Top South African weather expert, Dr. Peter Johnston, ascribes the present heatwave conditions over much of the country to global warming while ironically, a colleague of his in Europe attributes the same with the almost unprecedented freezing conditions that have gripped that continent and its cities. Both are right and it illustrates how urgent it has become for global leaders to start concentrating on the need to develop policies and strategies to adapt to the inevitability of climate change.

“We need to stack up performances over a period of time…to play well consistently,” was Gary Kirsten’s message on the eve of the cricket tour to New Zealand. South Africa is the number-2 ranked test team in the world and third-best one-day international team globally. They will be tested by a street smart team, beginning 17 February, as the Black Caps have recently concluded a drubbing of Zimbabwe.

During his confirmation hearings this past June, US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta warned the Senate, “The next Pearl Harbour we confront could very well be a cyber attack that cripples our grid, our security systems, our financial systems, our governmental systems.” It was powerful imagery: a mighty fleet reduced to smoking ruin with an expansionist Asian power at the nation’s doorstep.

Effectively declaring 2012 the year of infrastructure delivery, president Jacob Zuma used his State of the Nation address last week to unveil a list of geographically focused programmes, a host of infrastructure initiatives designed to support health and education, the upscaling of information and communication technologies, as well as to accelerate regional integration. Careful analysis reveals that the president is working to plan and that he is more of a pragmatic manager than he is generally credited for.

In the build-up to his State of the Nation address, president Jacob Zuma was advised in a newspaper column to introduce an “across-the-board conscription programme” for all young people (in a certain category) between the ages of 16 and 25 as a way to alleviate unemployment and address the skills shortage. Making the military and/or the state one of the biggest employers in the country is not as preposterous an idea internationally as it might seem.

The Blade Runner, Oscar Pistorius, walked off with the 2012 Laureus World Sportsperson of the year with a disability award last week but its back to the drawing board for this young global icon. He will have to record a qualifying time in the 400 metres for a second time in a year to book his ticket for the London Olympic Games in July and August.

The performances by the Bulls, the Sharks and the Stormers during the weekend confirmed the speculation in the media that there is optimism for a new dawn in Springbok-rugby, but unfortunately, there is an elephant in the room as the South African franchises threaten to boycott the 2013 Super Rugby season if any of the current five teams are excluded from the competition to accommodate the Southern Kings in the competition.

Trying to appease both South Africa’s business and labour sectors, President Jacob Zuma’s state-of-the-nation address last week again brought home the untenable polarity of a formal alliance between a governing party and organised labour. While government prepares to launch a major job-creating industrialisation and infrastructure plan, talks on a new labour law dispensation have broken down. With yet another national strike threatening, this could deny thousands of South Africans a job.

Two weeks ago BBQ carried an article on Zimbabwe asking the question: Is this final curtain call? The article concluded that the renegotiation of the service contracts of Zimbabwe’s most senior and influential security officers might well challenge the future of the three year old shaky coalition between ZANU-PF and the two MDC formations agreed upon under the Global Political Agreement (GPA). Recent developments make this more relevant than ever.

In an eventful past week it seems the spectre of outright nationalisation of South Africa’s mining industry was finally banished to the political wilderness ... or at least the ANC Youth League’s version of it. But, in place of the current mining dispensation, it seems government will adopt the much milder option of resource nationalisation, - presently a global buzzword. While the policy debate is far from over, a possible super-tax could produce problems of its own. In the meantime the industry’s future remains uncertain.

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The 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet Henrik Ibsen is credited with coining the phrase: “Money may buy the husk of many things, but not the kernel. It brings you food, but not the appetite, medicine but not health, acquaintances but not friends, servants but not faithfulness, days of joy but not peace or happiness.” Maybe this state of affairs is due to the heathen roots of the term “money”. The term is said to originate from one of the many temples of Capitolina – one of the seven hills of Rome.