Simplicity

 Dear Mr President 

John Maxwell once interviewed a businessman renowned for turning ailing businesses around. 

"What's the first thing you do after buying the company?"

"I fire the executive", was the succinct reply.

"Don't you give them an opportunity to turn the business around?"

" They had the opportunity for five, ten years or more", the businessman replied. 

That's a brutal truth. In South Africa, we would have said "obvious", drawing out the vowels for emphasis.

It's very simple, sir. It wouldn't solve all our problems but it's a damned good place to start. You know that. You were a businessman. The trouble with simple steps is that they often come up against the wall of party politics, lack of appetite and other useless but powerful obstacles.

With your current lot, you have a slightly lower chance of success than Bafana would have against a fired-up German side. That, too, is obvious. 

Imagine a hostage negotiator droning on after half the hostages have been slaughtered. And the hostage-takers are loading fresh clips. Some long game! The time to send in the SWAT team is long overdue. Another brutal truth. 

People are dying. Literally and figuratively. The hope that springs eternal is dying.

Yours in the struggle to retain a mustard seed of optimism.

Richard

Tips for the blogger gratefully accepted 

Capitec Bank, South Africa  

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O Tichmann 

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