The Soapbox | Where South Africans Speak Out

BY FREEMAN

The Daily Maverick recently came up with its version of last week Thursday night’s State of the Nation address delivered by President Jacob Zuma entitled, “President Zuma’s State of the Nation address – as it should be”.

Writing for the Maverick, the ever pragmatic Stephen Grootes presented what in most affable circles would pass as, well, a jolly sensible speech ol’ boy.

Alas, Grootes’ liberal pragmatism sounds wonderful on the surface to the average mug, but, is mostly just pragmatic bloviation embedded in a silver tongue.

While Grootes’ speech clearly aims at something within the realms of reality, and is undoubtedly far superior to what will surely be a dull, predictable, and poorly delivered oratorical nullity on Thursday night, it nevertheless, like all political speeches, leaves far too much to be desired to be considered anyone’s ideal.  Surely the Maverick could have come up with something a little zingier?

Maybe Grootes was trying to be as realistic as possible, given that the ANC actually controls power and that Zuma, not Grootes, would be delivering the speech to a hoard of seething commies, unionists, and persistently irritating Fabian socialists.  Perhaps Grootes was trying his hand at hopeful realism, envisaging what might just be possible for a president that, in reality, will try his utmost to placate the more boorish factions of the tripartite ‘alliance’ while at the same time endeavour to appeal, reluctantly, to those unlovable but ultimately important bunch who actually build and create stuff, business.

Why else would Grootes advocate an exemption from labour legislation for companies employing less than 100 people, but not for those employing more than 100?  If liberalising labour law is good for some, surely it’s good for all?

Why else would the writer bother to insert that start-up companies be exempt from all labour law except regulations on working hours, of all things?  As if employers are a band of rapacious sweaty-toothed bloodshot-eyed imperialists out to replicate the conditions of soot-encrusted 19^th century Dickensian factory-hovels… were it not for those pesky working hours laws!

Why else would Grootes’ Zuma say, “we need to first get everyone jobs, and decent jobs”?  Is it really the state’s job to get us all jobs?  And, pray tell, what is a decent job?

Why else would Zuma in Grootes Land speak of engaging private electricity companies to “hear their concerns and suggestions” rather than scrap in one mighty foul swoop and swish of the pen all existing energy regulation, with a sunset clause on NERSA (the national ‘energy regulator’) lasting approximately 1 day to give employees time to clear their desks, and announcing with immediate effect the sale of every existing functioning power station to private vendors?

To be fair to Mr Grootes and the usually superb, although sometimes compromising, The Daily Maverick, there are a few good points which our fantasy Zuma makes.  Liberalising labour law in any fashion can only be a good thing, getting rid of affirmative action in public services (which I think Grootes subtly implies) is a great step away from utter mediocrity toward meritocracy, and resisting moves to a National Healthcare Insurance Scheme is vital for maintaining any semblance of sanity in the healthcare debate otherwise overrun by excitable lefties envisaging healthcare Cuba-style, where healthcare rocks but nothing else rolls.

So, with that, below is what Human Action thinks Zuma should say to the nation on Thursday night.  Before that, just a few quick points up front:

1. Why do our presidents still give speeches in English?  Zuma should speak in Zulu or Zotho (Zulu and Sotho slang) and any other black-African language that would allow the bulk of the nation to truly understand him.
2. Zuma should split his speech into two parts: One part for the average Joe out there, and one part for the more sophisticated business and investor class.  He could speak English in part two as it is the de facto language of business.
3. Get radical.  Zuma needs to get off that predictable snooze-script and get proper Zulu on us!  That’s right, South Africa’s problems aren’t polite-English-garden-high-tea problems, they’re ugly-deep-guttural-get-down-in-the-mud problems and they require, first and foremost, ugly-deep-guttural-get-down-in-the-mud presidential speeches.  Enough pansying about.  SA doesn’t need stable, softy soft policies that keep everyone happy.  Zuma, while he still has some political capital, should use the speech to ram home what really needs to be done in SA to move past the stultifying political correctness, move past the mediocrity, and move past the drudgery of conventional politics.

The President’s 2010 State of the Nation Address – as it REALLY should be:

Part 1: Message to the People
(In Zulu with English subtitles for TV audience)

Greetings my fellow partners in freedom!  Are you ready for an explosive 2010?!

Amandla!! (response Awethu!!) Amandla!! (response Awethu!!)

Viva freedom, Viva! (response Viva!!)

Viva freedom, Viva! (response Viva!!)

We stand at the edge of greatness my comrades, for 2010 will be the start of the second revolution of this nation!  No more will we be slaves to tyranny.  No more will we accept laws of discrimination.  No more will we accept second best for this beautiful nation.  No more will we accept poverty in our midst.  No more will we labour under hopelessness and corrupt leadership.

My fellow lovers of freedom and freedom-fighters, what started in 1994 must be finished now.  The half-freedom we attained due to the heroic struggles of our fathers and comrades must be turned into the full-freedom that we deserve and deeply desire.

It is not the African way to be bound in chains.  Our slave brothers and sisters broke free from their chains in North America, and all African countries today have broken free of the burdens of systematic racial and imperial oppression.  African’s always choose freedom over slavery and oppression, and once more we must bravely choose the same.

To this we say,

Amandla!! (response Awethu!!) Amandla!! (response Awethu!!)

Viva freedom, Viva! (response Viva!!)

Viva freedom, Viva! (response Viva!!)

We are a people who have always defeated adversity.  At Isandlwana the brave Zulu warriors crushed an invasion of tyranny in their land as they showed that the desire for freedom can be, and is, more powerful than guns and cannons.  Boer men and woman overcame adversity when they trekked inland in search of their own freedom to live and prosper as they pleased.  The 1820 British settlers defeated adversity when a few weather-beaten souls arrived on the barren shores of the Eastern Cape with only a few seeds and no farming implements and by the sweat of their brow made the land produce for them.  And, most importantly, people of all races, blacks, whites, coloureds and those of Asian decent, overcame the adversity of a tyrannical, fascist, apartheid state bent on total control of people’s lives, thoughts, economic actions and morality.  Long may that spirit of tyranny lie destroyed in the scrap-heap of history!

Amandla!! (response Awethu!!) Amandla!! (response Awethu!!)

Yes, indeed, we are a naturally free people, and we will rip off the shackles of tyranny wherever it arises and whatever subtle and cunning disguise it adorns.

To this end I say NO to a government that keeps growing and fat-cats that keep enriching themselves at the expense of the nation.  For too long this government, the government in whom you had higher hopes and ideals for in 1994, has been squandering money, your money, people who work hard every day to put food on the table for their families.  This has to stop today. Indeed this will stop with immediate effect.

• The size of Government will be cut in half in 2010 and tax money given back to those who really know how to spend it – the people.
• The entire government debt of 30% of our GDP will be fully repaid by the end of my term.  It is a trap and drag on prosperity.  Government will live within its means. My Finance Minister will see to it that he scraps all forecasts of deficits at next week’s budget statement.  From now on until the national debt is repaid, this great and free republic runs budget surpluses!
• The current tax structure will be scrapped and a uniform flat rate tax of 10% adopted for all income earners, in line with many other developing economies from the Americas to Eastern Europe.
• Government will fit to the size of the tax collection not fit the tax collection to the size of government!

Along with a smaller government it is time to get serious about creating real employment opportunities in this country.  For too long we have believed the lie that government can and must create jobs.  This cannot ever be true because government doesn’t produce anything and only spends what it can tax.  No, we can only rely on businessmen and businesswomen, from the small entrepreneurs running spaza shops in Diepsloot, to the large companies in our major cities that have helped build this country to what it is today.  These are the real engines of growth and jobs, not government.

These engines of growth need a supply of hard working productive labour that is paid what it is worth.  From today a new reality begins, one where government stops pretending it can create economic prosperity, and one where we finally take the handbrake off the real heroes in our new democracy: the entrepreneurs and business owners who sometimes risk everything they have.

• Following the budget speech from the Finance Minister on the 17^th February, the company tax rate will be reduced from 28% to 10%.
• Labour legislation will be completely scrapped and common contractual law and criminal law will be the sole recourse for business and labour within the workplace.
• There will no longer be legislation governing how much maternal leave an employer has to give, how many hours a worker must work, or how much holiday and sick leave an employer must give.  All labour law scrapped!
• Free adults in South Africa are mature enough to strike up their own contracts and government has no place telling you where you can and cannot work or who you can and cannot hire or fire.  To this end, affirmative action and BEE legislation will be totally repealed.  It is surely embarrassing for non-whites that we feel we have had to resort to the same repulsive tactics in the workplace as the architects of apartheid once did to give ourselves an unfair advantage.
• Unions will remain free to operate as they always have.  Freedom of association is a fundamental right.  There shall be no more need for special laws governing strike action.  Any group of people should be free to down tools and protest against unfair treatment.  Illegal strikes are a thing of the past.  Viva the right to strike for any reason, Viva!
• However, while workers are to have full freedom to strike, they must not forget that their unemployed brothers and sisters who are worse of than them would be very grateful for any job, even their job, and employers have the right to hire their unemployed brothers and sisters in their place should they wish.
• The minimum wage is legalised discrimination and will be abolished as soon as parliament next sits in session.  The minimum wage says that if you can’t produce R1800 per month of value then you are not fit to work.  This hideous policy of discrimination against the most vulnerable and most uneducated in our society must be wiped away and never return.

Our municipal infrastructure is a mess and national basic services are crumbling.  This administration will not make the same mistakes as were made in the past.

• Before the end of my fist term as president, all road, rail, electricity and water infrastructure will be sold and maintained and operated for profit by private vendors.
• Within four years there will be no such thing as an SOE, or State Owned Enterprise, otherwise known as ‘parastatals’.  Barbara Hogan’s primary function now will be winding up her portfolio and taking all these assets off the states books.
• The highest priority on the list will be Eskom.  All Eskom assets will be 100% privately owned within 2 years.

The changes made to our police service have seen an improvement, but if we are honest with ourselves criminals will always stay ahead of us under the current system of policing.  It’s time to put power back where it belongs – in the hands of the people!

Amandla! (response Awethu!)

Down with criminals, down! (response Down!)

The community is the best police force in the country.  How can the police save you when your home is under attack? How can they protect you when they are sitting in their police department and not in your street?  How can they save your life when they are not anywhere to be seen?

They cannot!

• With immediate effect the state shall relinquish control over arms.  No licence is required to own and operate a firearm.  Communities must endeavour to become better armed and better skilled in the use of lethal weapons.  For too long have violent criminals had free reign to terrorise communities.  In future violent criminals will not find it so easy!
• We will with immediate effect privatise policing and will disband the police force entirely by the end of my first term.  There is no reason why privately paid men and woman cannot act in the best interests of their communities and be the first line of defence.

Umshini wami mshini wami
khawuleth’umshini wami
Umshini wami mshini wami,
khawuleth’umshini wami
Umshini wami mshini wami,
khawuleth’umshini wami
khawuleth’umshini wami
Wen’uyang’ibambezela
umshini wami, khawuleth’umshini wami

Part 2: Message to Business and Investors
(In English with Sotho subtitles)
Short and to the point

This is a short message to business people and investors of all kinds.  From the small Zozo maker and his township financier, to the high flyers of local and international finance, our message to you is the same – do business!

Do business wherever you can.  Make profits and hire labour freely.  Invest in productive capital.  We will no longer tax capital gains.  We will no longer tax investment income.  We will no long tax interest income.

As I have said already in part 1 of my address, personal taxes will be slashed to a flat rate of 10%, as will corporate taxes.  However we recognise that corporate taxes are simply passed on to consumers anyway who end up paying an extra tax through higher prices.  People don’t need to pay more taxes than they already do, so within 10 years the corporate tax will be completely phased out – zip, nada, zero-%.

This administration acknowledges that for too long business and investors have been sent the wrong message.  That stops today.  The message is clear, you are free to do business, free to start up a business and start trading without government approval and any red tape.  All capital controls will be lifted.  There is no limit to how much money anyone can bring into the country or take out.  All ‘employment equity’ requirements are scrapped!

Our five main points to business are as follows:

1. We will scrap the inflation target and instead target an unchanging money supply.  This will be part of a move toward a fully gold-backed currency.
2. We will remove all capital controls.
3. The state has no currency policy other than to move toward a commodity backed currency.
4. There will be full privatisation of the economy with no bailouts – ever.
5. Labour legislation is to be scrapped.

Government states emphatically that the business of South Arica is business!  We humbly say to all entrepreneurs and investors that you, along with those you employ, are the true creators of wealth in this society.  Government never has and never will create wealth, and we certainly should not be trying to.

Concluding remarks:
(In Zulu again)

It is the priority of this government to aid each and every citizen, without prejudice, in the protection of their life, liberty and property.  But it is first and foremost every citizen’s responsibility to do these things.  The state is not your mother or your father, the state is part of society not separate from it.  Government is here to govern, not dominate by force or legislative decree according to its whims and desires.

It’s time to finish what we started in 1994.  It’s time to complete the revolution.  It’s time for real freedom.

Viva South Africa, Viva!  Long live South Africa, long live!!

I thank you.

Tags: economic policy, jacob zuma, job creation, state of the nation, stephen grootes, the daily maverick