SOEs looted not for survival, but out of pure greed
REDEFINED “survival of the fittest” was key to the looting of state-owned enterprises.
Recently I was watching a documentary on animals in China on Netflix. A leopard with two cubs, while hunting, injured her paw on a sharpened rock concealed by snow. This injury affected her ability to hunt effectively.
Knowing that she had to find food for her growing cubs soon, she approached a herd of domesticated animals grazing nearby. The leopard knew that it was her last chance at providing food for her hungry cubs. She approached the closest calf, alongside its mother, and grabbed it at the neck and brought it to the ground.
The calf’s mother instinctively responded and tried to free her offspring by attacking the leopard with her horns. She poked at the leopard with her horns and in the process miraculously managed to pierce the leopard’s chest which caused her to release the calf.
The critically injured leopard had no alternative but to abandon the hunt. She walked away and lay down in the snow with her playful cubs approximately 15 metres higher up, at the top of the mountain, being unaware of their mother’s injuries. The mother died soon thereafter. With no one to feed the small cubs, they died of hunger a few days later. This incident is a shining example of “survival of the fittest”, the ultimate law of the jungle, in action.
As the saying goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. During the time of the cavemen brute force was the criterion or yardstick for “the fittest”. In the modern age, it is reasonable to assume the yardstick for fittest is wisdom, intellect, expertise or skill. Yet, it appears that in our country unethical behaviour such as corrupt dealings has become the new yardstick for “the fittest”. It seems that this factor was key in the looting of most of the state-owned enterprises.
In conclusion, whilst animals will only kill out of necessity when needing to feed their offspring, it is a disgrace that men will loot out of pure greed. ADIEL ISMAIL | Mountview