SOUTH AFRICANS, YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN
The country is chugging along, but the steering is broken
Every week now, our government forces us to ask an uncomfortable question: who is driving this thing? The shattering answer is that no-one seems to be in charge. Commenting on co-operation between the government and business last week, Investec CEO Fani Titi told an interviewer: “We are going nowhere fast. The government is disorganised. Totally disorganised.”
Much as some among us may try to deny it, he is not wrong. Evidence of this disorganisation is everywhere. Take something as long-running as the electricity problems we have faced since 2007. In an interview last week, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula vowed load-shedding will be a thing of the past by December 2023.
“What I know from where I’m seated, from the work that’s been done by the government and ministers and so on, load-shedding before the end of the year should have been something of the past. I can assure you load-shedding will be reversed and will be dealt with decisively,” Mbalula said.
Now, just a few weeks ago electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa (whose portfolio was announced in February but who still does not have a job description) said it is not possible to end load-shedding by the end of this year.
“I want to sit here and tell the country load-shedding will end tomorrow. Unfortunately, that’s not possible. It is also not technically possible to end load-shedding by the end of the calendar year 2023, and that’s why we are at pains to illustrate the kind of steps we are taking,” Ramokgopa said.
Who must we believe? Surely someone at the Union Buildings should be coordinating messaging around this issue. The left hand clearly does not know what the right hand is doing. Or, worse still, no-one cares.
In parliament last week, South Africa had the pleasure of listening to the minister in the presidency responsible for state security, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni. She told the nation that the government has identified load-shedding, unemployment, sabotage of economic infrastructure, crime and corruption as threats to national security. She said crime and corruption are threatening to reach endemic levels.
I must confess I was impressed by her analysis. It was almost as good as what I read in the FM five or 10 years ago. I mean, seriously, has it just dawned on the government that crime is endemic?
But here’s the thing. The same government that claims crime and corruption are endemic is stalking, hounding and attacking former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter for pointing out the corruption and skulduggery at the power utility. Of course, De Ruyter would do well to drop some names, but the general thrust of his claims is true. So why isn’t the
ANC telling Pravin Gordhan, Gwede Mantashe and whoever else oversees Eskom these days to find the perpetrators of this endemic crime? Oh, I know. The one arm of the government doesn’t know what the other is doing.
Do I need more examples of the malaise of this seemingly leaderless, unco-ordinated administration? Deputy finance minister David Masondo was in the bright lights of New York last week, and he was very clear that South Africa is not aligned with Russia.
“The US is a key partner for South Africa on issues of trade, peace, security and development. We have a strong and long-standing relationship that we can rely on,” he said. “We do not accept that our nonaligned position favours Russia above other countries.”
Masondo’s was the kind of clear statement that should have been made by the president. But President Cyril Ramaphosa is largely absent, or unaware of what exactly his government and party’s stance is on Russia and Ukraine. As Masondo spoke, our army bigwigs were in Moscow discussing our “combat readiness”. Why, pray tell, are we getting battle-ready with people who have invaded another sovereign state?
Since 1994, the ANC-led government has enjoyed the patience and generosity of its citizens. When it faltered, we assumed it was learning and would rectify its mistakes. Sadly, the party and the government it leads can no longer be excused on the basis that it is making mistakes. These are not mistakes. This is deliberate misgovernance. South African voters must make their choices next year with this reality clear in their minds.