10 RULES FOR DATING MY DAUGHTER

Good day bloggers - still catching up I'm afraid! Herewith the funnies that should have been posted on Sunday 4th March. This one is clearly for all the 'Dads' out there who have daughters. Thank you to my fellow Business Warrior who posted this on the forum (www.businesswarriors.co.za).

Enjoy

Regards
Nikki



10 Simple Rules for Dating My Daughter

Rule One: If you pull into my driveway and honk you'd better be delivering a package, because you're sure not picking anything up.

Rule Two: You do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off of my daughter's body, I will remove them.

Rule Three: I am aware that it is considered fashionable for boys of your age to wear their trousers so loosely that they appear to be falling off their hips. Please don't take this as an insult, but you and all of your friends are complete idiots. Still, I want to be fair and open minded about this issue, so I propose this compromise: You may come to the door with your underwear showing and your pants ten sizes too big, and I will not object. However, In order to ensure that your clothes do not, in fact, come off during the course of your date with my daughter, I will take my electric nail gun and fasten your trousers securely in place to your waist.

Rule Four: I'm sure you've been told that in today's world, sex without utilizing a "barrier method" of some kind can kill you. Let me elaborate: when it comes to sex, I am the barrier, and I will kill you.

Rule Five: In order for us to get to know each other, we should talk about sports, politics, and other issues of the day. Please do not do this. The only information I require from you is an indication of when you expect to have my daughter safely back at my house, and the only word I need from you on this subject is "early"

Rule Six: I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, once you have gone out with my little girl, you will continue to date no one but her until she is finished with you. If you make her cry, I will make you cry.

Rule Seven: As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, and more than an hour goes by, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time for the movie, you should not be dating. My daughter is putting on her makeup, a process that can take longer than painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of just standing there, why don't you do something useful, like changing the oil in my car?

Rule Eight: The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter: - Places where there are beds, sofas, or anything softer than a wooden stool. - Places where there are no parents, policemen, or nuns within eyesight. - Places where there is darkness. - Places where there is dancing, holding hands, or happiness. - Places where the ambient temperature is warm enough to induce my daughter to wear shorts, tank tops, midriff T-shirts, or anything other than overalls, a sweater, and a goose down parka zipped up to her throat. - Movies with a strong romantic or sexual theme are to be avoided; movies which feature chainsaws are okay. - Hockey games are okay. - Old folks homes are better.

Rule Nine: Do not lie to me. I may appear to be a potbellied, balding, middle-aged, dimwitted has-been. But on issues relating to my daughter, I am the all-knowing, merciless god of your universe. If I ask you where you are going and with whom, you have one chance to tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God. I have a shotgun, a shovel, and five acres behind the house. Do not trifle with me.

Rule Ten: Be afraid. Be very afraid. It takes very little for me to mistake the sound of your car in the driveway for a chopper coming in over a rice paddy outside of Hanoi. When my Agent Orange starts acting up, the voices in my head frequently tell me to clean the guns as I wait for you to bring my daughter home. As soon as you pull into the driveway you should exit your car with both hands in plain sight. Speak the perimeter password, announce in a clear voice that you have brought my daughter home safely and early, then return to your car-there is no need for you to come inside. The camouflaged face at the window is mine.

NO U TURN

Good morning all bloggers. This is what would have been posted on 3rd March. My thanks to my friend Louise Barns of Louise Barnes Communications, for sending this article to me. It does indeed bring ideas to ponder over.

Regards
Nikki



ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT

No U-turn

By Carol Paton

What will happen to SA's economic management when Mbeki and Manuel go?


President Thabo Mbeki's remark that "the years of freedom have been very good for business" in last year's state of the nation speech was apt. The years of freedom have been better than business ever imagined they might be - thanks largely to the shared vision of Mbeki and his finance minister, Trevor Manuel, whose goal has been to build a business-friendly, globally approved economic environment. Can SA still be assured of prudent financial management and business-friendly policies?

Trevor Manuel

The obvious unknown is who will be president next. The race is still wide open. But the political outcome is fairly simple to predict.

The options can be categorised into three: a conventional ANC candidate (such as ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe or foreign minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma); an ANC business tycoon (such as Cyril Ramaphosa or Tokyo Sexwale); or a third, Left option. The Left candidates include, as a diminishing possibility, Jacob Zuma, who has campaigned with the trade unions and the SA Communist Party.


WHAT IT MEANS Business as usual, whoever leads SA , SA must correct inept public service


The first two options would bring business as usual. But how much could a Left-leaning president change the environment for doing business?

As a mass-based organisation with constitutional structures able to insist on a responsive leadership, the ANC is highly vulnerable to economic populism. Demands for an expansionary approach to government spending could conceivably be rallied around and won. A basic income grant is a good example. But pushing up consumption spending by introducing income support across the board would be bad for inflation and put pressure on the rand.

"The Chavez option is not a realistic one in SA. One needn't have lurid worries about that" - MICHAEL SPICER

But just as the ANC feels the pressure from its base and will so more and more the closer the December 2007 conference comes, there are other pressures propelling it towards fiscal caution.

Top of the list is the global community - including multilateral organisations like the World Bank and IMF, big foreign investors and ratings agencies - which all act to subdue policy exuberance. Next are SA's own established institutions - the independent central bank and the prudently run SA Revenue Service.

There is also a firmly rooted understanding in the ANC, which permeates several layers of leadership right through to the provinces and municipalities, that it is business that makes the investments necessary for jobs and prosperity.

All this means that "the culture of macroeconomic management is well-entrenched", says commentator and analyst Iraj Abedian, chief executive of Pan African Advisory Services.
"A new leader might bring about a change of emphasis but not a fundamental change" - SAKI MACOZOMA

"I don't hear any voices calling out to abandon Reserve Bank independence or inflation targeting, and start printing money," he says.

Michael Spicer, chief executive of Business Leadership SA, agrees that the risks of a even a "leftish" candidate in the presidency are not something about which to be unduly concerned.

"The range of possibilities is quite limited, given the institutional and global constraints that act on policy. The [Venezuelan president Hugo] Chávez option is not a realistic one in SA. One needn't have lurid worries about that," says Spicer.

Policies out of step with global convention would inevitably face reaction and correction.

The ANC's policy conference in July looks set to settle worries about economic management in the future, when it again debates the organisation's policy on the economy.

Says NEC member and Stanlib chairman Saki Macozoma: "Most of us hope this will be settled by the policy conference and that basic economic policy will remain the same. A new leader might bring about a change of emphasis but not a fundamental change."

Such changes in emphasis might be felt most in the internal power and organisational dynamics of the state.

A new finance minister, for instance, would be unlikely to have the great influence and clout that Manuel has in government, and one might expect a slightly weaker, less influential treasury.

The same goes for the presidency. Under Mbeki, the office of the president has accumulated significant powers and capacity. It is largely responsible for co-ordinating the work of departments, monitoring their progress and putting together over arching strategic plans.

A serious risk of the transition to a new leader is that such competence might be lost as old staff leave or are pushed out to make way for new political appointments.

This points to a far bigger problem and one that far overshadows concerns of sound economic management.

The dominating challenge for the next three years (while Mbeki and Manuel are still in power) and spanning the 10 years beyond "is to establish a culture of effectiveness and efficiency in the public service", says Abedian.

The decline of service levels and efficiency in the public service because of patronage and inappropriate appointments is presenting SA with a far bigger challenge than the management of the macro economy.

" One hears more and more frequent reports of ineffectiveness, lack of service delivery, lack of timeliness and of a culture of inefficiency. This is a management issue, a skills retention and acquisition issue and a question of system changes," says Abedian.

It is also, perhaps most importantly, an issue of depoliticising the state.

"When appointing a chief director or a director, the criterion must be competence, not loyalty or credentials related to what that person did in the past. Those people [comrades from the struggle] must be rewarded in another way," says Abedian.

In the US, for instance, a similar politicised civil-service culture prevails where top officials (the equivalent of cabinet ministers) bring in an entirely new staff when their term of office begins. But in SA, such politicisation permeates all levels.

"We must focus on the infrastructure of the state and distinguish it from the political infrastructure," says Abedian.

To best guarantee its future, business then needs to do what it can to boost state capacity and support shared objectives. This is a role that government has been happy to see it play, calling for a bigger role for business in the financing and provision of public services.

BUSINESS START UP - WORKSHOP - ASSET REGISTER

Hi all, here is the part of the workshop that you would have received on Wednesday 28th February.


Remember if you have any queries - post comments.

Regards
Nikki


A.7. Asset Register

What is an asset register and why do you need one? No it’s just another piece of admin to make your life more cluttered and just give you one more thing to do – actually it will probably un-clutter your life and simplify it! An asset register is a list of all your assets, such as your computer and printer, your desk, chair and so on. What does it do? Well it helps your Accountant work out what the correct depreciation is and how long it should be depreciated and also, if you have a theft, it will expedite your claim. Cool hey! The asset register should list the date that the item was purchased and the amount of the purchase and then in the instances where there is a serial number (in the case of computers and/or printers and so on), this should also be recorded. All the assets should be given a unique number and this number should be attached to the item (a little sticker under the chair or desk) to identify same. In very big companies each asset is broken down even further. For example it may be a visitor’s chair in the Accounts department that was purchased in October 2000 and the reference number could then be something like 013/10/00/VC/ACC (this would indicate that it was the 13th asset purchased in October 2000 - that it is a Visitor’s Chair and it is located in the Accounts Department. When the stock take is done (which should be done on an annual basis, just before your year end), the item can be verified as present and if it is missing, you know exactly where it went missing from. I am sure you can understand the reasoning behind this when you think of these huge corporations like FNB, in Bank City in the CBD, where there are thousands of employees, in hundreds of offices in 4 high rise buildings that are interlinked. Can you imagine trying to find where a chair went missing from and which department is responsible for its loss if the chair was only allocated a number like 12345? Always start in the manner that you intend to continue, so even if you have the bare minimum in your little office in a corner of one of the bedrooms in your home, number the items appropriately. It will save you a lot in time and effort down the line.

Keep your asset register up to date and current. As soon as you purchase a new asset, add it to the register. This will take you a few minutes to do rather than hours at the financial year end when you have to look up the cost of the items before handing the books over to the Accountant for your financial year end figures.

A copy of an Asset register spreadsheet can be obtained, at a cost from me.

NETWORKING - PART 1

Slowly getting there people! This is the post that should have been made on Tuesday 27th February.


Remember, if you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.


Regards
Nikki

THE POWER OF NETWORKING

Part 2

So now you have found your passion and you are rushing around madly trying to find work, build relationships and then do the work. What’s next?

Since I have discovered that the majority of people are not natural networker’s, I turned to Helen Nicolson’s book “Networking: The Unwritten Rule of Business you need to know” for inspiration, and discovered that it would probably be a great idea to zone into and then emulate what Great Networker’s do. Helen writes:
“Great Networkers:
· Identify and zone in on their strengths,
· Build their brand around their top 10% strength base.”

So what does this mean to me, as a natural networker. Giving this some thought – remember I like to simply things and if I am going to use myself as a case study (God forbid I should use someone else and get sued for something like slander or liable or one of those uglies!)

In my opinion, some of my strengths are (and if you have know me and have a different opinion great! Keep it to yourself though, because remember – “other people’s opinions of me are none of my business!)

1. I am a ‘doer’ – I get so sick and tired of going to meetings that just go around and around and no decisions are made. Going to a meeting to set up another meeting, makes no sense to me whatsoever and wastes my time. So get the ball rolling, make a decision and get going!

2. Making quick decisions, based on the information that I have available at the time that the decision is made. Another pet hate of mine. People who agonize over making a decision. Then before the decision is made they ask everyone and anyone, what they should do, until they hear an answer that sounds vaguely like what they had in mind. Then that’s their decision – you see they can then abdicate the responsibility if something goes wrong, because they got advice from somebody else. For goodness sake, make a decision and if it’s wrong – correct it and move on!

3. Change! It’s going to happen whether you like it or not. If you don’t get with the program it will drag you along with it or you will get left behind totally. For my own part, it is easier or the nerves to keep up and not be like a salmon and swim against the water flow! Look, let’s be realistic – I am not going to change something just for the sake of change – it definitely has to have a reason and the result must be either the same as what I have or better – or no change. Be prepared to have an open mind though. Someone else may be able to do it “better” than you or have a better idea than you.

4. Judgement! Don’t be so quick to judge someone by the way that they look, or speak (or don’t). You don’t know them. You have no idea what their lives are like or what trials and tribulations they have gone through in life. One of my best clients today is someone who I met in a pub, wearing dirty shorts and a stained, dirty, smelly, torn t-shirt. He had just come back from a fishing weekend and they had run out of beer and he was dying for an ice cold one. The man runs 4 businesses, has a yacht, a helicopter and several speedboats! Don’t judge until you know the person better.

5. Listening. My friend Geraldine always tells me that her mum used to tell her that “God gave us two ears and only one mouth for a reason”. If you are talking all the time, you miss out on listening to not only what the other person is saying, but also what they are needing. Quite often, what they are needing is some help in their business which either you can give to them or one of the people in your database can assist them.

6. Opportunities. I can go crazy when I hear people saying “ work is scarce”. Actually it is the other way around – there is a huge abundance of work out there and an even greater abundance of opportunity out there – it’s just a matter of recognising it. Once you have recognised it – do something about it. It’s not going to just fall like manna from heaven!

7. Networking. Because I am a natural networker – it stands to reason that networking is one of my strengths. During the course of my ramblings on the subject, you will get to understand hope fully the nature of the beast and be able to work with it.

I will continue this saga next week, with your branding. Remember if you would like a copy of Helen Nicholson’s book “Networking: The Unwritten Rule of Business you need to know”, please mail her on helen@helennicholson.co.za.

QUOTE FOR THE WEEK

Oh dear, still trying to catch up. This is the motivational quote that you should have received on the 26th February.


The quote today comes from Graca Michel, former first lady of Mozambique.


"When you love someone, you love him as a whole. . . . There are no parts with which you can say you don't want to be concerned."

For me it is the same in business. As an entrepreneur, and a lone figure in my business, I cannot say - well I am not going to be doing any marketing today, because that is not what I do or I am not going to check on the finances today, because that is not what I do or even I am not going to do anything concerning IT today, because that is not what I do . . . . I have to be all of everything to this business. Now don't take this incorrectly. If I had to try and do the IT stuff that pertains to my business, I would be in serious trouble - you see I am a bit of a technophobe, but what does have to happen is that I have to ensure that the IT that I have delegated to my service provider, Jack Rahme (www.hhss.co.za) is done and that I am happy with what he has done, ultimately it is my responsibility. Fortunately Jack knows what he is doing, which is why he is my service provider, and I don't have to run after him all the time - but the point that I am trying to make, is that I have to be aware of what needs to be done, what has been done etc within the IT arena of my business. If I don't, I could end up with a serious problem, which ultimately could result in the closure of my business.

I cannot be 'just an Internal Auditor and Business Administration specialist', I have to be all the my company requires me to be in order for it to run smoothly and successfully. This is true, not only for me, but for every 'one man' business owner out there and for every entrepeneur that has opened up their own business and dared to live their dream.

So, when you dream and plan to start your own business, be sure to keep this fact in mind!

Regards

Nikki

NEW WORDS AND PHRASES FOR 2007

So here are your funnies for Sunday the 25th February. Hope you enjoy!

Thanks to Sharon H of the Business Warrior (www.busineswarriors.co.za) community!

Regards

Nikki

Please keep up to speed with some of the new words and phrases for 2007.

SALAD DODGER. An excellent phrase for an overweight person.

SWAMP-DONKEY. A deeply unattractive person.

TESTICULATING. Waving your arms around and talking bollocks.

BLAMESTORMING. Sitting round in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or aproject failed, and who was responsible.

SEAGULL MANAGER. A manager who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps on everything, and then leaves.

ASSMOSIS. The process by which people seem to absorb success and advancement by sucking up to the boss rather than working hard.

SALMON DAY. The experience of spending an entire day swimming upstream only to get screwed and die.

CUBE FARM. An office filled with cubicles.

PRAIRIE DOGGING. When someone yells or drops something loudly in a cube farm, and people's heads pop up over the walls to see what's going on. (This also applies to applause for a promotion because there may be cake.)

SITCOMs. Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage. What yuppies turn into when they have children and one of them stops working to stay home with the kids or start a "home business".

SINBAD. Single working girls. Single income, no boyfriend and desperate.

AEROPLANE BLONDE. One who has bleached/dyed her hair but still has a 'black box'.

PERCUSSIVE MAINTENANCE. The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device to get it to work again.

ADMINISPHERE. The rarefied organisational layers beginning just above the rank andf ile. Decisions that fall from the "adminisphere" are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to solve. This is often affiliated with the dreaded "administrivia" - needless paperwork and processes.

GOING FOR A McSHIT. Entering a fast food restaurant with no intention of buying food, you're just going to the bog. If challenged by a pimply staff member, your declaration to them that you'll buy their food afterwards is known as a McShit with Lies.

404. Someone who's clueless. From the World Wide Web error message "404 Not Found" meaning that the requested document could not be located.

AUSSIE KISS. Similar to a French Kiss, but given down under.

OH - NO SECOND. That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you've just made a BIG mistake ( e.g. you've hit 'reply all').

GREYHOUND. A very short skirt, only an inch from the hare.

JOHNNY-NO-STARS. A young man of substandard intelligence, the typical adolescent who works in a burger restaurant. The 'no-stars' comes from the badges displaying stars that staff at fast-food restaurants often wear to show their level of training.

MILLENNIUM DOMES. The contents of a Wonderbra, i.e. extremely impressive when viewed from the outside, but there's actually naught in there worth seeing.

MONKEYBATH. A bath so hot, that when lowering yourself in, you go: "Oo! Oo! Oo! Aa! Aa! Aa!".

MYSTERY BUS. The bus that arrives at the pub on Friday night while you're in the toilet after your 10th pint, and whisks away all the unattractive people so the pub is suddenly packed with stunners when you come back in.

MYSTERY TAXI. The taxi that arrives at your place on Saturday morning before you wakeup, whisks away the stunner you slept with, and leaves a 10-Pinter in your bed instead.

BEER COAT. The invisible but warm coat worn when walking home after a booze cruise at 3:00am.

BEER COMPASS. The invisible device that ensures your safe arrival home after booze cruise, even though you're too drunk to remember where you live, how you got here, and where you've come from.

BREAKING THE SEAL. Your first pee in the pub, usually after 2 hours of drinking. After breaking the seal of your bladder, repeat visits to the toilet will be required every 10 or 15 minutes for the rest of the night.

TART FUEL. Bottled premixed spirits, regularly consumed by young women.

PICASSO BUM. A woman whose knickers are too small for her, so she looks like she's got 4 buttocks.

COPS PROBED IN HUMAN TRAFFICING CASE

Good Grief, I am really far behind now and struggling to catch up - this is the article that would have been posted on 24th February 2007.

My heart bleeds everytime I see or hear a story of human trafficing. How one person can actually sell another person, for any reason is beyond me. What this would do to the human phycie is also absolutely beyond me.

I understand that prostitution is one of (in not the) oldest profession in the world, but on some level I would like to think that anyone in this profession is there from choice and not because they were sold by another human being, usually one that they looked up to and/or trusted.

To think that members of the police force, who are supposed to protect and serve, may be in on this whole thing makes my stomach churn and my blood boil. I can only hope that they will be awarded with sentences that fit the crime!

Regards

Nikki

Sibusiso Ngalwa

December 24 2006 at 11:11AM

Police are investigating the role of fellow officers in an alleged human trafficking case involving 26 Thai women who were arrested in a dramatic raid on Durban's After Dark "gentlemen's club" last weekend.

Four of the Thai women and one man have turned state witnesses and are expected to implicate other players in syndicates. The probe has also been widened to include the murder of a young Thai woman, whose battered body was found near the N3 at Camperdown last month. The woman had been in the country illegally and was believed to have been working as a prostitute in a brothel in the Midlands.

Investigations by the Tribune have revealed that some members of the SAPS had used their houses to keep Thai women. The policemen allegedly worked in tandem with trafficking syndicates and were instrumental in instilling fear in the girls, forcing them into prostitution.

Brothel owners would allegedly use the corrupt police to scare the girls, telling them that if they refused to obey their orders they would be thrown into jail for being in the country illegally. Last week 26 women and four men, most, were arrested in two raids. The raid led to the closure of the After Dark club in Cato Street and the discovery of other women at a private property in Pinetown.

They appeared in court on Monday on charges of prostitution and being in the country illegally and their case was postponed to January 12 for further investigation. They remain in custody.

Sources told the Tribune Thai girls were lured into the country by false promises that employment opportunities were abundant in South Africa and that they would work in the hospitality industry. Once here they were sold into prostitution and their passports confiscated.

Experts said the market for Asian girls was flourishing. The sources said that three kingpins - who were now in hiding - had been identified, two in KwaZulu-Natal and one in Gauteng, and warrants for their arrest had been issued. The Gauteng kingpin is said to have direct links to human trafficking syndicates in Thailand and usually receives new recruits from OR Tambo International Airport.

Unconfirmed reports state that the police, as part of their ongoing investigations, have uncovered a money trail between South African criminals and their Thai counterparts, running into millions of rands. The Thai syndicates are allegedly paid R60 000 for each girl.

Police, however, are tightlipped on the developments, except to quote the official line, "We are still investigating". On Friday lawyers representing the Thai nationals brought an application before the Durban magistrate's court for the release of the suspects from custody. This was opposed by the state, which argued that the suspects were already in the country illegally and that they should not be granted bail.

The application failed and the 25 suspects were transferred to Westville Prison. The other five were moved to a safe house and will be placed under witness protection. The Tribune can also reveal that senior counsel Jimmy Howse, whose list of clients has included former housing boss Mdu Khoza, attorney Ian Stokes and the AbaThembu King, Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, has been consulted to represent the girls.

Howse confirmed this. Who is paying for the Thai girls' legal fees is not known. Also in court were SAPS investigators from Camperdown who are working closely with the Durban organised crime unit. The Camperdown police are investigating the death of a Thai woman.

Following the article in the Tribune which said that the police had contact details of individuals and influential persons who had frequented the two venues, organised crime unit head Snr Supt Rajen Aiyer said they had been inundated with calls from people confessing their visits to the alleged brothels.

This was to prevent the police visiting these men at their homes and places of work. "We have started to dissect and analyse the entire process. We are sending a strong message that we will not tolerate this kind of activity in KwaZulu-Natal", he said.

sibusiso.ngalwa@inl.co.za

This article was originally published on page 2 of Tribune on December 24, 2006

COPS WARN OF NEW SMASH + GRAB TACTICS

This was the article that would have been posted on 23 rd February 2007.

Oh dear, it seems that the criminals here in Jozi also 'holiday' down at the coast. This MO has been happening here in Gauteng for some time now and it is not new at all. The number of hawkers at the street corners, the robots and the offramps has increased to such as extent that it is often difficult to even change lanes - there seem to be streams of them. With the beggars added in for a little spice, you have children wandering around to - the other day I actually saw a guy in a wheel chair trying to wheel himself down the white line between the rows of cars! How absurd! Imagine if a car hits him - who would then be to blame, I wonder?

There is also a young child of about 10 or so selling 'home made' blocks of fudge at the intersection of Beyer's Naude and Judges (where it meets Pendoring) in Randburg. If you don't want to buy the fudge, he complains of hunger and I have seen the most dreadful bruises on his upper arms. Clearly calling social welfare does not help either, as he is still there on a frequent basis.

Cleaning the intersections up, of these people would go a great deal of the way to solving the problem of "smash and grabs". Surely they are breaking several laws by offering their wares in this manner?

Let's get the streets safe again!

Regards

Nikki

August 12 2006 at 11:57AM

By Fiona Gounden

Police have warned Durban motorists to be on high alert as smash-and-grab criminals have resorted to working in teams. One of the tactics these teams use is for members to stick chewing gum and other objects on vehicle doors at red robots to identify the cars as easy targets at upcoming robots.

This came to light after an incident where a smash-and-grab victim noticed chewing gum stuck on her door, prompting her to believe she had been targeted by a crime syndicate.

A 33-year-old Durban North woman was a victim a while ago when she stopped at the robots at the Williams Road and West Street intersection in central Durban at 5pm.

A man smashed the passenger window and snatched her handbag - which was lying on the passenger seat. When she arrived home, she saw a piece of pink chewing gum had been stuck on the passenger door. She said she had noticed a few people walking alongside her car before the attack.

Police spokesperson Inspector Michael Read said criminals were using these tactics to commit smash-and-grabs. "In this case the criminal noticed the victim was a woman travelling alone and her belongings were on the front seat. He would have then alerted his accomplice by placing chewing gum on the door a few robots before the actual incident took place."

According to Read, street children are also being used by criminals to identify targets. "We have had many cases where criminals have stuck chewing gum on car doors to alert their accomplices. However, in most cases, street children are being used because motorists don't really suspect them.

While these kids are begging from motorists, they look into cars and check for valuables. "They then place gum on the door nearest to the valuables. If motorists refuse to give the children money, they should be on the alert if they see the children still hanging around near the windows and looking into the vehicle.

A few robots further down the road, these criminals will be watching for the gum on the door. "That's why they are able to pounce on the vehicle so quickly. Most of these smash-and-grabs are pre-arranged and take place within a few seconds. "Police have now embarked on a crime awareness programme focusing on this sort of crime, added Read. "We are working in conjunction with metro police in our crime awareness programme, handing out pamphlets and trying to get these street children into facilities as this problem has resurfaced."

We have already been to Greenwood Park, Phoenix and Newlands. We will also be going to Durban Central, Durban North and the Point area, asking people to be careful and to lock valuables like handbags and cellphones in the boot."

CCTV cameras have also captured the tactics used by criminals in the Durban area which show distinct patterns. In one incident, at the intersection of Centenary and Old Dutch roads, a criminal jumped over the barrier alongside the taxi rank, ran straight up to a car and without hesitation smashed the window, grabbed articles and ran away. Wright said this incident was definitely arranged.

In this case, police noticed that before the attack, a suspect walked past the car and placed something on it. "If motorists notice gum being stuck on their cars, they should consider diverting and maybe using a different route. If you see something stuck on another driver's car, alert that person and immediately remove it. "Wright said police had noticed many other patterns used by these criminals. "In another case we found that a 'leader' walked past stationary cars at a robot and alerted his team who would approach from the other side of the car.

"While the leader distracted the driver by walking in front of the car, his accomplice would smash the window and grab. The driver was unaware of someone at the passenger window until it was too late."

Criminals changing their clothes after a crime is another effective escape ploy, he added.

This article was originally published on page 1 of The Independent on Saturday on August 12, 2006

COP WHO 'HUMILIATED' TRAINEE OFF THE HOOK

Hi all.

As promised, I am now in the process of "catching up" the articles that did not appear because I was on holiday. This is the article that would have been posted on the 22nd February.

This kind of behaviour is clearly unacceptable! The fact that the Sergeant has not been disciplined makes it even worse. It is setting a precident of the worst kind. The message is that men can humiliate and abuse women with no consequence.

My advice to the young lady concerned is to take up the offer of help and nail his whatnot to the wall. Throw the book at him and then some. Don't let the "pig" get away with it at all!

Regards

Nikki

Cop who 'humiliated' trainee off the hook

Hanti Otto November 24 2006 at 07:41AM

Charges of crimen injuria and indecent assault were on Thursday withdrawn against a Pretoria West Training College police sergeant who allegedly forced a student to prove to him she was menstruating.

The Directorate of Public Prosecutions decision to decline to prosecute was because it was deemed "not advisable" to subject the complainant to "secondary humiliation" in an open court. The only option left for the Pretoria District Court was to withdraw the charges against the man, 30.

In a letter to court, the DPP stated: "The complainant was subjected to the most gruesome embarrassment. However, it is not advisable to subject her to secondary humiliation in an open court. I therefore decline to prosecute.

It stressed that the sergeant had to be subjected to "stringent disciplinary procedures for his conduct". The trainer was arrested on September 28 after the student was advised to lay a complaint against him.

It is alleged that she wanted to go to the toilet for "hygiene reasons" during a training session. Apparently the sergeant wanted her to prove that she needed to go for the reasons given and ordered her to lower her pants in front of the whole class. Only after the student complied did he apparently allow her to go to the bathroom.

Originally from Katlehong, the sergeant was later released on warning. Athough he still trained male students, he was not allowed to interact with females. On Thursday members of the Police and Prisoners Civil Rights Union (Popcru) sang and danced outside court with posters stating: "Stop women abuse."

They called for the sergeant's immediate suspension, saying the allegation against him was one of the "worst things a police officer can be accused off".

"We don't have place for people like (him) in the police. We also call for a full investigation into what happens at training colleges. What is going on there?" they have asked.

Popcru's provincial deputy secretary Dudu Magubane expressed disappointment. "The complainant never got justice. She opened the criminal case, so obviously she wanted it to come to court. It's not about humiliation in court. She had already been humiliated. "And she could testify in camera. Did she have a say in this decision? Is it really in her interest? What protection will other students have, now that the perpetrator has gotten away with his deeds?" she asked.

Carrie Shelver of People Opposing Women Abuse (Powa) also found this decision unacceptable. "This is severe disempowerment of the victim. If this withdrawal was without the complainant's consent, she can contact us. We have a legal team who can help her take the case to court if she wants to," Shelver said. "It is ironic that this happens on the eve of the 16 Days of Activism against Violence on Women and Children."

Police spokesperson Director Selby Bokaba said an internal disciplinary process against the sergeant had begun and was yet to be completed. He was no longer working at the college but had been transferred to the Central Firearms Register to work as administrator.

This article was originally published on page 3 of Pretoria News on November 24, 2006

BLEAK START TO 2007 FOR SA'S POLITICAL OPPOSITION

Oh yes, I agree - our Political Opposition look like a sad a sorry bunch. Noisy only when it suits them, they are quite pathetic!

When Tony Leon does leave the party, there is no-one strong enough to take over and I am sure, the result will be pure chaos! There will be a great deal more "floor crossing" and the ANC will grab more political power.

Surely it is time for strong leaders who are credible to emerge out of the woodwork - I, for one would like to see that happen.

Regards

Nikki

Bleak start to 2007 for SA's political opposition
Donwald Pressly Cape Town, South Africa

23 December 2006 09:19

There is an ineluctable rule of politics in developing democratic states: ruling liberation parties tend to grow in influence from election to election and the opposition declines.

It holds true in South Africa, where the African National Congress (ANC) rose from about 63% of the electorate to 69% in the first 10 years to 2004. Bucking the trend of a declining opposition was the official opposition, the Democratic Alliance (DA) -- previously the Democratic Party -- which rose from 1,7% in 1994 to 12,3% in the 2004 election.

It also snatched a reputable near-15% in the local government election of 2006. On the municipal by-election front, it made an important gain early this year against the Independent Democrats (ID) in Tafelsig, a working-class coloured area on the Cape Flats.

The victory added a second prized seat to the DA-led opposition majority running Cape Town, the only metro area controlled by the opposition. The DA also retained a seat in Paarl in a November by-election that saw the ID declining with both the DA and ANC improving their performance -- but it was a nail-biting, 28-vote win for the DA over the ANC.

As a new party that bounced on to the political stage in 2003, Patricia de Lille's ID -- formed as a result of her floor-crossing from the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania in Parliament -- achieved a worthy 2,02% in the municipal poll this year, somewhat up on its national election performance of 1,7% in 2004, its first electoral contest. It, too, bucked the law of a declining opposition -- albeit it off a small base.

However, the New National Party -- previously the National Party, which ruled from 1948 to 1994 and which was a junior partner in the government until 1996 -- disappeared from the political scene on the day of the municipal poll this year, when the last party councillors came to the end of their terms of office. Their leader, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, had already effectively defected to the ANC during floor-crossings in 2005.

Crossing the floor Floor-crossing -- allowed in terms of defection legislation -- has dealt body blows against nearly all opposition parties, with the DA losing five parliamentary seats, exactly the required 10% of a caucus required in terms of legislation to allow floor-crossing by MPs. One of those who helped four black MPs cross to the ANC was Craig Morkel, now having plea-bargained -- effectively pleading guilty -- to travel fraud.

Before he defected, he had been suspended by the DA and could not participate in Parliament, and he would have lost his seat had he stayed. He now leads his own party.

Although the DA supports floor-crossing, it found itself licking its wounds after defections. It has thrown in its lot with other opposition parties that have lost key members, including the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), which lost five of its 28 MPs.

One of these losses was, ironically, to the DA; the other four to Ziba Jiyane's new National Democratic Convention (Nadeco). The latter is a picture-perfect case of electoral failure -- having achieved the highest count in its favour of floor-crossings of any opposition party in Parliament.

It did not enjoy representation before. Promising one day that his party would become the national government, Jiyane -- a former IFP national chairperson -- appeared a promising option for a while.

It won 25 seats or 0,35%of the vote in the municipal poll -- one ward seat in Newcastle in KwaZulu Natal. But then the party started a war on itself. Jiyane now looks set to go into oblivion, unable to control the filling of vacancies on party lists and finding his deputy leader calling the party tune.

Nadeco's days on the political stage look limited -- especially after its councillors bumped the ANC out of power in a number of KwaZulu-Natal municipalities in favour of Mangosuthu Buthelezi's IFP.

This, in turn, triggered the removal of the IFP from the provincial KwaZulu-Natal government at the end of this year. The IFP had been dominant in that province until the 2004 national election. Its support declined from about 10% nationally to 6,9% in 2004. Buthelezi also lost his Cabinet post that year.

Bleak picture.

All this boils down to a bleak overall picture for the opposition. Tony Leon has signalled that he is to give up the DA leadership in May 2007. There are no obvious leadership figures in waiting apart from Helen Zille, who is somewhat trapped in the position of Cape Town mayor.

A leader with a lower profile than Zille could damage the party's prospects. De Lille -- once viewed as a leading figure -- has been engaged in a battle with the DA in 2006, with her personal relations with Zille in particular more than somewhat fraught.

Her personal popularity as an opposition leader, however, according to Markinor, is the highest of opposition leaders. But her party has lost Tafelsig, performed poorly in Paarl -- where her slice of the municipal vote halved in the recent by-election -- and is mostly off the radar screen outside the Northern and Western Cape, where there are large working-class coloured populations.

Poor financial backing and the threats of floor-crossing -- De Lille lost two of her seven MPs in 2005 to the ANC -- look set to undermine her base if floor-crossing takes place at municipal level in September 2007.

Although there are signs that the floor-crossing legislation may be done away with next year, chances are that De Lille will lose scores of councillors, including in Cape Town, where her party is the third largest after the DA and ANC.

Her controversial decision -- despite her public utterances that she would not do so -- to back the ANC's candidate for mayor, Nomaindia Mfeketo, has damaged her reputation as an opposition figure. So, 2007 is likely to see more of the same.

The DA is likely to do well in minority areas of concentration where whites, coloureds and Indians predominate. Its electoral machinery is mighty compared with that of other opposition parties, including the tiny Afrikaner-based Freedom Front Plus, which tries to be as politically "noisy" as the DA.

But the ANC, which recently won 11 municipal by-elections out of 12 in the country, looks set to dominate any electoral contest in black areas in all nine provinces. It can be sure of picking up scores of opposition councillors if the defection door does indeed open.

The ANC has the added advantage of both a policy conference, from June 27 to 30, and a national conference, from December 16 to 20 2007, to focus national attention on itself. There is nothing more galvanising than a contest for power, and the ANC will elect its own president, deputy president and other top office bearers.

Also, there are signs that the Congress of South African Trade Unions and South African Communist Party's public opposition to many ANC policies will be articulated in a walkout on the ANC. -- I-Net Bridge

WILL THE JUDICIARY EVER CATCH UP

Good morning bloggers. Yes I am back, rested and ready to tackle the issues at hand. I had an incredible holiday and I will be writing about it and sharing all with you over the weekend.

In the meantime, to the subject at hand. The only way I know how to deal with this is to say what I feel the need to say, without any kind of apology.

I have lived in apartheid SA and I did not enjoy the way that the people of colour were treated at all. Having said that, I now live in post apartheid SA and I do not enjoy the way white people are now being treated - it is as if there is racisim is back in a reverse sense of the word. It saddens me to see the colour of a person mentioned when there is a problem. To me corruption is corruption whether the person(s) involved are black, white, coloured, yellow, green or indifferent! How can corruption be measured by the colour of a skin, surely it must be measured by the very act itself.

Until such time, that we as a nation, walk away from the issues of colour and look at the issues at hand, we will never walk in the right direction!

Regards

Nikki

Will the judiciary ever catch up?
Serjeant at the Bar

27 February 2007 11:59

The Constitution promised a non-racial, non-sexist judiciary that would promote freedom, dignity, equality, trans­parency and accountability. Just over a decade later, we celebrate a body of law developed by the Constitutional Court.

Ranging from a rich set of judgements promoting equality to the protection of a deepened sense of democracy based on public participation, the court has propelled the country along the road leading to the promised constitutional democracy. But in almost inverse proportion to the speed and scope of these accomplishments, the development of a judicial institution in line with the vision that has powered the court’s jurisprudence has become an ever-distant prospect.

Take the past month. First, the public was confronted with the unprecedented spectacle of a judge being sued for defamation, where his first line of defence was that permission from the judge president for the plaintiff to proceed was improperly granted because of payments being made to the judge president by the plaintiff.

A few days later, 15 judges issued a petition complaining about “serious negative insinuations” made at the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) about recent appointments to the Bench. Then we learn that the Free State High Court cannot appoint white acting judges at this moment, even though there are vacancies in the division that have not been filled, even temporarily.

The revelations in court regarding payments by Oasis to Judge President John Hlophe have again raised the issue of transparency and accountability of the judiciary to the public it serves. It is true that the JSC does not possess powers to conduct a full investigation of judicial conduct (hence the importance of bringing into law the Bills dealing with judicial conduct with all due speed) and this made its task more difficult. But, as Norman Arendse SC commented when the JSC announced last year that it could not gainsay Hlophe’s version of events, the public was neither informed about the information the JSC had at its disposal, nor the process of reasoning to arrive at its conclusion.

We do not know whether the information provided to the court was different to that upon which the JSC acted, or how the JSC reasoned when evaluating the judicial decision to allow Oasis to sue Judge Siraj Desai in the circumstances of the payments. The lack of transparency was unfair to Hlophe, who was also entitled to certainty. Without transparency, the public is entitled to feel that the judiciary remains unaccountable.

The petition highlights the underlying problem of both the Oasis case and the grievances underlying the petition. We need a transformed judiciary. It must reflect the demo­graphy of our country. This can never be precise, because a judiciary should not be based on quotas, but on commitment to values. But values are not the preserve of a white male world view based on Oxbridge and Leiden; transformation means the construction of a public discourse compatible with our diverse society.

It would be surprising if we had achieved this vision in 13 short years of democracy. But what the petition and the debate around the Oasis issue reveals is the distance we still need to travel.

We appear to be as far away from a shared normative framework as we were in 1994. The 15 judges complain that the appeal court criticism is targeted against black judges, yet the Supreme Court of Appeal has been equally rude to a number of white judges. This is not to deflect the point made by the 15 judges, nor does it excuse rudeness, but it is to show that the pathology of which they complain may be owing more to a form of judicial arrogance than racism.

When a distinguished black judge with a far better struggle record then most on the Bench answers questions put to him by the JSC about judicial performance, is he supposed to duck the questions, rather than be brave and principled? The answer, sadly, is yes. In our haste to use race as a shield against criticism, we stifle any chance of developing the framework that can achieve a non-racial, non-sexist judiciary.

African values must transform the core of our legal system, but these values surely cannot support allegations of lack of accountability, corruption and arrogance -- if these are properly proved.

Until the country as a whole and the judiciary in particular can develop an agreed set of standards to evaluate performance, we will only experience a further absence of proper public debate and, more important, an implosion of precious institutions. Make no mistake: whatever the achievements of the Constitutional Court, the judiciary has a long way to travel

BUSINESS START UP - WORKSHOP - STAFFING

Good morning bloggers! Wednesday is upon us again! Herewith the next instalment of the workshop.

For the record I am going away on holiday tomorrow until the 1st of March, so there will be no postings during that period. I promise to catch up once I get back though.

Regards

Nikki

A.6. Staffing

As your business grows you will need to employ staff, unless of course you want to work yourself to death for a minimum amount of money. Expansion is a natural thing – don’t be scared of it. Again – do the research! Decide what exactly it is that you want the person to do. Write it down – do estimates of how long it is actually going to take that person to do the job. Many times, in a moment of frustration we decide that we need someone to help us and then once we get them full day, every month we find that what we really needed them to do only takes them 3 hours a day. Maybe you require a mornings only or afternoons only or 3 days a week or whatever, person. Remember once you’ve got them you can’t simply get rid of them because suddenly you don’t have enough work for them – being dragged to the CCMA for unfair dismissal is no fun, and is very time consuming and can be very expensive. So make sure firstly, that you actually need the person and then secondly, exactly what that person is going to do.

When interviewing, make sure that the prospective employee knows exactly what the requirements are – it’s no good getting a bookkeeper, when what you require is a cleaning person! Be aware, there’s no such thing as a “bad” CV. I’ve yet to see one. CV’s are there to promote the talents and capabilities of the person who is trying to get the job. Therefore you need to make allowances for the fact that they going to over - sell themselves on their strengths and under - sell themselves on their weaknesses. Trust your gut feeling – you need to listen to your inner self. Your own intuition will often tell you more than any spoken or written word. Make sure that you get more than one reference and then make the call. Have a list of questions ready, listen carefully to what the person is telling you (or not) when you ask the question. Sometimes what people don’t tell you is just as important as what they do say. Always ask if they would re-hire the prospective employee again if the chance was there.

It is a legal requirement to have all your employees’ details. Make sure that you have a copy of their ID. It is an offence to hire someone who does not have a valid work permit and who is an illegal immigrant and the fine can be in excess of R65 000, so make sure that everything is as it should be.

Make sure that you open a file for each staff member. This should contain their personal details, their CV and references. Personal details should include things like next of kin contact details etc. Your annual appraisal should be filed here as well as any Doctors certificates and leave application forms. In fact anything to do with that particular employee should be kept in there. Remember that this is sensitive and confidential information and it should therefore be locked away and kept safe.

Your employees should have their duties clearly defined, so that they know exactly what it is that they are supposed to be doing. There must always be consistency. Many times what starts out as a favour (please just do xyz for me because I don’t have the time to do it… sound familiar?), then becomes part of the job and the responsibility of the employee so be sure to write down everything that needs to be done. If the staff member’s job description changes in any way, this should be noted (and acknowledged) in writing to avoid problems down the line.

It is a legal requirement that staff is allocated a certain number of day’s annual leave during the course of the year. For those companies that close in December, this is not a problem as everyone takes leave at the same time, but for those companies that do not close over the December period, this must be monitored. It is not a good idea to pay out staff for their leave. Apart from the fact that they lose a lot of the money to the Receiver and the fact that people do need to take a break from time to time, there is also the problem of fraud. If one of your employees is committing fraud of any kind, it is much less likely to be noticed if they are always on the job and are at hand to sort out any problems as and when they are brought to someone’s attention. If the staff member’s duties are to be allocated to someone else, make sure that there is a proper handover. For example: If Jane is handling all the petty cash and she is going on leave and Billy is taking over this responsibility, make sure that the petty cash is counted and balanced by both of them, make sure that Billy signs in receipt of the funds and the slips and that he is properly aware of the correct procedures. In this way there can be no confusion down the line of whose responsibility the petty cash was at what time. This will alleviate many problems that can and do arise, especially when money is involved.

THE POWER OF NETWORKING - PART 1

THE POWER OF NETWORKING

I have been asked several times, over the last two years or so a question that has caused me great pain in my personal capacity.

The question is : “How do you find your passion?”.

For those of you who know me, you know that my passion is possibly one of my greatest strengths. I have been doing what I do best for in excess of 30 years now, and I have no idea and cannot even begin to think of what it would be like to do something else! So living my passion as it were, is something that is natural to me, and whilst I can understand to some extent that many people do work or operate in a field that they are not passionate about, due to financial constraints, lack of education and/or opportunity (or whatever other reason there may be), I still find it terribly difficult to understand how they could not know what their passion is. My question in return is always “How do you go through life, without a passion”. On some level, I understand that I am very fortunate to be able to do the work that I am passionate about, but then I guess I also believe that to some extent, you make your own “luck” and that you are drawn in some inextricable way to what you are best suited for. For me that was a ‘no brainer’ for others it appears that it is something that they haven’t even thought about.

My answer to the question posed above, is usually “Well if you had to win the Lotto and money was no longer an issue, what would you do for a living?” For me the answer is very easy as I would continue to do exactly what I do now – there is no question about it! For some the answer has been a ‘blank stare’ which leads me to believe that they don’t even dare to dream, let alone have any dreams. Again this is very sad and difficult for me to understand. What do you have in life, if you have no dream? In my opinion – you merely exist! For others the answer is “Well, I would never have to work again, so I would do nothing”. Again for me this is a very confusing answer – I could never do ‘nothing’ and even going on holiday and leaving my laptop behind, poses quite a challenge for me.

So how do people find their passions – perhaps you all can assist me with this one?

You see, without your passion, you cannot brand yourself properly and until you are in the branding process, networking effectively just doesn’t happen!

Pause for a moment and ponder, how would I refer someone who had no ambition and/or branding and/or passion – in short someone who has no idea who he/she is and what they do – to someone who may need a service and/or a widget? What kind of work and/or service would that person give.

In referring someone (let’s call her Jane) to perform say a bookkeeping function to someone else (let’s call him Mike), what I am doing in reality is telling Mike that Jane is a good bookkeeper and that she reliable and that she will take pride in her work and will work diligently on his books and will not steal from him. I am giving Jane my credibility and endorsement. I am adding value to the service I supply in my own personal capacity, to Mike. Because I am passionate about what I do, I am diligent in what I do and my deliverables are of a high standard. That is the only measure that Mike has, so he will automatically assume that because I have referred Jane, the standard of Jane’s work will be the same as mine.

Now the next question of course, would have to be – “Is the standard of Jane’s work as high as mine”. The reality of this is that, it would be highly unlikely that it is. Why? Well because Jane does not really enjoy what she is doing, she is not going to give it her full attention and/or focus, which means that the work will probably be half hearted and mistakes would probably be frequent.

What does that do to my credibility? Will Mike take a referral from me again or will he wonder if I am going to send him someone who is of no use to him as he has to double check everything that she produces? I doubt it! Where is my ‘value add’ now – pretty much down the toilet!

So quite clearly, in my opinion, the first thing that you have to know before you even start to think about networking successfully, is what your PASSION is.

I will continue this saga next week. Remember if you would like a copy of Helen Nicholson’s book “Networking: The Unwritten Rule of Business you need to know”, please mail her on helen@helennicholson.co.za.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Good morning all bloggers. I have no idea where today's motivational words come from, but I suspect that it came from an e-mail that someone sent to me.

I am of the opinion, that people are really scared of change of any kind, they shrink from it, recoil from it , hide from it and then at the death they are dragged kicking and screaming into whatever change there is taking place!

Whilst I always thought that I embraced change and was always the first in the queue, I am reminded about my "fear" of computers and/or technology. Having been born almost a half century ago, I have been privaledged to see so many changes.

When I went to school we wrote with wooden pens that had an ink nib on the end and we dunked the pen into ink pots that were imbedded into the wooden desks, nowadays we have so many choices as to our writing materials. Strangely enough, I still faithfully use my Schaeffer Fountain pen that I have had for 30 years now. I also have a "newer model" Perilli Fountain pen that I use when I am auditing - the only problem is that I battle to get the green fountain pen ink! So much for availability

There were no such things as calculators and/or adding machines, everything was calculated on paper or in our heads - today kids take their calculators into exams with them, you can imbed all manner of formula into a spreadsheet, then just add numbers and the computers calculate everything for you! Or how about your cellphone that can turn itself into a calculator - how's that for progress?

Talking about phones, I grew up on a farm, where we had a party line! When the phone rang you had to count the number of short rings and long rings to ascertain which farm the call was for. In order to make a call, you had to firstly, pick up the phone to 'hear' if anyone was on it and then crank the handle several times to get hold of the exchange so that they could give you a line. Nowadays of course we all carry our cell phones with us (all except Trevor Nel of course, but that is another story for another day), and we can choose our ring tone!

When I got to College we were all so impressed at the shiny new 'electric' typewriter that we had. There was only one in the class and it was always a first come first serve as to who got to use the bloody thing - the rest of us got to use the old 'bang down on the keys' one that could develop your muscles far better than any work out at the gym.

Then I started working in the bank and lo and behold we had computers, they were huge, mammoth things that we sat behind dwarfed by their shear size. They clanked and gargled and month end was a night mare. I remember we had to shut the door to the office so that everyone else in the open plan office could actually hear each other speak. There was no fax machine and certainly no e-mail and we used the telex machine to communicate via the various banks. to indicate that the message was "authentic" we had a series of numbers that had to be calculated together - for example Monday was 3 + being the 19th was 52 + February meant that it was 16 + the amount that was being transferred was say R25 000, so that would be equal to 62. You added up all the amounts 3 +52 +16 + 62 = 133 and that was the "authenticated" reference number. The access to the "list of numbers" was dual controlled so it had to be removed from the vault by two signature holders - a junior and a senior and the calculation was done together and verified together and then had to be locked up again immediately - can you imagine having to go through this rigmarol every time you want to send an e-mail.

Getting back to my original statement, for the longest time now, I have been pertified of the new technology that comes flying at us on a daily basis. Some of it is so confusing and the new language that has been 'penned' in order to meet it's requirements was a quagmire for me. The result was that I just shrank from it all. A couple of months ago, I decided that being a shrinking violet with respect to my computer, the internet and the technology out there was not doing me any good and in typical Viljoen fashion, I jumped right in, the water's fine!

I now, as you know, have my own blog and share a business blog with Trevor Nel, called www.businessreality.blogspot.com. I am still no IT guru, but I try and understand and even learn one new thing everyday to make my life easier - because well isn't that what it's all about? Change is supposed to enhance your life, to make things easier - yet it is we ourselves who by shrinking from change make our own lives more difficult.

Regards

Nikki

Food for thought

With change comes the responsibility of knowledge sharing

Life is an expression of the mind
You are a creator of your own universe
You are free to will whatever state of being you desire through the use of your words and thoughts

Quality of life is brought about by your thinking quality
Thoughts produce actions. Look at what you are thinking

Realise that the one thing that you have absolute control over is your attitude
See the affect that your attitude has, on the others around you.

Your words carry with them a chain reaction
If your thinking is in order then your words flow directly from the heart

If you want to change your life. You must change your thinking
Reason creates an atmosphere of understanding which leads to caring.

Choose your words with care.

2006 - ODDITIES

Hope you all enjoy the Sunday funnies today, although for the life of me, I cannot understand how Manto's stance on HIV is not amoungst them. If it wasn't so sad, it would be hilariously funny!

Regards

Nikki

December 31 2006 at 02:10PM

By Erik KirschbaumBerlin -

From the Turkish Airline workers who sacrificed a camel at Istanbul airport to celebrate a job well done to the German who invented snug spray-on condoms, the world was full of offbeat news in 2006.

While "Miss Israel" Yael Nezri was exempted from carrying her assault rifle in the Israeli army because it bruised her beauty queen legs, "Mr Switzerland" Renzo Blumenthal lured lonely women who hate football to his country for the World Cup.

Careless thieves once again made headlines round the world.

A burglar in Germany left behind a vital clue - his finger tip. We usually find finger prints but it's not every day that the thieves leave the original there too," a police spokesperson said. It took only a few hours to track down the thief.

A Jordanian salesman was arrested for trying to fleece a money exchanger with a fake ID card bearing a Brad Pitt picture.

In Vienna, burglars fled after finding eight severed human heads. A dentist had stored the mummified heads for research.

Village leaders in India ordered 150 men to dip their hands in boiling oil to prove their innocence after food was stolen.

An Australian man stopped for drunk driving threatened police with a live snake he picked up off the road.

In Cologne, a plastic surgeon cheated out of payment by two women using fake names gave "Wanted" pictures of their enlarged breasts to police. "It's probably the most unusual 'wanted' poster police ever had," wrote top-selling Bild newspaper, which helpfully published life-size pictures of the boosted breasts.

There were tragic moments too. In Hanoi, a Vietnamese man famous on a national TV programme for his ability to resist electric shocks was electrocuted while fixing a generator.

In Rio de Janeiro, a Brazilian man died when he tried to open a rocket-propelled grenade with a sledgehammer.

The political year began with a bang when US Vice-President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a friend on a quail hunt.

In Hungary, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany sparked rioting by admitting he lied to win a general election.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife Cherie pretended to slap a cheeky teenager for a photograph but was questioned by police after child protection officers reported her.

In Bangkok, Thai coup leaders banned go-go girls from dancing near tanks and posing for photos with soldiers because they were distracting the troops.

Random acts of bad judgment in 2006 included:

The Philadelphia man who pulled a gun on his seven-year-old son's American football coach to demand more playing time; and

In Koblenz, Germany, a woman who was caught driving her dead mother across country to save on mortuary transport costs.

Two women working at the German Labour Office got into trouble for writing emails at work moaning about their dull sex lives - and sending the exchange to thousands of co-workers.

A pilot of Air Canada's Jazz subsidiary got locked out of the cockpit after stepping out to go to the washroom.

Three doctors in India were caught by a TV camera agreeing to amputate healthy limbs of beggars who wanted more sympathy.

Love had its strange moments too. Two prisoners in an Ivory Coast jail got married after falling in love through the peephole in an iron prison door.

All in all, a pretty odd year, wouldn't you say?

LOOK AT YOUR LIFE & REACH FOR YOUR DREAMS

My goodness, these certainly are points to ponder. Like most people who own their own businesses, I a very "goal orientated" and again like most people who own their own businesses, those goals can and have changed on a daily basis.

The below advise to put the goals into some sort of order of priority is something that, quite frankly I have never done. The way that I find easier to do this type of thing is to have a 10 year, 5 year and then 1 year plan, and at this time I am referring specifically to the work arena.

Looking forward into my life and into the future for me, makes what I do and how I achieve those goals very important. So I take the most difficult of all and ask the question - what would would I like to be doing in 10 years time. Where would I like to be in terms of my business and what would I have liked to achieve. For me these are the 3 most important questions and they are listed seperately, with all the bits and pieces going on in rows beneath them.

Once that is complete, I tend to break it down and so here comes the 5 year plan. Looking at the 10 year plan, many of them are automatically achievable if certain of the other goals are met and brought to fruition, those do not get transferred to the 5 year list, but remain on the 10 year list. Again what is on the list is broken down into easier to achieve "bite size portions".

Again, once that is complete, I break things down and out of this the 1 year plan is born. As with the 10 year plan, many of the points on the 5 year plan are automatically achievable if certain goals are met and brought to fruition, those do not get trasnferred to the 1 year list but remain on the 5 year list.

I now have a list that is 'doable', even if it is somewhat daunting! Now for me, here comes the challenge. There may still be goals that are automatically achievable if other goals are met - these are split out from the others and listed to one side. The remainer of goals are then taken one at a time and what needs to be done to achieve each one is listed as a sub-heading under the goal to be achieved. These are then given a 'due date' by which they are to be completed - those due dates are diarized, and also put down into my year planner so that they can be seen at a glance. By checking my year planner on a weekly basis the task can be planned out into daily expectations and what I like to call "mini targets".

I now have a workable solution to something that at the beginning of the excercise, was a hugely daunting, frightning and quite frankly an over whelming task.

On a daily basis, use your diary, or a journal to record what you have done and what you have achieved or have not achieved and why. Apart from documenting your life, you are also cleansing your mind and settling emotions!

So what am I saying here . . . . Well basically it is this - If you want to be a success in life and/or in business, you have to have a plan! Issues need to be put into perspective. You need to achieve your goals, one little step at a time - remember the statement (I forget now who wrote it, but it is very true) that the greatest of journey's begin with a single step. Note it says step - not leap, or sprint or anything else that you may want to conjure up in your mind's eye.

At the end of the year, take your lists and look at what you have achieved. Now is also not the time to beat yourself up over what hasn't been achieved! I have no doubt that you have done this sufficiently during the course of the year. Remember daily goals have changed to accomodate ever changing needs and there are goals that have been achieved that were not even recorded or considered. Because of the changes there are also many goals that are now obsolete, so they now no longer feature.

Adjust your goals for the coming year. Take time out - I mean quality time with yourself, turnaround and have a look at where you were 12 months ago, what you have achieved and the journey that you have walked. Pat yourself on the back and give yourself credit for what you have done! Too often we are too busy bashing our own selves on the head because of what we haven't done, instead of congratulating ourselves and patting ourselves on the back for what we have achieved . . . more often than not with more tasks that had not been on the list than what were.

And remember . . . focus on the goal that is in front of you - don't gaze into the future and try and complete the 10 year plan in the 1 year space.

Regards

Nikki

Tessa Silberbauer

08 January 2007 at 14h00

By now the party is well and truly over, hopefully the clean-up and hangovers are done, and we are facing the reality of 2007 with all its hopes and fears. Somehow, as the silly season party continues and the champagne and buzz takes effect, we become over-optimistic about all sorts of things.

The New Year feels, naturally, like the perfect opportunity to start over and change all those niggles, it gives us the chance to actually get what we want. But the truth is that there are only 52 weeks in a year. One of them is over already, and somehow time does seem to shrink as soon as we're looking back, instead of ahead.

It is very easy to end the holiday and immediately get back into the routine of normal work, without much thought to how quickly (or whether) we're going to where we want to be. While living by routine allows us to get things done without much thought to what should happen next, the downside is that we don't think about what should happen next.

Too much of a good thing is hazardous, even energy-saving devices like habit and routine are sometimes harmful. This is the first obstacle to settting goals for the year.

The next is choosing the goal you want. When we're faced with the question, "What do you want?" it is often very difficult to formulate an answer. The reason for this is that we are creatures of desire. We all want a lot of things.

Some of these ideas are wishes, others are needs, and there are dreams as well, dreams that are more or less achievable. But when we try to answer the question, "what do you want?" all of these come to mind: the urgent, the important, the trivial, and the work, love and home lives. And they all come to mind all at once.

To get any kind of meaningful and workable answer, we have to change the question. A goal implies a change of some sort, so we first specify that we are talking about change. This has already narrowed the frame of reference. Rather try to shape your question like the examples below:- What do I want to change in my work?

- What do I want to remain the same?

- Are there any behaviours that I am not happy with?

- How can I improve my home life?

- How can I contribute to my personal relationships?

- How do I want December 2007 to feel like?I

t is often helpful to add "negative point-of-view" questions, such as, "What is really damaging my health?" or, "What is stressing me most?"

Choose the right questions in order to be able to choose your goals. And once that have answered the questions, you can then ask yourself what needs to be done to change, eliminate or counteract the problem, and these actions then become your goals.

The final step in deciding your goals is to prioritise them. One of the reasons why we often fall short of our dreams is because life gets in the way and this tends to distract us. So look at the actions you have chosen and decide the following:

What non-negotiable for anything but a life-or-death situation?

What needs to be completed before you can even think of looking at something else?

What would be very nice to have, but will not affect your stress or satisfaction levels enough to make them worth the effort?

Very often, the answers we find are entirely dependant on the questions we ask. There are so many ways to frame even a simple question, and each change affects the perspective from where you start looking for the answers.

Tessa Silberbauer is a Johannesburg-based life management trainer.

For corporate or individual consulting or training, you can contact her on 083-310-0955 or livingskills@webmail.co.za

BILL PUTS CLAMP ON VIRGINITY TESTING

Oh, I don't know - we seem to be taking 1 step forward and then 2 steps back. My main concern is the age that a child is allowed to make adult decisions. Children of 12, 14, 16 and even 18 are still, in my humble opinion - just that - children! How can they be allowed to be making decisions that could alter the course of their lives, when they are still children. I also do not believe that adults can be making these types of decisions for children either - these are decisions that the children themselves will have to live with for the rest of their lives, and should therefore be made by them - when they are old enough to know what the consequences of those decisions are.

I understand that it is part of tradition and religion and all those other good things that people seem to feel the need to encompass into their lives, but hey - surely they can become symbolic rather than a physical occurance until such time as the child reaches adulthood.

Remember, once done, they cannot be undone and the child then lives with the reality of the whole experiance for the rest of their lives!

Regards

Nikki

December 24 2005 at 11:56AM

By Christina Gallagher

After six months of vigorous protest and deep cultural debate, a landmark decision has finally outlawed virginity testing and male circumcision under the age of 16 - paving the way for a controversial national law to go into effect.

Last week the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) gave the nod to the first section of the Children's Bill. It was agreed that virginity testing was permitted for girls - but only those over the age of 16, and only provided they have proper counselling, that the results are not publicised and that the girl's body is not marked.

Male circumcision was also forbidden - unless the boy is 16 years or older and receives counselling, or is for religious or medical purposes. In other words, anyone who performs a virginity test or a circumcision on a child under the age of 16 once the bill is law could face the full might of the justice system.

The relevance of both practices in a modern society has been aggressively debated. Earlier this year, when the Children's Bill was passed by the National Assembly, virginity testing was banned, while male circumcision was not. The decision to ban virginity testing raised concern from the National House of Traditional Leaders, which deemed it a violation of cultural rights.

At the time, spokesperson Sibusiso Nkosi said: "At the end of the day, we want to see a bill that is there to promote our traditions and identity as African people. "After the NCOP amended the National Assembly's decisions, Nkosi said this week: "The fact that virginity testing has not been totally banned is appreciated."But he added: "When it comes to circumcision, religious rights are getting more recognition than cultural rights.

We should be treated equally before the law. "One of the key issues raised against virginity testing was the fact that the results of tests were publicised in communities, making girls feel ostracised if they did not "pass".

This is why the revised version specifies that the results may not be made public. Megan Briede, the national programme manager for Child Welfare South Africa, said girls who go through the test sometimes receive a mark on their foreheads declaring that they are virgins. She said this was information obtained from NCOP public hearings held in October. "(We see this as) advertising a child for rape because sleeping with a virgin is still believed (by some) to cure Aids.

This mark makes the child more vulnerable. "Nkosi said he was not aware of any cultural groups placing marks on foreheads declaring a child a virgin. He referred to a similar practice that is now banned in Swaziland, but said it meant that the girl was abstaining from sex, not that she was necessarily a virgin. He also said the National House of Traditional Leaders agreed with not publicising the results of virginity tests. "We don't expect people to brag about their results - but if a person wants to go public, it's their right."But, he said:

"The age is the problem. Children can buy condoms and contraception at 12 years old but they can only consent to virginity testing at 16. There is no balance. "Under the new bill, a child can consent to medical treatment, including HIV testing and the purchase of contraceptives, at 12 years of age.

Previously, under the Child Care Act, it had been 14. The new amendments are not without some loopholes. Take, for example, the fact that having sex with a child aged 15 or younger is considered statutory rape, but that a 12-year-old is deemed "mature enough" to purchase condoms in order to practise safe sex. Briede said her organisation had requested that the age of consent to medical treatment remain at 14, which is the current age set under the Child Care Act. "It now sends kids a contradictory message," she added.

Another concern is that, at 14 years old, children can now consent to surgical procedures, including abortion, but the new bill allows that a girl can consent to giving up her baby for adoption only at 18, whereas previously, a 16-year-old could make that decision. "Both of these decisions are life-altering. It looks like the bill values one option over another," said Briede.

The Children's Bill modernises the Child Care Act of 1983 and amends a section of the Bill of Rights that refers to children. It is divided into two sections - section 75 and section 76. Section 75 focuses on provisions for children while section 76 will concentrate on Child Welfare services. Section 76 will be presented before parliament next year.

Once both bills are signed by President Thabo Mbeki - as is expected, in the new year - these will be incorporated in a revised Child Care Act.The new featuresOther systems put in place to protect children, and ratified by the Children's Bill, include:

The establishment of a National Child Protection Register, which will allow all employers to check whether their employees are suitable to work with children.

It will bar anyone who has been found guilty of an offence against children to work in an environment that involves children.

The establishment of a Register of Adoptable Children and Prospective Adoptive Parents, which is a first for SA and will aid social workers in matching children and adoptive parents, bringing permanency in children's lives.

Improving the care of children living within child-headed households by allowing children to remain with their siblings under the care of an adult designated by the court. This means that the bill seeks to protect these vulnerable children from being burdened with adult responsibilities.

The Children's Bill does not make special reference to the sex of the child who is a victim of a sexual offence. This issue will be addressed in the Sexual Offences Bill, which is set to be a major issue for various child welfare organisations to tackle next year. The amendments to the Sexual Offences Bill were drafted in 1996, but thy have slipped off parliament's agenda without explanation.

This article was originally published on page 1 of The Star on December 24, 2005