Patriotism and Realism

Some people are recognizing that the social fabric of the country is crumbling, torn apart by the divisive comments of the State President and the racist statements of members of the ANC and the EFF, all of whom appear to believe in the Apartheid policy of ‘divide and rule’.  Any effort made by thinking people to correct the course of the country is met with a howl of disdain and the accusation that the speaker is racist and anti-revolutionary.  The policies of the ANC Government are increasingly Marxist-Leninist, and the implementation of those policies even more so.  Man of the heads of the State-Owned Enterprises are pursuing their own extremist line of gaining revenge on the Whites, showing a total lack of understanding of the principles and operation of economics, and bringing about huge inefficiencies in those enterprises and in the wider economy.  In the midst of all of this, and at a time of economic crisis in the country while we head into a Local Government election, with all of the extremist propaganda by the Parties and unrealistic promises that either must be kept, at the risk of popular revolts and riots demanding delivery on such promises, or perverted in subtle ways to give the impression that the promises have been met, while retaining some level of affordability, it is becoming increasingly difficult to make the quiet voice of reason heard.  It is perhaps time to consider some real truths.

The Whites are not the enemy of South Africa.  White-owned businesses have grown, as have Black-owned businesses, as a result of hard work, intelligent decision-making and taking of considerable risks, often in the face of attempt by the Trade Unions and Government to ‘redistribute’ the funds they have generated and used to grow or to attract investment by foreigners who have only a reasonable profit in mind.  Foreign investors feel no obligation to support BEE objectives or to do uneconomic things in order to support the growth of Africa.  Their only objective is the recovery of a profit that is at least reasonable, and to do that with a risk exposure that is commensurate with the level of the profit.  If there is antipathy towards the South African Government or the ANC, it is the direct result of those policies and actions that have demonstrated that the South African Government views businesses, particularly White or foreign-owned businesses as a legitimate target.  In many cases, the Government has demonstrated clearly that the best way for such businesses to avoid becoming targets is to pay a bribe, sometimes cash under the table (if there is doubt about this, the author has documented at least five cases of this!) or in more subtle ways, such as handing over a large share of the business (and investment) to persons nominated by the Government, by appointing connected persons to lucrative positions in the company’s Board without them undergoing any evaluation of their capability to do the job required to earn the big pay packet and benefits, or taking in a partner into the business merely to win the contract (e.g. SAA and Eskom suppliers, Shell SA, Mitsubishi).  It may come as a surprise to the Government and the ANC that many of the foreign-owned businesses which would like to do business with South Africa are subject to stringent laws prohibiting such bribery, on risk of very large fines or imprisonment, and any attempt to extort such bribes, however they may be formulated, acts as a powerful deterrent to such foreign companies from doing business in or with South Africa.  Whites, although most of them were fiercely patriotic under Nelson Mandela, have learned that they are the pariahs of the South African economy.  Many of them have got the message clearly (including such stalwarts of South African business as Old Mutual, SA Breweries, Gencor and Anglo American) and moved abroad, where they can develop a business that has only a small part still subject to the whims and machinations of the South African Government and the ANC.  That move continues and will continue for as long as Whites perceive that they are the whipping boys of the politicians, not only of businesses, but of the White business community that is the driving force of the South African economy and the possessors of the largest part of the skills and experience available in the country.  When the move away from the country takes place, it will almost certainly take also the Blacks, Indians and Colored who have earned their way in those companies.  For as long as these conditions persist, the South African economy will continue to slide, the slope of the downward curve increasing as the resources of skills and experience diminish.

Whites are as good as Blacks, and vice versa.  This inalienable truth is well-accepted in the White community, with one important proviso.  The majority of White business persons have undergone a good education, they have gained their skills over many years of working in the companies they now manage, and they come from a background that is conducive to them understanding the requirements of business.  Many, if not most, of the Blacks who have been forced into senior positions in business and Government do not have these.  The Black culture has been very socialistic in character, which limits their ability to understand the basic principles of economics.  Examples of this abound, from Jacob Zuma’s amazingly stupid demonstration of his incapability to understand how the world works when he bemoaned the fact that the price of petrol or bread is set by the ‘capitalists’ without any discussion, by Julius Malema in his demand for ‘expropriation without compensation’ to ensure that ‘Blacks regain their land’ and gain control of all mines and banks, by Cosatu when their spokesman when he stated that ‘wage-earners run a far greater risk than the owners of business’, and by dozens of others.  Even Thabo Mbeki’s assertion that ‘AIDS is a syndrome, and you can’t get a disease from a syndrome’, a statement that was the forerunner of South Africa losing at least three hundred thousand citizens to AIDS and becoming the AIDS capital of the world, can be classified in this category, of an inadequate and untutored understanding of the real world.  The question of culture can be addressed easily, and it will not be a matter of the White culture being imposed on the Blacks.  It will be a matter of Blacks coming to understand the essential truths that dictate how this world works, as the Whites were forced to do over the centuries.  An important element of this is that the problem be addressed honestly, and acceptable solutions found to correct the situation.  The question of a good education has been discussed many times, always without resolution, mainly because the ANC has a position on it that the Party bosses want to impose on the people, without reference to the real requirements of a modern economy.  Thabo Mbeki stated, early in his rule, that South Africans should be providers of services, and he dictated that the education system should be designed to ensure that there are no intellectual elites.  This policy, along with the disastrous sacking of tens of thousands of qualified and experienced teachers and Head Masters, to be replaced by ANC members who would be more inclined to toe the Party line and to revise the history of the country, has created an education system that is totally unable to provide an education that would rank above the lowest five in the world, and that will continue to churn out hundreds of thousands of students with an inferior education that will not permit them to join the ranks of the competent business people that the country so desperately needs.  The truth of this is clearly shown by the fact that practically none of the children of Black politicians or the Black business or Government elite attend Government schools.

An advantage held by Whites is that they have undergone on-the-job training, building on their inherent capabilities, their cultural advantages and their good education to ensure that they become capable to manage large organizations.  There can be no doubt about this requirement:  time is required to learn and hone the skills required in management.  The Government has done a huge disservice to the Black population and to the country by leading them to believe that experience is not required.  The disastrous state of all State-Owned Entities and most Government entities is stark proof of the fact that the fact of Party allegiance is not sufficient to be effective in a management position.  The people who have been placed in those positions have been set up to fail, and their failure has brought not only the failure of the organizations they manage but also the faith of Whites and foreigners in the country.  The continuation of the BEE policies, even in a mutated form, will guarantee the continuing collapse of the country.  It would have been far more effective for the ANC to have understood the realities of the situation and built on the goodwill of the Whites, who would have been delighted to help their countrymen to realize their potential.

In summary, it is true that Whites are realistic.  Most of them are also patriotic, at least to the ideals that Nelson Mandela held out.  Unfortunately, the ANC under Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma have shown convincingly that there is no place in South Africa for them, however much they would have wished it otherwise.  That view is not unpatriotic:  It is a realistic acceptance of the truth.  If the Government wishes to save South Africa from the inevitable results of the path it is now on, it must find a way to harness the skills, experience and goodwill of all members of the country, Black, White and others.