We need to see the big picture and the plans for future economies. That is really the point. And nobody is paying attention to the Corporatisation of the Planet and the players involved. It started off with the Post Office. Then it was Toll Roads. Large sectors of the Railways got sold off. Private clinics will eventually outnumber government ones. Private schools. Private security companies. And the worst Private prisons which have become a big money making industry in the US. Health insurance, supposedly government but outsourced to private insurance companies. You drivers liscence updated every five years, outsourcedBTW! Nice little business that one for Sheik I believe. Patenting all seeds and plants and putting control of the food industry into the hands of a small group of companies. Buying up all South African retail under the banner of Wall Mart. If you think the NWO is a conspiracy, or even if you are awake to it and think it is only overseas, it is not . It is right on your doorstep. With this corporate ownership of everything, we not only pay taxes but we also pay for services that were once paid for by We The People through our taxes. Eventually you have to ask yourself, why we are paying taxes at all? To keep a bunch of politicians in power who are supposed to act for We The People but in fact who are acting for the benefit of the Corporations. E Toll , Fracking, Monsanto, and now Private Prisons? There is a certain irony that a South African prison operated by a UK-headquartered security company is placed under administration in the same week that the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) loses another bid in court to prevent the E-toll programme going ahead in Gauteng. Until a week ago, I hadn’t really followed the story of the issues at the Manguang prison but I caught a newsclip around a hostage drama that was taking place there. Essentially a group of prisoners had taken a female administrator prisoner. What really intrigued me though was the announcement that “approximately 100 people” from security company G4S were headed to the prison to “resolve” the standoff. Isn’t this the role of the South African Police Service (SAPS)? Anyway a bit of research shows that the Manguang is the first of its kind private-public partnership and is effectively a private sector run prison which was opened in 2001 and G4S has a 25-year contract to run the facility. It’s been in the news a lot in 2013 as the prison has had a number of reports of violence against prisoners and administrators. As an interesting aside, G4S has just been slated in a UK prisons report detailing similar issues at its flagship prison in the UK. You can find some of the details here on the OpenDemocracy website. G4S describes itself as “the world’s leading international security solutions group” and amazingly is the largest employer on the London Stock Exchange with 620000 employees across the globe. Let’s park that thought for a moment and let’s turn our attention to a throwaway comment made by Transport Minister Dipuo Peters in a radio interview earlier this week. Peters told listeners that because the technology was expensive and foreign developed, we needed to ensure that the E-tolling kicked off so we could start paying it off. This is important because up until now, the party line has been that we needed to have E-tolls to improve our road infrastructure, not to pay foreign suppliers. Kapsch, the Austrian firm who provide the administration and technology for E-tolls told media in Austria in July: “Vienna, July 26, 2013 – The recent developments regarding the share price of Kapsch TrafficCom are „incomprehensible“ explains Georg Kapsch, CEO Kapsch TrafficCom. The Vienna stock market reacted poorly to the disclosure that the commercial start of the Electronic Toll Collection System in Gauteng, a South African province, will not be effected mid- July as previously considered. Kapsch was awarded the contract to implement the toll system in September 2009. The installation of the system was carried out quickly and efficiently however, various intended start-dates over the last few months have been postponed due to a variety of protests, interventions and objections. The situation regarding the project has not changed over the last month, therefore there is no rationale for the sudden market reaction“, stresses Kapsch. „Our system is ready to go and we are calmly waiting for a definite date to start with the commercial operation.” The recent reports on the financial situation of the South African National Road Agency (SANRAL) clearly show that an urgent decision and an immediate start are desirable. The South African Government decided in 2009 that the maintenance and development of the road system in Gauteng will be funded by electronic tolling. “The delays jeopardize jobs and endanger the country’s infrastructure“, underlines Kapsch. “We are confident that governmental authorities in South Africa will act promptly and that all necessary steps will be taken soon.“ Don’t get me wrong, I strongly believe we need to embrace foreign investors as their capital is necessary to grow capacity in South Africa. In principle I actually don’t have a problem with the concepts of E-tolling and private prisons. I do think we are finding that our bloated government structures are forcing stakeholders to outsource government functions and that is a potentially worry as it makes us lazy and happy to accept a string of “consultants” charging private sector rates. But for me, I get the sense that the language being used by government officials is slowly changing because of hard lobbying from foreign stakeholders. The language suggests that government officials will say anything to ensure that foreign operators are prioritised. Heck I caught the tail-end of an interview on radio this morning where a spokesperson was saying that E-tolls in Gauteng were endorsed by former President Nelson Mandela because he believed that the rich should subsidise the poor – that is simply gratuitous and whoever that government spokesperson was, they should be ashamed of themselves. Kapsch see the “protests, interventions and objections” as a nuisance factor to their shareprice. The Minister of Transport doesn’t see public consultation as part of the process because we are holding up repayments to foreign suppliers. G4S sees Manguang as 25 years of annuity income for shareholders, whereas South Africans see it as an integral part of easing capacity issues in our Correctional Services portfolio. A word to government: Be wary of slick foreigners who have mastered PowerPoint and gifts. These projects are developed for the benefit of South Africa, not foreign shareholders. finweek/2013/10/10/government-needs-to-learn-from-g4s-before-e-tolls/
Posted on: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 07:19:20 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015