Meritocracy the only way South Africa, like the Boks, can win

I WANT to echo what Dr Hargey said about the Bok victory (Argus letters 6 November).

South Africa’s downgrade and the Bok victory a few hours later has an ironic connection.

It’s the debate between the ANC’s racial quota system and the opposition’s ideology of liberalism which says that people must be selected on merit.

Siya Kolisi is right, he is not a quota player.

All the black players deserve their place in the side.

In fact, it’s debatable if the Boks would have won were they either a completely white team or even a completely black team.

The same cannot be said of the government.

Many government workers were appointed not because they are competent, but because of the colour of their skin. That’s why we have dysfunctional government, why the trains are coming late, or why Eskom’s boilers and conveyor systems are crashing, etc.

Transformation was too quick. Besides the problem of quotas, many government officials and politicians are still looting with impunity and the government has contradictory socialist and capitalist policies.

These combined reasons – quotas, an extensive culture of looting and socialism – are called the structural factors that are inhibiting growth and leading us into junk status.

Will the ANC reform the way they do business?

I doubt it. It will mean they’ll have to scrap quotas, lock up all the looters, privatise the state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and give up their socialistic and communistic ideology.

The ANC criticises the white male, but then begs the same white male to invest – a contradiction.

Neither can the economy be driven by investment demand alone, it has to be driven by consumption.

No factory owner will expand unless he detects a real increase in aggregate consumption demand.

Otherwise the expansion will just be a white elephant.

That is why President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call for investment will fall on deaf ears. People will only invest if they can make a profit, not to please the president.

The only way forward is scrapping quotas and cadre deployment, privatising the SOEs and improving our governance structures.

These are the policies of the DA, Cope and ACDP, among others.

The obituary of the DA was written too quick.

Their meritocracy and liberal policies can be seen in the way the Boks won.

And this is the only way South Africa will win.

NAUSHAD OMAR | Athlone