Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
by Amanda on May 7th, 2013
Ivo Vegter, author of Extreme Environment, has written a column for the Daily Maverick about the possible benefits of “red-tape tourism”, that would see smaller suburbs and towns competing to “become the “cut-red-tape” destination of choice for their provinces.”
Vegter discusses some of the objections that may arise, such as money that was meant for locals being spent catering for visitors and that if they start competing for tourism they might let the standards of the civil services slip.
I heard a clever idea the other day. It has some warts, and needs some caveats, but it might just boost tourism, reduce bureaucratic burdens on citizens, and motivate civil servants, all at once: let suburbs and towns compete to become the “cut-red-tape” destination of choice for their provinces.
If you want an ID book, passport or a driver’s licence and you don’t like queuing, you have a few options. One is to employ a professional queuing service, which will handle much of the hassle for you.
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by Amanda on Apr 25th, 2013
Ivo Vegter, author of Extreme Environment, has written about the Licensing of Businesses Bill, which Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies has gazetted.
Vegter says that “Davies gave the public only 30 days to become aware of this monstrosity and file comment” and that the Bill is reminiscent of a time “in which government bureaucrats had the power to inspect the books, search the premises, shake down the owners and shut up the shops of ‘undesirable elements’”.
For the first time since the end of Apartheid, businesses will have to ask the government’s permission to operate. The wealthy elite can thank Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies for a new age of protectionism. The poor can thank him for a new age oppression, exclusion, corruption and unemployment.
“What fresh hell is this?” Thus, Dorothy Parker would answer the phone. Parker was a funny writer and vicious wit who ended up being persecuted for her anti-Fascist and anti-racist political convictions. Her licence to work in the film industry was revoked by the Hollywood blacklist of the McCarthy era.
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by Amanda on Apr 23rd, 2013
Richard Calland, author of Anatomy of South Africa: Who Holds the Power?, has written an article for Business Day, along with Chris Oxtoby, about the recent sessions of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
Calland and Oxtoby warn that the debate around the appointment of white male candidates “has since escalated dangerously, and unhelpfully, into a dismally binary one that is conceptually rotten and factually inaccurate.”
For regular observers of the sittings of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), last week’s interviews were an unedifying experience. With discussion documents coming into the public domain that questioned the JSC’s approach to appointing white male candidates, leading eventually to despairing resignations and acrimonious exchanges, a tense atmosphere pervaded the proceedings. The debate has since escalated dangerously, and unhelpfully, into a dismally binary one that is conceptually rotten and factually inaccurate.
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by Amanda on Apr 19th, 2013
Ivo Vegter, author of Extreme Environment, has written a response to a New York Times article titled “Modern Gunmaking’s Surprising Tools – Plastic and 3D Printer”. In this article on Brainstorm, Vegter points out that this is not actually surprising as “If you can print anything using a 3D printer, it stands to reason weapons are among its applications.”
He also says that “A new tool in the armoury of would-be gunsmiths will hardly plunge society into an uncharted abyss” as he says anyone with some skill and access to a metal workshop could make a gun and says, in reference the the New York Times article that “Luddite sensationalism clearly trumps intelligence.”
‘Modern Gunmaking’s Surprising Tools – Plastic and 3D Printer’, cried the headline in the New York Times.
Surprising? To whom? If you can print anything using a 3D printer, it stands to reason weapons are among its applications. That’s the outstanding feature of general-purpose tools: you decide. Most people won’t print gun parts, some will for legitimate reasons, and a few will want them to commit crime.
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by Amanda on Apr 15th, 2013
Ivo Vegter has written about a recent segment on “a sixth extinction” on the investigative television show, Carte Blanche. In the article for the Daily Maverick, Vegter discusses the misuse of statistics about the number of extinctions.
Vegter takes exception to the show’s statement that “each of the previous five extinctions saw up to 95% of living species disappear” as he says that “by some estimates, 95% of all species that ever existed are now extinct, and most of them probably perished in one of the five major extinction events, but the claim that each event saw the loss of 95% of species appears to be made up out of whole cloth.”
Recently, Carte Blanche ran an insert based on an interview with a “sixth extinction activist”. Predictably, it is riddled with exaggeration, and paints a false picture of both biodiversity and human activity.
On Sunday 17 March 2013, Carte Blanche featured a paleontologist Dr John Anderson, speaking about the notion of a “sixth extinction”. This is the premise that human progress is causing a catastrophic loss of biodiversity, comparable to the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years before the present.
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by Amanda on Mar 7th, 2013
Ivo Vegter will be at the Knysna Literary Festival, which is being held from 19 – 24 March, to discuss his book, Extreme Environment: How environmental exaggeration harms emerging economies.
He will be talking on Sunday 24 March at the Conrad Pezula Resort & Spa from 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM. The event will cost R50 and you can book online.
Don’t miss it!
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by Amanda on Mar 5th, 2013
Ivo Vegter has written a response to Chris Vick’s Daily Maverick article “Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one“, which looks at why the Competition Commission is currently investigating the media industry.
Vegter says that “most of the examples are just cases of hyper-competitive aggression towards would-be upstarts” and that he wishes “our law would differentiate between government-protected monopolies and cartels (such as telecommunications, broadcasting, and casinos for example) and so-called cartels that earned their market power by being better at their business than their competitors.”
The Competition Commission has its sights set on a new sector. Media. And while I may seem biased, I’m no fan of the companies I’m about to defend against government intervention.
The Competition Commission has turned its guns on the media sector, over “growing allegations of monopolistic behaviour among the four major publishers”, according to a recent Daily Maverick piece by Chris Vick, a spin doctor who revels in his repute.
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by Amanda on Feb 28th, 2013
Ivo Vegter has written a satirical open letter to President Jacob Zuma for the Daily Maverick. Starting by saying that “Inspired and angered by recent events, I decided to respond the way any socially-conscious citizen in a democracy should respond. By writing an angry and inspired appeal to the president to do something.”
Vegter then goes on to write a letter demanding that Zuma “do something about the scourge of rape and murder” and explaining that “Most people will surely listen if a leader asks them to stop being criminals.”
Inspired by… no, angered. Inspired and angered by recent events, I decided to respond the way any socially-conscious citizen in a democracy should respond. By writing an angry and inspired appeal to the president to do something.
Dear Jacob,
No, wait, that’s too informal. As Chris Rock, the US comedian declared about his own president during a demonstration of leadership about gun control: “The president of the United States is – you know – our boss, but he’s also you know, the president and the first lady are like the mom and the dad of the country and when your dad says something you listen…”
You’ll appreciate that sentiment, no doubt, having earned somewhat of a reputation for virility as a patriarch yourself. So, let me begin again.
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by Amanda on Feb 25th, 2013
Ivo Vegter, author of Extreme Environment: How environmental exaggeration harms emerging economies, has written about the Western Cape’s proposed new traffic laws.
One of the proposals is that the speed limits be dropped by 10 km/h, Vegter points out that “The belief that lower speed limits can only reduce accidents is a myth” and explains that lowering the speed limit could negatively impact on the economy, as each extra “minute vehicles spend on roads is a minute lost to the economy.” He then explains the 85th percentile rule and says that this is what the speed limit laws should be based on:
To be seen to be “doing something” about the “carnage on our roads” is a frequent aim of populist politicians. In that spirit, a raft of strict new laws are being proposed by the Western Cape government, including lowering speed limits by 10 km/h.
The belief that lower speed limits can only reduce accidents is a myth, however. It may do so, if existing limits mislead drivers into going too fast for road conditions. But conversely, there is statistical evidence that driving too slowly also increases your chance of causing an accident.
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by Amanda on Feb 21st, 2013
Ivo Vegter, author of Extreme Environment: How environmental exaggeration harms emerging economies, has written an article about the BioInitiative 2012 report titled “A Rationale for Biologically-based Public Exposure Standards for Electromagnetic Fields”.
Vegter reviews the report and concludes that “they’re idiots, and they’re peddling lies” and continues that he “can say that without fear of being sued for defamation, because if they believe their own report, they’ll be hiding in Faraday cages, safe from the sort of electromagnetic hazards that would expose them to the grave dangers of the Internet.”
Here’s something that ought to scare you to death. According to BioInitiative 2012, the latest report from a previously discredited group of alarmists, some scientific studies of the effects of radio frequency radiation show that even minor and brief exposure is likely to cause severe health effects. On the list are scary hazards ranging from “pathological leakage of the blood-brain barrier”, “double-strand DNA damage” and a “doubling of leukaemia”, to the rather less scientific condition described as “loss of well-being”.
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