Traditionally, chiefs and kings are only replaced after death. In many cultures, they are replaced by a family member, a sibling, relative or child. This culture appears to have rubbed into many African leaders who, against the wishes of their "subjects," hold onto power; often to the detriment of the nation. What makes one hold onto power? Is it the idea of having the fortune of an entire nation in their hands, or is it about personal enrichment?
Independence in Zimbabwe came at a high cost. Many lost their lives and homes. Parents never saw their children and many grew up as orphans. One man emerged from the war a hero.
Robert Mugabe, loved by his people and an envy to many leaders still under colonial oppression. He came with a lot of promise, leading the breadbasket of southern Africa, and on many occasions leading the SADC on politics. Twenty-eight years on, the man has become his people's worst enemy. The economy is virtually non-existent and poverty levels are high.
The entire private hospital sector, including Netcare, Life and Medi-Clinic, is worth about R 63 billion a year. Yet this large number is only 4.6% of the total South African economy.
State spending, as a proportion of total economic income, is 34.2%. If anyone has control over the economy and over the services that people receive it is the state. So, in the two most important sectors of state spending – health and education - how has the public sector performed?
R 62.6 billion was budgeted for healthcare in 2007. The state has 100,147 hospital beds compared to the private sector's 27,443. The Department of Health reports 101 million patient contacts in 2007, which implies around 25 patients per professional per day. No wonder doctors and nurses are exhausted and public health infrastructure is imploding under the strain, and 31% of posts are said to be vacant.
The state has spent R 105.5 billion on education for 12 million learners in 2007; around R 8,800 per learner. And this is before the contributions required from parents to complement the subsidy. According to PSSA (Private Schools South Africa) the majority of the 2,000 private schools charge less than R 8,000 per year.
In return for our tax, only 15.1% of matriculants at public schools gained a university pass in 2007, in comparison to the 78.4% at private schools. State expenditure on education is not only more expensive than that of the private sector, but is also of a significantly lower quality. The state would achieve far more if it simply offered appropriate education vouchers to parents and allowed them to cash them in at their favourite private schools.
"They were working with us and we believed they were comrades and were standing by their leader. We did not know that they were standing with him during the day and at night they were working with the Americans and the British - what a shame. They can never be leaders of Zimbabwe - they are traitors and all Zimbabweans see them like that. They are abandoning their leader for 30 pieces of silver."
So says Didymus Mutasa, minister of state security, and of lands (Land Reform and Resettlement), when asked for his reaction to one of the Zimbabwean government's trusted generals abandoning President Robert Mugabe's bandwagon. Former Home Affairs minister and Politiburo member Dumiso Dabengwa, has defected to Simba Makoni's side. Another ally came in the form of former speaker of parliament, Cyril Ndebele. Mutasa said Mugabe was a charismatic leader loved by the people, adding that Dabengwa and Makoni were also to blame for the problems the country was facing. In not so many words, Mutasa admitted that the ruling party was to blame for collapse of the once great nation.
The queues in Zimbabwe, that shopper's paradise, were extra long this Christmas. Ordinary people were withdrawing their maximum daily allowance of Z$ 50 million while business owners were shunted to the back. Their allowance is a substantially more generous Z$ 750 million and Zimbabwe Reserve Bank Governor, Gideon Gono, said that they could wait.
The queues were compounded by people attempting to swap their old Z$ 200,000 notes which are being discontinued.
Those Zimbabweans must be really, really wealthy.
No, they're not.
Z$ 50 million is equivalent to less than US$ 7. Anyone attempting to swap more than their daily limit of Z$ 200,000 notes will be arrested for currency hoarding. In Zimbabwe, possession of "too much" of your own money is now a crime.
Food prices our outrageous. But you didn't need me to tell you that.
According to Stats SA the current inflation rate for vegetables is now 25.6%, and that of grain products – a staple for many – is 17.3%. And these rates of inflation are all increasing. These increases fall hardest on middle- to lower-income earners.
What is driving these price increases? No, not climate change ... not yet anyway. We have come out of a long period of declining food prices. The result is visibly apparent in any economic survey of agriculture. In the developed world agriculture is now only 2 – 3% of economic production. In South Africa agriculture is a "mere" 4% of total GDP.
This shrinking profitability has resulted in consolidation, the creation of super-sized farms, improved farming techniques and productivity, as well as falling employment in the sector. Farms are able to produce more but, after being caught short with oversupplies that rot in their warehouses, have reduced production. They are being caught unawares once more by changes in the nature of demand.
aloft: the whythawk blog 
