EDITOR – There was once a stable, safe and viable state called Rhodesia, remember?
Sadly, the fervent Save Rhodesia Campaign failed – but not for want of trying. May I humbly submit, with equal fervour (but with greater hope) a bid to Save South Africa.
It isn’t rocket science to know that our problem isn’t racism, fascism, socialism or any other ‘-ism’ other than trade unionism! No, seriously, hear me out.
Our fundamental problem is probably the world’s worst unemployment rate, which, in turn, is caused by massive corporate staff lay-offs which, also in turn, are caused by the totally absurd salary increases demanded (never ‘requested’, but ‘demanded’) by trade unions.
We hear that Telkom is dismissing 5 000 workers in order to meet these demands. If each worker supports, say, four people (some say the number is 10 per worker), that’s 20 000 people about to go hungry.
Multiply that scenario by many other employers in many different disciplines and you get an alarming prognosis. But do the trade union captains care?
Those chaps wearing their trendy expensive leather jackets, making their ludicrous demands while performing their even more ludicrous dance routine. No they don’t. But we should, and we must, to save South Africa.
So much for the problem; here’s my suggested solution: A) Declare a moratorium on trade unions immediately. B) Implement a 10 per cent pay cut across the board for every salaried worker annually until further notice. C) Absurd corporate bonuses are banned forthwith. I hear howls of protest and derision, but mainly from trade unionists; others less biased may still be capable of rational thought.
The immediate benefit of this three-step solution would be: A) To halt mass lay-offs – followed by corporate and state expansion, mopping up the millions of unemployed. B) This country’s rocketing COL would rapidly diminish – Capitalism’s tenet of ‘what the market will bear’ will quickly adjust to lower spending capacity of the population. C) Our currency – rapidly becoming an embarrassment – will inevitably return to one with purchasing power. Remember when R2 bought a Pound? And it took $1.50 to buy R1? I’d like that currency back, and so would you.
Okay, maybe you think my plan is radical. Yes it is, so can you improve on it? If not, we’re heading for a country where the lights are going out. Oops… my apologies. Sure, my tongue’s in my cheek, but lacking Maggie Thatcher (who saved Britain from the slavering unions in the 70s, remember?), it’s at least worth a shot.
Harry Stottle
Kloof
