Break the shackles of poverty

‘I promise all of you jobs and money
within ten years’


A message to the poor and unemployed
of South Africa:

Is this possible? South Africa without poverty, no unemployment, everybody has money, everybody has food, a house and a job. Yes! Yes! Yes! I will make the following promise right here right now. If South Africa follows my advice and we do not achieve this goal, I will give every cent I have to the poor.

In the mornings when I drive to work I notice "YOU" along the streets, begging for jobs and my heart bleeds for you, and I curse because I know that there is no reason on this earth why you should not have a job, food and a house.

We have gold, diamonds, platinum, coal and all the resources we need. You are poor and unemployed because we have been following the wrong economic policies in South Africa for the last 100 years or longer.


I am a small businessman that is paying for this message in all the newspapers of South Africa out of my own pocket, because I care about you and I have been watching in utter frustration for years, how Government after Government struggles to find the road map to economic success.


Right Economic Policy

There is no reason why South Africa cannot be rich and prosperous. We the people must only demand the right economic policy and that is Economic Freedom. This is a no brainer. Switzerland, Singapore and the USA, the countries with the most Economic Freedom are the richest and the countries with the least freedom are the poorest. That’s why South Africa who is ranked 60th in the world is poor.

When Pres. Nelson Mandela walked out of prison, he brought us Political Freedom and democracy, but he did not bring us Economic Freedom. Pres. Mandela, however did empower you with the vote to choose for yourselves a Government that would deliver Economic Freedom.


No Economic Freedom

Chou En Lai of China said: "I do not care what the colour of the mousetrap is, as long as it catches the mice." South African Governments said: " We don't care about the mice, we care about the colour of the mousetrap". I believe if nobody in South Africa had the vote for the last 100 years and we had been governed like Hong Kong, South Africa would have been one of the richest countries in the world.

I am willing to bet anybody in the world that if South Africa should be rated for 10 years in a row as one of the 5 freest economies in the world by the appropriate international agencies, unemployment and poverty in South Africa would be eliminated.

If I am wrong I will liquidate my companies and myself (I will sell my houses, cars, clothes, land and every material thing I own) and publicly give all my money to the poor and join their ranks. The South African newspapers can record this event. If anybody tells you I’m wrong, let them spell out their economic solutions in terms where it's success can be publicly monitored and measured like mine and let them make the same bet. I dare you.

Why don’t the Mbeki’s, the Zuma’s, the Manuel’s, COSATU, the Oppenheimers, the Rupert’s etc. take up my bet? The answer is they either agree with me or they’re not willing to put their money where their mouths are, on their own views. If economic freedom delivers wealth:


How is it going to happen in South Africa?

a) Will the Government create this wealth? The answer is no. There is no example in the world of a government that made their countries wealthy. Governments can only create the environment for private citizens and enterprises to create wealth and employment. When Economists looked at Russia they could not understand with all the resources why the country was poor and then they realised it was because there was only one business "the business of Government", and no small business was allowed.

b) Are big businesses going to make us rich? The answer is no. There is no example in the world where big companies have made a country rich. They are often in an unholy relationship with regularity authorities and have no true competition, with robber baron profits (think cell phones) or they are government owned, loosing billions of tax payers money (think Land Bank).

c) Will BEE, land reform etc. solve poverty and unemployment? Unfortunately BEE that does not increase the overall economic cake is just a re-shuffle of the same old economic pack of cards. Land Reform is going to send food prices and inflation through the roof and make the white commercial farmers stinking rich on less land. Commercial farmers should beg the minister to speed up land reform, not oppose her. The astounding fact is that politicians, world wide, do fool the common people all the time with their smoke and mirror, voodoo economic tricks. Any country will stay poor if it does not understand the principles of business and the poorer the knowledge of the politicians, the poorer the country. The best example of this is Zimbabwe.

d) What about the unions? Will they create wealth for us? The answer is no. There is no example in the world of a country were sustainable jobs were created by unions. Union bosses mostly appose Economic Freedom, because they wrongly see it as a threat to their members and their privileges.

e) Will Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and the World Bank make us rich with their money? The answer is no. Their agenda is health. So you will end up being healthy, with no food or job or clothes. The Gates', the Buffet's, Bono etc. are products of their sophisticated societies. They don't have the faintest clue how to create sustainable jobs in Africa. A “stupid Limpopo boer” knows more about creating sustainable jobs for illiterate skill-less people than they do. Bono won't last a day on a KwaZulu Natal farm.

f) Will small business and businessmen make us rich? The answer is YES. It's a fact that 70% of a nation's wealth is being produced by small business people with 50 or less employees and maybe 80% of the employment.

g) We have small business people in South Africa, but why are we not rich? The answer is they are not economically free. The environment for small business to flourish, is not available in South Africa. A black person from Soweto’s chance to start a legal business from scratch is nearly impossible. Small business people at the moment are like mice that scatter amongst the feet of the dinosaurs namely: big government, big unions and big companies on a hostile Jurassic world of economic evolution.

African countries are not economically free. They copied the European forms of Government (a rich man's government), with all the big bureaucracy, money loosing government enterprises, laws and regulations, high taxes and social agendas. This is like a poor man buying a Rolls Royce with all the extras while he could only afford a Toyota Corolla and at the end of the day the bank must repossess the car. Developing countries cannot afford high taxes. They already have a disease-ridden racehorse economically speaking to start with, and they load so much "tax" weight on his back that his gallop becomes a crawl. This is besides the invisible tax we pay in South Africa namely: crime, incompetence, racial discrimination, etc.


So what is Economic Freedom?

Economic Freedom is a small Government (budget less than 20% of GNP), honest administration, low tax base, peaceful and democratic, freedom of speech, privatisation of government assets, land and companies, freedom from bureaucracy, helpful and understanding unions, a population and Government that admire respect and champion the cause of small business men. Our labour laws are so complicated, that labour consultants don't even understand it. It destroys millions of jobs. South Africa should welcome and invite business people (entrepreneurs) of any race or ethnic group.

The economic miracle of Dubai, is this possible in South Africa today? The answer is NO!! With our hostile business laws, Dubai would still have been a desert dump with three camels and two poor Arabs. Businessmen are doing us a favour to come and invest here, not the other way around. We should make it so attractive to them that we become the destination of choice in the world. Instead our policies have driven 400 000 Jews and others out of the country in the seventies and eighties, and 600 000 in the late nineties, productive and educated people with skills for small business. If half of them had employed 10 people, there would have been 5 million more jobs in South Africa today. Nothing succeeds like success. Get the economic growth rate up to 10% and businesses will stand in a que to come into South Africa.


My road map to fast track economic freedom in South Africa:

a) Everybody wants to know what can be done to achieve a 10% growth rate and low unemployment. The answer is very simple. If Government should bring to an end Value Added Tax (VAT) tomorrow, two things will happen. Everybody in South Africa would be richer with more money in their pockets to spend, and the Government with less money, will have no alternative but to follow the road of Economic Freedom. Remember, Econimic Freedom will also fight inflation because supply and demand will be more flexible.

b) Every citizen, every business, every official in Government should work to achieve Economic Freedom. This should have priority above all other matters for the nation.

c) Make business subjects mandatory at schools and Universities. Teach people about money and entrepreneurship.

d) A full time ÜBER GOVERNMENT AGENCY staffed with members with the best legal and business and administrative brains in the country, to fight against red tape and bureaucracy, scrutinizing all laws and regulations with powers over all other Government departments and only responsible to the President.


Final Message

South Africa has lost so much time and opportunities over decades to eradicate poverty and unemployment. I can also cry about my beloved country.

YOU the poor and unemployed of South Africa, should choose now whether you want jobs and money. I have given you a precise road map to follow. I have done my duty to my country, it’s up to you now; your ultimate destiny is in your own hands.


DEMAND ECONOMIC FREEDOM!

Thank you for your time ladies and gentleman.

Gert Joubert