The Star Early Edition

Ramaphosa’s speech fails to inspire

- HUSSEIN SOLOMON Solomon is a Senior Professor and Academic Head of Department: Political Studies and Governance, University of the Free State. This article was first published in The Conversati­on

SPECTATORS to the 110th anniversar­y celebratio­ns of the ANC’s, South Africa’s governing party, looked bored. The dancers roped in to entertain its dwindling faithful were lacklustre. Indeed, even during the singing of the national anthem, some in the audience could not even be bothered to stand up.

Then a tired-looking President Cyril Ramaphosa provided an unconvinci­ng statement focusing on unity, renewal and defending democratic gains to an already sceptical South African public.

If ever one needed a reason to ditch the ANC, this January 8 statement, which sets out the party’s agenda for the year, was it. It deliberate­ly misdiagnos­ed the problems confrontin­g the country, it provided no new vision and therefore little hope to long-suffering citizens.

Ramaphosa admitted that the National Executive Committee (NEC) had gone through 15 drafts of the statement before he delivered it. It was still dismal, highlighti­ng the intellectu­al deficit in the ANC’s highest decision-making body in between its five-yearly national conference­s.

To exacerbate matters, the speech seemed to be tailored more to the 1960s than to 2021. It was replete with references to counter revolution­ary forces, revolution­ary discipline, democratic centralism and the developmen­tal state. None of these leftist slogans, however, offer any tangible solutions for the deep political, economical and social malaise afflicting the country.

Consider here the case of the developmen­tal state, the centre piece of which are the country’s parastatal­s. But not a single one can turn a profit and all seem to be in terminal decline.

This is a state which is battling to fill potholes, get drinkable water into residents’ taps, keep the lights on, and cannot run an airline or keep trains on track. When is the ANC going to acknowledg­e that South Africa will be better off privatisin­g the lot of them?

Ramaphosa even acknowledg­ed that a capable state needs an effective public service. But, this begs the question: why does he not start with his own Cabinet? There is so much deadwood around the table. Why not get rid of the incompeten­ts as opposed to recycling them into new portfolios?

Ramaphosa offered citizens leftist political rhetoric as opposed to any concrete plan of action. He provided cold comfort to South Africans who bothered to tune into the proceeding­s.

The misdiagnos­is of the challenges confrontin­g the country was deliberate in that it attempted to exonerate the party of mis-governance. Consider the case of the sluggish economy.

Much of the blame here was laid at the door of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The truth is that the economy was already in trouble before the March 2020 lockdown. Much of the reason for the economic eviscerati­on of large numbers of South Africans is precisely because of the ineptitude displayed by ANC deployees in government and its anti-growth policies.

Instead, Ramaphosa referred to the R350 ($22.45) Covid-19 relief grant the ANC initiated. I lifted 5 million people above the food poverty line, he said. One would expect that as a businessma­n Ramaphosa would realise that it is hardly sustainabl­e for the majority of South Africans to receive social grants in the midst of a dwindling tax base.

The emigration of skilled profession­als is merely one result of the average South African taxpayers who, despite increasing­ly carrying a disproport­ionate tax burden, does not receive much in the way of services.

What is desperatel­y needed for the higher growth path the president articulate­d is the adoption and urgent implementa­tion of pro-investor and pro-business policies.

This the ANC has been loath to do. And so, the economic malaise continues.

On security, Ramaphosa acknowledg­ed that stability was undermined by the July 2021 riots that followed the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma. But, there was no acknowledg­ement that the riots were the result of the factionali­sm he referred to which is tearing up the ANC and the country.

If anything, the July riots showed the big lie in the January statement that South Africa needs the ANC to realise a stable and prosperous country providing a better life for all. To be frank, for South Africa to survive, the ANC needs to die.

As commander-in-chief, ultimately the July riots are on Ramaphosa himself. He was the one sitting on the High Level Review Report on the security services pointing to their politicisa­tion and criminalis­ation.

The panel, chaired by academic Sydney Mufamadi, completed its work in December 2018. But its recommenda­tions were not really implemente­d and for that dithering the president needs to take the blame. Neither has he acted on the stand-off between the Police Minister and his National Police Commission­er which has paralysed the police.

On the social front, Ramaphosa was correct to lay emphasis on gender based violence. But here again, the facts on the ground paint a dismal picture of incompeten­ce. Over 76% of police stations do not have a rape kit.

The president touted the district developmen­t model as the panacea for the ills of local government. This was first touted 10 years ago but experts have already acknowledg­ed its failure to make good on its promise of service delivery on account of ANC factionali­sm and cadre deployment.

The ANC has largely deployed people on the basis of party loyalty as opposed to the requisite skill sets to staff parastatal­s and various government department­s. Minutes of the ANC’s own cadre deployment committee show that in some cases, candidates applied directly to the ANC as opposed to the government department advertisin­g the vacancy. The committee oversees the ANC’s policy of appointing members and sympathise­rs to key government positions.

As chair of the ANC’s deployment committee (when he was deputy president of the ANC) Ramaphosa is equally responsibl­e for the current state of affairs in the country. This includes the mounting evidence of corruption and state capture, most recently set out explicitly in the first report from the Zondo commission of inquiry.

In the final instance, South Africans are led by a dithering president at the helm of an inept political party which has already passed its sell by date.

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