COSATU is engaging in rolling mass action again. On this occasion, many people who are not union members will sympathise with the cause, but not the method used. I’m sure that there are very few people who are able to accept our rampant inflation and the huge price increases with equanimity. It seems as if the world has gone mad. What explains the almost daily rise in the oil price? Even those of us who do not readily accept conspiracy theories, are compelled to wonder whether there is a sinister force out there intent on brining the world, or perhaps the West, to its knees. It is worse because we don’t understand it. Even economists seem to be lost. One day it is a shortage of supply that has pushed the oil price up, the next the oil producers are saying that there is plenty of oil and they do not need to increase their production. Some say that the Middle East is holding the world to ransom, others that the rise in price has to do with commodity speculators that are making bucket-loads of money at our expense. I have heard the same said about the international maize price.

Ostensibly, we are in the very fortunate position of having the world’s best technology for the manufacture of oil from coal, yet, and despite the fact that a significant proportion of our fuel is supplied by Sasol, we pay the very same high price whether we fill our cars with imported oil, or that produced within our own boundaries. Personally, I find this difficult to understand.

At the root of our difficulties, it seems to me, is our inability, firstly to foresee, and then to adapt to, changing circumstances which require new approaches. In our domestic use of electricity, for example, we have made changes only when they have been forced on us. Even then, old habits die hard and we are inclined to carry on much as before, almost refusing to acknowledge that there is no short term solution to the electricity crisis – unless we use it more effectively. The formula, with its numerous components, for the calculation of the regulated national petrol price, remains unaltered, although there has been some reduction in the wholesale portion. The duty remains at a constant percentage, while motorists support the Road Accident Fund as they did years ago when it was arguably much more successful than it is now. While the prices of fuel, and labour, and repairs, and parts and road maintenance and construction have escalated all adding to the cost of the food we buy, rail transport is not pursued vigorously as a less expensive option. There are many other examples where we lack the creativity to find alternatives which are more attuned to modern times. We dump our rubbish without giving any thought to how costly it is to maintain a landfill site, let alone replace it when its capacity reaches its limit. Despite the inherent value of waste, exploited so successfully in many developed countries, we, who need every resource we can find, not only deny its value, but pay through the nose to dispose of it.

The reality is that this is a new world, and not such a brave one at that. The significant crises that confront the world community are seldom faced squarely and with the honest endeavour required to deal with them. The distractions are numerous, and for the most part, trivial. If you doubt this, consider where and how financial resources are disposed of and then assess the level of abject waste.

Andrew Layman: PCB CEO

This article appeared in the Public Eye on the 10 July 2008