Hallo Darkness… but you’re not my friend

During the past week my wife and I were in a retail store when at noon the whole place suddenly turned dark. Immediately all the customers had to leave the store and the doors were closed for the next two and a half hours.

We still planned to visit a coffee shop afterwards, but then rather went home. The retail store and the coffee shop both missed out on our business that day and till now we have not returned. I believe this is just one very small example of many thousands happening every day.

Load shedding

The term load shedding may be appropriate to describe Eskom’s take on the matter, but for the business owner and consumer it actually adds to the burden to make ends meet in an already difficult economic environment.

Every time we have a power outage the business owner has less time to do the work and earn money, yet at the end of the month the bills for rent, wages and other expenses remain the same.

Unfortunately a business can only employ more workers when they sell more. The reverse is also true and lay-offs are an unfortunate consequence of declining income.

Less does not produce more.

Education

The same with education. I see the minister of higher education has now published in the Government Gazette that prospective students who want to study a Baccalaureus degree at a university from now on only need a 30% pass mark in their language of instruction to qualify for graduate studies.

How can a 30% pass mark at school qualify you to study at a university where you need 50% to pass? Lower marks at school will not prepare a student to achieve higher marks at university.

Less does not produce more.

We can only grow the economy with better educated people and higher productivity. But it seems to me that locally we move in the opposite direction. We lower the standard of education and Eskom cuts the time available to produce.

# February 2019

At present most businesses look forward to increased sales during the festive season and “Back-to-School” business in January. But February 2019 I think might become a challenge. Although I do not like to be negative, I think it is necessary to be cautious with spending during the festive season and especially on credit.

There is just so much uncertainty about government policy regarding land reform and an election in the near future, that I believe

in this case, less is better.

Less spending during the festive season, may perhaps not be what you’ve had in mind for Christmas, but it can make a huge difference in your well-being in February 2019.

Looking for the gift of a lifetime? Consider giving your children, your spouse or yourself a Career Direct Assessment. It will make all the difference for years to come.

Also tune in to my radio program “Jy die Entrepreneur” Monday evenings at 20:00 and Saturdays 12:30 on Radio Namakwaland www.934fm.co.za.