As much as shallow-minded and entitlement-obsessed Africanists would once again label me as a sell-out that is driven by blind jealousy for CODESA Posterboys or Posterladies [meaning ANC Anointees and/or South African White Capital Approved individuals since around 1993] for that matter, I am glad that the South African Airways [SAA] and Takatso then proposed tie-up has been deemed not worthy of further negotiations [The Herald 14 March 2024] and therefore stopped altogether.

The only way that South Africa’s private & public sector can have credibility for not being a covert governing cartel that is mostly, if not all, enriching and protecting its very own blue-eyed boys & ladies, would be the application of Glasnost [policy of openness/transparency and accountability in governmental matters] when dealing with economic compromises such as what I have coined as 3P; meaning Parastatal Parasitism & Paralysis.

My proposal therefore has always been the approaching of trustworthy airlines like Lufthansa, Qantas, Air France, Royal Dutch Airline [KLM] etc. to buy a controlling percentage of SAA so that the diversified board of governors therein won’t be pliable to politicians’ whims that would often than not be parachuting their anointees, beneficiaries and/or indoctrinees for the eventual dispensing of the said state-owned company’s funds to their nominated and proverbial comrades.

Glasnost should also apply to Eskom, the FlagShip of 3P in South Africa whose controlling shares could be sold to the likes of General Electric [GE], Tesla, Dürr, Rolls-Royce, Caterpillar [CAT] Electric or Alstom; lest it remains as the stereotypical enrichment & protection conduit for the governing-party-of-the-day’s anointees.

The same thing should also apply to the comatose South African Post Office whose majority share-ownership should be sold to the likes of FedEx, DHL, UPS or Postnet; not forgetting the equally-bumbling Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa [PRASA] being ideally run by Amtrak, Canadian Railway Association or even taking operational notes from the former Soviet Union’s Trans-Siberian Railway Company.

As the saying goes: “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel” … these proposed checks-and-balances could clearly counter-argue the view that majority foreign-ownership of state companies means treason or selling the country’s wealth to foreign capitalists, but on the contrary, Glasnost would be effective in keeping political gluttons & hoodlums at bay.

From Luyanda Marlon Kama, Kwa-Dwesi, Port Elizabeth.