Our woeful tendency of throwing baby out with the bathwater

Were Robert Mugabe to discard with his prejudices and learn from the history of Medieval Europe, his nation would be far better off. The Black Business Council's SG would be far better placed to make a meaningful contribution to SA's transforming society were he to appreciate those invested in seeking the best returns from a company's shares care only about leadership's performance, not race. If only accountant and former PWC inmate Rodney Nkhwashu realised that disgusting behaviour by his erstwhile overlords is a reflection on them, not all of their racial group. In all cases baby bathwater comes to mind. This is the focus of today's Rational Perspective. – AH.ALEC HOGG: Good morning. I'm Alec Hogg. It's Thursday, the 4th of December and here's The Rational Perspective..Today I want to talk about babies and bathwater. We've all heard this saying: don't exaggerate change. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. This happens all the time. It seems as though when a new leader comes to ascendancy, their first decision is 'get rid of everybody who was there before and bring in the new guys'. A measure of Nelson Mandela was that he didn't do this. Nelson Mandela embraced those who'd been there before and changed their minds. He saw through race, he saw through prejudice, and knew that he could transform people. That was his greatness and that is why the world looks at Nelson Mandela and envies South Africa for it's icon..Sadly, the successors to Mandela are not doing terribly well and indeed the peers of his time – even worse. To the north of us in Zimbabwe, we have a 90-year old despot who is showing us all kinds of evidence of not being able to learn a damned thing from what happened in Europe. In fact, it's like a medieval European tragedy, what's occurring in Zimbabwe at the moment. Here's a man who's a ruler for life – on his last legs – claiming that he will not die and that he's not about to die anytime soon, dispensing with a female favourite (of course, much younger) who has been in an ascendant position for ten years, and replacing her with an even younger female companion (this time, his wife) whom he has anointed – or is about to anyway – to become Vice-President of the ruling party in Zimbabwe..This wife, by the way, wasn't even born in the country so if she does become the successor to Robert Mugabe, it will be the first non-Zimbabwean since minority rule, who takes over. Then again, that wasn't difficult because since minority rule 30 years ago, there's only been one president..Mugabe's decision there is 'anything to do with Europe is wrong'. He's thrown the baby out with the bathwater so now he has to learn from the mistakes Europeans made hundreds of years ago, but it certainly doesn't end there..I had an interesting interview yesterday with Gregory Mofokeng, the Secretary-General of the Black Business Council – a powerful lobby in Government circles. According to this, Ketso Gordhan (an authentic struggle veteran) sided with a bunch of racists to get rid of the PPC Board. Mofokeng did not see that Ketso Gordhan is supported by shareholders who actually, couldn't give a fig about the colour of a man's skin. All they worry about is the return on their investment..Why do we have to make these things political, racial, and throw the baby out with the bathwater? It's beyond me but I guess it's just part of the progression of a society, of a nation, and of a human being..It had an interesting consequence on my Facebook page when Rodney Nkowashu wrote an emotional and passionate piece underneath the link to the interview about PPC. In it, he says that while he was employed by PwC (the global accounting firm); he was treated with disdain by the partners. According to Rodney, qualified black accountants had to have their worked checked by white Matriculants. As absurd as that sounds…if it is true, a public apology is demanded by PwC because clearly, this company – what it is doing internally – according to my correspondent, is very different to the culture that it is reflecting to the rest of the world..Perhaps Rodney, himself, has thrown the baby out with the bathwater. He extrapolates his own experiences to then say that black people must rise up and throw the yoke of racism away, that all white people (in his opinion) deserved to be tarred with the same brush. People are different. Human beings are different. There are racists – black and white. There are fearful morons, wherever you look. We should not take what one person does and extrapolate that to a whole nation, society, race, or species but just to treat them for what they are – fearful morons..This has been The Rational Perspective.

Our woeful tendency of throwing baby out with the bathwater

Related Stories

Viv Vermaak: Phala Phala, games of steal and plunder

The executive blind spot: Why CEOs still misjudge public's backlash against them

Jonathan Katzenellenbogen: ANC's quandry over massive municipal debt hole

Andrew Morphew: Why did farmers have to sue Steenhuisen to help fight FMD?