If you know anything about aeroplanes you’ll know how big they someti
mes can be. The biggest of the lot so far has been the 747 “Jumbo Jet” designed and built by Boeing in Washington, USA. Now there’s a new giant kid on the block that can carry in excess of 500 passengers if configured a certain way. It is called the A380, it costs R1.7 billion each and is made by Boeing’s main rival in the world of plane-making, Airbus. Airbus is based in France, Europe. Now what is 500 people? That is the same number as the people who regularly receive mzansindaba. It’s 8 full busses, or 36 minibus taxis (carrying 14 passengers now, NOT 24!) or a sizeable stage theatre. It is so big they have to manufacture its parts in over 5 different countries around the world!
So the other day I was told about a private buyer who has bought this thing for his own use. No one could say who it was of course, but from what I understand, it’s a Middle-East based gentleman who no doubt will chop off a few parts, put in some beds, bars, Jacuzzis, plasma TVs and all sorts of other bling material so his 12 hour trips across the oceans don’t seem that long anymore. The A380 can do speeds of up to 1077km/h, meaning flying from Jozi to Cape Town, normally a two-hour exodus, would take roughly an hour.
Why am I even talking about this? Well our BEE boys and girls are beginning to live in excess as well, whether they are buying property or “investing” in expensive automobile machinery. We’ve all seen Mr Motsepe’s BMWs, all registered as DOWNS # GP, with the # standing for a number. I’ve seen up to DOWNS 8 GP! He is also said to have a private jet, which I can entirely believe. Private jets are cheap, coming in at around R100 million each. Mr Cyril Ramaphosa has farms that produce the oddest goods like wine, so does Mr Tokyo Sexwale. Ramaphosa is known also as a very private person who is quite shy of showing off his vast wealth (remember that whole Maybach incident 3 years ago?). I know a black guy who owns, among other cool stuff, a helicopter. Black folk with millions to spend on whatever nice things they want. I did some research in 2004 to find out how many of these folks were in South Africa and discovered that in total, there were 25 000 dollar millionaires in this country in 2003. By 2006 that figure had risen to about 38 000, with about 25% of those being black. That’s about 9 500 people worth R7 million or more. Pre-1990 that figure probably stood at 5!
Again, my point is? The point is; people who make money are the same all over the world. They make it in order to spend it, and if it happens that they give it away, they will not give ALL of it away, in fact they probably spend less than 10% on charitable donations. Of course if you are Bill and Melinda Gates then you can afford to spend over R7 billion on charity. It’s not a lot really. At the Jozi edition of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, President Mbeki said: "A global human society based on poverty for many and prosperity for a few, characterised by islands of wealth, surrounded by a sea of poverty, is unsustainable" As a BEE cat or kitten, how are you spreading your wealth? Are you at all or do you feel you still need more? Do you have to spread it? Given the history of the country and the fact that 85% of the economy is in the hands of 5% of people, is it such a bad thing for people to make millions, even billions of rands? Should they feel guilty about it?
Black people have never had millions before, let alone billions sitting with individuals. Therefore when they start making such kinds of money and begin to feel guilty about it, it means they are now joining a certain class of people in whose mind only figures count, not colour, race or creed. They therefore become a class on their own, meaning they aren’t just rich, but they are black and rich too. Does it become their duty now to help the rest of the 95% in uplifting themselves? Are they morally bound?
mes can be. The biggest of the lot so far has been the 747 “Jumbo Jet” designed and built by Boeing in Washington, USA. Now there’s a new giant kid on the block that can carry in excess of 500 passengers if configured a certain way. It is called the A380, it costs R1.7 billion each and is made by Boeing’s main rival in the world of plane-making, Airbus. Airbus is based in France, Europe. Now what is 500 people? That is the same number as the people who regularly receive mzansindaba. It’s 8 full busses, or 36 minibus taxis (carrying 14 passengers now, NOT 24!) or a sizeable stage theatre. It is so big they have to manufacture its parts in over 5 different countries around the world!So the other day I was told about a private buyer who has bought this thing for his own use. No one could say who it was of course, but from what I understand, it’s a Middle-East based gentleman who no doubt will chop off a few parts, put in some beds, bars, Jacuzzis, plasma TVs and all sorts of other bling material so his 12 hour trips across the oceans don’t seem that long anymore. The A380 can do speeds of up to 1077km/h, meaning flying from Jozi to Cape Town, normally a two-hour exodus, would take roughly an hour.
Why am I even talking about this? Well our BEE boys and girls are beginning to live in excess as well, whether they are buying property or “investing” in expensive automobile machinery. We’ve all seen Mr Motsepe’s BMWs, all registered as DOWNS # GP, with the # standing for a number. I’ve seen up to DOWNS 8 GP! He is also said to have a private jet, which I can entirely believe. Private jets are cheap, coming in at around R100 million each. Mr Cyril Ramaphosa has farms that produce the oddest goods like wine, so does Mr Tokyo Sexwale. Ramaphosa is known also as a very private person who is quite shy of showing off his vast wealth (remember that whole Maybach incident 3 years ago?). I know a black guy who owns, among other cool stuff, a helicopter. Black folk with millions to spend on whatever nice things they want. I did some research in 2004 to find out how many of these folks were in South Africa and discovered that in total, there were 25 000 dollar millionaires in this country in 2003. By 2006 that figure had risen to about 38 000, with about 25% of those being black. That’s about 9 500 people worth R7 million or more. Pre-1990 that figure probably stood at 5!Again, my point is? The point is; people who make money are the same all over the world. They make it in order to spend it, and if it happens that they give it away, they will not give ALL of it away, in fact they probably spend less than 10% on charitable donations. Of course if you are Bill and Melinda Gates then you can afford to spend over R7 billion on charity. It’s not a lot really. At the Jozi edition of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, President Mbeki said: "A global human society based on poverty for many and prosperity for a few, characterised by islands of wealth, surrounded by a sea of poverty, is unsustainable" As a BEE cat or kitten, how are you spreading your wealth? Are you at all or do you feel you still need more? Do you have to spread it? Given the history of the country and the fact that 85% of the economy is in the hands of 5% of people, is it such a bad thing for people to make millions, even billions of rands? Should they feel guilty about it?
Black people have never had millions before, let alone billions sitting with individuals. Therefore when they start making such kinds of money and begin to feel guilty about it, it means they are now joining a certain class of people in whose mind only figures count, not colour, race or creed. They therefore become a class on their own, meaning they aren’t just rich, but they are black and rich too. Does it become their duty now to help the rest of the 95% in uplifting themselves? Are they morally bound?
No comments:
Post a Comment