RE: South African BE Office?

["Eric Benson" <ebenson@xxxxxxxx>]

> Johannesburg/Pretoria is larger, but Capetown has more
> history.  What is more important?  I think it would be
> very cool to have the office in the northern part of
> Johannesburg nearer to Pretoria (the capital).

Logistically, the office should be closer to the largest airport.  A larger
airport is essential for a regional office, which will have to fly
operatives all over the continent...  or out of the region if things get
that bad.  From Johannesburg, you can get to a number of cities in Africa,
the Middle East or Europe.  I don't think Cape Town has quite as much
traffic, but that could be a matter of perception.

Something to take into account is that life is pretty different in South
Africa.  Some friends of mine lived and worked in Pietermaritzburg and said
that concepts like "deadlines" or "past due" didn't exist within the
culture.  It was really difficult to try to get things done because you
would expect things to be there or ready to do business and the locals
wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't there nor would they really care.  It's
really difficult for an external company to apply outside business models to
the South African situation with any chance of success.

A South African office would need to either have certain assets integral to
the office or with a solid outside source.  Airlift capability, for example,
is important in a large country with a less than reliable internal
transportation system.  An old C123 (or Russian equivalent) would go a long
way towards getting cells where you needed them, providing for resupply or
extracting injured operatives.

The widespread HIV problems add a particular difficulty for treatment of
injured operatives.  I would suspect that there is room for a high end
hospital in Johannesburg which could guarantee HIV free blood and sterile
treatment areas.  Alternatively, the office would have a doctor/EMT and a
small medical facility on premises.  The facility would be used to stabilize
the patient for flight to Europe or elsewhere.

Operating in a country where the political system changes frequently would
add new challenges for the operatives.  The office would probably have to
watch who they worked for a little more closely than normal.

I think a South African office could be a lot of fun, but it would probably
be pretty different from operating in downtown Miami.

-Eric