Inside Report with Basch: Businesses bite back
Given the huge lack of service delivery in the Alrode area, the businesses took matters into their own hands and sent a delegation to meet with the council department heads, the CCC Manager and myself.
Hopefully this will be the first of such interactions between business and council, because the lack of clear communication and general understanding on both sides is something that has concerned me for the longest time.
Council runs a program known as the Mayoral Imbizo’s, but these generally end up as window dressing for minor successes and don’t really address the real issues effectively. So by bringing business closer to council, hopefully we will start to see some much needed action.
Alrode is by far one of the most vital industrial areas in the Metro. To understand its importance, you need to understand the economic climate we find ourselves in.
Large multi-national corporations used to be the way to go, in employment terms, however, they are reaching their glass ceiling in terms of expansion. It is the small to medium companies that hold the key to South Africa’s economic future.
These smaller entities have the capacity for growth on a much greater scale than big industry. This means that they will be feeding the employment sector with new jobs. More jobs mean more taxes, more taxes means better infrastructure, better infrastructure means more jobs and so on.
But if we are failing to provide the basic infrastructure required, that means that the cost of production, transport etc. rises sharply and thus makes it harder for smaller entities to compete in the market.
Poor infrastructure equals higher cost equals less jobs. Especially when one considers that the larger entities are downsizing, cutting jobs to protect profitability – which is what business is ultimately about.
As a country, we are on the precipice of chaos, and it is evident in the number of strike actions and service delivery protests that are marred with violence. If nothing is done to address the looming employment crisis, we may just fall into complete anarchy.
I support the businesses in Alrode and hope that through continued engagement we may find solutions to the problems we face, although I must give fair warning to those who where in attendance, change is like a rusty wheel, it turns very slowly.
It is easy to give up and be disheartened, ask me I know, but consistency is the key. Just know that persistence will be met with resistance, but just keep going, keep talking and keep trying, because that is where success lives.
