100 days of the Ramaphosa mandate
The politicisation of the fatal hijacking of the Sukhraj family vehicle is now total… a process where the contribution of media has been much more than that of politicians with the opposition in particular, looking for a stick to beat the governing ANC with.
Chatsworth has been dubbed “lynchistan”; after a spate of violence and murders.
A venerable resident of the township has argued that “a monstrous new order is unfolding, drenched by the blood of our innocent citizens…”
The killing of 9-year-old Sadia Sukhraj, served to further expose diverse visions of a “new dawn” in South Africa.
As painful details of the killing of the child come to light, residents have justifiably reacted with anger at the senseless crime.
What is causing mounting outrage across the country is the blasé attitude of the political establishment to the crime epidemic.
The responses of the establishment have ranged from silence, to weasel words trying to fudge the crimes, and nonchalance.
Sometimes it was even outright justification, to trite reassurances.
The first 100 days of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration was an occasion that would have gone largely unnoticed. But the lavish praises for the president registered quite a bit in the public consciousness.
The simple reason is that, all pronouncements notwithstanding, 100 days is a contrived benchmark to assess the performance of any government.
Most people need a longer time span before they can come to a decision about whether a government is a performing or non-performing one.
Also, whether or not the government corresponds to their sense of self-interest.
At the risk of jumping to hasty conclusions a few observations may be in order.
First, while there is dissatisfaction with the government’s inability to control crime and corruption; policing; the education and health care mess, rising food and fuel prices – increased once again this has not yet translated into a larger political dissatisfaction with the Ramaphosa administration.
He may not enjoy a prolonged honeymoon but this doesn’t imply that the process of estrangement has not begun.
Politically, the ANC government still looks fairly comfortable.
And this level of comfort has little to do with performance.
With the fear that next year’s general election could throw up an inconclusive verdict (political commentators are already speculating about a coalition government) some seem reassured that a stable government is in place.
Secondly, the re-emergence of the SACP in the cast of the ruling coalition hasn’t meant a spurt in the reforming zeal of the government.
The ANC is essentially a party wedded to the idea of a non-intrusive and non-interventionist state, despite calls for instance, the establishment of a state bank and the nationalisation of state resources and enterprises.
There has been no change in that philosophy and the global endorsement of Ramaphosa’s economic policy has meant that he will not depart from the ANC’s well-trodden path of conservatism.
The ANC is essentially a party wedded to the idea of a non-intrusive and non-interventionist state.
There has been no change in that philosophy and the global endorsement of Ramaphosa’s economic policy has meant that he will not depart from the ANC’s well-trodden path of conservatism.
If there was an expectation in the working class from the ANC’s Nasrec conference that the comfort zone of politics will facilitate some radical change to their livelihoods, the president’s first 100 days has done very little to provide it nourishment.
Ramaphosa’s reputation for playing it safe and also trying not to ruffle feathers is legendary.
This may not win him a huge fan following but it has also ensured that a campaign of visceral hate against him is unlikely to ever succeed.
When the governing party believes it is time to identify the 100th birth anniversary imprints of its grandees, President Nelson Mandela and Albertina Sisulu on it, you can be sure of one thing the party is fast running out of governance policies and strategies and that the natural instinct of the party is to fall back on dynastic adulation.
There are some striking features about anniversaries. The first is their sheer arbitrariness.
What, for example, is so significant about the 100 days we so love to observe?
I’ve just returned from Europe where the “royal” wedding in Britain was a good time for the producers of memorabilia.
The 100th anniversary of the end of World War I and the 900th anniversary of the leaning tower of Pisa will prove very lucrative for publishers and commercial entrepreneurs.
Finally, the decision which anniversary to observe and which to ignore is dictated purely by expediency and politics.