Yossi Schwartz: Life in SA; living in hope that one day things will improve
I met Yossi Schwartz a couple decades back, introduced during a spell at Absa while serving on the same team as hugely gifted marketer Santie Botha. Yossi and Santie made magic, as geniuses tend to. Their efforts saw the bank's reputation zoom from ox wagon to Lamborghini. Yossi and I have kept in touch since via irregular emails. So I was sad to read of his latest travails, but encouraged that despite the trauma, the chairman of the continental operations of global Y&R Group hasn't put in for a transfer. His experience is, sadly, too common nowadays. Everyone is sympathetic and genuinely want to help. But the execution just isn't there. A story that, sadly, is becoming typical in the modern South Africa. – Alec Hogg
By Yossi Schwartz*
On October the 4th 2014 at 10.30pm four armed men entered my house. Our house is on a beautiful property on the slopes of Cape Town with – on the edge of the property – a rich, breathtaking mountain stream.
Really special. Of course it's a soft spot. It was always on our mind. These four guys walked the stream, bypassed the alarm/beam system, relocated the bathroom window and walked in.
There is no need to describe the small details of the event. The memory of what happened will be part of our life forever.
The question is where from here? We can of course pack our bags and leave. Or we can do better. Stay – fix whatever need to be fixed – deal with 'stuff' and keep going.
We live in the middle of the southern suburbs of Cape Town. Neighbour to the government official guest house, the Presidental house, botanical gardens and many foreign embassies.
After the Oct 4th event I invited few security companies to asses the situation and advise. When they found out we have a wobbly 2Mb broadband line they all came to the same conclusion.
It doesn't really matter how fancy the security system – analytics cameras, sensors etc – it can't operate on the backbone of 2Mb. To install a meaningful security system – a proper broadband ecosystem should be in place. Otherwise it's a non starter.
I approached Telkom. After a year of no response and one visit of a technician who was sympathetic but limited – we found out by our own research that, all properties around us enjoy wide and stable broadband linked to a switchboard 800m away while we are connected to a switch that is 4km away. Why? Nobody knows.
We are still with the same security solution that was compromised before. Therefore useless.
A year later after the incident I approached Brian Armstrong Telkom COO. Simple email stating the facts and asking for help. The response came in minutes.
His PA said – "We're sorry. We took this to our exec escalation team – somebody will contact you". And they did. Again, sympathetic. But calling from Pretoria, trying to understand the dynamic in southern suburbs in Cape Town doesn't sound reassuring.
Of course nothing happened.
My attempt to contact Brian Armstrong again was unsuccessful. The reality is that our physical security is compromised. I do hold Telkom responsible.
This is a small story – life in South Africa. This is unlikely to affect the way Telkom does business or have any effect on its share price.
Alec, there is no hidden agenda to this. Nor do I expect anything to change. We just need to hope that one day things will get better.
* Yossi Schwartz is the chairman of Y&R Africa.