THE POWER OF NETWORKING - PART 27

THE POWER OF NETWORKING

PART 27

For the most part, networking for different people means different things. For some it is about building relationships with a view to doing business in the future. For others it about selling their widgets/services – quickly. Some on the other hand use networking to be able to ‘buy’ whatever widgets/services that they need in order for their businesses to run smoothly and for a very select few it is about being a “Connector”.

Part of me being a ‘natural networker’ is that I am a ‘Connector’. Connectors are people who do not only attend networking meetings to build relationship, to sell their widget, to buy another widget or even to have a few drinks or a coffee with someone, they like to match people up. They like to introduce people to one another.

Thursday is my networking meeting day. It is the day that I sit, from around 9.00am to around 4pm at ‘my office’ at the Mugg and Bean in Cresta (where I get excellent service I may add from the guys there, thanks guys) and I meet with people all day long. These are the people that I have met briefly at a networking event, be it at the Inner Circle, or Women In Finance, a Business Warrior, Rachel’s Conversations that Matter or indeed, even someone that I have met on the My Genius site. I allocate an hour for each person – some take longer, some don’t need the whole hour and strangely enough, some don’t even pitch at all!

I listen to their stories, and am often amused by the fact that many arrive at the meeting and they have no clue as to why they are there! All they know is that I have phoned them up, booked an appointment to see them (sometimes as much as 3 months in advance), confirmed the appointment the day before it has to take place, and now they are here! To them I say – Well Done!

I digress - so I listen to their stories, try and understand what it is that they do in their business, who they need to ‘connect’ with and why. As they talk I make notes and ask questions in order to understand something in a few minutes, that they have sometimes built up over months and years. As I make notes and ask the questions about ‘target markets’ and the like my mind wonders through my data base and the kind of people that they should be connecting with. I start off by industry and then work on the individual in that industry.

For example, if I am talking to someone in the printing industry (yes I know we all need business cards, but there is just so much more to printing), my natural reaction would be to put them in touch with all the Training people (training manuals, course material – presentations and the like), all the Event Marketing people (banners, corporate gifts and the like), Team Building people (course material, manuals, banners), Advertising and Marketing people (corporate gifts, brochures etc) and of course the Corporate Gift people ( pens, t-shirts and the rest of the paraphernalia, that goes with that). Sure, if I hear of someone who needs to have their Business Cards printed I will send them along to you too!

Whilst ‘listening’ to your story and asking the questions that I ask, I may also understand that you may have a problem somewhere in your business. You may be experiencing difficulty with your financials and may be looking to outsource you Bookkeeping functions or you may be needing someone to help you with your frustrating IT problems, or you maybe battling to get the right staff – whatever that problem is, I have no doubt, that somewhere in my database there will be someone who I can refer to you to be of assistance to you. Even if they are not in my direct data base, I can go to Business Warriors, Inner Circle, Women In Finance, Every Woman, Small Business Hub, S A Business Index and My Genius and ask for assistance. Somewhere, someone knows somebody who knows somebody else, who knows or who can refer me to someone who knows who you need to help you with whatever problem it is that you have.

Hence the saying “There are no problems, just opportunities!” Your problem is someone else’s opportunity!

When I am connecting people (and believe me when I say it isn’t just at my Thursday meeting that this happens), I am in my element – this is the world that I love. Why you may ask, well it’s because I can add value to the people in my data base (or network) by moving them from one contact to another. In this way the networks of all the different contact ‘cross pollinate’ so to speak and in so doing I add value to myself and also grow my network.

You see my networking isn’t just a matter of you ‘helping me right now’ or of you ‘selling me something right now’, it about finding synergies, from the people that I have known for years and the new people that I am meeting right now. It’s about bringing the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ together so that they can do business together.

It’s about building credible relationships, not only between myself and the new people that I meet, but also between the new people that I meet and the people that I have known for years.

So what does networking mean to you?

BORN AN ORIGINAL

Today’s quote comes from John Mason who says “You were born an original. Don't die a copy.”


What a statement! How succinctly put!

Think about it for a moment. As youngsters in school, we all want to dress that same and be the same as everyone around us. Primarily to ‘fit in’ I suspect. I am sure we have not only, not all heard the words, “but Jane’s mother bought her one” – but also uttered them at some stage in our lives.

Then come the teenage rebellion years and we all profess to ‘wanting to be different’, yet we are all the same. Many of our actions are really confused in that we often pull what we want and/or need and/or desire towards us with one hand, whilst pushing it away with the other. How many of us have yearned for the soft re-assurance of a touch or a spoken word from someone that we love and instead of making out feelings known we have lashed out to hurt them and push them away – sounds familiar doesn’t it? Well it makes us just the same as everyone else.

Then comes the work place – many of us paid our school fees in the banking world. Yes it’s true, every second person that I speak to, at some point in their lives have worked in the bank. Go figure! So much for being different!

At some point in our lives, many of us take that huge leap of faith, have a mini crisis or whatever you would like to call it and . . . wait for it . . . . started our own businesses! How difficult was that! So how different does that make us – not much from where I am looking right now.

Then comes the crunch – we actually succeed! Yes, we do become a statistic – but it’s a statistic of the best kind. You see against all odds, against all the numbers or perhaps I should say in spite of it all – we succeed! Not only do we succeed, but we become rich beyond all expectation – now that certainly makes us different. The question has got to be why?

You see, it doesn’t matter how strangely we dress, how strangely we behave we are all similar. What makes us different is how we think of ourselves. Those who dare to dream and visualize in the positive are different from the rest and those are the ones who will be different and who will succeed!

So tell me , are you an Original or are you a copy?

THE DEFINITION OF FOREIGN AID

If this truth did not stab you in the stomach and twist, perhaps it would be funny - so today the funny has somewhat of a dark side - to make you think - hard!

Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.

-Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University

ZUMA'S PLANS FOR TOP JOB

Oh dear God! God help us if this ever happens. Zuma would be okay though - as long as he took his daily shower, ate his daily quota of beetroot and lemon juice, and smiled for the cameras.

Zuma's plans for top job
Vicki Robinson
21 June 2007 11:59

ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma would not alter the broad parameters of South Africa's economic policy, but believes the national treasury has usurped the people "as the driver of economic change" and that "participatory democracy" has foundered under President Thabo Mbeki.

This week the Mail & Guardian spoke to several of Zuma's closest policy advisers, who have had extensive discussions with the ANC deputy president about his vision for the top job and outlined some of the changes he would make if he took over at the Union Buildings in 2009.

The M&G also sought reaction from some of his critics in the ruling party. Centrally, the advisers said Zuma would reintroduce "the principle of consultation" - an ANC tradition Mbeki has been accused of destroying by centralising power in his office and consequently dividing the ruling party. "It's about style," said one aide. "As much as [Nelson] Mandela knew, he believed in consultation and he didn't pretend to know everything. During his time, the tripartite alliance operated for this very reason.

"Mbeki's intellectual arrogance has intimidated and alienated his own party members, so that the ANC has become a disempowered collective. "Zuma's advisers stressed that in policy matters, he would only make changes of emphasis, making the Union Buildings "user-friendly" in terms of his political style.

Economy

Zuma will retain the ANC's current fiscal policy, his advisers said. However, he will bring a change of emphasis so that power is decentralised from the national treasury to the people, "to create a spirit of consultation beyond the tips for Trevor".

This would mean, for example, greater interaction with civil society during the budgeting process and entrenching "community aspirations", in the same way that the desires of big business have been considered in the past. "Why is it that every financial year the minister of finance is the only person who shines, while there is a pressure cooker of people on the ground who have little or no service delivery?" asked one aide. Another said Zuma regarded the failure of the current government to eliminate informal settlements as an indication of its "misguided" economic emphasis.

Government policy was to install infrastructure in informal settlements to lift the communities from their squalor, "yet they are still living like they're sub-human," he said. The M&G was also told of Zuma's concern that state-owned enterprises had largely failed in their mandate to provide services and generate capital for the poorest, and had instead become "the turf of a few individuals". HIV/Aids Zuma will not change the substance of the state's current HIV/Aids strategy, say his advisers, as this was effective "despite the political point-scoring" that accompanied its rollout. But he would overhaul the health ministry and ensure that Manto Tshabalala-Msimang did not regain her portfolio.

Zimbabwe

Zuma's advisers said the ANC deputy president was critical of Mbeki's failure to travel to Zimbabwe "to sit with the people and talk" after the mediation mandate given to him by the Southern African Development Community at its meeting in Dar-es-Salaam in March. "Zuma would have flown to Zim first, spent days there," said an aide. "Mbeki likes to study documentation around the issue first and then talk."

Security agencies

Zuma's view, according to his aides, is that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), as a specialised investigations unit, should be maintained but brought under the authority of the South African Police Service. "You can't have a security unit like this with more power than the police," said one adviser. "The NPA was formed because there was no trust in the police, but it has become worse than the police - a battleground for politics."

Media

Because it has besmirched his public image in the past two years, Zuma feels contempt for the media, according to his advisers. They said he believed that if it could not regulate itself, "regulatory institutions should be strengthened". This position is, significantly, reflected in a resolution of the KwaZulu-Natal ANC to the party's policy conference in Johannesburg this week. Zuma told editors at the World Editors Forum two weeks ago that media was "beginning to threaten its own freedom".

Race

As president, Zuma would adopt a far less defensive approach to race, his advisers said, pointing out that he has developed a good relationship with the white Afrikaner community. This was in contrast to Mbeki's lack of personal warmth and tendency "to cast all criticism in a negative racial light". Asked to respond, Zuma's critics in the ANC were unimpressed by these first indications of the shape of a Zuma presidency. If he came to power, one argued, the presidency would be marked by "continued instability". "He would launch witch-hunts against Thabo Mbeki's people," said an ANC national executive committee member. "The future prospects of the institutions of democracy would be in jeopardy and he would reward the people campaigning for him."

Another detractor, who also sits on the NEC, argued that despite Mbeki's shortcomings, "we cannot criticise him on his set of skills and administrative management of government, which Zuma lacks". Zuma's Cabinet choices would be a key barometer. Political commentator Adam Habib believed Zuma's strategy of being seen to be prioritising the poor was politically shrewd. However, once in power, he would face the same domestic and global constraints as the current government. "Policy decisions are not the product of individuals in the ANC. They are a product of the party and are constrained by domestic and global institutions," Habib said.

MINISTER SAYS COPS AREN'T UP TO IT

On a personal level, I agree with all that is being said here - however I would like to add that a lot more training should also be thrown into the mix. It is all very well to throw manpower at the situation, but throwing manpower that doesn't have a clue will be detrimental to the situation.

Minister says cops aren't up to it
Christelle Terreblanche
February 18 2007 at 04:57PM

Many police are not up to the job and the police's management is inadequate, Charles Nqakula, the safety and security minister, has confessed. "We must admit that we have not always been astute when it comes to human capital," he said. "The reason is we have looked at people with skills but they were often deployed in positions where they did not fit. They failed. "These admissions of weaknesses in the fight against crime came at the end of a week in which President Thabo Mbeki, government ministers and ANC MPs hit back at those who had accused them of not caring about the victims of crime.

Crime predictably dominated this week's debate on Mbeki's tenth state of the nation speech. The president, ANC MPs and ministers all stressed the link between high crime levels and poverty. Opposition parties made a meal of the controversy though some, such as the Independent Democrats, seemed satisfied with the government's response to the attacks made on it over crime. After the parliamentary debate, Nqakula told the media that the government had never denied that crime levels were high, but he maintained that it was making headway in curbing crime."The question is whether the massive resources [allocated to the fight against crime] are being used effectively," he said.

The minister, who heads the cabinet's crime cluster, admitted that the police's management was weak and that "command and control systems were not as effective as they should be". "Some station commissioners do not know how to deploy the resources available to them," said Nqakula, announcing a raft of new measures to eradicate shortcomings. Mbeki has acknowledged that the reduction of violent crime is not happening fast enough - about 50 people are murdered every day in South Africa - and the abuse of women and children has "continued at an unacceptable level".

As 32 000 letters complaining about crime were being delivered to the Union Buildings, the underlying message from the ruling party was clear - people who "whinge" about crime are not concerned about its causes and should either make a contribution or ship out. In the debate on his state of the nation speech, Mbeki quoted Mosiuoa Lekota, the defence minister, who had said that many of the government's critics on crime were "eloquent spectators speaking from the exaggerated comfort of European cities".

The president described the critics as "forever mocking, forever throwing our inevitable temporary failures at our faces". Lekota's subsequent statement that the critics "should go to Australia" has raised the ire of both the Democratic Alliance and Freedom Front, who have called the remarks racist. But Idasa analyst Steven Friedman said Mbeki's response was appropriate "given the context of a torrent of abuse by a bunch of fairly well-heeled people" over crime. "If we are going to have one have intelligent debate in this country on crime, it needs to be around the fact that crime is disproportionately distributed among the poor, who include by far the most victims," he said. "I wish the president had responded like this before."Mbeki has promised that police numbers will be raised to 183 000, a 50 percent increase in seven years, by 2009.

The budget for safety and security will be increased by 600 percent compared to 1994. Johan Burger, of the Institute for Security Studies, warned that international experience showed that throwing more police at the problem would not do the trick. He agreed that a lack of visible policing had more to do with poor management. Burger, whose book on crime and poverty will be published this week, said that South Africa had one of the highest ratios of police to civilians in the world. He praised Mbeki for being "one of the few people who understood the complexities of crime", including the contributions to it of poverty and related socio-economic problems.

"At the moment, a large part of our crime is generated by socio-economic conditions that are largely unattended to, but the focus is on crime," said Burger. He said that short-term crime-busting actions would not work either."It says clearly in the government's own white papers that crime and its causes are now considered a national security threat." He suggested better co-ordination of old and new initiatives to counter poverty and crime."[Crime fighting] must be based on one single national strategy controlled by a body of people who can hold accountable all the departments involved." In the parliamentary debate, Mbeki took up a suggestion by the United Democratic Movement's Bantu Holomisa that a "national convention" be established in which the people could put burning issues onto the government's agenda and make resolutions.

Mbeki suggested that if parliament took the lead in the convention's formation and asked him to suggest topics for its consideration he would include social transformation, the eradication of poverty and the "reduction and eradication of crime". Nqakula warned: "Even if the entire number of policemen were deployed [183 000], it would not be enough to cover all areas. The call for the mobilisation of our masses [against crime] is not abdicating our responsibilities. Given that crime happens at a local level, and that the communities know the criminals and are affected by the crime, it is important to join hands [with the communities].

"The legislation on community policing forums is to be changed to strengthen the forums, provide for better oversight of the police and to improve the way in which policing priorities are jointly determined by the police and the local community. Nqakula pledged beefed-up police deployment and management, including electronic monitoring of police stations. He said specialised units had been deployed to the areas worst hit by violent crime. He said cash-in-transit robberies had fallen by nearly 25 percent in six months because of a high-tech police operation.

Former members of commando units are to be taken on as police reservists.
published on page 4 of The Sunday Independent on February 18, 2007
This article was originally published on page 4 of Sunday Independent on February 18, 2007

Oh my goodness and in the meantime costs have gone up and the people are still without homes. Not only should these people face criminal charges, but they should also be liable for the difference in costs and interest etc.

The MEC should rightly, be axed - how can you hand over amounts of money of that magnitude without checking to see what is going on - that in my opinion is "Gross Negligence"!

MEC 'deserves axing' for R58m housing scandal
March 12 2007 at 12:38PM

The latest R58-million housing scandal was reason to fire Gauteng housing MEC Nomvula Mokonyane, the Democratic Alliance said on Monday. The Star reported on Monday that a consortium was awarded a R58-million tender in 2004 to build RDP (Reconstruction and Development Programme) houses in Evaton, Vereeniging, but to date not a single house had been built.

"That highlights a lack of control and lack of accountability in the department," said DA spokesperson Kate Lorimer. "One has to ask how it can be that there is no effective monitoring for three years of a project costing R58-million."

The newspaper reported that the Bahlodi Consortium was awarded the contract to revitalise Evaton.

RDP houses were to be built, with water sanitation, for the township's 200 000 residents, along with new roads and pavements, as part of the upgrading of infrastructure. However, there was little to show for the R58-million while the housing list had swollen to 14 000. Some residents were still using the bucket system and others had to make do with pit latrines.

A local councillor confirmed that no houses had been built, The Star reported. Mokonyane's spokesperson Victor Moreirane said the Bahlodi contract was terminated a few days ago because it failed to provide "value for their money" in houses, roads, clinics, parks and rejuvenated community centres and sewerage and drains. He told the newspaper that his department had only noticed that the money was not spent when Bahlodi applied for an additional R50-million.

He said the departments had drafted a new three-year plan that would cost R900-million. Lorimer said the department should take legal action against Bahlodi and fast-track the programmes that should have been carried out by the consortium." Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa must then appoint an independent body to conduct a transparent enquiry into who awarded the tender to Bahlodi and the grounds on which it was awarded," Lorimer said. - Sapa

MBEKI DENIES "BULLYING" BAK OVER CAMPAIGN

Well in view of the fact that the President doesn't think that there is any crime in South Africa, why would he not "bully" the bank into withdrawing the anti-crime campaign! Why would we need an anti crime campaign if there is no crime?

Mbeki denies 'bullying' bank over campaign
February 04 2007 at 11:44PM

The presidency has denied forcing First National Bank (FNB) to withdraw its R20-million anti-crime campaign, SABC news reported on Sunday. The bank cancelled the campaign on Friday, apparently after talks with the government's security cluster and business leaders.

Presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga has denied any intervention from Thabo Mbeki's side. Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has also denied that the government put pressure on FNB to can the initiative."I am not aware that the presidency requested FNB to withdraw the campaign. FNB has got a right to embargo whatever campaign they see fit."Our view though is that we don't think the campaign would have assisted anybody in the fight against crime."

Ratshitanga's statement follows outrage from the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the trade union Solidarity. The DA has accused the government of bullying FNB into withdrawing the advertisement. Party spokesperson Dianne Kohler Barnard said the ANC's denial of the extent of crime was damaging democracy and undermining public confidence.

Reacting to the withdrawal, Solidarity announced that it intended sending out thousands of letters from the public to Mbeki asking him to make crime prevention his first priority. - Sapa

THE POWER OF NETWORKING - PART 26

THE POWER OF NETWORKING

PART 26

I was asked the other day, “what my purpose is” when I network. I must confess that I was a little confused by the question, until I realized that I was being asked the question by someone who is used to a completely different style of networking to the one that I tend to engage in.

You see for him networking was usually done as an entertaining social sort of thing, where people chatted genteelly around a table with a cup of tea in one hand and a sticky bun of sorts in the other. Where people smiled politely at one another and made small talk about the weather, the cricket/rugby/soccer, the latest fashion and who was doing what to whom on a regular basis.

This kind of ‘networking’ for me is quite simply, ‘a no go’. You see I am in the Business of Business to make a profit, making money is easy, but making a profit – well that is an entirely different thing altogether (but that is another story for another time). In order for me to make a profit, I need to grow my business – slowly but surely, one step at a time.

For me to grow my business, I need to look for opportunities, and believe me there are an abundance of them all around, it’s just a question of recognizing them and then doing something with them.

For me, the easiest way to search for opportunities, is at a networking event, where people are serious about doing business and who are hungry to find opportunities.

So for me, understanding my purpose for being at a specific type of networking meeting is of the utmost importance.

Therefore the purpose for me attending a networking meeting is to meet people, and build relationships with them. It is to search for opportunities, whether they are for me as an individual, or a possible Joint Venture, or a Strategic Alliance, or even to see an opportunity for a business colleague and/or friend and/or client.

These opportunities and relationships, will allow me to grow my own business, and provide a ‘value add’ to both my clients and my colleagues.

For me, this is a win, win & win again situation.

So now, what was the question again . . . . . .?

MOTIVATION - BRAVERY

MOTIVATION – BRAVERY

The quote today comes from David Hackworth who says "Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid."

In my opinion, one of the bravest acts that I have ever performed is the one where I quit my relatively luscious job and in a ‘leap of faith’ and not much more, I started my own business. That was four years ago.

I remember during the three months notice that I had given, people with whom I worked, coming up to me with looks of concern on their faces, because they thought I was either mad, had lost the plot, had fallen off the path and any other saying that anyone cares to substitute, can be inserted here. I was absolutely steadfast in my reply which became a standard “I am stagnating here, this is my dream and I am going to do it.”

After a while the words just came out by themselves usually accompanied with a fixed smile on my face and eventually even I started believing what I was saying.

Inside though, was a completely different story! I was sick to my stomach and as my body absorbed the additional stress, so it also reacted to it. My hair started falling out, my stomach churned and often spurned whatever I had put in it, resulting in me rushing off to the loo to spew at length. I, who had always had relatively low blood pressure (between 95 – 100/70 – 75), now had to contend with a reading that now soared to 150/100! The noise in my ears sounded like the blood whooshing through my veins and I swear I could actually hear my heart beat.

Every morning when I jumped out of bed to start the new day, with smile firmly fixed in place, I wondered if I had indeed lost my mind along the way – I mean what was I actually thinking?

Yet at the end of every day, when I had survived being in the Business of Owning my own Business, I realized that I was far stronger than I had ever given myself credit for. I realised that, on the surface most people believed in me far more than I believed in myself, but that deep down below, somewhere in that space that we all have, where we instinctively know the truth when we hear it, that I was living my dream. That I could achieve and would achieve anything that I put my mind to, simply by visualizing it and by going towards my goal – one step at a time.

So as I continue on this journey of mine, whenever I get scared of something, I remember the beginning of this particular chapter of my life and I know that I can do it. I pat myself on the back for a job well done (even if it hasn’t been started yet) and start at the beginning, with my smile fixed firmly on my face and the words “this is my dream” on my lips and I know that I will succeed.

Good morning bloggers - hope you enjoy today's funnies!

Papers report on bold new 'Gauplane' plan
Johannesburg, South Africa
01 April 2007 08:30

The Gautrain project fell victim to April Fool's Day in two Sunday newspapers. The Sunday Times reported in its Business Times section that low budget airline Kulula.com had announced a bold plan to take on the Gautrain by launching a flight service between Pretoria, Sandton and OR Tambo International Airport.

It reported that the flight duration between the three points would be only six minutes and that flights -- using 100-seater jets -- would depart every 15 minutes. The airline also planned to undercut Gautrain rates by between 30% and 40%. "All the hype around the Gautrain really got us thinking and we've come up with a plan to do it quick and cheaper," the report quoted Kulula's joint chief executive Gidon Novick as saying.

The report, written by "Aprile Fule", added that the public would be called upon to suggest names for the new service. Some suggestions so far included "Gauplane", "Op-en-af" and "The no-gravy plane".

City Press reported on its front page that Nelson Mandela's house, the multimillion-rand newly-opened Jabulani Mall and the Hector Pietersen memorial site would have to be demolished to make way for the Gautrain.

The report read that there had been international calls for the Gautrain to be extended into Soweto for the 2010 World Cup.The route through Vilikazi Street would mean that the Hector Pietersen Memorial would have to be moved a few paces sideways or be scaled down to a simple plaque. - Sapa

MAID RETURNS FROM THE DEAD

This gives a whole new meaning to "raising the dead"!

'Maid returns from the dead'
September 28 2006 at 05:32AM
By Poloko Tau

When he saw his maid standing at his door, Brian Hough thought he was seeing a ghost. On Monday, Hough had received a call informing him that Laureen Sibanda had died in a car accident - but it turned out he was nearly scammed into giving out money towards her funeral while she was still alive. Sibanda had spent the long weekend with her family in Hillbrow and was reporting for her normal Tuesday part-time job at Hough's home in Kensington, Johannesburg.

"A man calling himself Michael called and said he was my domestic's brother, told me he had bad news. He then asked me to call him back as he didn't have enough airtime. When I called back he was crying. He said Laureen was involved in a car accident on her way from a society meeting earlier on Monday. I felt very distraught at the news," he said.

How did he get all the information about him and his maid? The caller then asked Hough to send him some airtime so that he could call other relatives and inform them of the death. R220 worth of airtime was sent to his cellphone number. He then called again later and asked Hough if he would be attending the funeral."He asked me if I would be able to contribute towards funeral costs. I was prepared to do that, but I said I would rather speak to the deceased's husband," Hough said.

This was the last he heard of "Michael". The number he used was off when tried again later. Sibanda, who stays in Hillbrow with her husband and children, works part-time for the Houghs and reports for duty only on Tuesdays. When she did just that she gave her employer the fright of his life."I just froze and looked at her. I mean, she's supposed to be dead," Hough said.

Sibanda said she was surprised at Hough's reaction when he saw her."He stood there like he just saw a ghost. I thought maybe I wasn't supposed to come to work. I didn't know what was going on because normally he would open the gate immediately when he saw me," Sibanda said. When she came into the house Hough told her the story. "She was more surprised than we were. But we were all happy that she was alive," Hough said.

For Sibanda, this was a "bad omen"."It's bad luck. I must pray that nothing happens after all this," she said. But the question is - who called Hough and how did he get all the information about him and his maid? Hough then called the man's cellphone service providers and was told that he was the fourth person who called with the same problem. He said he tried to open a case at Cleveland police station, but was told by the police that the matter did not warrant a case and "they were just not interested".

Johannesburg police believe this could be a scam and confirmed that it was not happening for the first time. "This looks like a scam and the complainant was not supposed to have been turned away. A docket could have been opened with a charge of theft under false pretence. He must go back to the station and they will open a case and investigate," said police Sergeant Sanku Tsunke.

Police urged employers to keep contact numbers of their domestic workers and their next-of-kin in case of emergencies. "The employer shouldn't have bought airtime, but called the number that he would have had to confirm all that. This is the only way this scam can be discouraged," Tsunke said.

The Star reported a similar case in July.
This article was originally published on page 16 of The Star on September 28, 2006

LETTERS TO GOD FOUND WASHED ASHORE

Oh my goodness! How sad is this!

Letters to God found washed ashore
November 03 2006 at 10:48AM

Atlantic City, New Jersey - Some of the letters are comical (a man asking God to let him win the lottery, twice), others are heartbreaking (a distraught teen asking forgiveness for an abortion, an unwed mother pleading with God to make the baby's father marry her). The letters - about 300 in all, sent to a New Jersey minister - ended up dumped in the ocean, most of them unopened.

The minister died two years ago aged 79. How the letters, some dating from 1973, wound up bobbing in the surf is a mystery. "There are hundreds of lives here, a lot of struggle, washed up on the beach," said Bill Lacovara, who was fishing last month with his son when he spotted a flowered plastic shopping bag and retrieved it. "This is just a hint of what really happens.

'A lot of struggle'

"How many letters like this all over the world aren't being opened or answered?" Many of the letters were addressed to the Reverend Grady Cooper, though many more simply said "Altar". According to the text of several of them, they were intended to be placed on a church's altar and prayed over by the minister, the congregation or both. Some were neatly written in script on white-lined paper, others in a feverish scrawl on tattered scraps of paper or note cards.

Many were crinkled from being in the water and then dried out after Lacovara fished them out of the sea. A dog-eared business card inside one of the letters identified Cooper as associate pastor of the Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Jersey City. A woman who answered the phone at the church office confirmed Cooper once was a minister there, and had died nearly two years ago. The current pastor did not return several calls. Other documents in the bag, including bank statements, listed Cooper's name and an address for him in Jersey City.

A death certificate was issued in 2004 for a Grady Cooper.Lacovara speculated that someone cleaning out Cooper's home found the letters and threw them on the beach in Atlantic City, about 160km from Jersey City."I guess rather than just throw them in the garbage, maybe they thought they'd set them out to sea to bless these people," he said. Lacovara said he is sad that most of the writers never had their letters read. But he hopes to change that soon: He is putting the collection up for sale on eBay. - Sapa-AP

This article was originally published on page 4 of Daily News on November

LATEST IN ADVERTISING: HOGGING THE BLOGS

This would have been yesterday's post. Seems like some of the bloggers out there are pushing the limits. I guess it had to happen at some stage!


Latest in advertising: hogging the blogs
December 23 2006 at 02:30PM
By Laurence Benhamou

The curtain has been pulled on a deceptive new advertising tactic where companies camouflage ads as product praise in online postings masquerading as independent blogs. Several companies have been exposed for launching fake blogs known as "flogs", in a practice that coincides with an increase in the number of real bloggers secretly paid to endorse products.

Blogs, a term derived from "web logs", are rampant on the Internet and are considered to be online journals in which people post personal opinions, musings and more. Online firm Technorati reported this week it was tracking more than 63 suspicious blogs. Wily marketers have infiltrated the blogging world, paying for favourable commentary on products. However, posting product commentary without alerting readers that bloggers were compensated for their opinions is unethical and potentially illegal, according to US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rules.

Sony Computer Entertainment America, a subsidiary of Japan-based Sony, admitted last week that it created a bogus blog baptised "All I want for Christmas is a PlayStation Portable". The blog was passed off as the work of an amateur hip-hop musician named "Charlie" who enthusiastically praised the PlayStation. In a short message on the Charlie blog, Sony apologised for being "a little too clever".

The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, came under fire in October for a blog portrayed as an online journal kept by a typical US couple, named Laura and Jim, as they travelled across the US in a motor home. The couple's blog praised Wal-Mart for letting them park their hulking recreational vehicle overnight in store parking lots and told of encountering Wal-Mart workers nationwide who praised their jobs and their employer.

Business Week magazine revealed that the couple's cross-country trip was sponsored by Wal-Mart - a fact unmentioned in the online postings. Companies such as PayPerPost and ReviewMe, which link bloggers and advertisers, are fuelling the phenomenon. PayPerPost, a five-month-old pioneer in the practice, is true to its name regarding favourable online blog postings.

On ReviewMe, bloggers in any language can offer to post their thoughts on products for $500 a review. ReviewMe explains on its site that it cannot guarantee favourable reviews, but most of the posted opinions are positive. Fake "independent" blogs by companies or secretly manipulated by advertisers break US law by misleading consumers, according to federal regulators. The FTC warned this month that "such connection must be fully disclosed" and that its staff "will determine on a case-by-case basis whether to recommend law enforcement actions to the commission".

Faced with the FTC threat, PayPerPost announced this week it would change its service agreement to require bloggers who were being paid to say so in their postings. Many PayPerPost competitors have yet to adopt such a rule, and the torrent of user-generated videos, images and text flooding the Internet has aspiring advertisers navigating uncharted waters.

Attention-seekers from fledgling music bands to major corporations have seen clever online content "go viral" - lingo for being spread for free worldwide by people using e-mail and online links. Both video-sharing website YouTube and teen-oriented social networking MySpace, for example, have become venues for companies to establish promotional pages. - Sapa-AFP

This article was originally published on page 4 of The Star on December 23, 2006

KILLER ARRESTED AFTER 10 YEARS ON THE RUN

Killer arrested after 10 years on the run
October 11 2006 at 07:12AM

Whilst I am really pleased that this guy has been caught, I am also really distressed by the fact that he got out in the first place! It must be absolutely soul destroying for policemen who have to, not only try and catch these guys - but also make the charges stick (especially in these trying times when the perception is that the criminals have more rights than their victims), only to have them escape and as such left to commit crimes again. There has to be more accountability within the justice and prison system.

A convicted killer charged with 11 new murders is to appear in the Thohoyandou magistrate's court on Wednesday, police said.

Spokesperson Senior Superintendent Motlafela Mojapelo said the man was re-arrested on Monday.He had been eluding police since escaping in 1996 from Pretoria's Baviaanspoort Prison, where he was serving two life sentences for murder. "We have been hunting this guy for about ten years," said Mojapelo.

The new murders were committed in the past two years. The victims, mostly women, included four children."Some were raped before they were killed," Mojapelo said. - Sapa

THE POWER OF NETWORKING - PART 25

THE POWER OF NETWORKING

PART 25

In her cards on Networking Tips, Dr Renate Volpe says “Your business card should read like a headline that is promoting your business.”

Ain’t that the truth. I can tell you I have seen some strange cards out there. Some really strange shapes and some really strange textures and some that you can only read if you put them against a white sheet of paper!

For me it’s about being able to read the bloody thing!

I hate to admit it, but there are some cards that I have actually thrown away in absolute frustration! It tells me who they are and all the numbers are there, cell, work, fax e-mail – the whole toot. The problem is that the writing is so small that I needed a magnifying glass to actually read them – there are only so many times that I am prepared to go downstairs to fetch the magnifying glass to read a business card – so out it went.

Then of course there are the cards that are so different that they do not actually fit into any kind of card holder. Sure they make an impression, but they also frustrate the hell out of a person – so out they go too.

Please don’t get me wrong – be different, be innovative – make a statement, but for goodness sake make a statement that most people can read and make a statement on a receptacle that we can keep somewhere comfortably.

The card should tell a person, clearly, who you are and what you do and the numbers should be of a size that anyone can actually see (never mind read). Be different, be daring but most of all be BOLD. Your aim at the end of the day is to get someone to contact you – they need to be able to read the numbers on the card in order to do so.

For more information on Dr Volpe, visit her website on www.HIRS.co.za

MOTIVATION - A TRUE LEADER

MOTIVATION – A TRUE LEADER

The quote today comes from Daisaku Ikeda. He says “A person, who no matter how desperate the situation, gives others hope, is a true leader."

Pretty powerful stuff, I am sure you would agree – but what does that mean to me?

Well on a personal level, it means that irrespective of how badly (or well for that matter) that person uses his or her wisdom to assess my problems in my business, and gives me not only the best possible advice, but also encouragement and motivation.

It’s the person who, without talking down to me, without being smug, without the drama and the emotion, gives me practical advice on “how to” fix up my problem.

It’s the person who points me in the right direction – it’s the person who helps me stay focused on what my goals are.

Are you such a person? Are you a true leader?

YOU'LL LOSE MORE THAN A HAND IN THIS GAME

How fortuitous is this - today's the 19th! Hope all you Londoners have a great game and many the best err. . . . fig leaf provide the best cover!

You'll lose more than a hand in this game

July 28 2006 at 03:49PM

Dublin - It started as an April Fool's joke but an Irish bookmaker's proposal to hold the world's biggest strip poker contest will become reality next month. Paddy Power floated the idea as a joke but it generated so much interest - and hundreds of requests to take part - that the Dublin-based company decided to organise a contest.

So next month, 200 poker buffs will risk baring all in an attempt to become the first World Strip Poker Champion - and earn a place in the Guinness Book of Records. The winner will also receive a "Golden Fig Leaf" trophy plus £10 000 (about R120 000) in cash.

"This will be the most fun you can have with your clothes on - or off!" Paddy Power said in a statement for the tournament, which will be held in London on August 19.

IFP MAN FAILS TO HAVE HIS CAKE AND EAT IT. . .

Oh man this is funny! It produces a video in my head and I can just see the hilarity of it. So called politicians getting all hot and bothered over this fresh cream cake that is starting to melt in the heat of the moment. . . . .

IFP man fails to have his cake and eat it...
November 09 2006 at 04:53AM
By Wendy Jasson Da Costa and Simon Steenhuis

Chaos erupted in the National Assembly as IFP chief whip Koos van der Merwe and Deputy Speaker Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde had a screaming match over a fresh cream cake with a huge candle in the centre. Van der Merwe sneaked the cake into the house to mark the first anniversary of President Thabo Mbeki's inviting him to make an appointment to see him.

Presidency staff have yet to arrange a time. Speaking during debate on the mini-budget, he said: "I think it's a scandal and I want to ask the honourable minister (in the presidency, Essop Pahad), 'Here's your cake, come and eat it! I've waited a year.' And Madam Speaker..."

An exchange between them ensued and ANC deputy chief whip Andries Nel, protesting at the "theatrics", said it was not parliamentary for the country's budget to be reduced to a "circus". Mahlangu-Nkabinde called for order and eventually asked Van der Merwe to leave.

"I'm not going to take this kind of behaviour from yourself. I asked you several times to sit down and I'm now asking you and your cake to leave this house."

This article was originally published on page 4 of Cape Times on November 09, 2006

Up to date at last - let's see how long I can stay like this!

On a positive note, I am proud to be South African - I wonder why I never get asked any of these questions in any of these surveys!

Still, I am very proud to be a South African and I am very excited about the future of this young democracy of ours. There is an abundance of everything available here, for people who are willing to open their eyes and recognise it for what it is.

It's there for the taking - who would like some?

How proud are you to be South African?
April 27 2007 at 01:16AM

Ninety-five percent of South Africans are proud to be South African, a survey by the University of Stellenbosch found."The overwhelming majority of South Africans are proud to be South African, prefer democracy as a governing system and believe that our democratic system will develop positively in the future," said spokeswoman Mari Harris on Thursday, on behalf of Markinor and the university's Centre for International and Comparative Politics.

Harris said the study was conducted on 3 000 randomly-selected South Africans by the university department in November and December 2006. When asked "How proud are you to be South African?", 19 out of every 20 responded that they were either "very" or "quite proud", said Harris.

'How proud are you to be South African?'

"More than nine in every 10, across all population groups, are also strongly committed to the country," she said. Of the 95 percent of respondents proud to be South African, 96 percent were black, 92 percent white, 98 percent "coloured" and 92 percent Indian. "The overall result (95 percent) is on the same level as that measured in the 2001 World Values Survey, although the proportion who are 'very proud' increased from 72 percent in 2001 to 78 percent."

According to the survey, Northern Cape, Limpopo and Free State residents are the proudest. Harris said African National Congress supporters were the proudest at 98 percent followed by Democratic Alliance and Inkatha Freedom Party supporters both with 94 percent. People were asked to rate the political system as it was under apartheid, the current political system and the political system expected in the future. Researchers found that black South Africans were the most positive about the current and future political systems while whites were the most negative. "However, the views of all three minority population groups about the current and future political systems are more positive than negative," said Harris.

The majority of respondents felt it was "very important" to live in a country that was governed democratically. The results, released on the eve of Freedom Day, were drawn from the World Values Survey - an extensive project conducted every five years. - Sapa

GET A GRIP ON VIOLENCE NOW, SAYS DE KLERK

This is the post that would have been done yesterday.

Not much to say on this one, except of course that our leader still advocates that there is 'no crime in SA'. Shame the poor man lives in a limited reality kind of trance!

Get a grip on violence now, says De Klerk
December 18 2006 at 01:42AM

The political violence in South Africa's history has been replaced by criminal violence, former president FW de Klerk said on Sunday. "The violence of today is as devastating as the violence of the past," he said while speaking on Robben Island off Cape Town at a commemoration of the role played by Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa. "Standing here in Robben Island, on this weekend of reconciliation in 2006, I would like to think that Mahatma Gandhi would be pleased with the progress that we South Africans have made since he left us 92 years ago. "Political violence has unfortunately been replaced by criminal violence. Against his wishes we still live in a violent country," said De Klerk.

"We urgently need to continue our quest for a truly non-violent South Africa. I believe that is what Gandhi would have advocated, had he been with us." De Klerk said Gandhi's "spirit of non-violent compromise and accommodation" ultimately triumphed in South Africa's journey toward freedom. "Our constitutional settlement was guided by his view that 'we win justice quickest by rendering justice to the other party'." He said the country's challenge was to "uphold the historic agreements" reached and "come to grips with crime". - Sapa