Marksmanship is not one of the skills required to find work in the Republic's boomtime jobs market. Yet this seemed to go over the head of one job applicant at the FAS jobs fair in Cape Town, South Africa, last weekend.

An Irish recruiter manning one of 16 stalls told of a conversation with a white man who kept a handgun inside his belt and spoke in questionable terms about his black neighbours. Everyone knows South Africa is a dangerous place these days but looking for a job while sporting a firearm seems extreme. Did the Irishman feel under undue pressure to recruit? Not at all. The gunman was happy enough to produce a curriculum vitae.