By Helen Grange, January 2008

You can, and you should – five New Year's resolutions for South Africa

Eish!That was hectic. No, not the political floor-crossing and the election of the new ANC leadership, but all the nonsense that went on before the actual decisions were made. So much of it was about airing the dirty laundry of opposing sides – the payment of bribes, the consorting with unsavoury characters, the lack of moral integrity, whatever your definition of moral integrity happens to be.

Can we just try to move on now? Because really, what this country needs is a little less finger-pointing and a lot more personal responsibility. In that spirit, Reader's Digest offers a list of New Year's resolutions for South Africa. None of these will change the world, but they will help make it a better place in which to live.

1. Give it up
If you're like most of us, your home is stuffed with stuff. We're asking you to give it away. Not all of it. Not even the best of it. But think of all the perfectly fine, maybe even unused items you have gathering dust. Then think of the difference one of them could make to someone else. Cape Town resident Carrie Hampton came up with a great plan. She gets all her friends to dig out their old clothes that are just too good to throw out. She borrows a private health studio with mirrors for an evening and invites friends, and friends of friends for a big trying-on session followed by a clothes auction. "Everyone gets a new outfit that costs them next to nothing, and I raise anything up to R2000 for a township crèche. I take crèche staff to an educational shop and we spend all the money. It's a win-win situation!"

But you don't need to get that involved to do a good deed.

Do you have an old computer to dispose of? NetDay South Africa – a non-profit organisation services and recycles donated computers to disadvantaged schools (011 403-5777). A drawer full of old printer cartridges? Call Mzansi Office Recycling and Consumables (0860 570 000), which helps raise funds for the World Wildlife Foundation, Childline, SPCA, Cotlands and HIV Paediatrics Foundation, among others.

Leftover building material? Habitat for Humanity will gladly accept good quality bricks, SABS approved paint, tiles or other building materials and if there's a big load, will collect (021 670-2044).

Millions of spectacles are "retired" every year. Take them out of the drawer and give them to the Lions' Operation Bright Sight, which has collection boxes in pharmacies and optometrists nationwide.

SPCAs have bookshops, second-hand shops and wastepaper igloos, so to find out what your local branch will take, go to www.nspca.co.za. Churches, schools, child welfare societies and service clubs like Rotary, Lions and Round Table are also good ways to channel unwanted bric-a-brac.

Look at what you've got, then make a call. And remember: it really is more blessed to give than to receive.

2. Drop it off
What if you – yes, you, flopped there on the couch – could take a stand to lower the national health-care bill, spur an initiative to cut the cost of medical insurance and be a player in the campaign to fight diabetes, heart disease and cancer? Well you can. Just lose five kilograms this year. Don't think of it as dieting – think of it as an act of personal medical responsibility.

Here's why: when you hear someone on the news talking about skyrocketing costs of medical aid and health care, it isn't some vague "they" who's responsible. The enemy may well be within us. Heavy us, podgy us, fat, flabby us. We're responsible.

The Medical Research Council reports that 29% of men and 56% of women in South Africa are overweight or obese. Perhaps the most alarming fact is that 17% of children under the age of nine are overweight and studies show they are highly likely to grow into overweight adults.

Obesity can lead to dozens of health problems, including diabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension, osteoarthritis, some forms of cancer and psychological trauma. Just think what that is costing our government. And it's not "their" money, it's our money.

We're not trying to demonise food; we enjoy our meals, too. But this is one danger that comes down to personal choice. There's not likely to be a regulatory or, heaven forbid, legislative answer. The simple truth is that bad habits – way too much of the wrong kind of food and not enough sweat – are killing us.

Come on then, drop those five kilograms. For all our sakes.

3. Trade up
We used to call it the "lost generation", the kids whose education got tragically interrupted when the political struggle plucked them out of school for the revolutionary cause. Today, we're in danger of spawning yet another "lost generation" – kids who have been failed by an education system that produces graduates devoid of the skills South Africa most needs.

Our technical learning institutions need an overhaul if our country is to maintain its economic momentum. China and India now train hundreds of thousands of workers with practical and technical skills each year.

If we are to compete, we need to make sure we have skilled workers.

A bachelor's degree isn't for everyone, nor should it be. But there's still a perception that technical diplomas are for kids who "didn't really make it" to university. That's plain wrong. The greatest skills shortages are in the engineering, construction and automotive sectors, where properly trained, skilled artisans command pretty decent salaries.

The government tried to boost skills through learnerships via the Sector Education Training Authorities (Setas), but they have evidently not delivered. Of 40 companies questioned in a Centre for Development and Enterprise survey in June last year, 19 were "roundly negative" about the Setas, saying they provide little or no skills value to their businesses. Paul Steyn, academic and regulatory affairs executive at Educor, the country's largest provider of private education, goes so far as to say they have "completely failed in their attempt to address the highly skilled technical and vocational training needs of the country".

The 2007 budget allocated R600 million for student bursaries for Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges, public colleges offering vocational and technical training to kids who choose to leave school before matriculating, where they can graduate with a national certificate. The plan is to market the courses more vigorously and augment the number of full bursaries and loan schemes for both FET colleges and technical universities (which take only matric graduates).

Research has shown that the country needs to train 50 000 artisans in the next two years to cope with the increasing demand for technical skills, and a common entry level salary for a technical graduate is R10 000 a month. A civil engineer university graduate can start at R15 000.

So let's rethink the tertiary education of our youngsters, and channel them in directions that not only will ensure jobs but also contribute significantly to the economy in the long run.

4. Clean it up
It was once quaintly known as TV's "family hour". Between 7 and 8pm you could count on relatively safe fare – a fluffy comedy, maybe a game show and, if you really got lucky, a programme from which you and your kids could learn something. At the very least, you could all watch and no one would be embarrassed or bewildered, except maybe at how dumb sitcoms could be.

As the saying goes, those were the old days.

Just try finding family hour in 2007. Even in the early evenings, the channels are clogged with edgy reality shows, exploitative dramas aimed at teenagers, violence-ridden cartoons and comedy shows so thick with sexual double entendres that they make grown men blush.

We could write a whole article on how ICASA fails to regulate standards and the need for others to speak out against too much sex and violence on TV, as Jacob Zuma did. Studies by the Human Sciences Research Council have shown that violence on TV is strongly linked with aggressive behaviour in children and adolescents. Not only that, it puts your brain "to sleep" and sets up the pattern for a sedentary – read unhealthy – lifestyle.

One other thought. Please turn the TV off during supper. It's been reported that kids – and parents – consume more kilojoules while sitting in front of the tube, probably because they're just not paying attention to how much they're eating. It's your family. It's your TV – so shut it off. Try reviving the art of conversation. You might just learn something.

5. Stand up – and speak out
Let's vow to stop scandals before they destroy the reputation of big business. The Institute for Security Studies estimates that white-collar crime costs the South African economy more than R50 billion a year.

Most of us are infuriated by the many tales of crookedness, corruption and fraud plaguing our country. According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers global survey released last October, South Africa has the highest number of companies affected by economic crime in the world. Asset misappropriation, money laundering, bribery and fraud top the list of white-collar crimes.

Just look at the evidence. Two executives of Leisurenet were finally found guilty of fraudulently pocketing R12 million. At Fidentia Asset Management, R1,6 billion went walkabout, R689 million of which has not yet been recovered. But it's not only private money that has gone astray. With MPs and travel agents conspiring to use parliamentary vouchers fraudulently to the tune of R24 million, is it any wonder that tens of thousands of public servants have felt free to defraud the social grant system?

Wait a second, though. How come more people didn't speak up, didn't say, "Guys, this is wrong"? Admittedly, this is a tricky subject, because whistle-blowers sometimes find themselves fired, with no salary, no medical aid and no prospects. Yet at the same time, "business" is made up of millions of individual employees, most of whom can distinguish right from wrong. What can we do to put some ethics back into South Africa?

Peter Peterson, a straight-talking American financier, wrote a book on this topic in 2004, Running on Empty. His conclusions: ethics count, and we all have to make them count. Companies have to state what they stand for and then ensure that it's safe and easy for employees to report fraud. And we need "personal, internal, self-imposed and, yes, absolute standards". Peterson believes the tone has to be set from the top, but we all have some responsiblity.

The same should apply in government. Remember what Edmund Burke said: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."