Taking South Africa Forward

My search for good news continues, and even though sometimes it seems like I am searching for a needle in a haystack, every now and then one strikes gold. One particular gem I managed to find was in Time magazine’s double issue of 23 September 2019. It may have been paid for editorial, courtesy of the South African taxpayer, but at this stage I will take anything. And it is a good way to segue into our now traditional year end good news issue

Little did we know as we celebrated the end of 2019, and welcomed 2020, what was to befall us. The scourge of Covid-19 was waiting in the wings, ready to pounce, and we were led like lambs to the slaughter....

Dizzy Dozen - Twelve years, folks. That is how long Automotive Business Review (aBr) has been going. Forged in the fire of mind-boggling deceit and bad faith, and launched in the vortex of the 2008 financial crisis, aBr reenergised and repurposed the moribund trade publication milieu, with a burst of kinetic energy. aBr turned the boring trade journal template on its head with well-written articles, knowledgeable insights, and relevant information, all laced with a wicked sense of humour and Words in Action. Now, 12 years later, after a dizzying ride, and in the midst of a new crisis, known as Covid-19, aBr continues to surprise and delight

South Africa's leading automotive aftermarket magazine.

Big Brother is Bullying You - I am writing this editorial on the afternoon of 13 May 2020, as the long-suffering citizens of South Africa endure the seventh week of a severe lockdown, and government overreach. How much longer do we have to suffer so unnecessarily? I pray that by the time our loyal base reads this at the end of May, the lockdown has ended, or at least it has been watered down significantly – but I have my doubts

Coronavirus Bloodbath
As I write this, I am anxiously watching the JSE index go down inexorably, and seeing my retirement funds
rapidly disappearing down the toilet. I cannot even call it a black swan event, as it is far worse than that and
more like an existential crisis

Time to Hit a Home Run, Cyril
Welcome to 2020, and welcome to another year of hope and despair. 2019 was our annus horribilis, and 2020 could be our anus horribilis, if our government does not get off their horribilis anus. But it does not have to be this way, and all we need is a president who puts the country before party, and the country before himself. One can hope, and one can clutch at any straw that is floating around


In the July/August issue of aBr, we looked at rays of light in South Africa. To add some flesh to these luminescent bones, I made my way to the second Nedgroup Investments ENGAGE event at Melrose Arch o 28 August 2019.

The Phoenix editorials in 2019 have been pretty gloomy, as I bemoaned the fact that our electorate do not seem to put their brains into gear when exercising their democratic right at the poll booths, and that even when the democratic right is exercised, it appears that those who are elected don’t give a fig about the electorate, or don’t have the competence to give a fig. Now for a change in gear, and to look at a heart-warming illumination …

In the previous issue of aBr (March/April 2019), I asked the question, tongue firmly in cheek, whether voters should be r equired to pass an IQ test. Upon reflection, a deeper question would be whether democracy is doomed?

SHOULD VOTERS BE REQUIRED TO PASS AN IQ TEST?
I am a great fan of the Financial Mail’s deputy editor, Sikonathi Mantshantsha. I always look forward to his “Between the Chains” column, because he never fails to impress with his insights, and he is never scared of tweaking the tiger’s tail. His column in the March 14 – March 16 2019 issue is a case in point...

As I was racking my brain how to explain the very weird year of 2018, an email
arrived from 21st Century, a company that operates primarily as remuneration
consultants. Chris Blair and Bryden Morton have managed to make sense of all the
contradictions, hopes and disappointments, through the eyes of the consumer…

Last year aBr, in its November / December 2017 issue, came out with a Good News Issue, based on the premise that political change was about to come, and the strong feeling was that this would naturally put the country on a strong growth trajectory. We got what we wanted, en kyk hoe lyk ons nou!

September is supposed to mean rejuvenation, growth and all-round happiness. Poets are also inspired by spring, as they unleash their quills, rejoicing about trees sprouting, birds singing, breezes blowing, and temperatures pleasing

Ten Years’ Young
2008 was not the best year to start a business, let alone a magazine. The global financial crisis was starting to bite, and only the brave or foolish would even attempt to rush in, while the angels were treading carefully. However, necessity is the mother of invention. This was the genesis of Automotive Business Review (aBr)

In my youth I was a rabid free marketeer, and an avid disciple of Milton Friedman. To my mind, the market should dictate most everything, and I couldn’t understand why governments intervened in such a seamless process. 

Ever since our February 2018 issue, I have been dishing out political advice to all and sundry, albeit with the knowledge that I am just a kibitzer, or as many of my acquaintances call me, a space cadet. I accept that I am only a bit player, and as Lyndon Johnson would describe it, as someone outside the tent, pissing in. And I have no chance of getting inside the tent, so I will rather leave the sane and reasoned advice to an insider, Mcebisi Jonas

Some Advice to Cyril Ramaphosa – from Kipling and Sunter
My editorials in the March, April, and May 2018 issues of aBr clearly spelt out the failings and even worse of our esteemed governing party over the past ten years. These editorials, titled “Our Bloated Ship of Sate”, “The First Step – with a Long Way to Go”, and “Cutting Out Wastage”, focused on the profligate ways we are being governed, and were by their very nature of a negative bent, because when pointing out the bad, things look dark. Now for some light, and some good countervailing advice from two sources, over a hundred years’ apart

The Phoenix editorials In the March and April 2018 issues of aBr were highly political, and I am afraid, for those of you who are heartily sick and tired of my pontifications, the May issue carries on the theme of providing advice to the president of the country. But these are highly unusual and turbulent times, which to me justifies my trilogy of high horse and soap box articles
We’ve discussed the size of the cabinet, and we have discussed, in barbed and confrontational language, albeit entirely justified, the merits of some of the cabinet appointments, and the morals and decency of the individuals involved. Now we need to revisit my central theme, our bloated and wasteful ship of state.


In the March 2018 issue of aBr I was presumptuous enough to give Cyril Ramaphosa advice on the size of his cabinet, and even more presumptuous to suggest who should not be there, starting with Malusi Giggle Gigaba, and a list that I promised to reveal in this issue.

Our Bloated Ship of State

As I write this, it is 17h20 on 15 February 2018, and Matamele Cyril Ramaphosa has just been sworn in by chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. All of South Africa is euphoric, and rightly so, because our very own Caligula, one Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, has revealed that the emperor has no clothes, and a new era has begun

But hold your horses. And I’m not referring to the horse that Caligula promoted to high office, although if you look at some of the appointees of Zuma, he may as well have appointed horses. The reason why I’m asking you to hold your horses is because one swallow does not make a summer, and dear Cyril has an enormous job ahead of him, in clearing out the Augean stables.

Enough of the metaphors, and down to business. My advice to Ramaphosa is to take all of your political capital, and to spend it on cleaning house – not just in removing the crust of pus that Zuma baked onto our body politic pie, but to overturn the whole filthy maggot infested pot of corruption. It is a herculean task, so let us remove the elephant in the room, bite by bite. There I go again with my metaphors - but then again what is a meta for?

The automotive aftermarket is in good shape at the moment, what with close to 10 million vehicles plying the South African roads, and depressed vehicle sales an indication that people and businesses are postponing vehicle purchases because of low consumer and business confidence, thus creating bigger maintenance demand

South Africa is on the precipice, and we need all the help we can get. By the end of December 2017 we will have a pretty sound idea about where we as a country are going, so for the last issue of aBr in 2017 I have decided to try and give fate a nudge, by calling the November/December 2017 edition the GOOD NEWS issue.

Inclusive Growth
What exactly is inclusive growth? If you go to Google this is the definition that pops up first: “Inclusive growth is a concept that advances equitable opportunities for economic participants during economic growth with benefits incurred by every section of society. ... The definition of inclusive growth implies direct links between the macroeconomic and microeconomic determinants of the economy and economic growth.” Spot on, but a little wordy, so Bruce Whitfield, the MC at the IQbusiness workshop and function on the topic, held at the Inanda Club on 15 September 2017, gave Pravin Gordhan, South Africa’s yo-yo finance minister, ten seconds to come up with a seven word definition.


When the Going Gets Tough - During its hosting of the State of the Motor Industry (SOMI) event on 8 August 2017 at its headquarters at Wesco Park in Sandton, Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) announced the creation of the Toyota Empowerment Trust (TET). 
Quite an impressive feat. No, not the announcement, I’m talking about getting three acronyms into one sentence. We South Africans love our acronyms - something like the TET offensive. But seriously, the TET has been seeded with R42 million in start-up funding to focus on skills and enterprise development initiatives in the automotive industry. Initially, it will facilitate the training and qualification of specialised automation technicians.

In the Jan/Feb 2017 issue of aBr I indulged in a bit of numerological whimsy when I said that the number 23 would play an important role in 2017 in getting this country the leadership it deserves. Well, that pesky number 23 came up again at the Automechanika Johannesburg briefing on 29 June 2017.

In these times of frustration with the appalling levels of corruption at the highest levels of government, and the depressing realisation that things are unlikely to change in the short to medium term, it is always good to come across decent human beings who work for the good of the country rather their own atavistic and avaricious benefit, and to discover rays of hope peeping through the dark clouds of despair.

Every quarter I attend a presentation by Dr Azar Jammine, chief economist of Econometrix, on the state of the domestic and global economy. These presentations are usually delivered at the Johannesburg War Museum in Saxonwold, which many may consider an idiosyncratic choice of venue for an economic presentation.

15 August 1985 is seared in my memory. This was the day that PW Botha made his infamous Rubicon speech, which while cocking a snook at the international community and world markets, it precipitated the decline of the National Party, the unbanning of the ANC, the release of Nelson Mandela, and the end of apartheid. The Groot Krokodil, as Botha was known, thanks to his fierce temper, had single-handedly, against the advice of his more progressive cabinet colleagues, delivered an unexpected reactionary response to the world’s anti-apartheid pressure, and single-handedly given the coup de grace to the South African economy.

During March I attended an automotive workshop, convened by the Competition Commission of
South Africa, looking for solutions and remedies in addressing the vexing issue of improving access to
the automotive aftermarket’s products and services.

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Automotive Business Review - November / December 2019

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