What made Obama President?

When Barack came out of nowhere in 2004 to bid for  a place in the history books as the potential first balck president of the USA, noboby really gave him a chance. More than 10 years later, he is indeed the US president. But what made him president? Is it the colour of his skin or this memorable speech made at the Democratic Party Convention? I will let you decide for yourselves.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFPwDe22CoY

African Renaissance : When is this really happening?

I am getting sick and tired of all these reports about Africa being on the brink of (re)claiming its place as a giant in the world. It is not that I am against it, on the contrary but I feel like this is taking too long and perhaps they are not telling us the whole story.

First of all, it is believed that in the awake of the recent financial downturn, Africa offers an abundance of opportunities for foreign investors. Being the world’s second largest continent, it is richly endowed with a variety of resources thus becoming an attractive investment destination.

 Africa has always had natural resources and the potential for it to become an economic giant has always been mentioned but nothing has ever happened. Today, the story about Africa finally waking up, is becoming an everyday thing, yet poverty is still the order of the day. When is this taking place?

When slavery was abolished, they said the moment for African had arrived but then they came with colonisation which in my opinion was not far worse. For  many decades, colonisation has robbed Africa of its natural resources without returning the favour. Now that the cover-up behind colonisation has been exposed, they have come up with another trick which is ''Africa is the new hub for investment as it prepares for its renaissance''. But what is Africa getting out of it this? Re

naissance is a beautiful word but what does it mean in practical?

Foreign companies are coming to Africa to invest and take the profits back to where they belong. Job creation and insfrastructure developement claimed are for me non-existant to date. Therefore this time Africa needs to have regulations in place to force every foreign company wanting to invest to commit to specific development programs . This is the only way Africa can finally claim its renaissance.

Why Mangaung was to blame for the Marikana massacre and the state of the economy

When high-school students in Soweto started protesting for better education on 16 June 1976, police responded with teargas and live bullets. As I watched the footage of how the Marikana shootings unfolded, I had a feeling of déjà vu. When Nelson Mandela took office in 1994 he made a promise to South Africans. A promise that made me excited about coming to this country five years ago.

In his own words, the father of the nation said ‘’never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another”. In the awake of Marikana, I wondered what went wrong. This was not the plan set out by Nelson Mandela. This was not the promise he made to South Africa and the whole continent 18 years ago.

I had a conversation with one of my classmates one day about Marikana and he angrily said ’’these multinationals are exploiting our people and they should be blamed for what happened’’. I especially asked for his opinion because he calls himself a fervent ANC supporter, ready to die for the ruling party. My classmate got even more irritated when I remarked that the Government is exploiting the people and Mangaung was to blame for what happened. I don’t think he understood what I meant. I think he never will.

If one is willing to take the emotions out of the Marikana debate, my rationale will make sense. What I refer to as ‘’Mangaung’’ is not the name of one of the miners or police officers involved in the Marikana shootings. I have faith in the commission of enquiry and if it was the case, they wouldn’t have left that stone unturned. When I say ‘’Mangaung’’ I am referring to the ANC's next elective conference in December.   

Mangaung has killed 46 people and paralysed the economy. All the media reports dealing with the underlining causes of Marikana have failed to address the elephant in the room.

The country’s leadership is the root of the problem. The Government’s failure to step up and act when it matters the most led to the unfortunate Marikana massacre. Over the past two years at least, Mangaung has been the most important point on the Government’s agenda. Other important issues such as the economy, job creation, and service delivery have taken a back seat. The road to Mangaung  gunned the country down.

Several experts suggest South Africa’s image has taken a huge blow after Marikana.They say foreign investments have suffered since the massacre. But Marikana was just the straw that broke the camel's back. What we learnt from it is where the priorites of the leadership lie. For them the priority was Mangaung. Going there and keeping the throne.

According to a United Nations report, foreign direct investment flows to South Africa tumbled 43.6% in the first half of 2012 compared to the same period last year. This shows that Marikana which only took place in August has got nothing to do with the poor state of the economy. Even more revealing perhaps, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s recently downgraded South Africa’s sovereign ratings, citing the government’s "diminished capacity" to handle its political and economic challenges.

 The ruling party is determined to hold onto power for as long as possible, at any cost. Never mind the 46 dead. Every country in the world faces its own challenges. However when a nation is going through dark days, the people need a leadership that can actually lead. The kind of leadership they can believe in. In South Africa that leadership has been non-existent. Yet, Mangaung was the only thing the current leaders have in mind .You can’t help but think: Another five years? The country might not survive.

 Many people have already criticised President Jacob Zuma’s ability to lead the country including some unlikely commentators from his own ranks. When addressing delegates at the Ahmed Kathrada’s Foundation’s annual lecture, Trevor Manuel asked when referring to Marikana’’ what do recent events mean for our sense of nationhood? What do these events mean for the leadership of the tri-partite alliance, whose components are credited with leading from depths of oppression to the present?’’. Well, we wouldn’t really know would we? But if the Minister in the Presidency asks such questions, it is a clear indication that there is a problem.

The question we need to ask is: Could Marikana have been avoided? The answer is yes. But on one condition: If there was a different leadership or simply one that cared. Greed, corruption, internal battles have characterised the ruling party over the past few years. Unless the attitude changes, events such as Marikana are bound to happen again.

South Africans need to realise that they have the power to choose their leaders. As 2014 draws closer, it is high time they assessed the past five years and make a decision that will save the country from drowning.

"Are companies wasting their time with social media profiles?"

The fact of the matter is that people spend more time on facebook and twiiter today than they do in front of their television set or reading a newspaper. Companies have always gone after their target audience wherever they are, and today they are on social media therefore companies should go after them. It appears to be the only way to stay in touch with your public.

 Thanks to social media,the door is now open to share your business with the world.It allows access to information ,thus giving businesses the ability to share news about their products and services with people that were once out of reach. Consumers now regard companies who are on social media as interactive and transparent.

However, although having a social media presence bears a ot of benefits for companies, it is fair to say that the current social media structure is not ideal for all companies. As a matter of fact, crisis prone organisations for instance become easy targets for angry consumers on social media platforms.In South Africa, it would not be a good time for the South African Police Services to be on social media right now, would it?

Although one would argue that with the reputation damage the organisation has suffered  recently, follwoing Marikana and reports of
brutality, the SAPS should be engaging with the public on social media in order to restore its image. But when the public really hates you, they will use social media as a way to hurt you even more.

Also, Corporate Twitter and facebook accounts, in particular, have proven to be vulnerable to hackers. It was reported this month that hackers breached the twitter accounts of Associated Press and posted a fake report about a bombing at the White House, causing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to plunge over 140 points -- erasing $136 billion in market value -- within a few minutes until the fraud was exposed. A group allied with the Syrian government claimed responsibility, reports Verne Kopytoff from CNN.

I think it is important for companies to have social media profiles but there needs to be measures in place to make sure it is secure and serve their best interests.