EDITOR’S COMMENT

President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Living in interesting times, embracing fast-moving technology trends and focusing on the positive

No one can deny that we’re living in interesting times. The original expression that I learned at my dad’s knee is: “May you live in interesting times.”

I looked it up on Wikipedia and, as I remembered him telling me, it is actually a pleasantly veiled curse thought to have originated in China (“While seemingly a blessing, the expression is normally used ironically; life is better in “uninteresting times” of peace1 and tranquillity2 than in “interesting” ones, which are usually times of trouble.”)

Whatever its original origin, it’s an apt description of life on earth at the moment, where the unexpected and the challenging are coming at us from all angles. Interesting doesn’t have to mean bad, in my opinion, though. Within the chaos, technology is being fast-tracked in part by the Covid-19 pandemic. With so many people working from home, businesses are looking for and adopting cutting-edge technology and tools that allow for more effective communication with staff and clients, that better protect their premises, assets, people and data against physical and cyber criminals as well as the virus, that improve operational efficiency, and that save them money.

Genetec, a leading global security company, gives one of the most concise synopses of trends that I’ve read3. These include innovation around social distancing and occupancy management, choosing trusted vendors and deploying physical security solutions that come with layers of cyber defenses4, and focusing on public privacy concerns related to Covid-19 contact tracing and other social challenges, which for “many physical security professionals, means facing the reality that their legacy security equipment and older proprietary systems can’t support the fundamentals of data security and privacy. This will increase the demand for newer solutions engineered with privacy by design.” Security entities will also need to follow the lead of other industries and their IT departments and determine how to best leverage cloud technology in the years ahead if they’re to thrive in the long run, and they’ll need to customise product and service portfolios for clients as opposed to the traditional ‘one size fits all’ offerings, Genetec adds.

“…much is going to depend on people being responsible by continuing to wear masks and maintaining social distancing.”

Renewed focus on small businesses

I was heartened by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s virtual February 2021 meeting with some of South Africa’s most prominent business leaders, in which he stated that, with the era of big corporates creating thousands of jobs now over, SMMEs (small, medium and micro enterprises) had an increasingly important role to play in driving the economy.

Referring back to his Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, which he presented in October last year, he said that the creation of an inclusive economy that would benefit all depended on the “more effective support of vibrant and sustainable SMMEs” which, in other developed and developing countries, generally accounted for more than 90 per cent of all formal businesses and contributed significantly to their GDPs (gross domestic product). With this as a goal for South Africa, along with his commitment to the creation of 11 million new jobs by 2030, the Department of Small Business Development had developed a Business Viability Scheme to help SMMEs recover economically. By 2024, the Department has to have supported 15 000 startups, he continued, and with the country’s employment rate now standing at more than 36 per cent, these initiatives are desperately needed. Something that really resonated with me was his entreaty for people to buy locally produced goods and the way he put it: “We are not asking corporates to buy goods for the sake of buying locally. We are saying that they should buy local quality goods that can compete with the ones that they are importing and that create much needed jobs in the country.”

The easing of Covid-19 restrictions to alert level 1 is another effort to stimulate South Africa’s struggling economy. Following a significant decrease in the numbers of new infections and deaths in recent weeks, the announcement was met with an almost audible roar of approval from the country’s most-affected businesses. But with the virus mutating, the inevitable gatherings of friends and family around Easter and winter approaching, we’re not out of the woods yet. Yes, we are vaccinating at last, but much is going to depend on people being responsible by continuing to wear masks and maintaining social distancing. (I shake my head at the so-called adults who drop their masks in the shops to drink coffee, lick ice-cream cones or talk on their cell phones…) As President Ramaphosa says: “Adhering to strict measures is more than important than ever, now.”

It’s easy to get bogged down with bad news: the latest national police crime stats and mind-boggling levels of corruption at every level make for heavy reading, but we do need to focus on the good, too, for our mental health. I take my hat off to Chief Justice Raymond Zondo for his unflagging chairing of the commission of inquiry into state corruption, for getting an extension until June this year, and for filing an application with the highest court in the land to have recalcitrant expresident Jacob Zuma jailed for contempt after his refusal to appear before the commission. Interesting to see what the ConCourt rules on 25 March… And then, in May, the Zuma/Thales corruption trial begins with more than 200 witnesses allegedly prepared to testify.

Some of the other events I’ll be watching with close attention in the next few weeks, in the hope of seeing justice done, include what penalties will be meted out to the EFF members who have just been found guilty of contempt,` following their disruption of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s 2019 budget speech, unions’ approach to the ConCourt to try and force a seven per cent increase in public wages, the imminent signing of the Cybercrimes Bill by President Ramaphosa, the release of the parliamentary report on Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office, the 3,5% to 5% economic growth predicted by some economists – and the capture of the last of the crocodiles which escaped en masse from a breeding farm in the Western Cape a few days ago.

Stay safe and stay positive!

Ingrid Olivier, Editor

ingridolivier@idotwrite.co.za

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tranquility

3. https://resources.genetec.com/blog/2021-physicalsecurity-industry-trends#

4. https://resources.genetec.com/cybersecurity