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A revolution that comes from the top is, in effect, a dictatorship, and it never lasts.
Whether it is the techies in Silicon Valley or lefties in a university, revolutions start on the ground.
The man who wrote the book on revolution, Fidel Castro, said in his seminal work, History Will Absolve Me: “The plan [to overthrow the government] was drawn up by a group of young men, none of whom had any military experience at all.”
In order for any revolution – whether economic or political – to start, there needs to be widespread discontent, often about issues such as high prices or taxes.
Governments tax their people out of necessity, but sometimes to cover the costs of decadence and corruption. Businesses raise their prices in order to milk maximum profits. But intentions do not count, what matters is the impact.
When the people cannot afford to buy bread, they blame those in power. They see heartlessness in the politicians and greed in the merchants.
The main difference between an economic and a political revolution, is that, in the latter, the intention is to violently overthrow the institutions of oppression to end all suffering; whereas a commercial revolution is often driven by the desire to reduce costs, and increase productivity and profit.
Since labour is usually the highest cost in most businesses, it goes without saying that workers will always be the first casualty in any economic revolution.
Once the revolution is ignited, it is unstoppable.
Read: Give the youth a platform and they will lead the way
As soon as the British mathematician, Alan Turing, asked the question, “Can machines think?” almost 70 years ago, he unleashed a seismic phenomenon that would later be referred to as the fourth industrial revolution.
It is clear that none of the current political parties that are standing for this year’s election has the vision to create the conditions for an economic revolution that will thrust this country into the future.
Revolutions often fail, because they are actually experiments, and when human experiments fail, they cost lives.
In 1959, Mao Tse-tung launched the Great Leap Forward, which was about revolutionising China from an agrarian society to an industrialised one within five years. It is estimated that more than 30 million people died within two years as a result of a famine.
Liu Shaoqi, the chairman of the People’s Republic of China, who succeeded Mao, said that the economic disaster was 30% the fault of nature, and 70% of human error.
The unemployment disaster that is devastating South African youth is mostly due to human error.
Black economic empowerment policies have resulted in the creation of a new laager that protects what Mao referred to as “privileged bureaucrats”, who used their close proximity to power to enrich themselves.
Many of the first provincial premiers, such as Tokyo Sexwale, used their connections to get shares in white companies for absolutely nothing, using ambiguous eat-now-perhaps-pay-later financial schemes.
As in Mao’s Great Leap Forward, the ministers, technocrats and the gatekeepers in government procurement are abusing their power to bend honest people to submit to corruption.
They deliberately appoint the impotent and the incompetent, who are too scared to question anything and too stupid to do anything.
It is a shame that so little has been done to empower our youth to be self-sufficient. Young people in rural areas have been especially hard hit.
The power-drunk bureaucrats tried to do too many things at once, and messed up everything. They tried to control people’s lives – including their relationships.
In the name of black empowerment, they forced people who hardly knew each other to become business partners. Many were swindled.
At school they told teachers how to deal with their pupils. Many dropped out.
At home they told parents how to raise their children.
The government must open the valves of discontent and prepare the youth for the fourth industrial revolution if it is to avoid a political revolution.
Kuzwayo is the founder of Ignitive,an advertising agency
