Start with the fallen fruits

By the way, as a follow up on last week’s opinion piece, one of the points that I mistakenly omitted was that the new RFP administration is starting to make sloppy mistakes.

We call them “rookie mistakes” in American slang. Kindly Google search what a “Rookie Mistake” or “Rookie” is.

There is nothing in the world that irritates me like when you write a letter to someone and they fail to just write a single-paragraph letter to acknowledge receipt. For example, I hereby acknowledge receipt of your letter dated blah-blah. What is difficult to string a letter as simple as that?

Why do I raise this point? I’ve written three letters to the new RFP administration to brief it on a project that has a potential to revolutionise the education sector. However, there hasn’t been any acknowledgement of receipt, almost six weeks later. No guys, come one!

These are the type of things we disliked in the previous administrations, where people would act with impunity.

To me, failure to acknowledge receipt of a letter or e-mail, simply says, ha ke u foke, as MP Machesetsa Mofomobe would eloquently put it. Let’s correct this mistake as a matter of urgency. Asseblief!

Let’s talk about something serious. Tell me if I’m wrong but in my view, the new RFP administration is starting to show signs of being overwhelmed. No, honestly, tell me if I’m wrong and you are more than welcome to pen a counter-opinion piece and send it to the managingeditor@thepost.co.ls

The situation that the new RFP admin is in could be likened to a situation where a guy punches above his weight. What do I mean about this?

You know, we have those kind of guys that love big things. In Soshanguve, they would say ba rata dilo. These are the guys who would join a boxing match and head straight to the heavyweight ring yet they are categorised in the feather-weight class.

When we were young, there were those guys that would approach ladies that are way above their league. Ladies that are sorted.

She has her own car, a house (let’s say at Masowe 4), a stable job and a bit of cash and investments. But my brother who is a security guard will still insist and try their luck. Well, I’m not insinuating that there’s anything wrong with being a security guard but…. You get my point.

However, you find this guy (the security guard) ‘jokingly’ submitting an application to the lady and betting on luck. And, by a miracle and not ‘chance’, the proposal gets a nod. The lady says ‘yes, let’s give it a try’.

After the lady says, “yes, application accepted”, that’s when reality hits that the security guard only earns M2 500 and now this lady demands a new weave from Brazil, occasional lunch or dinner at Peri-Peri Restaurant, movies in Bloemfontein (because Lesotho doesn’t even have one movie-theatre), an occasional weekend away in Sandton (for shopping at the diamond walk) and a compulsory holiday in Cape Town at Camps Bay. Damn!

As I said, this guy only earns two-thousand five hundred Maloti. Would the poor guy suddenly feel overwhelmed once reality hits home? Exactly my point!

Now, how would the poor guy sustain such a relationship? If he were smart, option one would be to quit his job and go into tendering.

This is a predicament that the RFP currently faces. It is overwhelmed by the demands of the nation.

But there is an easy way of solving this predicament and one of them is to start with the fallen fruits. I once made this analogy but I will highlight it once more. When you pick apricots in the summer, where would you start?

Logic will tell you to start picking the fallen apricots first. I mean you would discard the ripe apricots on the ground and go chasing the ones up on the tree. The ones that are still green and out of reach? No, you start with the juicy ones on the ground.

By the way, now that I raise this topic, when was the last time you ever saw an apricot tree in Lesotho? It’s been a while. What happened? Is it a matter of climate change or a lack of interest by farmers to plant those trees? They used to thrive and had this beautiful lush green colour. But you don’t see them anymore.

As a matter of fact, some people even went as far as having a meal made up of papa with apricots from the tree. Yes, papa ka mampolokoso (applekoos). What happened to us?

So, as I was saying, start with the fallen fruits, the ones on the ground and this is exactly what the RFP needs to do. Go for the easy-pickings on the ground. What are those, you may ask?

Why don’t we start by privatising the roads in Lesotho? I mean, we can all see that the government is overwhelmed by the state of roads. But there could be an easier solution to this problem.

What if a private company (possibly a multinational) says, “Yes, I have an ability to raise money to build new roads, I also have an ability to construct and maintain new roads. Only if I would go into a concession agreement with the Lesotho government”.

What does this mean? The government of Lesotho would say, design and build a road according to specification XYZ. Then cost the new road and go seek funding in the markets.

As the government, we’ll under-write the loan. Because you are building quality assets for us as the government. This is where the significance of the Loti Fund comes in. In terms of underwriting the loans.

The question may then be: how will you pay us, as the government? What is the source of funds? The answer is: possibly through petrol levies (20c per litre).

Or by means of toll-gates (pay-per use). No, modern electronic toll gates. Or a levy when renewing a car disc.

So, you can even say to the private sector, “build the toll infrastructure and introduce a billing system”. Yes, I’m well aware of the e-toll quagmire in Gauteng, South Africa, but there are ways of resolving these issues and have worked well in other countries.

As a matter of fact, I once packaged a project to propose a new commercial border post named the Berea Bridge Development to be developed near Mokhethoaneng. Talk to me if you need solutions!

This project was inspired by the PPP development currently taking place to upgrade the Beitbridge border post in Zimbabwe worth about US$300 million (R4.4 billion then), with a 17-year-concession agreement. Google search it.

Construction of the Beitbridge upgrade is well underway and the private sector found creative means to source funds and to pay for the project in a sustainable manner. Another successful concession model is the N3 concession road to Durban.

Construction of roads and bridges has the potential of generating jobs on a mass scale. It’s not only the roads that need to be upgraded, but the PPP concession models could be applied to an upgrade of Moshoeshoe 1 International Airport.

‘Mako Bohloa