Yes! Let's give it 75% for fair view - purely white. . 10% Mix race and maybe 15% zulus and khoisans notwithstanding the fact that whites in SA makes less that 2% of entire population.
9%....you have gotten dumber since I've last been here
vaxx: provide an imf report or world bank data not bedroom cooked up economics . It is a known fact that 2023 economic activities hasn't run up so what ever data you come up will surely comes from your ass
Kazikazi: Do u know the same "Times higher educationa"l rankings have a separate sub saharan rankings? And do u know, Muhiimbili university is 3rd best university in subsahan Africa?
so UCT is ranked 160th in the world....but not in the top.10 in SSA?.....that's some logic bru
Lurker4Long: Jl115, what you were saying about the Opposition spokesman on defence: this was Simonstown last week, a few days after he again said not a single Lynx is flying!
Since you are here, I will expect that you be respectful to differing opinions, please do not bring the unruly behavior that is well versed in the other thread to this place.
Moving on, my thoughts on NNS Aradu, the ship is 43 years old and has passed it's effective life cycle. It's systems are old, it's engine is broken, it's weapon management system is outdated. NNS Aradu has had many accidents, the most recent repair was done at the Naval Dockyard in Lagos where there were problems with water ingress into the ship.
The ship completed repairs and had to be towed out of the dockyard by Tugs back to NNS Beecroft.
NNS Aradu while a powerful warship back when it was launched in the 80's is a complete shadow of it's self.
The cost of refitting NNS Aradu back to a warm fighting frigate would be so high, it's systems, guns, radars, engines etc etc would need to be completed replaced.
I am of the opinion that the Navy would be better served with acquiring 2 x brand new ships.
There's so much emotional attachment with NNS Aradu, the ship is way past it's prime.
If we are looking at purchasing Frigates the BRP Jose Rizal class Frigates would be an excellent fit for us, instead of investing in a ship that's way past it's prime.
Agreed, it would cost so much to refit NNS Aradu to current standards one could just as well purchase a new Frigate
rvp20182: It more the failure of Transnet just like Eskom. Prepare for more of this now - road cannot handle all that traffic without heavy investment. The rail was saving your roads. The road in Bloemspruit, Bloemfontein, South Africa
rvp20182: Every South African visiting or living in Kenya would eat you alive.kenya unlike all countries in this threads have very stable reliable electricity. Almost small difference with Europe.That despite a drought of 5yrs... we are likely to achieve universal electricity coverage with world class reliability in 2 or 3yrs.Again consumption is really down to having minning or heavy manufacturing..or not.20 big customers in South africa consume what 60 percent of power..likes of Tiger Industries
rvp20182: Why should we produce more..we have almost same coverage or accessibility..more reliability. We are not doing minning or heavy manufacturing. We don't have to produce more power..we need to ensure everyone has access to clean reliable electricity...and we are now heading to 10m out of 12 million households. Inclusive of business premises soon we achieve universal coverage. Kenya doesn't have to go through minning or heavy manufacturing..we can leapfrog into industries without smokestack through ICT,tourism,horticulture and such industries
Monthly unforeseen blackouts doesn't = more reliable.
Also you don't have the same coverage or accessibility
rvp20182: To avoid an event that happen once or twice a year - you do load shedding of 8hours daily. System faults will occur once in a while.
Kenya on average has 7-10 hours of no power in a month - mostly due to maintenance or storms - this very close to developed world where they lose power for about 1hr every month.
As for South Africa - daily 10 hours - mean monthly 300hours without electricity!!
As South Africa regress to Nigeria level of dysfunction - kenya is moving ahead - very fast.
difference is ours are planned,yours is a blackout.....big difference....secondly you don't even produce as much electricity as Nigeria, and even at stage 6 we produce 20 times more electricity than Kenya....now let that sink in
Mkenya2019: Electricity and crime are not restricted to Joburg CBD - but the entire country. Therefore prepare to see more and more deterioration in living standards, investments and of course re-location of regional HQs to places like Nairobi and Kigali. Unless of course you fix Eskom and sort the crime.
Lurker4Long: R1.4 billion allocated for SA Navy submarine and frigate refit
National Treasury has allocated nearly one and a half billion rand to the South African Navy for the refit of one of its three Type 209 submarines and one of its four Meko A200 class frigates.
Major General Thembelani Xundu, briefing Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans (PCDMV) on 22 March, explained that the Navy is being provided with sufficient funding to refit one frigate and one submarine, with work to be carried out between May 2023 and December 2024, followed by sea acceptance trials in early 2025. R500 million has been allocated in 2023/24 for this, R441 million the following year, and R480 million in 2025/26. Work will be carried out in the Simons Town Naval Dockyard.
At present, only the frigate SAS Mendi is seaworthy, while the submarine SAS Manthathisi has just returned to the water. Mendi’s seaworthiness was prioritised for Armed Forces Day and Exercise Mosi II in February.
Armscor last month explained that the frigate SAS Amatola is currently in a Docking and Essential Defect (DED) period. SAS Spioenkop is undergoing “ad-hoc maintenance and repairs of the hull and structure.” The fourth and final frigate, SAS Isandlwana, is currently undergoing ad-hoc maintenance and repairs of the mast and flight decks. Armscor stated that the masts will be completed within six months. “This is part of the continuous refurbishment activities to keep the sub-systems serviceable, as the vessel will be in a perpetual maintenance phase.”
With regard to the submarines, the SAS Manthatisi has just come out of Docking and Essential Defect (DED) maintenance, and is undergoing post-maintenance trials.
The SAS Queen Modjadji is currently undergoing preservation and pre-refit planning activities, in preparation for a refit. The procurement process for services is currently underway, with a requirement received from the Navy on 6 February 2023. Armscor estimates the contracting process will take approximately 140 days.
Funding to complete the refit of the SAS Charlotte Maxeke is available and the submarine is currently “in refit process” with Armscor providing project management. “Armscor Dockyard is currently going through a procurement process to contract a local supplier for support services,” the defence materiel agency said.
The latest defence budget vote, released in February, showed that the Maritime Defence component of the SANDF is getting R4.9 billion for the 2023/24 financial year, as well as in 2024/25, and R5.2 billion in 2025/26. Of the R4.9 billion allocated for 2023/24, just R1.45 billion is going towards Maritime Combat Capability, with the remaining on logistics support, human resources, base support etc. but the majority of funds (R2.3 billion) is allocated to salaries.
The defence budget allocation states that the SA Navy will defend and protect South Africa and its maritime zone by providing three frigates, one combat support vessel (the SAS Drakensberg), two offshore patrol vessels, and three inshore patrol vessels per year as well as two submarines a year. The Navy will conduct four coastal patrols and spend 8 000 hours at sea a year.
Budget cuts mean there is no funding for the simultaneous mid-life upgrades/refits of the SA Navy’s three submarines and four frigates, with upgrades and refits being done one at a time as budget allows. According to the Department of Defence, the average cost estimate for a frigate refit is R687 million with a submarine refit costing R660 million.
Pending the outstanding refits, the SA Navy is currently focused on prioritising essential maintenance and repair of the frigates Spioenkop and Mendi, the combat support vessel SAS Drakensberg and submarine Manthatisi to ensure operational availability.
Due to limited funding, only one of four frigates (SAS Amatola) was partially refitted in 2014/15 and one of three submarines (SAS Manthatisi) was refitted in 2013/14.
For a fully functional SA National Defence Force that would be able to effectively carry out its taskings, such as border security, Xundu told Parliament that the defence force as a whole needs to be rejuvenated and re-equipped, and this would cost R41 billion over 25 years.
National Treasury has allocated R3.3 billion to the SANDF over three years for equipment upgrades, with R1 billion allocated for C-130 Hercules maintenance, R700 million for border patrol vehicles and sensors, and R1.4 billion for frigate and submarine maintenance.
rvp20182: You're not making sense on how you transition from Eskom to Australia. You're advocating that Gov allow Eskom to go into bankruptcy? Then out of that chaos - new private players will emerge - buy Eskom assets? Or build a new 40,000MW electricity infrastracture from the scratch?
I think solution is simple - nationalize Eskom debt (take it off their balance sheet & clean it) - Restructure Eskom by splitting it into many companies. Split generations - into a few companies Split supply - into a few companies - maybe even allow each province to have their own power supply company. Remain with national backbone - say 400V lines that connect major cities.
I'm not advocating Eskom go bankrupt they are literally already there... I'm advocating they privatise and liquidise, that doesn't mean we lose all generation capacity in fact it means we will be getting profit driven businesses with the necessity to keep the grid preforming at optimum efficiency to ensure they get customers.
Theyve already tried nationalising debt, they tried throwing money at Eskom..... Everything you are suggesting theyve already tried.... And obviously it doesn't work... So I don't understand why you are advocating something that doesn't work over something that been proven to work??
rvp20182: So you're going to force Eskom to sell critical assets? or you're going to forcefully split it into small private companies.
It's not about forcing Eskom, if anything why would Government not want to sell it (ignoring that ANC ministers are enriching themselves and thus don't want to sell) ? It's totally bankrupt with no hope of recovery and its costing Government billions a month to run.
rvp20182: So each company will build parallel networks going all directions? I can understand final mile privitisation; but the backbone has been owned by gov.
Name those countries.
Australia, Japan, China, Singapore, USA to name a few
rvp20182: So each company will build parallel networks going all directions? I can understand final mile privitisation; but the backbone has been owned by gov.
Name those countries.
why would they need to? They can buy it directly from Eskom?
Mkenya2019: Yes, maybe, I dont understand what you mean. If you mean competition via privatisation then it wont work - esp for supply end.
Let me give you kenya example. We have regulator. We have gov owned transmission company owning the backbone - Ketraco We have privatized generation - IPPS and majority owned Kengen (IPO for 30%) - we want to divest more. We have privatized KPLC - monopoly supplier - gov has say as majority shareholder is NSSF (social pension scheme) - private sector own 49% - So yes you can privatize almost everything except Transmission back-bone. But you will have to be careful at supply end - to avoid private player - excluding unprofitable household. Atlough you can separate that into gov owned social electricity company - kenya is thinking a long those lines - Rural electricity company - that will run more as subsidy.
Conclusion: 1) Get gov owned regulator, transmission backbone, and finally gov run mostly subsidized rural electricity company to deal with universal access 2) Privatize generation and supply.
Nope Privatise the entire thing, if Government wants to supply electricity they can either keep a % of Eskom or sell it and start a new company to compete in the free market(similar to what you have suggested above) like with Denel and Telcom.
You have 0 actual examples where your suggestions work, where I can name several countries that have entirely privatised their electricity supply and have cheap and reliable electricity because of it. So how can you tell me it won't work when there are real world examples of it working fantastically.
FYI if Government is the largest shareholder then it hasn't been privatised
Politics / Re: Kenyans Are Far Behind Nigerians In Every Aspect – Fani-Kayode by jl115: 9:04pm On Jul 24, 2023 
. 10% Mix race and maybe 15% zulus and khoisans notwithstanding the fact that whites in SA makes less that 2% of entire population.