Tributum Newsletter #75

Hello

Budget V3 was eventually accepted with no unexpected issues.  While the credit for the unchanged VAT rate has been wildly claimed by various political parties, both inside and outside the GNU, the fact that there was dialogue and consensus on the final budget does indicate that there is no single party in control in SA anymore and communication is key. Speaking about communication….

Oom Cyril visited the Oval Office. While views about the meeting spectacle itself vary, it seems that the meeting achieved what it was intended to –unclogging lines of communication and preventing a further deterioration of SA/US relations. Only time will tell whether the USA will remain our second largest trading partner, and for employments’ sake I hope so. According to political economist, Moeletsi Mbeki, two things that South Africa can do to improve the economy and increase employment is to scrap BBBEE and to cut the public sector wage bill. These are not popular views for many of the political parties, especially coming from the brother of a former President…

BBBEE is/was supposed to transform the economy, as it should be. It seems that Government is doubling down and it is here to stay, but has it ever really worked? A definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Maybe a change is required, not necessarily in the planned outcome, but how to get there.

Are transformation and equity the paths to follow, or the end goals? Let’s put it this way – are transformation and the chase for equity automatically growing the economy and creating jobs, or will chasing economic growth and jobs automatically lead to more transformation and equity? Is providing someone with a job and the opportunity to improve their circumstances not transformation at its very core?

In my view if you fix the big things the little things will follow. Fix the roads and secure the electricity supply and the security of employees, customers and owners and investment will follow. Then jobs can be created, and transformation and equity can happen. Only once that happen do you spend resources and time changing the name of a town, but don’t start with the name of the town and then hope the rest will happen. Same goal, different route. However, whether the pilots are prepared to change course, even though we are still going to the same destination, remain to be seen.  

“O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done…” Emotionally it’s been a tough couple of weeks as a dear friend, confidant and mentor of mine finally lost the battle against the Big C last night… You filled your minute with sixty second worth of distance run, you were a man, my son.

If you are healthy, you truly can have many dreams – so until next month, keep breathing.