18 January 2013

Day 176: Will the Elite Manipulate the Public to Push for Privatization in EMC?

For context, please read:

Strike to hit SAA on eve of Afcon
http://www.iol.co.za/business/business-news/strike-to-hit-saa-on-eve-of-afcon-1.1454062#.UPmk0PJBmSo

(SAA = South African Airways)
(Afcon = African Cup of Nations - Soccer)

The Problem

"The company dismissed claims that it was planning retrenchments, saying these statements were merely meant to cause harm.

SAA tried to avert the strike last week by reaching an interim agreement with the union, even though it recognised only Satawu as a majority union. When SAA acting chief executive Vuyisile Kona met NTM on January 11, he promised to resolve the dispute.

However, SAA backtracked on this commitment and the acting chairwoman, Lindi Nkosi-Thomas, said Kona had acted outside his mandate.

The union said this conflicting communication from SAA showed that the board chairwoman was “undermining her chief executive”.

Two weeks ago the government rescued SAA with a R550 million emergency loan to cover fuel costs, averting the grounding of its planes. Last year the National Treasury and the Department of Public Enterprises signed off a R5 billion guarantee to help the company with its financial troubles.

SAA has undergone drastic leadership changes in the past few months. Siza Mzimela bailed out as chief executive in October last year and several executives followed her. The board was also overhauled. This occurred while SAA was in the middle of exploring new aircraft deals to replace its ageing fleet and modifying its routes to focus more on Africa.
"

What is busy happening here is an example of how the elite is manipulating the public to ask for privatization. The Public Image is being destroyed through ineffective management. You can watch the documentary 'Catastroika' and 'La lluvia tambien' to see how the same techniques have been used in other countries. The idea is to prove that the public sector will always be inefficient and therefore as many companies as possible require to be privatized. Once the privatization happens, prices sky-rocket and the services and goods that were once agreed to belong to the public, will now be reserved to a much smaller group of people who can afford to pay the higher prices.

The Solution

Goods and Services that are a Basic Human Right cannot be put up for auction where only the highest bidders can access them. Within EMC - basic human rights will be provided to each one and will be provided by government, funded by taxes. The inefficiency of public companies is firstly often orchestrated to get the public to demand privatization, having the population play right into the hands of the elite - and, secondly, corruption plays a major role. Within EMC - privatization of basic human rights will not be permissible by law as it violates the Constitutional Principle of Equality. In terms of corruption, politics within EMC will be far more transparent than what it is now and politicians will have a much smaller role to play. You can read up on these points at www.equalmoney.org/wiki/Politics.

The Rewards

Obviously - everyone benefits from having their basic human rights met. When we have money, we don't realize or consider what it means to live in lack of the simple commodities and services such as having a decent house, having good healthcare, receiving proper education, clean water and so on. The simple truth is that without these things life is not worth living; it becomes a struggle - and I'm sure everyone would agree that life as a struggle is not what one would wish for oneself. Consider the changes this simple guarantee would bring about:
No more stress about having an unstable income and not being able to make ends meet
No more feeling guilty for not being able to afford proper education for your child
No more prostitution as a means of survival
No more vultures trying to take away what belongs to you
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