Deep discontent: fasten your seat belts on the road to SA’s potential collapse
Just how far gone is South Africa? There isn’t one canary in the coal mine, but many, and they’re signalling to us in a cacophony of voices. That is perhaps the most telling indicator that the complexity of South Africa’s current woes may indeed lead down the road to collapse.
As 2022 kicks off, one would be mistaken for thinking that matters are proceeding as usual. Were it not for the pandemic, we would simply be entering yet another year of the norm. There is little sense, for example, that the impact of the unrest that spread like wildfire through KwaZulu-Natal during the week of 12 July 2021 is still reverberating six months later. It’s as though it has quickly become a thing of the past, as most traumas do.
This is not new in South African history. Historically, we’ve moved on quickly from our national traumas, preferring to believe that the foundations of our society remain in place and that it will prevail even though it will be periodically tested.
Yet history shows us that what we consider permanent as human societies is always illusory. Things can appear stable, relatively predictable and dependable for a long time, and then suddenly transition to a new reality.
Of course, retrospective – often historical – analyses tend to explain these sudden, dramatic transitions as inevitable outcomes of history. But in the times when these sea changes occur, very few people within those societies can predict them accurately.
Notwithstanding, it would be irresponsible not to give adequate attention to some of the developments that have unfolded in recent times, with a particular eye on what destabilising movements prevail in the sociopolitical landscape of South Africa.
Unemployment and inequality deepened in 2021 as the sustained effects of the pandemic took their toll. Repeated lockdowns and associated restrictions hit some industries hard, and jobs were shed as a result.
Moreover, the unholy alliances between the government, state and corporate and criminal interests that brought the project of State Capture to bear on our key state and state-owned institutions have not been successfully dismantled. Every indication is that they have dug their heels in and are making strong efforts to secure political power to evade accountability in the courts.
Corruption in the provision of life-saving personal protective equipment, for example, is a clear indicator that more of the same continues, despite ongoing efforts to bring corruption levels down. Political assassinations are also a worrying indicator that the nexus between government, state, corporate and criminal interests has intensified.
Key Chapter 9 institutions appear to be unable to effectively and competently fulfil their mandates. This is despite changes in leadership in the ruling party that signalled a pushback against the project of State Capture that unfolded under the previous leadership, and changes in leadership in these institutions themselves.
Corruption, nepotism and cronyism continue to plague the government and the state, rendering them ineffective.
This includes service provision in energy, water, transport, education and healthcare. Occupying public office, whether in the local, provincial or national government – or in the state itself – has become a job-holding exercise.
Acting in the public good appears to be an afterthought to many who occupy positions of power in political office and the state.
Over the years, we’ve witnessed a series of attacks on the judiciary, many of which have backfired, and it appears that the judiciary has managed to retain its independence from the vagaries of the political realm.
Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, who heads the Zondo Commission – which has been meticulously collecting evidence on State Capture, corruption and fraud in the public sector – is a case in point. The very president who appointed the commission in 2018 has refused to appear before it – claiming that Zondo is biased against him – and was sentenced to 15 months in prison by the Constitutional Court as a result.
The press, embattled by reduced funding streams and changes in their business models that prioritise advertising revenue, has been reduced to a shadow of what is required to play a key role in safeguarding democracy and the public interest.
More worrying is that some large news outlets have displayed a significant lack of journalistic ethics and principles, becoming embroiled in factional battles between politicians in the governing party and effectively serving as propaganda machines designed to muddy the waters of public debate with disinformation and outright lies. What should be of deep concern to every South African are the reports of sabotage on key infrastructure and their effect on the economy and economic confidence in South Africa. Disruption of the power supply, railway lines, ports, blockages of national roads along key freight routes and cyberattacks on key infrastructures and institutions have become regular occurrences, indicating that some level of coordination may underpin these efforts.
The low voter turnout – notwithstanding that the election was held during a global pandemic – indicates the public’s distrust in key institutions and the democratic process. The low voter turnout was a signal to all and sundry in South African politics – governing party and opposition – that they are failing its citizenry.
The only way forward is to acknowledge that cosmetic change and maintaining the status quo aren’t going to cut it.
We need to overcome our collective amnesia, come to terms with the trauma that prevails in our society, and put in the work to bring about substantial, systemic change.