We are failing the real Thandis and Tintswalos every day

Let me tell you a story. It is the story of Thandi, the real Tintswalo, the young woman who the new SA was established to empower and help flourish.

She is not an election gimmick. She is not the figment of a speechwriter’s imagination.

Thandi is the product of serious research, of intense study of the state of the country and the real conditions of our people.

The tragedy of Thandi is that in 2010 and 2011 we knew exactly who she was, what her needs were and the problems she faced.

We failed her. That is why, today, we are inventing the Tintswalos of the world.

By doing so, we are still failing Thandi.

By doing so, we are failing millions of Thandis and Tintswalos who face unemployment, poverty, violence and indignity every day.

I assume that when President Cyril Ramaphosa was appointed chair of the National Planning Commission back in 2014, his predecessor Trevor Manuel sat him down and gave him a briefing about the entity ’ s work.

The NPC was, at that time, a crucial body that was taken seriously.

When Jacob Zuma was elected president in 2009, many feared that the singing, giggling, leader would set the country on the road to ruin (they would be proven right).

Some smart folks in the ANC worked hard to tell the country and the world that we had a state and a vision for the country that could survive a bad leader.

They aimed to demonstrate this scientifically, and so convinced Zuma to establish the NPC.

Its job: to devise and help implement a long-term strategic plan for the country.

Its first chair was the highly respected former finance minister Manuel, who was retained in a Zuma cabinet to show the country that there were still some credible figures in the top echelons of the government.

Essentially, Manuel was sugar-coating Zuma. He was the guy that many level-headed South Africans could point at and say: “Well, at least Manuel is there, so Zuma can’t be a total wrecking ball.”

When Ramaphosa became deputy president of the ANC in 2012 and of the country in 2014 he took over Manuel’s role.

If Cyril was there, many reasoned, Zuma wouldn’t do too much damage.

Of course, many underestimated the wily Zuma and didn’t realise that he was ultimately in charge: he used Manuel and Ramaphosa as fronts while continuing with state capture, handing over the country to the Guptas and others.

In the parallel world that was the NPC, however, good work was done.

That work used the scenario of Thandi, culled from deep research, to show our developmental trajectory and to illustrate how we could build a fast-growing, job-creating, rapidly industrialising, increasingly safe and democratic, country.

The folks at the NPC used a portrait of a young woman, black, 18 years old, named Thandi, to illustrate their point.

They sketched out the iniquities of the life she faced (for example, she started school in 1999, and 46% of her cohort dropped out of school before grade 12).

The researchers asked the question: what do we do to make Thandi’s life far better in 10, 20 and 30 years?

You can watch the story of Thandi in this video on YouTube produced by Manuel and his NPC team back then ( Planning for Thandi ’ s future — Diagnostic Report — National Planning Commission NPC— https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIiRsFYsRcg (https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/9BfMC0go1khjLyR8tww-l2?domain=youtube.com)).

I say that I hope Manuel gave Ramaphosa this short video (it is a mere 6½ minutes of pure power) back in 2014 because it goes on to set out what planning, and implementing, could have done for Ramaphosa’s administration.

In his speech last Thursday, the president would not have needed to invent the Tintswalo who is such a minority in our country.

He would have been celebrating a Thandi who would have made us all proud.

The NPC then, and now, said that we need a capable state, a national consensus around where we were headed, contribution and sacrifice from all sectors, social cohesion and economic growth.

These elements create a virtuous cycle that reduces poverty, that expands opportunity, raises living standards and deepens community development.

But, to get there we needed co-ordinated and focused leadership and implementation.

This is where Ramaphosa and his administration have failed dismally, and this is where Thandi was failed.

It is questionable whether Zuma ever looked at a copy of the National Development Plan.

The tragedy is that Ramaphosa, once he got into power in 2018, failed on the “co-ordinated and focused implementation ” element.

A capable state? The state and its entities such as Eskom are crumbling today.

Economic growth? We haven ’ t had any.

Sacrifice? We throw money at public sector unions every year. Cohesion? We are walking apart, rather than together.

Thandi’s story was one of hope. Tintswalo’s is one of failure. Watch that video.

We need to find our way back to Thandi. We dare not abandon her and the many millions like her who need this country to work.