By now, damn near everybody knows about the calls for the nationalization of the mines, banks and land by the ANC youth league and various other parties. Personally, I think it's about bloody time, we're 17 years overdue on such initiatives. The way that the land issue has been handled so far (willing buyer-willing seller etc) has been a flaw from the very beginning. If equality is to be realized in our lifetime, then bold steps have to be taken, baby steps wont do. As things stand, South Africa is just a few service-delivery protests away from anarchy. But then I suppose that the first democratic administration had to adopt a softly-softly approach, for the sake of peace, preserving the strength of the economy and to appease the international community. T'was a thin line to walk, really.
However, in our quest for wealth redistribution, we cannot be haphazard in our approach. Reality has to lead the way. And the reality is, the land that was taken away from our forefathers for the sake of mining and farming is not the same land that we want to take back today. Back then, just about everyone lived off the produce of their own land. And, if not, there was always a small shop in the area to cater for the general needs of the community. Times have changed. Very few people live off the produce of their own land. And I'm willing to stick my neck out and say absolutely nobody would like to go back to those times. Currently, our economy is heavily dependent on the mining sector and the resources sector as a whole. In fact, over 45% of the total market capitalization of the JSE comprises solely of the resources sector. The mining companies are always the leaders in whatever the market does on any given day. And, as the recent recession clearly showed, we cannot undermine the effects of the market performance on the rest of the "real" economy. Also, South Africa is a producer of vast amounts of agricultural commodities. Wines, sugar, corn, wheat, you name is, we have it. And this sector employs millions.
Now, clearly, this nationalization matter is not something to be approached with a ndloviyangena attidude. If we're going to take over the mines, banks and the land, than we have to be sure we know what we're going to do with these assets afterwards. So how many black mine managers do we have in the country? How many do we have currently in training, ready to take over the reigns? How many black bankers do we have? Would we be willing to pay these bankers and mine managers the astronomical salaries they are currently being paid by the private sector? More crucially, would we be able to maintain the profitability and productivity that these banks and mines have maintained for centuries.
Regardless of how we may dispise the practices of the apartheid administration, we cannot be blind to the economic behemoth that they created on this continent. Even when there were international oil sanctions against South Africa, the spineless leaders back then said "F**k the world" and created SASOL, our very own petrol producer, the first company to ever produce petrol from coals and a large scale and, currently, the biggest company doing so in the world, by a galactic margin. I can count other companies of South African origin which are now international giants, the likes of SAB, De Beers etc. These economic powerhouses were not built in a short while, and the transfer of their wealth will also not happen overnight. (Sidetrack: If you'd like to know about the more sinister achievements of the apartheid government, I suggest you get yourself a book titled "How South Africa Built Six Atom Bombs" by Al Venter. It's agonizingly boring read, but the facts presented therein will amaze you)
At the end of the day, if we as black South Africans want to really own the factors of economic productivity in this country, we first have to make sure that we have the skills to and the will to run those factors productively and sustainably. I'm sure we have all seen or heard of some farmer who was given a farm to run, and actually ran that farm to the ground. It's the same thing that happened in Zimbabwe after the land grabs started. And even now, many years since that episode and after the adoption of the US dollar as the officially currency, Zimbabwe is nowhere near a full recovery. And it's a well documented fact that the Zimbabwean black population is better educated than the South African black population.
Let's start with the basics first. South Africa has all the necessary resources in order to become an economic powerhouse. But, if we are unable to use those resources effectively, then all our potential will be wasted. Let's capitalize on what we have. Owning a pure pedigree racehorse means nothing if you don't know how to ride it and keep it competitive. Let us ready ourselves ready ourselves to take over the reigns completely. Let us build enterpreneurial and management skills, not just workers who are only qualified to earn just more than minimum wage for the rest of their lives. Then, and only then, can we start making demands for ownership.
I rest,
Mzwandile
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