I was talking to my friend today the same person who I am helping move his warehouse next month. His business relies on a few large contracts and one of those contracts is way down on last month so his revenue dropped by 30%. Business is sketchy right now and one has to always do more to stand still as growth is not something that is easy to achieve.
The problem is the legacy from the Zuma years has been hanging around like a very bad smell and it could take 20 years to fix the economics of South Africa or it may never fix itself depending on who is elected as the next State President. Let us ne real and this is not racist, but every African leader has always been about self enrichment and not about the country. This story of bankrupting countries emptying the coffers has been repeated virtually everywhere and is not new.
The problem and again not being racist and is an observation having lived her along enough to understand is that the right people are never placed in the right positions. If you are in business you employ people who are better and smarter than you as it gives you the best possible chance of succeeding. The leadership in SA is non existent and those following as party members have questionable education back grounds and why nothing will never work how it should. It is easier to steal than earn and everyone is expected to steal because that is all they know. These individuals have not succeeded because they have great intellect or foresight or any stand out character, but it is who they knew and it is now their turn. When they are caught with their hands in the cookie jar it is no big deal and their turn is now over and someone else in line has their turn.
Looking back over the last 30 odd years it is clear to see where things went pear shaped. Under Mandela and Mbeki things were not so bad and then we hit the rotten egg with Zuma. yes he spent money on infrastructure which included roads , education, hospitals etc, but this was only for one reason. Within the big spending was a high level of corruption on a massive scale. The SA debt ballooned out to 270% over his tenure rising from R840 billion up to R3 trillion. Under Zuma's guidance all of the Government SOE's had been captured and milked dry leaving the coffers empty for Ramaphosa's turn.
Everyone expected much more and an economic turn around, but realistically this was a poison chalice that anyone would fail. Ramaphosa is also not the smartest biscuit in the tin with no back bone which has not helped the situation and the country has basically plateaued with the economy not growing and the population increasing due to open borders. This has added to the strain of the economy and why we have seen infrastructure collapsing.
There is no leadership and the government is more about relying on private businesses to find the answers. Last month SA took another loan from the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) so they can fix the roads. The country is broke because the motor license discs should be funding this without any loans. That money is not there and the roads if not dealt with soon enough will all need to be resurfaced as no maintenance is happening. These are the jobs the government should be hiring the unemployed to do, but how can they when they have stolen that money.
Fixing the 60% unemployment is easy just by spending on the infrastructure as that will start creating a money flow that is not happening and would kick start the economy. The small problem is the country has no money and why there are no jobs and why the economy is stagnant. Just watch they will blame Trump and his tariffs, but what was more damning was the stopping of USAID which they will not mention as that was being stolen by the government and straight into their pockets. Africa is a begging continent and stopping the AID was the best thing that could have happened as they now need to find a way to survive and succeed on their own.
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