10 November 2019
South African business leaders were in harmony on what the country needs after May’s elections; the appointment of a reformist cabinet that will take unpopular decisions to turn around the moribund economy. This has not happened. What we have heard is a continuation of indecision on policy and delays in implementing the much-needed structural reforms.
President Cyril Ramaphosa was elated that the recently concluded investment summit had attracted more than R370-billion in pledged investments and more than 400 000 new jobs – and that is what they are, pledges!
The business community loves their Ramaphosa, but they would not invest a penny in this economy just because the president talks their talk but does not walk their walk.
Why does the head of state expect investors to follow through on their pledges when Eskom can’t guarantee them electricity to power their investments?
South Africa’s economy is forecast to grow by a paltry 0.5% this year and the country’s unemployment rate at an 11-year high of 29%.
This is the situation despite the president having hosted the first investment conference in October last year after he replaced Jacob Zuma as president of South Africa.
What this economy and the unemployment need is not pledges from the investors, but realisable commitments to ignite growth.
Save us all from human errors
THE recent upswing in criticism against soccer referees and the general decline in officiating standards requires urgent attention before the situation becomes a crisis of enormous proportions.
It is unclear whether the source of so much disgruntlement is mere unprofessionalism on the part of referees, inattentiveness or bribery, but whatever the cause, our national football, ordinarily a source of much pleasure and pride, has become painful to watch.
Fifa, world-controlling soccer body, now uses VAR to ensure the credibility of sport’s most loved game at a global level. There has been calls for the introduction of VAR in South Africa.
Soccer officials have, however, dismissed this Fifa-initiated technology as being too expensive, coupled with the fact that our clubs do not own stadiums in order to permanently install the cameras.
The PSL often brags about being the biggest and most professionally-run league on the African continent.
Such leadership comes with responsibility to guard the integrity of our games.
We call upon Safa, as the custodians of referees, and the PSL to use advancements in technology to return some semblance of professionalism to our soccer. We are not married to VAR per se, our idea is that technology allows options and these must be considered before soccer becomes a farce.
