Love Me Tender

I’ve already written about the ongoing deterioration of Johannesburg twice this year, but, like your favourite Golden Oldies radio station, the hits just keep on coming.The latest in the apparent laundry list of “you can’t make this up” issues is the response by Johannesburg city spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane when challenged on the awarding of massive transport contracts (valued at R972 million) to politically connected families.“The metro government sees no problem and will not investigate,” he said.This response came despite multiple concerns from the Auditor General, civic watchdogs, and political parties.The issue concerns six contracts given in 2023 for the extension of the BRT/Rea Vaya bus system. They were all awarded to the families of city councillors and officials.The extension project is already eight years behind schedule, and its final deadline for the end of last year was also missed.Yet Modingoane remains resolute. “There is no regulatory provision that prohibits the Municipality to award contracts to the category of people in question (spouse, child or parent of a person in service of state either actively or in the past twelve months),” he said. “Therefore, the question whether the City failed in oversight and due diligence is misplaced.”He appears to be the only one with this opinion.Click the link to read the full article - https://lnkd.in/dpAi-pr4

A Wail Of Two Cities

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…”You probably recognise the iconic opening line from Charles Dickens’ most famous and successful work, A Tale of Two Cities. Although it was first published in 1859 and concerned events that happened almost a century before that, it’s central themes are still hugely relevant today.Dickens viewed power as a conduit for corruption. Throughout the novel, he exposes his three central characters as being corrupt individuals who begin abusing their power as time goes on. “The best of times” refers to the aristocracy living in London and Paris who, in the late 18th Century, enjoyed vast wealth, influence and power. The peasants, however, were living in “the worst of times,” – particularly in France, where they endured extreme poverty, hunger and a lack of basic necessities, and were subjected to oppressive rule by the aristocracy.Fast forward to today, and there’s definitely a case for “the more things change, the more they stay they same.”Particularly, it seems, in South Africa.Click below to read the full article.https://lnkd.in/dpzRhke2

Transnet In Trouble - Is South Africa's Transport Giant Going Off The Rails

Three months. That’s how long Transnet has before it runs out of money for debt-servicing and operations, according to Moody’s ratings.Unless, of course, as with all our struggling state-owned enterprises, it receives (another) bailout from the government.Moody’s said in a statement that “[Transnet] requires additional government support to refinance upcoming debt maturities and secure funds for its expanded capex program.”To be quite honest however, with the multi-billion hole left in its budget fromthe decision not to increase VAT, I think the government has enough problems of its own to contend with without having to throw more money at yet another SOE with its hand out.Yet without some kind of cash injection from somewhere, Transnet looks set to grind to a halt within the next 90 days. The African Development Bank has estimated that the company’s full recovery requires over R150 billion in capital investment.Click below to read the full article -https://lnkd.in/dfFPQpAi

With the South African Post Office, the cheque’s always in the mail…

Let’s be honest, if the South African Post Office was one of your employees, you would have fired it a long time ago.
For a start, it missed all but two of its 15 performance targets for the year ending 31 March 2025. Targets such as generating R1 million in warehousing revenue, growing logistics revenue by 16% and establishing an eCommerce mall to support small business development. It also failed to hit a key KPI of resolving all customer complaints recorded at the call centre within seven days.
 
It even, wait for it, failed to achieve the regulated mail delivery standard. Which drops the average South African squarely in the doo doo when it comes to receiving anything through the post. It’s not as though we’re exactly spoiled for choice for other options.
 
And in some case, there simply isn’t another option, thanks to the Post Office’s licence, which grants it “exclusivity of reserved postal services where it has monopoly over sub 1 kg items.”
 
I mean, you essentially had ONE JOB, Post Office…
 
Click the link to read the full story - https://lnkd.in/dzGnqesq

From Joburg to Woe-burg – Is there still hope for the City of Gold?

Anyone who loves Springbok rugby will be familiar with the Bomb Squad – the brainchild of head coach Rassie Erasmus that sees the Bok bench heavily laden (6-2 or sometimes even 7-1) with massive forwards. The idea is genius in its simplicity: let the starting line-up of forwards empty their tanks in the first half, and then substitute the entire lot with an intimidating group of world class replacements for the last 40 minutes.The latest “copy-cat” however, comes from a very different – and entirely unexpected – quarter.Johannesburg Mayor, Dada Morero, in his State of the City Address earlier this month, outlined a turnaround plan to tackle the city’s collapsing infrastructure, which included the introduction of a specialised “bomb squad.”As I’ve highlighted before in a previous article, our once proud and beautiful City of Gold is tarnished almost beyond recognition and needs around R200 billion just to affect necessary repairs to roads and other infrastructure, and address the many other pressing issues facing the city.The mayor referred to Joburg’s “state of rot” and said, “we need extreme actions to resolve our challenges.”The so-called Bomb Squad, which, in the mayor’s words, is a “a high-powered implementation impact team,” is a key driver of these actions.He went on to say, “This bomb squad will be led by the ANC Veterans’ League boss Snuki Zikalala, and will remove constraints that impact the City’s ability to create the Joburg we want to see.”It all, as usual, sounds very promising. But it begs one critical question:What does Mayor Morero mean by “removing constraints?” As far as I can see, the main constraint is a crippling lack of available funds to fix the myriad problems.And I’m not sure how even the biggest, strongest and most muscly bomb squad can make that problem go away.It’s something the mayor acknowledges, if a little reluctantly.Click below to read the full article https://lnkd.in/drtuVssr

Burning Billions. What's the true cost of keeping South Africa's lights on?

Lies, damned lies, and loadshedding…“In another 18 months to two years, you will forget the challenges that we had with Eskom.”Cyril Ramaphosa, then Deputy President, September 2015.In every state of the nation address since 2018, Ramaphosa has boldly claimed we’d soon be looking at load-shedding in our rear-view mirrors.In May 2023, he told us the end of load-shedding “should be in sight soon.”In August 2023, he claimed the government was doing “great work” to fix Eskom, and promised “by 2024, the energy crisis will be over.”The fact that Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, in a metaphorical rending of garments, said, “I’m the minister and I bear the responsibility, working with Eskom, so there’s no other person but myself. The buck stops here,” was little comfort to those struggling to keep businesses afloat, and families fed.South Africans are becoming mighty tired of ministers writing cheques they can’t cash.Click below to read the full articlehttps://lnkd.in/dCaWkmwN

Wage Rage - South Africa’s civil servants earn more than our doctors

South Africa’s civil servants are the highest paid in the world, when taken as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP).According to studies by the IMF and World Bank, paying our civil servants consumes between 12% and 13% of GDP – that’s 3.5% higher than the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average, and significantly more than economically strong countries such as the UK, US, Japan and Australia.In the past 30 years, the government salary bill has exploded from R55 billion in 1995 to R724 billion in the 2023/24 financial year – far above normal, inflation-related increases.Much of this happened under Jacob Zuma’s watch, and it put massive pressure on government finances. In fact, the state had to borrow money to fund this inflated wage bill, increasing government debt from R627 billion to R5.21 trillion in fifteen years.Click below to read the full article.https://lnkd.in/dFJ72wjD

Deepfake Crisis

“The question is no longer whether deepfakes will affect South Africa, but how well we are prepared to deal with them.”
Boland Lithebe, Accenture Africa Security Lead
 
This stark warning from Boland Lithebe comes at a critical time for South Africa, as the country enters a period of staggered municipal by-elections. The rise of deepfake technology presents a chilling new frontier in the fight against cybercrime and disinformation.
 
Click below to read the full article.
https://lnkd.in/dfPbMJzB
 
#deepfake #fake #fraud #corruption #AI #cybercrime #cybersecurity #forensicservices #forensics #forensicinvestigation

Cybersecurity in South Africa: 3 Tipping Point Moves for Big Business

Cybercrime is expected to cost the world $10.5 trillion annually by the end of this year. It’s an almost unimaginable amount of money, and surely not a cost businesses can continue to bear for very long.
In 2023, South Africa ranked in the top three most targeted African countries for cyberattacks, according to a report by Kapersky. Top of the list of crimes was ransomware attacks targeting critical infrastructure and financial services.
The recent declaration from Cell C that data compromised in a cybersecurity incident in January this year has now been unlawfully disclosed by RansomHouse throws into stark relief just how serious the problem is. There is clearly an urgent need for far stronger cyber risk mitigation strategies within all businesses in South Africa.
Click the link to read the full article
https://www.linkedin.com/.../cybersecurity-south-africa-3...
 
 
#cybercrime #cybersecurity #fraud #corruption #forensicinvestigation #forensics #forensicservices

The Clash of Titans" Lessons From The Boardroom

“Let’s do more, together.”
If that sounds familiar, it’s likely because it was the ANC’s 2024 general election slogan. Somewhat ironically, and arguably not in the way they would have wanted, they got their wish.
A failure to secure an outright majority ushered in the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU) - a coalition of 10 of the 18 parties with seats in the National Assembly.
This collaboration between traditionally disparate parties across the political spectrum was unchartered territory; for the first time in 30 years of democracy, the ANC would have to share power.
And yet, despite protracted negotiations over the cabinet formation, and fierce competition for key ministerial positions, initial feelings were that the GNU was a good thing. There was a general, if cautious, joy that the ground-breaking power-sharing agreement would herald the start of true co-operation between our political parties. Surely that could only benefit all South Africans in the long run?
 
Click on the link to read the full article - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/clash-titans-lessons-from-boardroom-jacques-van-wyk-5fo5f/
 
 
#mergers #coalition #worktogether #agreement #GNU #forensics #forensicinvestigation #forensicservices