“The downward slide to doom and gloom”.
It seems that each month when I tap this blog out on my keyboard I start off by commenting on some stupid thing that the idiot Zuma has done or said during the month which hurts everyone in our country except for him and his chosen few.
Despite December being his worst month ever, nevertheless this month I’m not going to say anything nasty about him whatsoever, it’s Christmas after all. Anyway, others have said it for me.
What I do want to do is to speak about how things may not be a dark as they seem and also how we can make the best out of what we have.
Firstly let’s look at what is to me a very bright spot. We’re all pretty confident that the ANC will rig elections whenever they deem it necessary, but just before I left to go overseas earlier this month, I learned that the ANC’s rigging of the results of the controversial by-elections in several Tlokwe Wards, (Wards 1, 4, 11, 12, 13, 18 and 20) back in 2013 were confirmed as “not free and fair” by the Constitutional Court and were set aside. The only down side is that it took 2 years to get the results ‘turned’ and in the meantime those Wards were run by people not voted in. But the ‘bright spot’ is that the rigging was set aside which bodes well for future elections.
Secondly it is clear that the ANC is in trouble. Just in this month alone the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) has said it felt cheated by the ANC after weeks of negotiations around bonus pay, the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) called for the disbandment of the ANC provincial leadership and there is a ruckus in the ranks now that Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza is intending to sue former ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa for defamation. Then there is that scathing open letter written by Trevor Manuel addressed to Small Business Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu, and published in the City Press newspaper.
These, coupled with that silly response by the ANC praising Zuma’s astute leadership when opposition parties called for Zuma’s resignation is enough in itself to see that the party will fall. It’s just a matter of time.
I have already mentioned that I spent a couple of weeks this month in the UK and was in a meeting with the Senior Economy & Tourism Officer of the Exeter City Council when I got the news that the Rand was tumbling. That night the news was all over the UK business newspapers and you can imagine some of the sarcastic comments I got from business associates there.
But I did say that I was going to comment on how we can make the best of what we have.
You will all know the name Alexander Graham Bell (the guy that supposedly invented the telephone but didn’t (it was actually an impoverished Florentine immigrant named Antonio Meucci that invented the telephone) who said “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”
So what door has opened? The door’s name is business. There is no better time to open up a branch of your business in the UK, or better still open a completely separate company earning profits in a stable currency, and at a lower tax rate. And for a very small sum (about R11000 per month now that the Rand has plummeted) your entire business will be managed for you. This will include registration, telephones, website, and staffing. There will be no commitment and no unexpected costs – just new clients paying in pounds.
Take a look at www.bestsuppliers.co.za
It might be the best Christmas present you have ever bought yourself.
Here’s wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a very prosperous 2016. We’ll talk again in January
Peter Veal