South Africa seems to be at war with itself. We are constantly at each other’s throats about race, our history, inequality & leadership and there’s a very few who provide solutions to South Africa’s growing problems. I’d like to be part of the few for a change with this article. Our past is often thrown into discussions and debates like dice in a board game and parties involved in the debates are often thrown, without a choice, into sides because of the color of their skin and the side which that color was in our history. For the purpose of this article, I’d like us to look at ourselves as South African first before anything else.
Let’s first look at the main problems plaguing South Africa:
1. History (South Africa doesn’t have an equal history to look back on for inspiration/guidance and the country has inherited a largely polarized nation)
2. Inequality (In South Africa, you are either rich or poor. There’s no proper middle class. Our “middle class” does not own any means of production and is largely indebted to banks)
3. Leadership (I don’t need to elaborate here)
1) History
Ask two South Africans a story of the past and they will tell you a different story depending on which side of the fence they grew up in. We are not sure how to feel about our past as a country and not as individuals and this is due largely to that third problem. Here is my view of how SA can move on without leaving anyone behind:
a) South African first before race: I’ve had many people saying that in the future, our kids will be color blind. That’s not going to happen and that’s not the future we want because this idea led us to where we are in the first place. The idea that we have to be “one” implies that we have to choose a single way of being South African and some of us have to sacrifice and shed what makes us different from this “oneness”. We need to acknowledge that we different. Although this has placed us at odds with each other in the past, it is what makes us South African to begin with. It needs to be celebrated. Festivals, Cooking contests, emphasis on SA history in schools, learning more about other cultures from an early age et al will help in celebrating our diverse origins.
b) A South African responsibility: In the beginning, each race sorted out its own problems. There was no unified country and way of approaching issues. If you look closely enough, you will see this flawed way of approaching issues rearing its ugly head in modern day South Africa. Whites fight against farm killings and BEE/AA and blacks fight against unemployment and inequality. We need to first view issues as South African issues and approach them as South Africa’s responsibility. We should not support organizations that fight farm killings but turn a blind eye to blatant inequality or vice versa. This will also curb the rise in organizations that gain from a polarized country.
2) Inequality
Our leadership has made equality about pure economics. The dozen or so South Africans who matched with Juju matched to the chamber of mines – For what exactly? A piece of the pie of course! You see, inequality is not about the control of the economy only but more about adequate access to it.
a) Education, education, education!! That’s first and foremost in this topic. I would have supported Juju a 100% if he started his match at the education department. An educated poor person has the tools to be active in the economy, gain access to it and then control, but an uneducated fellow still needs the “equal” to continue being active in the economy while he sits in the queue waiting for his handouts. This is also suggests that for him to receive his handouts continuously, he has to remain “disadvantaged” (the ever-so popular SA term). SA needs to demand a better education system that produces a solid workforce, our current education system needs to be fully overhauled and we need to demand more teaching colleges than there are rented police buildings.
b) BEE: The idea of empowering poor citizens deserves support from everyone but this idea is failed by the first acronym and its process. Economic Empowerment needs to be color blind and founded on the basis of education. Government officials cannot be part of the private sector in the name of BEE. The government should monitor and regulate the economy and not compete in it. Proper economic empowerment: 1) The State uses and incentivizes companies to mentor educated individuals. 2) The State must have a rating solution for individuals entering the workplace from universities and incentivizes companies for producing individuals with a higher skill rating. 3) Companies are taxed lesser when doing business in poorer communities (of any race). 4) Funding and support should be provided for individuals starting their own businesses (If the company hires individuals with low ratings in order to skill them, there more support they’ll receive).
c) Ownership: Because inequality has been made about pure economics, the masses have resorted, with the help of leadership, to claiming what their great, great, grandparents lost. Blacks were removed from arable and mineral rich land but it happened and trying to fix it from taking today places our future in the same predicament. Does that mean blacks must not own anything? No! This is where leadership comes in. Who owns property is of little importance if it works for the whole country. There’s no point in taking land and giving it to people who will build homes on it and call it success because it is owned by black people, but the state needs to regulate how the whole country benefits from local produce through education and empowerment. The two for me, are the foundation of a proper beneficiation strategy. Once educated, anyone can be able to gain access to the economy to own property and means of production.
3) Leadership
Leadership or lack thereof, is the single biggest challenge facing South Africa today. It is the core of every problem that South Africa has. The irony though is that leaders are not the ones who should be left to fix their own mistakes, the key lies with the populace. As soon as we stop looking at the ANC as black people’s problem that affect whites or looking at DA as a solution for whites over black people then the real thinking will begin. What leadership is needed for SA? The kind that is vision and results based; Rewards good behavior and punishes misdemeanor within its ranks and the whole country; that places the success of every citizen (regardless of race) in front of their own; the kind that doesn’t perpetuate the status quo to protect its constituency.
I always say that moving on implies carrying on so we have to be careful when we use those words whenever we are confronted by problems. We need to CHANGE. Change the way we do or view things and even ourselves. It’s a painful but rewarding process. One that South Africa is finding hard to deal with.
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