Stop reshuffling incompetence, and give youngsters a chance

Who can ever forget the “chicken or beef?” flight attendants used to offer us on the now wrecked and ruined South African Airways (SAA)? Whether we were leaving on an SAA flight, or returning to our homeland, we were excited and happy.

South Africa was a country we were proud of. We, along with our national carrier, were successful.

Now no more.

All credit goes to our failed government, disastrous state owned enterprises and a bloated civil service and the many corrupt and incompetent who inhabit its ranks.

Their actions have resulted in a steadily declining economy, failed service providers, high unemployment and large-scale sociopolitical unrest.

We are a country where the national energy provider sends bulk SMSes asking people not to use its services. How successful is that?

It is said that successful countries attract successful people, allowing them to create their own opportunities. We have become the opposite as successful people from all races and walks of life are desperate to leave SA.

One doesn’t need to be a genius to understand why. Failed states cannot convince successful people to stay and willingly be pounded by daily failures.

Nor can they convince successful people to return home and be subjected to daily failures and be attacked or penalised if they are successful.

The highly divisive and toxic economic, political, and social environment created by our parliament has made it virtually impossible to succeed.

This is a right claimed only by the connected elite, but much of their success is directly related to tender-preneurship and corruption and not due to business acumen.

Our once touted “rainbow nation” has become a dark cloud. The social engineering experiment has failed dismally.

Cadre deployment has failed miserably. The empowerment policies and patronage networks have created devastating poverty in our black communities but enriched the black elite.

Our government’s inability to create conditions conducive to business and entrepreneurship, as well as the government’s failed economic and law enforcement policies, have cost the country dearly in terms of human and financial capital.

After all, we cannot keep our future Elon Musks here, as they are not welcome in South Africa.

Why would they want to remain in a country that stifles all forms of economic and social progress and where law enforcement doesn’t exist?

Let’s not even venture down the road of our frequently obstructive and failed civil services, where we are expected to pay bribes to get them to do their jobs.

Our privately educated businessmen, entrepreneurs, and skilled tradesmen are welcomed across Africa and beyond, yet in SA, they’re castigated.

Our country is sliding daily into an ever-deepening cesspool of debt. It seems our politicians believe they can simply borrow or tax their way out.

The already overburdened taxpayers and their children, and their children after them, will have to repay these debts.

Our country is already bankrupt and on more fronts than one.

Our national trajectory is one of increasing instability, driven by political leaders who have only their own interests
at heart.

They thrive on creating ethnic and racial tensions through populist rhetoric. Our street corners have become littered with beggars. How successful is that?

In the times of “chicken or beef?” we had a functioning rail transport system. It worked.

Heavy goods vehicles were few and far between on our roads.

Our roads are now so poorly maintained that they are falling apart, a situation made worse by the many HGVs on the road.

HGVs are attacked in broad daylight, robbed, and then burned. We have become a war zone.

That is hardly something to boast about. Our government fantastically touts its view that we are entering the

“Fourth Industrial Revolution” (FIR). The reality is that no FIR can be powered by candles or paraffin or by people
lacking the necessary education and skills.

Many young entrepreneurs who established themselves at the dawn of our democracy, now find themselves ethnically or racially disadvantaged.

Attempts by the government to legalise criminality, criminalise self-defence and continually blame others for their
current mistakes illustrates a government lacking accountability and in denial.

If we wish to go back to the days of “chicken or beef?”, we need to give the young generation an opportunity to lead
the state, regardless of colour, creed, and ethnicity.

• Isaac Mashaba holds an honorary doctorate in philosophies and humanities, is the author of Practical Politics, Power and Governance in Africa and a political advisor