SOUTH AFRICA’s EDGE

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Below is an article sent to me by a dear friend. He knows me well in this area and lives through many of the battles of faith vs commonsense that I traverse regularly, in fact, more regularly these days.

I make this point right at the beginning so as to avoid any sense of hypocrisy in the area of staying in South Africa. I have been very negative of late in this area of what has become commonsensical to me. I find it very difficult to avoid the evidence as it piles up in favour of those who “pack for Perth.” Tonight I have a friend coming back from overseas who has had more than a good look in the country where he can obtain an ancestral visa. A week ago I had lunch with another friend who spent 6 weeks in Thailand looking and seeing. Let’s not fool ourselves; it was a coloured ex-South African man who had emigrated and who was wounded in the Christchurch massacre.

But one thing I am coming across in the current tragic polarisation that is taking place is broadly four kinds of people: One who goes because they just “can’t live here anymore”; One who stays here and broods because they “can’t go anywhere”; One who stays here and “doesn’t read those things” to remain level-headed; and One who stays and really “does something to help”, however small.

I know there are many permutations of these South African views and I have come to see that the reasons we think the way we do are as personal as the circumstances in which we each find ourselves. To leave is a very personal decision, almost unique to the individual or family. I’ve learned to accept the decision whatever the reason.

However, in copying the article below, an open letter from an incredible man, I trust I could just speak a small word to those of us who are negative and even afraid of the future. I can’t give assurances, but I know that if you fester inside your tortoise shell, you will become even more cynical, negative, bitter and useless than if you acknowledge your concerns, give them a name in your brain, and get on with something, just a little something, good. Again to the rescue, Nelson Mandela who had 27 years of reasons to hate within a self-constructed fortress of bitterness, but said: Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.

Find that little something good to do in your daily life. We are not all OUTA CEO’s but we can all do something for someone or something. We have a lady in Hermanus who is a “swallow” from England. She noticed our cemetery was weed-ridden and poorly kept. She compared it to those she knows back home and wrote of her initiative in The Village News. With her own funds, she got a team together of workers and volunteers and cleaned up the cemetery. While the rest of use drove passed and complained about the municipality, she toiled. Eventually, they had cleaned the grounds and begun some very beautiful touches. Before I describe them, at this stage she opened up the opportunity for interested parties to pay a monthly donation of R250 maximum into a trust account for the work to proceed. Then, I think whether she got the donations or not, she put up little white painted crosses on the unmarked graves and began to get Calendulas from anywhere to plant in prepared gardens. For those who don’t know them, they’re waterwise and give a beautiful display of colourful, daisy-like flowers through Spring and Summer. Com’on you say, that’s extreme and she should have just enjoyed her summer holiday and gone back to admire her UK cemeteries. Well, that’s just the point – she decided to do something in one town in the whole of South Africa that everyone else thought was the responsibility of someone else, and for all we know, this may be the only recognition she’s had outside the town.

What about Hermanus Siyakha [Meaning: Building Together] which, if it catches flame, could be applied in every town in South Africa? Interest free micro-loans to micro-businesses supported by mentors [twenty aged, highly competent Hermanus men and women who have a progenerative passion], and community-funded on the internet. Have a look on: www.hermanussiyakha.co.za.

And what about the fact that the Hermanus Night Shelter, against multiple odds including “no money”, got its roof on last week. The project is passionately driven by a man in his mid-70’s. Flippen’ amazing, I can tell you!

Point is, South Africa never allows you to sit on the fence unless you’re a die-hard. Opportunities abound and when you’ve done something there’s always a “stretch something” beyond it. I know it gets difficult to look at what’s going on and not be lost in the sea of it, but there is something You can do. Find it and do it. As per François Pienaar’s MAD [Make a Difference] organization, “be the change you want to see”.

Hopefully, you’re challenged to read this article with a different, upward-looking perspective….

OUTA leader Wayne Duvenage: Here’s PROOF that SA is on road to recovery – #Stay&Fix
22nd March 2019 by Jackie Cameron

EDINBURGH —  Not everyone in the South African diaspora is on the run from corruption and crime. Many of us are working outside South Africa because that’s where the opportunities in our, or our partners’, careers and businesses lie. Some just want to travel or build up savings in low-tax havens. While there are inevitably some who have left the country and talk down South Africa at every turn, there are many who believe that the country is not a basket case. For people like this, me included, it is good to be reminded of the recent improvements that President Cyril Ramaphosa and his team have implemented. The respected leader of OUTA, Wayne Duvenage, led the charge against corruption in the Zuma years. In an open letter to South Africa, Duvenage sets out the many reasons South Africans should be optimistic about the future. He is promoting a #Stay&Fix attitude, but he should not forget there are many South Africans who are very willing to do their bit to promote growth and prosperity from afar. – Jackie Cameron

By Wayne Duvenage
[Wayne Duvenage is CEO of OUTA]

The most common questions encountered at the many talks and societal engagements I attend are ‘is there hope for the economic future of South Africa?’ and ‘seriously, shouldn’t we just pack up and go now?’ or ‘are we winning the battle against corruption?’

My short answer to those who are anxious about our future is to dwell less on what is wrong and to open your eyes to what is really happening. The more we are able to determine and see the positive signs of sustainable change, the better we will be at generating positive impetus for growth and prosperity by those who choose to #Stay&Fix South Africa.

Tough times & tough decisions

There is no denying that South Africa is suffering from the corruption upheaval of the Zuma era that pushed us into massive economic hardship and to the brink of collapse. Furthermore, corruption, incompetence and maladministration by many in positions of authority in national and local government still exist and are a significant challenge to our future prosperity. We have our work cut out for us in this department.

Sadly, however, human nature in stressful times tends to allow negativity to take hold. It clouds our ability to see the signs of positive change by new leadership committed to turning things around. We forget that change doesn’t happen overnight and that when turning a massive ship around towards a favourable destination, the extent of the change becomes evident when we look back to see the wake of our revival.

However, the extent of change is not always easy to gauge in the early days as the pace of change is never quick enough to satisfy our natural desire and hungry human nature for a big and fast-paced change, especially after a prolonged period of damaging leadership. And when that doesn’t happen it gives rise to growing frustration.

Throw in a few curve-balls such as Eskom load shedding and you get massive spikes of negativity to catalyse thoughts and group discussions of giving up and emigrating. This is where we are right now.

Looking back to move forward

Consider for a moment where we stand today compared to 15 months ago when Jacob Zuma was still in power. The Zuma cabal was confident of winning at the ANC’s five-year elective conference in December 2017, yet they didn’t.

We need to understand that had Team Zuma won that battle, Tom Moyane would still be in charge at South African Revenue Service (SARS), Shaun Abrahams at the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Lynne Brown and the destructive forces would continue to plunder away at Eskom, along with a host of other connected cohorts wreaking havoc in many positions of authority. The last remaining “positive” ratings agency, Moody’s, would most likely have downgraded us to junk status and the international and local investment fallout would have been in full swing.

Well, that didn’t happen and very quickly we became upbeat as Cyril Ramaphosa took the reins of national leadership from Jacob Zuma. Our appetite for change and corrective action ran high and placed us in a state of mind that expected more to have happened by now.

We became blind to the complexity and enormity of the turnaround job that lay ahead and the massive “Zuma-era hangover”, with which CR and his new team have to contend, not to mention the internal ruling party factionalism and external election rallying. Throw into the mix constant rating agencies’ scrutiny and a society baying for more, and it is safe to say that Ramaphosa occupies the toughest job any South Africa president has faced.

Despite all these pressures, encouraging developments within the vital institutions that ensure national stability (which were systemically destabilised by Zuma and his cronies) are now adding to the momentum of change that we seek. Think about the recent revelations at the various commissions of inquiry, the introduction of new capacity within the NPA, at SARS and the Hawks and of the many (often not published) new proclamations resulting from the good work undertaken by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU).

Let’s not forget the significant Cabinet changes undertaken soon after Ramaphosa became president. Remember too the amendment he introduced to the terms of the State Capture Commission that allowed for evidence presented therein to be used in future charges.
Then there are the banks announcing the closure of business accounts of African Global Operations (formerly Bosasa), just as they did against the Gupta companies, adding another effective mechanism to tackling money laundering and corruption in South Africa. One cannot emphasise enough how important these decisions and developments have been in our journey of recovery.

While the recent arrest of Bosasa and past Correctional Services bosses and others has been music to our ears, people ask:

“But why hasn’t the President had Zuma, Koko, Zwane, Motsoeneng, Seleke, Molefe and others arrested yet?”

Well, for starters, the president may not command arrests. That process resides within the NPA and the Police, aided by the Asset Forfeiture Unit, SIU, Hawks and SARS. Encouragingly, these same institutions are currently being restored, fortified and de-Zumafied to enable the rule of law to start working again.

Let us also be mindful that some cases are just more complex than others. Some need more “ducks in a row” before the trigger is pulled, while others have the external pressures of political chess and factionalism that take longer to break down in order to achieve desired outcomes.

High on the juice of positive thinking?

Some may believe that any positive view of the present dire situation could be a case of getting high on the mantra of head-in-the-clouds thinking, or being blinded by Ramaphoria or even being a government or political party lackey that seeks to sugar-coat and downplay the enormity of our problems. And society has a lot of them.

While driving a positive narrative does help to increase the energy in any system, effective civil intervention requires that we remain pragmatic and apolitical, giving credence to developments that generate momentum, consistency and sustainable positive change, while constructively criticising, challenging and seeking to amend government’s inefficiencies and ill-doing.

Civil society upbeat

The focus is on Shamila Batohi and her beefed-up team to re-energise the rule of law – and in fact, this is already underway. Just as the water flows in a dry riverbed after good rains, it starts at first as a trickle. The challenge, however, is to ensure it doesn’t turn into a raging torrent that is out of control and doing more damage than good.

What we seek is a longer, controlled flow of energy that is contained, less destructive and more effective, as the authorities round up and charge the culprits that set our nation back by a decade or more.

As civil society, we must not relent in applying pressure for the government to fix our broken state entities and to introduce the competence and visionary leadership that is able to take tough decisions.

Neither must we decelerate civil society’s opposition to irrational and failed policies such as e-tolls, the dubious Xolobeni mining and N2 toll road decisions, or the forthcoming flawed Aarto process and other matters that questions Government’s legitimacy.

These issues, along with gross electricity tariff hikes, questionable taxation policies, bloated and inefficient government departments and failing municipalities, will keep civil activism dynamic and prevalent for years to come.

While I maintain that we should all commit to challenging that which is wrong, or at least support those organisations which do so, let’s also acknowledge significant positive developments when these are evident.

Without being blind to the stormy waters and uncomfortable swells that lie ahead, now is the time to promote a #Stay&Fix attitude that will ensure hands on deck to give us a better chance of survival and greater prosperity.

I called this blog, South Africa’s Edge. You may have thought I was thinking of the cliff we look into every day. It’s unassailably daunting whether you’re at the top or the bottom. But actually, I’m talking about you and me. You and I, the people of this beautiful, tortured country are the EDGE! Jack Welsh, the famous CEO of General Electric, defined people with EDGE as having: Enthusiasm; Differentiation; Guts and Energy [as adapted from his book, Control Your Destiny or someone else will].

Even if you’re one week from going, do something “vir oulaas” even if it’s putting R250 into the Hermanus Siyakha project – you have no idea if the next Business Woman of the Year is in that photograph.

Yours in Property.

ILD – FAT

/in , /by

I love fat people. Cuddly, happy, smiling and always ready to help…

Oops! Wrong start to the blog on LIFE and the “F” in the acronym 😊

Let’s start again, but before we do, I must tell you a story. Once I went to Lyons Wholesalers, across the road from the Wits Business School. I had come to know them as providing an excellent product at a fraction of the price – especially Pringle clothing. It’s an old fashioned store full of people my mother worked with when she worked at Ansteys in West Street, Durban – you know the one with the tube into which you inserted the invoice and the money for a purchase and minutes later, the change came down another tube – that kind of store. Anyhow, I was looking for a suit that day and the gentleman – you know the one, pants with braces and no jacket, but he wore those elastic armbands that kept your sleeves from going over your hands – came over and asked me what I required. “A navy blue suit,” I answered. “Oh, sir” he said, “that you’ll find in this section – for the “fuller figure, you know.”

I bit my tongue like my Granny taught me, stared at him with steel-blue eyes trying to get him to drop his gaze, but as he never did [for he knew my type from years of failed confrontation], and I ended buying from him. I do remember, he had to take up my leg length and soon conveniently forgot that that happens only when your waist size is perforce bigger than the length that your legs require.

Now stop giggling and let’s get on with this…

I’ve been cheeky responding to an acronym with another acronym. You see FAT stands for Faithful, Available, Teachable and this is one of those insights you’ll never read in a Harvard textbook as it just comes from experience. I was introduced to the idea by a minister on a Sunday morning. He was talking about the qualification for elders and deacons in the church to which I belonged. FAT people make good church leaders was his premise. I was a little sceptical in the beginning as a result of being “of fuller figure” myself, but I managed to remember that sermon to this day. The reason is that you often remember something that is practical and proves unbelievably meaningful to you.

“Faithful” speaks volumes and anyone who has experienced “unfaithful” knows exactly what it means. Faithful people stand by you. They encourage success and they avoid “kommentaar” in the presence of mistakes and even, failure. You see, we all know the glow of success – that warm fuzzy “I did it!” feeling that flows through you. Little successes or big ones, a monthly award or the trip overseas, the feeling is the same; just the depth and the duration differs. Loads of dopamine pumped through your brain into your cells. Faithful people are there to congratulate you, avoiding any gnawing jealousy and just giving you genuine praise, but even more important for me is the fact – and I know this in my own life – those faithful people put you on the stand in the first place. That’s incredibly humbling and my immediate response is to say THANK YOU again to the hundreds of people who have teamed up with me to make a success of what we were doing.

God knows, I appreciate each of you and, hopefully, so do you. For example, when I was asked to run Card Acquiring [the machine or internet through which you “swipe” your card at a point of sale], I was given a target of taking the division from under 20% to over 40% market share in 2 years. When I left 2 years later, we had a market share of 38%. Do you really think that I did that alone? Yes, I worked my guts out as usual, but who do you think created the break-through opportunities that made it possible? My teams across the country, of course! We did some simple things such as improved motivation of the sale teams and stepped-up the efficiencies of our acquiring by rolling out the latest technologies, we turned on, at great courage in those early days, the internet payment system but then we also improved relationships with our Corporate banking colleagues.

In doing this, we hunted big corporate relationships and had success with a few who were big hitters. Recognise the strategy? Frankly, just like you with your customers and your calling pattern and your building of solid relationships. In the process, faithful people came alongside our effort. Sceptics and negatives left behind – we were off to get us a big fish – and we did. Even the corporates that allowed us in and let us access their point of sale tills were faithful to Nedbank Card, and our ability to process their credit card business. How would you feel as a CFO if you motivated a change to the Exco, implemented it and then on the 3rd day of business, the tills went down for two hours? Of course, they believed in us to deliver on our promise; they were faithful! And, so were we. If ever “whatever it takes” was a motto, it was on those implementations and those first few months. Morning meetings, reporting, outage real-time feedback by till, by store anything it took to retain their trust.

You got the picture? Faithful people, by any other name [loyal, committed, related, involved, etc] give you allegiance and receive it in return. If and when you succeed, you can give bonuses and increases and even shares, but at the end of the day they appreciate your appreciation. I can honestly tell you, I could never repay the faithful people in my life. Never! Faithfulness mirrors your behaviours as a leader. Like we all know, you earn trust, and so you earn faithfulness. People do not give away their precious independence and dignity and respect to untrustworthy people. That does not imply you do not fail but what it does imply is the emotional reserves and contriteness to apologize and behave like you mean it. You can probably see by now that this attribute of leaders and followers is deep, earned, and psychologically contracted. It is friendship on steroids and foundational to lasting relationships. Leader, you get what you give, make no mistake about it.

“Available” is a little more practical but it also stretches boundaries. I’ve worked with people and have also expected that a report requested on Friday afternoon is available on Monday morning. If that request is asked too often, expect push-back, but if asked with courtesy and respect for reasons of urgency or importance an available person understands, they will deliver it on time. In turn, available people take your calls. They may tell you they’re in a meeting, but they surely get back to you as soon as it’s over. They are reliable and consistently so, but there is an element of available that is deeper than just practical availability. This is presence – not just “there”, but hearing, listening, accepting and understanding. How many times have I had an issue that needed ventilation [the new 702 buzzword!]. Just some time to be able to off-load, be listened to without judgement and then receive back some advice, an opinion or two or some rich experience from a mentor or confidante.

How we need more of this availability! As stresses mount in South Africa and the voices of leaders and wanna-be leaders become an overloaded cacophony, how we often need someone who is just available. Just ….available. The old saying, “A problem shared is a problem halved” is true and it’s only with available people that that can ever occur. You may need one as you read me, but are you one? To whom do people turn when they need one? You? Or, are you too busy, too important, too out-of-reach to be available for them? How many relationships could have deepened if you just took another 5 minutes before you looked at your watch? Think about it – and do it next time. Have a Nike moment: “Just Do it!” And remember the quote I’m sure I’ve shared before: “Some people give you their free time. Others free their time for you.” Be one of those!

“Teachable” It’s not the ability to learn that is important here. Heaven knows we’ve listened to teachers and parents and teenagers for long enough to learn and some of us have learned much and have the walls of degrees to prove it. The issue with teachability is the willingness to learn; that is an attitude of the heart not of the left-side brain of the head. Have you ever had to hand over a job to someone so that you could take up your new promotion? In comes your replacement. It’s quite obvious from the outset that they wonder why you and not they got the leg-up. They can answer you before you open the first screen.

They are clever, really clever and help you on the keyboard. Then, you open up having done that every morning for three years and start the lesson only to find know-it-all knows it all. They really do, but the problem is, they don’t. They interject, roll their eyes, ponder their navel and generally show a quiet level of disdain for you, their teacher. Whenever I have trained, I have endured these awesome people; who needs this, I’m so clever? However, so many times the rubber hits the road with a thud when they have to do what has just been theory. You know, like estate agents and consultants, just fill in the form, hand it in and wait for the loan to be approved/the mandate to be signed. Oh really?! It takes years we know, of hard slog and mistakes and successes to create the relationship-based environment to be able to be successful. No one-day wonders here; rather the hard slog.

Teachable people know the privilege of their place “at the feet of giants”. They listen and question, they experiment and revert with mistakes to unpack the learning, and then they go out and succeed and revert with “war stories” and a fist full of mandates and applications. They know their place in humility, know their place in the power of skills, and even often have the gratitude to acknowledge those who taught and mentored them to success in the first place. Teachable people acknowledge the people, the past masters, who put them where they are today and, as usual, teachable people love to teach. You see, once you’ve experienced learning and internalised it, you can teach others. It’s called Progeneration and it’s the process of “passing on” to the next generation. It happens in homes, schools, factories, offices and in cultures and nations. It is critical to continued sustainability and success and I can assure you, the art and skill of growing others even to be better than you, is a blessing into old age. There is nothing so sweet as hearing that someone whose life you touched has advanced from teachable to teacher in their own right and by the way, you’re never done. Always hang out with someone better than you. You can always learn from them just by asking the deep questions that beg an answer in your mind.

Oh, and by the way, FAT people are not schloeps [spelling?]. FAT people are confident and committed. They may be learning, but that for a purpose perhaps even bigger than themselves. They may be faithful, but they’re also faithful to the truth, pointing out a wrong or a lack of ethics and values. They may be available, but they are courageous enough to set boundaries knowing that everything in life has an equal and opposite opportunity cost; especially their time that they use wisely.

FAT will hopefully always be something different for you. Something different to consider and something for which you strive. FAT people exist at every level of society, in every culture and for every season of your life. Be one.

HLJ’s other name is FAT. There for you, faithful, available and teachable. Willing to listen and willing to share.

Yours in Property.

FREEDOM

/in , /by

Good to be writing again after a hectic March so far. Life’s busy, hey?….even in Hermanus. Following on from Investment, Inspiration and Imagination in our LIFE series, we start with “F” in our acronym. Like Rights have Responsibilities, Freedom has boundaries. Sorry to burst your bubble, especially those of you Baby Boomers who still think the Hippie Age of Drugs, Sex and Rock ‘n Roll has not come to an end. It has! Good, wholesome boundaries accompany Freedom; Granny was always right. So what is this thing every American says they have, every Millennial believes they’re born with and the EFF talk about economically “in their lifetime?”

We turn to the immutable Google and find the condition or right of being able or allowed to do, say, think, etc whatever you want to, without being controlled or limited. Of course, it can also be the state of not being in prison. Thus, with my newly-defined sense of Freedom, I wish that certain politicians, executives of Eskom and those of VBS Bank et al, were not free, but prison is not what we have in mind for this blog; the first definition is our focus. Let’s face it, per definition, we’re not free. Your parents ensured that. Your teachers ensured that. Then, and maybe now still, your boss ensured that. As a free Homeloan Junction consultant, your bank manager ensured that. As a partner of anyone, your partner ensured that. So where does this utter idealism come from? Think about it. We have the notion of unrestrained Freedom in our minds and it is certainly something to be striven for – we have often been grateful in this blog for our Freedom of the Press – Freedom always comes with boundaries. Even the Press have their own Ombudsperson to regulate their Freedom to just let off steam and say it like it is, “without fear or favour.” So true Freedom must be something else other than wanton Freedom. What are these boundaries?

1. Laws

You can’t drink and drive. You can’t steal and not be charged. You can’t compete illegally and not expect a reaction. You can’t beat someone and not expect a retaliation then or later. You can’t buy or rent and not pay and when any of these and many other laws, whether we think they’re well-intended or not are not sacrosanct, you have not Freedom, but anarchy. In other words, your Freedom comes into jeopardy. Laws limit Freedom no doubt, but they exist to protect and defend and finally, are there for those who seek justice. How sad it is that State Capture can occur and yet those who committed it, could get away with it for so long? We need an Enquiry as long as the TRC to uncover the evil done by the rich to the poor others, but it will be laws that in the end result in the Freedom to convict and get a conviction or not. Let us hope that justice, another variously defined term, prevails. My imploration to you, the reader, is this: do not lose your hope, even as your Freedom has been attacked by evil, greedy forces, that the laws will prevail and justice will be done to the few for the many.

2. A sense of values

There comes a point in context and time when our values rise above our want for Freedom. Whether that is being pulled aside with 9 glasses of wine in you as you have been exercising your Freedom or, being in a board meeting and biting your tongue to not blurt out the truth [read: “your truth”] about a person or event. We speak then of obedience, sensitivity and confidentiality towards the person or about the matter. We can remember times when we were rightfully constrained to not “tell it like it is” even in the face of provocation. Similarly, values keep our Free hands out of the cookie jar and out of the till, as the saying goes. I put to you that values are boundaries; much-needed and often exercised for our own good.

3. Consideration for others

How easy it is to “let rip and let her have it.” Freedom lets you, but you too may end up in wards 4, 5 and 6 of the nearest hospital 😊 Consideration takes your foot off the pedal even when the road seems quiet, and slows down reaction times to the nanoseconds required to reconsider your behaviour. I often refer to taxi drivers in this context; they can drive me “mad” as well, but I know a company where the taxi driver is treated as a businessman driving his asset for gain. In achieving that, many payments are in advance, well-used vehicles are traded-in in good condition, various benefits are not abused and insurance is drawn on as a last resort, not the thing to be used.

It is an amazingly different approach to business and profitable by design. So, often when I see “those guys” going down the left shoulder of the road, racing along the right “Buses only” lane, I remember that perspective. How would you feel when a significant portion of the 40%+ tax on a litre of fuel goes to pay for corruption? How would you feel when the payment is too big and the month too short to afford it, as you often hear a complaint about Uber? How would you feel when your passengers are concerned about their jobs for being late when Eskom switches off the robots? Consideration for others gives our Freedom boundaries.

4. Common sense

Let’s be logical, “I did it my way” belongs in a song. Your way may be the highway if the people in our seventh paragraph decide your Freedom does not suit them. Common sense tells us that over-stepping boundaries in the pursuit of individual Freedom can have negative consequences.

5. Other boundaries

In his brilliant book, Sapiens, A brief History of Humankind, Professor Yuval Harari posits that there are other kinds of boundaries that enabled global domination by a few colonial countries. Included are: Money, Communism, Capitalism, Imperial Visions, Religion, Nationalism and Culture. These are huge swathes of invisible, but powerful beliefs that have influenced nations to conform within their borders and internationally to super-powers’ whims and fancies. Very interesting reading if you have the inclination, but to the topic, these mega-beliefs are boundaries to our Freedom.

So what is all this talk about non-existent Freedom about? How do we achieve it in our lifetimes? Does it do any good? Freedom exists for us to wish it upon ourselves and others. Nelson Mandela expressed it this way: For to be free is not merely to cast off ones chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. You and I have a right to Freedom but it is also our duty to enhance the Freedom of others. You see, I would go so far as to say that unless we enhance others’ Freedom, we will not ultimately be or become Free. Selfishness is its own inhibitor.

6. Some thoughts about Freedom for our consideration:

  • Freedom is a privilege of the few who are content. On Netflix there is a movie called Minimalist. In it, a range of people who have decided that minimal is more, share their journeys and their new location. For those of us who have been privileged to amass [relatively speaking] many things, minimalism may be anathema. Ouma se kombers, Mom’s broaches, fotos in custard-coloured albums, linen, tapestry, doilies, silverware, books, Singer sewing machines…even clothes. My friend, who has just lost 5 kilograms, was in his Lake Tahoe sweater the other day [like my big yellow jersey with a horse’s head on it that my sister knitted for me in Standard 8] and told us, “I love wearing old things.” Oh really? Lots of those in Hermanus, but he was in Lake Tahoe in the 80’s. You see contentment is Freedom. The Good book says, “Contentment with godliness, is great gain.” It is indeed. Ever seen less well-off people who are really happy? – they have it. Give some thought to the Freedom of contentment in your own life.
  • Freedom is not dependent on circumstances. They help, make no mistake, but they are not your sole determinant of your Freedom. You see, a little earlier I proposed that “Freedom exists for us to wish it upon ourselves” but let’s look a little deeper at this. Anxiety, fear, worry, depression, unhappiness, loneliness, and many other emotions are prisons of the mind. You can be walking along a beach with the sun on your face and the breeze on your back and be racked with worry. Life throws things our way and steals our Freedom, our physical, emotional and spiritual Freedom. As it does and if we let it, the prison door locks behind us and we relinquish our Freedom to that “other thing.” Please, don’t think I’m preaching to you – I know that sound in my own mind and the hopelessness it brings every time. You are not alone but please find someone with whom you can speak your heart out and share the burden. This too will pass; don’t allow these negative emotions to steal your Freedom.
  • Freedom demands that you hold your assets lightly. The simple act of dedicating your children when they are young, is an act of lightening your hold. Your favourite house, your car, your family, your bank account – everything, just hold them lightly. Of course those of you who know me know that I couple this kind of language with my Faith, but I have learned by personal experience and experiences of others, that “assets” are lent not owned. Life does happen while we’re making other plans and those of you who have suffered loss of money, loved ones, health, material possessions and even, peace of mind, know that what we own does not define us for any length of time. Rather, who we are and who we become is the benchmark of a legacy. I officiated at my dear Aunt’s memorial service three weeks ago and informed her son and grandchildren that while she was a matriarch of note and had left them Millions, her legacy would be immortalised in them. Even after her very successful life, her “legacy asset” could only be realised in her children and so it is for many of us. You are truly Free if you hold your assets “lightly.”

I’m going to close this heavy blog for some with lightness. Free people are grateful people. I often say, “Even on a bad day, I’m blessed.” The corny, “When life gives me lemons, I make lemonade” may sound pathetic, but it holds some truth. I may be at my lowest ebb, my health may be waning, relationships may be in the drink, business may be getting harder, assets may be dwindling, the “old days” may be grand in comparison, but here and now there is a silver lining. Not everything is as bad as it seems and some whisper of gratitude is becoming of us. Thankfulness for what I have and have done. Thankfulness for money in the bank, health that remains, people who love me and who I love, a son, daughter or wife who cares and will go out of their way to do so. Be grateful for the many blessings. Put your troubles in perspective and know you’ve [probably] come through worse before. Freedom is Grateful and Gratitude is Freedom.

At HLJ we enjoy our Freedom. Every day is Free. We are free to serve, make choices, help you with choices in your business, free to have associates and friends and business principles. We have earned our Freedom in many respects and stuck it out when the chill winds of adversity stifled us into almost-paralysing doubt, but we survived and Freedom resulted in our business, our attitudes and our sense of Thanks. Thank you for enjoying your own Freedom, but having the good grace to join us in this business as associates and even friends. We appreciate you.

Yours in Property.