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The governing party, which has presided over decades of mismanagement and the pilfering of the national fiscus on an industrial scale, cannot be allowed to continue to run SA. Nevertheless, we are on the cusp of living for another five years under a corrupt leadership, writes Solani Ngobeni
You would think that the people who committed treason by inveigling the Guptas, who derailed economic growth through load shedding and who brought state-owned enterprises to the brink of collapse would be running scared with their tails between their legs, very uncertain of their prospects in the coming national and provincial elections.
Not so the governing ANC.
Lo and behold, with no sense of shame, the ANC strides across the length and breadth of the country, opining on how it is going to get us out of the quagmire of its own making, and seemingly oblivious of its record over the past 25 years.
The ANC should actually not be allowed anywhere near the levers of state power – never mind be allowed to win the elections – if its record over the past 25 years in general and nine years in particular is anything to go by, compounded especially by the revelations of malfeasance coming out of the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture.
That some in our country openly say that they will vote for the ANC because President Cyril Ramaphosa is at the helm speaks volumes about the dearth of viable alternatives in our body politic.
This is an indictment on the opposition benches.
It is tragic that we are being subjected to extreme load shedding because the ANC failed to discern that Eskom needed to be reconfigured to be fit for purpose.
Then there are the corrupt links to Bosasa, the imbroglio at the department of social development, the Marikana massacre, the Life Esidimeni tragedy, and various forms of state capture to consider.
It seems certain that we are tragically at the cusp of another five years of ANC rule.
That even opposition parties seem to concede that they are going to lose the elections to the ANC is criminal.
Just the other day, opposition parties were extolling Ramaphosa, counselling him that he should reduce the size of his Cabinet after the elections – thus they were unwittingly conceding defeat.
That they could concede defeat even before the race has begun is foolhardy, to say the least.
It is nothing short of a miscarriage of justice that we have the architects and enablers of our national rot as the only alternative.
So what of the electorate? What about those who would like the ANC to be punished for its delinquent behaviour over the past 25 years?
Given the pervasiveness of the ANC in our body politic, it would seem the long-suffering voter has a slim chance, if any, of salvation.
The ANC’s tentacles are far reaching, and its corruption is legendary. However, its brand recognition is a cut above the rest.
It is this pervasiveness that has bred arrogance among some ANC leaders, who rest in the knowledge that, although they are found wanting again and again, they will be returned to the seat of power, not because of their efficacy, but because of the choiceless choice that faces the South African voter.
This pervasiveness has also bred a sense of entitlement among some ANC leaders as far as running the country is concerned. Some of them speak as though they possess the divine right to rule.
Every so often, after a period of disenchantment, such as that which accompanied the Jacob Zuma years, the ANC simply reincarnates itself as a way to win the minds and hearts of voters.
That the ANC in its election manifesto celebrates the fact that 17 million South Africans receive social grants is reason enough for it to be subjected to vote shedding as this illustrates its bankruptcy, and clearly illuminates a party that is out of touch with the painful reality of millions upon millions of black South Africans.
The fact that 17 million South Africans receive grants, about 4 million of whom are able-bodied and can work, is not a cause for celebration – it should cause national shame!
The fact that 4 million-odd South Africans are out of work – people who would ordinarily be contributing to the fiscus – should cause any level-headed South African to stay awake at night.
It should not be a cause for celebration since it epitomises our economic wasteland.
If you go to Alexandra, Mamelodi, Soshanguve, Atteridgeville, Soweto, Gugulethu, Langa, Nyanga and other townships on any given work day, you will be forgiven for thinking that it is a weekend.
The streets of South Africa’s townships and rural hinterland are swelling with the masses of a dream deferred.
In the language of entrepreneurship, they represent an immense economic opportunity that is being lost.
Instead of fostering an enabling environment for the mushrooming of credible black enterprises, the ANC has enabled the rise of criminal enterprises masquerading as proponents of BEE during its time in office, thus besmirching the latter.
There is no doubt that the likes of Bosasa, TNA Media, Oakbay and Tegeta were simply criminal enterprises that looted the fiscus.
In another democracy and in another time, the ANC will be lucky to have a few back benchers in the National Assembly.
What epitomises the dearth of alternatives in our body politic and portends ill for the future of democracy in our land is that South Africans are still looking to the ANC for salvation.
These are the same people whose mismanagement of basic education led to the proliferation of expensive private schools; whose continued underinvestment in higher education has led to the mushrooming of the provision of private higher education.
While the massification of the higher education sector is historically justified, a few questions need to be asked – is this massification accompanied by the requisite production of highly qualified lecturers, concomitant investment in the requisite journals and reference books, infrastructure, and student accommodation?
Soon, the children of the rich will be studying abroad and South African universities, like their counterparts in many parts of Africa, will become a shadow of their former selves.
The crème de la crème of our universities are on the verge of becoming glorified high schools.
As Stellenbosch University’s Professor Jonathan Jansen aptly opines in his majestic As by Fire: The End of the South African University, without adequate investment in higher education, the future of the South African university remains precarious.
Due to the mismanagement of institutions in the public sector, the middle classes now lead private lives in secluded gated communities with their own private security guards because they have no confidence in the police service.
They use private medical facilities, and they send their children to private schools. The only public amenities they use are the national roads.
If they had their way, they would have their own tax collection agency.
It is time for the ANC to shed votes. After all, if they always win national, provincial and local elections, why would and should they govern better?
Ngobeni is an academic publisher and the SA finalist for the 2007 International Young Publisher of the Year award
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