soul sapping 13 year battle, for equitable treatment by a major bank and Justice from the State.

I noticed on the site that this man was requesting information from the Master, related to another case entirely, from files in the Gauteng High Court.

“In the file are two Court Orders, from two separate Judges, dealing with documents that must be discovered by the bank, there are no such documents in the Court file. The last document in the Court file is dated 12th June 2009. It is a NOTICE IN TERMS OF RULE 35 (3) requesting that “working papers” and “… signed off financial statements ...” be discovered.

There are no such documents in the Court file.

Case No. 22420/2002 BK Spitz vs FirstRand Limited. This file has not been located.

It is when you ensure, that the rules and laws and rights, that were put in place, to achieve the goals and aims, so hopelessly lacking as described in the documents referred to, are enforced and upheld that all else will follow.

Get it?

Nowhere in the National Planning Commission 30 page Draft Overview is the catastrophic failing of our Justice System even mentioned and the impact this has on our present and future?

If due process functioned, if Administrative Justice worked, if corruption was stamped out, our aspirations as a nation would be met!

There is after all something chronically askew in a nation that pays a police constable the equivalent of the minimum wage, paid to a cleaner employed by Eskom.

There is something fundamentally out of kilter when the State, a Ruling Party and its various organs, have as a policy, unwritten or otherwise, a philosophy of “plausible deniability”, designed with one purpose in mind and that is to obstruct or attempt to deny the rights awarded, or afforded citizens, by inefficient Courts, whose inefficiency both entrench and serve that precise purpose.

So thanks to the National Planning Commission for confirming what most already know?

Thanks for the prospect of a prestigious Space Program in the interim. It is patently obvious we need one, when we have demonstrated admirably, our inability to keep our feet on the ground.

We need hope; we don’t need to be shown, yet another bloody bellybutton.

Letter to Teacup

noreply@blogger.com (Bart's Blog) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 08:17:00 +0000

Darling Teacup.

I finally arrived in West Africa most fortunately unfortunately to teach.

It is as hot as Hades with perpetual power outages.

The food for the most, actually exclusively, is local and includes the most vulgar chicken something, a chicken of a particular hardiness, cooked in a spinach type vegetable.

This is served with something called pounded yam. Pounded yam looks like pap but is in fact a tuber of some sort pounded to a pulp, then cooked to resemble pap, but it isn’t.

You eat it with your fingers (pounded yam) and dip it in the chicken and “spinach”.

Eat it is actually misleading because you are not supposed to chew it.

You simply swallow a dollop without chewing. Its taste is bitter and quite unpalatable.

It rolls down your throat in a solid bump and encourages gag reflex.

My attitude to food and tastebuds along with my sensibilities have been damaged beyond redemption I'm afraid.

The perpetual power outages result in the lecture room, which is in a Christian Ministry compound, turning into an oven for constant periods throughout the day.

In my purgatory of blistering heat and vulgar diet, I am reminded of the Voortrekkers and their tenacity sans technology, which is a constant source of inner strength, if they could pioneer, then so can I.

I have discovered the reason for a bucket and bowl placed in a perfectly sound (though grubby) bath.

I could not for a while fathom the logic of the locals placing a plastic bucket and plastic bowl in the bath of a R1500 a night Hotel.

The bucket and bowl it seems is for you to wash yourself down with, in the event you don't want to mess up your hairdo.

The fact that I am substantively follicly challenged, makes this gesture naturally redundant, however, as a consequence of this little attention to detail and obvious kind consideration I am left with no bath plug (or plug for handbasin) which is a source of some personal confusion.

Not to mention unfamiliar ablution technique.

Other than a stomach that is causing some consternation, the unbearable heat, the incessant power outages, absent without leave delegates, no soap, no toilet roll, towels, bath and basin plugs, suicidal motorists driving on the wrong side of the road, animals, pedestrians and over R1500 a night rooms before meals, I am in a fine but positive mess.

I must admit I am suffering a bit of an identity crises alternating between the Scarlet Pimpernel and Alice in Wonderland.

Right now I'm both, which makes for interesting observation methinks (were I to be on a therapists couch).

Did I mention there is no coffee or tea in the rooms but a kettle? The kettle I am sagely advised is for if I want to boil water for something? My question as to what exactly I would need to boil water for, has as of yet, not been answered.

The kettle is a DeLonghi though and quite nice to look at.

Coffee is available in the restaurant downstairs at approximately R15 a cup and comes with exactly two teaspoons of Nescafe Classic served straight from a tiny 30g tin with two sugar cubes and a sachet of powdered milk sufficient for a half litre of milk.

Of course as you know I only use a drop of milk so someone is hoarding quantities of the stuff after I’m done with each cup.

My return flight is booked via a local airline so I should be back by tomorrow night.

To the chagrin of my hosts I have steadfastly refused to fly their chosen Airlines because I feel the Airline has a more than shady safety record, which you may not necessarily know yourself. (Three crashes last year with significant loss of life).

Suffice it to say I am now booked on a flight with an Airline I know absolutely nothing about thereby choosing the bliss of ignorance over common sense.

The unrest which cost over 300 lives here a few days ago has largely occurred I am assured far from where I am. I have nothing to fear.

This is good.

While I may return (or may not) in one piece, be assured and prepared, I might very well be presented as an alcoholic basket case with a severe case of diarrhoea.

I think under the circumstances in the interest of self preservation it would be wholly appropriate to send the shuttle service to collect me and not you.

Please turn on the Jacuzzi and our electric blanket. Also, please take an aged steak from the deep freeze.

Leave the lights low, Dstv set to the Crime Channel and the air-conditioning set at 22° with a note to remind me, never, ever, ever to complain about our country again.

Pimpernel in Wonderland.

Elections 2011 – The devil is in the data

noreply@blogger.com (Bart's Blog) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:09:00 +0000

Research company Ipsos Markinor said yesterday that results of its latest poll showed the ANC winning at least 52% of the votes cast and possibly another 10% from people who were still uncertain when the survey was done.

Ipsos Markinor spokesman Mari Harris said the DA was assured of 17% of the vote, with another 9% possible.

Even the best-case result for the ANC would represent a significant drop from the 66.35% the party won in the last local government elections in 2006.

The DA's 17% share would be well up on the 14.8% it won in 2006, but only slightly up on the combined DA and Independent Democrats poll of 16.8%.

Interesting stats these because then of course there’s the IFP, Cope and “others”.

POPULATION

South Africa is a nation of diversity, with 49.99-million people and a variety of cultures, languages and religious beliefs.

According to Statistics South Africa's mid-2010 estimates, the country's population stands at 49 991 300 people.

Africans are in the majority at 39 682 600, making up 79.4% of the total population.

The white population is estimated at 4 584 700 (9.2%), the Coloured population at 4 424 100 (8.8%) and the Indian/Asian population at 1 299 900 (2.6%).

Against the SA population this means that if politics were as racially divided as everyone with a soapbox claims then 80% of the black population votes “black” and 20% votes white?

That is if a full Coloured and Indian vote went to the DA? Which it patently doesn’t...

It must be accepted that a portion of the white, Coloured and Indian/Asian population vote ANC.

Fully 9%, of the total DA voters according any stat you want to gander or complain about or pooh, pooh or ridicule or deny or pretend doesn’t exist, or more specifically, a full 50% of the total DA vote is black according to our national stats.

There is simply no way that the DA can be termed a “white” political party.

40% of DA MP’s are “black” and 30% of the national leadership.

Now before we go off with yadda, yadda, blah, blah DA sponsored acolyte, white supremacist etc, spare a thought for my feelings.

I don’t vote DA and I also have a tad too much rhythm to be all white?

This also isn’t a political column although the topic is political.

The column is about data.

Never mind, I find it interesting that heading into the Municipal elections that the ANC Provincial Leadership including Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, Secretary, Deputy Secretary and Treasurer makes up a total of 45 positions with maybe 3 lower positions (Deputy Secretary) occupied by whites with 0 in the top 27 posts.

There are perhaps 4 whites out of 99 members of the ANC NEC and perhaps as many coloured.

We have 0 white leaders at Provincial level in the ANC.

I counted no whites on the ANC National Working Committee and 3 Coloured/Indian/Asian out of 31.

Look lets give or take a few, that’s not the point, the point is if we want proportional representation then based on national stats we should have an ANC NEC with at least 20% white, Coloured and Indian/Asian represented, no?

I guess the DA can’t quite shake their “white” party credentials but there is also absolutely no way the ANC can shake their “black” party credentials.

My question is, are we a polarised society and if so, who is polarising who and who is fooling who in the process?

Do whites own too much land proportionately, absolutely, are they occupying too many Managerial positions proportionately, absolutely, are they being politically marginalised by the ANC, definitely.

Where do the Coloured and Indian/Asian populace fit in?

Well since 1994, nowhere really when you consider their influence over time within the structures is waning.

During the 49^th National Conference 30% of the ANC NEC comprised “other races”, of the 18 appointed to the NWC, 5 were “other races”.

GCIS shows 21 of 59 Leaders between 1994 and today were “other races”.

By any standards the “other races” are being squeezed out of decision making politics.

Data is suggesting that the politics of survival is making the DA more proportionately representative and the ANC more exclusive, racially that is.

In the end there is no doubt delivery will play a role in voter behaviour.

Judging from the current policy, cronyism and nepotism within the ranks of the ANC, the ANC is marginalising itself and doesn’t need any help from the opposition.

MID-YEAR POPULATION ESTIMATES 2010
Population group	Number	% of total
African	39 682 600	79.4%
White	4 584 700	9.2%
Coloured	4 424 100	8.8%
Indian/Asian	1 299 900	2.6%
TOTAL	49 991 300	100%

Source: Statistics South Africa

From triumph of Invictus to intolerant zot

noreply@blogger.com (Bart's Blog) — Mon, 16 May 2011 11:38:00 +0000

The modern communication age might be a modern evil, to good, but it also serves as a modern evil to evil.

I just can't get myself to watch the zot movie on TV came the plaintive cry across my Facebook page.

The message vibrated at my elbow through my Blackberry as I sat with family wrapped in the warmth of a fire in my lounge while the cold licked impotently at the door.

My family and I settled down to watch Invictus.

How appropriate then that Nelson Mandela’s role in the 1995 RWC should be playing out in front of me at the precise moment racism reared its head on my Facebook page.

The role of technology in modern communication is evolving at a pace that outstrips our common sense.

I deeply suspect that humanity has no clue how modern communication technology exposes the soft political underbelly and that the world’s leaders are being caught asleep as a dragon awakes.

A dragon that is so powerful it is capable of unseating Dictators more surgically and swiftly than a multitude of guided missiles.

There is a deluge of protest against oppression and yet in the deluge against oppression by all sides there is an unwavering determination to oppress.

There is a pervasive fear of Government, people in Government are in disagreement with Government, yet they appear to remain silent. There is a perception of persecution for dissention.

Ideas are trampled, any ideas, to the extent that nothing, seems to make sense and a pervasive partisan intolerance to idea, pervades cyber space.

The internet is a quagmire of rhetoric and propaganda. It is flooded with political gamesmanship and agenda, so much so that groups or individuals seem to gravitate toward stereotype.

Any dissention seems to instantly, be reduced to racial ideology, irrespective of merit from all sides, creating a perception of absolute and massive polarisation.

There is an overriding sense that, on practically every platform, public opinion is being driven by the State, with an all out attack on a free press.

There are literally millions of comments and complaints, that there isn’t any accountability, with convicted murderers even arguing just because you're convicted in a court room, doesn't mean you're guilty of something.

Cyber space is awash with Government being accused of lies, massive lies, repeated over and over again by our leaders, from the arms deal, HIV&Aids denial to the ArcelorMittal deal and so on.

Government is accused of not doing what it said it would do, or what it said it intended to do.

In an instant cyber space brought me polarization, in the triumph of Invictus and intolerant zot.

Are we to assume, that our leadership are simply grossly incompetent and clueless, to this chaos?

I think not, I think our leaders are infinitely more astute than what we give them credit for.

It is their strategies that are failing that they can’t grasp. It is their studies in the Science of Politics and who they choose to admire and follow, that has brought us to where we are.

Napoleon said after all, “Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress and that men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest.”

Napoleon also said “four hostile newspapers are more to be feared, than a thousand bayonets and in politics... never retreat, never retract... never, admit a mistake.

It was Josef Stalin who said “Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas?”

Hitler said “The broad masses of a population are more amenable, to the appeal of rhetoric , than to any other force and make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually, they will believe it.

It was Saddam Hussein who said “politics is when you say you are going to do one thing while intending to do another. Then you do, neither what you said, nor what you intended.”

Charles Manson, “Just because you're convicted in a court room, doesn't mean you're guilty of something.”

Finally Joseph Goebbels, “It is the absolute right of the State, to supervise the formation of public opinion”.

Sound familiar? It should.

Modern communication technology has come to reflect in its purest form, everything that defines the human race and serves up a meal, best consumed sans napkin and with bare hands and, which in all its vulgarity exposes the bone.

Our leadership doesn’t seem to be cognisant of the fact that their heroes, the ones they studied, they learned from and admire and choose to emulate, are exposed.

They seem oblivious to the fact, that while they may attack us, with clubs and guns and faster than the speed of sound, we, the people, are capable of rallying to defend ourselves at the speed of light.

iWeek Magazine

Discombobulated

noreply@blogger.com (Bart's Blog) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:58:00 +0000

Discombobulated inside out

I find this week’s column almost impossible to write.

My brief is to write about anything I like as long as what I write is related to the IT environment.

Well truthfully the IT environment at the moment is about as interesting or sexy as a babe in a nightie wearing smelly vellies.

The local elections are here, Julias Malema is arguing in court he actually loves me, Winnie just called the court illiterate and with that pronouncement one assumes the Judge presiding as well.

A man is beaten and shot at point blank range by rubber or hard nose ammunition, it matters not a jot which, he is dead, by a pack of ill disciplined cowards masquerading as police in the full glare of the media.

The policemen are condemned by Government and at the same time, so are the media who reported the act. In fact the media are to be or have been reported for offending sensitive viewers.

George Louca, accused of murdering Lolly Jackson has surfaced and been giving interviews, Tony Ehrenrich is nominated as Cape Town candidate for Mayor by the ANC and threatens to bring charges of corruption against the DA led council for building bicycle lanes in affluent suburbs.

Manyi has me more discombobulated than my neutered worsie.

He is recently reported as being unapologetic regarding his racist stance regarding the coloureds in the Western Cape, while an apology for his racist stance was preferred ostensibly on his behalf by the Government spokesman.

The ANCYL led by the leadership (read Julius) were on their way to campaign for the local government elections outside Gatcha’s house?

Mbalula is calling Asmal’s current contribution to popular discourse “rumblings of a raving lunatic”.

Asmal also refers to “some” in the current ANC leadership as having “slithered from under stones” and Manuel likens others as being in the league of Adolf Hitler. (iWeekWednesday, 13 April 2011)

I ask you with tears in my eyes.

This is juicy stuff.

I must ignore probably the most skinner filled period in our political history and “keep it IT”.

Ok, here goes nothing, I’ll try.

Winnie said outside the court today at the Julias Malema hearing Malema was there not just as youth league leader, but as the ANC's representative.

Malema thanked the crowd and said he could not speak about what was said in court as it was "used inside".

He urged the crowd to remain disciplined "so we don't give enemies anything to talk about".

Let me get this straight, what’s being said by Malema “inside” is that what he’s saying “outside” isn’t what he says “inside”.

Malema can’t speak outside about what’s said inside because what he says outside gets used inside.

However what Malema is saying inside about what he’s saying outside (kill the boer) "so we don't give enemies anything to talk about” does not translate.

Patently the people inside are the enemy inside out.

Confused? Never mind spare a thought for me.

The only thing I know is how little I do know. I learned to read from a newspaper while sitting on my grandpa's lap. I was given my first children's book, a second hand one at that, by my sister on my seventh birthday. I have a natural predilection for fact over fiction.

I am essentially an objectivist as a consequence of my youthful deprivation more by default than design. Objectivism (disambiguation) holds that reality exists quite independent of consciousness and that perception can lead you to attaining objective knowledge.

Perception can lead you to attaining objective knowledge through the process of concept formation and inductive and deductive logic.

The process of concept formation and inductive and deductive logic of objectivism leads to the conclusion that the moral purpose of the individual is the pursuit of individual happiness or self interest.

The only social system consistent with this morality is the system that upholds complete respect for individual rights.

Consequently as a victim of my circumstance and accidental disciple of logic there is in the reference by Winnie to the illiteracy of the Judiciary - which she will deny she meant, and Malema’s reference to the enemy, which logic dictates is the people he refers to in his song - a deep rooted contempt and total disrespect for individual rights.

It is not what is being said inside the court that will dictate the outcome of the hate speech trial and not what some supporters of (kill the boer) mean when they sing the song, but what Malema means when he speaks outside about singing it.

Malema is constantly quoted as saying he only bears reference to the armed struggle, not a call to violence.

It is the Transvaal Agricultural Union of SA “inside” the court Mr. Malema you don’t want to give “outside” something to talk about “inside”, the Boer, the enemy in the "so we don't give enemies anything to talk about”

I for one am left with absolutely no illusion regarding what Malema means or what he wants.

I just wish he’d stop flip flopping and come right out with it.

As for the protester murdered in cold blood by a gang of thugs in full view of the media, not allegedly, definitely, I am astounded by the speed with which the matter has been investigated on the eve of a Municipal election.

Colonel Sam Makhele, the spokesperson for the Free State police commissioner, said that deaths in police hands were rare. "It's unfortunate that someone lost his life, but it is an isolated incident," he said. "We've never experienced such a thing in the province."

But according to the ICD's annual report, in the Free State seven suspects died while they were being arrested and 47 died as a result of police action or in police custody.

The Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), according to its 2010 annual report, investigated 1 769 cases of people dying in police custody or as a result of police action.

Farmers are being murdered in their hundreds, thousands in fact have been murdered or shall we say they haven’t?

The police statistics in the 2010 annual report show deaths from police action or custody have doubled over the previous year. 1769 civilians died at the hands of police or in their custody.

Manyi wants coloureds to spread themselves thin, to migrate, to make way for blacks, to promote representivity I don’t think so, its about absolute power.

Oh man it doesn’t take me, the courts, the alliance partners or the media to tell the ruling party it’s making an absolute knob of itself.

Or that the second coming of Christ may be here sooner than some think if they don’t get their act together.

Now back to the IT slant to my column, I’ve run out of space, my editor has run out of deadline and all I can offer is that I wrote my column on a Toshiba Qosmio I bought from a chap emigrating for a song.

It’s quite wonderful really but for all its glitz and glamour it needs a R150 cooling pad or will fry your nuts if you use it as a “lap”top.

Kill the boer

noreply@blogger.com (Bart's Blog) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 10:51:00 +0000

Watching the Julias Malema hate speech trial I was drawn back to a film I watched a while back called Stop Loss.

Probably filmed by some psuedo lefty tree hugging beatnik as their contribution to protesting the IRAQ war.

A film that ends with the concientious objector finally realising the futility of objecting?

I caught myself muttering "Blow me bitch" and reciting a mantra I wrote some time "seems like an eternity" ago that goes something like this.

In the name of solidarity justice and peace
laws are imposed by Politicians
and jeers hurled from crowds to force the unwilling to become more willing.

On the eve of one victory and anothers defeat
The Politicians shout
NO MORE.
While some people celebrate while others weep

How soon you forget the young old men walking in shock
Down your impersonal streets.

In South Africa wages a war bitter sweet
Fanned by the winds of political deciet.

Away are young men sent to fight their brethren in vain
While Politicians offer up their prayers for their pain.

I pack away my parachute and lay down my gun.
Never again to jump from the sun.
My duty to God AND country is done.

Where is my childhood
Where is my youth
Be still young man
Your eyes hide the truth.

- FINI

Well it went something like that. I never kept the diatribe filed anywhere I just committed it to memory but it seldom changes much in the reciting when I regurgitate it.

I wrote it at a time when I decided there'd been enough bloodshed.

Now I'm neither bitter nor sad.

Matter of fact.

I'm just a tad pissed off.

I'm pissed off that my fourteen year old wants to know if I've killed anyone.

As if this will add some lustre to my life or make me out to be a bigger man.

Maybe he needs to think, continue anyway that I'm larger than life.

Is it possible that I can even after all these years be defined by my actions as a young impressionable man that at the time quite literally didn't know shit from shinola?

The fact is while I never saw a bullet of mine kill a man, I served with the best my country had to offer and saw active duty and combat on more than one occassion.

Nobody crossed my gunsights in the fury of battle I could take down before someone else did.

But I participated and witnessed first hand the violence and the immediate aftermath of a terrible war.

Here's the rub.

I know what dead people look like.

I've seen enough for 100 lifetimes.

I don't have bad dreams or nightmares much anymore although I do ever so often grind my teeth so loud I wake myself up.

I am not a purist or a pacifist.

But my God when I look at my son I know, I just know I am a humanist.

I am not afraid of war.

I am afraid of dying though.

I need to live to guide my loved ones, to be there for them.

That is the part about dying that frightens me the most.

Not being able to whisper tolerance, patience, and the other mantra that means so much more than just a cliche' from a plaque on a wall "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the strenght to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference."

Today as I look to our country I am left with a cold feeling in my heart and a sense of deep foreboding.

It is something I simply cannot shake.

Perhaps after all I am a negative human and not a patriot.

Perhaps I am ungrateful or a racist because I see so much more injustice than what I'd hoped for when I lay down my arms?

But the taunts are back and so are the the supplications "in the name of solidarity, justice and peace".

Bring me my machine gun by in all likelihood my new President is what I have to look forward to.

While this may be fobbed off as simply a rallying cry from a bitter past it is the very nature of the words that keep me awake thinking.

As we slide inexorably toward our next election, people will die.

People are dying.

The machine gun bit is not rhetoric from a distant bitter past.

It is a mantra that is taken quite literally by many and is being carried by many in their hearts.

The exact same applies to the words in a song that suggest "shoot the boer" in a modern South African context.

Do I expect Uhuru in South Africa?

No.

But I see more bloodshed and more disregard for the rule of law.

I see injustice and intollerance creeping like a cancer through an otherwise impotent country.

The words we will kill for this and we will kill for that is a constant reminder that there are men in this world that will not let me live in peace.

I find myself looking at my son wondering how he would shape up in a firefight and feel the horror well in my throat.

I look at myself and know I am still quite capable.

I wonder why I am thinking like that?

I wonder why or even if I should?

I don't like being threatened and I don't like being pushed around.

I wonder if the people stepping up their rhetoric leading up to a supposedly "democratic" election realise what they are saying, what the ramifications, the implications, the realities of what they espouse and seek are?

I wonder if they can vaguely understand hate, deep rooted hate, the kind of hate that stems from vengeance, the kind of vengeance that comes from having your loved ones attacked and killed simply because they or you had an opposing ideology or world view?

It is something that simmers and seethes and consumes and will, oh it certainly will rupture like a festering sore.

So while I have packed away a parachute and laid down a gun and vowed never again to jump from the sun it seems my duty to country, not God is done.

I am not a priest, I am not even particularly pious or religious.

I am not particularly political.

"I am a man. I consider nothing humane indifferent to me" – Socrates

I do believe in my given duty to be a protector.

To those people out there who are shouting their taunts and rattling their sabres I say quite simply.

I ain't a puppy.

Blow me bitch!

I object!!!!

I am a conscientious objector, who might, just might kill you right back and teach my kids how to kill yours too!

Be careful what you wish for.

I too sang songs, songs I remember vividly.

Songs that will offend and disgust, songs that left the listener under no illusion what was meant.

Songs I will never sing again, because they are hurtful and an incitement to hate and distrust.

The emancipation of one does not equate into the prejudice of another.

Freedom for all means peace, tolerance and a respect for the dignity of all.

To justify singing "kill" anyone for whatever reason in South Africa, is simply a means to gloat for some and in so doing a means to inflict wounds on the soul of others.

That is not conducive to creating a prosperous future.

That is the recipe for a future built on spite and resentment.

You can call it anyway you want.

I call it the basis for instilling hate.

Hate speech if you must

The `China-fication` of Africa

noreply@blogger.com (Bart's Blog) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 13:03:00 +0000

AS CHINA RACES to feed its inflamed economy and plunders large tracts of Africa's natural resources, that country's foreign policy and divergent ideology relegates Africa to a fate worse than during the previous colonial era in the full pervasive glare of the entire international community.

Cash flush and starved for resources, China's foray into Africa is based almost exclusively on building infrastructure that serves the singular purpose of processing and moving natural resources that will ultimately and virtually exclusively ensure these scarce and un-replenishable resources reach and feed their economy.

Behind China's advances into the continent lies a cold and ruthless pursuit that will leave in its wake a wasteland brought on by an unsustainable assault on the Continent and its mineral riches.

However, an obvious fact is that there is virtually no measurable investment whatsoever in Africa's information, communication and technology space?

It is both startling and stark that the omens are there, but are largely being ignored.

The global landscape is changing dramatically, and with it there are demographic trends that are already largely determined, which will contribute to a substantial reshaping of the global landscape, a reshaping that in less than half a decade will see Africa irreversibly and permanently relegated to a state of abject poverty, with only small pockets of prosperity.

China holds over a trillion dollars in hard currency reserves, growing by leaps and bounds and already a recognised nuclear power, and is developing a blue-water navy. The National Intelligence Council, a US government think tank, projects that by 2025, China will have the world's second largest economy. Such growth is opening the way for a multi-polar era in world politics.

This tectonic shift will pose a challenge to the US-dominated global institutions that have been in place since the 1940s.

In a modern world, already deep into globalisation, ICT is an enabler. Investing in a country, or plundering one, while similarly enabling a population to disseminate and communicate in an open and transparent manner about such activities simply doesn't go hand-in-hand.

Recently, it's been published that China has stepped forward to provide Telkom with the credit needed to fund its fledgling cellular arm, 8ta. But this does not equate to investing in ICT. This is providing finance on a commercial basis, which serves only to further enslave either a company or country in debt. China is, in fact, funding ICT projects in Africa at a massive premium and in a manner that is highly uncompetitive.

Geopolitical landscape

China's productivity and global standing are deeply uncertain, in part because of the large resources required to deal with its demographic problems.

In the near-term, China is struggling fiscally to keep up the social infrastructure necessary to support its large, growing, increasingly urban population. It is also constrained by the enormous costs required to restructure its state enterprises and failing banking sectors.

According to the IMF, China's overall fiscal deficit in 2000 was estimated to be about 4% of GDP, up from 1.6% in 1996.

China's overall budget deficit hit 660 billion yuan ($129 billion) in 2010, according to Reuters calculations last month, after the China Ministry of Finance published its December fiscal revenue and expenditure data.

In only 30 years, China will have to expend tremendous resources to deal with its own aging crisis and most likely will not have the same coping mechanisms - sophisticated tax structures, deep capital markets and developed pension and healthcare systems - that developed countries have for dealing with an aging population.

By 2025, China will have more than 200 million people aged 65 and over and, by 2050, more than 300 million - more than the current size of the US population. As a result, China could confront slower growth, increased political instability, and perhaps even pressure for significant cultural changes.

China has responded to the challenge of the large-scale resources required to deal with its demographic problems by turning to Africa.

After trade grew at an average rate of 33.5% annually, between 2000 and 2008, China became Africa's largest trade partner last year, even though exchanges declined due to the global financial crisis.

Chinese capital has poured into the continent, despite criticism in the West of Beijing's support for the hard-line regimes of leaders such as Sudan's Omar al-Bashir and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

Beijing had pumped a total of $9.3 billion in direct investment into Africa by the end of 2009, covering several sectors, including mining, agriculture, forestry and construction, it claims. From 2000 to 2009, China cancelled more than 300 debts of 35 African countries, worth $2.9 billion.

Trade between China and Africa surged 43.5% year-on-year in the first 11 months of 2010. The value of two-way trade reached $114.8 billion from January to November, the state council said in a report on Sino-African economic and trade co-operation.

China is investing heavily in African oil exploration to help meet its rapidly-growing consumption. In 2003, it overtook Japan to become the world's second-biggest consumer of petroleum products after the US.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) adds that China accounted for 40% of the total growth in global oil demand over the past four years.

Clearly, the West remains rooted in the Middle East to satisfy its demands for energy. Under ordinary circumstances, this power shift should be welcomed if it translates favourably for Africa, which on the face of it, seems to, with the massive increase in trade between the two trading blocks, China and Africa. But it doesn't.

As of 2008, nearly 1 600 Chinese companies landed their business operations in Africa, while China has undertaken more than 900 projects in African countries.

Zambia

Zambia has embarked on massive projects in the copper belt to boost copper production prior to and during the global economic meltdown, which has seen copper prices, as well as other commodities, tank.

There are at least three new smelters simultaneously being built by the Chinese, employing hundreds of Chinese workers. The entire project relies on finished products, labour, tools and equipment being supplied by China.

The issue of Zambia's power scarcity is currently being addressed by the Chinese in the form of massive projects to increase generating capacity. One such project is Zambia's Kariba North Bank hydro power station, which is currently being upgraded. The scheme kicked off in 2008, with $325 million provided by Exim Bank, owned by the Chinese government. The outstanding amount of $105 million has recently been sourced through a loan from the Development Bank of Southern Africa. The funding from China is based on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) agreement.

China's Sino Hydro Corporation is the sole project contractor, and the EPC contract means it has taken full responsibility for construction - including the supply of material and labour. The project is due to be completed by December 2012, and the plant expected to be operational by early 2013.

There are advanced plans for the construction of a $1.5 billion new project, the 600MW Kafue Gorge Lower hydro station. Work will begin there by mid-2011. Sino Hydro will also work with Zesco on this project.

China has built the smelters to produce copper, smelters that cannot be brought online, but will be kept in mothballs until such time as China builds capacity to generate sufficient power to bring the smelters online.

There will almost certainly be a buy-back agreement between the Chinese and the Zambians that guarantees the Chinese get power for their smelters at a very attractive rate from increased generation.

Simply put, Zambia will supply China with copper ore for power; while China will benefit from cheap energy and copper ore value add through the full cycle of production.

Nigeria

Compared to China's enormous Internet market of 420 million users (50% of the Asian continent), Africa has a combined market of 110 million users, or 10% of the total African population.

Africa already has a poor record of press freedom and the widespread arrest and detention of journalists. This record is likely to be duplicated in cyber-space. African governments, like China, caught between a rock and a hard place as liberalisation of telecommunications open up the Internet market to more users, are reluctant to relinquish state control of information.

Consequently, there is investment by African countries into ICT, but many are seeking to control the flow of information, in much the same way as traditional media channels have been controlled.

Regimes are likely to make greater use of Internet censorship techniques and crack down on those who use the Internet to express contrary views.

With an official intolerance for opposing views, which has led the Chinese to develop sophisticated Web-monitoring and censoring systems, China seems a logical partner to develop an ICT infrastructure in Africa.

In 2005, China Great Wall Industry Corporation, a state-owned hardware manufacturer, won a $311 million contract from the Nigerian government to manufacture and launch the NigComSat-1 communications satellite. Under the management of the Nigerian National Space Research Development Agency, NigComSat-1 will harvest contracts from Nigeria-based telecom operators, who will no longer need to solicit service through foreign satellite operators. The satellite was launched in May 2007.

China is currently supporting the Nigerian government's purchase with a $200 million credit facility from Exim Bank.

Huawei Technologies, one of China's leading networking and telecommunications equipment suppliers, won a $100 million contract in 2006 to become the leading CDMA network provider for Nigeria's Multi-Links, a loss-making company part-owned by Telkom. The same year, Huawei announced that Starcomms Nigeria, Nigeria's largest telecom operator, would deploy Nigeria's first 1xEV-DO-based mobile broadband network.

Huawei has opened a new "Technology Support Centre" for Western Africa, in Abuja. Huawei also announced a $200 million memorandum of understanding for the Phase II rural telephone network.

Nigeria is bedevilled by worse power outages than Zambia by a significant stretch, and despite being ranked the world's seventh-largest gas producer, is contending with an energy crisis.

The poor electricity supply in Nigeria has proved a major impediment to the operation and growth of ICT in the nation's universities. Only a trickle of daily electricity production dribbles erratically into the country's 93 institutions, rendering ICT systems dysfunctional.

Ironically, Nigeria has spent $311 million on sending a telecoms satellite into space funded by the Chinese when, in fact, the most critical necessity for a stable ICT network, an uninterrupted power supply, is virtually non-existent. Instead, in Nigeria, a satellite has replaced the smelter.

By funding the satellite, China, through the China Great Wall Industry Corporation, Huawei Technologies and Exim Bank of China, stand to control large tracts of Nigeria's ICT sector, at a time when the country is in the throes of a debilitating power generation and distribution crisis.

Naturally, this locks out competition when the power grid of Nigeria is enhanced, and is paid for in Nigerian oil in any event.

A consortium of Chinese firms, including SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Corporation and China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corporation, is set to take over the 335MW-capacity Omotosho Thermal Station, in Ondo State.

The Nigeria Federal Government decided to sell the power station to the contractors that handled its construction, due to the inability of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria to operate the plant, according to press reports in January. The government built the power plant through a credit line from Exim Bank of China.

Three power plants benefited from the credit line, including Papalanto, a 335MW-capacity plant in Ogun state, which was developed by Chinese group SEPCO; Omotosho, developed by China National Machinery and Equipment Import & Export Corporation; and Geregu Power Station, a 138MW-capacity plant, in Kogi State, developed by Siemens.

In essence, the Nigerian government took out loans from China to build and refurbish power plants and promptly sold the same plants back to the Chinese for as yet undisclosed sums.

Nigerians will now pay for their electricity in oil - electricity they paid for in oil but now no longer own.

The list in Africa, including South Africa, of China's imperialism and colonisation is stark as it is endless. It is not that China is investing in Africa, but how it is going about it.

It would indeed do well for Africa to remember that the Chinese are masters in the art of war, and Africa's citizens must begin to strategically defend, not only their sustainability, but also their sovereignty, or pay the price.

iWeekWednesday, 09 February 2011 00:00Written by Bart Henderson

This little piggy

noreply@blogger.com (Bart's Blog) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:37:00 +0000

The state of ICT in our country makes me want to stay home

TECHNOLOGY CONTRACTS awarded by the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport (GDRT), amounting to over R40 million, will be investigated by the auditor-general of SA (AGSA) it's been reported.

Home Affairs unceremoniously dumps the multibillion-rand "Who Am I Online" contract. This was one of two IT contracts cancelled in the space of seven months and highlighted the challenges faced in curtailing corruption and securing SA's identity and other documents.

Staying with Home Affairs, Coltrane Nyathi, a senior Lefatshe Technology executive, and home affairs chief director of infrastructure management Hilitha Nkosana appeared in the Pretoria High Court on charges of bribery and corruption.

Home affairs and the police said in a joint statement the men were arrested following a sting operation by the Hawks and the home affairs anti-corruption unit after an alleged attempt by Nyathi to hand R200 000 to Nkosana to influence him to act in a manner that benefited Lefatshe.

It's been reported that identity theft has contributed significantly to Neotel's financial difficulties. Using stolen identity documents, criminals opened accounts with the operator and incurred bills amounting to thousands of rands, which went unpaid.

Neotel claims since the inception of its consumer business unit it has had between 3% and 5% of revenue fraud being perpetrated, which is in line with industry fraud statistics.

Revenue statistics for this sector puts total income at R84 billion (2007). This means fraud accounts for R4.2 billion at 2007 figures per annum.

Of course, then there is also the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (Cipro) and the hijacking of companies, which has - in turn - led to SARS suffering millions in losses.

Cipro has cancelled its electronic content management contract and is embroiled in litigation with the company that was supposed to provide the technology solutions that would protect the economy from widespread abuse of the organisation's IT systems.

Of course, the State Information Technology Agency has been in a state of turmoil for years. Three of the organisation's executive team were suspended as investigations into tender irregularities and colluding with suppliers were launched.

Ramabele Magoma Nthite, shared services executive; Moses Mthimunye, strategic services chief; and Ranti Mahlabana, general manager for human resource services, were removed from their positions pending the outcome of the investigation.

Reports in 2010 indicate more than 900 South African Police Service (SAPS) officials were found guilty of benefits-fraud, after being caught in the act by the Special Investigations Unit, by September.

Reports also suggested that a total of 95 000 of the one million civil servants in South Africa last year faced internal hearings for defrauding the state of billions of rands' worth of benefits on provincial and national level.

The Department of Labour (DOL) will not renew its contract with Siemens to deliver its IT systems. The public-private partnership (PPP) began in 2002 and, apart from escalating costs, was plagued by other irregularities and challenges.

I could, of course, go on.

The fact is just these few examples indicate that poor ICT solutions and the graft that stems from the awarding of tenders (R24 billion under current investigation) is costing our economy consequentially tens of billions.

The great question is how can we possibly account for the waste?

How can we possibly embrace the possibility that there are more criminals roaming the streets than there are criminals incarcerated and that if we were to charge and prosecute every single case under investigation, our prison population would probably treble?

Do we even know the full scope and cost of the problem of defunct IT solutions, bought and paid for that are now lying in a great trash can in the cyber sky somewhere?

In any rational society there would be a massive response to such waste. The damage from the knock-on effect for companies and citizens affected directly and indirectly is too ghastly to contemplate.

Everything is affected, from the cost of services to products, health care, education, food, transport, you name it.

The Road Accident Fund is bankrupt, the SABC is in a shambles, and SAPS is beset by challenges to its management. The state of our nation's administration and protection of information can only be described as "failed".

This is because we are unable to deploy software and solutions that protect the character and integrity of our information and data bases.

How is it possible that an entire country can find its government ICT sector in such a state of anarchy? Who is in charge?

Is there even an acknowledgement that the level of corruption and lack of delivery in government ICT could threaten our national security and, in fact, currently is?

The fact is every rand lost to fraud and corruption must be recouped somehow. Government can't continue to fork out billions for solutions that just don't work and cause Government untold difficulties when it comes to service delivery.

The fact is I don't envy government.

Whatever the causes, cadre deployment, entitlement, greed, it is government that still needs to deliver and in the face of the level of onslaught to the financial integrity of its business transactions, it must be the source of some pain to realise that we have embarked on an unsustainable path of eventual destruction.

My sense is there is a status quo in the industry, the billion-rand projects all seem dead in the water with few, if any, new contracts awarded for quite some time.

The rape of the fiscus is at levels I am warning you today that will lead to the collapse of our financial system. At the epicentre of this lie ICT and the failure of the sector to bring value to society in the form of data that can be managed and information that can be referenced and protected and analysed.

The e-tolling system, a state-of-the-art tech-driven solution will soon go live in Gauteng. It's amazing how well ICT can be used when its purpose is to collect money.

Someone, somewhere will get very, very rich and millions of consumers, the vast majority who need to use the roads, will take hundreds of more rands per month out their pockets to fund the feed for the trough, for the luxury of using the roads that fell into disrepair, primarily because of the neglect that arose from corruption in the first place.

The state of ICT in our country makes this little piggy want to stay home.

iWeek
Wednesday, 23 February 2011 00:00Written by Bart Henderson
Bart Henderson is a leading forensic auditor and CEO of Henderson Solutions, an enterprise risk management firm

Historically speaking

noreply@blogger.com (Bart's Blog) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 12:48:00 +0000

IWeek
Wednesday, 13 April 2011 10:55Written by Bart Henderson

The issues of a media tribunal, the nationalisation of the mines, and other burning issues may serve to elicit reams of diatribe and a stream of divisive vitriol and impassioned debate, but that is all it will ever be.
The recent defeat in the Constitutional Court suffered by the state vs Hugh Glenister, on the issue of the disbanding of the Scorpions, rams a few truths home. For all the bleating and hate speech – and the debates around these issues are, if not hateful in content, hateful in posture – there is no way any of these “dreams” will ever see the light of day.

That is unless the issues are left to a reactive process of challenges “after the fact”. In the case of Koala v Minister of Safety and Security 1994 (4) SA 218, the court held that the Bill of Rights element of the Constitution calls for generous and purposive interpretation.

Section 9, as read with Section 8 (4) of the Constitution, provides that everyone, including juristic persons such as companies, are equal before the law, which provides to such persons all rights and freedoms, as well as the protection of the law under the Constitution. Companies are protected by the same Constitutional rights as individuals and one such right is the right not to be dispossessed of one’s property.

Calling for the nationalisation of the mines and actually passing a law that achieves this belies a “minefield” of laws that I at least am satisfied are sufficiently cogent, coherent and rational to ensure that the whole issue is merely, and will remain so, political posturing and rabble rousing.

Just so, the issue of the media, the media tribunal and any attempt to curtail and punish free speech outside the current legislative framework will be met with a constitutional challenge and failure.
It is amusing, however, to observe the hypocrisy inherent in the calls for control over the media by the very groups who use the media for the purpose of abuse.

A case in point is Fikile Mbalula, who wrote in October 2009, in regard to criticism from Kader Asmal: “It is a sad day when those relegated to the rubbish bin of history want to make a comeback through populist tendencies that they decried yesteryear, and rumblings of a raving lunatic.”

This posture by Mbalula, published by Ray Hartley, might be argued does not constitute hate speech. However, that it drips hate is patent.

The question the statement begs is: does one accept then that our history belongs in a “rubbish bin”? Or does this suggest that parts of our history belong in the “rubbish bin”? Who else from the liberation struggle that dares question the current crop of political leadership will be relegated to the “rubbish bin” of history? A few weeks ago, in his column, Asmal wrote in judgement of the current ANC leadership when referring to the spat between Jimmy Manyi and Trevor Manuel.

“Planning Minister Trevor Manuel has done a public service by drawing attention to the latest outpourings from a senior public servant, who qualifies for strike number III, but like the other two, he seems to have got away with it. Jimmy Manyi is head of the government communications office and attends Cabinet meetings.”
Manuel himself drew attention to the fact that this latest foray into “employment relations” by Manyi was against the letter and the spirit of the Constitution. Yet, there hasn’t been a peep from the President or Cabinet ministers.

It matters not a jot how you wish to interpret these very public statements, they are in simple English; Mbalula calling Asmal and his contribution to the emancipation of the majority of our nation “historical trash” and Asmal’s current contribution to popular discourse “rumblings of a raving lunatic”.
Asmal also refers to “some” in the current ANC leadership as having “slithered from under stones” and Manuel likens others as being in the league of Adolf Hitler.

What I find fascinating in all of this is the fact that the media is being used so passionately, in print and electronic format, by the very people wishing to curtail its freedom, to abuse one another.
I also find it fascinating that the ruling party is itself admitting publicly that it is a party sprinkled with historical trash, rumbling raving lunatics, Hitler-types, and snakes and other nasties crawling out from under or still living under rocks.

It seems that the purpose of any media tribunal is to protect the ruling party from itself.

What is emerging, for this individual at least, firstly is that the ANC that came out of exile, the one I admired, is a far cry from what it is today... according to the ANC.

Secondly, information technology is the new superpower and cannot be curtailed, irrespective of attempts to muzzle free speech. I couldn’t have written this column in the context I have, if the information I quote wasn’t readily available in all its glory on the ‘net.

Finally, all this bollocks about nationalising this or that can only happen if the Constitution allows it and the Constitution can only allow this if its changed.

Somehow, I can’t help believing this will happen without a two-thirds majority and, as far as this is concerned, I also simply don’t believe there are enough reasonable thinking rambling, raving lunatics left to prevent it both from within and outside the ANC.