It is quite possible that, at the time of the Roman empire, some smart operators made some (as my friend Harry Minnie would say) serious wonga from supplying gladiators for the Roman arenas.

It’s not a job which is as simple as it sounds. There would be up to 30 gladiators in a troupe and, should the idea take them, they could have turned on the smart operator and fed him to the lions instead of indulging in a formal battle in an arena. So, we can assume the gladiators were not that unhappy with their lot. Which leads to the expression which heads this column: “How were the games? Well, apart from the gladiators, everybody seemed to enjoy them.”

I find myself now in a world which is as equally unreal as that where the afternoon’s entertainment was watching men and animals fight to the death. We have just finished the National State of Disaster where the declaring of the disaster and the lifting of tender regulations for the procurement of urgent medical supplies and personal protective equipment has resulted in the Minister of Health and 44 others at government and municipal levels and in the police being accused of corruption. This shows the accused have no moral compass when it comes to large-scale illegal enrichment. This may be only a South African thing. But is it? Right now, YouTube is full of excerpts of how the Russians are losing their air forces and tanks to various missiles and rockets being launched by Ukrainian troops and the missiles are clearly identified as being, for example, the US FGM-148 Javelin missile (with reusable launch tube), the NLAW (UK/Sweden) (disposable launch tube), Starstreak, the 9K720 Iskander ballistic missile system and the 3M-14 Kalibr cruise missile. There are videos which sound exactly like a sales pitch. We have not had a war of this scale since the 1940s and it’s astonishing how quickly previously peaceful nations have volunteered to supply weaponry and ammunition to stoke the fires of a potentially larger conflict. What’s in it for them? If this doesn’t show a lack of moral compass, then nothing does.

Into this arena of lies now ventures our President. He is very keen on a ‘just transition’ from the current coal-fired power system to one which, he is quoted as saying, “will continue to pursue an energy mix which includes renewables, battery and pump storage, gas as a transition enabler, nuclear at a pace our country can afford, as well as explore carbon capture and use technologies.” Waiting in the wings of all this are bucks. Serious wonga. The US and Europe know that running their countries on the above mix of energy ain’t gonna work. Germany now has about 45% of the grid supply coming from renewable energy and the UK 35%. One can whistle and hope, but the fact is that sun, wind, batteries, pump storage, gas (of which we don’t have much in South Africa) and nuclear (of which we have little) is not going to provide any sort of transition, just or otherwise, in the near future.

Our President claims to have the interests of the environment at heart, when, in fact, he and his acquaintances are presumably lining their pockets, just like the Roman gladiator suppliers and the missile suppliers ostensibly supporting Ukraine. Most of the examples where low-carbon solutions are being implemented are from developed countries that have higher gross domestic products and are far more attractive to global investors. South Africa and other developing countries will be more dependent on donor funds or loans from the World Bank, none of which are guaranteed, as the world is tired of handouts being used to oil the corruption machine. Sunlight and air may be free, but wind power is not and, the last time I checked, sunshine is not legal tender. So, one has to wonder where the money for this just transition will come from. More importantly, how will it be procured, who will get the kickbacks and what’s the real agenda?