With the Zimbabwean elections taking place on the 31st
July and South Africa’s taking place in April next year, my mind is constantly
cast back to I had with a lady I share an office with at times. She asked me if
I would vote for the ANC in the next elections and then went on about how the
schools are poor and the ANC is this that and the next.
Now, mine is a complicated existence in this my beloved
adopted country. As much as I don’t want to admit it, I owe a lot to the
apartheid government, because without them there would have been no homelands,
without the homelands there would not have been the need to ‘import’ doctors
and teachers from other countries, without that need, I doubt my family would
have ended up in SA for the past 29 years. I also doubt there would have been ‘Institutions
of excellence’ such as Umtata High School which afforded me not only a quality
education, but the invaluable opportunity to be a child, in South Africa,
during the bad times and grow up believing that the only way any one was better
than you was if they were in fact better than me. i.e. you came 3rd
in class I came 5th, you were smarter than I, we ran the 100m you
came first I came 3rd, you were faster than I was, we did
javelin/shot put and you threw further than I did…wait that’s a lie no one
threw further than me…Transkei Champ u/17 you better recognize!! J
But what I am getting at is you were better, because you were factually better,
and not because of any your excess melanin! I owed a lot to them, but had an
election been held knowing what I know about them, I would never ever ever have
voted for them!!
So back to our conversation, so my friend Mariaan started
off by stating that what is currently going on is reverse apartheid! Now as far
as I know, apartheid is a system of segregation by race, there is no reverse
nothing, its just like when people tell me about reverse racism, racism is
racism, there is no where that it stipulates that when white people perpetrate
racism, it’s the mark/base and if other races do the same its reverse. It’s
just a pet peeve I needed to get out of the system.
We then sauntered onto the topic of schools being over
populated and kids being taught by poorly qualified teachers. I am no ANC
apologizer by any stretch of the imagination, but I doubt many of us who read,
listen and observe the goings-on of the last 4.5 years are! But what I do have
to re-iterate is that the government of the past, over a period of 43yrs of
apartheid, only made sure it built infrastructure to cater for 2-3mil people,
now this government has to look after 50.6mil in a period of 19 yrs? Logically,
you tell me how that’s supposed to happen, particularly if the system of
apartheid was so well executed that a lot of
its non-white products were brought up with shackled minds! Then we ask
why?
We then went on to the fact that white people can’t get
jobs. I smiled. I have friends coming back from the UK, because it’s kaaak over
there! And they come here and within weeks they have a nice cushy job, yes fair
enough they are part of the skilled workforce, but you say white people don’t
have jobs, drive up Katherine street in the morning and see how many young/middle
aged black men are loitering, our helpers that work in our houses, wake up at
the crack of dawn, catch however many taxis to get to our houses and weave a
magic wand for a mere R120-R200/day and we think we have done them a favour?!
The ANC together with other think tanks brought in
employment equity, affirmative action, BEE. They are all very necessary evils
that favour the previously/currently disenfranchised. What was the alternative?
Leave things as they were and widen the disparity even more? I had a
PriceWaterhouseCoopers Alumni event yesterday and I looked around. Out of say
200-300 delegates roughly 20-30 were of colour, now that’s madness, but that
shows the current demographic in our boardrooms and people say in 19 years, it’s
enough now things must change.
What needs to change in my mind, is the mindset of many of
us. Myself and my peers included. The middle class black person, not to mention
the middle class naturalized black person, has as much to lose as any white
person in this country. What we must realize is that many of this country’s
inhabitants don’t have much to their name, neither material possession nor
hope, so they have absolutely nothing to lose! Part of the BEE scorecard is a
great section called CSI spend, therein lies an opportunity to make a real
difference, but many treat it as a box ticking exercise, then we wonder why the
workers are unhappy?! We build sports fields for hundreds of thousands an pat
ourselves on the back. Where is the money to maintain it? What about coaches to
train the kids? What about a program that links usage of the fields to
education? We complain about the poor education system in this country etc. yet
instead many of our companies can afford to build schools and train or import
teachers to teach kids instead of shipping its profits offshore.
People sit on the sidelines scream about how poked Zimbabwe
is. But in my mind its something that had to happen. In a few years Zimbabwe
will be in a better position than this country is. The country’s mineral wealth
has remained as it was 20 or so years ago. The world still needs Zim’s
resources, only difference now is the rules have been set by Zimbabweans, so if
you wish to play in their patch the rules have been laid out and you know how
to conduct yourself, everyone wins. Perhaps there was a lot of pain over the
last 20years or so, but what was the alternative?
Anyway, just as I owe a lot to the apartheid regime of the
past, I owe even more of my current life to the ANC and other silent struggle
heroes like Robert Sibukwe, of which little is known by many, Former Chief
Justice Pius Langa, who recently passed away, his influence in our current
constitution and life of service was unbeknown to me. Without these people who
were willing to lay down their lives for what they deemed right. I wouldn’t
have gotten the financial assistance for my last 2 years at UCT, got PwC and
Standard Bank to look at me thanks to affirmative action/EE or whatever. They
soon realized I was more than competent at what was required of me, but without
the legislation to offer me the opportunity, I doubt I would have even got an
interview, but I may well be wrong. Because of the selfless struggle of the ANC
leaders of old, I can now have a bank account, own a house in the burbs, go
where I want, date who I want, live where I can and read about their
misgivings! Because of them we are ‘free’. So I owe the green, black and yellow
much!
All this being said, should elections be held tomorrow,
would my X go to the ANC? I am not in the party or its structures, so if they
are building roads in the forgotten lands of deep Idutywa, providing sewerage
systems to untouched parts of Kwanobuhle, I don’t know. But in my humble
opinion if this were the case, they basically control the state broadcaster,
we’d know about it. What I do know now is according to an article I read the
other day, only 3.3m of SA’s population of 50.6mil, pay 99% of South Africa’s
Income tax. That’s a staggering statistic! It’s not sustainable! These 3.3mil
fund a significant portion of the country’s expenditure, a substantial amount
of which can be deemed as wasteful expenditure. What is even more alarming is
the fact that we are increasingly becoming a welfare state, and for a
developing nation like ours we cannot afford to have people rest on their
laurels waiting for a handout. We cannot afford to have roads built where the
toll collection system costs more than the amount spent on the roads. We can’t
have a situation where something is budgeted to cost x and in the end it costs
4x and its still INCOMPLETE. And when such perceived incompetencies are brought
to light, bills such as the Secrecy Bills are pushed through parliament because
there is a two-thirds majority and because we can! We spend billions on arms
yet we get massacred in the CAR, we don’t have money to train our helicopter
pilots to perform search and rescue operations, but we can ferry No1 and other
VIP’s around. Currently and this is my humble opinion ofcourse, there is an air
of arrogance around the ruling party that if not corrected or taken cognisance
of, could lead to its implosion. There is a sense of ‘yes we did it so what?’
This sense of ‘obligation’ or ‘debt’ that many of us have will soon dissipate,
but I guess by then the current crop would have done what they needed to
do/achieve.
In my mind, we are quick to pass through bills such as this
secrecy and E-toll bill, that wont really drive our economy forward, yet we
won’t decide on issues such as the mining/mineral rights issue and other
economic reforms that will assist in attracting foreign investment which will
increase the net tax pool, employment opportunities etc. We have imperfect, yet
beautiful concepts such as the National Development plan, which needs a
champion or needs to be touted as something each and every person should take
ownership of an be proud of, but instead Vavi having extra marital affairs or a
luxury goods store being opened in Hyde Park is what captures hour thoughts and
conversations!? Our population has increased many fold, good public schools are
in demand in all areas, yet not much seems to be done about this. The standard
of our teachers is poor, therefore training the teachers is a real and
attainable goal even better still, bring in teachers from elsewhere whilst we
train our local teachers to reach the acceptable levels (yes you might
perpetuate the unemployment issue) but at least the resulting students would be
suitably educated so they in turn can break the cycle and fend for themselves
on an equal footing with anyone in the world.
Healthcare, we all know there is a huge problem. Doctors
need to be looked after, healthcare facilities need to be built…these can be
done! What? There is no money? But we build a house for 1 man, in excess of
R200m…ONE MAN, we budget R50bn for a power plant (which I believe could have
been built for way cheaper using Eastern technologies) and it ends up costing
R160bn or so more and is still incomplete man I can cite so many more examples.
(By the way as far as I am aware, there is no exemption from tax laws for the
president of South Africa, so if the state paid for the home, No 1 is liable
for fringe benefit tax of 40% of the cost to the employer right Mr. Gordham? Or
is there an exemption clause somewhere). The money is there, just not being
efficiently channeled. All this in my mind stems from a lack of strong
leadership. Right now as a South African, I have no idea where this ship is
going! A country such as ours should in no way ever be growing at a rate of
0.9% in a whole quarter!
Once again I repeat, I am not in the party structures, so
what I say is purely out of perception and observation. I am deeply concerned
by the perceived arrogance of the party, it might be necessary in some
instances because everyone seems to know best, but I think its something that
needs to be taken to heart, otherwise the party that served so many so well
could end up as just another African party that lost its way.
Would I vote for the ANC if an election was held tomorrow?
You see I have proper issues plaguing my mind, then people
want to throw things like Kanye and Kim have a baby called North West, or
William and Kate’s baby isn’t coming, its coming not coming, its coming
not…wait its here, we will call it Simba! Mcimn, clear off!! How is 2 people at
child bearing age having a baby news worthy…for a week?!!
Anyway Cry my beloved country!!
Be well and lets try and do our bit to make our world a
better place, because in the end it really is up to us all
Maximum respect
Y
