Chronicle-1994

you cross the line. We haven't got that in this country and until we do we are going to be faced by an ava lanche of crime. Obviously in addition, we have got to create jobs, we've got to create the all inclusive casino, you've got to have family values - there are plenty of other things to bring crime down but actually thejudicial system is an important part ofall ways to combat crime. The last two myths-the first one is it's all about the brotherhood ofman-this idea that people naturally stay together as one. I believed in that myth in the 1960's. We all went to San Francisco in those days and wore flowers in our hair and listened to Bob Dylan and Joan Baez singing anti-Vietnam peace songs. It was great. It was a marvellous period to be ateenager and wethought the world was going to come together as one.Ofcourse, the world has done the exact opposite. You realize that to keep people together you've got to give them a sense of purpose. They've got to belong to a successful club, and you've got to give them a sense of national vision, pride and so forth and so on. America holds togetherthe United States of America. Even though you have Chinese, Spanish, African Americans - all kinds of Americans - they hold together because there's the American dream. It holds people together. The Soviet Union was totally different across the other side of the Atlantic. If you tried to leave the club premises of the Soviet Union,you were physically restricted and if you complained,the Chairman shot you so obviously, when the central committee ofthat club declined in power,the Politburo that is, the whole club fell apart. Now in this country there's a big lesson which is,if you wantto hold South Africa together as one,then you have got to make everyone in this country believe that South Africa is a club that's worth belonging to.Now I think that we have done extremely well. I think that President Mandela's done a greatjob at making the people proud ofthis coun try.You know,we not only have the best State President on earth,we have the best golfer too!The fact is that we started out very well. The problem is that we have to deliver now because the honeymoon period will gradu ally evaporate and people will say "Well how has my life changed?"MYLIFE.In terms ofthe houseIlive in, the school I send my kids to, the hospital care that I get and so forth and so on. And when people start asking that question,then this country must have started deliv ering in those areas. The last myth is that "Pretoria will Provide," which is the subject ofa book I wrote last year.This idea that the state will provide everything is a myth of the twentieth century. It's notjust here in South Africa. In Australia it's Canberra will provide,in America,Washington will provide,London will provide.Everywhere in the world, people think that the state will provide and what's hap pened at the end of this century is that the state is run ning out of money everywhere and people have started to have to provide for themselves. So what you should be thinking is,"This is what the state can assist me with in terms ofeducation,housing,infrastructure and so on and so forth." The first condition was a negotiated po litical settlement.That's now history.The second condi tion was that free enterprise should be the basis of the South African economy. You have a Government that grudgingly acknowledges business rather than whole scale supports business. But there is a very big differ ence in those two attitudes. It's like if you go to the ca sino and the casino operator sits in the back room and makessnide remarks aboutthe gamblers.Heknowsthat they have to be there but he doesn't sort of, let's say, respect them in anyway. Whereas if you are a casino operator, you should walk around the tables, patting the gamblers on the back when they win making them feel welcome. That's how you run a successful easino. So we've still got a long way to go on that second condi tion. The third condition was that power should be decentral ised from the centre to the regions and from the regions down to local municipalities. Given the very powerful personalities that have now been elected atregionallevel, we have de facto federalism in this country and I can tell you,in my personal experience in the gold division of Anglo America,that once you give people down the line power they never give it back to you! We have de facto federalism now. The fourth condition was that sanctions should be lifted and apartfrom afew American states, which still haven't lifted sanctions against this country,but haven't against Namibiaeither because newstravels slowly in the States - we have the end of sanctions. So, we have come a long way on the high road scenario. But,there is alow road.It's like the speed trap,nospeed trap. There is a low road in this country. There are two ways down the low road-the one is what you see up north in Rwanda, where one ends up in a huge great civil war, but I regard that now as very unlikely in this country.It was more likely afew years ago,butIregard it as far less likely now.The second one is the one we should watch outfor which is a bureaucratic nightmare that the federal structure that we are putting in place in this country is an excuse to have bureaucracy in tripli cate. Bureaucracy at city level, bureaucracy at regional level,bureaucracy at national level and all you had was millions of bureaucrats actually running this place, not allowing you to move without having to sort of get a licence and also,ofcourse,having to be paid so that you have to raise taxes. That is the bureaucratic nightmare scenario. That is why I offer the kind of casino model, which,incidentally, is coming out in book form in two monthstime-anybody who wants a Christmas present! -as the alternative option. I'd like to end up with three stories which illustrate the High Road.I was in Singapore the other day and I was attending a world gold conference.I wentforajog down the high street at4o'clock in the afternoon and I tripped overa paving stone which wasraised upin the high street. SoI saton some steps to revive and a Chinese concierge came running down the steps and said "Are you all right?" I said I'm fine and on I went. The following morning at 8 o'clock I decided to go exactly the same route so I gotdown to the main street,I said,there is the bus stop, tbere is the office, don't trip over the paving stone. I got to the spot-I couldn't believe my eyesthey had completely repaved the area.ThatChinesecon cierge had gone back to his office, rung up the local municipality and said, "There is some crazy foreigner who has just tripped over the paving stone outside my office -fix it." They didn't fix it the following daythey fixed it at midnight.Thatis what you are up against in the Far East. The second story is from Japan. I was waiting for a Shinkenzen, a bullet train, to take me from Tokyo to Osaka andI wastalking to my Japanese guide andI said. Kearsney Chronicle 1994 19

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