Positive mindset is vital to get South Africa to move the dial

IOL News

20-07-2025

Business leaders are key to moving South Africa faster along its current, generally upwards trajectory, says the author.
Image: Picture: Henk Kruger/ Independent Newspapers
Thirty years ago, if you told someone you were optimistic about the future of South Africa, they would lecture you about being a 'realist'. Well, now that we're in the future, it's time for this unrepentant optimist to engage in a little lecturing.
The reality of 2025 is that South Africa is today an upper middle income country.
Our gross domestic product (GDP) has doubled in 20 years and is similar to that of Bulgaria, Hungary and Serbia combined. Our national debt to GDP ratio is heading towards a manageable 75%. The richest nation on earth, conversely, is very good at dropping bombs but clearly hasn't figured out how to pay for them as it heads towards a debt to GDP ratio of 125%.
While attention on mining fixates like it's still the only show in town, the last few decades have seen South Africa cement its successful transition from a primary, minerals-based economy to a services-based economy that contributes much more to GDP than mining. The City of Gold might as well now be called eRingRing for the proliferation of services-based contact centres.
Inflation dropped below 3% this year. Unemployment is our bugbear but finally questions are being asked about how we measure this metric. It has never made any sense to me how a country can function with a third of workers not working. The truth is, more people are working and earning than is recorded.
More South African children attend school now than at any point in our history. Our military is in bad shape because the biggest share of our budget goes to education and health. Smart nations on the rise do not direct money to the armed forces when people are hungry and need to be educated. Aggressors and victims build their militaries and we want to be neither. SA's sensible, soft power approach is cheaper and sustainable.
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South Africa has its priorities right and the reality shines through in the numbers that matter. If potholes were in this latter group, the UK, for instance, would be in deep trouble. That Daily Mail calls Britain's potholes an 'international embarrassment' with drivers there having to deal with 1.5m of them. And that's a small island - we have the world's 10th largest road network to maintain.
The fundamentals of South Africa are largely sound and tell a story of a country making its way in the right direction. What we need to do, however, is move truth-telling of the kind above to the centre of our daily conversations. This will serve to motivate. Nobody feels like getting out there and fixing what's wrong when everyone is telling you it's too broken to fix.
Let's take the example of Australia, one of the countries doing relatively well (I mean, if you take away the environment, drinking culture, domestic violence, biker gangs, gambling and cocaine). I don't think I have ever heard an Australian criticise the place. They always talk their country up, and the results are plain to see. Australia has, I would say, a very positive reputation that's overdone. South Africa, on the other hand, has the reverse. Yet, almost every visitor to our shores will remark how different the reality is on the ground to what's being reported overseas.
This is partially our own fault. How many readers, like me, wanted to shrink into the floor when earlier this year we heard Johann Rupert randomly introducing the world to Cape Flats gangsterism in the White House, not to mention Retief Goosen going on about his parents living like virtual prisoners while Donald Trump looked on? Don't hide the truth, but my goodness, these South Africans had an audience with the President of the United States - in the full glare of the world's media - and could not think of a single positive fact about South Africa to perhaps help boost tourism, our economy and our future! Talk the truth, yes please, but don't make the situation look so beyond hope that negativity becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Business leaders are key to moving South Africa faster along its current, generally upwards trajectory. So many are mentors to their employees and I would appeal to them to make educating younger South Africans about what's good about their country a priority. Mentorship is surely as much about motivating as it is about imparting wisdom. Employees cannot be expected to achieve greatness on the decks when they believe the ship is sinking.
Ivan Booth is a PR consultant, an occasional author and amateur pothole enthusiast.
Image: Supplied
Ivan Booth is a PR consultant, an occasional author and amateur pothole enthusiast.
*** The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Independent Media or IOL.
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