You Need a Plan to Live in South Africa

There’s a great future in South Africa…but you must have a plan. Here’s mine:

1. There are many places much worse than South Africa….with grinding poverty, authoritarian governments and failed states. People still, somehow, make a life for themselves and their loved ones. Maybe there’s a lesson there for us.

2. Africa’s political leadership is notoriously inept, self-serving and fundamentally corrupt. Get over it.

3. To make matters much worse, most South Africans cannot distinguish between leaders and common criminals when voting, and therefore give the whole process a semblance of democratic respectably. Join a political party that can deal with this conundrum, or start your own.

4. State services will collapse. Buy a generator, and whatever else you need to live a decent life

5. In time, the economy will collapse, or at best falter, leaving the currency in tatters. Create your own business that is collapse-proof. Here are three examples: create services the state is failing to deliver, make things to export into dollarised markets (including Africa), and do something for the Chinese tourists….they are coming here in their millions.

6. Keep some of your savings abroad so that when you hear the Rand is diving again, it’s both good and bad news, not just bad news.

7. Make a point of enjoying the things that are special here, even more – for me it’s the mountains, the wine, the sport, the incredible people (all of us), the bush and our unique history.

8. Never whinge. Rather, put ALL your effort into making your own world functional, productive, safe and rewarding

9. Have a big heart, embrace people different to you, always be positive and believe in your future!

10. If none of this resonates, consider carefully moving abroad. With respect, you may have many challenges just as difficult, without the benefits of number 7.

This post originally appeared on new24.com and is kindly republished with permission of entrepreneur John Raath. View the original here. Main picture (sourced on facebook) © Trevor Kleyn Photography and Guiding.