Do Zuma and ANC have the guts to do what's needed?

Callers to radio stations and writers to newspapers have urged President Jacob Zuma to rise to the occasion and give South Africa a new lease on life.

This call, genuine as it might be, is misplaced. Zuma has neither the power nor a magic potion with which to uplift the economy of this country speedily.

He relies on men and women in the ANC who are not brave enough to change tack. South Africa has entered a phase in which slogans and party politicking have become superfluous. We now need doers, and brave politicians who will give us our Lula moment.

Brazil was able to transform its economic and social sectors when its politicians decided to be doers.Brazil's former president, Lula da Silva, abandoned all the "-isms" and charted his country on a new path. Zuma and the ANC have promised this country a radical economic change, but people can't wait forever.

Zuma needs to step up to the plate and redirect the country onto a new path. The ruling party has reached a stage at which it is becoming irrelevant. Shouting slogans and Nelson Mandela's name will not stop our people from striking and agitating for real change.

The time has come to adopt real economic transformation policies that speak to the man on the street. If we are to realise the Lula moment, sacrifices in all sectors will have to be made. Zuma made promises again yesterday and we wait to see if any of them will be kept this time around.

We can shout as much as we like, write letters to editors and pass disparaging remarks about the state of our democracy. But that won't achieve much.

Economists tell us that we are facing recession and politicians tell us that we are not. The different opinions fail to capture the reality of more people unemployed and relying on state grants to survive.

It cannot be good economics when a ruling party takes pride in pushing up the number of social-grant recipients. Jobs and more jobs can be realised only when we have brave men and women running our country.