Jet nut
You should be a politician.....I have read your post and find it devoid of conviction save for the fact that you appear you to want to patronise us from a dizzy height. I don't reject everything you say because there is some merit in it but it smacks of post-modern mumbo-jumbo that's constantly being thrown at us by media etc.
I guess in the middle of what you are trying to say - you're saying that SA is a good place - a success story if you will. I agree SA is a great place from people, to climate to geography, and more importantly there are some massive achievements of the last few years particularly the economy.
But to many South African's crime is a daily reality, HIV/AIDS policy is an unmitiagted disaster. Does that make me have a false perception of reality? Or can I call a spade a spade?
I thought we were meant to be discussing SAA - my view is that a very successful blue print for SAA has already been established 20+ years ago when Lord King took over BA under the Thatcher government and it was privatised in 1987, the IPO being over-subscribed several times.
The problem we have in SA is that the govt don't want to take tough decisions and sort SAA out. They have stated policies of privatisation but because the govt contains elements of COSATU and the bloody Communists
policy in this area will be weak and watered down....hence SAA rumbles on in the same old loss making way, with leadership that has no one to hold it to account, and which is effectively underwritten by taxpayers of SA.
Because SAA has no real pressure to deliver and effectively is considered to be above "the law" finanically - there is no moral imperative for them to take the steps necessary to create a good airline. Had say a private company made a R6bn hedging mistake they would have had to bear the consequences.....SAA got away scot free. This is unhealthy.
I'm reminded of a quite by the economist Adam Smith
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our necessities but of their advantages. Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of their fellow-citizens.