bekdik
Honorary Master
The Zuma Interview
by Cees Bruggemans
On Tuesday, our esteemed president Zuma gave an interview on CCTV. He was interviewed by the leading CCTV anchor lady, a very competent person in her own right who posed a series of friendly, well-formulated questions, probing what we think we are doing and hope to be doing in SA. And no better person to ask than SA president Zuma visiting China for G20…..
It turns out what we are doing isn't quite what most of us understand to be the SA economy, a mix of hyper-modern private economy, a large public sector and a big informal sector populating large sophisticated urban centra. The Chinese interviewer clearly became more bewildered as the interview progressed, as there didn't seem clear cut answers, only vague airy descriptions without any content. One was left wondering deeply what kind of country SA really was.
Instead, the only Zuma eagerness one noticed was the urge to emulate China. As if our entire population, entire economy, everything, can't wait to copycat the great Chinese examples. As if our economy doesn't have its own character, strengths and weaknesses, inherent abilities waiting to be exploited better. Such as a private sector waiting for a supportive public sector and political dispensation feeding a greater sense of common confidence in who we are and what we do, so that there might be more investment commitment.
Or our huge structural weaknesses such as a failing education system, failing public sector governance, strained labour relations, overly much regulatory interference and title uncertainty in pivotal sectors such as mining.
Not the foggiest notion? Or interest in our private enterprise? Instead, this total mesmerized fixation with things China, puzzling even the lady interviewer. For how to connect the SA wheels? Just wildly gesticulating hands and arms in the air doesn't create any worthwhile concept communicating ideas about what we are about. Instead, we don't seem to be about anything.
Personally, I found it a very upsetting interview. It tells me our head of state, aside of having heard of the NDP, hasn't got the first inkling how our economy operates, and what it needs desperately to perform better. Instead this fixation with being something totally different from what we really are. So no wonder then that we find ourselves in the spot where we are.
Clearly, the next pair of hands should at least have a working knowledge of the SA economy, what it needs and what it will be getting, aside of emulating China blindly. As if at all relevant. As the lady interviewer was also struggling to grasp. And she no fool, as many other interviews have shown.
That is, if we are serious about getting the SA economy back in working order, back on its feet again, addressing its deep issues while lifting average incomes and household living standards much higher than the present.
As to how we feature at Brics, or G20, one can only wonder. And we shouldn't be the least surprised why a Putin saw a gap here. So rich, for the taking.
Cees Bruggemans
Bruggemans & Associates, Consulting Economists
Video Here...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGpZkAWbtac
by Cees Bruggemans
On Tuesday, our esteemed president Zuma gave an interview on CCTV. He was interviewed by the leading CCTV anchor lady, a very competent person in her own right who posed a series of friendly, well-formulated questions, probing what we think we are doing and hope to be doing in SA. And no better person to ask than SA president Zuma visiting China for G20…..
It turns out what we are doing isn't quite what most of us understand to be the SA economy, a mix of hyper-modern private economy, a large public sector and a big informal sector populating large sophisticated urban centra. The Chinese interviewer clearly became more bewildered as the interview progressed, as there didn't seem clear cut answers, only vague airy descriptions without any content. One was left wondering deeply what kind of country SA really was.
Instead, the only Zuma eagerness one noticed was the urge to emulate China. As if our entire population, entire economy, everything, can't wait to copycat the great Chinese examples. As if our economy doesn't have its own character, strengths and weaknesses, inherent abilities waiting to be exploited better. Such as a private sector waiting for a supportive public sector and political dispensation feeding a greater sense of common confidence in who we are and what we do, so that there might be more investment commitment.
Or our huge structural weaknesses such as a failing education system, failing public sector governance, strained labour relations, overly much regulatory interference and title uncertainty in pivotal sectors such as mining.
Not the foggiest notion? Or interest in our private enterprise? Instead, this total mesmerized fixation with things China, puzzling even the lady interviewer. For how to connect the SA wheels? Just wildly gesticulating hands and arms in the air doesn't create any worthwhile concept communicating ideas about what we are about. Instead, we don't seem to be about anything.
Personally, I found it a very upsetting interview. It tells me our head of state, aside of having heard of the NDP, hasn't got the first inkling how our economy operates, and what it needs desperately to perform better. Instead this fixation with being something totally different from what we really are. So no wonder then that we find ourselves in the spot where we are.
Clearly, the next pair of hands should at least have a working knowledge of the SA economy, what it needs and what it will be getting, aside of emulating China blindly. As if at all relevant. As the lady interviewer was also struggling to grasp. And she no fool, as many other interviews have shown.
That is, if we are serious about getting the SA economy back in working order, back on its feet again, addressing its deep issues while lifting average incomes and household living standards much higher than the present.
As to how we feature at Brics, or G20, one can only wonder. And we shouldn't be the least surprised why a Putin saw a gap here. So rich, for the taking.
Cees Bruggemans
Bruggemans & Associates, Consulting Economists
Video Here...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGpZkAWbtac
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