South Africa is a collapsed democracy, not a maturing democracy. No political system can exist sustainably under a backdrop of corruption that is the basis of the economy.
@FaraiMazhindu South Africa is a maturing democracy.
Comparing the USA to an African country is ridiculous
250 years versus 32. Maturity is measured in centuries, not headlines.
South Africa had real space ambitions that dated back to the late 1950s.
The program was launched primarily through partnerships with NASA.
In the 1980s, while a young Elon Musk was growing up in Pretoria, South Africa was on the absolute cusp of becoming a global space superpower.
The country possessed the Overberg Test Range, advanced rocket technology, and a first-world infrastructure built on precision engineering.
South Africa had the exact blueprint to stand among aerospace giants. Then, the ANC cadres took over.
Under decades of ANC mismanagement, state capture, and a toxic ideological obsession, that entire world class infrastructure was systematically dismantled and run into the dirt.
They replaced meritocracy with political patronage, drove out elite engineering talent with restrictive racial mandates, and broke the power grid so badly that heavy manufacturing became impossible.
Instead of letting infrastructure rot, a functional South Africa would have expanded its historic NASA partnerships.
South Africa would have become the absolute go-to hub for tracking and communicating with global Mars missions, lunar landings, and deep space probes.
A boy from Pretoria, South Africa, has become the world's first trillionaire, but with an American citizenship and an American portfolio.
His success is a mirror that reflects South Africa's absolute failure.
Elon Musk's historic milestone proves that wealth, progress, and monumental breakthroughs are created through merit, relentless innovation, and visionary execution.
They are not created through bureaucratic gatekeeping, red tape, and ideological obsession. South African politicians hate him because his mere existence exposes their profound failure to build anything of lasting value.
Elon Musk's story is the absolute opposite of the South African story.
Had the environment allowed it, he could have built SpaceX in South Africa. Decades ago, the country possessed a first world military space and missile infrastructure.
Instead of being nurtured into a global commercial aerospace hub, it was dismantled and collapsed under decades of ANC mismanagement, state capture, and political patronage.
We cannot even talk about Elon Musk freely investing his billions back into South Africa. Despite being born in Pretoria, race based economic policies and restrictive BEE ownership mandates have historically locked out global builders who refuse to bend to political dictation.
The South African story has become a tragic tale of what could have been, tainted by toxic governance, race politics, and destructive economics.
A boy from Pretoria, South Africa, has become the world's first trillionaire, but with an American citizenship and an American portfolio.
His success is a mirror that reflects South Africa's absolute failure.
Elon Musk's historic milestone proves that wealth, progress, and monumental breakthroughs are created through merit, relentless innovation, and visionary execution.
They are not created through bureaucratic gatekeeping, red tape, and ideological obsession. South African politicians hate him because his mere existence exposes their profound failure to build anything of lasting value.
Elon Musk's story is the absolute opposite of the South African story.
Had the environment allowed it, he could have built SpaceX in South Africa. Decades ago, the country possessed a first world military space and missile infrastructure.
Instead of being nurtured into a global commercial aerospace hub, it was dismantled and collapsed under decades of ANC mismanagement, state capture, and political patronage.
We cannot even talk about Elon Musk freely investing his billions back into South Africa. Despite being born in Pretoria, race based economic policies and restrictive BEE ownership mandates have historically locked out global builders who refuse to bend to political dictation.
The South African story has become a tragic tale of what could have been, tainted by toxic governance, race politics, and destructive economics.
Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment shouldn't mean extorting white investors just to line the pockets of corrupt politicians.
True empowerment happens when investors build industries, solve problems, and create jobs.
Forcing foreign businesses into political patronage schemes under the guise of regulation destroys national progress.
South Africa's BBBEE laws simply do not work.