So how has the economy performed in Mandela’s South Africa?

Our Old Hero Rolihlahla Mandela has departed. There are genuine concerns that the centre may not hold in his Rainbow Nation now that he is gone. Such fears are inflated of course; they were there while the Old Man was around with books such as When Mandela Goes by Lester Venter published to stoke fears in the minds of white people.  

So now that the Old Hero is gone it perhaps makes sense to take stock of how freedom has served us and where we are as a nation. I will use a chart published by The Economist  to show the glaring and uncomfortable truths at hand here.

What is glaringly obvious on the chart above is that freedom has been good to white people. Even while already better off, whites have shown a sharp increase in earnings following democracy. This makes sense as they did not have to deal with the albatross of apartheid and sanctions. They were free to integrate in the world. Their good education opened doors for them in a globalised world.

Asians (Indians for the most part) performed spectacularly well owing to their entrepreneurial spirit and the relatively good education system they had as well. Unfortunately darkies - who bore the brunt of apartheid in the first place – have performed dismally. Their average increase in income over almost a century is stubbornly low at less than 10%. The little spike following democracy may well have to do with affirmative action policies and lucrative government jobs awarded to black people. The size of South Africa’s civil service is reportedly higher than that of the US – a country with a population 6 times that of sunny South Africa. You will note that the size of cabinet has ballooned under JZ’s stewardship with some new ministries created to appease his followers. So what lessons can we draw from this sobering assessment?

Here’s my take on what we as private citizens need to focus on:

·       Make education a national priority and be unapologetic about it. Countries like South Korea are world leaders in technology because of the concerted effort they have placed on education. Brands like Samsung and LG are world beaters today as a result of the large pool of skilled individuals the country can draw on. Making endless excuses and blaming white people for our failings does not cut it anymore.

·        We need to place a strong premium on skills acquisition as a (black) nation. There really is no excuse not to make an effort to make use of the internet and all available platforms to upskill ourselves. Bear in mind it’s not formal education I’m talking about here. This must be a collective effort involving as many of us as possible. We need to instill the culture of learning and sharing material with our colleagues. Want to learn some maths and all those tough subjects you struggled with in school? Here are some open freeware resources that you can access at any time and stop wasting time in chisa nyamas and bars: http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm. If you want local material, why not try http://online.regenesys.net/. There really is no excuse here. Learning is free and we need to take advantage of that. Stop wasting time expecting government or other people to do things for you. As JFK once famously said, ask not what your government can do for you but what you can do for your country.

·      Black people need to stop being a consumer nation or economic slaves, who are eagerly awaiting clever people to design products that we can buy and show off to each other. That is pathetic. Why can’t we figure out how to make these things ourselves?

·       None of our black politicians care an iota about true development and meaningful improvements in the country. That is as politicians are anyway. As a matter of fact, none of them have a solid blueprint about how to turn this country around into a winning nation. We are too apologetic and too nice, too dependent on whites. We still cry foul about land; our heroes are firebrands such as Julius Malema whose prime policy position rests on the well-worn and tired diatribe of expropriation of land owned by whites (conveniently ignoring the economic implosion in Zim next door following opportunistic land acquisition by politicians not that long ago). One may well argue that whites stole the land through colonialism. But how far back was that? Wasn’t the whole concept of colonialism a case of military might where those that are less developed get dominated and taken advantage of?  Isn’t that the way the world operates anyway? Who to this day cries foul about tribal wars where Shaka and his mighty Zulu warriors decimated large swathes of southern Africa? I’m yet to hear of anyone calling for reparations for those wars or seeking redress for the wrongdoing there. Nobody says anything about that. Yet we continue and endlessly blame whites for our troubles. Truth is white people don’t like us very much, and we can’t change that. But we can change ourselves and embrace opportunities in the Information Age. We can take advantage of the available platforms and better ourselves. None but ourselves can change our fate or our fortunes. It boils down to getting off our butts to improve our lot.

·      You’ve heard it said many times that South Africa faces a skills crunch. Well, take that as a challenge and improve your skills.  Commit to learn a new skill every day. That is hard work of course. But that’s what it will take to build a better country. We owe it to Madiba. Fortunately for us we do not need to spend time in jail to convince society of the justness of our course.

·      The country faces an employment crisis? Commit to start a company (any type of company) and hire people. You will be forced to face the reality of running a business and learning some useful skills in the process. This is hard work of course, but that’s what it takes to build a winning nation.

·      Schools are poorly equipped in our villages and townships? Well, get together with your friends and make a plan to intervene. We have learned enough and should be able to plough back into the villages and townships where we grew up.

So that’s it for this week folks. No more excuses. Do something. No one is gonna police you here; think of this as your personal service to Madiba and this country that he sacrificed his life for. Forget about the lousy politicians who are asleep on the wheel. You and I can make a difference of course. Let’s get on with the work that has to be done. And for goodness’ sake, let’s leave white people alone and do things ourselves for a change!! 

The Professional's Code

It just so happened that I was sitting in church today (01/12/2013) to witness a confirmation event for my daughter. I must say it’s quite a big deal for her. And for the folks she lives with. And these are honest, law abiding citizens. The type who make time to go say their prayers on Sundays. Now church is not really the type of place you would expect to find me on a Sunday morning. But one has got to be part of society. And that requires abiding by the common rules of society. It's the thing about doing whatever the folks in Rome get up to when you happen to be on their corner of the universe.

When in Rome..

So the church being Rome for me, my mind wandered off to reading stuff on the Internet (thank heavens for Internet-enabled mobile phones). I stumbled upon one article that instantly piqued my curiosity, which was aptly titled: "the reason you screwed up". Now that's an odd title to be reading in church you may say. But I read the article anyway. To ensure I don't get accused of plagiarism, follow this link if you want to check it out yourselves. The essence of the article is that excuses do not cut it in the real world. One can get by in college and in other areas in life dishing out nicely-packaged excuses to cover up. But there are tough consequences in the real world. 

Now that hit home for me. I couldn't help looking back on my life reflecting on those moments where I lazed off and  crafted some nice excuses to bail me out.

Getting the job done!

So it turns out there is a way out of this sad malaise. One's just gotta resolve to get the job done no matter what. That's where a good many of us fall short. There is anyways the temptation to postpone, do it some other time, or during a more convenient time. When it's appropriate. We come up with multitudes of excuses. Oh, there is the Barcelona game tonight! Or the Boks are playing the most important game of the year this weekend. Or the Chokers (Proteas of course) stand a really good chance this time. Bafana are playing the world champions! Or whatever other sporting code catches your fancy. In truth, there is always one or some other activity that competes with your priorities. One can never run short of a good excuse.

That’s probably the reason why lots of important things don’t get done on time; why Medupi is behind schedule with dire consequences for energy security in the country. Probably the only reason why many projects fall flat. It boils down to not adopting the Professional’s Code. I’ll paraphrase a passage from the article I read – using different words would be doing a disservice to the fine writing style of the author:

"It’s really not that tough to adopt the Professional’s Code. It takes a commitment, and requires the skill to tell others “no” when faced with a tough choice. And to tell yourself “no” when your very natural urge to flake out and bail on your responsibilities flares up. Everyone would rather party, or even veg out… instead of buckling down and finishing the job they signed up for. That’s the easy path. Being a true rebel nowadays means embracing responsibility with gusto and energy. The last rebellious act in business, really, is to commit to success. No matter what. Your social life will suffer. The family will get mad at you. No one will understand, and you will toil without immediate gratification from outside sources. (Your rewards must come from your own heart and sense of self-respect).  And it all rests on a simple foundation. If you take on a job, you do it. You kill the whiny beasts in your head, wrestle your attention deficit disorder into submission, push through pain and grief and disaster to do what you promised you’d do. Today – in business and in conquering the mounting ills of the world – we need professionals more than ever. The hardest and most rewarding jobs will not get done through excuses."

So there you have it folks. Time up for excuses - I'm guilty of this myself. I hereby make a pledge to adopt the Professional’s Code. From today forward. Now you will understand when I'm not going to join you for the usual drink at the bar. Gotta go tick off a couple of things on my to-do list.