SEC-S17 /W2| "What if you were the president of your country?"

20 April 2024

Dear citizens of my beloved country,

Ronald Reagan once said, “Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.”

Wrong! Recovery can come if you allow me to be elected as South Africa’s newest president.

As we have entered the election period, I have listened to and read the manifestos of many of the political parties over the last couple of months. If you ask me, there is something good in all of them. Okay, some ideas are a bit far-fetched. What most of these parties miss is the fact that South Africa is so deep in trouble water that having 101 items on your “promise list” is not going to do it.

I’ve narrowed my list down to three core priorities. Unless we have these three things in place, we can forget about saving South Africa.

1. Stop further economic decline.
2. Address the energy problems and logistics.
3. Stop the increase in corruption.

1. Economic decline

It was clear in the budget speech earlier this year that South Africa has reached a dead end as far as the economy. We were such a proud and strong economic country, but unfortunately, this is no longer the case. As a country, you cannot keep borrowing to get you out of situations. It is like obtaining a credit card so that you can pay the installment of your motorcar.

No! The budget is supposed to create a change that stimulates growth by lending capital to its residents to encourage them to engage in business and not borrow from the top countries in the world.

Our Minister of Finance, Mr. Enoch Godongwana, announced during the budget speech that the government is proposing tax increases of a total of R15 billion in 2024/25. That government currently receives R738.7 billion in tax revenue from personal income. Is this fair? Not if you cannot show me what was done with the previous year's taxes.

I do believe that if we focus on economic growth and create top soil for current concerns, we will address issues such as unemployment and close those potholes that South Africans are complaining about all the time.

2. Energy problems and logistics

“Loadshedding” is a word known to all South Africans. I am convinced that these days the first words a baby utters are no longer “mommy or daddy” but “loadshedding.” How can we expect foreign investment if we cannot guarantee that we will keep the “lights on?”

Ships are waiting on the waters of the wide ocean for more than 40 days to be offloaded at our biggest harbor. How can we ensure investors that it is “safe to trade” with South Africa?

Poor governance, bad policies, and “fixing” need to go! It is time to follow competition discipline between service providers and to do away with state-owned companies.

3. Corruption

At the end of last year, our very own president, Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa himself, said that when it comes to corruption, his own party, the ruling party, failed to introduce, after the end of apartheid, “an era of integrity, honesty, and ethical performance.”
Yes, I know that corruption is all over the world, but if our president acknowledges it, then you must know how bad it is.

Corruption is a vicious circle. It leads to fewer working opportunities, basic services that cannot be delivered, a poor economy, and a breakdown in trust.

Corruption is a crime that needs to be stopped!

This is, however, not where I want to leave it.

Education and healthcare are close to my heart, and it is not because I am female but because it is the right of our citizens, from the young to the old.

In our own Bill of Rights, Chapter 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, we have added inalienable human rights that read as follows:

(1) This Bill of Rights is a cornerstone of democracy in South Africa. It enshrines the rights of all people in our country and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality, and freedom.
(2) The state must respect, protect, promote, and fulfill the rights in the Bill of Rights.
(3) The rights in the Bill of Rights are subject to the limitations contained in or referred to in Section 36, or elsewhere in the Bill.

To ensure the democratic values of humans and citizens of South Africa as president, I will give my attention to the following:

Education

Again, there are three core problems that I, as president, would like myself and the people of this beautiful country to focus on.

• South Africa’s education system is one of the weakest in the world and requires extraordinary intervention from all role players. I would like to see the government, politicians, the private sector, civil society, non-governmental organizations, teachers, and parents stand together.

• Let’s listen to the teachers. Continued strikes in education are threatening the growth and survival of our country's economy.

• It is time to declare education not a right but a necessity! The only way we are going to do that is to amend South Africa’s constitution.

Healthcare

Last but not least, I want to give attention to healthcare.

• The weak service delivery at government facilities like clinics and hospitals is well known. It is also no secret that there is a lack of ambulance services, medicine, and experienced staff. This needs to be addressed urgently.

• In recent years, specialized and trained medical staff have left the country. It is time that we keep them here and not look for greener grass. This we can do if the government works closely with the private health sector and medical funds.

• We need to restore the dignity of the underprivileged urgently. It is their right to access the best medical healthcare. This we can only do if we encourage and reward those who do it.

If there is one thing that always knocks on our door, it is a challenge.

My road as president will be full of challenges.

The biggest challenge at the moment is winning your support so that you put your X next to my name. If I can accomplish that, I can overcome the current challenges we are facing as set out in my letter, as well as appoint the right people in the right positions, stop South Africa from leaving the country, and whatever comes knocking.

In South Africa, it is time to rewrite the history books. Let me be the first woman to lead this country. Not only will I be the first female state president of South Africa, but I will also be the first white female. The last white president we had was in 1996, nearly 30 years ago.

It is time to show the world that APARTHEID is truly no longer among the Rainbow Nation.

Sincerely
@patjewell

I invite: @eveetim @rahul989 @tigerix and @rosselena to enter

Thank you to @jasminemary @maryamnadeem @esteban85 @whizzbro4eva @saintkelvin17 who invited me.

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