Changing…status

Coming out of two hundred years of Dutch then British-imposed slavery followed by almost another century of indentureship in which we were literally whipped and pilloried to on the agricultural plantations no one can blame our forefathers for associating more than a touch of odium to working in the fields with our hands!! To be “free” was through “Education” by entering the Civil Service and the professions of law and medicine!!
We’ve just sang hosannahs to the top NGSA’s 100 “high flyers” – but reading about their aspirations nary a single one said they wanna become farmers!! Yet we’d been assured by experts in developmental economics that if we’re to build a sustainable high-income economy, we gotta get into agriculture!! The world needs food but it’s running out of land and fresh water – which we got in abundance. The brainacs call this our “comparative advantage” – cause we SHOULD be able to produce food cheaper than most other countries!!
Trouble is, with our “best and brightest” avoiding agriculture like a cow’s being sent to the slaughterhouse – our farming has been trapped in a “cutlass and kitchen garden” mentality that barely keeps body and soul together!! Have you ever wondered why our most “successful” farmers – in rice – have always been living from hand-to-mouth at the millers’ behest?? Well, it was – and is – because even agriculture has become a high-tech endeavour that demands being au fait with the latest innovations!!
Take the usage of drones in agriculture. They can provide information on crop growth stages, crop health, and soil variations and apply pesticides and herbicides with pin-point accuracy based on its data!! This creates huge savings in inputs – and equally huge increases in production!! But even though leaders have done their darndest since independence to “grow more food” fact of the matter is, we never made that critical breakthrough to create the incentives that drive success in a modern economy!!
Until now!! With all the kvetching about President Ali’s farm – he’s a pioneer in providing that critical missing element for a new agricultural culture: a successful professional willing to use his brains to create a modern farm!! He was already a Minister of Government when he applied to lease land on the highway for farming!! The land has always been there – but most were thinking within the old box – and were deterred by the poor soil conditions of the intermediate savannahs!!
But on his farm, he introduced modern methods of cattle, sheep and poultry rearing; hydroponic produced greens, etc. And he didn’t stop with his personal demonstrator on modern farming – but encouraged 20 Reg 3 professionals to launch and run a modern chicken farm!!
Like US President Jimmy Carter – he showed that professionals can be farmers. Down with the stigma!!

…Ubuntu
South Africa has long enjoyed wrapping itself in the warm blanket of Ubuntu—that stirring African philosophy declaring, “I am because we are.” It’s a beautiful sentiment but recently only until another AFRICAN arrives at the border looking for work!! Suddenly, Ubuntu becomes, “I am because you are somewhere else”!! After Mandela, SA had lectured the world about Pan-Africanism, solidarity and the debt owed to the rest of the continent for supporting their struggle against apartheid. African nations housed exiles, trained freedom fighters, imposed sanctions and sacrificed scarce resources so South Africa could become the Rainbow Nation.
Now, the rainbow apparently has an immigration checkpoint!! Zimbabweans, Nigerians, Ethiopians, Somalis, Congolese and others have discovered the welcome mat ends where economic competition begins. Foreign-owned shops are looted, migrants are scapegoated for unemployment and politicians conveniently rediscover nationalism whenever elections loom. 53,000 have been deported to date!!
The irony is palpable!! The nation that once pleaded, “Don’t treat us differently because we’re African,” now says, “Sorry, you’re too African”!!

…debt load
As of July 6, 2026, the U.S. public debt stood at roughly US$39.39TRILLION – that’s 121% of its GDP as of 2025!! It added US$3.17 trillion over the past year alone!! Yet we’re told our debt shouldn’t exceed 3% of our GDP!!