Green Scorpions target refineries

WHAT a wonderful thing is perception! The Green Scorpions are going after the refineries! This was the tone of a breathless report in Business Day announcing that our intrepid green police are to turn their attentions to refineries, having scored a direct hit on Mittal Steel. Everyone knows refineries are filthy so it should be a cinch to gather more hefty fines into government coffers. Never mind that the people who actually live and work in refineries spend every working hour worried about safety and pollution -- and have to -- since the authorities have allowed housing over the years to encroach on their boundaries. Full of self righteousness, little people (no doubt qualified with a degree in geography and social sciences) who contribute nothing to the economy, will now descend on those who do, to poke and probe, to make sure the refineries, in the words of Melissa Fourie, the Green Scorpions head, "are properly managed," as if the civil service has any expertise in such matters. Truly, one needs the patience of Job to run a refinery these days.