[Here is something I have never heard any of the newspapers writing about.

I work for a finance company in the property industry. Now I want to let you in on a meeting I had as part of my job, the other day.

I got a call from some people in the head office, requesting information about various property-related data. So I went and had a meeting with them to establish what they needed.

I met with an economist in the company who is doing various studies and analyses.

Some time previously, a co-worker of mine was moaning about a flat (apartment) he had bought for R600,000 which had been built recently. He was telling me how crooked the walls were! He is now going to sue the construction company he is so furious.

He was remarking that he thinks building standards are dropping in this country.

Now let me return to my meeting with the economist. As we were discussing the various data, he then remarked that he wondered if, with the data I would give him, whether he would be able to prove that building standards are dropping! I was surprised. So I questioned him and he told me of his perception that countrywide, the building standards were dropping. He was wondering if he could use valuation data and various related calculations to prove, definitively, that construction standards were going down!

I also heard a story from a friend of my mother’s some time back about a civil engineer who left S.Africa to live in the USA. He was unhappy and feeling homesick. So he returned to S.Africa. He was only back for 6 weeks before he packed his bags for a SECOND TIME and left to return to the USA.

He was complaining how frustrating it was to work in S.Africa because if the civil engineers give people instructions, then the builders/workers don’t know how to carry the orders out! He was saying in the USA you give people orders and they go away and do the job, but in S.Africa, they don’t know how to, and then the civil engineers also have to show them and watch over them!!

How’s that for another ANC success… more declining standards.

I’ve been too busy to report on so many other fascinating discussions I’ve had recently. I had a fascinating discussion with two blacks with university degrees. I never let on my political views. Then I heard their thoughts on this country and where it is going and how to get there. It was really fascinating. I watched the blacks contradict each other and fight each other. It was so fascinating watching their thought processess. I really must do it again. Jan]