🔒 Boardroom Talk – Profound insights from Clem Sunter who sees Election’24 parallels with pre-1994 SA

By Alec Hogg

In 1985, instead of “crossing the Rubicon”, as was mouthed in a part of his altered speech that survived, a delusional PW Botha wagged his finger at the world, and South Africa descended into chaos. Interest rates soared (prime hit 25%), a debt standstill was imposed after foreign banks demanded their capital back, divestment by multinationals mushroomed, and the economy tanked.

That Rubicon-speech-that-wasn’t triggered a frenzy among those with most to lose to seek ways of stopping the politicians from destroying everything—the result: Anglo American exec Clem Sunter’s famous High Road Low Road scenarios. The message got through. And South Africa experienced the miracle of a negotiated settlement.

Sunter reminded me during our interview yesterday that his High Road Low Road scenarios highlighted a second watershed into the future. One that everyone seems to have forgotten – the point at which prioritising economic growth becomes imperative to stop democracy’s gains from being lost – and the country “regressing toward a wasteland”.

He sees the 2024 National Election as that critical point. And frets that once again, just like in the 1980s, politicians threaten to take the nation into another abyss from which there will be no escape. Sunter believes entrepreneurship must urgently be put front and centre, especially in the job-creating informal economy. And he cannot believe that no political party has yet championed this approach.

Sunter is a big fan of GG Alcock, a Zulu-raised informal sector guru of Kasinomics fame. GG will be one of the five keynote presenters at BizNews@10 (see below). Another of the keynote speakers is successful entrepreneur-turned-politician Herman Mashaba. Magic in the making? Could you join us next month and witness it?

*Some good news yesterday from two wine farms who have offered to share their products with the tribe at BizNews@10. Apart from the carefully selected luncheon cuisine, we’ll have a proper-sized 10th birthday cake for a post-keynotes celebration around 4 pm. Join us on Friday, 4 August, in Hermanus. Here’s the link with all the details and booking info: https://qkt.io/zLaR1L  

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