“As government we have a responsibility to enforce regulatory compliance in the SMME sector and close businesses that are trading illegally.”
These words, apparently barked by small business development minister, Stella “I’m-too-fabulous-for-this-portfolio” Ndabeni-Abrahams, the person President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed supposedly to help grow and nurture the economy’s engine room, were roundly slammed on social media last week.
But here’s the thing. I was reminded of the president’s address to the Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town two years ago, in which he invoked the advice given to him by Alibaba founder Jack Ma at Ramaphosa’s inaugural investment conference. “We need more Jack Mas,” the president said. (Alibaba is one of the world’s biggest e-commerce companies and employs about 70,000 people).
Ramaphosa recalled that Ma said: “For a country to develop there are three basic things that have to be done that are important. The first is education; it’s always good to invest in education. Investing in people is the best investment in the whole world. And the second thing is trust — build and support entrepreneurs. Make entrepreneurs the heroes. At the top of this is a good and clean government.”
Well, this past week, basic education minister Angie Motshekga chose to highlight that the matric pass mark has crept up to 76.4% from 76.2% last year, which, given the Covid-19-affected school year was at least a pass. What the minister neglected to say was that a mere one in five of the class of 2021 managed to pass maths and the results are worse for science. This hasn’t changed since 2009 — a glaring failure in an area all South Africans can agree upon.
Morally wrong
According to the World Bank’s human capital index, children born in SA nowadays will not even reach half their productive potential that they could have if they had full health and education. Let’s not even talk about the mess that is Charlotte Maxeke Hospital after the fire.
As for making entrepreneurs heroes, when the minister in charge of that portfolio sees her job through the lens of punishment and enforcing the red tape that is strangling entrepreneurs, especially in the informal sector in which people are trying to hustle and earn an honest living, history has consistently taught us that we can be legally correct and yet so morally wrong.
Ayn Rand wrote in 1957: “When you see that trading is done, not by consent but by compulsion. When you see that to produce you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing. When you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods but in favours. When you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws do not protect you against them but protect them against you. When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice, you may know that your society is doomed.”
And as for good clean government… The president released the report of the Special Investigating Unit into personal protective equipment (PPE) corruption recently that reveals the staggering scale of the theft. A total 62% of the finalised investigations into almost 5,500 contracts were found to be irregular. A total 45 matters — to the value of R2.1bn — have been enrolled with the special tribunal on corruption, fraud and illicit money flows.
The details of the 737-page report reveal how corruption is supported through a bureaucratic web of patronage involving ministers, mayors, MECs, accounting officers, directors and heads of department — piranhas feeding with such frenzy the pot of PPE funds boiled away in its wake.
The presidential economic advisory council chose its time carefully to pop its scope above the waterline, with a reminder to the president to just do what he has already promised. It’s an election year, after all, but for goodness’ sake just get on with what you said you would do — in power, telecom and infrastructure. I’m paraphrasing obviously.
But unless we heed Ma’s advice, make people smarter, get out of their way and don’t steal their taxes, we are indeed headed for Gault’s strike against the “parasite”, “looters” and “moochers”.
Imagine if we could all be heroes as David Bowie asked, just for one day, in this benighted country
Sweet outcome for Tongaat shareholders still possible
The Tongaat saga is far from over, as the disgruntled minority Don Quixotes are now taking on review the decision by the takeover regulation panel to allow the Tongaat rights issue to proceed via a waiver of a mandatory offer by the underwriters, Zimbabwe’s infamous Rudland family, in an attempt to stop the effective reverse takeover of the debt-laden sugar producer. If you knock out the waiver everything falls flat, because it’s a condition precedent to the rights issue.
The takeover special committee is a committee of the takeover regulation panel and consists of a chairperson, who must be an attorney or advocate whether practising or not; and at least two other people. They are charging in with claims that material information was withheld from investors.
But that is not the only lance in their arsenal as this fight looks set to go the distance. And there is a win-win scenario, according to one insider. Watch this space.
• Avery, a financial journalist and broadcaster, produces BDTV’s Business Watch. Contact him at badger@businesslive.co.za.
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