Dream Speech 2011

Last year ahead of President Zuma’s Snooze of the Nation speech, we gave our alternative if-we-were-Zuma dream speech in what became quite a popular post among readers. Every year there are a number of pundits who do the same, but each year they write a different speech.  Since nothing has really changed in the past year, we thought the 2010 speech is just as apt for 2011.

So, with that, below is what Human Action thinks Zuma should say to the nation on tonight.  Before that, just a few quick points up front:

1. Why do our presidents still give speeches in English?  Zuma should speak in Zulu and any other black-African language that would allow the bulk of the nation to truly understand him.
2. Zuma should split his speech into two parts: One part for the average Joe out there, and one part for the more sophisticated business and investor class.  He could speak English in part two as it is the de facto language of business.
3. Get radical.  Zuma needs to get off that predictable snooze-script and get proper Zulu on us!  That’s right, South Africa’s problems aren’t polite-English-garden-high-tea problems, they’re ugly-deep-guttural-get-down-in-the-mud problems and they require, first and foremost, ugly-deep-guttural-get-down-in-the-mud presidential speeches.  Enough pansying about.  SA doesn’t need stable, softy soft policies that keep everyone happy.  Zuma, while he still has some political capital, should use the speech to ram home what really needs to be done in SA to move past the stultifying political correctness, move past the mediocrity, and move past the drudgery of conventional politics. 

The President’s 201011 State of the Nation Address – as it REALLY should be:

Part 1: Message to the People
(In Zulu with English subtitles for TV audience) 

Greetings my fellow partners in freedom!  Are you ready for an explosive 2011?! 

Amandla!! (response Awethu!!) Amandla!! (response Awethu!!)

Viva freedom, Viva! (response Viva!!)

Viva freedom, Viva! (response Viva!!) 

We stand at the edge of greatness my comrades, for 2011 will be the start of the second revolution of this nation!  No more will we be slaves to tyranny.  No more will we accept laws of discrimination.  No more will we accept second best for this beautiful nation.  No more will we accept poverty in our midst.  No more will we labour under hopelessness and corrupt leadership. 

My fellow lovers of freedom and freedom-fighters, what started in 1994 must be finished now.  The half-freedom we attained due to the heroic struggles of our fathers and comrades must be turned into the full-freedom that we deserve and deeply desire. 

It is not the African way to be bound in chains.  Our slave brothers and sisters broke free from their chains in North America, and all African countries today have broken free of the burdens of systematic racial and imperial oppression.  African’s always choose freedom over slavery and oppression, and once more we must bravely choose the same. 

To this we say, 

Amandla!! (response Awethu!!) Amandla!! (response Awethu!!)

Viva freedom, Viva! (response Viva!!)

Viva freedom, Viva! (response Viva!!) 

We are a people who have always defeated adversity.  At Isandlwana the brave Zulu warriors crushed an invasion of tyranny in their land as they showed that the desire for freedom can be, and is, more powerful than guns and cannons.  Boer men and woman overcame adversity when they trekked inland in search of their own freedom to live and prosper as they pleased.  The 1820 British settlers defeated adversity when a few weather-beaten souls arrived on the barren shores of the Eastern Cape with only a few seeds and no farming implements and by the sweat of their brow made the land produce for them.  And, most importantly, people of all races, blacks, whites, coloureds and those of Asian decent, overcame the adversity of a tyrannical, fascist, apartheid state bent on total control of people’s lives, thoughts, economic actions and morality.  Long may that spirit of tyranny lie destroyed in the scrap-heap of history!

Amandla!! (response Awethu!!) Amandla!! (response Awethu!!)

Yes, indeed, we are a naturally free people, and we will rip off the shackles of tyranny wherever it arises and whatever subtle and cunning disguise it adorns. 

To this end I say NO to a government that keeps growing and fat-cats that keep enriching themselves at the expense of the nation.  For too long this government, the government in whom you had higher hopes and ideals for in 1994, has been squandering money, your money, people who work hard every day to put food on the table for their families.  This has to stop today. Indeed this will stop with immediate effect. 

• The size of Government will be cut in half in 2011 and tax money given back to those who really know how to spend it – the people.
• The entire government debt of 30% of our GDP will be fully repaid by the end of my term.  It is a trap and drag on prosperity.  Government will live within its means. My Finance Minister will see to it that he scraps all forecasts of deficits at next week’s budget statement.  From now on until the national debt is repaid, this great and free republic runs budget surpluses!
• The current tax structure will be scrapped and a uniform flat rate tax of 10% adopted for all income earners, in line with many other developing economies from the Americas to Eastern Europe.
• Government will fit to the size of the tax collection not fit the tax collection to the size of government!

Along with a smaller government it is time to get serious about creating real employment opportunities in this country.  For too long we have believed the lie that government can and must create jobs.  This cannot ever be true because government doesn’t produce anything and only spends what it can tax.  No, we can only rely on businessmen and businesswomen, from the small entrepreneurs running spaza shops in Diepsloot, to the large companies in our major cities that have helped build this country to what it is today.  These are the real engines of growth and jobs, not government.  

These engines of growth need a supply of hard working productive labour that is paid what it is worth.  From today a new reality begins, one where government stops pretending it can create economic prosperity, and one where we finally take the handbrake off the real heroes in our new democracy: the entrepreneurs and business owners who sometimes risk everything they have. 

• Following the budget speech from the Finance Minister on the 23^rd February, the company tax rate will be reduced from 28% to 10%.
• Labour legislation will be completely scrapped and common contractual law and criminal law will be the sole recourse for business and labour within the workplace.
• There will no longer be legislation governing how much maternal leave an employer has to give, how many hours a worker must work, or how much holiday and sick leave an employer must give.  All labour law scrapped!  Workers, you now have freedom of choice!
• Free adults in South Africa are mature enough to strike up their own contracts and government has no place telling you where you can and cannot work or who you can and cannot hire or fire.  To this end, affirmative action and BEE legislation will be totally repealed.  It is surely embarrassing for non-whites that we feel we have had to resort to the same repulsive tactics in the workplace as the architects of apartheid once did to give ourselves an unfair advantage.
• Unions will remain free to operate as they always have.  Freedom of association is a fundamental right.  There shall be no more need for special laws governing strike action.  Any group of people should be free to down tools and protest against unfair treatment.  Illegal strikes are a thing of the past.  Viva the right to strike for any reason, Viva!
• However, while workers are to have full freedom to strike, they must not forget that their unemployed brothers and sisters who are worse of than them would be very grateful for any job, even their job, and employers have the right to hire their unemployed brothers and sisters in their place should they wish.
• The minimum wage is legalised discrimination and will be abolished as soon as parliament next sits in session.  The minimum wage says that if you can’t produce R1800 per month of value then you are not fit to work.  This hideous policy of discrimination against the most vulnerable and most uneducated in our society must be wiped away and never return.

Our municipal infrastructure is a mess and national basic services are crumbling.  This administration will not make the same mistakes as were made in the past.  

• Before the end of my fist term as president, all road, rail, electricity and water infrastructure will be sold and maintained and operated for profit by private vendors.  
• Within four years there will be no such thing as an SOE, or State Owned Enterprise, otherwise known as ‘parastatals’.  Malusi Gigaba’s primary function now will be winding up the portfolio and taking all these assets off the states books.
• The highest priority on the list will be Eskom.  All Eskom assets will be 100% privately owned within 2 years.

The changes made to our police service have seen an improvement, but if we are honest with ourselves criminals will always stay ahead of us under the current system of policing.  It’s time to put power back where it belongs – in the hands of the people! 

Amandla! (response Awethu!) 

Down with criminals, down! (response Down!) 

The community is the best police force in the country.  How can the police save you when your home is under attack? How can they protect you when they are sitting in their police department and not in your street?  How can they save your life when they are not anywhere to be seen? 

They cannot! 

• With immediate effect the state shall relinquish control over arms.  No licence is required to own and operate a firearm.  Communities must endeavour to become better armed and better skilled in the use of lethal weapons.  For too long have violent criminals had free reign to terrorise communities.  In future violent criminals will not find it so easy!
• We will with immediate effect privatise policing and will disband the police force entirely by the end of my first term.  There is no reason why privately paid men and woman cannot act in the best interests of their communities and be the first line of defence. 

Umshini wami mshini wami
khawuleth’umshini wami
Umshini wami mshini wami,
khawuleth’umshini wami
Umshini wami mshini wami,
khawuleth’umshini wami
khawuleth’umshini wami
Wen’uyang’ibambezela
umshini wami, khawuleth’umshini wami 

Part 2: Message to Business and Investors
(In English with Sotho subtitles)
Short and to the point 

This is a short message to business people and investors of all kinds.  From the small zozo maker and his township financier, to the high flyers of local and international finance, our message to you is the same – do business! 

Do business wherever you can.  Make profits and hire labour freely.  Invest in productive capital.  We will no longer tax capital gains.  We will no longer tax investment income.  We will no long tax interest income. 

As I have said already in part 1 of my address, personal taxes will be slashed to a flat rate of 10%, as will corporate taxes.  However we recognise that corporate taxes are simply passed on to consumers anyway who end up paying an extra tax through higher prices.  People don’t need to pay more taxes than they already do, so by the end of my term the corporate tax will be completely phased out – zip, nada, zero-%. 

This administration acknowledges that for too long business and investors have been sent the wrong message.  That stops today.  The message is clear, you are free to do business, free to start up a business and start trading without government approval and any red tape.  All capital controls will be lifted.  There is no limit to how much money anyone can bring into the country or take out.  All ‘employment equity’ requirements are scrapped! 

Our five main points to business are as follows:

1. We will scrap the inflation target and instead target an unchanging money supply.  This will be part of a move toward a fully gold-backed currency.
2. We will remove all capital controls.
3. The state has no currency policy other than to move toward a commodity backed currency.
4. There will be full privatisation of the economy with no bailouts – ever.
5. Labour legislation is to be scrapped.

Government states emphatically that the business of South Arica is business!  We humbly say to all entrepreneurs and investors that you, along with those you employ, are the true creators of wealth in this society.  Government never has and never will create wealth, and we certainly should not be trying to. 

Concluding remarks:
(In Zulu again) 

It is the priority of this government to aid each and every citizen, without prejudice, in the protection of their life, liberty and property.  But it is first and foremost every citizen’s responsibility to do these things.  The state is not your mother or your father, the state is part of society not separate from it.  Government is here to govern, not dominate by force or legislative decree according to its whims and desires. 

It’s time to finish what we started in 1994.  It’s time to complete the revolution.  It’s time for real freedom. 

Viva South Africa, Viva!  Long live South Africa, long live!!

I thank you.