The Beginning is a Means to the End

I recently went through a book by one of my all time role models, Sir Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin group. “Screw it, Let’s do it”, it says, an attitude that propelled Branson from selling school magazines to building space ships and flying millions of passengers across the globe.

His attitude has helped me realise why I haven’t achieved many of my dreams so far. I have always hesitated with the “do it” part, perhaps in response to the fear of failure. However failing to act is synonymous to acting to fail, I have learnt, because the end result is always failure (regardless). This made me realise that every time I hesitate to start acting on my ideas I am actually beginning the series of negative actions that will cause my ideas to fail (or to never materialize).

It has become clear to me that no matter how afraid I am of the unknown, the fear cannot be an excuse for my inaction. The beginning is the first step towards the end. Without the beginning the end cannot be reached.

We are on our own as the young brigade (of South Africa) today. The odds are firmly against us. We cannot, therefore, afford to sit and do nothing because nobody is willing do it for us. We have brilliant ideas. Screw it, let’s do it!! Let us not let the challenges discourage our determination. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, the Chinese say. That first step needs to be taken.

Be not afraid to start because starting is means to the end. Be not afraid to fail. The Wright brothers attempted to fly but failed (and crashed) over thousands of time. They never stopped trying until their machine flew one day. Let us adopt that kind of resilience and refuse to be put down by minor setbacks. Let us take our destinies onto our own hands.

Effective Governance

It is amazing when you come to think of it, that the majority of South Africans do actually vote with their hearts and not their minds. In fact this is true for all the political parties. Unless a political party does something really stupid and hits an irreversible 'self-destruction' mode, it is unlikely to lose a significant amount of its traditional support. If it does lose a few bits here and there it will eventually recover those in the self-balancing paradigm of SA politics.

Think of it this way: South Africans generally loathe reading. They usuall don’t have long concentration spans either. Very few people actually bother to read any of the long election manifestos (and therefore get to know exactly what a party stands for). Neither do they concentrate through an often grammar-disabled two-hour long policy speech. It all comes down to personal preference, rhetoric and clichés. The ANC in particular has mastered this art which is why they continue to win elections easily, followed closely by the DA who also use their own form of shallow slogans that appeal to a different niche to that of the ANC. As a matter of fact so does any other significant political group.

Let's now shift our focus back to the important issue of effective governance. In fact many of us don't really care who is governing us politically as long as we have effective governance. We do not wish for some kind of Jesus Christ to come back to earth and perform miracles. Besides, miracles and magic only have a place in lavish chapels and 'for entertainment' circus shows as far as we are concerned. In the real world we want a government that simply does its job, and does it well.

If they need flashy BMWs to do their work then so be it. Give them the Bimmers. What matters is when the people in power know what they are supposed to do, and do it right regardless of how big their bellies become in the process (as long as they do not break any laws while at it). As soon as this basic modus operandi falls into place the rest will follow. I concede and recognize that politicians will always be politicians and they will always be greedy and self-righteous. Give them a boxing ring if you have to, a swimming pool to play in, just anything to boost their big egos. Let them drown in imported whiskeys for crying out loud. They are human beings after all. But all of these benefits must come after a fair day's work. This is the cliché that needs to be adopted, in my opinion.

As it stands now however people are thriving on persona-oriented rhetoric and meaningless clichés like "a better life for all". Why not "a better service delivery by all in government"?

Let our royal leaders rather focus on developing and maintaining the human capacity to achieve the basics, the "all goals met" kind of situation, and worry about the "goals exceeded" later. Some of us do not believe in miracles therefore in the spirit of togetherness let us keep words like miracles and magic out of it. Let us be realistic, simple and straight to the point. That way we could achieve effective governance regardless of which con artist reads the speeches, drowns the wines and throws the biggest punches in parliament.

Public Figure – Private Life

Where do we draw the line?

I am prompted to ask this question in the wake of yet another 'tabloid'-like article about the private life of a public figure. This time the spotlight is set firmly on IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi who is reported by the City Press to have fathered children out of wedlock. The article was published by the City Press newspaper this weekend.

This year alone has seen many tabloids written about public figures including President Jacob Zuma's several alleged love children and Co-operative Governance Minster Sicelo Shiceka's alleged "adultery" escapade. At the same time the marriage of former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel to ABSA CEO Maria Ramos bring another dimension to the debate. Here we had a Finance Minister marrying a CEO of the country's biggest banking institution, a union that had many worried about a possible conflict of interest at the time.

My question thus is NOT whether or not these people were justified to act in whatever manner they did, however I am wondering if it is any of our business at all to know what happens in the bedrooms of our public figures?