Hello everyone
I was asked what was going on in South Africa tonight regarding the economy.
Shit. Where does one start. The previous President Zuma was only good at one thing. That was emptying the State coffers. It was so blatant and public knowledge on what was going on. Why wasn't it stopped? Everyone who was in power was part of the plan. Fill ones pockets as fast as possible and walk away. This has left the country in dire straits. The full impact is now coming to haunt us as companies are struggling as the government is raising duties and taxes.
Zuma had The Gupta brothers to help him. An Indian family from India arrived in South Africa and basically helped themselves with Zuma's help. He opened the doors and they walked in. They helped themselves to lucrative government contracts, mines supplying coal to the power stations. The mines in question were acquired not by the normal process either. The mines were barred from supplying coal and they were squeezed out. They took them over for next to nothing and then charged double the going rate for coal. Electricity has jumped at an alarming rate averaging close to 20 percent year on year. This is ridiculous and is forcing prices up at an alarming rate. Then they want to put taxes on solar and wind energy as they are worried that the smart ones will leave the grid. Smart ones are the ones who are paying the bills and have had enough of being ripped off.
South African Airways is subsidized by the government and is receiving 100's of millions in bailouts. Management is running businesses with no clue. Friends and family members benefiting from these roles. It is so bad I am reluctant to fly with them anymore. Corners are being cut and god knows what they are doing. The one supplier of aviation fuel was paid millions but didn't supply one liter. I read somewhere that a top airline had one person employed for every 100 passengers flying. that was meant to provide the top service possible. SAA has 12 people employed per 100 passengers flying. This kind of tells you how it's being run. I had a business meeting a few years ago at the airport and met an elderly white gentleman. I asked who he was and he was the buffer between management. He used to be a manager years ago and was retrenched. They had rehired him to do their job on 3 days a week salary. That way he wasn't permanent. This is happening all over.
If someone is qualified then use them but don't protect others who aren't qualified for positions. A few years ago ESKOM the power utility for South Africa imported black Americans to run the head office and desk jobs. When the story broke they were being paid but didn't even have desks and computers. What job were they doing? How much did that exercise cost the public?
This is going to take years to fix and weed out the crooked. It makes me sick and there is no trust and confidence left not that we had any in the first place. Corruption and crime needs to be sorted and hopefully it will come right. Hopefully is a big word as just this last Monday there were 5 money in transit heists with armored vehicles.
The new president Cyril Ramaphosa has his work cut out and is the smartest businessman to take control so far. The country is banking on him to fix it but progress has been slow. Zuma goes to trial soon and hopefully the rest of his family will be tried as well along with the Guptas. They fled the country and looks like they were allowed to leave which is quite convenient for them.
There is just too much to write and suggest if anyone wants to know the truth they must read"The Presidents Keepers". A book that came out which they tried to ban. I am sure there will be a movie coming out one of these days as this is a block buster. The only problem is 90 minutes wont be long enough.