I swear half the time here people think I'm stupid. Ok, some of the things I do are stupid like the other day when I didn't know I had to push the AC button to get the air conditioning to work in my car. I assumed I just wasn't driving the car fast enough. My husband just shook his head when I told him I thought it was broken. But the other things that make me look stupid are because I come from the opposite side of the world.
My new auditor told me that all the tax and incorporation laws in South African are based on Roman Dutch law, leftover from Apartheid. More incredibly complicated things for me to learn. So I began wondering, what exactly is Roman Dutch law and is it the law that originally influenced British law like we inherited in Canada? Not likely because the British and the Dutch weren't the greatest of friends here, subtle resentments still lingering here in the Republic.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Bruce from Zimbabwe
Jumamosi = Saturday in the Kiswahili language of East Africa
Finally! Bruce from Zimbabwe has organized SHINDA's first youth workshop in South Africa this coming Saturday. His boss has given him use of the cafe in which he works for 2 hours so ten youth can tell me what kind of help they need to create more lucrative employment for themselves. I will use this research to re-create SHINDA's non-scripted TV series pilot here in SA - hopefully with Endemol SA. One of Endemol's creative guys warned me over the phone that I should 'beware of how aggressive the company is'. Having been trained by some of Hollywood's most ruthless network executives for 12 years and then surviving Kenya's post-election violence while it became a 'failed state' - nothing scares me anymore. To be an entrepreneur in Africa builds muscles beyond your imagination.
Bruce says this group of youth is different that the township youth - more confident, more optimistic - that in the townships youth are idle, they have given up. This is a kid who doesn't have time to give up - he's heading upwards quickly which is why I hired him.
Bruce left Zimbabwe at age 20 on bus arriving in South Africa with R50 in his jeans - about $6 USD. A friend of a friend helped him start his life over again here. Do I know what that feels like! Now he has a good job but he needs to make more money. Because he is from Zimbabwe he is not allowed to open a bank account in South Africa and he has to renew his work permit every six months. Robert Mugabe is the reason why Bruce is here. He tells me that everyday he thinks about his mother.
This kid is smart and kind and happy. I could tell the moment I saw him for the first time in the Depasco Cafe on Long Street. Quick movements, attention to detail and buckets of charm. He hasn't given up. He is the future of Africa. The Zimbabweans stick out here - they're very different from the South Africans. It's like they perceive there is less of a barrier between them and white people like me. They come closer. They expect to be listened to - a product of a country that had developed into a very sophisticated economy - until Morgan Tsvangirai showed up threatening everything.
My husband and I talk about Zimbabwe a lot because he grew up there and still maintains a small farm. His heart is broken and angry about how far the country has fallen into decay. While we start our lives all over again here after watching Kenya also collapse - I wonder, will South Africa go down this same badly-managed road? The curse of mineral wealth looms over us all everyday in the news. There is talk of nationalizing the mines - which wouldn't be the worst thing - it would scare the hell out of the foreign investors, but it could actually work. It seems to be working in Bolivia and Cuba's redistributive agricultural policies are working. But the problem in Africa is governance.
The South African parastatals are not performing and tax revenues are being hijacked out of the system and into the pockets of the elite. So because of this, nationalization of the mines will never be accepted. What a great shame because the truth is - the mineral wealth of South Africa SHOULD belong to the people. Theoretically, wealth redistribution within a constitutional democracy is a very very good idea. Done well and you get the Province of Alberta where each resident gets $1000 cash each year from oil wealth and nobody pays income tax. Done badly, civil society slowly crubmles allowing the peel to paint, the moss to grow and shoulders to slouch.
Of all the things I get angry about watching how badly Africa is being managed for so many different complicated macro-economic reasons - this is the thing I can't stomach. To see such strong and dignified people just give up. Deeply ingrained cultures of giving up are one of the hardest things to change through policy. How do you legislate hope? What law has the strength to rebuild the optimism of a nation? A great leader can do this - like Mandela.
I think about Patrice Lumumba who began to emerge as a great leader in post-colonialism Zaire when the country became independant from Belgium. He was young and handsome and a had lovely family, corduroy jeans and drove a Buick I think. I see the images of his young family and think of John Kennedy or Pierre Trudeau. Lumumba was loved and destined to lead Zaire into it's new ideal future. But he didn't get that chance. He was assassinated and I wonder when I read the paper here about the criminal trials going on in France now about arms dealing in Angola - who arranged for Joseph Lumumba to be killed? Who decided that NOT empowering a nation was a better choice? If the rich mines in the Southern province of Katanga could talk.
When I sit with youth in Africa and listen to their dreams it's so painful to realize how much has been wasted in the last fifty years. So much time. So many pieces of gold and platinum that could have built highways and schools and dignity. And the kids here end up feeling bad about themselves, the shame of poverty in which they live. They need so much love and compassion and support because they are the ones who will finally make Africa work one day. All their tiny little efforts added up together day after day, year after year. Few of them see a 'future'. I ask Bruce what his most important issue is in terms of employment. He says 'feeding myself'. When I ask him about what he sees in his life next year he tells me he doesn't think like that. But he has to. His desire to create a better for himself forms the foundation of the life I live now. I need Bruce to believe in his dreams. My business will never succeed in Africa if kids like Bruce don't make this choice - if they don't choose 'to win'.
Mo Ibrahim did not award his $5 million USD prize this year. No African leader was decided to have accomplished the goal of the award for good governance. I guess $5 million just wasn't enough. How the system works now is far more lucrative. True change will probably only come once all the mines and oil deposits are gone so there's nothing left to fight over. Will it be too late or will it be the beginning of something much more peaceful that we are all failing to see?
Resilience - the ability or power to return to the original form.
Finally! Bruce from Zimbabwe has organized SHINDA's first youth workshop in South Africa this coming Saturday. His boss has given him use of the cafe in which he works for 2 hours so ten youth can tell me what kind of help they need to create more lucrative employment for themselves. I will use this research to re-create SHINDA's non-scripted TV series pilot here in SA - hopefully with Endemol SA. One of Endemol's creative guys warned me over the phone that I should 'beware of how aggressive the company is'. Having been trained by some of Hollywood's most ruthless network executives for 12 years and then surviving Kenya's post-election violence while it became a 'failed state' - nothing scares me anymore. To be an entrepreneur in Africa builds muscles beyond your imagination.
Bruce says this group of youth is different that the township youth - more confident, more optimistic - that in the townships youth are idle, they have given up. This is a kid who doesn't have time to give up - he's heading upwards quickly which is why I hired him.
Bruce left Zimbabwe at age 20 on bus arriving in South Africa with R50 in his jeans - about $6 USD. A friend of a friend helped him start his life over again here. Do I know what that feels like! Now he has a good job but he needs to make more money. Because he is from Zimbabwe he is not allowed to open a bank account in South Africa and he has to renew his work permit every six months. Robert Mugabe is the reason why Bruce is here. He tells me that everyday he thinks about his mother.
This kid is smart and kind and happy. I could tell the moment I saw him for the first time in the Depasco Cafe on Long Street. Quick movements, attention to detail and buckets of charm. He hasn't given up. He is the future of Africa. The Zimbabweans stick out here - they're very different from the South Africans. It's like they perceive there is less of a barrier between them and white people like me. They come closer. They expect to be listened to - a product of a country that had developed into a very sophisticated economy - until Morgan Tsvangirai showed up threatening everything.
My husband and I talk about Zimbabwe a lot because he grew up there and still maintains a small farm. His heart is broken and angry about how far the country has fallen into decay. While we start our lives all over again here after watching Kenya also collapse - I wonder, will South Africa go down this same badly-managed road? The curse of mineral wealth looms over us all everyday in the news. There is talk of nationalizing the mines - which wouldn't be the worst thing - it would scare the hell out of the foreign investors, but it could actually work. It seems to be working in Bolivia and Cuba's redistributive agricultural policies are working. But the problem in Africa is governance.
The South African parastatals are not performing and tax revenues are being hijacked out of the system and into the pockets of the elite. So because of this, nationalization of the mines will never be accepted. What a great shame because the truth is - the mineral wealth of South Africa SHOULD belong to the people. Theoretically, wealth redistribution within a constitutional democracy is a very very good idea. Done well and you get the Province of Alberta where each resident gets $1000 cash each year from oil wealth and nobody pays income tax. Done badly, civil society slowly crubmles allowing the peel to paint, the moss to grow and shoulders to slouch.
Of all the things I get angry about watching how badly Africa is being managed for so many different complicated macro-economic reasons - this is the thing I can't stomach. To see such strong and dignified people just give up. Deeply ingrained cultures of giving up are one of the hardest things to change through policy. How do you legislate hope? What law has the strength to rebuild the optimism of a nation? A great leader can do this - like Mandela.
I think about Patrice Lumumba who began to emerge as a great leader in post-colonialism Zaire when the country became independant from Belgium. He was young and handsome and a had lovely family, corduroy jeans and drove a Buick I think. I see the images of his young family and think of John Kennedy or Pierre Trudeau. Lumumba was loved and destined to lead Zaire into it's new ideal future. But he didn't get that chance. He was assassinated and I wonder when I read the paper here about the criminal trials going on in France now about arms dealing in Angola - who arranged for Joseph Lumumba to be killed? Who decided that NOT empowering a nation was a better choice? If the rich mines in the Southern province of Katanga could talk.
When I sit with youth in Africa and listen to their dreams it's so painful to realize how much has been wasted in the last fifty years. So much time. So many pieces of gold and platinum that could have built highways and schools and dignity. And the kids here end up feeling bad about themselves, the shame of poverty in which they live. They need so much love and compassion and support because they are the ones who will finally make Africa work one day. All their tiny little efforts added up together day after day, year after year. Few of them see a 'future'. I ask Bruce what his most important issue is in terms of employment. He says 'feeding myself'. When I ask him about what he sees in his life next year he tells me he doesn't think like that. But he has to. His desire to create a better for himself forms the foundation of the life I live now. I need Bruce to believe in his dreams. My business will never succeed in Africa if kids like Bruce don't make this choice - if they don't choose 'to win'.
Mo Ibrahim did not award his $5 million USD prize this year. No African leader was decided to have accomplished the goal of the award for good governance. I guess $5 million just wasn't enough. How the system works now is far more lucrative. True change will probably only come once all the mines and oil deposits are gone so there's nothing left to fight over. Will it be too late or will it be the beginning of something much more peaceful that we are all failing to see?
Resilience - the ability or power to return to the original form.
Photo - Bruce with six SA and Zimbabwe youth telling me about their employment situation in Cape Town at the Depasco Cafe on Long Street.
Friday, October 2, 2009
The Popsicle Index
Whilst waiting for our TV meeting I explore the City Bowl neighbourhood high above the city of Cape Town cradled within the low bowl area of Table Mountain. The place reminds me so much of the Hollywood Hills above Los Angeles with its narrow winding streets and speeding cars. Walking up a broken-down cement staircase I stumble upon a beautiful gem hidden away behind overgrown trees and forgotten memories. The Gardens Bowling Club would be a fantastic space to disappear into for the afternoon with nothing but casual sport and cold cocktails to worry about. Nobody is here except me. I feel like Alice.
One of my favourite streets in the city starts here at the mouth of the Mount Nelson Hotel driveway - the Company's Garden walkway running all the way South almost to the main train station - from Orange Street down to Wale Street it's nothing but trees, birds and happy people. Public space. No cars. I love it. We are looking at an office space at the bottom of this lovely pathway in what is called Greenmarket Square nestled between the historic buildings on Strand, Adderly, Long and Longmarket Streets. If we buy the space, we will be a five-minute walk to our bank which I think is a very very good idea.
It's hard not to be in awe of the affordability of the city's real estate, especially as a foreigner. So many of the city's companies have left the cbd in search of safer quieter dwellings which is fine by me because there's more choice for SHINDA and more room to negotiate. I have to work in the city. I need to be in walking distance of coffee, newspapers and citizens. And popsicles, for their index of a livable city.
The Popsicle Index is the % of people who believe a child can leave their home, go to the nearest place to buy a popsicle or snack, and come home alone safely. For example, if you feel that 50% of your neighbors believe a child in your neighborhood would be safe, then your Popsicle Index is 50%. The Popsicle Index is based on gut level feelings of the people who have intimate knowledge of a place, rather than facts and figures. I would throw fresh fruit into that equation myself. I think I'll introduce myself to the Dan Plato, the mayor of Cape Town, and tell him about the popsicle index if he doesn't know about it already. He talks about livable cities and promotes the idea of high-density living for Africans. One of the reasons why he said the federal government is failing to deliver housing is that they mistakenly held onto the believe that every 'African' home needs to have a garden. Those days were long gone on this highly urbanizing continent. Africans need to look up and imagine how they will raise their families 5-10 stories above ground. Completely new and sustainable concepts need to be localized here in Africa if people are going to live in harmony together.
Photos; Upper Orange Street - Gardens Bowling Club, apartment for sale, The Company's Garden.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Green Point & Signal Hill
As I climb the dirt road high above Green Point I feel like I am back on the edge of the African bush. Cape Town is fabulous but I desperately miss the vast rich freedom of spirit I feel when I am in the bush, or 'veld' as we say here in South Africa.
Green Point is the site of one of the most significant economic opportunities for South Africa's future. Not because of all the soccer fans that are headed here next year, but because of what will happen after the 2010 World Cup; when the vision and memory of this beautiful place travels at the speed of light around the world for years to come. I think of Shoeless Joe and the idea 'if you build it they will come'. Nothing could be more true for this country.
Behind me rises the famous Signal Hill, the slightly less well-known icon than Table Mountain towering high above Table and False Bays. It's called Signal Hill for its historical maritime use - the broadcasting and reception of ships signals coming into port. I love living in a port city. It's real. It works all the time. It's noisy and big and impressive. So much from so far away seems possible. Porcelain from China. Lumber from Indonesia. Cars from Japan. Ideas that begin halfway around the world and through innovation, technology and profit are able to come here and build South Africa. But there is a price for this continental edge as well. South Africa used to manufacture many of the things it now imports. With the textile workers striking for higher wages, even the remaining mills may have to close. The economic opportunity has gone elsewhere to the cheaper shores of China.
I think this is fine because what we really want South Africa to become is a knowledge economy, not a cheap labour one. Valued-added, exportable, trademarked, leveraged and expanded.
Tomorrow we meet with a TV production company called HOMEBREW that produces what I believe is the best series on air in the country; SHORELINE. I am hoping to buy its DVD box set and send it to my folks for Christmas. What a great tool to promote African investment. It's all there in 17 gorgeous episodes profiling the beautiful history of South Africa's coastline. Hopefully the owner Jaco will be excited about documenting our first youth employment product as it launches into the South African market. From that we can edit the footage into a pilot to present to broadcasters who hopefully...will recognize its innovation and potential to harness the energy of youth enterprise. I will focus on selling the show to America. I want Americans to see what I see here in Africa. It's strength. It's imagination. It's ability to overcome some of the biggest odds the global economy has created.
What a big dream. What a beautiful day. What a gift to live in Africa.
SHINDA = to win
Photos; Green Point & the Cape Town 2010 World Cup Stadium, Signal Hill rising
Casual Labour
One of South Africa's biggest hot potatoes here politically and thus, economically, is the use of 'casual labour' and how it removes the opportunity of employee benefits. Casual labour is a necessary and fantastic tool in some aspects of the economy - like in agriculture when, for ten months of the year you'd be insane to pay pickers to stand around and wait for the crop to be ready. But when it's used to run the operations of a para-statal like the post office, it's a hands down disaster. I learned this today when I went to the largest mail sorting office in the Western Cape - CHEMPET 7442.
When I complain about any kind of service delivery in Africa, I like to be polite and up front about the process. Usually I start by saying "I am about to complain. Are you the right person for this?" This gives the person the chance to either get ready or find someone else for me to complain to. I have learned this tactic here in Africa because usually it takes about 2-3 people to actually find the right person to complain to. Even though Africans great respect the concept of a complaint (god knows they have enough of their own), they don't like it when Westerners complain to them especially if they have to accept fault. I respect this but it also makes me sad because I believe that if Africans were more willing to see and accept fault within themselves and their societies they could get on with the job of making things better here for the majority of citizens. Like the South African Post Office where I am standing. The last thing we need is another commission.
It turns out my registered letter has been rerouted for a second time because it sat too long in the last place during the recent 3-week strike. There's that word again - who is not striking here? The polite and obviously overwhelmed operations guy tells me the workers make R6,000 per month, about $700 USD. I ask him what would be the fair wage and he says more than double this, R15,000. No wonder the workers strike. Who can live on $700 USD a month in an industrialized country like South Africa? Why is the government not paying their postal workers a fair wage?
The other issue is that of casual labour. He tells me over 50% of his workforce is casual labour which means that on a daily basis his staff is training and retraining people for the same job over and over again. It appears the SA Labour Federation is involved and trying to end the mis-use of casual labour because it's considered a violation of economic rights and is exploitive. Another dead-end economic street for young Africans. Who would aspire to work as an underpaid letter-carrier? Up at 4am, walk to the taxi rank in the dark, wait for the taxi in the dark, arrive at work only to be paid $35 for what will be 16 hours of expended energy that day. That's about $2.16 per hour. The Africans in the sorting room watch my every move as I move through the huge room full of strange-looking equipment from the 1950's.
When I complain about any kind of service delivery in Africa, I like to be polite and up front about the process. Usually I start by saying "I am about to complain. Are you the right person for this?" This gives the person the chance to either get ready or find someone else for me to complain to. I have learned this tactic here in Africa because usually it takes about 2-3 people to actually find the right person to complain to. Even though Africans great respect the concept of a complaint (god knows they have enough of their own), they don't like it when Westerners complain to them especially if they have to accept fault. I respect this but it also makes me sad because I believe that if Africans were more willing to see and accept fault within themselves and their societies they could get on with the job of making things better here for the majority of citizens. Like the South African Post Office where I am standing. The last thing we need is another commission.
It turns out my registered letter has been rerouted for a second time because it sat too long in the last place during the recent 3-week strike. There's that word again - who is not striking here? The polite and obviously overwhelmed operations guy tells me the workers make R6,000 per month, about $700 USD. I ask him what would be the fair wage and he says more than double this, R15,000. No wonder the workers strike. Who can live on $700 USD a month in an industrialized country like South Africa? Why is the government not paying their postal workers a fair wage?
The other issue is that of casual labour. He tells me over 50% of his workforce is casual labour which means that on a daily basis his staff is training and retraining people for the same job over and over again. It appears the SA Labour Federation is involved and trying to end the mis-use of casual labour because it's considered a violation of economic rights and is exploitive. Another dead-end economic street for young Africans. Who would aspire to work as an underpaid letter-carrier? Up at 4am, walk to the taxi rank in the dark, wait for the taxi in the dark, arrive at work only to be paid $35 for what will be 16 hours of expended energy that day. That's about $2.16 per hour. The Africans in the sorting room watch my every move as I move through the huge room full of strange-looking equipment from the 1950's.
Labour is so under-valued in Africa that massive amounts of wasted human energy distort national economies making them unable to grow. And urban workers are forced to uncomplainingly work for less money than they need because there is always someone standing right behind them willing to do the same. It's like leaders who have the ability to create change are so busy fighting over the small opportunities in front of them that they don't see the value in the ocean of humanity right behind them, willing to follow and wanting to thrive. It feels like a five-lane highway that suddenly merges into a one-lane bridge with hundreds of millions of Africans screeching to a halt and unable to bring their energy into the system. Africa needs wider bridges, less paperwork & a supply-driven mentality. The energy circulating around this continent in absolutely staggering and yet to be truly harnessed.
As I disappointingly leave without my package which has now gone to a third location, I tell the guy to call me if I can help reorganize the post office. This country is amazing and I have come here to prosper so I will do my bit even though my plan was to do so through compliant taxation. If they will have me, I will offer my organizational and profit-making skills to workers of CHEMPET 7442. I will increase the wages by 25%, lobby to raise the price of a local stamp, chuck all these depressingly grey metal cabinets and get Microsoft on the phone. This is how I know how to help 'transform' South Africa - old-fashioned hard work that puts something real in your pocket at the end of the day.
Every major disfunction in Africa is a big beautiful business opportunity waiting to be discovered. If only the governments would get out of the way.
Photos; CHEMPET 7442 SA Post Office on the Koeberg Road, Milnerton
Photos; CHEMPET 7442 SA Post Office on the Koeberg Road, Milnerton
Standard Bank & Proteas
Banking in Africa is almost prohibitively expensive, especially if you want to write cheques. SHINDA's new bank charges not only a flat amount on each cheque but a % of each cheque amount as well. I don't think that would be legal in Canada. And South Africa doesn't have cell phone banking yet like Kenya so I guess we'll bank the good old-fashioned way here. At least the branch is beautiful, and right in the heart of the city beside the large outdoor flower market where I buy my Proteas. As I leave the building and my meeting with the branch manager, I look around at this massive architectural feat. It makes me feel like anything could become possible here. Surely that's the first step to any success - as Ghandi said, to be the change.
Photo; Standard Bank on Adderly Street, Trafalgar Place outdoor flower market
Photo; Standard Bank on Adderly Street, Trafalgar Place outdoor flower market
Friday, September 25, 2009
Persistence
Finally, a return phone call to an email. If you want to be successful in business, you have to persist.
We have been offered a meeting with the owners of Clockwork Zoo TV production next week about the possibility of them making our 'youth employment TV show'. Instead of starting from scratch, the possibility exists to video-document SHINDA's calendar project from Oct 15-Jan 15th to create the pilot show. Rather crafty I thought. Besides the show is designed to be about real youth trying to make real money in real-life circumstances.
It would be however, a monumentally unscripted risk to take. Perhaps too valuable to pass by. Can SHINDA, Rob & I, an empty office on Strand St, Reghard and his Arctic Circle, Christmas shoppers and 7,000 students from Cape Town College together generate R1million in youth income? Is SHINDA ready for this in South Africa? We're just becoming a shelf company! I can still see the look on the young lawyer's face when we paid him cash to get started. You would of thought I showed him my underwear. And this is how it will start - me sitting on the hardwork floor using my cell phone trying to finish the day before it gets dark so I don't get scared walking to my car in the parking lot. Mental note, put cushion and pepper spray in the trunk of my car.
We chose Clockwork Zoo as they form part of a team that produces 60 minutes of the 90 minutes of daily youth programming on SABC 2 called 'Q-Base'. Hectic Nine-9 is produced in their studios on Kloof Road high above the CBD. And they do the cool new football show called PLAYA for the E-Network. I wonder how much SABC would pay for our program? Or would the phone just ring endlessly now because the acquistions department is being investigated in what is becoming a high level SA corruption case? One official-type woman in the paper said the level of the theft from the parastatal 'made her hair stand on end'. And this is a perfect example of why it's so hard to make money as a young person in Africa...
If the state broadcasters across Africa were run properly they would create thousands of jobs for youth, pay them good money - even export South Africa to the world. But instead, this beautiful and powerful national opportunity was hijacked away from a very young Africa by the greed and short-sighted self-interest of a few. It's like blowing your entire paycheck in the bar and then having to eat cup-a-soup for the next month. This is why Africa so many Africans suffer in poverty - the misuse of capital. It's just such a shame. At least here there's a good chance of prosecution.
I read in the papers today that the United States has created a list of 15 Kenyan politicians who they perceive to be blocking the pace of political reform. I can't believe it - 2 1/2 years ago, I watched 1,000 people get killed over an election and nothing's been done about it. And now, a foreign country (ironically with its president a Kenyan descendant), has resorted to threats to correct this? Travel bans if necessary. I remember explaining this to the kids in our Nairobi studio, that unless they contributed to the effort to reform their political system they didn't have a hope in hell of succeeding in life. What a brutal lesson that must have been for them. But Hector Pietersen did it and he was 15 years old. This happened in South Africa which is the only reason why the country is evolving. When I would talk about this, mostly what the Kenyans told me was that 'God would take care of them'. I am not a religious person but I don't think god gets involved with politics - let alone constitutional reform.
The South African civil institutions, albeit far from perfect, are slowly facilitating the emerging delicate democracy here. That magnificent social contract that emerges in societies - unequivocably declaring that everyone is equal, that the constitution is respected, that no one is above the law. It's seriously being tested here that's for sure, and I am very surprised actually how delicate things are in South Africa, but it feels like democracy has a chance to win. For 15 years the country has fought to reinvent itself from a painfully oppressed Apartheid system. But I think we still have 35 more years to get through before this really starts working. That's three generations.
The oldest generation bears the responsibilty to remember a brutal past. The middle generation gets the chance to forget, but only if they are willing and able to forgive. And the youngest generation? Hopefully, they will never remember but always be grateful for their inheritance.
NKOSI - 'thank you' in the Xhosa language.
We have been offered a meeting with the owners of Clockwork Zoo TV production next week about the possibility of them making our 'youth employment TV show'. Instead of starting from scratch, the possibility exists to video-document SHINDA's calendar project from Oct 15-Jan 15th to create the pilot show. Rather crafty I thought. Besides the show is designed to be about real youth trying to make real money in real-life circumstances.
It would be however, a monumentally unscripted risk to take. Perhaps too valuable to pass by. Can SHINDA, Rob & I, an empty office on Strand St, Reghard and his Arctic Circle, Christmas shoppers and 7,000 students from Cape Town College together generate R1million in youth income? Is SHINDA ready for this in South Africa? We're just becoming a shelf company! I can still see the look on the young lawyer's face when we paid him cash to get started. You would of thought I showed him my underwear. And this is how it will start - me sitting on the hardwork floor using my cell phone trying to finish the day before it gets dark so I don't get scared walking to my car in the parking lot. Mental note, put cushion and pepper spray in the trunk of my car.
We chose Clockwork Zoo as they form part of a team that produces 60 minutes of the 90 minutes of daily youth programming on SABC 2 called 'Q-Base'. Hectic Nine-9 is produced in their studios on Kloof Road high above the CBD. And they do the cool new football show called PLAYA for the E-Network. I wonder how much SABC would pay for our program? Or would the phone just ring endlessly now because the acquistions department is being investigated in what is becoming a high level SA corruption case? One official-type woman in the paper said the level of the theft from the parastatal 'made her hair stand on end'. And this is a perfect example of why it's so hard to make money as a young person in Africa...
If the state broadcasters across Africa were run properly they would create thousands of jobs for youth, pay them good money - even export South Africa to the world. But instead, this beautiful and powerful national opportunity was hijacked away from a very young Africa by the greed and short-sighted self-interest of a few. It's like blowing your entire paycheck in the bar and then having to eat cup-a-soup for the next month. This is why Africa so many Africans suffer in poverty - the misuse of capital. It's just such a shame. At least here there's a good chance of prosecution.
I read in the papers today that the United States has created a list of 15 Kenyan politicians who they perceive to be blocking the pace of political reform. I can't believe it - 2 1/2 years ago, I watched 1,000 people get killed over an election and nothing's been done about it. And now, a foreign country (ironically with its president a Kenyan descendant), has resorted to threats to correct this? Travel bans if necessary. I remember explaining this to the kids in our Nairobi studio, that unless they contributed to the effort to reform their political system they didn't have a hope in hell of succeeding in life. What a brutal lesson that must have been for them. But Hector Pietersen did it and he was 15 years old. This happened in South Africa which is the only reason why the country is evolving. When I would talk about this, mostly what the Kenyans told me was that 'God would take care of them'. I am not a religious person but I don't think god gets involved with politics - let alone constitutional reform.
The South African civil institutions, albeit far from perfect, are slowly facilitating the emerging delicate democracy here. That magnificent social contract that emerges in societies - unequivocably declaring that everyone is equal, that the constitution is respected, that no one is above the law. It's seriously being tested here that's for sure, and I am very surprised actually how delicate things are in South Africa, but it feels like democracy has a chance to win. For 15 years the country has fought to reinvent itself from a painfully oppressed Apartheid system. But I think we still have 35 more years to get through before this really starts working. That's three generations.
The oldest generation bears the responsibilty to remember a brutal past. The middle generation gets the chance to forget, but only if they are willing and able to forgive. And the youngest generation? Hopefully, they will never remember but always be grateful for their inheritance.
NKOSI - 'thank you' in the Xhosa language.
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