By Bheki Mngomezulu
There are mixed feelings about the future of the current Government of National Unity (GNU). Some hail it as a great achievement reminiscent of the growth or our democracy. Others juxtapose it with the one we had in 1994 and perceive this one as a lie tantamount to nothing but staged authenticity which is bound to fail.
In his opening of Parliament, President Cyril Ramaphosa was upbeat and optimistic about the GNU he is leading. Both at the beginning and at the end of his address he emphatically stated that the onus is on all the member parties to make this GNU work.
He also promised that he will try his level best to ensure that this happens. Where differences of opinion still exist among GNU members, Ramaphosa promised that there will be consensus.
Overall, the President made the correct noises about what the GNU will do to better the lives of the people. He pressed the right buttons, which gave hope to South Africans and to the international community.
The ideas about boosting the country’s economy and addressing the high rate of unemployment were welcomed since these have been some of the major concerns in the country and continue to worry many South Africans.
Surely, even if this goal were to be achieved, it cannot be equated to what the Labour Party government of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer boasted about. The inflation rate in the UK is 2% while the unemployment rate is 4%.
The promise to retain and invest in Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) was a welcome commitment. However, we have heard this before. Will the GNU miraculously have a magic bullet to ensure that this initiative does not continue to benefit those who are already well off?
The call for re-industrialisation has reverberated not just in South Africa but across the African Continent. So, when Ramaphosa lamented that our country ships out rock, salt, and dust he was on point.
But like many African countries, this has been easier said than done. We can only watch and see how the GNU under his stewardship will negotiate its way around the impasse.
The issues raised by Ramaphosa on the need to remove red tapes so that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) thrive hit the right button.
But why have these red tapes persisted long after previous calls to end them have been made by previous leaders including himself? Will the GNU suddenly come up with a silver bullet to break all obstacles?
The promise to fight corruption and crime should be applauded. This speaks to the reality South Africans are faced with.
Townships like Motherwell in the Eastern Cape, Inanda and Umlazi in KwaZulu-Natal, Nyanga and Khayelitsha in the Western Cape, and many others across the country are an epitome of neglected black people in post-apartheid South Africa.
If some members of the GNU do not believe that black people deserve specific attention due to the imbalances of the past and are vehemently opposed prioritising their situations, how is the GNU going to spectacularly address these and many other issues which specifically affect black communities?
Will the promise translate into action? Even to someone who is not a pessimist, this sounds like a far-fetched dream.
The promise to fight corruption has been echoing in our ears for some time. Soon after Ramaphosa assumed office on February 15, 2018, to finish Former President Zuma’s term, he promised to fight corruption under “The New Dawn” phenomenon and the so-called “Nine Wasted Years” of which he was part.
Instead of corruption declining, South Africa moved from position 43 to 41 on the corruption index. Does the GNU have a better plan?
Rural development has been on the agenda for some time now. Promising to prioritise it is a good call. Ironically, the neglect of rural development in recent years has rendered them unviable.
In response, the national government under President Ramaphosa has taken a decision to close many rural schools in provinces like KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape on the grounds that they have few students and thus waste government’s money.
This is the biggest irony! Instead of establishing why people relocated from rural areas to be congested in urban and peri-urban centres, the government treats the symptoms and leaves the real ailment unattended to. Will the promised rural development happen?
If so, will the schools that have either been closed or are on the verge of being closed be saved? These are practical questions which need real and rational answers, not sweet talk and promises of a better life which will remain a mirage.
Watching the President’s speech while sitting in my hotel room in Central London after visiting the British Parliamentary precinct and the King’s residence in Buckingham Palace, and after observing a city being a real ‘construction site’ I was pessimistic if what Ramaphosa promised the nation would indeed come to fruition. This pessimism derived from unfulfilled promises in the past.
As the President reiterated that South Africa will be a ‘construction site’, I looked at the reality across the city of London where the city is ‘a real construction site.’ This is not to equate South Africa to the UK because the economies of scale are unequal. The thrust of my argument is that it is better to deliver than to make empty promises.
Ramaphosa’s commitments are good but may not materialise.
* Prof Bheki Mngomezulu is the Director of the Centre for the Advancement of Non-Racialism and Democracy (CANRAD) at Nelson Mandela University.
** The views in this article do not necessarily reflect the ideas of IOL or Independent Media