One of the things I often notice from the current leaders and policy makers is that they talk about “ensuring a better life for all”, “providing quality education, health services, etc” and “making sure that will fight crime”. What seems to be lacking is the “how” factor.

So I’m going to be a good citizen and suggest simple things that must be done to make South Africa not just a great place to live in but one where everyone feels like its home. The great thing is you do one right and rest almost solve them. These are by no means a panacea

1.       Education

You cannot build a great nation if all of its citizens lack basic skills. Education should be the number one priority for any president of SA. As it stands our education system is in shambles. How do you go about getting it right?

·         Firstly, train teachers. Train teachers in relevant subjects, like Math, Science, Computer Studies, Live Sciences. Get the teachers out of retirement to teach them if you have to.

·         Secondly, Primary, Secondary and High School education MUST be free. This means that no kid is to pay school fees and buy books. Don’t say we cannot afford it. If you can afford to pay ministers and their deputies the amount of money you do, then we have the money to make education free. It MUST be compulsory for ALL kids (from primary-high school) to take maths, physical science, live sciences, computer sciences (or a combination of these with other subjects).

·         Thirdly, South Africa needs three to four new universities. These new universities must be built as a matter of national priority and they must emphasise math, physical /natural science, computer learning, live sciences.

·         University funding MUST be increased to a level where students are encouraged to pursue postgraduate research. This finding should be increased for math, science and IT related subjects.

2.       Health

Our health care system is another disaster that needs urgent attention.  And the problem is still the same: lack of quality training and compensation for nurses/doctors. How do you fix it?

·         Train nurses. Provide good quality health care professionals.

·         The country needs a lot more health care training facilities in ALL provinces. Build them, get trained professionals to teach them.

3.       Security

What can I say about crime in SA? Well…it’s out of control. How do fix it?

·         Train police. Having matric, going through simple “stomach out chest in or whatever” exercises and giving them guns and fancy cars is simply not enough. EVERY POLICEMAN has to know how to use a computer and speak English. Ours is a country with multiple language and since English is the universal medium (like it or not) this is a worthwhile investment.

·         Seek help from former cops. Former cops are a resource SA has and their skills are being wasted in operations like Iraq and international mercenary.

·         We need more special units like The Scorpions, focusing on hijacking, house breaking, drug trafficking, domestic violence.

·         I was encouraged to learn that the military will be policing our borders in larger numbers.  Illegal immigrants add to the problems we have and effective border management is critical. Invest in technological monitoring, like high 24 hrs quality cameras at border fences with dedicated units patrolling the area.  

4.       BEE

Scrap this ridiculous law. It’s insulting to black people. And that’s all I’m going to say about it.

5.       Good governance

Corruption is a cancer in SA. It’s taking us back and speaks volumes of the moral fibre (the lack thereof) of our society. How do you fix it?

·         An independent institute which monitors corruption needs to be encouraged. The Public Protector is a fine example.

·         This should be a law: Anybody who if found guilty of corruption MUST be fired (not suspended, not be put on paid leave…FIRED). And ABSOLUTELY NO GOLDEN HANDSHAKES.

·         Encourage/support and reward whistle blowers on corruption. Have an anonymous online system where users go and report corruption.

6.       Employment

With millions of people without jobs this is perhaps the biggest challenge. How to fix it?

·         Employment –through-infrastructure development. Our roads are crap, our cities are not clean, our security is no up to standard. So how about we get the unemployed people to clean our cities? How about we get unemployed people to build the roads? How about we get unemployed people to secure our street corners? Sounds like a good idea? OK good. So here is how you do it. Every construction contract has to demonstrate that it will employ “unemployed” people and train them. Give thousands of people brooms to pick up litter in the inner cities and townships….pay them a decent salary to do this. There must a security guard at every street corner/bus stops/taxi rank and other high crime areas.

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