A DELAYED SUCCESS IS BETTER THAN A TOTAL FAILURE

In September 2005, At the UN World Summit all 191 United Nation Member states pledged to meet the eight goals by 2015

"We will have time to reach the Millennium Development Goals – worldwide and in most, or even all, individual countries – but only if we break with business as usual.

We cannot win overnight. Success will require sustained action across the entire decade between now and the deadline. It takes time to train the teachers, nurses and engineers; to build the roads, schools and hospitals; to grow the small and large businesses able to create the jobs and income needed. So we must start now. And we must more than double global development assistance over the next few years. Nothing less will help to achieve

the Goals."

United Nations Secretary-General

Kofi A. Annan

Goal 1:

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day.

Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

Goal 2:

Achieve universal primary education.

Ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling

Goal 3:

Promote gender equality and empower woman.

Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015

Goal 4:

Reduce child mortality.

Reduce by two thirds the mortality rate among children under five

Goal 5:

Improve maternal health

Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio

Goal 6:

Combat HIV/AIDS

Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS

Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases

Goal 7

Ensure Environmental sustainability

Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes; reverse loss of environmental resources

Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water

Achieve significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, by 2020

Goal 8

Develop global partnership for development.

Develop further an open trading and financial system that is rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory, includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction— nationally and internationally

Address the least developed countries' special needs. This includes tariff- and quota-free access for their exports; enhanced debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries; cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous official development assistance for countries committed to poverty reduction

Address the special needs of landlocked and small island developing States

Deal comprehensively with developing countries' debt problems through national and international measures to make debt sustainable in the long term

In cooperation with the developing countries, develop decent and productive work for youth

In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries

In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies— especially information and communications technologies

UN Website - Report PDF

UN Website

Responsible Citizenship

Educate the communities on how to appreciate joint recreational and educational facilities.
Too much money is wasted on trying to uplift communities without pre-education, supervision and maintenance. The community can be motivated to become proud, responsible citizens.

Everybody have cell phones. It is easy to teach people how to report irregularities. It is easy to send an SMS with the registration of a vehicle that violates the community rights. Teach people how to video a criminal activity or suspicious person and send it to the local police station. SMS messages to the police or emergency services should be free for registered cell phone users.
The police should have a big enough database to store these observations for a number of years.

If a soccer field looks like a wasteland, then the community will use it as such.

Where there is community pride and responsibility, there will be less crime.

Sporting activities are one way to engender pride among local citizens.
A community hall where educational and informative meetings and activities for the jobless can be conducted should be built in every community. Build vandal-proof structures if possible and employ all rounder watchmen who can also be cleaners and maintenance workers.

Our leaders are receiving too high salaries it should be sliced to provide community infrastructures. When the difference between top wage earners and bottom wage earners (and pensioners) are more than 15,000% (R1, 500,000+ and R1, 000-) there is something rotten in a society.

Chessboard South african Chinese

It is a shame that Chinese South African citizens have to go to court to ask to be classified black so that they can get fair and equal business opportunities. What happened to "One rainbow Nation"?
When will the black clouds subside so we can experience that rainbow?

During the apartheid era the Chinese wanted to be white, now they want to be black. Why can we not just all be people and get on with running a prosperous country. It is embarrassing all this racial ducking and diving.

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-07-02-black-business-rejects-court-ruling-on-chinese-south-africans

Creating divisions of might

Some African Leaders may create policies to unite the people of their countries.

Many only create deep wounds of division

when it becomes clear that in reality

the word “UNITY refers to one race or skin colour only.

African Economic Merging.

Perhaps it is time that Africa start feeding Africans and not China or America.

An economic policy that does not rely on export needs to be created.

Africa should not export food while there are Africans starving.

We have enough coal, gold, diamonds and other minerals to export.

The Southern African countries could amalgamate and share wealth for the benefit of Africans and resource sharing.

A suggested structure could be:

• One head of the 'The Southern Africa Nations' (The Southern African National President.)
• Old (retired) African Presidents (The Southern African National Council of the Elders)
• Presidents of the various Nations
• Prime ministers and other parliamentarians who deals with local affairs within the various countries.
• One currency, the Afro, (like the Euro)

Africa should prepare for the 2020 deadline when the "Make poverty history" project ends.

Africa should utilise this window of "First World Sympathy" to empower itself.

It is not a time for war and internal struggles.

It is a time to build a strong National African economy that relies on its own resources. We still have too many companies boosting the economy who is first and foremost feeding rich individuals. Money derived from exports should put bread on the tables of the poorest of the poor.

There is a possibility that 2020 will be the cut-off time for first world guilt and sympathy for Africa. The strong nations may return to their former tendency to exploit the African nations without consideration for the people. Africa needs to build a strong structure before then.

Africa needs to protect itself from harmful external interference, however Africa needs to remember that it is a baby as far as National Unity is concerned and should learn from 'first world' examples.

Please note that information in this blog is a private opinion and not government policy.

The football field of corporate business

The football field of corporate business

We have such a wonderful diverse kaleidoscope of people living in South Africa today.

It is such a pity that laws like BEE infringes or tries to control the natural ability of South Africans to make this country an economic giant on the world corporate rugby field.

One can say BEE is not playing the ball fairly.

Why tar all citizens with the same brush. We have such a diverse African economy.

Methods could be found to empower all previously disadvantaged people by offering them assistance to start up their own companies without hijacking well run financial giants.

Only a strong economy can empower all citizens of South Africa.

If the rugby team was subjected to the same criteria as the business world in South Africa, we may not have taken the world cup.

Lets turn the economy of South Africa round to becoming top players corporate global rugby field.

Scary stuff

POLICIES THAT HURT NEED SOLUTIONS THAT HEAL

Apartheid in modern politics the puss in the wound

We all know and understand that apartheid was an evil practise. We understand that. The lesson has been learnt by those who previously partook in the practise.

It is so sad to see how some governments who were born in peace time keep apartheid alive. Can they not see unity and peace lies in the future and not in past pain. Such clever arguments are used to justify actions. There is support for both sides of an argument - always.

Peace can only happen in the light of forgiveness. Knowing the truth does not necessary lead to forgiveness. It may lead to revenge. - Taking revenge.

The window of the truth commission is closed - from now on it should be called what it is: a staged witch-hunt.

The truth commission was the salve on the wound of apartheid. Even wound healing has a natural time frame. A period in which healing should take place. Scratching an old half-healed wound open again cause new puss to form. Puss that must burst out somewhere. The scarring will be so much thicker.

Peace will be pushed much further in the distance. Does South Africa want to join one of those political unstable or war-torn countries of the continent? Today South Africa is still a roll model for the rest of Africa. Peace is so fragile.

Ex Unitate Vires

A message of unity inspired the ruling party each time when an African nation underwent a renaissance. Each time the slogan was applied to the dominant group only. - Eendragt Maakt Maght - Eendrag maak mag - Unity is strength - Simonye - One Rainbow Nation