An New Old Bike and Reversible Brakes

I've found a bike for training on in Johannesburg.  It's nothing fancy.  It's scratched and scraped but everything is where it should be - mostly! - and works.  It's got V-brakes, front shocks (lockable) and it's got the little holes needed to fit a carrier.  It doesn't have a steel frame but I'm giving up on that requirement for now.

In short, it's a perfect bike for my Jo'burg training and if it feels right, I might use it for Angola.  It was also very cheap - is that the catch?

There's one small snag - currently being sorted out by the bike shop - which I found out when I test rode the bike and nearly flew over the handle-bars:  the brake levers on many mountain bikes these days are the opposite way around to the way I'm used to.  So when I pulled the left hand lever I was engaging the front, not the rear brake.  Glad I figured this out in the courtyard behind the bike shop and not hurtling down a mountain! 

Who's bright idea was this anyway?  I've been cycling for about 36 years and I've never come across a bike with brakes set up this way.  I must be getting old.  When I pick it up this afternoon the old order will have been restored!