Again, and there isn't much to vote for but there's a lot to vote against. I tend to agree with Peter Bruce that the traditional white DA voter might vote for the anc nationally but stick to their safe DA councillor provincially. The one thing about white people is that they do vote - certainly in the places where I've voted, the queues can go on for a few hours. That's a lot of votes for the DA to lose and the anc to gain. The problem that Cyril faces is that he needs to start making more positive noises and actions in favour of a positive economy. He can't because he has to manage the chaos and decomposition that is the anc.
What about this blog then. I think there'll be a fair amount to write about. The only thing is that it takes a long time to write each post, but I will try. Here are a few things that I will be looking at
- I want to see the business community (both large and small) grow a pair. Their isn't much carpet left here - it's been worn out by this incompetent government.
- It's time to question empowerment legislation. It's now patently clear that all these codes and charters have very little to do with transformation. They are punitive. Transformation is 51% black ownership and nothing else. If you don't want to go that route then you will be bogged down with processes, paperwork and expense whilst your black-owned competitors are plain sailing. Andile Khumalo wrote a wishlist for 2019 and one of the wishes was that state expenditure should only be reserved for black companies - he says remove the 80/20 and 90/10 systems and get the black businesses to compete on price. Obviously this is unfair because a hell lot of white owned businesses pay a lot of tax and should be allowed to compete fairly for state contracts. But I think there's merit to this, if you remove the 90/10 etc system then you remove the PPPFA, which states that any subcontractor that provides more than 25% of the contract must have a similar or better BEE score than the primary contractor. Even if that piece of the PPPFA remains there will always be a 51% black owned subcontractor being bolstered by a white (a word for non-black) company. I think they should go ahead and repeal the PPPFA and black business will only ever be good for contracts to the state - if they compete on price then they won't be able to charge what they have in the past. All that will happen is that black business will become mere agents for other companies with very low margins.
- Those who bleat transformayshin because their procurement decisions are being questioned often have something to hide, and often this is because the decision they have made is illegal, think dud miyeni-years-to-spend-in-jail. I wrote something about Bongani Maseko and Swissport last year, and I quote
Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) chief executive officer (CEO) Bongani Maseko told PowerFM that the company has to be seen to be playing a role in the transformation process.
He says Swissport does not seem to be part of the South African agenda as a trading partner of more 20 years who is not willing to walk the transformation journey with Acsa. He concluded by saying that Acas’s trading partners must respect the company’s transformation imperatives.
The issue that the recipients of state arbitrariness struggle with is not transformation per se. It's the policy uncertainty. And this is a feature of this government. They use platitudes like - we've given you 24 years to transform
So what happened to Bongani - he's been removed. They've fired him, and why you ask?
Maseko, who has served at Acsa for 18 years, has been named in several forensic investigations for alleged misconduct and figured prominently in long-standing concerns over corporate governance at the airports operator, as expressed in a memorandum sent to the board by transport minister Blade Nzimande. Forensic investigators have enumerated a range of irregularities, including corruption, dereliction of duty and violations of the Public Finance Management Act allegedly committed by Maseko and others
What then happens to this Swissport court case? I'd love to know
Now we pin our hopes on Cyril to rebuild this battered economy. As I've said before the first thing he should do is remove bolshie bob. What's that Wayne?
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