By Sipho Seepe
Writing on aspects of the African revolution, Amilcar Cabral warned: “Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories”.
Commentaries on the first 100 days of the so-called government of national unity would have benefited immensely from Cabral’s admonition.
Indeed, the charlatans that gave us Ramaphoria have wasted no time in painting the so-called government of national unity (GNU) in a positive light. Upon assumption of the office of the Presidency, Ramaphosa’s ‘New Dawn” was said to have ushered in a “warm fuzzy feeling” across the fabric of society.
South Africans were told how “changing one person can make such a difference. The future looks much brighter.” Instead of the promised bright future, Ramaphosa has become politically and economically the worst post-1994 president.
Duma Gqubule, a research associate at the Social Policy Initiative, points out that no amount of spin-doctoring can erase Ramaphosa’s dismal failure on the economic front. (Country’s worst president since 1994? Business Day 7 Feb 2023).
Ramaphosa’s apologists want the world to believe that the same individual who brought his party to its knees and reportedly presided over the reversal of the gains of the last thirty years, would bring positive and tangible results in a mere 100 days.
In its 2022 report: “Inequality in Southern Africa,” the World Bank provides a glimpse of the reality facing the majority of South Africans. Ranking South Africa as the most unequal country in the world, the report notes: “In South Africa, the legacy of colonialism and apartheid, rooted in racial and spatial segregation, continues to reinforce inequality of outcomes…”
The success, or otherwise, of the GNU should be judged by the extent to which it succeeds in reducing unemployment, inequality, and poverty. Any commentary on the GNU that does not address the above objective socio-economic reality amounts to nothing more than “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.
Understandably, positive commentaries have come from individuals who heavily subscribe to the notion of the GNU. Many of them are known to have invested in Ramaphosa’s presidency. To that extent, they tend to be self-serving. This includes individuals and parties who have always longed for the decimation of the ANC. Thanks to the entry of the MK Party, their prayers were answered.
The notion that the performance of the so-called GNU can be assessed in 100 days is misplaced and mischievous. First, the 100-day mark has no basis in law or our Constitution. While it may titillate the sensibilities of the media, some academics, and analysts, it is an arbitrary milestone.
For some, it is significant in that it represents an ideal moment for a new president to set his/her agenda and priorities while s/he enjoys some form of popularity. Taking your party from fifty-seven percent of the popular vote to forty percent can hardly signal popularity.
Second, the GNU is an amalgam of antagonistic forces. Indeed, any attempt to judge the GNU’s performance using a 100-day marker fails to appreciate the game-changing aspect of the outcome of the 2024 national elections. Understanding that politics is about power, the Federal Chair of the Democratic Alliance, Helen Zille has never been shy about the party’s plans.
In 2019 she declared: “Because the ANC doesn't know what it stands for anymore… believe me in my lifetime, I will see that party die too. No one would ever have said in their wildest dreams that within my lifetime the National Party would be gone, and it is.”
The current conjecture follows a long scripted political path. Five years ago, Zille correctly predicted that to control and lead the ANC government requires a mere 20% of the popular vote. Consistent with the written political script, Zille reminded the ANC that they “must realise they don’t make all the decisions anymore. They didn’t win the election.”
Forever in denial, Ramaphosa has sought to put a positive spin on his monumental failure to improve the political fortunes of the ANC. He has used every opportunity to convince all and sundry that “through their votes, people determined that the leaders of our country should set aside their political differences and come together as one to overcome the severe challenges that confront our nation”.
Stripped of spin, the GNU is an attempt by the ANC to cover up and manage public perception after it suffered a massive rejection which brought its 30-year political dominance to a screeching end.
The GNU serves as a further entrenchment of the undisturbed architecture of apartheid. Through GNU, white supremacy has extended its control beyond the economy into the terrain of politics.
Nelson Mandela’s “ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities” has not only become a pipe dream, but has been reduced to a mere fantasy of troubled minds.
Third, the 100-day mark is very short when considered against a colossal failure to bring “a better life for all” by the ANC over the last 30 years. The GNU is an outcome of a political rejection of the ruling party by its traditional supporters who happen to be both black and poor.
Fourth, South Africa’s challenges are structural. These challenges include (courtesy of the Centre for Development and Enterprise), poorly and inadequate infrastructure that limits social inclusion and faster economic growth; spatial challenges that continue to marginalise the poor; the highly resource-intensive and unsustainable growth path; the uneven performance of the public service; and the fact that South Africa remains a racially and ethnically divided society.
Resolving these challenges would require more than a change in the allocation of cabinet portfolios. The 100-day marker is part of the repertoire that seeks to normalise the historic political setback and the betrayal of the people’s aspiration of “a better life for all”.
If hindsight is anything to go by, once the ANC loses power, it has been unable to recover. With most of its municipalities dysfunctional, its prospects in the next local elections look bleak. With the ANC irrevocably emasculated, the baton falls on the MKP and the EFF to advance the interests of the landless and the still economically disadvantaged.
* Professor Sipho P Seepe Higher Education and Strategy Consultant.
** The views in this article do not necessarily represent the views of IOL or Independent Media