“OUR Parliament is a disgrace,” exploded Luke the Dude, rudely disturbing the relaxed banter of the usual comrades in conversation.
“Useless!” countered Jon the Joker, “Parliament isn’t at all! A full 18 months after the place burned down, the remains have seen neither a shovel, nor protection against wind and rain. It’s more destroyed than ever.”
“Oh, you’re talking about the building,” woke up Bob the Book, “I was wondering whether you meant the ANC with its questionable behaviour or the EFF who does not behave at all.”
“These were our once majestic parliamentary buildings,” spoke The Prof, inspecting his pipe, “but still, it is but a cloud in the approaching storm, a symbol: Eskom, the Railways, SAA and all their cousins are symptoms of the worsening malady.”
“Tell us in plain language Prof, you have the floor,” worried Irene the Queen.
“Of course my dear,” obliged The Prof, “we are living in an economy that is going bankrupt. We have to borrow to keep the show on the road – and already we are so deeply in debt, we have to borrow more to pay the interest on what we have already borrowed. With that, the population grows much faster than the economy, meaning that as a nation we are getting poorer by the day.”
“Whoa!” exploded Big Ben, “you’re talking Armageddon, if that’s the educated word. You make it sound like we are doomed, Prof, and the ANC won’t let it come to that!”
“You have a right to your political opinions, Ben,” interrupted Stevie the Poet, “but here’s the question: if that is the reality, Prof, how do we get out of it?”
“Well,” The Prof pondered slowly, “my colleague RW Johnson said it rather succinctly in an interview with Alec Hogg: There really are only two ways. One is to cut spending, harshly. That won’t happen because the politicians won’t do it; also, it would cause much suffering – so many South Africans survive on government grants. The only other way is to improve economic growth, considerably. That would get us to steady ground and, inter alia, create living-wage jobs.”
“That’s the way to go then,” applauded Miss Lily, “teachers could do with a living wage!”
“Indeed,” agreed The Prof, “skills development is part of the way to faster growth.”
“Not so fast, Boyo,” spoke up Colin the Golfer. “We haven’t had anything like decent growth since the rudely interrupted presidency of Thabo Mbeki. How is the current lot going to pull this rabbit out of a hat?”
“Only one way,” said Bill the Beard, “involve the private sector and be serious, life-and-death serious, about it.”
“And when will that happen?” queried Colin.
“It is already happening,” replied Bill, “you might have missed President Ramaphosa’s agreement with Business Unity SA, BUSA, and more recently the pledge by 115 SA CEOs – whose companies together have a market value of R11 trillion and employ 1.2 million people – to help SA repair the broken economy and get it growing at a sustainably faster pace.
“Parts of the pledge, I’ve got it here, reads, ‘we firmly believe in the immense potential of our country. We are committed to building it and have come together to address the current challenges with the aim of achieving sustainable, inclusive economic growth. We are resolutely committed to being a force for good.’
“So there you have it: we’ve got the will and we are on the way. The business sector to the rescue!”
E-mail: noag@hermanus.co.za
