Dear President Zuma
I’m sure you have absolutely no idea how thrilled I was this morning to read Sipho Khumalo’s report in The Mercury on your keynote address at the Richards Bay Jobs Summit and Jobs Fair yesterday. He says you “lashed the KZN business community for its lack of innovation and creativity in embracing obvious opportunities afforded by its unique coastline” and also urged them to “stop fighting over tenders”. You pointed out that they should instead be developing innovative businesses that took advantage of the coastline close to major commercial and industrial centres.
By the time I got this far in the report I was feeling pretty upbeat, but when you went on to suggest a couple of opportunities that budding young entrepreneurs could pick up on I had to stop reading while I regained my composure. “You are sitting on the sea here, with two major ports, (Durban and Richards Bay) and Mozambique’s warm sea and you do nothing about it … there is no boat that takes people from Richards Bay to Durban — nothing, but you do not see it as a possibility … between these two cities there ought to be boats to take workers to work in the morning and back in the afternoon … but you do not see it. You are too busy fighting over tenders, over who gets what,” you told them.
Your perspicacity almost floored me here. I’ve lived in Durban for 36 years and despite being unemployed for almost 20 of them never once thought of exploring this exciting avenue of opportunity.
I was further enthralled — intrigued is too mild a word — to see that you also pulled no punches in stating that Durban, as one of South Africa’s major tourist cities, was also missing opportunities by going to bed very early. “No economy can grow if you love sleeping too much,” you rather sternly pointed out.
After reading this report I immediately got on the blower to a friend who routinely travels from Durban to Richards Bay by sea to catch marlin. He uses a nine-metre boat that seats eight and is powered by two 300-horsepower motors that give it roughly the same payload and performance as a Toyota Hi Ace. The fuel bill is roughly R4 000 each way, so with 42 people and a goat with a half-price ticket the cost to the service provider would work out at a very affordable R188.23 per ticket. Add, say, 300% to cover insurance and maintenance costs, plus a little profit, and we should be able to convey workers backwards and forwards between the two cities at well under R1 000 a day — return! We must, of course, also factor in the R25 per trip we’d have to pay the driver.
There are a few obvious advantages to transporting workers by sea rather than by road. Firstly, the sea is quite wide — more than a kilometre wide in places — compared with the 10 or 12 metres of the N2 so there shouldn’t be too many head-ons. Secondly, when there are, following traffic need not wait for hours for the wreckage to be cleared up before carrying on with their journeys. The sea is fortunately self-cleaning so there would be no delay, plus — a bonus — very little in the way of funeral costs.
I loved the way your suggestion that workers commute by sea offered a very subtle solution to the second problem you commented upon — that people go to bed too early in Durban. My friend tells me that the trip in his boat, with eight people on board, takes about six hours each way. With a full load of 42 people — let’s ignore the goat for now — it could take two or three hours longer. I reckon we can pretty well guarantee the working classes will be going to bed late at night and getting up bright and early in the morning to face another working day!
Yours affectionately
Gavin Foster
At this time of the year the boat would only be likely to be able to go to sea for half the days of the month – even better for the workers – perfect excuses not to be at work half the time.
I did like your take on the issue.
Just your last paragraph came a little late as I had this question as nr first on my mind.
But then, I had been a water taxi user in my younger years back in Rotterdam harbor. Very fast saling and no traffic jams.
But -at the time- I could round some of the dock quicker on my bike
My grandson, aged 8, asked me simply “Why did they make Zuma our president?
I had no answer.
Be afraid, be very afraid – and tremble at the thought that we have JZ as our president.
Think of a picture of his cabinet as a movie title – One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest!
Lovely article. Once again, Zuma all at sea.
Those innane suggestions from Zuma ring of Mugabe’s speaches. Oy vey.
JZ does nothing that is of benefit to anyone other than JZ and his extensive family. Just to put it all in perspective I have coined the following quote:- “Democracy without accountability is a dictatorship”. We all know that JZ heads the unaccountable ANC government so what does that make him?? The only thing that will keep JZ awake at night after attending to his myriad of wives and girl friends, is the thought of wasting all the hard plundered loot on the poor. If all the services promised were provided there would be nothing left for the fancy lifestyle, jets and fortresses that JZ has become accustomed to. Aslo note that JZ’s people want jobs that pay but do not require any work!!
@Citizen Cane: ” My grandson, aged 8, asked me simply “Why did they make Zuma our president?
I had no answer.”
Try to explain “democracy” as a principle and the resulting various implementations around the world
I think we can safely assume that JZ has made his money by fighting over tenders rather than being an entrepreneur. Perhaps he could still go into comedy, of course; he’d bring the house down.
@ bernpm
He’s only just turned 8.
But if I fail to understand how such a man could ever be a president, how do you expect me to explain it to him?
I love that the absurdity of the situation has been put into print but I shake my head – it makes us smile and shake our heads in defeat, both at the same time.
Citizen Kane
Tell your grandson that Zuma was the only senior Zulu with “struggle” credentials in the Xhosa/Fingo Nostra of the ANC, so he was chosen to crack the power of the IFP in Kwa-Zulu Natal by being even more successful a polygamist than the Zulu King (whose wives only get to meet Charles and Camilla, not the Queen, Obama and the Pope).
Even an 8 year old can understand that – and it is never too young to start teaching them not to trust politicians and their spin doctors.
Citizen Kane
Also explain to your grandson that it will be interesting to wait and see what Zuma does when he retires, as he will have to do.
None of his Post-Polokwane wives are likely to be prepared to retire to Nkandla and watch the cows.
They are all city girls and educated – and they all live in different houses, which rather defeats the original purpose of African polygamy, which was that the King had enough wives to work together and grow and prepare food for all his guests.
You might even get your grandson interested in politics.
It is way overdue time that the Zulu elders chose an Heir Apparent to the throne.
And I strongly recommend that they chose someone with one wife who is living in the 21st century and not in the 9th century.
Thank you, Lyndall, for a very well-founded explanation.
As far as my grandson is concerned, I guess one is never too young to have one’s illusions smashed about what a leader or president of a country should be.
@ MLH ….”he’d bring the house down”
Gavin Foster’s article is. besides being veracious, extremely amusing and entertaining… But Zuma isn’t.
The sad part is that whether we laugh at Zuma or not, whether he gets a second term or not – and with all the unsuitability, inability and inefficacy he has brought to his position, he will still leave the job, a multi-multi millionaire. …. not forgetting that it’s our money he’ll be walking away with
No thinking person would ever vote for Zuma as a fit president.
The suckers who supported him, are still waiting for the jobs he promised them in exchange for their votes. …And they will wait in vain.
They need to vote for a government who cares about the welfare of the people, not about how much wealth they can make for themselves.
Full blame must go to the ANC,who are responsible for appointing as president of a country, such a dud – and such a drain on it.
@Gavin, this is exactly the problem with your ilk. You are so litereral, so word for word and so disingenuous. You see faults in everything and you are constantly negative. You sit back, yoh unemployed for 20yrs, and you complain. You see, if someones points at examples, if someones gives you insight, if someone suggest the possibilities, you resort to this type of exercise. And I say, this is exactly the reason why, we as nation have not arrived. Our freedom was a negotiated one, unscientific and unrealistic at times, and yet. Despite all the challenges, despite all the miscalculations, despite all the disbelief, we did it. If you think that life is about scientific calculation, precise economics, then this is how arrogance clouds possibilities. You laugh and scoff at us, you point fingers and jeer us and yet it is because of us, you are. I will say that again, it is because of the JZ’s of our world, that you are. You cannot see that, you will not see that and you will refuse to acknowledge that. Yip, we have to be your constant servants, handing everything to you on a plate and still be kicked. But thank goodness, we have not relied on the likes of you, the doomsayers, for anything. We are where we are, because of our resilience, our belief and our courage. We will continue to have ideas, continue to dream the possibilities and amaze and rebutt your negativity. Because we dreamt, had ideas, we are because we believed in the possibility.
Citizen Kane
The story of Zuma, the Zulu Trojan Horse, might become more interesting for your grandson if you told him the story of the original Trojan Horse? He would also be learning that history repeats itself.
@ Tofolux
Good grief! Dreamt and had ideas? I’ll say!
@ Gavin Foster
Your reply to Tofolux: … And so say all of us!!
@Beddy, you shouldn’t be so hard on Zuma because Warren Jeff has him beaten with wives and the Zulu king also. Warren Jeff had seventy two wives and thirty children and many of his wives were his late father’s wives.
Speaking of Zuma’s president, he was very honest before he was made the head of the ANC. He says that he knew nothing about running the government except to do what ever the party tells him to do. The kingmakers went to the convention and made him the head of the party and they knew this man had very little education. Malema was the one that lead the charge to make Zuma the president and now he is on the outside looking in. So, place the blame on the party and not Zuma.
@Tofolux, in your comment you said nothing about the article.
@ Tofolux
Who is Gavin Foster’s ilk? Be specific.
You said the same for ‘GSM (who is he?) and ‘his ilk’ on another blog – and on various others.
Would that refer to a generalisation of all White people?
Do you also include “their ilk” for black authors who are disgusted (and say so), by the ANC’s lying, thieving and inept politicians.?
Would that be your disgraceful racist rant rearing its ugly head again?
The ANC manifesto rejects and disallows racism.
If you equate the likes of someone like Zuma as being representative of the ANC, whether you are still so indoctrinated that you can’t think for yourself, whether you are blind to the fact that this is not the ANC that Nelson Mandela fought for -
or whether (which is most likely), you are being paid to make a noise, your reverse racism does nothing to improve the ANC’s or the country’s image.
More and more black people no longer support the ANC.
@ Lyndall Beddy.
Sounds interesting – the connection between the Trojan Horse and Zuma (the Zulu Trojan horse ) – but I don’t quite see the connection. Please explain (as I would explain to an 8 year old).
btw. it’s Citizen Cane (not Kane)
I love the way tofolux sets up opposing teams. On the one side the white nazis, on the other side the non-white angelic hero martyrs.
So much easier to deal with reality when one simplifies it in this way.
(I am assuming Sipho Khumalo did not suck the story out of his thumb)
It’s sad that JZ did not consult experts or advisors or bodies at his disposal. For example, the NPC team members involved with employment & job creation. Had he consulted the Kwa-Zulu Natal Tourism Authority or the KZN Dept. of Economic Development, he would probably have found no shortage of creative or innovative ideas and proposed projects to create jobs in the tourism sector or other sectors – but which just require funding.
There are probably new business opportunities for people with various kinds of motor boats (game fishing trips, sunset cruises,..), but such businesses require lots of money, something unemployed young Blacks are not likely to have.
Guys, easy on tofolux. He explains why the ANC thinks that someone who knows nothing about education can run the ministry, nothing about engineering can run transport, nothing about medicine can run health. You just have to dream.
@Gavin, yes we dreamt that we would have something better than gutter education. We dreamt that university would be a possibility. We dreamt that we could have other professions except that of teacher and nurses. We dreamt that we could walk on beautiful beaches. We dreamt we could walk certain pathways to see the beauty of this country. We dreamt that our language would be spoken openly and freely. We dreamt that we would have access to justice. We dreamt and we made all of this into reality. Ps and this is a mere 18 years ago, What a wonderful country I live in. A country filled with so much possibilites, A country so divided and yet so united in a majority dream for blacks to be who they are, human beings with dreams and aspirations.
According to Tofolux, “Gavin is so litereral (literal?), so ‘word for word’ …”
Of course he is! He didn’t ‘take it out of context’ as the ANC always uses as its unilateral defence. He is quoting another one of Zuma’s ‘utterances’
With ‘job creation’ being pie in the sky – and no one benefitting from BEE besides Zuma et famille and those who are in cahoots with him, one assumes from Tofol’s vehement ‘defence of the indefensible’, that she must also be on the ANC payroll.
The ANC took power before long before Zuma unbelievably became its president. Zapiro’s current cartoon shows how BEE works – as long as there’s enough of Zuma’s family to benefit from it.
So, (depending whether you are another member of Zuma’s family, or one of his financial sponges) the BEE acronym now either stands for:
Black Economic Entitlement
Black Economic Embezzlement or
Billionaire’s Economic Enjoyment – (i.e. the Zuma family’s Beenefit from it)
@ Tofolux
To have hopes and dreams is great. To be president of an advanced country like South Africa and come up with unadulterated claptrap referring to impossibilities as the way to go, to attack business for not snapping up opportunities that an eight year old child would tell him are not opportunities at all because of the time and budget problems, is unacceptable. It displays a goatherd mentality at work.
The president, like a journalist, doesn’t have to know everything and do everything himself. He does need at least a LITTLE common sense, though, and he should have people around him who can write his speeches for him if he is incapable of coherent thought.
@Spare-row, I am not a ”he” but a proud ”she”. Just for your info.
@Gavin Foster,
No need to be nasty just because someone herded goats as a child.
Mihaljo (Michael) Pupin also herded goats as child. He became a professor and one of his inventions revolutionized telephone transmission.
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blpupin.htm
@ Tofolux. As regards, “f.y. info”, who cares? It doesn’t matter what gender U.R.
U’re actually a good example of gender equality:
– the same pointless, irrelevant and pointless racist gobbledegook – either way;
the same childish, rude, unfunny distortions of names and facts – either way;
the same tiresome and tedious digression – either way
@oldfox
Pupin may have once herded goats, but he had the ability to do much more than that so he did. Zuma clearly does not because he’s stuck with the mentality.
@Gavin Foster,
Part of Zuma’s problem, I’m sure, is that he was a key figure in Intelligence in MK. Those kinds of people tend to be distrustful of others, and they rely on people they think they can trust. Persons like those are often unsuitable to run even a small department, outside of the Intelligence/Security field. I’ve heard of one person with a Phd who had a similar background and he mistrusted his most or all his colleagues. In the modern world, it’s important to consult, to delegate etc.
It is normally assumed by educated people that the president of a major economy must be well educated. Lula, who had hardly any more formal education than JZ, was one of the most popular politicians in the world, and he headed Brazil when it was in the top 10 economies in the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luiz_Inácio_Lula_da_Silva
JZ is an astute politician. He may yet outmanoevre others, and get the second term. He has made some gaffes and blunders – but so did several US presidents at times. Maybe his biggest failing is choosing the wrong people for certain top posts, incl. cabinet ministers’ posts, the Min. Of Basic Education being a case in point. Of course, Mbeki also made very bad choices, and in his case, analysts say it’s because he chose people he could trust or control, and not because they were the best for the job.
That he made some totally impractical statements at a minor job summit and jobs fair is in itself of minor consequence. That SA has made no progress in reducing unemployment or fixing the school education mess, or that the land reform process has gone from bad to worse, is of great concern to all of us. Those are 3 ticking time bombs, and they’re not the only ones. While JZ is not the cause of those 3 major problems, he did not appoint ministers who were able to improve things.
Ek se! The day the oke learns how to read a CV will be the only time he should make a statement about business ideas and running one. Imagine if he chose his pilot for his boat the way he chose his minister of education or his police commissioners! Haibo! It will take 6 months for the workers to get wherever they’re going, and he’d have to pay 7 times the going rate to rent the sea channel, and find an extra few million to pay the sea tolls, not forgetting the ‘sharks’ swimming around the boat waiting for opportunities, licking there lips in anticipation!
WHEW! I enjoyed writing this! … such fun!
@tzMe
If JZ were to read this blog (he wouldn’t) he would have a good laugh, because he and his family have started 134 businesses. If you’re a taxpayer, in a sense, you have helped to fund these ventures).
http://www.timeslive.co.za/ilive/2012/05/07/political-elite-in-business-of-looting-sa-s-resources-ilive
Of the 16 adults, wives, lovers and children who can be linked to Zuma, 15 are in business, accounting with Zuma for 134 company directorships or memberships of close corporations. Only four of these appear to be Section 21 “not for profit” companies.
Zuma said: “I’m not a businessman and I don’t know what happens in business.” However, at least 83 companies (62%) have been registered in the post-Polokwane period when his political future was secured.
Their interests include property, resources, trade, mining, telecommunications and IT.
@Oldfox, in Africa a lot of the government rulers have setup businesses in order to be able to move money out of the country. In Nigeria there were thousands of fake companies setup by the people in the government to move money out of the country. An audit of these companies were made and it was found that most of these companies had no address or paid taxes. It’s very easy to setup a shell company and the government gives a tender to this company for not performing any work for the government. In SA the justice system is controlled by the president and the SARS is controlled by the president so, there will be nothing done unless the president gives his approval. The only problem in SA for the ruling party is the opposition parties and the media. This is why the ANC is trying to muzzle the press to keep them from exposing corruption in the government.
@Oldfox, there is no comparison between Zuma and Lula the former president of Brazil. Lula didn’t have a college education but, he had some education and was a skilled machinist. Lula was a president of a country where he is serving more like a figure head and not like in SA where the president has a lot of power. In Brazil the president, members of congress, the governors of each state, the mayor are all elected by the people and accountable to the people. In SA the parties are elected and these parties appointed their people to congress and the president. The president of SA spends most of his times trying to keep the people in the party happy that put him in office and not the masses in SA. In Brazil, if the mayor or members of congress, governors all have to answer to the people and many of them are kick out of office. In SA, the president is accountable to the kingmakers that put him in office and not the people is supposed to be serving.
Citizen Cane
My reply got deleted – I don’t want you to think I did not reply.
Look up “The Trojan Horse” on Wikipedia and you will get the message.
Oldfox
That Zuma has enriched himself and his family just like all the other new Tribal Chiefs of Africa, starting with the first one Nkrumah of Ghana, is hardly surprising is it?
They have been taught that they are “entitled” to do so.
But it gets us no further with solving our problems. What is the point in changing the “Chief/Leader” if they all follow the same policy?
Unless your research has unveiled one of the ANC elite who has NOT enriched himself?
Beddy, you are saying the same thing I have been saying about this SA political system. This country setup a fake democracy where the people wouldn’t have any voice in the government and none of the people running the government would be accountable to the people. Since the justice system is controlled by the party, the tender system is controlled by the party, employment, these people can do whatever they want without suffering any penalty.
Lyndall,
I don’t know how elite is defined in this context. Kader Asmal apparently drove a small car after he left DoE.
I have no knowledge of the average very senior official. Several cabinet ministers were linked to major projects, Gautrain, the 2nd Lotto co. and so on.
Well, whether a few may not have enriched themselves is irrelevant. Too many have.
If the ministers really performed, then whether they did pocket a few million extra would not bother me, even though it would still be morally wrong. If one million pupils passed matric every year with a 50% score or higher, I wouldn’t be bothered about the Basic Education Minister’s bank balance.
But, to be fair, a CEO who earns a $20M bonus in the same year a company’s share price halved and 10% of the staff were retrenched, is as reprehensible as a politition who dips in the cookie jar and takes an extra R1M – these are all hypothetical figures, you get actual figures in newspapers. Those CEOs also believe they are entitled to such fortunes, although they underperformed.
@Oldfox, if that company doesn’t make a profit, this company will not be able to pay taxes to the government nor will they be able to pay their workers. I am not worry about how much a CEO makes after investing his time and money into a company to make it profitable. I am worry about the the CEO like Zuma’s nephew that didn’t pay his workers at all and many of them are suffering hardships.
@Sterling
You’ve pointed out another reason why it’s wrong. In most cases, however, his co. will be the BEE partner I suppose. So it will get money without doing any work.
@Oldfox, if you were the CEO of a company and I came to you with machines that could cut your work force in half to save the company money, would you buy those machines? If you don’t buy those machines and your competitors will buy them, how would your company be able to compete? The CEOs around the world have to make these decisions everyday and if they don’t make the right decisions their companies will go under. The left wing propaganda being feed to the people by Blade and Vavi don’t work in the world of business.