The Sting

Dear Fellow South Africans

Along with Covid came Corruption and a veritable army of Con Artists. Our own three horsemen of the apocalypse. There is apparently an ANC meeting to discuss corruption in all its varied, colourful forms. That's alright, then.

A friend told me recently of a gold and diamond business promising handsome returns to investors. Feeling a prickling sensation, like the memory of an old wasp sting, I quickly turned to faithful Google. 'Carte Blanche', the investigative TV programme, and scourge of many con artists, immediately came up alongside the name of the fabled company. My friend groaned. As well he might. The company was as solid as a child's soap bubble.

I avoid, like the virus, any organization whose name begins with the word 'Crowd'. Crowdwajo's barely literate ramblings should have been warning enough for us. Crowd 1 is being investigated and already smells like one of the pit toilets the tenderpreneurs neglected. A crowd farming venture last year gave it's investors only one thing: the startling discovery that chickens can fly. Far and fast. Crowd ANC also scares me.

I believe in network marketing. It's one of the few ways that an ordinary Joe can be in business without paying an arm and a leg plus several organs. But, dear investor, ask at least the following questions:

Show me your registration. Any answer that includes 'um' and 'er' is your cue to flee as if the devil were after you. And indeed, he is.

Describe your product or service. Pixie dust does not qualify.

Who are the founders or the executive? Check these against Interpol lists.

You know that network marketing is hard, time-consuming work - like any business. At least three things make it harder in South Africa:

Justified suspicion and cynicism.

The cost of products, regardless of how good the quality might be.

The realization that hits eager - beaver affiliates quite early that this is hard work. And it's not a sprint.

Then there are the con artists.

Walk softly. Bonne Chance.

Yours in the struggle.

Richard