Steemit Engagement Challenge | S7W4 | A Meeting with The President

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South Africa, home of the rainbow nation.

Meet Mr. Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, leader of the ANC (African National Congress Party), anti-apartheid activist, a labor activist and president of a new trade union (National Union of Mineworkers, formidable businessman, and now the 5th democratic President of South Africa since 2019.

When you look at his resume you would think that he ticks all the boxes for a president. However, when you look at the headlines of newspapers and television channels you form a completely different picture.

➤ Government is considering declaring SA’s rolling blackouts a National State of Disaster, says Ramaphosa

➤ February petrol price hike could push more than half of South Africans below the poverty line

➤ New Joburg city management moves to stop corruption investigations - but then backtracks

➤ SA wants a government free from 'internal wrangling, corruption' of political parties

➤ Escalating load shedding could get in the way of Gauteng water recovery

➤ African countries score low in 2022 corruption perception index - report
BREAKING NEWS LIVE | Ten murdered in mass shootings in Eastern Cape

➤ DA opposes SA's R1bn sponsorship deal 'lunacy' and will send a delegation to Tottenham to get answers

➤ 7 Teachers have to teach more than 600 pupils at Inanda school, the governing body says

These are headlines taken from two of South Africa’s leading news websites, News24.co.za, and IOL.co.za just for the last 24 hours.

According to a public survey that was conducted in 2021 three common issues stood out which were not a surprise to South Africans, corruption, crime, and unemployment.

For me, there are far more than these three issues. Basic needs are a MUST for citizens of a country. It is an obligation of leaders to provide food, water, education, health care, and housing.

If I had to meet with President Ramaphosa I can assure you that a day will be too short.

For a start I would like to sit him down in front of a television and make him watch the news headlines, programs like Carte Blanche and Political Currency with Tim Modise as it is clear that he is either not watching the news or he is watching series like the soapy Uzalo, Idols SA, or The Blacklist.

Or maybe it is that his television is showing different channels than ours as I cannot see how you can miss hospital staff complaining as 36,000+ patients are waiting to undergo operations in governing hospitals, images of sewerage running in streets where people are living, and only 16% out of 257 municipalities receiving clean audits.

Mr. President, I would like to discuss the following issues with you;

1. National State of Disaster due to loadshedding
2. Drive the need for growth
3. Collapsing of infrastructure

Should I rather say, blackouts as you refer to in some of your speeches?
In the end, it doesn’t matter what we call it, you and I are well aware of the fact that more than 100 consecutive days with power cuts are unacceptable. As it is, it is projected that South Africa’s GDP growth is going to be 1.1% which is extremely low.

Getting investments in a situation like this is almost impossible. Going into stage 7 will result in 12 to 15 hours without electricity. This can only harm the economy even more. It might even bring it to hold.

Declaring South Africa a National State of Disaster will not be the solution. I am of believe that you will only cripple the economy and create more opportunities for corruption.

I wrote a post about “enough is enough” the other day. Well, the time has come for you to say “Enough is enough”.

• Fire those who cannot do the job and that includes your ministers
• Get help from experts, those who got it right in previous years and forget about the color of the skin
• Lock them away! I am referring to those who are stealing the cables and sabotaging power stations. Put them in jail and publish their faces all over National television and social media platforms so that South Africans can see who they are. It is only by example that this can be stopped
• Stop looking at ways of renewable energy. Implement it!
• Investigate self-generation possibilities which can be an interim solution
• Take action! Today and not tomorrow

Stand up and do what you have promised South Africans four years ago.

South Africa and the households that form part of it are losing wealth. What this means is that South Africans are getting poorer.

“If households want to climb out of this rut and gain more wealth, their income must increase at least by more than the consumer price inflation (CPI) rate,” according to Johann van Tonder, researcher, and economist at Momentum

Mr. President, you are a well-known and successful businessman. You know what is needed and what it takes to show growth in a company. Why can we not do it for South Africa?

Growth is achievable with two things, investment, and spending.

• Deregulation is needed to get new businesses started and to get investors on board. Let go of rules that make it hard for entrepreneurs. Rather assist them with funding at a low-interest rate
• Cut taxes and those “never seen” tax rebates is recommended to enable consumers to open their pockets
• Reward businesses that reinvest in the community
• Be that Robin Hood, cut government spending and give it to the poor
• Train the youth to empower themselves as there will never be enough job opportunities for the millions. You need to implement skills development and training at school level and for those who excel, free university education

How on earth can your minister think of giving a R1 billion sponsorship deal to an English Premier team when we are experiencing an energy crisis which hampers growth?

After all, growth in the economy will allow the consumer to return to your McDonald's stores to buy two and not just one hamburger.

Today, with my visit I present you with a book, “Making Sense of Troubled Times” by William Gumede and I want to urge you not to make a coffee table display of it but to put it on your desk where you will see it every day.

William Gumede is right, the little bit of infrastructure that is currently to be seen in South Africa is on the verge of collapsing.

Not only is it due to the lack of new infrastructure, and maintenance of existing infrastructure but also a result of tender corruption.

How can it be that pregnant women are laying on corridors and floors of hospitals? Why must children walk 20 kilometers to school each day on empty stomachs and old women wait in queues to collect a few liters of water each day?

Our roads are busy collapsing. The only safe place from potholes these days is on the toll roads.

Mismanagement, incompetence, and lack of knowledge are to be blame that state-owned entities like port and rail logistics no longer function as they should.

• Privatize institutions like our power and water supply, harbors, etc.
• Act against corruption with government contracts
• Maintain the infrastructure that is there. Public Works should start doing what they did years ago, check, check, and check
• Employ the correct people in the correct positions
• Let your cabinet go to state hospitals and not private hospitals and don’t keep their lights on

This will be my ending… Mr. President, I love my country and I am sure so do you. Don’t let it slip out of our hands. The rainbow nation is hungry for a president who acts and not just says.

Just do it!