Are we getting the government we deserve?
“We are living in interesting times”, these were the words of Robert Kennedy when he addressed the National Union of South African Students in Cape Town in 1966. Who would have thought that these words delivered almost 48 years ago would be a self-fulfilling prophesy in today’s day and age.
We are less than a month away from the country's presidential elections and we are seeing significant political campaigning taking centre stage in the media. It is being done in the only way that South Africa knows how. But one has to take a step back and ask two key questions: what is the international perception of South Africa? And is South Africa getting the government we deserve?
Playing a dangerous game
If one had to look at the way in which South African political parties are approaching the elections, one can only describe it as unique. The African National Congress (ANC) is making bold statements while opposition parties are happy to sit back and capitalise on the fact that these statements are moving from the bold towards the radical.
Capitalising on the media attention he received during the Championship of African Nations soccer tournament, Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula – who sits on the national executive committee of the ANC – accused the Democratic Alliance (DA) of using ‘witchcraft' in order to gain its stranglehold on the Western Cape. He then called on traditional healers and supernatural beings to assist in the toppling of this ‘regime'.
Was all of the hard work that level minded politicians such as Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki done in vain? These men worked hard to show the world that South Africa is a normal country and that we have leaders who can compete with the best in the world. What must the rest of the world think when they look at the statements being made by our current crop of politicians?
If that was not bad enough, a week after Mbulula's absurd statement, KwaZulu-Natal Agriculture and Environmental Affairs MEC, Meshack Radebe – who is also affiliated with the ANC – said that people who take social grants and vote for the opposition are stealing from the government. Yet the taxes that fund these social grants are being taken from taxpayers who support a wide variety of parties, not only the ANC.
At a recent Insiders event, sponsored by Glacier, respected political commentator Justice Malala pointed out that international perceptions of South Africa is not what it was 15 or even 10 years ago. And one has to ask if the ANC has shot itself in the foot and has in fact become its own worst enemy because it has played a major role in forming this perception.
Is South Africa really open for business?
The criticism of the current regime didn't stop there. While the panel tried to avoid the topic of Nkandla, it was obvious that it was not going to go away. One of the panellists even went as far as saying that Nkandla has become the new ‘N Word' and that it has become a rallying cry for all that is wrong with South Africa.
In a sense, these views are completely justified. Mandela and Mbeki never misappropriated taxpayers money in the manner that Jacob Zuma supposedly has, and if you are an international company wanting to establish an African office in South Africa, and you see this, that little voice of apprehension at the back of your head all of a sudden becomes louder and louder.
The next issue we need to ask is if South Africa is doing enough to encourage foreign investment? Nigeria has recently overtaken South Africa as the continent's largest economy and will be competing for this business.
Michael Jordaan, CEO of MonteGray Capital, questioned whether South Africa is the open shop that it claims to be. "South Africa has a sophisticated business environment which perfectly serves the needs of the market. There is no real attraction for foreign business. There are also significant barriers to entry. I work within the venture capital space, and I can tell you that it is extremely difficult to set up a business in South Africa. Registering for VAT is a major challenge,” says Jordaan.
South Africa's mind set towards failure is another sore point. If you receive funding from a bank in South Africa to start a business, and you go bankrupt, you find yourself becoming the business version of a leper where no other financial institution will come near you.
This is in stark contrast with the US. John Mauldin, who is the founder of Mauldin Economics, points out that the founders of Texas Instruments battled with a few failed companies before establishing Texas Instruments which is currently the third largest manufacturer of semiconductors worldwide, the second largest supplier of chips for cellular handsets and the largest producer of digital signal processors and analog semiconductors in the world. Texas Instruments is among the Top 20 Semiconductor producing companies in the world with current annual revenue of $12.82 billion. South Africa is desperate to have such a company operating within its market.
You get what you deserve
In order for South Africa to once again truly compete on the international stage, the panellists gave a very distinctive blue print on what needs to be done.
We all know the challenges that South Africa faces, and a lot of them have been caused by poor decision making at a political level. But instead of standing back and pointing fingers at the government asking why they are treating the public in the manner that they are, Mauldin points out that you get the government you deserve.
And South Africa deserves so much better. We have a number of great leaders in the country, but the media only tends to focus on a few individuals. We have the potential for greatness, yet we have a business system in South Africa which includes few and excludes many.
He adds that the US has also received many governments in the past that it did not deserve. However, the ability to learn from mistakes and not repeating them is the differentiating factor in this argument.
Editor's Thoughts:
South Africans are desperate to take centre stage in the eyes of the international community once again. And the challenges that we face can be overcome if we work together to achieve them. United we stand, divided we fall. Please comment below, interact with us on Twitter at @fanews_online or email me your thoughts [email protected].
