Good afternoon, Bahlali
No sooner had we succeeded in getting the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition to withdraw "his" Draft Amendments to the National Credit Act, did Big Business come out to protest against our victory and basically warn, "we will be back!"
They complain that the Minister yielded to public pressure, and all the hard work they did lobbying government behind the scenes and trying to get them to pass the amendment was now wasted. They suggest that the Minister's decision is bad for business and that the cries of the almost 200 hundred thousand of us were misplaced.
Sadly, this is a false dichotomy.
It is as much in the interests of business to have an increasing pool of skilled and educated workers as it is in the interests of past and present students to have access to well-priced credit facilities as they self-actualise. Good, fair regulation can protect both students and allow SMME participation. Further, regulation that seeks to unlock business constraints and enable economic activity must be balanced against the general need and government’s obligation to protect society’s most vulnerable. These are not mutually exclusive.
What this hostility reveals is one important truth: By organising ourselves and successfully opposing Tau's Proposal, we have broken the decades-old consensus between Government, Business and Organised Labour - possibly, forever!
This consensus is very simple: Business and Organised Labour will lobby government (formally and informally) for things that are important to their stakeholders and try to persuade government to design policy interventions that will achieve their desired outcomes. More often than not, they succeed.
In the latest edition of my newsletter, Fighting For Better (on Substack), I discuss this in detail and explain why it is important that we don't stop fighting. I can guarantee you one thing: they are clear: they will try again until they get what they want.
Please check out the edition and subscribe to my newsletter so you can stay informed about what we're doing to protect our gains and fight for more. It's available for free at: https://fightingforbetter.substack.com/p/private-interest-lobbies-vs-the-people
Over the coming days and weeks, I will be sharing more about what I believe we need to do to not only defend our success but also fight to have the current regulations (through which many amongst us have already been blacklisted) changed, as well as other issues I believe we need to engage in. Please subscribe to my newsletter so you can stay up to date.
If the link is not working, just type FightingForBetter.Substack.com into your browser, and you will find us there.
FYI: I have also written an Opinion Piece for one of the Sunday Papers directly responding to Big Business's anger. If they publish it wonderful. If they don't, that will be disappointing. Either way, I'll make sure to publish it in the newsletter at or about midday. You want to see that.
Alright, that’s it for today. Be back soon and, if no one else has told you, I love you.
Regards,
Sabelo