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As South Africa faces the next National and Provincial elections, I think it is time to start talking about the key issues in the hopes that we can avoid wide scale apathy, and a further decline of a once efficient and productive nation.

Recent discussions with "your average South African" has caused me quite some concern, as the general attitude is one of "what difference will my vote make" or "I don't know how to change the situation" or worse, "I am not bothering, the system is too corrupt so it won't change anything"

An overwhelming number of people I've spoken with have no interest in voting, or are just voting the same party they have always voted.... Without looking at any facts.

This made me look at this,and as usual, to share my un-popular opinion on the subject.

I like to look at this from a business perspective. So here is my take:

First some "laws" I think may apply here.

1. People who are undecided, will not act. So people who are unsure who to vote for will stay home on election day.

2. When people act from emotion, their judgement will be clouded by that emotion.

3. Parties will play on emotions and emotional stress points to win loyalty and votes. These include highly emotional topics like racism, gender issues, corruption, unemployment, etc.

4. A multi-party election will only dilute the votes that are not for the ruling party, and that will mean that instead of it being a two party or three party race, the field is so full of confusing messages from so many parties, that the ruling party can win simply by making sure that non-loyal voters votes experience a shot gun effect, with no clear contender challenging them for government.

5. SA is a beautiful country, with wonderful people of all ethnics, colours, and creeds. The days of elections being about the colour of one's skin needs to be behind us, and the focus needs to be on one thing, and one thing only.... Competence.

I am forced to ask myself, is South Africa salvageable? I can see from virtually every arm of government that it is circling the drain administratively.

Throughout our lives, we are graded and assessed, for school, for sport, for work, for marriage, for finance, for promotions, etc.

We have to PROVE our competence in EVERY instance. We have to give others confidence in our ability by showing them our past track record. Then, if we are lucky, and we get selected, then we have to CONTINUE TO PERFORM!

We cannot make excuses and place blame elsewhere. If we perform, we are safe, if not, we are history. It is all very analytical, and BASED ON PERFORMANCE.

Ok so let's ignore the emotional issues in today's SA, so no talk about load shedding, state capture or corruption, etc. instead we look at 2 key grades of performance of a country:

1. The value of our currency in relation to the global benchmark currency. (USA $)

This measures how the world outside SA sees us as a worthwhile partner for risk. The way the country is managed has everything to do with this.

In 1994, the Rand was at R3.61 to $1. Today the same $1 will cost R18.79. The value of SA to the world, is less than 1/5th of what it was worth before the current Govt took office.

2. Unemployment. The upholding of the local economy is a key duty of government. This is measured by employment statistics.

In 1994, SA's rate of unemployment was 13% nationwide. Today it is 34% or worse. Almost 3x worse under current government.

It seems apparent that things could be better.

So, how do we solve this. Based on the "laws" I mentioned above it is critical to remove emotions and uncertainty from the equation.

I would advise every South African, that is registered to vote, to act in the following manner:

1. Recognise that you have the power to improve your country and your own living situation by voting for a better management.

2. Realise that if you do nothing, and don't vote, then you are guilty of allowing the country and your friends, family and nation to suffer the hardships brought about by bad management.

3. Commit yourself to removing emotions and bias from your mind when deciding who to vote for.

4. Know that by voting, it is like we are shareholders in SA and we are appointing the managers to run our country in our best interests, and that this management must be expected to be competent to manage a country.

5. So, brushing aside all emotions, conflicts, rumours and bias. Look at the parties running for election this year and ask this one question:

Do they have a proven track record of managing a town / city / province / country effectively?

Ignore their manifestos, ignore promises, and media. Just look for competence.

When / if you find this competence, decide to support this group, and vote for them.

If you want to be a real agent for positive change, then share this post, talk to those you know, and inspire them to take action too.

I will be doing what I can to make our beautiful nation better. I hope you will too.

Theresa's family had tried everything to help her kick her drug habit.

By 23 she had been in and out of rehab twice with absolutely no sign of kicking the habit, and no idea that she even should.

As a young adult, she would feed her habit by stealing pills from friends and family. Literally anything she could get her hands on was fair game.

She had become a compulsive liar, and would artistically misdirect anyone about her habit, all while it was getting worse day by day.

It got so bad, her family decided on an "intervention". They believed she needed to get away from the negative associations she had in her home town.

They contacted her aunt overseas and arranged for Theresa to go stay with her aunt for a while in the hope that it would help her to realize she wanted to be clean and drug free.

When Theresa arrived at the airport, she realised that she was going to go through strict security, with searches and sniffer dogs. She panicked as she had stashed numerous narcotics on her person, all illegal.

She slinked off to the ladies toilets and "solved this problem" by consuming all of the drugs she had on her at the time.

With the cocktail of drugs running amok in her system, she boarded the flight, quietly tripping. She has no recollection from the point she boarded the flight and for the next 6 days that followed.

When she came around, she was in a strange city, about 600km from where her aunt lived, she had no luggage, no mobile phone, no money, and no passport. She had track marks on her forearms, and was lying on a filthy mattress in a drug den, surrounded by heavily drugged addicts.

I'm the corner lay a girl, possibly younger than her, who looked completely lifeless.

She had no memory of anything that happened in the week that had passed.

She was able to get to a phone and reach out to her aunt, who got her picked up and brought to safety.

In the days that followed, she discovered that her parents and siblings had been beside themselves with worry, not knowing what had happened.

They had received a call from some guy who was totally high, claiming that he had kidnapped their daughter, and would kill her unless they sent him cash.

The "kidnapper" and mobile phone were never seen again. Her father had suffered a mild heart attack as a result of the stress and shock of what had happened, and her parents looked like they had aged 20 years in that one week.

As she recalls, it was this moment, the shock of waking up in the filthy drug den. The marks on her arms, when she had never injected before. The lifeless body lying across the room from her.

She could feel how close she had come to death, when she had not even had a chance to live any kind of life. This was the tipping point. She wanted to live!

Luckily her aunt had done some research, and got her effective help at the right time.

She was able to undertake a drug-free withdrawal program like no other, which gave her a real chance at a drug-free life.

Theresa is one of the lucky ones. Her family acted decisively and sought effective real help.

She is now completely drug free, happily married, with children of her own, and a very productive and beautiful life. But none of them will ever forget how close she came to a lethal overdose...

Drugs may ruin addicts' lives, but they absolutely devastate and destroy families.

(Based on a true story, fictionalised to protect the confidentiality of those involved)

If you, or anyone you know is battling with drug or alcohol addiction, and needs help, DM me, before it is too late.