Stuttering ship heads for the lighthouse of disaster

Even though the tale is reportedly a myth, it holds a lesson of truth for our ailing government.

The story goes that the ship had been at sea on its routine manoeuvres, under heavy weather, for days. Then, one night, the lookout on the bridge alerted the captain to a light in the distance.

The captain ascertained the light was stationary, indicating the battleship was on a dangerous collision course with the other ship.

The captain immediately ordered his signalman to signal the other ship to change course. Back came a response from the other ship, that the captain should rather change course.

The captain, of course, became very agitated, due to the fact that he commanded a mighty battleship.

After the third time the captain had issued an order for the other ship to change course, he finally received startling response, which read: “I am a lighthouse.”

The captain duly changed course.

There are various versions of this story, but the moral stays true: sometimes you had better change course in life, because, if you don’t, you are, without a doubt, heading for unavoidable disaster.

Our government is also like a battleship heading towards the lighthouse of economic meltdown.

Sadly, we have leaders like the captain of the battleship in the tale, who think they can simply continue navigating the turbulent waters without the danger of collision.

Recently, Sanlam CEO Johan van Zyl gave a warning that the private sector and government need to work together in order to fix the structural weaknesses that face the economy, otherwise the country’s financial system will face collapse.

He was, thus, describing the scenario of the battleship and the lighthouse – if the government does not change course in its approach to running the country then the lighthouse will soon loom large, as did the iceberg when it ripped into the Titanic.

Van Zyl used the imagery of South Africa as a boat with holes, leaking water.

He said the government was sitting on one side and the private sector on the other; both pointing fingers at each other and not working together to plug the holes and avert the proverbial sinking ship of the country.

He stressed that SA needs to reach the point where we fix the holes and start rowing the boat that is SA Incorporated, in partnership.

Political economist Moeletsi Mbeki (the younger brother to the former President Thabo Mbeki) has also warned that South Africa is a bomb waiting to explode.

He said this is a country with huge amounts of tension in terms of the under-performance of its economy.

He warned that, with current levels of unemployment, the country is bound to have tensions and political and social instability, with locals venting their anger and frustrations on foreigners.

He concurred that the country is moving towards an Arab Spring uprising, largely because the population is highly dependent on the urban economy, which is completely commercialised.

Max du Preez also believes South Africas will experience its Tunisia Day well before 2020.

Tunisia Day refers to the start, in 2010, of what became the violent Arab Spring.

It led to the overthrow of the Tunisian government a month later, and was followed by turmoil and, in some cases, civil war in Egypt, Syria, Oman, Morocco and Libya, sooner than expected

Du Preez recently wrote in a column that, if nothing drastic changes soon, South Africa could face instability, with the crisis being homemade.

He sketched the perfect storm hitting South Africa, which could lead to a fundamental reorganisation of political forces and, indeed, the end of the government’s rule.

But it could also lead to instability, which could further compound the destructive impact of the storm.

In the end, du Preez believes South Africans have lost their patience and stopped believing in promises.

Van Zyl also believes there is a growing impatience among South African citizens, as well as foreign investors who are wanting to see the country’s ambitious plans implemented at a faster pace in light of South Africa’s pedestrian GDP growth, lack of power generation abilities, growing debt ratios and twin deficits.

Therefore, the change in course that is called for by foreign investors is to see South Africa’s private sector and government working together.

It, therefore, seems we are without a doubt heading for the lighthouse (with no guns blazing mind you), and it won’t help our Nkandla Captain of this unstable vessel to keep shouting that he will not move or budge.

Yes, many have already jumped overboard to swim to safety, but it seems many other countries are also on collision courses.

For those who are still holding on valiantly on board our stuttering ride, let’s hope the course is changed, lest we crash into our Tunisia Day, as, with that, all the lights will finally go out.