Cry The Beloved Country

Mandela Square parking stealing from its customers

I park at Mandela Square regularly and have found another rip off happening right under our noses.

The Parking. Yes, I know you think the prices they charge are a rip-off (and they are). But, that's not what's raising my ire. It's that the parking company is blatantly stealing R1 every time I pay for my ticket.

It appears that the ticket machines can't dispense R1 coins when it comes to giving back change. So, for example, if you have to pay R9 and put a R10 note into the ticket machine, you don't get the R1 change back.

Of course, they have covered themselves by saying that if you don't get the correct change back, you can take your receipt and go and collect your R1 from the ticket office.

That's OK in theory. However, it's Ok if you're parked near the ticket office (close to the Nelson Mandela statue - one floor down - near the dry cleaners), but if you're parked on the hotel side, it is such a mission to walk to the ticket office that it is not worth your while to take another 5 minutes to collect R1.

So, you're prepared to take the knock.

It occured to me that the parking company is making a small fortune on the side. I've already left R5 over five visits on the table because it was too much hassle to go and get my R1. Just last Saturday I stood behind someone that also didn't get his change. He sighed and said, "It's only R1", and left the change behind. That's when when I realised that we had a problem.

Now imagine if 50% of the thousands of people that park there every day say "Its only R1"? This means that the parking company could be raking in an extra R1 000 to R2 000 per day or even more. That could be anywhere up to R60 000 a month that they're skimming from the public. Oh, and by the way, this R1 rip-off has also happened to me at Sandton City. So, I may be underestimating how much extra they really make.

They could argue that me and other's like me are just being lazy and it's our own fault. Let them try shopping for 3 hours, with crying and hungry kids and see if they're going to worry about going to fetch R1 from the hotel side ticket machines. I doubt it.

My questions are:

1. Why can't the fix the ticket machines (this has been happening for the last 3 months and probably longer) so that they can dispense R1 coins? I've been to other parking lots with similar ticket machines and they don't seem to have this problem.
2. If they know that change is a problem, why don't they have a parking attendant stationed at each ticket machine to dispense the correct change?
3. What are they going to do with all the extra money they've made? They're certainly not going to be able to reimburse anyone. I think the most honourable thing to do is to give the extra money to a charity or pass it on as a bonus to their staff. AND, OF COURSE, FIX THE PROBLEM.

Jacques de Villiers is a professional speaker tired of being ripped off in Sandton.

Cipro takes off from bungling for one day

This post got me chuckling - from the Daily Maverick

The Companies and Intellectual Registration Office (Cipro) will take time out from its busy schedule of bungling the awarding of tenders and failing to handle crucial company paperwork to take part in a department of trade and industry expo on Sammy Marks Square in Pretoria. In order to celebrate World Intellectual Property Day. The point of which is to mark the importance of properly handling intellectual property for economic growth.

Jacques de Villiers

Journalists allow themselves to get screwed in Julius Malema Porn Movie

Journalists spread their legs and bent over for Julius Malema at press conference in Luthuli House, Johannesburg, 8 April 2010.

I suppose we should have seen it coming. The press has after all been wooing and lavishing attention on Julius Malema by giving him more column centimeters than he deserves. 

And, finally when he invited some of them to his Luthuli House bedroom (press conference) to parrot his hero Robert Mugabe, they caved in quicker than a Rosebank hooker seeing a tourist walk towards her. 

He gang banged the whole lot of them. And, by the sounds of the giggling (as heard on Radio 702 and SABC 3 News), they seemed to be enjoying it.

Not one of them protested when he swore at ("bastard") and threw BBC journalist Jonah Fisher out of the press conference. No, they flaccidly lay on their backs in heat waiting to see what Malema was going to do next to titillate them. They didn't have the energy, nor moral fibre to support the maligned Fisher and walk out in solidarity with him. Perhaps they couldn't hear because their knees were firmly against their ears and Malema was whispering "bastard", "agent" which must have drowned out his  "kill the boer, kill the farmer" vitriol.

They had a second chance to protest after Malema tore into them. They just took it and giggled like a masochistic harem and spread their legs even wider and bent over even further as he ravished them inch by stupid inch.

They had an ideal opportunity to walk out and show Malema that they had too much self-respect to listen to him as he lost his last marble.

They didn't because they were enjoying the porn show they had created way too much.

Unfortunately, it was more of a snuff movie. In this instance, journalistic dignity, self-respect and integrity died when these weaklings chose to ignore the serious slight to a fellow journalist and to themselves.

The National Press Club should have these flaccid journalists up in front of an ethics committee to explain their lack of backbone. Not only should Julius Malema apologise to Jonah Fisher, these weaklings should apologise to Jonah Fisher and the country.

Jacques de Villiers