Economist's Journey to Life: South Africa

Showing posts with label South Africa. Show all posts

02 September 2015

Welcoming New Life with Living Income Guaranteed

9:57 PM abandoned, babies, baby safe, birth, dead, financal security, kwazulu natal, lig, Living Income Guranteed, newborn, parenting, pietermaritzburg, poverty, pregnancy, society, South Africa, unemployment No comments

Day 265: We’ve Got Blood on our Hands

10:31 AM ANC, bargaining power, Cyril Ramaphosa, EFF, Juju, Julius Malema, lig, living income guaranteed, Marikana, need higher wages, South Africa, strike No comments

“Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema and party chief whip Floyd Shivambu accused Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa during a question and answer session in the National Assembly on Wednesday of killing the 34 mineworkers police shot dead in August 2012 in Marikana, saying he has blood on his hands and calling on him to accept responsibility for the deaths.” (For the full article, see: http://mg.co.za/article/2014-09-17-eff-ramaphosa-has-blood-on-his-hands?utm_source=Mail+%26+Guardian&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily+newsletter&utm_term=http%3A%2F%2Fmg.co.za%2Farticle%2F2014-09-17-eff-ramaphosa-has-blood-on-his-hands )

For context on the Marikana shootings:

“The Marikana miners' strike or Lonmin strike was a wildcat strike at a mine owned by Lonmin in the Marikana area, close to Rustenburg, South Africa in 2012. The event garnered international attention following a series of violent incidents between the South African Police Service, Lonmin security, and strikers themselves among who the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) emerged through intimidation, violence and killings that mostly affected the members and leaders of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). The NUM attributed the decline it experienced to the intimidation, violence and killings, and as a result of these, also the displacements of workers from work and their communities. This resulted in the deaths of 44 people, the majority of whom (34) were striking mineworkers killed on 16 August while 10, including 2 police officers and 2 private security guards, were killed between 10 and 11 August. At least 78 additional workers were also injured on 16 August. The total number of injuries during the strike remains unknown. Killings did not stop, but continued up to 2014, mostly affecting NUM members and leaders. In addition to the Lonmin strikers, there has been a wave of wildcat strikes across the South African mining sector.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcat_strike_action)

EFF leadership is out on a witch-hunt to find the one responsible for the deaths of the mineworkers during the Marikana strike and bring about justice – more so, they believe they know who is at fault and are demanding Cyril Ramaphosa to take responsibility.

Is it so? Is the Deputy President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, a murderer? Does he have blood on his hands? Is he responsible for the deaths of 34 people?

Of course he is.

But then again, who isn’t?

Who is responsible for the killings during this violent strike? The policemen who did the shooting? The union workers who were striking without the authorization of the union leadership? The ANC as the party in power? The people who voted the ANC into power? The system that created the conditions in which mineworkers felt the need to go strike to demand better wages? Or… all of us? For not preventing conflict where it could have been foreseen, for not preventing harm where it could have been predicted, for not preventing desperation that would obviously lead to compromise?

Let me ask you this: for all those who are leading relatively comfortable lives – enough to sustain yourselves, your family, with means of transportation, a decent house, access to technology for easy communication such as phones, computers, internet, a job that may not be ideal but doesn’t pose a threat to your life – how much would someone need to pay you to take up a job as a mineworker? Is there any amount someone can offer you that would make you say ‘yes, cool, if you pay me that much, I’ll leave my current job and start working in a mine’?

Answering that question for myself: No, there is no amount high enough that would sway me to go and work underground, digging up materials in less than pleasant and potentially dangerous conditions. Of course, I can only make that statement because I have alternatives. If I had no alternatives, no other means to generate an income while perhaps having others depending on me for support – and working in a mine would provide me that income – then ‘hell yeah’, you do what you have to. But is that acceptable? Is it acceptable that people find themselves in such a position, where it is desperation driving them to accept a job that, if they had other means of income, they would never place their lives and their health on the line?

It is possible of course that some genuinely love mine-working – I cannot say – but then wouldn’t you say that they require a salary worthy of heroes? Because in terms of South Africa’s economy – gold and platinum is what is keeping us going. And it is the mineworkers who herein have the toughest part to play – putting in the actual physical labor so that there is a mining industry that is really the backbone of our economy. Firefighters are considered heroes because they place their life on the line in the attempt to save others’ – which is really exactly the same for mineworkers. Why do they not have the same status in society and why is that not reflected in their wages?

With implementing a Living Income Guaranteed for all those who are unemployed – a living wage sufficient to take care of your living necessities – and placing the minimum wage at double the living income – here we have a first step towards both ensuring no one accepts a job that they wouldn’t do if they had alternatives as well as moving towards proper wages for those who do decide to continue working in a mine – giving them also more bargaining power, because hey, they can quit and receive a Living Income too – you better take care of your heroes.

Day 242: The EFF and Land Redistribution in South Africa

10:40 PM ANC, BEE, big, black economic empowerment, economics, EFF, equitable distribution, Julius Malema, land reform, living income, living income guaranteed, mines, nationalisation, politics, poverty, South Africa 1 comment

The EFF (Economic Freedom Fighters) in South Africa, under the leadership of Julius Malema, are placing some very cool points on their political manifesto. One of them is to nationalise resources, including financial intermediaries and the South African Reserve Bank. Reserve Banks being the institution that steers monetary policy in an economy should by principle be in the hands of the people and not an independent point where so-called experts apparently have the right to do what they think is best. Such points are too important to exclude from public decision-making.

Another point they insist on is the redistribution of land as land is so extremely skewly owned in SA at the moment as an outcome of colonisation and apartheid. To pretend that such huge disadvantage will simply 'fix itself' is delirious. Herein, the EFF wants a full audit to find out how much land is available and what it is being used for - where, land that is wasting away would be re-appropriated and put to proper use. Having this information mapped out would obviously be able to significantly speed up the process of equitable land distribution.

The problem comes in with the call to start occupying land as a statement of 'taking what's ours'.

"The position is that we are expropriating without compensation. We want that to be an act [of law], and before it becomes an act, our people should begin the process of occupying the land.”

Encouraging and enticing people to take the law in one's own hands will inevitably lead the country into disorder, chaos and conflict. Taking such route to increase the popularity vote without consideration for the repercussions is only a sign of immaturity and a lack of understanding of what true leadership entails. Within the international community no-one would take such leadership seriously as it undermines the very political and legal system that it is supposed to derive its legitimacy from.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/State-must-own-SA-Reserve-Bank-EFF-20130720

Day 199: For How Long Will You Take this Crap? -- Investigate EMC as a Real Solution

11:08 PM budget, EMC, government intervention, government spending, katastroika, pravin gordhan, priorities, privatisation, social grants, South Africa, taxation, tight-belt budget, Zuma No comments

The South African minister of finance, Pravin Gordhan, presented the 2013/2014 budget.

The budget is referred to as a 'tight-belt budget' and the minister reminds everyone how badly the economy is performin, how we're all subject to it and that there's just no way around it, but to accept the conditions.

So, when we look at social grants - the following is the best they could do:

"Social grants are going up, but not by much. Old age and disability grants increase in April from R1 200 a month to R1 260, foster care grants will go up from R770 to R800 and child support from R290 to R300."

If you consider how prices will go up, including the tax on petrol, these increases mean absolutely nothing. If anything, those dependent on social grants will be worse off in the coming year.

Now - read the following two blogs:

Day 178: Zuma says to benefactors: "Everything you touch will multiply" - EMC will End Corruption

Day 142: Presidents under Fire

Now you have an idea of how come there isn't enough money for social support. I mean - that's the main purpose of government intervention, isn't it? To correct the unjust conditions created by the free market and to make sure everyone is well off. When it comes to deciding how much of the available government funds should be allocated for that purpose, personal self-interest overrides any compassion.

Self-interest overrides compassion every day in every country - more and more you will hear the same song, the same message: government doesn't have enough funds - sorry guys, nothing to be done! And as the population endures more and more suffering, the ideal justification is created to sell of national assets and enter the age of Privatisation - ask Greece and Spain how well it is working for them. It is spreading in Europe and the plot thickens in South Africa.

Start investigating Equal Money Capitalism as a viable and real solutions to the scams we have to put up with every day. If we leave it up to 'the big guys', nothing will happen. So, join the forum at www.equalmoney.org/forum and find out what you can do to support.

Source: http://www.google.co.za/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pressdisplay.com%2Fpressdisplay%2Fviewer.aspx%3Fissue%3D69122013022800000000001001%26page%3D1%26article%3Daa1b0d6f-cdd9-45ad-8568-bac891c85aff%26key%3DlrJ%2B8W1WJhorvjCLd6Ncdw%3D%3D%26feed%3Drss&ei=ZLgzUaq-Eamw0QXN04GwBA&usg=AFQjCNH0_5deeqlbdp6jgqm1uMtsf3DR2w&sig2=MhzS_fms3IjmTmjNkI8Isg&bvm=bv.43148975,d.d2k&cad=rja

Day 185: Students feel fee squeeze

9:43 AM bernardpoolman, capitalism, child, desteni, education, employment, eqafe, equal money capitalism, fees, human rights, schooling, South Africa, teamlife, University of Cape Town No comments

“More matriculants than ever are seeking to enter the tertiary fold owing to an increasing matric pass rate. The pass rate has increased from 60.6% in 2009 to 73.9% for the class of 2012.
The percentage of students who quality for bachelor studies have also increased over the past five years, from 20.1% in 2008 to 26.6% in 2012.
But as university costs increase above inflation every year, students will need deep pockets before they can put on their graduation gowns.
At the University of Cape Town, the average bachelor of commerce degree has increased by about 40% over the past four years.”

“According to Gouws, if your child is born today, you will need to start saving R1 500 a months now for public schooling and a three-year degree and increase that annually to match inflation”.

- Mamello Masote, Money & Careers - Sunday Times, February 3, 2013

If you take into consideration median wage (not the average wage – which stands at about R 16 586 - since income is so unevenly distributed where the bottom 50% takes home less than 8% of the countries income, while the top 10% brings in 60% -- this number is not representative of what the ‘average’ person received as income) which is around R3000 a month – then how they hell is the bulk of the population supposed to support their children in receiving an education?

If 25% of the population is unemployed and where from the other 75% that is employed receive a median income of R3000 (which means 50% of that 75% receives less than R3000!) and you need R1500 per child to provide them with an education that might get them a job – that’s one bleak future for the children of South Africa.

Why are education costs so high for a country trying to battle unemployment? Are they deliberately setting up the market for labour to under produce skilled workers, because there’s simply not enough jobs anyway? So instead of acknowledging that the system doesn’t work, we can simply blame the uneducated population for not being skilled enough to fill in job positions. Because as long as people don’t get to that level of education, then the problem of there not being enough jobs can stay hidden.

In Equal Money Capitalism, Education will be part of one’s Basic Human Rights and thus guaranteed for all. The same goes for Employment as being one’s entry point to securing one’s well being through income. Currently there are not enough jobs because we are only focusing on jobs that will bring in profit. Within Equal Money Capitalism, jobs and job creation will no longer be tied to profit – but tied to Life – and in terms of supporting Life, there’s a lot of work to be done and so enough jobs will be available for all.

Imagine living a world where your Life and your Children’s lives are ensured. Where you do not have to slave away and deprive yourself just to be able to offer your children the slightest chance to a future. The implementation of Equal Money Capitalism will do exactly that. With a system of Equal Money Capitalism, you can prepare yourself for a worry-free life of financial struggle and focus on what really matters, where more time and resources will be available to enjoy your family and participate in social events, while your children can enjoy high quality education.

For more blogs on Equal Money Capitalism, click here.

Day 182: Will we be Feeding the Fat Cats in Equal Money Capitalism?

10:51 PM basic necessities, capitalism, cost of living, electricity bills, EMC, equal money capitalism, Eskom, fat cats, greed, inequality, living standard, neo-apartheid, price hikes, salaries, South Africa, wages No comments

Eskom, the South African electricity provider, has been saddling its customers with massive price increases and more to come:

"One of the reasons Eskom is applying for an electricity hike is because the average annual salary of one of its employees is expected to be R820,000 in 2017 and 2018, according to a report on Saturday.

Beeld newspaper reported that Eskom’s total salaries for about 45,600 employees at that time would be about R37 billion.

These figures are one of the reasons Eskom gave to the National Energy Regulatory of SA (Nersa) as part of its request to increase electricity tariffs from April 1, with 16% for the next five years.

Beeld reported that the information was part of Eskom’s submissions handed in to Nersa.

In the documents Eskom claimed that in the current book year, the average salary per worker is R633,000 annually.

According to the documents, the reason for the high salaries was because new power stations needed more employees, and there was need to get more skilled workers and to keep them.

However, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA’s Karl Cloete told Beeld that their members at Eskom do not get salaries like that.

“We want to see who gets paid so much that the average is so high.

“We do know that Eskom’s top-managers have been getting big bonuses and increases in the past decade,” Cloete said.

Investment Solutions economist Chris Hart told the newspaper that no company in the private sector could afford to pay salaries like that.

Eskom’s spokeswoman Hillary Joffe did not deny the proposed salary increase.

Nersa is expected to announce Eskom’s tariff increase on February 28."

Source: http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/business/2013/01/28/eskom-price-hike-to-pay-for-salary-increases

The Problem

Obviously, here we have a classic case of Greed Capitalism, where the greed of a minority is being paid for by the majority. Electricity is something everyone needs and most will pay for it even if the price is insanely high - if people can't pay for it, they'll steal it - which is very common in South Africa. Obviously, most workers at Eskom don't earn over half a million Rand in a year - but some earn much more than that. These high salaries have to be paid for by the consumers.

And this situation is played by the book of Capitalism - you're allowed to make a profit and you're supposed to make as high a profit as you can. If your demand is high at really high prices, then - by all means - make your prices high - even if you can't always meet the demand in terms of supply.

With commodities like Electricity, which has become a basic necessity in our society, the demand will not change much in relation to price changes - and therefore, this point is easily taken advantage of.

The Solution

Each one who contributes to the provision of a particular good or a particular service in a company should receive an equal wage - because each one is a necessary participant within the process. It's not because one is doing physical labor while another is handling management that the one should earn more or less than the other. If you don't have people doing the physical labor, you can't provide the good/service - and, in the same way, if you don't have people managing all the operations, the provision of goods and services will be impossible, or at least highly inefficient.

When each one receives an equal income - prices can be calculated in such a way that each participant/each worker in the company receives an equal share of the profit and that, with this income, each one is able to live a successful and fulfilling life.

The Reward

In correcting this one point of how prices are determined in Equal Money Capitalism, you'll find that no matter what good or service, you'll never be able to take advantage of the fact that a good or service is in high demand by charging ridiculous prices. Isn't the whole point of companies and businesses to make life easier and to manage resources in an effective way? This correction/solution will make sure that this is what businesses and companies are really about.

Day 179: Resource-ism, not racism, lies behind SA's race talk

1:06 PM desteni, discrimination, economics, EMC, eqafe, equalmoneycapitalism, inequality, land, problem, racism, rainbow nation, resource-ism, resources, reward, solution, South Africa, teamlife No comments

For more context please read:

Resource-ism, not racism, lies behind SA's race talk

The Problem:

“The issue is not about racism anymore, but that's how it comes across because resources are still divided along racial lines in South Africa. It is about resource-ism. Who has the easiest access to resources, who has the greatest means and who benefits the most from them? This is what is causing the greatest unease in South Africa. We talk about the past because the past has a direct correlation to resource-ism and access to those resources.

What we need to do as a country is embark on a very deliberate effort to ensure that we combat resource-ism. We can do that by ensuring that more people have opportunity and access.”
http://mg.co.za/article/2013-01-17-resource-sim-not-racism-lies-behind-sas-race-talk

Currently in South Africa, massive inequality it still a huge problem. Whenever the issue of inequality is addressed on say the news or the radio – it always comes down to racism, about “black versus white”. What is often not mentioned is that inequality in South Africa, and all over the world for that matter – goes beyond race and is essentially a money issue: a resource access issue.

In the case of South Africa, the unequal distribution of resources as a result of racism in the past, is still today causing much conflict and disharmony.

The Solution:

It’s time to stop thinking in terms of race, colour or ethnicity -- but to think of people in terms of human beings. Whether you are black, white, coloured, Asian, Indian, etc. – it does not matter. In terms of our Life on Earth, we all have the same requirements and share the same basic needs that required to be met to live a fulfilled Life. Equal Money Capitalism goes beyond race and goes straight to the core as valuing each person Equally on the premise of Life. In the economic realm, this gets translated into guaranteed employment which in turn guarantees access to resources.

The Reward:

Treating everyone from a starting point of Equality and allowing this Equality to manifest in physical reality by embedding it into the fabric of the economic system will decrease crime immensely. Crimes in relation to survival will be non-existent as everyone’s basic needs will be taken care of through both employment and government service. Treating and valuing everyone equally will release us from crimes of hate and discrimination – where we no longer have to fear our neighbours simply because they have a different skin colour and due to past inequalities in relation to race are still in a disadvantages situation, and may possible want to reverse this disadvantage through ‘revenge’. Especially in terms of South Africa, fences will disappear around houses making people feel less jailed and kids will be able to play outside without the kids and the parents having to be worried about tension caused by inequality. We will have transcended inequality which is a gift in itself to ourselves as humanity.