Voters must hold parties to account
State of the nation
IN a most courageous and honest address, Trevor Manuel, an erstwhile and competent finance minister, speaking at the University of the Western Cape under the auspices of the Thabo Makgoba Development Trust, declared in unequivocal terms, “I make no apologies for sharing my view that the presidency of Jacob Zuma was a total disaster for South Africa”.
Manuel stated Zuma had left the country with the biggest challenge yet since democracy and the challenges would continue to arise.
“One only has to assess the extent of destruction of key state institutions, especially in the criminal justice and state security institutions. In addition, virtually all of the state-owned corporations (SOCs) have been bankrupted by the awful combination of corruption and mismanagement.
“Given the vast sums of money that will be needed to support the SOCs, the delivery of basic services to address inequality will be compromised,” he said.
Manuel explained it was already evident that the spending available per capita in both education and healthcare had fallen quite rapidly.
“Hospitals are not functioning properly, school feeding programmes in many districts have been discontinued and we still have children relieving themselves in the veld outside the school because there are no toilets.
“We have seen incompetent ministers appoint unqualified DGs [directors-general] in many departments, happy that competent and dedicated professional public servants had been driven out,” he said.
As a result there are far too many departments, in provincial, national and local government, that are dysfunctional.
Although South Africa is most certainly not a failed state, we face very formidable challenges.
Political parties, especially a governing party like the ANC, have as their principal function and aim to govern the country by addressing and solving its problems, not to create problems.
Under the Zuma presidency it is manifestly apparent that it created and contributed to inordinate problems of corruption and maladministration, epitomised by the phenomenon of state capture and rampant corruption, instead of addressing the problems of poverty, unemployment and the unequal distribution of resources.
In the North West, serious political infighting has virtually paralysed the administration of the province and Section 100 of the constitution has had to be invoked thereby permitting national intervention.
In KwaZulu-Natal the political murder of ANC officials continues unabated, causing political havoc and uncertainty about its proposed provincial conference.
There is dissent and uncertainty in other provinces, and serious and violent service delivery protests virtually every week as well as rampant crime all over the country.
The City of Cape Town, governed by the DA, is involved in a serious factional dispute with mayor Patricia de Lille, instead of using its political energy to resolve the problems of its residents.
There seems indeed to be something fundamentally wrong with our political parties.
Some of the smaller parties, like the EFF and BFLF, tend to use fascist tactics and hate speech that do not contribute to a constructive resolution of our political problems, and exacerbate unrest and violent service delivery protests for mere party political advantage using inflammatory language, populist political appeal and demagoguery. They also need to be called to account in no uncertain terms.
The ANC is in the process of transformation from a liberation movement to a political party.
In so doing it is struggling to come to terms with its new role.
Its credentials as the liberation movement of, inter alia, Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo, may not prove sufficient to win in next year’s general election and it may not secure more than 50% of the national vote. If this occurs, our country will then embark on the politics of coalition government, which will have enormous challenges.
The Ramaphosa administration is struggling to contain unruly elements in the ANC, and needs to manifestly exercise its authority to govern effectively and bring order and stability to this party.
Such exercise of authority is essential for stability and good governance in South Africa.
The ANC has chosen the slogan, Thuma Mina or “send me”, for its election campaign.
In this regard, it is essential for the continuation and health of our democracy that the electorate and ordinary voters hold the ANC accountable for the present state of political turmoil and discontent in the country, and demand an explanation and, indeed, an apology for the endemic corruption and maladministration of the Zuma era, and not merely accept empty promises.
The same applies to the DA which is governing the Western Cape. It must explain the dissension in its ranks relating to the De Lille debacle.
If our political parties are weighed at the present time, they are found to be seriously wanting. They need to be told this in unequivocal terms.