The murky waters of Soweto politics

On Wednesday I got a call from Cecil Molopo, Chairman of the DA branch in Ward 53, Johannesburg. This is one of the 10 wards that make up my constituency, Soweto West. It's enormous, nearly the size of the whole of Soweto, extending from Doornkop Extension 1 westwards to the borders of Randfontein. Most of the ward is veld, hence its size, and is home to several gold mines. Cecil sounded very distressed and wanted to meet me as soon as possible. So we arranged to meet on Friday morning.

Letter to Business Day - Minister needs to break from past

My letter to Business Day is the lead letter in today's edition.

Dear Sir

Leon Louw (Preference for small business not productive) makes suggestions for how the Department of Small Business Development can avoid being “potentially superfluous”. The DA broadly agrees with his suggestions. 

Minister Zulu has a choice: she can restrict her mandate to the narrow bounds of what is possible to achieve in her department, or she can go beyond that and become the government’s first business-friendly minister and advocate among her cabinet colleagues for the liberalisation of the economy. While the first is not easy, the second is nigh impossible unless she has the support of the President and Deputy President, and an unflagging commitment to the overall strategy embedded in the National Development Plan.

Nedbank Small Businesss Friday a worthwhile initiative

I support the spirit and intentions behind Small Business Friday, which was yesterday. Initiated by Nedbank in association with the National Small Business Chamber, Small Business Friday encourages people to buy from local small businesses every day but especially on Fridays. 

Russian retirement? - letter to Business Day

Published today - read the newspaper version here or below

Russian retirement?

Sir - Has President Jacob Zuma gone to Russia to negotiate the terms of his exile in preparation for his soon-to-be-announced recall as president?

Perhaps he is inspecting some comfy dachas and looking at a time-share option with President Vladimir Putin. I think we should be told.

Toby Chance
Via e-mail

Entrepreneur training for grade 9s in Soweto, and a self-identity for Africans

On Saturday I attended an inspiring event organised by ORT SA and sponsored by Absa, at the Pace Commercial High School in Zola, Soweto. It was the launch of ORT SA's Ready for Life programme, which "will train pupils from Grade 9 through to Grade 11 to enable them to create a sustainable livelihood by teaching them how to run their own business." I was invited by Peta Broomberg when I met her and the CEO Ariellah Rosenberg at their offices to discuss ORT's programmes and their relevance to small business development.

Zuma must account to Parliament and stop evading justice

As I sat listening to Jacob Zuma answering written and follow up questions in Parliament yesterday I experienced a welling up of anger and frustration at the dire state we have reached in this country and our seeming powerlessness to do something about it. At a time when South Africa is facing multiple challenges its president is nowhere to be seen. Zuma is president in name only. His presidential duties are obscured under a massive pile of dung that has accumulated through his own making and is now poisoning our polity. This putrefying mass of denial, corruption, incompetence, cronyism and non-accountability is what has become of the Zuma sham presidency.

This is how we must interpret yesterday's antics in the House, when the EFF were ejected for calling on Zuma to repay the money he 'stole' from the taxpayer to build his Nkandla residence. The EFF refused to budge, forcing the Speaker to suspend the sitting and call in the police.

Three giants of enterprise, choice and freedom

Parliament reconvened yesterday after a two week break, for the third term of the year which lasts until September 22nd. My day did not start well, with the 7 am British Airways flight being offloaded due to a radio malfunction. Our replacement Kulula plane took off at 10:30 so I lost half the morning, which was irritating. But things looked up, after I'd dumped my bags in my office and joined Jamie Turkington, Helen Zille's Chief of Staff in the party leader's office, for a light lunch at Doppio in St George's Mall. We had got to know each other during the election campaign when he was seconded to run communications for Mmusi Maimane in his bid to topple the ANC in Gauteng. Though that turned out to be a bridge too far we learned a lot and like me he is now in a new job and enjoying the challenge.