A letter of concern

Johan la Grange PO Box 12398 Leraatsfontein 1038 Witbank Cell +27 79 428 1971 (RSA) Cell +243 82 420 0465 (DRC) E-mail. biebie58@yahoo.com 11 January 2016 To whom it may concern, Sir/s, Re. Concerned citizen of South Africa. It is with great concern that I write this letter today and I hope that you will read this and show it to other people to read and maybe there is someone else in this country that feels the same as I do. South Africa is a beautiful country and it is with pride that I say this and I think I should know as I’ve been working in other African countries now for sixteen years, and I’ve seen these countries maybe with a different eye as the normal SA citizen will see them. This also enable me to realize that South Africa has gone backwards as a developed country and now I class SA as a developing country, the same as the rest of Africa. Don’t get me wrong, a lot has happened and was done since independence was “created” in 1994, but the pace in which things happen has gone from good to very slow and I blame myself for this as well because I’ve seen this every day for sixteen years outside the SA borders and now SA is on exactly the same pace, running a 400 meter race at a 1500 meter pace. (you cannot run the Durban July with a Donkey) you need to look at yourself and see whether you’ve gone back from getting things done quick and correctly to “what I don’t feel like doing today, I might look at completing tomorrow”. Now let me put one thing straight, I don’t talk about politics, religion or sex, these are my personal issues and so I believe is everybody else supposed to feel and accept their family, friend, neighbor, employer, employee, as a matter of fact anybody living in this country’s feeling and believe. This is a matter of respect both to yourself and other humans. I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve voted only once since 1994, but this was due to circumstances beyond my control and still today I think of this and I know that I’ve missed out on a opportunity to make a difference, but what’s gone is gone and I now feel that I will not miss out again. The government of this country is by far much more trustworthy that the majority of other African countries governments and you can talk about this for many moons to come but you will not convince me otherwise, I’ve seen and heard enough in Africa. So let’s face-it we all complain every day, but do we really do something to improve the country and the people living in harsh circumstances without electricity, without running water and no sanitation. No we don’t or shall I say I don’t myself, well I’ve tried in the past on numerus occasions without success and I can now after self-investing and struggling with this issue in my head for a long time, admit to you all that I didn’t try hard enough to do my part for the country, and you know why, just because it’s easier to just sit back and complain about everything going wrong, because that’s not what I want, then blaming everything on someone else and the government. It’s the easy way out and it sounds good if everybody blames someone else and I can talk along. As I’ve explained in the letter already, I’ve worked in other countries over the past sixteen years, doing electrical infrastructure development and refurbishing redundant war damaged sites and get these up and running again and building new plants for gold and copper mine production.( after years of war and circumstances I could or cannot do anything about, as I’m only an expat trying to educate, train and uplift the people of these countries to the best of my ability, the majority of infrastructures had to be built from scratch again).Why do I mention these? Because that is the reality and I cannot understand why my privilege was taken away from me, this is the privilege of doing the same work and uplifting of people here in South Africa. Now let me be straight with you, I know that I cannot get any work, tenders or even come back to South Africa and start a new business here, just for the simple reason that I don’t have a BBEE partner or partners. That’s the bottom line and now tell me, how am I supposed to do my part for this country, how can I train people to uplift themselves and create a better life for them and their families, how can I help developing infrastructures of this country, how can I build anything in this country to help the people in need if this is the reality? I’m no racist and I hate the fact that everything gets blamed on “apartheid”, that is bullshit and as far as I’m concerned, it is to my opinion, a matter of the government or certain people in high places taking these opportunities away from the people suffering daily without the services they are entitled to have in a developed country like South Africa. The bottom line for me now is, if I want or must come back to South Africa, to get a partner who feels the same about life in SA as myself and see the need and opportunities the same as I do. I’m a qualified electrician with thirty four years’ experience and twenty two years’ experience in mechanical engineering and I need this person/s to have a business attitude and sense, the same as myself. This will not happen I know, but it’s my task to teach the person/s to develop the business and give them an opportunity to go forward in life and in doing so also help the struggling citizens of this country. Is asking this too much from a concerned citizen, am I barking up the wrong tree, am I wrong in my visions, am I wrong in trying to help other people, am I wrong in trying to develop communities infrastructure, am I wrong in asking someone to help me to uplift the people of this country, am I wrong in asking anything because of my skin color, am I wrong in thinking that anybody will read this? Tell me if I’m wrong and then show me what you have done to create a better South Africa. Don’t criticize me for all, but come with a solution to my concern and by doing that, we can all help each other. I don’t care if you laugh at me, swear at me, and delete this letter or whatever you feel, other than looking positive at this it is how I feel and I also know I’m not the only person in South Africa feeling this way. Why does other countries where I’ve work not ask or insist that you must be from this race or from this religion or from this sport before you can add value to the country, how can I be blamed for what other people did a hundred or two hundred years ago, is this fair towards me as a human being? Why is people in the other countries so glad to see us and so positive about what we are doing for them in their country, we are not all there for the money, we deliver a service to those countries and what you don’t realize is the fact that the more people there is that make the move to work in other countries the less tax the government get every year and remember it’s the people that earn high salaries that do go there. This is not only PAYE taxes, it’s all the other taxes that we must pay in South Africa, which is now down the drain and looking at the annual figures supplied by the media there is less people paying taxes every year basically due to unemployment rising daily. If all these don’t bother you, do me a favor and delete or scrap this letter because you are then one of the people in a position where you’re enriching yourself and let the poor just get poorer while you keep yourself busy with all sorts of political crap. This matter has got nothing to do with politics, it’s about the wellbeing of people of South Africa of which you are one. I’ll keep on fighting until I get a partner that are willing to work with me in South Africa, as I cannot sit and see things going backward as it is doing day by day and I can and will make a difference to other people in need of a better life, I will not let the government or any politician or anybody for that matter, stop me or tell me I cannot succeed in creating a stable business in South Africa, which is where I was born and belong. I hope that if you read this letter to the end, that you will see that we can all live a peaceful and prosperous life in South Africa. I thank you. PS. I don’t have money to buy anybody or bribe anybody, all I need is someone that feels they can make a difference and make a success of the business with me.