LAST WORD REVISITED!
43
The Good, the Bad and the downright
Ugly (apologies to United Artists)
By
Rory Macnamara
While the film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was entertaining,
the current scene in South Africa is far from it.
Credit to IOPSA for the launch in August of their
e-training programme. While nothing beats faceto-face
and good old practical on-site training, their
programme fills an all-important gap for the trade
in that it provides training in categories that need
constant updating, refreshing and the willingness to
learn continually.
While PIRB plumbers can gain CPD points, even those not
in the PIRB net can learn. So, they (IOPSA and Plumbers)
can be attributed with the good in this scenario. Gone are
the days when everything was for free. Technology is not
cheap and to produce these training modules costs money.
So, plumbers, appreciate this fact and be grateful that
your official body is doing the programme, or one would be
paying much, much more. Well done, IOPSA, again for the
partnership with EmpowerBEE – a group that will help guide
our industry through this issue.
The bad is the unwillingness to empower. Gone are the
days when one was expected, rightly or wrongly, to ‘give
your company to a previously disadvantaged person’.
It was never that anyhow, but be that as it may, the
empowerment concept is real and must be dealt with, or
face unmanageable and impossible legislation that will
serve neither the legislators nor the industry. If this is not
addressed by members of industry, it will be a nightmare for
our business. Empowerment can be done to the benefit of
both and must be addressed with an open mind, which in
some quarters is lacking. When done sensibly, as has been
proven by some plumbing companies, it works well.
The downright ugly has to be the corruption, especially
related to the Covid-19 funding, by those who believe it is
their right as they “did not fight the struggle to be poor”, as
one of our ‘bright’ politicians from Limpopo was quoted as
saying. The comparison of pigs at the trough is an expression
of the past. The greed has become so bad that it is pigs in
the trough, who will shortly start eating each other in greed
and to gain more and more. All of this at the expense of the
poor and needy. When will it stop? When does 2020 become
the ‘year of the orange overalls’, as was so aptly stated by
the Anglican Archbishop earlier in the year? PA
“When does 2020
become the ‘year
of the orange
overalls’, as was
so aptly stated
by the Anglican
Archbishop earlier
in the year?”
October 2020 Volume 26 I Number 08
www.plumbingafrica.co.za