DEAR Editor,-
At the international 2016 World Economic Forum (WEF), leaders and the wealthiest on earth discuss how the world will be managed. Locally we are caught in the throes of racial slurs, political gate-keeping in leading parties and all kinds of competitive, reckless and shameful behaviour, including the sabotage of possible future leaders.
Statements from WEF say South Africa could expect up to seven million job losses by 2020 due to technology, mechanisation and robots. In 2016 we will witness another global market crash. Greater poverty, inequality and unemployment follows us. Locally, we have no plan as yet to mitigate or prevent this impending doom. Will leaders continue to war over positions, factions and party lists?
WEF will change our lives, but doubtfully for the better. We can’t take responsibility for the whole country, but as citizens we can take responsibility for the South Coast. We must create alternatives to the current system followed by the world because it has failed. Locally we need policies that are environmentally, economically and socially sustainable that bridge the socio-economic gap.
Leaders have to develop and implement plans locally to save our local economy because history shows that neo-liberalism wrecks developing nations. Those we elect locally to represent us now are the ones tasked to save us. Leaders who have scientific analysis and viable answers to our material conditions must lead us. People-centered leaders, not market-driven profiteers, is the answer to saving our jobs, alleviating poverty and furthering equality.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
