Business must heed Holomisa’s proposal
Iam afraid there are no answers to SA’s economic problems that do not involve the departure of President Jacob Zuma. Equally, I think there is very little chance of that happening before 2019 and if he is succeeded by his former wife, judging by her comments these past few weeks, the Zuma way will be with us until 2024.
It is necessary to say the obvious because, hard to believe though it is, Zuma is not that interested in the economy. It is simply another political thing to navigate as he tries to avoid jail.
There’s no discussion to be had with him about inclusion, or growth, or even radical transformation. If society wants a conversation about a more prosperous future, it needs to have it on its own.
Fortunately, this may happen. Bantu Holomisa has been talking about the need for a national convention to discuss the future. Mcebisi Jonas, too. In a letter to political leaders of all parties, Holomisa writes that a “new vision should respond to burning issues such as land, economy, employment, corruption, education, health, our electoral system, party funding and others”.
He’s right. There’s so much good that can still be done with what we have. Business has finally found its voice and is standing up for itself. The opposition parties, civil society and elements of the ANC are standing up and being counted. Almost all the right conditions for reform are in place. Our politics and our economy are rotten.
I shared a public platform with City Press editor Mondli Makhanya the other day. He insisted that Zuma would be gone before the end of 2017.
“Are you sure?” I asked. Makhanya has a lovely eye for our politics, perhaps particularly in his home province, KwaZulu-Natal. “No question,” he said. “Will people get hurt in the process?” I asked. “Yes, they will,” he said.
So pray for the people taking to the streets to stop state capture. They are up against potent and motivated forces. The prize is a significant industrial economy.
And the propositions? Either we grow, open up the economy and work like hell to ensure all South Africans have a stake in it; or we allow the Zuptas to settle for what is already in place and take as much of it as they can for themselves.
The first proposition requires great sacrifice and immaculate work. We must save and grow the market economy. Having failed to keep in place a fine finance minister, established business now knows it is on the edge. We all know the downgrades are not done.
What has business got left in its tank? It is not in the nature of people running big corporations, or their bankers or lawyers, to be humble. But can business see itself in five, seven years’ time? Is it still doing the same thing? Are boards still mainly white (okay, with black chairs but whites loading the risk, audit and remuneration committees)? Are CEOs still chasing quarterly earnings targets? Really? In a country with 40% unemployment?
Are they still on semipermanent investor roadshows? Does the executive incentive scheme
still pay out after just three years? Does this business care about a sustainable future in SA?
The downgrades have given big business a fright and it is going to get worse on the ground before it gets better. Beyond Zuma’s reach, beyond Julius Malema’s, listen to the relentless hum of a generation of excluded black youngsters bent on the destruction of just about everything they see. Watch our campuses in 2017.
The right response is not, however, to flee but to fight for a principled, ethical and democratic market economy. And for their work, let’s again bless those people standing up — Malema, Mmusi Maimane, Holomisa, Pravin Gordhan and Jonas.
What they want is the discussion Zuma cannot contemplate. How do we
really heal ourselves? Zuma thrives on our divisions and they will be there for many more decades — but not forever. Because we can make a new start, just as Holomisa writes in his note to colleagues: “Our nation yearns for an alternative route towards finding sustainable solutions to our vexing problems and to remove the dark cloud that hangs over our fledgling democracy.”
The disciplined purpose of Holomisa’s convention would be to arrive at a consensus about what we want our political economy to look like. How do we create wealth and how do we distribute it? They are the only questions that matter.
A convention may be a fantasy, and any discussion about a new future is filled with perils. Obviously. But business needs to pitch, and with an open mind. It must bargain for its future. What does it want? More important, what is it prepared to sacrifice to build a new economy? We can make a new country, finally. Business needs to be passionate and imaginative about what it might look like.
OUR NATION YEARNS FOR AN ALTERNATIVE ROUTE TOWARDS FINDING … SOLUTIONS TO OUR VEXING PROBLEMS Bantu Holomisa United Democratic Movement