Digests

OPERATION DUDULA: THE SUM TOTAL ALL SOUTH HAS FAILED

There are divided opinions about Operation Dudula. To some, Operation Dudula is an anti-immigration movement causing mayhem. To others, it is a glimmer of hope.

By Zithulele Sibanyoni

Most South Africans living in highly urbanised provinces reside in the townships. The population rate of the townships dwellers is continuing to rise at an exponential rate. This positively means an increased market to businesses operating in the townships and those in the surrounding areas.

Potential opportunities, on the other hand, are vested in the cities where the competition is even rifer. Life in the township, for many entails waking up daily to no hope for change. Poverty, unemployment, lack of opportunities and the consequential crime rate is climbing in close proportion with the rise in population growth. This needs more than the government to put off. Businesses operating in places affected by crime are also at the risk of being the targets for criminals. dwellers in the fight to curb our country’s social ills and to help curb unemployment and crime.

Ways Township Businesses Can Include Local People.

Businesses in the townships are not required to hand over resources to the township dwellers. People need to be participants contributing towards their community, people generally dislike handovers. Business needs to empower people by investing financial resources towards small businesses, offering mentorships and other resources like uniforms and tools to get the job done. Big businesses can also procure services from the townships businesses and people. Investments should also be channeled towards ideas, and also towards ideas and innovations generation programs.

Businesses inherently have a responsibility towards the communities in which they operate, this should not be done merely to score B-BBEE point or, for public relations purposes or even because they are their source of profit, but out of a sense of a moral obligation. Township businesses needs to include township The township economy is alive with possibilities and where there are people there is gold, businesses needs to know and do the right thing. Those in the field of consumer psychology also assert that businesses that are perceived to be socially responsible tend to be perceived in a viable positive light.

FIGHTING THE SCOURGE OF CORRUPTION

South Africa is a corrupt country. According to the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), South Africa has a CPI of 44/100.Meaning that the South African government is failing dismally to address corruption within the public sector while the private sector is also not an innocent party.

Corruption manifests itself in many ways. If it is not the looting of state coffers by government officials, it is traffic cops soliciting bribes. Are we ever going to win the fight against the scourge of corruption?

The years 2020, and 2021 were some of the most turbulent years in South Africa. In 2020, we lost thousands of lives to Covid-19 pandemic. But we also lost millions to corruption.

A total of 4,780 incidents of corruption were reported in 2020, forming part of the just under 33,000 reports of corruption received by Corruption Watch.

In one instance, personal protective equipment (PPE) was bought five times more than the normal price according to the auditor general.

A report by the Special Investigating Unit, released by President Cyril Ramaphosa, also found wrongdoing by former health minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize and others.

According to the report, Mkhize interfered in the procurement process to have a COVID-19 communications contract awarded to close associates.

Here are some of the solutions government should consider implementing: • Government has to develop sustainable partnerships with stakeholders to reduce corruption. This will reignite citizen involvement to shame and conquer corruption. Society’s sense of responsibility and ownership should be a strong driver to foster a culture of integrity.

• Improve transparency - Transparency reduces the likelihood of corrupt behaviour. Those who are involved in corrupt activities can be identified and brought to book. Accountability as a touchstone for legitimate leaders ought to be a prerogative. Otherwise, winning the war against corruption will be impossible.

• Transform the private and public sector risk equation. There is a set of procedures and requirements that the government and private sector use to detect, assess, and mitigate corruption risks within an organisation.

The current risk management system used by organisations doesn’t seem to deter corruption.

BLACK BUSINESS AND INEQUALITY

Owning a fleet of taxis was the epitome of success for aspiring black entrepreneurs in the 80s and pre-94. The taxis industry grew at an alarming rate, much to the chagrin of white-controlled public transport. Invariably, we could see that black people were capable of running their own businesses.

We saw high-profile figures; people like ex Orlando Pirates player and football club owner, Jomo Sono, venturing into business. Sono became one of the ground-breaking franchisees by owning the first KFC franchise in a township.

Enter 1994, and the first democratic elections came and black people’s names started getting prefixes such as Board Member, M.D and CEO. Thami Mazwai, whom most people had known as a journalist, headed a publishing company. We had known such black people to write for the magazines we read. Not to run publications.

Excited as I was about seeing such shifts, white people continued to own a lion’s share of the economy. This was confirmed by a report released by the World Bank early this year: Here are some of the findings of the report:

• Consumption inequality across the SACU region is found to be more than 40 percent higher than the averages for both Sub-Saharan Africa and upper-middle-income countries.

• South Africa, the largest country in SACU, is the most unequal country in the world, ranking first among 164 countries in the World Bank’s global poverty database. Botswana, Eswatini, and Namibia are among the 15 most unequal countries, and despite recent improvements, Lesotho still ranks among the top 20 percent, the report shows.

• At least one fifth of inequality in SACU is explained by inherited circumstances such as location, gender, age, parental background and when race is included in the analysis, the contribution of inequality of opportunity more than doubles.

The World Bank report suggests promoting policy measures that foster equality of opportunity and address the highly skewed distribution of productive assets. That’s where BBBEE policies come in handy.

I was not surprised when the Democratic Alliance (DA) announced its intention to publish a ‘Notice of Intention to Introduce a Private Members Bill and Invitation for Comment’ in the Government Gazette.

According to the opposition party, the bill seeks to amend the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act (PPPFA) and ultimately scrap the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Act.