Tributum Newsletter #33
Hello
It seems that the dust has settled on the local Government election outcomes and coalitions. Some were winners, some losers and some just drifted sideways. SA voted with their feet as a low percentage of voters bothered to pitch. Hopefully that message will be taken to heart by the political parties – stop being useless, or we will not vote!
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana delivered the medium-term budget speech, and the narrative was the same as previous Finance Ministers. Austerity, cutting costs and growing the economy. Easier said than done dear Minister, especially if there is no electricity to keep the small percentage of SAFAS that are employed productive. Rolling load shedding kept many SAFAS in the dark and unable to earn a living during November.
Hopefully the festive season will not be marred by power outages as many tourism businesses will attempt to stop the bleeding during that time. However, the immediate bigger threat is a stricter lockdown due to wave four and the new variant. Tourism cannot go another festive season with closed beaches and a 9pm curfew. Here’s hoping that good decisions will be made.
But it seems that it’s not just Eskom being useless. Murmurs of sabotage have been heard and if true the culprits can only be a few. While Rassie copped a heavy sentence for his home video involving Nic Berry, he does not have the toughest job in SA. That clearly belongs to Mr de Ruyter (Sorry Oom Cyril, yours is easier as well I think…)
From playing magic veterinarian by trying to resuscitate a dead horse (rather than flog it), to joining the fight on terrorism (even if it’s just for the SA energy supply grid) he has his work cut out for him. Let us hope that he remains at the helm despite the pressure and personal threats. At least someone is trying to do something at last.
Like Simon Sinek says, real inspiration and infinite mindset starts with – ‘why’. And I fear that in the public sector that “why” is often clouded by political manoeuvring, greed and just plain incorrect focus. Why does Government exist – it should be to improve the life of every SAFA. How should they do it – by creating employment for more SAFAS. What should they do to create employment – grow the economy. Getting great solutions for the wrong problems helps no-one. Maybe the why/how/what method can help them. (https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action)
As 2021 starts to draw a close many of us are frantically running around to get the last things done, so that we can wind down for 2 or 3 weeks over the festive season. Just to start doing all again in 2022. If there is one thing that COVID should have taught us is that 1 January is not always the end or start of something new. The world does not end on 31 December and then restart on 1 January. What was not done by shut down will still be there in 2022. So do the best you can, manage expectations for what you can’t and above all, keep breathing!