Linus

All Things Tech, Security, Cybersecurity.

[Mteto Nyati @mteton]

In South Africa we have watched a quiet but relentless slide into lawlessness. Jumping traffic lights has become commonplace. Driving under the influence is often treated lightly. Pedestrians cross roads with little regard for the danger. Informal settlements spring up overnight on any open piece of land. Illegal electricity connections are no longer treated as serious offences - they are simply accepted as part of daily life. Informal traders claim pavements and intersections as their own. Prisoners somehow manage to keep smartphones. Driving without a licence is widespread.

One could go on forever. The point is simple: there has been a clear breakdown in law and order.

On the surface, the relaxation of rules is understandable. For decades, harsh and often humiliating laws targeted black South Africans in particular. So society swung from one extreme to the other, from rigid control to an “anything goes” environment.

In many ways this chaos is presented as freedom, the freedom that was denied to the majority for so long. We even open our borders to illegal immigration with the argument: “They took us in when we were running from the apartheid police.” A noble memory, but a problematic policy.

I once listened to a Minister of Correctional Services speaking about prisoners. The minister spoke much like a principal talking about learners, our collective duty to help them reach their full potential. The fact that some of these individuals were rapists, hardened killers and career criminals seemed to fade behind the focus on rehabilitation. We appear to have confused ordinary criminals with the political prisoners of the past. In our emphasis on ubuntu there is often little room left for the discipline that law and order require. It is as if, as a nation, we struggle to hold both compassion and consequences together.

This confused state is not progressive. It is setting us backwards. I know of no country that has ever become successful on a foundation of chaos. We urgently need to strike the right balance, one that honours our painful history without using it as a permanent excuse to abandon the very rules that keep a society from falling apart. #ProudlySA

[Redi Tlhabi @RediTlhabi]

You called me? I imagine this infantile post is because I called out your all-white lens at your media platform? You were wrong. Take the lesson. Or is it is over my RETWEETS of Daily Maverick's Resolve exposé?

Yes, I think the conduct of the owners of the Herald and Daily Dispatch is wrong. The destruction of credible publications and people's livelihoods for commercial gain is indefensible. A media house compromising its independence through proximity to political power is something we should all be outraged by. I certainly am.

But here's your problem: your worldview is so one-dimensional that you cannot conceive of two things being true at the same time. You assume that because I criticised your platform for its refusal to see and reflect South Africa as it truly is, then I cannot criticise someone else for odious conduct.

It is not complicated if arguments are based on principle. But it seems that's a level of nuance that is beyond you.

You are too far up your arse and lack the epistemic humility to see that. A pity because you ARE a good financial journalist and your insights are compelling. You also had an easy, beautiful tv presence. You didn't expect me to say that because I criticized you on one thing? That's because you are shallow.

You were wrong. And they are wrong too. And I hope the "Redi outrage machine" continues to steadfastly call our bullshits when it sees it.

Next time, don't be a coward. I'm right here. Tag me.

[Linus @Menon01]

@ChristoThurston Actually there is an article in today's Business Day about how cheap imports are destroying the sugar industry.

https://t.co/rV9rtcqjmf

[Julian Rademeyer @julianrademeyer]

One of the greatest risks facing Jo'burg is not simply illegal mining itself, but that municipal authorities continue approving major developments without fully understanding the historic mine workings beneath them. https://t.co/TinzNNTyEo

[Man’s NOT Barry Roux @AdvoBarryRoux]

Sad reality

[Linus @Menon01]

@FNBSA can you please enable the option to add a tip to the card terminals at @Engen_SA forecourts.

[Linus @Menon01]

@JHBWater Why is Northcliff Reservoir not listed. Linden is supplied from the Northcliff Reservoir.

[Linus @Menon01]

@talkcentss If @CapitecBankSA plays it's cards right there is going to be a move by many from @Fnb

[Linus @Menon01]

@TechCentral @mcleodd Let's not forget Amazon's superstar product AWS stared it's life in Capetown. There is history there.

[Linus @Menon01]

@TimesLIVE The battery running down seems to be very common among these brand's. Have come across atleast 3 incidents of the Chery Tiggo having flat batteries.

[Linus @Menon01]

@PicknPay The Victory Park store definitely does not have this facility. Only the cigarette kiosk has the option to scan the code.

[Linus @Menon01]

@CityPowerJhb large area outage in Linden.
CPWEB5014037

[Linus @Menon01]

@PicknPay @Leeka_Thahla The @PicknPay in Victory Park, Johannesburg does not have this option.

[Linus @Menon01]

@AdvoBarryRoux This has become a menace on the streets. Everything they do is illegal with no consequences whatsoever.

[Linus @Menon01]

@Leon_Schreib minister when will phase 2 of the Digital ID be rolled out ?

[Linus @Menon01]

@EwanMacKenna It is their playbook. They did it in 2010 in South Africa.

[Linus @Menon01]

@Arfness Only in South Africa that a youth owned startup is vilified and apartheid era companies are supported by the those who were once victims.

[Linus @Menon01]

@MvelaseP @Arfness The word "tender" is what is confusing everyone. They did not win a tender. They got a list of titles accepted into a catalogue. This is akin to a menu. Having a menu does not translate to business. You need orders based on that menu.

[Andrew Fraser @Arfness]

.@AdriaanBasson Why does your journalist not include the fact that Media24 took part in this tender, unsuccessfully. News24 ran two additional articles not mentioning this. Isn't that info important? https://t.co/fFMlPniVE7