Please note that I am neither a polical analyst nor a philosopher, but I have my ideas.

Last week, the president of South Africa (Jacob Zuma) gave the usual State of the Nation address.

Here are the minutea:

> We'll create more jobs, though we managed to create irandom(200) jobs last year

> We'll provide water to the areas that haven't got (Even though they've been without water since we gained power

in 1994)

> We'll provide free housing to the poor! We've built over 9000 since 1994!

> Economy will be fixed etc etc

Here is the abbreviated and concise transcript of the meeting:

: President Zuma walks in, smug look on his face.

: Raises arms

Zuma: "My people, we CBA to do any of the stuff we promised last year, or the year before, but don't worry! We'll keep

thinking about doing it next year! Have a free shirt and don't forget to re-elect us!"

: President Zuma leaves stage.

: People get free concert swag and leave.

Now, thinking about this address got me to thinking. As usual.

But two major problems facing not only this country but the entire world jumped out at me.

> The Economy

> Infrastructure

And guess what? I figured out the solutions to these problems as well.

The solution is perfect, technically sound, absolutely correct. But it's impossible

to implement. You'll see why just now.

Let me explain. Infrastructure, on the level that I'm seeing it,

is essentially a collection of the basic industries needed to sustain a country. Let's leave

Agriculture out of it though, that figures into the equation just now.

Let's take, as an example, some of the 'basics' that we take for granted: Water, Electricity

and Housing.

In this country, all of the candidates for election promise the same thing: "Service delivery"

(By which they mean the aforementioned Water, Electrity and Housing… Oh, and toilets).

So we all, when voting time comes around, vote for the Party we want, and wait for our

shiny white porcelain chamberpots to be delivered.

Come next election, and we're still waiting. The problem boils down to this key factor:

Us.

We foolishly assume that the government is actually capable of keeping their promises.

They can't. Have you ever seen a politician who also happens to build houses in his/her spare time?

We have fallen into a comfort zone. We want these things to be handed to us on a silver platter, but

meanwhile we're the ones who need to get up off our lazy asses and take them.

This brings me to the second problem: The Economy.

Especially the food industry, which just happens to be one of the few non-failing sustainable industries

that is failsafe. As my grandfather once said:

"If I want to get rich, I'll just start a Grocery Store, a Toilet Paper factory and an Funeral Parlor."

Of course, something I noticed while taking a retrospective glance at the education system in South Africa

is that the ANC is trying to breed a generation of Suits. That is, people who believe they are destined for

a job in a nice large office block. Essentially, nobody in the latest two generations wants to be an Artisan

or Tradesman (Read: Farmer or Miner).

Now for the solution, which is very simple:

We need to start taking an interest in the lower-level trades that we have been taught to shun.

And don't try to tell me that the idea of being a miner appeals to you…

And you can already see why it's impossible. I don't want to be a farmer/miner/plumber either.

Heh. Oh well, Japan had better start rolling out the slave androids to do all the low-level work for us lazy bastards

before we run out of food in the next fifty years.