Ruminations regarding what you should not discuss, politics, business, and collaboration.

Aweh dearly beloved fellow ruminants & groupies

There is this idea that in polite society one should not discuss politics or religion. Is this true? It has been suggested to me that in the South African context to be effective one should stay out of party politics and remain scrupulously neutral or non-aligned as South Africans like to say. So, as one does, I consulted the all-knowing oracle ChatGPT to provide the answer. Here is what the oracle had to say, “Ultimately, it’s a personal decision whether to discuss politics or religion in polite company. If you choose to engage in such discussions, it’s crucial to be respectful, empathetic, and considerate of others’ boundaries and perspectives”. How nice.

Dearly beloved readers are you all polite company? Perhaps some of you are? In the interests of full disclosure, I need to confess that at times certain people have levelled the scurrilous accusation that I have been impolite. For those of you who consider yourselves polite and are concerned about potential transgressions of your political boundaries may I empathetically and respectfully suggest that you skip this week’s blog. I am not subject to the broadcasting complaints commission or the press ombudsman, but you may, of course, submit your complaints to them.

I think it is fair to say that South Africa is going through very difficult times. Why is this? There are many factors that have contributed to our current situation. Covid did not help and there is colonialism, the apartheid legacy, and corruption in the private sector amongst many other legacy issues that have contributed to our current predicament. But let’s get to the elephant in the room which is the ruling ANC government. Are they delivering a better life for all? Um no. Just look at rising unemployment and poverty or the Zondo Commission reports if you don’t believe me. How does this grumpy old white man characterise the ANC? It is a curious mixture of an organised crime syndicate and naïve socialist idealists who look the other way when criminality happens under their noses. The criminal element is in the majority and gaining influence. The socialist idealists create enabling policy and legislation with a thin veneer of social justice and equity to assist the organised crime syndicate to extract more and more money from government, business, and society. It is the ANC government that has brought South Africa to its knees and things are getting worse.

The result of this is that the South African economy is performing badly and business is struggling in this environment and so has now decided to collaborate with the government to tackle three of the most urgent issues hampering business. Three workstreams have been created to tackle the electricity crisis, the transport logistics crisis, and crime. These three issues are severely constraining businesses and if not resolved represent a potentially existential risk to the sustainability of their businesses. Is this collaboration a good thing? Here I am going to display some cognitive dissonance. It is entirely understandable that business is now rolling up their sleeves and trying to help the government resolve the crises. Standing on the sidelines is not necessarily a good option. Making progress on these issues is in the interests of business and all South Africans.

The problem is that there are many other developing crises and elections next year. Polls suggest the ANC majority is under threat and business collaboration is potentially assisting the ruling party to get over the line next year. Other developing crises, to name just a few, include education, healthcare, and access to water by farmers. Parliament has recently passed the controversial National Health Insurance (NHI) bill which seeks to significantly increase the role of government in healthcare. Although the potential implementation of this bill will be slow and contested this is not being well received by the medical profession and represents a risk to high-quality private healthcare in South Africa.  There is a legitimate concern that the NHI will provide yet another revenue stream for the corrupt to plunder to the detriment of all South Africans.

It is also worth looking at draft regulations recently gazetted regarding access to water by farmers. The regulations propose that white farmers will need to allocate 25% of the shareholding of their farms to black people to redress the legacy of the past and for reasons of social justice. The romantic and populist notion of handing back the land stolen from impoverished farm workers will be the official narrative. Meanwhile, given the nature of the ANC, this will potentially be another source of corruption where farm ownership will be handed out to the politically connected who will be able to legally extract rents from existing commercial farmers without adding any value. No real interest in the hard work of actually farming. Similar social justice thinking has been a contributing factor to the decline of the South African mining industry. Although the path to potential implementation of the regulations will most likely be lengthy with many legal challenges the uncertainty these draft regulations will create is going to constrain investments by farmers in food production. You will think twice about investing in your farm if the potential exists that 25% of your farm is potentially going to be expropriated. The result will most likely be declining food production’ increases in food costs and potentially an increasing need to import food.

A golden thread running through NHI, the water regulations, and other government policies and pending legislation is more state control and creating rent-seeking opportunities for the politically connected within the ruling ANC.

So, who exactly is business collaborating with and who is in charge? Is a deal being made with the devil? Is business perhaps best characterised as useful idiots as far as the ruling ANC is concerned?

I warned you that I would display cognitive dissonance. Dearly beloved readers, should businesses collaborate with the ruling ANC? Will this end well? I ask for your learned opinions unless, of course, you are too polite to discuss politics.

Thank you for all the ideas and comments. I really appreciate them and please keep them coming.

Regards

Bruce