That the majority of
South Africa’s Black politicians and business folk behave like unsupervised children
in a chocolate factory doesn’t surprise any pragmatic development analysts[i]
or even the new breed of young Americans like Sade Adebayo[ii].
There are few lights of success shining in SA, a position that is consistent
with the destructive antics of SA’s powerful Black elite.
If the level of anti-social
behaviour[iii]
in SA is not surprising, what is the problem?
It’s their embarrassing
selection of the targets, the amateurish application of theft techniques and
the childish behaviour on being caught. And the quasi-private sector/government shenanigans are just a small part
of it: ‘R296 billion – This is how much the South African government wasted in
5 years’ … My Broadband[iv]
quoting recent findings of Auditor General Makwetu.
As much as South
Africans owe Makwetu for his insights appreciate there is nothing difficult
about auditing beyond doggedness: training and managing audit staff are easy. It isn’t as though they’ll have a
moment of brilliance and solve South Africa’s looming water issues or stop the
banks in their tracks. The gross mismanagement of public funds has to stop
declared Makwetu but even with super-wealthy ‘Marikana’ Ramaphosa’s backing what
can he do - who will perform for him, will things change tomorrow? No.
There have been mumbles about the shortage of (modern)
medical doctors. Now go check the availability of competent mechanical,
electrical, civil, computer, AI, chemical and pharma, mining, industrial, water
and agricultural engineers.
Many of the few South
Africa has are either retiring or leaving. When the quality of the leaders
conducting the theft, corruption exercises and mad decisions are reviewed, why
should they stay? There is no science or sustainability about the ANC-Big
Business alliance. Even that’s not the main problem. Can you see a future without
a few smart people around?
Embattled[v]
Deputy President Mabuza maintains there are
plenty of young folk coming through to handle South Africa’s 4th
Industrial Revolution. What has happened
to the 2nd and 3rd revolutions? All SA has mostly
produced is a surfeit of arty-types being lawyers and personnel managers and
they don’t build bridges or isolate TB remedies. There are precious few real
graduates coming through. That Mabuza said ‘the government will develop a
public-funded science, technology and innovation plan of action over the next
12-18 months’[vi]
has to be 2019 vote-catch nonsense because not only – after 24 years - is the
education system in disarray, SA has dreadfully few young folks[vii]
with the requisite smarts to become
competent STEM practitioners[viii].
And it is doubtful the government even knows who they are, and of those who
they know have the intellect, mostly they are the wrong colour to get jobs … in
SA.
In the US top-drawer
achievers like presenter Larry Elder[ix],
researcher John H. McWhorter[x]
and the academic elder Thomas Sowell are
showing young folk like Coleman Hughes[xi]
that the world needs the folks with the necessary intellectual capacity to move
humanity forward while the rest play ‘economy’. Dr Sowell warns of the plague
of isolation (thinking your group is great)[xii]
and that is assuredly a black South African trait. Add the negative racial
attitudes being fostered at the top and SA cannot hope to survive.
The government can
simply issue certificates … first 10 applicants are doctors, 2nd 10
civil engineers and so on … to sort out the on-paper shortages but people won’t
get healthy, farms will fail, unemployment and unrest will soar further and
imports will go through the roof.
Worldwide only about 17%
of whites potentially have the smarts to make use of the science, technology, engineering
and maths fields competently and only
maybe 2% of black Africans can contribute at that level at this stage. It is
nobody’s fault[xiii]
[xiv]
BUT it is hugely serious though not for the reasons most people think.
The world is facing the
life and death challenges of
·
Incredibly
incompetent politicians running out-of-date systems
·
Climate
Change. It’s here, making itself felt and
·
Technological
advancement (AI) that will revolutionise every field known to people changing the
way we live and die.
In
SA it has been a good laugh but the days of playing the fool, dancing in the
corridors outside a judge’s courtroom, believing
a bank has inexhaustible money, considering government property to be one’s own
by right, making mountains out of sand-castles is over – The era of the
super-smart has arrived and they are needed. In SA.
We should (and individually
I know all South Africans do) wish that those less fortunate have our blessings
but blessings don’t come through affirmative actions or the lowering of entry
standards … advancement that takes the form of accepting the mediocre
performances of others isn’t advancement – it is a bomb waiting to explode[xv].
In South Africa’s
case, where 90% of the politicians and about 80% of the population can only
function to a reasonable level of competency when under sound and loving supervision,
a nationwide national army is the only way. The overwhelmingly black Middle
Class must stand up and do their duty, be the sergeants[xvi].
[i] ‘How Long Will South
Africa Survive?’ is the big Q Professor RW Thompson’s been asking for many
years. I asked the same of the ANC in a 1985 essay and a Cape Town University
lecturer drew a line through every page, refused to mark it, saying I was typically
right-wing.
[ii] Sade Adebayo has interests in medical science, computer science,
and journalism. She comments frequently on AR articles under the name “Cannot
Tell” … https://www.amren.com/news/2015/10/i-am-black-and-a-race-realist/
[iii] ‘Experts say many public officials in Africa seek reelection
because holding office gives them access to the state’s coffers, as well as
immunity from prosecution’
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/corruption-sub-saharan-africa
[v] https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/opinion/editorial/2018-08-09-editorial-cyrils-david-mabuza-problem/
[vi] ‘As we strive to focus on skills development, our government is
placing greater emphasis on science and mathematics that would position us to
acquire necessary skills suited for the knowledge economy,’ he said … really? http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-06/24/c_137276971.htm
[viii] http://www.randalolson.com/2014/06/25/average-iq-of-students-by-college-major-and-gender-ratio/
[ix] https://www.larryelder.com/
[xiii] ‘Unless we wish to start a class action suit against geography or
against the cosmos or the Almighty, we need to stop the pretense that somebody
is guilty whenever the world does not present a tableau that suits our desires
or fits our theories’ … https://www.tsowell.com/spracecu.html
[xiv] It is a biological-genetic thing influenced by thousands of years
of geographical constraints.
[xv] https://mybroadband.co.za/news/government/283121-1998-vs-2018-matric-maths-exams-how-much-easier-it-is-today.html?
