Africa-Press – Lesotho. Political instability = zero investment + high unemployment. This may not be the best of macro-economic formulas but it could make a bit of sense under the current political madness.
I was taught that the best formulas should make sense either interpreted from the left or the right-hand side. In this case, it still makes sense whatever way you approach it.
In this case political instability results in zero investment which will result in a high unemployment rate. At the same time, a very high unemployment rate could be a deterrent to investment because of variables such as high crime levels.
That may in-return result in political instability because of hungry politicians who act like hyenas. This works like a vicious circle no matter how you look at it.
We could even say, hungry politicians = political instability. Allow me to take a detour in order to get to my topic of the week. One of the things I enjoy doing in my spare time but ashamed to admit in public, is to watch two of the most popular channels on DSTV.
The first one is Mzansi Magic on channel 161 and the other is a controversial channel named Moja Love. Moja Love is a channel about exposing lives (scandals) of people living in South African townships.
But there seems to be something synonymous yet interesting thing about the lives of poor black people. I guess it’s because poor black people are always fighting one another and this embarrasses the black middle class (The black diamonds).
The Black middle class finds Moja Love distasteful because it shows the ugly side of black people. They even call it “trash TV” and there’s a popular show in particular named Rea Tsotella, that’s just hated by the black middle class.
Well funny enough, Mzansi Magic and Moja Love are by far, two of the most popular channels of DSTV. I guess it’s because black people like to watch the downfall of other blacks.
They say misery loves company. It’s always said, there’s nothing as therapeutic as listening to other people’s problems and misery. It makes one feel better about themselves.
An ego boost of sorts. Another popular show that seems to make people feel better about themselves is a show named I blew it, that airs on Mzansi Magic, channel 161, on Fridays.
This is a show about how people blew their sudden windfall either from lotto jackpots, an inheritance or cash payouts from the Road Accident Fund and it’s mostly in the millions of Rands.
Yet again, there’s something synonymous with black people and their rags to riches stories. They blow it, hence the name of the show, I blew it. In fact, the signature tune goes, “here’s my story, I blew it.
There’s one lady in particular that had won a lotto jackpot to the tune of 14 million Rands and she blew seven of the 14 million jackpot in just two weeks.
The first thing that the poor lady did after receiving her cash payout was to buy pizza. The pizza was then followed by a string of very poor and mostly bad decisions until the 14 million ran out to last cent.
She blew it!
The poor lady amassed a group of fake friends, boyfriends that came and stole her money and investments that never yielded even a cent. When the money ran out, the friends ran away as well.
Some people say, when friends are few, you should know that times are very tough. But there’s just something amazing about the psychology of a hungry person especially when they receive a sizable amount of money.
It gives them a false sense of power. Power to make poor decisions and they often act as if it will never run out. Most of the men that appear on the show often go for lots of girlfriends and cars.
I mean they literally blow their money on booze, women and cars. The curse of a black man. So, that show named I blew it, reminds me of a certain political party in Lesotho, called the All Basotho Convention (ABC).
I mean where do I even start? This is a political party that was given a “chance” to power and I want to emphasize the word “chance” because the ABC was not really the first choice of most people but it received a lot of sympathy votes in the last elections of 2017.
Do you remember the sad story of how Ntate Tom and other politicians became political refugees in Ficksburg? Hmmm! We seem to forget easily. To get to the topic at hand, whilst driving around Johannesburg last week, I happened to hear a very disturbing headline on one of the Gauteng-based radio stations named Kaya FM.
The news headline said something like, “attempts to recall Lesotho Prime Minister, Dr Moeketsi Majoro, gain momentum. ” The commentary was done by our very own Caswell Tlali.
That news report on Kaya FM coincided with a headline on a local newspaper that read, ABC implodes. It was a glaring headline for the world to see the state of our comical politics in Lesotho.
Now tell me, which investor in their right mind would invest their hard-earned money in a politically unstable environment?
Haven’t our politicians from the ABC learnt that political instability leads to low investor confidence? Haven’t politicians in general learnt a valuable lesson that Lesotho is in an unemployment crisis because there’s simply no investment (FDI)? How will jobs be created if there’s no investment?
It seems not to dawn in the minds and hearts of the politicians from the ABC that political stability is everything in an economy.
It is a weapon to defeat a monster named unemployment. But as I said, ABC politicians act exactly like our brothers and sisters that appear on the show, I blew it.
The ABC received a windfall to be in power and squandered it. They literally blew it. The only thing that could possibly bring the ABC back to its senses is the fact that it could lose significant votes in the coming elections.
Personally, I doubt that the ABC will make a comeback in 2022. The rural electorate is angry because of the wool and mohair blunder and the youths are very angry over empty promises about getting quality education and jobs.
Where does this leave the ABC in the coming elections?
There is one gentleman on I blew it that got a shock of his life when he realised he was left with only a hundred thousand Rands, from a cash windfall of 1.1 million Rands.
When he went to the ATM and checked the balance, he made a point to squander the remaining cash out of anger. He withdrew all the cash and blew it to the last cent.
Maybe, this is what the ABC needs to do. Yes, recall Prime Minister Majoro and replace him with an utterly incompetent person. Yes, squander whatever prospect is left until there is nothing left.
Deplete all the trust and hope left in the hearts and minds of the electorate. Maybe sanity will prevail after the election results are announced. Just maybe because we are tired of old men and women behaving like nursery school kids. Go ahead and just blow it! Hopefully a new crop of sensible and patriotic leaders will emerge out of all that madness. Just blow it!
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