Unity is key to turn around our fortunes
Like the hardy aloe ferox plant, the country must show its resilience in these tough times
HOPE and temperance are not easy bedfellows but it’s what South Africans have to juggle long after the memories of the events such as the 2019 State of the Nation Address (Sona) and the Budget speech have faded.
The hopes and promises of “Ramaphoria”, “New Dawn” and “Thuma Mina” all wrapped into the Sona received a bitter reality check when Finance Minister Tito Mboweni laid out the dire state of the economy in his Budget speech. It doesn’t matter how the information is spun; we are facing the harsh reality of a failing economy – increased job losses; rapidly rising costs of living; energy constraints; crime and grime.
These all result from a mismanaged economy over many wasted years. The impact from growing government debt, failing state-owned enterprises (SOES) and reduced tax revenue is causing real pain and for those who do not have the means to opt for foreign shores, there is growing hopelessness and despair!
What is clear is that the government does not have the answers. The revelations at the Zondo, Mokgoro and Mpati commissions are testimony to this.
Where to from here? Both Sona and the Budget speech alluded to turnaround strategies, the unbundling of Eskom into separate business units, selling off non-strategic SOE assets, reducing government expenditure and unlocking value in the maritime, rail and aviation sectors.
However, any turnaround strategy will take time and require additional fundamentals before being implemented. These include an investor-friendly environment as well as the key role-players such as the government, big business, organised labour and civil society working in tangent with each other.
Reducing government expenditure and increasing tax revenue will only provide short-term gains. Longterm sustainability needs initiatives to grow the economy. This must include, investment in large-scale infrastructure projects, investing in relevant skills and a highly productive workforce.
The government has to make crime and corruption apex priorities. With so many commissions draining the fiscus, the prosecutorial processes need to act so that transgressors are held to account. This will not only ensure that justice prevails, but also assure investors that the rule of law prevails. The gravity of this concern is underlined by the diplomatic letters from key international trading partners voicing their disquiet about the lack of prosecutions.
Time is critical. Building a sustainable society is the only way forward. Mboweni used the hardy indigenous aloe ferox plant known for being drought resistant and with many medicinal benefits as a metaphor for resilience. South Africans have no choice but to be resilient and to own the problems facing them so that solutions become a collective responsibility.
The poor state the country is in is not an ANC, DA or EFF problem, it’s a South African problem.
All of us, irrespective of political affiliation, race or class, are experiencing the results of a failing state. Saving South Africa requires a new sense of purpose, underpinned by systemic, innovative thinking and decisiveness.
The government with its responsibility to enable solutions needs to heed the words of New York Times columnist, Thomas L Friedman, “Today, average is officially over”.
A conventional approach won’t solve the problems.
The dynamic complexity of these problems require a radical, gamechanging and scalable intervention. This process needs to start with capable, effective and decisive decision-making.
Unfortunately, here is where our multiparty Parliamentary system is failing us; the intellectual rigour and grasp of current challenges is deficient.
What could expedite the process, however, is to establish a “super department” within the government, staffed with the most capable and experienced personnel and drawn from across the political landscape to combine synergies, develop capable policies and, most importantly, implement them.
Imagine what potential can be unleashed when we have politicians who operate above party politics and place the country first instead of financial ambitions. Clearly defined policies must be supported by focused partnerships between government, growth-aligned academia, business, organised labour and civil society.
The unacceptably high unemployment not only points to structural misalignment within our economic structures, but may to misalignment within the education system, as well as an unproductive labour force.
Therefore, stronger public-private partnerships should become the norm because even with the best intent, unless a plan is well resourced and executed, it will be stillborn.
Our problems are escalating and the world is changing too rapidly for South Africa to languish in its self-destructive quagmire of petty politicking. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is disrupting society, business processes and ecological destruction is happening under very noses. The Sona and Budget speeches were very significant in that they provided the government unique opportunities to reflect on the past, show its grasp of the present and its ability to project into the future. But it requires aligned synergies from all stakeholders, like the aloe ferox, to thrive in adversity.
• Rudi Kimmie (PHD) co-ordinates the Aerotropolis Institute Africa at the University of KZN. He writes in his personal capacity.