Carol Paton
@politicsblahbla
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I don’t subscribe to the sabotage theory at
@Eskom_SA
I think the reality is more disturbing: eskom’s plant is in breakdown due to neglect, bad maintenance, skimping on paying for it, shocking project management, poor skills, unskilled mangers running power stations
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This country, actually this government is chaotic! To release a green paper suggesting 12% social security tax in this environment is beyond belief.
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Completely agree with the ANC. The attacks on
@DlaminiZuma
are racist and misogynist. Sickening actually. Ps. I don’t like her and doubt she likes me. But I respect her.
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Government/treasury?? Seem to have decided that SA is so poor, it can’t buy vaccines for citizens. The estimated cost is R12bn to R18bn all in ie distribution costs included. But
@TreasuryRSA
and
@CyrilRamaphosa
easily found R10,5bn for SAA. Cmon guys! Seriously? We are so poor?
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Pravin Gordhan says in his budget vote that "there has been absolute transparency in the SAA deal". if that is so, he should show us the Sale and Purchase agreement and the MOU signed with Takatso.
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Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has just announced that SA has secured 1,5m doses of AstraZeneca vaccine for health workers with the first 1m arriving in January. Excellent news! Full story coming on
@BusinessLiveSA
shortly
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Can’t see how government can sustain its tobacco, alcohol and e-commerce ban for much longer. It’s all unraveling. Curfew also irrational.
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So SAA strike is over. Workers got the same as they would have got without the strike. Big miscalculation.
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It is becoming less and less viable to practice journalism in SA. Poor ethics, vested interests, massive egos, arrogant and venal management, lazy and corrupt journalists. Credibility shredded. Add to that the post-truth populism rampant on social media and why trust the media?
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We don’t know yet if the ANC will fall below 50% or the DA below 20%. Both are existential. We do know that whatever happens to the DA it will be the media’s fault.
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Eskom hearings: Brown: it was the board; molefe: it was Singh; Singh: it was Brown; koko: it was Suzanne Daniels and Tsotsi; Tsotsi: it was Zuma
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@DeanMacpherson
Dean you take the cake for the most facile comment of the lockdown. Go walk your dog.
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There are 1598 schools in the ECape without sanitation where the department has been providing mobile toilets. It has now reduced the number of schools by a third, due to budget cuts. But we will still find money to fly SAA? Cmon
@tito_mboweni
!
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That was Pres Zuma getting moered by a court like no one has ever been moered before. ANC will pay dearly for their protection of Zuma
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Financial Mail deputy editor Sikonathi Mantshantsha thanks “the Eskom crooks” for his award as Sanlam Financial Journalist of the year
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SA clearly has an alcohol problem. Why? No enforcement of drink-drive laws; no ordinary policing of night life at clubs and shebeens. No consequences. That is what Bheki Cele needs to act on.
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Amandla! Raymond Suttner celebrates his MA in law from UCT 49 years after he withdrew it for refusing not to quote listed communist Jack Simons.
@RaymondSuttner
#jazztwitter
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Now our beloved
@CyrilRamaphosa
has gone and appointed another panel! FFS! Can he not just run the country.
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Shoo! It’s very dark where I am right now and i definitely won’t buy an SAA ticket to get out of here. Is there anyone left, besides our sweet SACP comrades, who thinks government should be running these companies?
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Well done to Nhlanhla Nene for apologising for his lapse in judgement in meeting the Guptas. Unlike those of you who were keen to overlook his behaviour, I'm glad he thought it warrants reflection and apology.
Media statement with Minister Nhlanhla Nene's message to fellow South Africans
@GovernmentZA
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JZ is making progress as a human being. A month ago he said he could not think of a single mistake he had made. This week he said his mistakes "were limited". This is good.. could go all the way to a plea bargain 😂
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What a sad and profound comment on the Ramaphosa presidency that he should silent sit for three hours, refusing to account, while his MPs defend the indefensible
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Nothing makes me as happy as the arrest of Eric Wood. Nothing.
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I agree with
@CyrilRamaphosa
that we need to characterise the past 10 days for what they were: it was an ANC faction fight rooted in criminality and fuelled by inequality. Possibly insurrectionary; possibly not. Doesn’t matter much.
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The only person in the entire country who has the power to procure more energy says he is doing a great job. via
@news24
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And your biggest crime? Killing an innocent woman with your fast car or causing mayhem, death, looting and economic sabotage. Hard to choose.
Criminalizing the poor will be the biggest failure of our government.
We have seen videos of poor old people being dragged by police, young kids looting clothes to keep warm.
Instead of dealing with the cause of such act, which we know is poverty we want to criminalize them?🤮
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Cabinet is now a joke: mining minister speaks on finance; local govt minister on SARS; president on public enterprises
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Lynne brown the worst of the lot of them. She should be ashamed at how she has betrayed South Africa
Gosh, Lynn Brown is painful to listen to. She is awful. She is a disgrace. She too must resign.
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Please we need the infection numbers everyday at the same time please. We all deserve to know.
@CyrilRamaphosa
@DrZweliMkhize
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A reply to a DA parliamentary question by Kobus Marais has revealed the Department of Defence and Military Veterans spent over R1 billion in past 10 years paying Cuban service providers to maintain and repair its defence equipment under Project Thusano. Sorry
@DenelSOC
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The passing of Johan van Zyl such a loss for SA. A committed builder of the economy, innovator and visionary. We are poorer.
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R30m copper piping stolen while hospital stood empty. More gross mismanagement by Gauteng provincial goverment via
@BusinessLiveSA
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It is striking how deeply many non-DA supporters are aggrieved by what the DA has done to
@MmusiMaimane
. Those were your potential voters
@helenzille
who you just told to get lost
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Asked for urgent interview with
@GwedeMantashe1
on power situation. His staff responded six hours later to “acknowledge” request and say they are working on a time and date for this. No urgency.
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Breathtaking hypocrisy. Mantashe threatens to revoke sibanye’s mining licence because they won’t meet workers demands, but the state has not paid its own employees at Denel for months. # via
@BusinessLiveSA
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Completely untrue that Brian molefe turned eskom around. It's drowning in debt and paying more for it everyday
TODAY'S ESSENTIAL READ >
Did Brian Molefe save Eskom or sign its death warrant? CAROL PATON
@politicsblahbla
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Listening to
@DipuoPeters
and Sfiso Buthelezi in parliament asking
@TreasuryRSA
officials about why the economy is such a disaster is galling. Dear former ministers, you presided over the looting and destruction of the 9 wasted years!
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Finally! Jabu Mabuza as chair of eskom; Phakamani Hadene as acting CE; Koko and Singh to be immediately removed. Amandla!
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I love this: the ANC has already tabled a vote of no confidence in De Lille. But the DA in Cape Town arent ready legally to get rid of De Lille. Their members will have to vote against the motion and not "with their conscience". Hehe..
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I wondered when
@mgigaba
would criticize the ridiculous visa regulations as anti-growth. He just did it now, completely without irony
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So Jacob Zuma might still be president of SA but Zethemba Khoza is no longer chairman of Eskom 💃💃💃Announcement on new chair expected this afternoon.
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Full idiocy of this letter now really coming home
When I visited
#Medupi
power station for the first time two weeks ago, I was struck by how massive it is. It is one thing to be told in a briefing that, when completed, Medupi will be the fourth largest power stations of its kind in the world.
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@tito_mboweni
You don’t think that perhaps you should have asked this question before you gave the R10,5bn?
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President Cyril Ramaphosa says
“Government has taken far-reaching and necessary decisions to ensure the sustainable security of energy supply.” This is false. He has not.
@CyrilRamaphosa
needs to tell
@GwedeMantashe1
to procure new energy generation capacity in the morning.
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This is reminiscent of the Zim coup where Mugabe agreed to go but had to sit around having tea for a week first
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Yesterday's briefing by Pravin Gordhan and Eskom was distressing. The plan for winter is to burn shiploads of diesel. Spend like there is no tomorrow...
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The Dep CJ has tweeted only 20 times. Today was one.
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The DA’s populism makes me mad. Reduce the fuel levy by R1 and then what,
@MmusiMaimane
? Increase other taxes?
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👏👏👏
@CyrilRamaphosa
just won the gold medal in the marathon! 100MW! It was a hard slog but its done.
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Govt has done a great job so far but every city/country eventually opts for lockdown. That is what we must do. A shorter intense lockdown better than a long grinding go slow
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He denied getting R10m into his personal account. But my understanding is that the money was not transferred to his personal account but to an account of a company called Grand Azania
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Here’s me
Editor-at-large at
@BDliveSA
, Carol Paton (
@politicsblahbla
) is an outspoken, sobering and thoughtful voice in political and business journalism, providing invaluable, hard-hitting (sometimes hard-to-acknowledge) insights into policymaking and business.
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White South Africa dressed up as liberal principles. Yuck.
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It helps nobody for
@CyrilRamaphosa
to repeatedly say that SAns are not xenophobic. It wont help the migrants themselves who will be attacked again; neither will it help the people attacking them who have legitimate complaints about crime and illegal migration.
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Pravin Gordhan told us last night that on Thursday load shedding is moving to stage 3. And then stage 2 on Friday and absolutely none on the weekend. We are stage 4 still today, right?
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i got to say I love our Minister of Finance
@tito_mboweni
. He published a growth strategy today that gets straight to the point. Story coming now on
@BusinessLiveSA
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Lots of people why I want
@GwedeMantashe1
to show up. Because only
@GwedeMantashe1
had the authority to procure new energy capacity to save us from four years of this. The power is in his hands exclusively. Gordhan must answer for eskom agreed.
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The rash of conspiracy theories circulating on eskom is indicative of the low trust levels in this society. The public suspect labour; govt suspects eskom employees; labour suspects eskom management; others suspect a grand conspiracy involving IPPs and govt. It’s mad
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So Mark Barnes has quit. Thanks to him the Post Office is financially healthy - well has no debt!! - and government was never going to allow him to run the Postbank once fully licensed. So end of the line, i guess.
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Yes! Did you not read the results. Absolute debt and debt service costs big increase. Profit down by 82% Sometimes, you make me wonder...
Am keen to hear your comment after the Eskom presentation of their financial health a couple of days ago. Are they drowning in debt?
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Interesting to contrast
@MmusiMaimane
positive stream on Twitter with
@helenzille
negative woke aggression. I think
@jsteenhuisen
should worry...
Met this incredible South African. Rachel Rawraway who got the Science award for the Western Cape. Rumour has it, she got 100%. I’m so proud of her and wish her great success. We need more citizens like her. Building OneSA.
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Drama! Mabuza takes the fall but it won’t take the pressure off Ramaphosa to fire Gordhan. The cat is back and among the pigeons!
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The intensity of the campaign against the appointment of Gordhan is astonishing. CR not going to have even a moment of honeymoon
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This is just amazing. The winner of a Nobel Peace Prize who has dined out on it for years and has made millions on the speaking circuit did not know about the UN convention on apartheid. Mbeki: 'I'll send De Klerk the UN convention' # via
@SowetanLIVE
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What a day. While
@helenzille
rails against “black privilege”
@tito_mboweni
compares recipes for chicken stew. Im not ready for the next five years. Need a break .
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Have to say I’m with
@helenzille
on this one. If you dish it out, get ready to swallow. Journalists have powerful platforms, they can’t expect no push back
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Can’t imagine the burden of always being right and having to constantly correct everyone.
@helenzille
does it with admirable commitment
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SA is such a hard place for young people with a commitment to social justice to grow up. Jack Markowitz is a kid trying to make sense of this violent and racist country. Yes the EFF are fascist but goodness... here is a kid saying I reject racism. That is all.
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DA's election messaging is irresponsible hysteria.
@MmusiMaimane
do you really think ANC wants to take our homes?
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Agreed. But you skipped out that the DA also needs a reshuffle
We don’t need a cabinet reshuffle, we need a party reshuffle. Even beyond dealing with corruption, South Africa’s economy needs reform. ANC alliance, can’t bring reforms to education, SOE’s energy sector due to Union power, ideologs SACP and policy uncertainty. We need change.
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A vast improvement. Thin pickings. lots of skeletons. But better. love the demotion of Sisulu and Stella.
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Things are finally moving at eskom! We could have a new board by the morning!
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I’m pretty astounded at today’s mtbps. What the docs don’t say is that Tito hopes to get R50bn/year savings off the wage bill through a patriotic negotiation with labour. What’s more, he thinks he has time in hand to do this by Feb. Not sure he does though.
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What a frustrating day: Gigaba's rambling emptiness; Zwane's rampant destruction
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I don’t see Nene as a hero. What was he doing meeting the Guptas? Those meetings were not to drink tea.
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I wonder so much who is responsible for Mkhwebane's disastrous report into the Bankorp life boat. Who was she listening to?
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EFF are the new BLF
EFF Statement On National Treasury Deputy Director General Momoniat Ismail
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Whoever said land is not the issue in SA was so totally wrong. People want a place to put up their shelter. It’s the number one issue. Govt must release land if it wants to help citizens.
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SA scientists have served SA so well in this pandemic. You are cause for celebration amidst the gloom.
@Tuliodna
and colleagues well done! Prof Salim Abdool Karim is a national treasure!
South African scientists were the first and fastest in the world to identify any of the new COVID variants that are sweeping across the planet. Their reward? Other countries blame SA for the "worst" variant. Highly unfair, as noted by
@Tuliodna
in a scientific briefing tonight.
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This eskom pension fund just got even better. Now the CEO says molefe qualified for early retirement at 50 because he was retrenched! Mad.
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BREAKING NEWS: The government published the wrong version of the energy plan via
@BusinessLiveSA
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Thulani dlomo is clearly unhinged. Very much a Hlaudi. Jacob Zuma liked Unhinged people because they are reckless. Anyway, he says he is innocent and wants SA to unite. Thanks to
@Newzroom405
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Thing about a sovereign wealth fund that
@EFFSouthAfrica
don’t get, is that first you must have wealth and then you can make a fund. Mining companies in SA are struggling. We have no oil and no gas to speak of
Also, it's not true that Sovereign Wealth Fund is an EFF idea. The ANC government contemplated such before EFF was even formed. At the time Minister Patel said market conditions and commodity prices were not conducive. But qhubekani
#SONADebate
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Problem is
@jsteenhuisen
defended the posters like we all saw. Thank you
@ZiyandaNgcobo
for being on the ground then and now
[MUST WATCH]
#Newzroom405
's senior politics reporter
@ZiyandaNgcobo
challenges DA leader
@jsteenhuisen
to explain the party's controversial election posters seen in
#Phoenix
, Durban.
Tune into channel 405 for more, analysis, and reactions on this story.
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Mad day! Pravin Gordhan says treasury will fund SAA. Treasury says not.
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The presidency has just announced that
@CyrilRamaphosa
will this week "receive the report of Jobs Summit" held in October last year. I think we are supposed to see this as evidence that government is doing something about unemployment
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@ferialhaffajee
I don’t need “sorry”. I need
@GwedeMantashe1
to issue a determination under the Electricity Regulation Act first thing in the morning. We have a four-year power gap and the longer the minister waits the longer we will have load shedding. It is that obvious
@CyrilRamaphosa
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I'm wondering how our jimmy and bo are feeling about the Dubai emails...
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Im sad for Brian molefe. Such a waste of talent; such an ignominious descent
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So
@mgigaba
will give us the "way forward" on the economy at 12 after Min Zwane has trashed it at 10 announcing mining charter. MTshwete
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So actually SAA only flies between Joburg and Cape Town now. Mango can do that guys. If ever there was a time to close this down
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