This is becoming a bit repetitive... along with four braais a week and cold coffee far too often, we now have the weekly collusion/corruption story. We have had bread, and now we have a report of collusion on the price of milk. I had a quick check in Roget's Thesaurus and synonyms for collusion include "conspiracy, craft, deceit, double-cross, fraudulent artifice, racket, scam and scheme", while Dictionary.com defines graft as "the acquisition of money, gain, or advantage by dishonest, unfair, or illegal means, esp. through the abuse of one's position or influence in politics, business, etc". IOL did a survey in which they asked their readers: "Are you surprised at the current milk price-fixing allegations?" Of the 255 readers who responded, 76% (195) said No, 14% (36) said Yes, while 9% (24) did not care. (Is it safe to assume that the 24 are all employed by the dairies that will be facing the Competition Commission?). The vast majority were not surprised. The danger is that we will become so inured to being ripped off, that like the 9% above, we will end up not caring. Let's hope not, but in the meantime, how will we really interpret the answer to the question, "So you work in the milling/dairy sector [delete as appropriate]. You must be busy." Only to get the response, "You bet - it's really hard graft, you know!"


Rod Baker, Content Manager