Here’s a real-life scenario: Russia thinks (rightly or wrongly) that Ukraine, or at least parts of it, are sovereign Russian territory. As such, it sends in its army and destroys civil structures in an attempt to enforce the takeover. The same happens when politicians decide to implement special laws to address past atrocities with their new-found power but limited knowledge and experience.
In our local context, such a process led to South Africans learning a few words they had not encountered before:
• State capture.
• Potholes.
• Loadshedding.
• Bribery and corruption extensive enough to destroy the economy.
• Junk status.
• Judiciary facing capture.
• Bankrupt municipalities.
• No service delivery.
• Expropriation without compensation.
The problem lies with the word ‘empowerment.’ For politicians, this means ‘more power,’ while for citizens it means ‘dignity through more growth opportunities and satisfactory income.’
When the focus is on redistribution and not education, it creates a beggar’s attitude among the population. No economic freedom exists for anybody by handing a business over to another group. The baker (entrepreneur) leaves the country and starts a bakery somewhere else. The cake just got smaller and is placed in the hands of people that do not know what to do with it. People whose stomachs are full say “good riddance” to these entrepreneurs while the country has one of the highest unemployment figures in the world.
So, what has this got to do with automation? The world is moving to automation for many reasons, including lack of human resources, competition, customer demand, and so forth. South Africa has small pockets of well-implemented automation, mainly thanks to individual entrepreneurship.
We need to change our strategy to baking more cakes, automating the processes, and not distributing the leftovers. Automation is a worldwide implementation strategy and South Africa has to refocus or become a beggar’s haven. As one person put it, “We have to try and build the plane after it has taken off.”
We must put apartheid, black economic empowerment and other lingering issues behind us and focus on the future. You cannot plough land while looking behind you. I am not suggesting that we forget these past issues, but if we focus on them, we will remain the ‘most unequal’ country with one of the highest unemployment figures in the world.
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