A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot.
A science fiction writer named Robert Heinlein apparently penned those words and I thought about them watching the antics of Jacob Zuma’s supporters as their beloved leader cocked a snook at the rule of law and the oath he took to uphold democracy.
Chief among Zuma’s acolytes is the unlikable Carl Niehaus who said military veterans wouldn’t allow the disgraced former president to be arrested nor for ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule to step aside.
I didn’t start out to write a column about politics. I came to reflect on the subject of good manners, or the lack thereof, after my engagement with a top KZN businessman. I will spare you the details, suffice to say it is impolite not to respond to emails and calls. It talks to common courtesy.
Most journalists aren’t out to badger or harass. If you are in a leadership position your job comes with a level of public accountability. You are free to engage with journalists or not – but it is contemptuous of anyone in a position of authority to snub the media.
The matter with the businessman is small fry, but extrapolated it talks to a culture of bad manners and disrespect that has taken root in South Africa. In my view, comrade Carl and his cronies are the worst examples of it.
Arguments around radical economic transformation and white monopoly capital in defence of their vile behaviour are thin and morally indefensible. At heart they have no respect for others. They cling to the glory of the struggle against apartheid to prop up their wicked self-enrichment and every decent, rational person sees it for what it is.
State capture and all the associated travails might seem overwhelming, but we shouldn’t lose hope. It is forcing everyone in South Africa to demand greater accountability and transparency in government and private sector. It demands we choose between right and wrong. It demands that we behave civilly.
And one last thing before I leave the pulpit: what is with Transnet relocating its head office from Durban to Port Elizabeth? Well done to the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry for calling out the folly and demanding urgent solutions in respect of operational inefficiencies and competitiveness in the Durban port.
The Durban Chamber rightly pointed out in a statement that it believed a “more rigorous and transparent approach” should have been employed in determining the location of Transnet’s head office. The same can be said of most decisions involving business, government and organised labour.
I hope you enjoy this edition of KZN INVEST. If you want an antidote to the aforementioned misery there is a good chance you will find it in the stories of genuine success and accomplishment that follow.
My takeout from most of them is that hard-working, enterprising people are carrying on. They may feel like they are wading through treacle, but their resilience, goodwill and gentle manners will see them through.
Greg Arde.