Who Threw Poo? In South Africa, people have resorted to throwing Poo at one another! Are we progressing? It not easy separating emotion from fact when people take Poo and throw it at other people! Relatively speaking, we have all heard quite enough from politicians and their ever growing exhaust of hot air. Although our current dispensation is well into its second decade, we are still getting caught up in the political circus at the expense of the country as a whole. Our politicians are a bit like the ‘Vogons’ of the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy… Extremely focused on talking and hearing themselves, but not very concerned with the actual issues of the country… And the issues are of Economic Development… And Real Economic Development is what BEE needs in order to function. Economic Development is the arena of business, not politics! Interfere here too much and the motivation to develop business is lost and with it goes the economy. The past few years are so very representative of our ongoing inwardly focused agenda. Mines have been shut by miners who demand more money. Granted, it is a righteous cause, as miners probably do deserve a better deal, as do soldiers, policemen and Nurses. However, it is interesting to note that the miners who have demanded the loudest are stationed at the mines that perform the worst. Now were these strikes or a covertly orchestrated political coup? The ongoing political debate around the succession plans for the presidency of South Africa are further evidence of the perpetual fragmentary politicking that detracts from the core business of our country. As a region, we in Southern Africa are blessed to be situated at the cornerstone of the Planet. Our land is beautiful and abundant in wealth. No region on the planet can compare to us for magnificence in terms of outstanding structure, wealth potential and strategic layout. So great is our potential that if we were to focus on wealth creation and strategic development, the region of Africa from Angola in the West to Tanzania in the east and down to South Africa in the South could very well be wealthy enough for every citizen in that region to be substantially more wealthy than the average American. Not only would that make the citizens of the region better off than they currently are, but it would make our combined currencies amongst the strongest economic exchange tools on the planet. Whist our dated leadership spends much of its time and resources squabbling over the crumbs left over by Colonialism and Apartheid, this massive region of untapped resources slowly washes down the rivers and into the sea with every passing season. Isn’t it incredibly frustrating to witness entire countries undo strategic infrastructures and systematically reduce entire districts into crumbling disrepair, creating states and countries that are dysfunctional and unprotected. What kind of leadership purposely places a country into a state of vulnerability? Consider this. Africa was colonised by very few people proportionately to the size of it as a whole. It did not take a lot of effort or cost to colonize and control any part of Africa, thus the massive profits realized from the regions by the colonial authorities of the day. These were due to the poor existing structures and complete lack of strategic imperative in Africa prior to colonialism. As Independence from colonialism was gained from the colonial authorities throughout Africa in the 20th century, a slow and deliberate decline in standards emerged as the norm. Strategically, this means that the structures that made Africa so weak and easy to conquer in the17th, 18th and 19th centuries are now being re-introduced as the rule. After experiencing Colonialism, why are the current African leaders purposely reducing the governance structures of their countries to that of a strategic disadvantage? Why are they purposely creating vulnerable states? In South Africa, the old SADF was the most powerful military force on the continent. This status was retained until 1994 when it became a financial burden and was substantially reduced to its current form. Since then, there have been no substantial developments (Except for the controversial Arms Deal) and massive amounts of inventory and munitions have been sold off for foreign currency. This leaves South Africa about 30 years behind any first world military capability in terms of Hardware and 50 – 100 years behind in terms of training and soldier readiness. This can easily be understood in terms of one USA battle group (One aircraft carrier and associated support vessels) representing more fire-power, skill and discipline than our entire defence force. Whist we have an entire organisation that is dedicated to Intelligence gathering and processing, it would appear that it is totally engrossed in political infighting and introspectively focused on perceived threats from within the current government and, still many years later, the perceived threat of the previous regime! So distracted are they, that perhaps they have completely missed the ball when it comes to foreign threats. The world as we find it in the 21st century is a lot more pressurised and populated than ever before. In all respects, resources are hugely under demand and certain commodities that were previously abundant are now becoming less available and far more expensive to obtain. Furthermore, the additional effect of our fast pace lifestyles coupled with the worlds massive level of consumerism is causing changes in the climate and this in itself is manifesting levels of threat that cannot be dealt with in a reactive way. A case in point is alleged rising sea levels. No contest there! Should the sea level rise, it will destroy cities and harbours. Period! No argument, no objection, just disaster. As Africans, living in the region of the planet that has such abundant untapped resources, places us in an evermore risky situation. All of the governments of the independent countries in the Southern African region are not even slightly focussed on the ever increasing threat of large Eastern, Western or fundamental Islamic nations that have an insatiable need for the resources that we have in abundance. Year on year for the last few years at least, foreign intelligence agencies have been upping their game in Southern Africa. At the same time, our inward focus and the preoccupation with the redistribution process has caught up with us. This view has been expressed by our current leaders as follows: • Those who were part of apartheid (The ‘Thems’) and • The elected government (The ‘Us’s) Instead of all our citizens being referred to as South Africans and facilitating the common objective of a prosperous future for all. More recent developments suggest that closer to home; other African states are funding the process of dividing our existing political leadership in an effort to gain a foothold in Southern Africa’s abundance. This is very similar to the ploy used by the USSR in the 70’s & 80’s by supporting the Armed Struggle with the hope to also gain access to the resources in this region. Now we are at a precarious point where we may just be colonised once more… for our abundant resources. This time by a force, perhaps not as lenient at the last lot! Now here is where I expect to get some flack! See, although we have general consensus that Apartheid was bad, the world has seen far worse cases of systematic unfair discrimination. Hitler did more damage in single year of his reign than the entire apartheid system did in all its years of rule. As did the USA in Vietnam! Both of these notorious engagements proved to be wasted efforts in the long run. So let’s be realistic here. Not only do we currently have a pending external threat that is going to get exponentially larger year on year, but we are purposely alienating the very citizens of our country that could actually help prevent this pending disaster from happening in the first place. When we finally agree to stop squabbling over the crumbs of colonialism and reach a consensus on trade and development in our region (Of Southern Africa) by establishing acceptable standards in the public and private sectors, we will be able to hoist our colours high and nobody will be able to do anything about it. Right now, we have purposely weakened our defences and whilst massive, hungry nation’s plot their own outcomes, our resources become more and more desirable. If these nations cannot trade with us in a mutually beneficial way, they will still do whatever it takes to get their hands on the resources, no matter what. This is where the arrangement becomes, they win, we loose and this is not the outcome that delivers BEE, I can assure you. As society stands in 2013, we find ourselves in a position where we are ruled by a tri-partheid organization. This is the ANC led COSATU/SACP alliance. This alliance is democratically elected as the rightful leaders of the country. However, the Union led strikes are in blatant contradiction of the Constitution in many respects, which is our highest law of the land. Furthermore, the ANC led departments of the government apply existing legislation to their own benefit, using the government employment processes outside of the existing equity legislation. Already we have an abundance of skills that are not being used at the same time as we have government departments that have thousands of vacancies. This is unfair discrimination based on the race of an individual. Hasn’t this happened before? How is this possible? The strategic imperative is lost yet again on another hopeless political ideology! What is it going to take to prove that using revolutionary tactics will not bring fiscal reward? This is a democracy. If the government of the day does not deliver to your satisfaction, vote more competent leaders into power. So where to from here? Well firstly, let’s get the truth about the pending threat; Are we vulnerable or not? Well the answer to that is yes, we are vulnerable to any type of external threat. Do we have abundant resources or not? Yes we do. To name a few besides the obvious like Oil (In Angola, DRC, Zambia, Malawi etc.), Copper (In Zimbabwe), Gold and Platinum (In South Africa). We have space, massive agricultural reserves, water (A commodity that wars will be fought over in our time) and all the industrial support mechanisms for these resources. Are we able to defend ourselves against a foreign threat or not? Against massive organized Nations like the USA, India or China we don’t stand a chance by ourselves. Fortunately either of these in isolation would bring the wrath of the others and we have a current dialogue with them, but when resources are needed, risk and return is calculated differently by the aggressor than by the victim. Just ask someone from Baghdad. Assessing the risk regarding the current threat from other African States as reported in the Media around the beginning of June 2013 presents a different scenario. During apartheid, many threats were identified as far North as the equator whereby following the ‘Fall’ of white rule, South Africa would be flooded by a ‘sea’ of humanity from the north. Well this has already happened. Every available body has arrived here since 1994. From Zimbabwe alone, 30% of their population now resides in South Africa, leaving certain regions in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and other African States desolate. What’s more, these refugees that currently reside in the outskirts of our cities in sub-standard conditions are the biggest victims of the Pandemic ‘Aids’. Now that we have established these answers, we now know that we are to dig bunkers in our gardens, or not!
Posted on: Wed, 05 Jun 2013 07:15:50 +0000