In The One Thing, Bruce Whitfield challenges a selection of deep thinkers to identify the one thing they would do if they were president for half an hour.
In his new book, The One Thing: Small Ideas, Big Outcomes, A Brighter Future for South Africa, bestselling author and award-winning business broadcaster Bruce Whitfield draws on his network of contacts – including contributors such as mining CEO Mike Teke, Wits chancellor Judy Dlamini and Ndlovu Youth Choir maestro Ralf Schmitt – to find out how they would catalyse change in South Africa.
If South Africa were a cat, it would be rapidly running out of its nine lives. The One Thing, which follows Whitfield’s bestseller The Upside of Down and Genius: How to Thrive at the Edge of Chaos, is a book that looks for opportunity in times of uncertainty.
In the excerpt below, Styli Charalambous, Stephen Grootes and Bonang Mohale outline how they would counter the crushing curse of corruption.
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Styli Charalambous
Styli is the founding CEO and publisher of Daily Maverick. He has been instrumental in growing a five-person startup to a team of more than 100 full-time staff, reaching 9 million monthly unique users in a contracting media environment. Unsurprisingly, he is a passionate proponent of supporting media freedom as a cornerstone of a high-functioning democracy, and his first step would be to see media outlets whose exposés lead to convictions incentivised for their efforts.
“With my 30 minutes of all-encompassing power as president of Mzansi, I wouldn’t hesitate to invest in the one thing that yields the greatest return on investment any country can make: journalism.
Specifically, a suite of laws and policies that would make it easier for this critical function of society to thrive. If you think I am being hyperbolic, take a mental walk with me through recent history.
Imagine a scenario where Jacob Zuma’s ex-wife had won the ANC elective conference in 2017, allowing him to continue his reign from behind the scenes. Or if Tom Moyane was allowed to continue syphoning off the tax base to the Guptas and dismantling SARS collection and investigative capabilities. Or Malusi Gigaba as Minister of Finance, Brian Molefe as CEO for Eskom. And all of this through the Covid pandemic. Imagine what our economy would look like and how much VAT and marginal tax rates would be. Thanks to the work of journalists and whistleblowers, you don’t have to imagine it.
Despite all of the value saved and created through the scenarios mentioned above, journalism faces an existential crisis. As the industry transitioned through the digital disruption of the internet, the business model of journalism has been all but destroyed. Policy intervention is the only way we can get it back, and with smart design we can save journalism and create a boon for the economy.
One particular law has the potential to really shake things up. Inspired by efforts in the US to encourage financial whistleblowing, I would enact a law that compensates investigative journalism publishers and whistleblowers on a percentage of assets recovered or fines imposed from their work.
This single law could revolutionise our economy and society.
Corruption is the biggest challenge facing South Africa. It’s why so many of our systems are broken, from education to infrastructure to power and water service delivery. Compensating whistleblowers and journalists, say 10% each, from the proceeds of asset recoveries and/or fines will have many benefits, namely:
- Greater investment in investigative journalism: Financial rewards for successful investigations would attract more funding and resources to investigative journalism. At the same time, local news and investigations could be revitalised where these resources barely exist and corruption runs wild;
- Change the treatment of whistleblowers: Compensating whistleblowers would transform their expectations of fear and financial ruin into empowerment and recognition. Knowing that they will be rewarded for their courage, more individuals would come forward with valuable information, significantly increasing the number of uncovered cases of corruption and fraud;
- Focus on public service journalism: With a sustainable revenue stream from successful investigations, newsrooms could shift their focus from click-driven content to public service journalism, which helps the economy;
- Create a sustainable revenue stream for journalism: By linking compensation to recovered assets and fines, this law would create a sustainable revenue stream for journalism without relying on advertisers or donors, which is often unstable and insufficient;
- Improve South Africa’s image: Demonstrating a strong commitment to tackling corruption would significantly enhance South Africa’s international reputation. As a country serious about accountability and transparency, South Africa would become more attractive to foreign investors, boosting economic growth and development;
- Export the idea globally: South Africa could set a global example as a pioneer of this innovative approach. Other countries with similar media freedom levels could adopt this model, creating a ripple effect of enhanced journalistic integrity and accountability worldwide.
This investment in journalism is not just about supporting the media industry; it’s about fostering a society where truth and justice prevail – the foundation for a robust foundation for sustainable economic development.
As president, this would be my gift to South Africa.”
Stephen Grootes
Stephen is one of South Africa’s most thoughtful and considered journalists who loves political intrigue but understands also that the politics of the country and the power it bestows on often corrupt individuals has a direct impact on the lives of its citizens. He also happens to be my successor on ‘The Money Show’, a programme I had the privilege of hosting for more than two decades and to whom I am delighted to be handing over to.
“If there is one thing the sheer cost of the state capture era teaches us, it’s how much we can lose so quickly when the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is captured. The Zondo Commission put the cost at R49bn. Never mind all of the other damage done to our society as businesses found it was harder to operate. At the same time, the rise of the construction mafia shows what happens when the rule of law loses legitimacy and when people do not believe that it works for them.
Currently, the president has the power to appoint both the National Police Commissioner and the National Director of Public Prosecutions. The result has been Jackie Selebi – convicted of paying bribes to a drug dealer – and a series of weak and conflicted NPA heads – until Shamila Batohi. To resolve this, I would immediately change the Constitution to revoke the power of the president to make these appointments. I would replace them with a public and transparent process that relied on qualifications.
This would make it impossible for someone who has never worked the streets as a police officer to suddenly lead the police. But I would also demand that they show managerial skill. The same would apply to the NPA; it should become law that their interviews are conducted in public, as former President Kgalema Motlanthe once suggested the Judicial Service Commission should interview people for this position.
And then, once appointed, they would have to appear before this commission and answer questions under oath. The people on the commission would include experts and people who are not political. And they would be empowered to demand and receive answers. This process of review would also extend to people slightly further down the managerial scales. The other problem is that the pace of justice is too slow, but once witnesses give testimony a trial cannot stop. Which is why politicians facing charges bring so many pre-trial arguments to try to stop the trial from starting, thus never having to reply to the evidence.
Instead, I would change the law through parliament (because presidents do have political power over their caucus to speed up this process, to get trials to start more quickly).
One of the most important changes in our society in the last six years has been how the NPA has, hopefully, become less political. It’s not clear if the police have followed the same pattern. In particular, in KwaZulu-Natal there is evidence that the police are still heavily politicised. But with a changing of the political guard, there may be an opportunity to reduce the levels of politicisation, by changing the leadership of the police and forcing transparency.
This would be a difficult process, but the fruits would be immense. It would start a process where there is less corruption and less violence. And that, in turn, would make it easier to start a business and to make a profit.”
Bonang Mohale
Bonang is the chairperson of the University of the Free State and the chair of several companies, including the industrial conglomerate Bidvest. He has authored two books and won numerous high-level accolades and awards for his services to business and the country.
“The one action that could fundamentally shift and have a compounding effect on the trajectory of this country over the next decade is to root out and defeat state capture. The way formal procedures, such as laws and social norms and government bureaucracy, are manipulated by government officials, state-backed companies, private companies or private individuals, so as to influence state policies and laws in their favour, must change.
State capture sought to achieve four objectives: create a shadow state; repurpose state-owned enterprises and companies; hollow out key state institutions by replacing the good people with the bad; and the final prize was the ultimate capture of the National Treasury, precisely because it is responsible for both the PIC and SARS. The state capture project simply exacerbated this already ominous situation. The nine wasted years were wasteful at a grand scale, where we were rendered passive by ubiquitous industrial-scale looting. About R1.5tn of waste in just five years! We estimate an average of R100bn every year was siphoned off to the ‘Zupta Family’. Bosasa netted R12bn from 2004 and VBS squandered R1.8bn of investors’ hard-earned cash. State capture has brought about irreparable harm, dashed dreams, profound disappointment and human tragedy – leaving millions in avoidable and often desperate poverty.
The immediate consequences are that we are now in the midst of the lowest confidence, trust and hope since the Second World War; still reeling from the ‘nine wasted years’; a near zero GDP growth in the last twenty years; the three rating agencies’ downgrade; sixteen-and-a-half years of Eskom’s rolling blackouts; the 2018 VBS Bank looting; and intermittent water supply where the people of Hammanskraal had no clean running water for twenty years, with the resultant cholera outbreak, etc. State capture costs the South African GDP at least R27bn annually, as well as the loss of 76 000 jobs that would otherwise have been created, it increases the costs of doing business and stunts the dynamism and competitiveness that is needed. Often both the goods are not received and service is not rendered, and this has a negative impact on growth and jobs. The power crisis is costing the economy some $50m a day in lost generation; Eskom is costing an average of R900m ($55m) a month in corruption, with the company burdened with debt and unable to produce enough power for the country’s energy crisis. The cost of unserved electricity in 2022 was about R560bn; at stage 6 load-shedding about R4bn a day; about R500m between stages and it wipes off about 2% of GDP per annum. The continent’s leading industrial power is unable to draw stable, reliable and predictable energy supply from Eskom’s antiquated and poorly maintained power stations.
Had we just maintained our growth trajectory of the first fifteen years, today the economy would be 20% larger at about $448bn, not the current $373bn (Egypt is at $348bn, Algeria is at $267bn and Nigeria is at $253bn). GDP growth would be about 7%, not the current <1%; GDP per capita would be about $8 400, not the current <$7 000; and the unemployment rate would be about 16%, not the current 32.9%, and the country would have banked an extra R1tn! Maybe our economy would not have entered a recession, our credit rating would not have been below investment grade at BB−, the Financial Action Task Force would not have grey-listed us, and we would not have the highest rates of cash-in-transit heists, inequality, SME failure and gender-based violence and femicide in the world. The struggle against state capture and corruption in South Africa is a struggle for human rights. State capture lays bare the various networks of looters in the public and private sector, who have criminally enriched themselves at the expense of many. The consequences of the looting have been dire and have undoubtedly contributed to poverty and unemployment and extend beyond a financial loss. The capacity of the state has been severely eroded. In addition, South Africa has had to grapple with a weaker economy, a continued revenue shortfall and dysfunctional state-owned entities and companies that are bleeding the fiscus dry.
It is unconscionable that constitutionally enshrined human rights, such as healthcare, social security, housing and basic education, have been compromised because of the actions of corrupt individuals. When economic freedom – the ability of individuals and families to make their own economic decisions without interference from government – is extended to all, it generates positive social and economic outcomes, including opportunity; increased economic growth; enhanced job creation; economic diversification; political stability; and peaceful development of other freedoms. The advent of the ‘New Dawn’, if it was rigorously implemented, would have ushered in renewed growth and prosperity to all South Africans. A bright and prosperous future that was palpable and visible on the horizon.” DM
The One Thing: Small Ideas, Big Outcomes, A Brighter Future for South Africa by Bruce Whitfield is published by Pan Macmillan (R320) and available for purchase directly from the Daily Maverick Shop. Visit The Reading List for South African book news, daily – including excerpts!