7 minutes ago, plonkster said:

for that we need information, in other words, good work by Journalists.

I agree. Unfortunately they are not interested. I tried unsuccessfully to get the press involved to report on the SSEG registration debacle. My theory is that the average SA citizen is just not interested or that they would not like the outcome of the investigations.

14 minutes ago, plonkster said:

I take these kinds of prognosis very seriously. I know that across the nation we have guys standing around a braaivleis fire telling tales about how it is all going down the drain... however I see few of those same kinds of people putting their houses on the market and so on. This leads me to believe that a lot of the scary talk is a cultural kind of "say the worst so you're unlikely to be wrong" kin of thing. The reality -- how people really feel -- seems to be somewhere in the middle. But how people feel (aka sentiment) and what is actually going on (aka fundamentals) does not necessarily align... for that we need information, in other words, good work by Journalists.

That's one reason I'm actually getting a little irritated by Ted Blom's two-colour hairdo. I'd like to hear someone else's story now... surely there has to be more people with inside knowledge that can corroborate the story? Right now Mr. Blom is like a kind of Messiah telling us what we like to hear (in a manner of speaking). I am sure it is all true, make no mistake, but all I've seen in the media for weeks now is stories that tell me what I already know.

I have no doubt that an eventual total blackout is coming, if things are left on their present course. If that happens, I'm getting out of the country for a few weeks.

You know Plonk, I agree with your thoughts above. We need more information from new sources.

Bar the one part ... leaving for a few weeks. I want to live it to tell the tale.

Like the one time we where on a cruise ship that hit a storm next to the Wild Coast. Man, now THAT was AWESOME, being on the top deck seeing the bow / then stern go up and down!!!
One rogue wave damaged the ship, had to haul for PE harbour. Most where bussed back as the storm continued down the cost to Cpt, no way it could get into Cpt harbour that light or in that storm.

Anycase, point is, like that cruise, I want to "feel" it for real when the grid goes down proper like no WWW, no cell, no water, no power, no fuel, no food, no cash, no EFT's, no credit card payments. 🙂 

Here is a plan: https://www.kragdag.co.za/noodplan.pdf

Edited March 24, 20197 yr by Guest

3 minutes ago, Fuenkli said:

My theory is that the average SA citizen is just not interested or that they would not like the outcome of the investigations.

Amen to that. 

Edited March 24, 20197 yr by Guest

32 minutes ago, plonkster said:

If that happens, I'm getting out of the country for a few weeks.

to find what on your return? 🤔

ok, maybe it is time to create the blackout survival thread where we do not speculate but only supply tips attainable, on short term and low budget, on how to survive for a short period without power... who's in??? 

17 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

Anycase, point is, like that cruise, I want to "feel" it for real when the grid goes down proper like no WWW, no cell, no water, no power, no fuel, no food, no cash, no EFT's, no credit card payments. 🙂

It sounds maybe like a challenge but will you still think so when I send the family of people who died in ICU due to the fact that generators at hospitals run out of diesel and that nobody can deliver life supporting diesel because of everything you mentioned. The level of stress sky rocket because you can plan as much as you like but you can't prevent the inevitable from happening. Plonkster, there is a clear pattern in my opinion, every time eskom is running short of cash the loadshedding starts due to failing plants but the moment money lands loadshedding stops although it was impossible to do the "repairs" in such a short time. To me it looks like extortion.

42 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

Here is a plan: https://www.kragdag.co.za/noodplan.pdf

although i am afrikaans speaking, i believe that this "Afrikaanse alternatiewe energie- en selfstandigheid-ekspo!" is an un-called for divisive, near racist attitude - why 'afrikaans', are they the only guys sitting without electricity? the money to be made there is it not adorned with more than one language? many if not most of the products there will be imports from countries NOT doing business in afrikaans... eish, the laager mentality

22 minutes ago, Ronnie_V said:

It sounds maybe like a challenge but will you still think so when I send the family of people who died in ICU due to the fact that generators at hospitals run out of diesel and that nobody can deliver life supporting diesel because of everything you mentioned.

Gotcha!!! 🙂 I have said similar before here on the PF.

It is a very harsh and seriously disconcerting consequence, a consequence as touched on by Fuenkli, that most do not even think about, want to contemplate. We can go on for pages on the resultant disastrous impacts.

So read me "accepting the challenge" as a "nefarious call" to all to really think about what the impact will be if we, the general public, keeps on "allowing them" to keep on BS'tting us. 😉 

The minuscule few able to leave, even for a few weeks ... as Gabriël touched on ... coming back to what? SA going down must have a serious impact on Africa as a whole, not?

As I sit here today, I don't know where this can end, but I have deduced it to 3 possible outcomes:
1) We keep on ticking along, slowly sorting the problem children behind it all, finding new solutions as we go along.
2) It "suddenly" gets sorted against all doomsayers predictions as it was never that bad to start off with, truth be told.
3) Eskom blows a few power stations and a resultant host of transformers all over SA ... months to repair at least.

Can we do anything about it? No. 
Can we survive it? No.
Can we make it work in our homes, all by ourselves en-mass? No.

5 minutes ago, Gabriël said:

... eish, the laager mentality

There should be a version for the English speaking community, the squatters, city dwellers, Zulu's, Xhosa's ... as the "Laager Mentality" is as part of each cultures genetic makeup as it is with the Afrikaners.

And the point of that article? To see what one can try to do, things we may not have thought about. Nothing at all about race. 🙂 

Edited March 24, 20197 yr by Guest

4 minutes ago, Gabriël said:

laager mentality

Unavoidable really. I've had this discussion with a family member. Lots of people grew more inward oriented over the last decade or so, where at first they wanted to help everyone they gradually changed tact to "my family and my own people first". And this is somewhat understandable. I think us people living on the Western side of the country don't feel it the same way the guys in the east do. There is certainly a movement that says: If nobody is looking after us... then we look after ourselves, often to the exclusion of others.

I think what stumps me most at this point, is how on earth Afriforum is a racist organisation (where you will find many of the Lager-trekkers)... but BLF somehow isn't 🙂

@Gabriël - you do realise the only people in SA's cities that has the ability to handle a total grid failure, are the street beggars and the poor?

As a matter of fact, most Western Nations have the same problem. You, me, most of us have NO idea how to survive on "the streets" with but the clothes on our backs, to find shelter, water and lastly food.

You can live 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food IF you have water. 

We either do it in groups we are comfortable with, or we die alone, so "Laager Mentality", as Plonkster said, is a fact of life, for ALL groups in SA. 

1 minute ago, plonkster said:

I think what stumps me most at this point, is how on earth Afriforum is a racist organisation (where you will find many of the Lager-trekkers)... but BLF somehow isn't 🙂

YES!!! It ticks me off to no end! AND we cannot even join if we are white.
And less we forget: 
One settler one bullet.
Where is my machine gun ...

Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

2 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

we cannot even join if we are white

The irony is that a non-white person can (and do!) join Afriforum. If you share the values (Afrikaans mostly), you can join. Aaaanyway... for now it remains funny. And a lot of politics is about getting a cushy seat (and salary) in parliament. In fact the best thing might be to get Andile Mngxitama a seat in parliament... give him something to do so he can shut up 🙂

2 minutes ago, plonkster said:

.. give him something to do so he can shut up 🙂

Now that is a interesting take. Like all must vote ANC so that it gets too big and is forced to split into factions ... o my, seems that is working! 🙂 

 

Now here is something out of the ordinary around Eskom: Eskom is a broken machine supported on a shredded web. It cannot be rebuilt by money, by engineers, by managers, by policy, by technology, or by corporate restructuring alone.  It can only be rebuilt organically, over time, and a lot of it.

5 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

Now that is a interesting take. Like all must vote ANC so that it gets too big and is forced to split into factions ... o my, seems that is working! 🙂 

yeah that's a difficult one. Support for the ANC is estimated at 60% (this was before the current load shedding, so well in the time period of Ramaphoria). The previous election indicated support levels around 56%. The best outcome (in my opinion) is that they lose support BUT manage to hold on with a few percentage points. Why? Because I think I'm probably not wrong about who they will make an (unholy) alliance with if they are a few points short. Then I hope Ramaphosa gets proper support in the party so that he doesn't have to tiptoe around the other guys and start getting some things done (like the promised splitting up of Eskom).

Edited March 24, 20197 yr by plonkster

10 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

Now here is something out of the ordinary around Eskom

good article you stumbled across ttt, and i do agree; NO amount of money or specialists will be able to fix eskom - i dare say definitely not within the next 5 years - same goes for the plethora of once functional institutions, the saa, sabc, sapolice etc (notable exception sa breweries 🤪) , ... the gossamer perished...

49 minutes ago, Gabriël said:

near racist attitude

guys, i never said agriforum is a racist organisation, my reference was made to this document advertising a kind of 'afrikaans exclusive' event! 

2 minutes ago, Gabriël said:

guys, i never said agriforum is a racist organisation, my reference was made to this document advertising a kind of 'afrikaans exclusive' event! 

I don't think they are either! They are a civil rights group. They fight for the rights of Afrikaans Christian people. Such people have the right to have their rights fought for. No, I am not a member 🙂

My point was that I don't quite see how one group could be described as racist for focusing on the rights of a particular group, whereas another who makes way more inflammatory statements is rarely given the same treatment.

5 minutes ago, plonkster said:

My point was that I don't quite see how one group could be described as racist for focusing on the rights of a particular group, whereas another who makes way more inflammatory statements is rarely given the same treatment.

point taken and supported! 😏

ttt, tx for the video... the acdp... well 🤔 should it not be ACDC?

throwing in a bit of Isaiah 55:11 [2:6] won't do them any good here i'm afraid... i was listening for the generators-to-kick-in bit [the noise as such], but alas it never came, so we are left with empty promises again 

3 hours ago, Gabriël said:

acdp

As a political party they actually have very good policies (aside from the religious aspect which might not be for every one). We have proportional representation, so giving your vote to a small party (such as this one, or the UDM, Cope, or the FF+) and having one or two guys in parliament that specifically represents you... that is worth more than you might think. What is more, when it comes to the big stuff (expropriation without compensation and so forth), these parties almost always sides with the opposition (the DA). So don't let anybody tell you your vote is wasted on a small party.

The only downside I could see with the ACDP is that they are pro-capital-punishment. I don't agree with that. But... you need 75% in parliament to change that part of the constitution (bill of rights), so it's probably safe to say this one will not happen.

7 hours ago, plonkster said:

pro-capital-punishment

the punishment must deserve the crime, not so? 🙄

8 hours ago, plonkster said:

As a political party they actually have very good policies (aside from the religious aspect which might not be for every one). We have proportional representation, so giving your vote to a small party (such as this one, or the UDM, Cope, or the FF+) and having one or two guys in parliament that specifically represents you... that is worth more than you might think. What is more, when it comes to the big stuff (expropriation without compensation and so forth), these parties almost always sides with the opposition (the DA). So don't let anybody tell you your vote is wasted on a small party.

The only downside I could see with the ACDP is that they are pro-capital-punishment. I don't agree with that. But... you need 75% in parliament to change that part of the constitution (bill of rights), so it's probably safe to say this one will not happen.

Don’t support all the policies of the ACDP and I think they could broaden their support if some such as support for capital punishment were dropped.  Yes, the Old Testament law and all that, but Christians live in the new covenant and South African Christians live in South Africa with its history of wholesale use of the gallows. So I worry that their support for capitals punishment reflects a certain attitude to our history.

However, I know Steve Swart personally and I see his commitment, hard work and his influence across parliament. I also see that he definitely does not have a "certain attitude to the past".  So my vote goes to him.  Which is exactly what you are saying, @plonkster

On 2019/03/23 at 8:21 PM, Gabriël said:

sa has huge coal reserves BUT the best stuff is exported through richardsbay. the bad quality stuff is shipped to the power stations where it causes failures etc... vicious circle...

Bit more complicated than this. 

The capital required to expand the mines was stopped in 2015 by Molefe. 

Main reason why Anglo sold All their power station mines. 

2 hours ago, Gabriël said:

the punishment must deserve the crime, not so? 🙄

I don't necessarily have anything against it in principle, but the most important part is that you remove that person from society (only one in 7 murderers are successfully apprehended, only half of those are successfully prosecuted). Furthermore, I think the argument that such a penalty would serve as a deterrent does not work: Murderers are not deterred because 1) they don't expect to be caught, and 2) a logical assessment of the consequences don't necessarily precede the act. To decide what your response ought to be one would therefore also look at the effect such a policy has on your society as a whole, does it tend to push a Lex Talionis eye-for-an-eye thing, or not? Also, it severely messes up the lives of the people entrusted with carrying out the sentence. Hence I am against it.