One of the ways you know a country is heading towards being a third world banana republic is when it has rolling blackouts and an undependable electric system. Alas this is becoming more and more frequent in our own country.

The rolling blackouts in KZN is going to continue according to Eskom and they will be implementing a power rationing system within three months. South African households will have to shed 10 percent of their power usage, and commercial and large offices 15 percent.

According to Eskom, all consumers would be given a fixed limit of electricity and a system of penalties and rewards would be implemented if consumers used more or less than their allocated quotas.

With all these problems, which apparently are set to continue to at least 2018, one wonders how we can host the World Cup? Surely demand will escalate substantially during that period. How will Eskom be able to cope? Or will we have to watch the soccer by candlelight?

There are some other questions that need answering. Eskom management has received an alleged R57-million in bonuses as part of their R143-million salaries. Why are these people receiving such high salaries and why are they receiving bonuses??? How have they performed well??? It seems that you can sit back and plunge the country into chaos and yet still receive a huge reward for it!

If we do not have enough electricity for our own needs, then why are we still exporting electricity to Mozambique? It is still unclear to everyone whether we are sending electricity to Zimbabwe ….

The people responsible for the current state of affairs should be fired. This includes both Eskom and government people. They should not be rewarded with high salaries and bonuses when they have not produced any positive results.

One solution to our energy crisis would be to allow the private sector to generate power and then sell it to Eskom. Around the country there are hundreds of refineries and mills which generate electricity via steam which could be tapped and sold on to Eskom. Farmers with large lands available would be able to set up wind farms to assist in supplementing the grid.

In the US, power companies are required to buy electricities from even small, private operations which may produce enough electricity to power a house or two.

There are so many options which are just not being explored by either Eskom or the government. And are I mention the pebble bed nuclear plants ….

Recently the US dollar has been falling to record lows. For the first time in history the Canadian dollar surpassed the US dollar and is now trading at roughly equal value. Oil price has risen to around $81 a barrel and is expected to rise sharply again.

Here at home we have constant strikes around the country, like the Auto industry strike. Many municipalities are now mired in debt and struggling to cope with even the most basic services.

The manufacturing industry is feeling the effects of the tightening of interest rates, strict labour laws, unskilled workers and cheap imports from countries like China. Manufacturing is the second largest sector in our economy, accounting for about 16% of gross domestic product and is a key employer in a country struggling to create jobs.

The Reserve Bank has been raising interest rates in an attempt to curb inflation. The official figures are that we are at an inflation peak of 6.5% - similar to the rate in 2003. By all accounts, the interest rate will be raised further in the near future.

The crime rate has left us with little potential foreign investment as companies are hesitant to set up shop in South Africa. Add to this the governments push for Affirmative Action and we can see why these investments are lacking.

Unemployment is currently sitting at 25.5%, although many economists feel that the actual figure may be quite a bit higher.

So what does this all mean for South Africa in the coming months?

I predict that within the next six months we will see the Rand take another drastic tumble - pretty similar to the fall of 2001/2002. This will be a direct result of the current dollar woes and rising oil prices - at least according to the Reserve bank. The truth is that in order to remain competitive in the world market, we need to keep the Rand weak against the dollar. So the Reserve Bank will artificially create another tumble to get the Rand revalued against the world currencies.

My advice: buy gold

Some time ago I wrote an article entitled ‘Risking ourselves by inaction against Zim‘ on this site. In the article I mentioned the problem of refugees coming into South Africa and its impact for us. I can’t believe that it has taken the DA, or anyone for that matter, to take a closer look at the refugee issue.

I wrote the article, like many of my other articles, based on what people were talking about at the time. Do these politicians not hear what the common people are saying? It seems not.

According to the DA, there are something like 10 000 refugees entering south Africa both legally and illegally. This is a huge amount of people for our country to support. When asked about the refugee problem, Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said that communities should just absorb them. Is this woman crazy? Let’s look more closely at this situation and its ramifications:
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