Sustainable Electricity Supply.
Quality and Efficient Service Delivery by Government.
Despair amongst Millions of Unemployed People.
Brics Nations Leading Flight of Illicit Capital.
According to the AHI the first 3 mentioned of the above are the biggest challenges facing the SA economy, indeed the country as a whole, and I concur absolutely. In fact they seem all to be equally challenging, and equally unsolvable by the primary stakeholder - government.
Eskom cannot guarantee anything, much less an uninterrupted supply of juice, and we all by now know this to be true. Eskom make more excuses than they generate electricity and these seem to become more outlandish all the time; dropped bolts, wet coal, generators, cash flow, diesel, poor maintenance, slow construction, the list seems endless and to be growing daily.
Similarly, we all by now know that government is unable to provide service delivery, not of the quality and quantity promised by them so frequently – especially during the lead up to elections when politician’s mouths seem inordinately larger than their brains, or their budgetary constraints. We will not here even discuss the quality of education, one of the primary building blocks of the future, which is as poor as the reasoning of President Zuma when blaming Eskom’s problem – and his – on Apartheid.
The despair amongst millions is a controversial subject as the figures quoted vary according to who is crunching the numbers. Government, naturally, under-estimate as it’s in their best interests for the general public not to know the true seriousness of the problem. Others tend to over-estimate the figures but the fact is that too many people are unemployed and this leads to civil unrest, and crime.
No rocket science required here when one sees the conditions some are living in, the splendour others - these generally employed by government or having government connections - and the anger apparent in the crimes being committed against all and sundry by an increasingly violent and well organised criminal element. That the SAPS are pretty well useless in curbing this is another niggling sign of things falling apart fast.
As to the 4th mentioned - that the Brics nations are leading exponents of capital flight - this is to my mind the most worrying of all as it affects not just some but all and can be the straw that breaks the back of an economy due to its ripple effect which is relatively unquantifiable and gradual but unless stopped can become a complete drain which could plummet us into the 4th world.
I will not go into detail about other worrying facts and figures regarding many of the government departments, municipalities and enterprises like SAA and the Post Office and the banks’ inability to loan money to many because of consumer debt and FICA regulations but these are all additional signs of an economy under duress.
SA’s economy is in fact groaning under the weight of all these concerns and something has to give. We are all by now aware that we have a very unbalanced society – on one hand the extremely rich and on the other the horrifically poor – which alone is enough to encourage civil unrest but what of the underlying 4 problems, as mentioned above, which if not solved will eventually sink us completely?
I for one do not see that the handing over of control of SAA and Eskom to the deputy President will solve anything, regardless of the fact that he is a multi-millionaire businessman. To me this smacks of just more government control, which government already effectively has in the case of these two entities.
Besides which, how exactly will the solving of this problem assist in solving the other 3?
What SA really needs is a Marshall-type plan which is fully inclusive of all sectors and peoples involved, either directly or indirectly.
The private sector – containing the only organisations primarily to employ goal-orientated employees - is far better equipped than government is, with its slovenly approach, to not only manage Eskom, and SAA, but also to supply services - and goods - and employ people. The problem of course is that the private sector has no interest in buying either Eskom or SAA, or any other government parastatal, due to their cost, their instability and their sustained loss-making. Thus, the problem is actually already government control!
To solve this problem, the basic one, we need to think out of the box.
We need to get people employed, even if at low rates of pay, we need to use these people to provide services and goods to the poor and we need these people to rebuild, refurbish and maintain the infrastructure we have.
In other words a pioneer army of unemployed, mainly young and strong, people who will do the actual work, and be fed, clothed and housed whilst they do it. Obviously, suitable rates of pay would need to be agreed and equally too codes of conduct, principles, duties and the understanding of the concept would need to be defined and explained.
No unions, no politics, no weapons, no discrimination, no interference and run along military lines with suitably equipped and experienced supervisors/managers/officers who will undertake the allotted tasks as projects – with completion dates, budgets, plans, materials and tools provided to them. All of this is imperative as only an army can do what no government can – (re)build a country using disciplined labour.
The concept has worked before, the advantages are many – even if not immediately visible but rather long-term – and the results could well be spectacular, enabling SA to climb out of the muck we find ourselves in but it will require political will and comprehensive support.
Government involvement in the above?
Government would need to focus its energy, and considerable resources, on stopping the flight of illegal capital, stopping the stream of illegal incoming goods and aliens and providing the means, and capital, to enable the private sector and the pioneers to do the job. That would be all that is required of them, and it should be something they can do if they stop the awarding of tenders to insiders, stop the corruption within their ranks and stop the lawlessness which they are practising.
No more hand-outs, no more grants, no more free chicken, and housing and electricity and t-shirts.
Let the people work!
Finally, strip Eskom, SAA, the Post office and the rest of the non-delivering parasites of the deadwood, and political appointments, and let the private sector manage these much smaller, much more efficient and up-to-the-challenge organisations along business lines. In other words make them profit and service-orientated.
Can South Africa, and South Africans, put a much divided and multi-cultural history behind them and collectively take on such a challenge before we degenerate into another Zimbabwe?
I think that right now the question is rather can we afford not to?