Chasing the dots The Best Man for the Job
By: Cheis Smith
YET again I was cogitating in the cool of a near winter morning, pondering again on that bed of yellow flowers in front of me when the news of the death of Margaret Thatcher was announced.
My mind then realised that Thatcher was like my bed of yellow flowers except that she had the thorns uppermost and once you have battled through those defences there were the flowers of success revealed below! The ongoing battle for progress?
I also admit that in my last 11 years of being a British subject, she was in charge and that I had been a ‘Thatcherite’ at heart! I also realised that by making such an admission in the current political environment, even some of my readers would label me all sorts of nasty things like being pro-apartheid, anti-working class and trades union, an uncaring capitalist and despotic arrogance!
Here lies the danger of present day labelling; after all all Nigerians are corrupt drug dealers; all Russian speakers are escaping oligarchs or criminals having annexed post-Soviet assets for themselves, and; all Muslims are Jihadists intent on wiping out the infidel (me!). Obviously such labelling, while maybe true on occasions, is in general a load of rubbish and certainly not a basis for decision making.
So I must defend my Thatcherismic support. Firstly I have to admit we both were brought up in a family of shopkeepers and a relatively privileged education, although she was much cleverer than me! Our political similarities arose differently especially in relation to trades union. My early years in Liverpool while also working though the Manchester CAT as a young plant superintendent made me realise how Britain was slowly strangling itself though the application of undemocratic powers driving labour ultimately into the ground. I left for Africa (Uganda and Idi!) because of this in 1971 as managements had become spineless because of this misuse of power; widespread bankruptcy, as events proved, was inevitable.
As Thatcher realised in the ‘70s the increasingly nationalised and subsidised car, steel, coal, docks and rail industries were doomed as wage increases and productivity losses together with a resistance to new methods and technology resulted in increasing financial pain and a death of technical improvement. The “never had it so good” decades of the previous 20 years had spent out. And it was this she came to power with in 1979. Her carefully planned assault on both unions and nationalised industries shifted the balance of power to business, especially service industries and while unemployment surges by the end of her reign had reduced to where she came in.
More important, her reign had rediscovered a national pride (not everywhere!) and creativity blossomed. And then, with the decimation of industry, the deregulation of banks and the “big bang” started to lose control! And started to to lose my support as personal debt was allowed to go crazy. The balance of power had shifted to far. She had transformed Britain but new vision was needed. Her party knew this and ...
As for Apartheid and her support for the white RSA government, her logic was simple. As now with the AU, she realised that change through violence would be a failure and that political manoeuvre through the death of the Soviet Union, through internal political pressure, through the economics of idiot warfare, was the way to a political solution that had a chance of survival; and was proved right despite the hatred she endured!
As Namibians, especially as she was the first world leader on Namibian soil as Resolution 435 began to be implemented, I suggest that our labour, housing, institutions and rather dead democracy can take some lessons from Thatcher and her era. The are parallels. We can also note some of the things not to do.
I believe her primary strength was that of ducking popularist opinion (and its polls) and rather than adjusting policies to satisfy the “centre”, creating policies and actions to move the centre to “what is right”. Thus, despite disagreement with some Thatcherite intent, there are lessons for Namibia. She left a better Britain whose successors failed to guide. And yes she overstayed her time and assumed “divine right”. Sounds familiar?
Was it her divisiveness or her decisiveness that achieved transformation? I think she was the “Best Man for the Job” for her time although some will still sing “ding, dong, the witch is dead”.
csmith@mweb.com.na