Road name changes nobody knew about….

It came as a huge surprise to South Africans in September 2007 when they suddenly noticed that all the “Hans Strijdom Drive” signs along the N1 highway in Johannesburg were almost overnight replaced with “Malibongwe Drive” signs – without any public announcement from government that the road’s name had in fact changed.

Some people found out by pure accident, despite being glued to popular news radio stations, which would have carried the story had it been formally announced.

It may come as an even bigger surprise now that another well-known road, “Hendrik Verwoerd Drive” in Randburg has also been renamed. “What’s that, nobody told you that it’s now called “Braam Fischer Drive”?

Name changes are an inevitability in South Africa – particulalry if they are names that are closely associated with Apartheid. Heck, the main international airport in Johannesburg has had three names in the last ten years – going from Jan Smuts Airport, to Johanneburg International Airport and now to Oliver Thambo International Airport (or fondly called ORTIA – pronounce “Orshah”).

The old NP-lead government did it, the new ANC-lead government is doing it and I can guarantee that a new government lead by a different political party will do it again in the distant future – it’s just a matter of time until all the names of all the roads and places in South Africa have changed from what the current and previous generation are used to.

Personally, I really couldn’t care about all the name changes. It’s a political agenda at the end of the day and, yes, it costs tax payers lots of money and businesses even more money to re-print letterheads, business cards and any other collateral, but for goodness sake… just tell us when you do it!

Proving your residential address – NIGHTMARE!

With the increased risk of money laundering and fraud, it’s become important that South Africans be able to give proof of their residential address. This is also known as KYC or “Know your Customer”.

This applies, mostly, to conducting financial transactions, like opening bank accounts, applying for finance, and more recently, registering a new vehicle in your name. It’s also a requirments in terms of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) of 2001.

According to the Act, you need to give positive proof of your identity and residential address when conducting a business or financial transaction with another institution. The South African banks went as far as requiring people to “FICA” themselves or face having their bank accounts frozen.

This can be done by producing some form of proof of your residential address such as a water & lights accounts, lease agreement or TV licence that clearly displays your resicential address.

But the Act, however critical it is in preventing fraud, has the ability inhibit peoples’ ability to complete certain normal functions of life.

Many people do not receive mail at their physical addresses and have no way of proving their residential address. Even worse, is that the vast majority of South Africans do not have “official” residential addresses as they stay in rural areas where there are no street names or numbers.

The truth is that there is a long list of documents that can prove your residential address but they are all useless if they are sent to a PO Box and not a residential address. It’s very strange how sworn Police Affidavids are not admissable as proof of residence.

It speaks volumes about the creditbility of the South African Police.

Needless to say, you’re pretty much buggered if you can’t prove that you live where you say you live. The moral of the story, make sure there’s at least one piece of mail that gets sent to your home address – however unrealiable the SA Postal Service is.

SA’s spoilt, bratty celebs

Spoilt, bratty South African celebs think that the world owes them everything.

And this has never been more apparent than in the recent furore about Lebo M’s comments at the Naledi Awards and an experience that colleagues of mine have had in recent weeks.

Without stirring up a racial storm, Lebo M is justified in what he said in his “rejection speech” after winning an award for his production of The Lion King – the South African entertainment industry does need to accelerate transformation.

But add the fact that he was apparently seated in the last row of the hall for being late and that he only won one award for the production and it could translate to a recipe for sour grapes – which changes the whole context of his comments.

A following interview on Radio 702 with Redi Direko a few days later cost him a lot of respect though. He basically said that as a proud South African, and considering his achievements, he EXPECTED a certain level of respect and proceeded to blow his own trumpet in the most pompous and arrogant way possible to justify his opinions.

It just seems that SA celebs have this sense of entitlement, which, quite frankly, is nausiating.

A prime example occured just the other day with two colleagues of mine involving two well-known radio personalities from 5FM.

We do work for a number of cool consumer electronics vendors and, as part of our ongoing PR effort, we send kit out from time to time for review by journalists and influential media people.

Given the nature and value of the stuff we send out, the review periods are limited and we expect the goods to be returned to be sent to another journalist for review after they are done.

Without even asking, one of these “celebs” failed to return our equipment after the review period was over and then proceeded to have a little fit when we asked for it back. Her exact words were: “Why did you even send it to me if you expect me to return it?”

Without giving too much away, one of the other “celebs” basically tried desperately to get free cellphones from one of our clients – despite the fact that this particualr person was already sponsored by a competing brand.

Does anyone else see a problem here? These so-called celebrities earn heaps of money and get sponsored with more clothes, shoes and electronics than they can store in two or three cupboards and yet they expect more. They EXPECT freebies.

This culture of expectation amongst South African celebs is akin to the ludicrous levels of expectation that we hear about coming from Hollywood, which does nothing to help them serve as role models for anyone.

Here’s a quick lesson in Life Orientation for bratty celebrities who think that the world owes them anything:

1. Respect is earned
2. Nothing is for free
3. Never look a gift horse in the mouth
4. You are not the centre of the universe
5. Don’t forget who the people are that got you to your celeb status to begin with

Celebrities, schelbrities!

But thankfully not all celebrities are the same. And I’m proud to say that I’ve met with a number of celebrities who are down-to-Earth and very pleasant to be around including DJ Koula (from 5FM), Jeanne D (from Top Billing) and Solly Philander (from Are you Smarter Than a 5th Grader?).

Maybe their colleagues can learn a lesson in being human from them!