As I drove through one of the gantries along one of Johannesburg's highways recently, I wondered how it can be that someone’s job is to sit inside a cubicle and point at a card machine for motorists and then get paid at month end?

The situation was that only card payments were accepted at the toll gate and all the attendant had to do was to punch the right amount into the machine, point it at a motorist and the motorist taps their card. The barrier opens and the motorist drives through. Try to automate this process and so much dust will be raised, unions will rise up in arms as people’s livelihoods are being threatened here. ..