What is Awakening?

 

MOELETSI MBEKI – Only a matter of time before the hand grenade explodes. Repeat Request.

MOELETSI MBEKI: Wealth creation

 

Only a matter of time before the hand grenade explodes

I CAN predict when SA’s “Tunisia Day” will arrive. Tunisia Day is when the masses rise against the powers that be, as happened recently in Tunisia. The year will be 2020, give or take a couple of years. The year 2020 is when China estimates that its current minerals-intensive industrialisation phase will be concluded.

 

For SA, this will mean the African National Congress (ANC) government will have to cut back on social grants, which it uses to placate the black poor and to get their votes. China’s current industrialisation phase has forced up the prices of SA’s minerals, which has enabled the government to finance social welfare programmes.

 

The ANC inherited a flawed, complex society it barely understood; its tinkering s with it are turning it into an explosive cocktail. The ANC leaders are like a group of children playing with a hand grenade. One day one of them will figure out how to pull out the pin and everyone will be killed.

 

 A famous African liberation movement, the National Liberation Front of Algeria, after tinkering for 30 years, pulled the grenade pin by cancelling an election in 1991 that was won by the opposition Islamic Salvation Front. In the civil war that ensued, 200,000 people were killed.

 

The former British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, once commented that whoever thought that the ANC could rule SA was living in Cloud Cuckoo Land. Why was Thatcher right? In the 16 years of ANC rule, all the symptoms of a government out of its depth have grown worse.

 

– Life expectancy has declined from 65 years to 53 years since the ANC came to power;

 

– In 2007, SA became a net food importer for the first time in its history;

 

 

 – The elimination of agricultural subsidies by the government led to the loss of 600,000 farm workers’ jobs and the eviction from the commercial farming sector of about 2,4-million people between 1997 and 2007; and

 

– The ANC stopped controlling the borders, leading to a flood of poor people into SA, which has led to conflicts between SA’s poor and foreign African migrants.

 

What should the ANC have done, or be doing? The answer is quite straightforward. When they took control of the government in 1994, ANC leaders should have: identified what SA’s strengths were; identified what SA’s weaknesses were; and decided how to use the strengths to minimise and/or rectify the weaknesses.

 

A wise government would have persuaded the skilled white and Indian population to devote some of their time — even an hour a week — to train the black and coloured population to raise their skill levels.

 

What the ANC did instead when it came to power was to identify what its leaders and supporters wanted. It then used SA’s strengths to satisfy the short-term consumption demands of its supporters. In essence, this is what is called black economic empowerment (BEE).

 

BEE promotes a number of extremely negative socioeconomic trends in our country. It promotes a class of politicians dependent on big business and therefore promotes big business’s interests in the upper echelons of government. Second, BEE promotes an anti-entrepreneurial culture among the black middle class by legitimising an environment of entitlement. Third, affirmative action, a subset of BEE, promotes incompetence and corruption in the public sector by using ruling party allegiance and connections as the criteria for entry and promotion in the public service, instead of having tough public service entry examinations.

 

Let’s see where BEE, as we know it today, actually comes from. I first came across the concept of BEE from a company, which no longer exists, called Sankor. Sankor was the industrial division of Sanlam and it invented the concept of BEE.

 

The first purpose of BEE was to create a buffer group among the black political class that would become an ally of big business in SA. This buffer group would use its newfound power as controllers of the government to protect the assets of big business.

 

The buffer group would also protect the modus operandi of big business and thereby maintain the status quo in which South African business operates.. That was the design of the big conglomerates.

 

Sanlam was soon followed by Anglo American. Sanlam established BEE vehicle Nail; Anglo established Real Africa, Johnnic and so forth. The conglomerates took their marginal assets, and gave them to politically influential black people, with the purpose, in my view, not to transform the economy but to create a black political class that is in alliance with the conglomerates and therefore wants to maintain the status quo of our economy and the way in which it operates.

 

But what is wrong with protecting SA’s conglomerates? Well, there are many things wrong with how conglomerates operate and how they have structured our economy.

 

– The economy has a strong built- in dependence on cheap labour;

 

– It has a strong built-in dependence on the exploitation of primary resources;

 

– It is strongly unfavourable to the development of skills in our general population;

 

– It has a strong bias towards importing technology and economic solutions; and

 

– It promotes inequality between citizens by creating a large, marginalised underclass.

 

Conglomerates are a vehicle, not for creating development in SA but for exploiting natural resources without creating in-depth, inclusive social and economic development, which is what SA needs. That is what is wrong with protecting conglomerates.

 

The second problem with the formula of BEE is that it does not create entrepreneurs. You are taking political leaders and politically connected people and giving them assets which, in the first instance, they don’t know how to manage. So you are not adding value. You are faced with the threat of undermining value by taking assets from people who were managing them and giving them to people who cannot manage them. BEE thus creates a class of idle rich ANC politicos.

 

My quarrel with BEE is that what the conglomerates are doing is developing a new culture in SA — not a culture of entrepreneurship, but an entitlement culture, whereby black people who want to go into business think that they should acquire assets free, and that somebody is there to make them rich, rather than that they should build enterprises from the ground.

 

But we cannot build black companies if what black entrepreneurs look forward to is the distribution of already existing assets from the conglomerates in return for becoming lobbyists for the conglomerates.

 

The third worrying trend is that the ANC- controlled state has now internalised the BEE model. We are now seeing the state trying to implement the same model that the conglomerates have developed.

 

What is the state distributing? It is distributing jobs to party faithful and social welfare to the poor. This is a recipe for incompetence and corruption, both of which are endemic in SA. This is what explains the service delivery upheavals that are becoming a normal part of our environment.

 

So what is the correct road SA should be travelling? We all accept that a socialist model, along the lines of the Soviet Union, is not workable for SA today. The creation of a state-owned economy is not a formula that is an option for SA or for many parts of the world. Therefore, if we want to develop SA instead of shuffling pre-existing wealth, we have to create new entrepreneurs, and we need to support existing entrepreneurs to diversify into new economic sectors.

 

– Mbeki is the author of Architects of Poverty: Why African Capitalism Needs Changing.

 

This article forms part of a series on transformation supplied by the Centre for Development and Enterprise.

 

Thank you Annalise for this contribution.

 

The current “them and us” mentality must make way for a “we” mode of thinking.

Most of us start our lives from a certain layer in society. Society is made up of several layers, starting with the bottom feeders that barely survive at the bottom of the pyramid of life. This pyramid is capped at the top by a small percentage that sits with most of the power, privileges and money. You can go anywhere on this planet and you will discover that the distribution of wealth, power and affluence is always in the hands of a privileged few. Many of us are under the impression that it was the atrocities of the previous regime that caused the massive imbalance that we experience in our society today. I am convinced that the mix between the “have and have nots” in our society may have panned out much the same even if the colonialist never intervened. I often smile when I listen to politicians that attempt to create the impression that the biggest percentage of the potential voters would have been affluent doctors, professors, winners with their own farms if it were not for the nasty colonialists that stole their land and resources. A short visit to our history will show that the so-called colonialists found an already established social pyramid in black societies when they arrive here. This pyramid already displayed the same layered pattern mentioned earlier. I am not minimizing the atrocities that took place historically, but hope that this post will force us all to think in a much more positive and productive manner. The current victim mentality promoted is taking us nowhere. We are giving those that suffer the wrong message. We are growing a parent – child type of relationship in this country. The poor “have nots” must look at government (the parent) for everything. This mode of thinking does not promote self-sufficiency. This mode of government is creating a dependency and entitlement mentality. Everyone is waiting for the government to solve their problems regarding housing, education and for that matter everything else. The only way that those at the bottom of the pyramid will upgrade their status is to take control of their own destiny. The government should provide easy to obtain access passes for those that yearn for a better lifestyle and education. A spirit of entrepreneurship must wash over our land. All races must stop looking back. Everyone must focus on the future with a much more positive attitude and mindset. The current “them and us” mentality must make way for a “we” mode of thinking.

 Rene

 

FAILURE IS JUST PART OF THE PROCESS

THE BIG PICTURE

You need to study failure if you want to really understand success. Most of us are quick to label isolated situations that failed to work out as anticipated as a downright disaster. It is difficult to understand why we have this strange tendency to allow isolated events to warp and destroy the “big picture” in our minds. How many times have I not seen how relationships flirted with disaster because of a so-called major mistake that one of the partners made. Years of faithful and loyal support and service to such aggrieved partner are simply flushed down the toilet. We have a tendency not to allow any person to build up credits that can be drawn on when mistakes are made. If a mistake is made it usually leaves the mistake maker with a massive overdraft in the other person’s emotional data bank. The horrible thing is that we do not only do this to others, but we do it to ourselves as well.

MOST PEOPLE THINK THAT WINNERS AND CHAMPIONS HARDLY EVER FAIL OR MAKE MISTAKES

 

Failure cannot be avoided and will follow you around for the rest of your life like your shadow. You are putting unfair pressure on yourself and others if you suffer with the mind-set that failure can be eradicated. How will we ever grow and learn if we made no mistakes. In fact, you should view every mistake that you ever made not as failure, but like a lesson that you learned. The problem with lessons is that you usually repeat mistakes until you have fully learned your lesson. If we fail to learn our lessons, we as a rule discover that the lessons get harder and more difficult all the time. Remember when you make a mistake or fail it is not sin or a sign that God is testing you. You are not under attack by the dark forces of Satan my friend. You are simply busy learning new disciplines at the university of life.

 

FAILURE IS JUST PART OF THE PROCESS

 

We often tell people that success is a journey and not a destination. What people fail to grasp is that failure is also a journey and not a destination. When you fail today, it does not mean that it is the end of the road for you. Your journey through life will contain many success and failure moments. There is no real purpose to remain on a failure station too for long. Learn your lesson and continue with your journey.

 

YOU ARE THE ONE THAT MUST DECIDE

 

When you fail or fall short of your objectives you are faced with a choice. You can “label” the mistake or failure as a disaster or you can acknowledge your failure, learn from it and get your show back on the road. Losers amplify even the simplest of lessons into catastrophic proportions. Others might blow a mistake that you made to horrific proportions, but it only becomes a disaster when you accept this classification. Some of the most outstanding inventions in life came about after someone made a serious mistake.

 

PEOPLE VIEW FAILURE AS THE DARK ENEMY FORCE THAT IS OUT TO GET YOU

 

Failure can only hurt you if you make a conscious choice to view it as a disaster and not a lesson. Once you labelled failure with the “disaster” or “failure” label, it begins to erode your soul. Champions never create or facilitate these failure monsters in their minds. They know that they hold the key to its power in their hands. They almost never view any failure as final and irreversible. They accept that their plan possibly took a direct hit, but they never admit final defeat. The reason why they never admit defeat is not because they live in denial, but because they know that, there is always a way out of the disaster zone.

 

Remember the final choice is always yours when it comes to failure. You can fall apart or see it as just another lesson presented to you by the University of Life. The key is not what happened, but how you responded to what happened to you! If you continue to view failure as the disastrous end to something, you will remain its victim forever. Champions do not view failure as an incurable disease. They hold the antidote in their hands. The antidote is to never empower failure.

 

Rene

 

Remember, we’re not aiming for perfection. Rather, we are focusing on progress.”

“You’re a doer, because you’re prepared to make the necessary effort to translate your dream into action.”

 

“Everyone has the right, the means, and the responsibility to succeed on their own terms.”

 

“There isn’t a single one of us who hasn’t harvested either the positive or negative effects of a simple choice of behavior.”

 

“Although the responsibility to succeed ultimately lies with the individual, success isn’t all about self. It’s also about how you deal with other people.”

 

“Seek out those who are in the process of blossoming, people who’ve got something to teach you, and you will find yourself growing through osmosis. Negativity breeds negativity. Avoid it, or you’ll find yourself knee deep in it.”

 

“Everything that exists is created first in the imagination, and secondly in reality, through activity.”

 

“The beauty of lifelong learning is that everything’s a work-in-progress, and improvement is incremental. Remember, we’re not aiming for perfection. Rather, we are focusing on progress.”

 

“If we strive to work together imaginatively and unselfishly, we will be helping to achieve each other’s personal goals, and the combined legacy that we leave as a result will be brighter and more valuable than any of us could have achieved unilaterally.”

 

“Ungrateful people breed negativity. No one gets any pleasure from giving to an ungrateful person. When you show appreciation, the object of your attention blossoms and flourishes.”

 

Some Quotes from Feed the Good Dog by Paul McCabe

 

Feed the Good Dog

 

 

Your outer self (ego – who you think you are) is an impostor and not who you are.

The real you that resides in your core is loving, worthy, peaceful, limitless, inspired and indestructible. The real you operate through your outer core that is also called your outer self. Your outer self that you see in the mirror is made up out of your history and the perceptions that you formed about yourself since early childhood. The outer self often feels unloved, fearful, limited, restricted, ashamed, frustrated, unworthy, angry and directionless. This is the reason why you are disappointed many times. You have good intentions that emanate from your perfect self at your core, but your outer false self stifle your good intentions.  Your false self cannot perform at a better or higher level than the perceptions that it formed about who you are. Your false or outer self took over control soon after your arrival on this plane. Your outer self (ego – who you think you are) is an impostor and not who you are. 

 Rene

 

 http://www.larrydiangi.com/images/therealyou.jpg

 

There is nothing more lethal than a state of non-action blended with a brew of stinking thinking.

We all hit a wall in our lives where we feel everything is just against us. We hammer on the door of opportunity until our knuckles are raw, but know one invite us in. The key to overcome the waves of panic and pain is to trust that things will turn out ok like they did so many times before. Think back how you worried about a wide range of stuff at school and how most of them never materialised as horrific as expected. Let your mind glide through the scrap heap periods in your life and recall how many of the biggest disasters turned out ok in the end. Recall the wonderful lessons you learned and how certain individuals revealed to you that the path forward would be much more productive and pleasant without them. The biggest mistake we make when we are confronted by serious challenges is to allow the perceived magnitude to paralyse us. We start thinking in panic stricken circles and allow our minds to bind us in a state of non-action. There is nothing more lethal than a state of non-action blended with a brew of stinking thinking. The way out of any problem situation begins with calm and deliberate action. Relax and then kick the door of opportunity down if they fail to open it for you. You do not have a financial problem. All you have is a shortfall on current available cash. Your cash flow can be remedied if you continue taking deliberate action. You need to write those letters and make those calls while you talk to as many people you can that can assist you. Non-action is the killer of dreams. Non-action and the waiting game destroys businesses, relationships and families. Your circumstances can change and solutions can come in the blink of an eye. The pass code that will open many doors for you and solve most problems is your attitude my friend.

 

Rene