To thwart kidnapping, don't pay the ransom

Hans Beuche, Port Elizabeth: The reason very few people are kidnapped in Western countries is because governments generally refuse to pay ransom money. Sure, there are occasional casualties, but far less than if kidnapping had been allowed to become a lucrative business, as it has in countries such as Columbia, Nigeria and Haiti.

When this is applied to public services and commercial enterprises, it is clear that, in South Africa, the kidnapping and holding hostage of certain market sectors by unions is clearly a lucrative business.

For instance, Transnet could begin by removing the 11% increase it offered its workers and start retrenching.

Yes, the country would suffer for a while, but only once, not annually at increase time, or every month, as we're seeing now in all unionised sectors.

Quickly, smaller private companies will be born to fill the gaps where unions have caused the collapse of services and new employment opportunities will be spawned.

In addition, with unemployment at the level it is and queues waiting to take their place, workers might reconsider whether the livelihood of their families is really worth the extra 4% they're so arrogantly demanding on behalf of their unions.

Bringing South Africa to its knees for the sake of opportunistic greed, on the eve of the greatest marketing coup this country has ever had, is entirely unacceptable.

The country is still suffering from the recession, but the unions feel they should be immune from that, and with big business still able (temporarily) to bend over backwards to appease union avarice, we should prepare ourselves for increasing and unending strike action.