ANC could suffer same fate as Nats

For the first time since the 1980s, colleagues whom I come across at business meetings, social gatherings. and on radio and TV are expressing deep concerns about how the recent labour unrest and the growing service delivery protests will evolve in the months and years ahead.

In August 1985, President PW Botha, ignoring calls to abandon the National Party's ruinous policy of separate development, shook his finger forebodingly at his critics. His intransigence instigated widespread rioting, a mass flight of talent and an exodus of foreign capital.

It marked the beginning of the end of nearly 40 years of unpopular government rule, clearing the way for momentous political change and the election of an administration that represented the voice of the majority.

At the time, fear of the unknown pushed thousands of skilled professionals into seeking peace of mind in countries such as Australia, Canada and the US, but for those who chose to be part of the transformation the knowledge that admired and venerated leaders such as Neslson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Joe Slovo and Oliver Tambo would guide the nation in those uncertain times offered some hope for a bright and prosperous future.

The peaceful transition to democracy in 1994 was deemed a miracle and the world looked on South Africa as an emerging powerhouse that would serve as a beacon of hope for other developing nations, especially those embracing reform on the African continent.

Yet, despite this new government's noble intention of eliminating the wrongs of the past and promising to build a society that sanctified each citizen's right to proper healthcare, education and employment, the elder statesmen failed, tellingly, to inform their understudies that associated with these worthy causes and new-found liberty came an obligation to work hard, obey the law and maintain and develop the rich, productive resources inherited from the previous administration.

These lieutenants boldly asserted that they had not joined the struggle to stay poor. Taking full advantage of new regulations designed to broaden the economy's wealth base, they abandoned their ideals, duties and responsibilities, applying their minds instead to amassing great personal fortunes without a thought for those who had fought so valiantly alongside them in the long walk to freedom.

The desertion of this body of able and committed executives opened the way for a culture of opportunism that spread like a malignant tumour through every office in the country's administration, breeding indifference, incompetence and contempt for procedure and good governance.

Unsurprisingly, that disdainful disregard for authority has filtered down into everyday life in South Africa. Drivers pay no attention to traffic signs, pupils ignore teachers' commands and householders take scant notice of swelling water and lights bills. In a society that brushes aside its responsibilities with impunity, it's no wonder that workers such as the miners at Marikana display little respect for regulation and due process, resorting instead to defiance to achieve their objectives, laying down dangerous precedents that could undermine economic expansion and threaten the stability of the country.

The circumstances are nowhere near as desperate as they were back in 1985 but we can not allow the present situation to continue unchecked.

South Africa's once golden image has plunged lower than the country's declining mining output - foreign audiences were stunned by scenes of worker unrest and police brutality not observed since the end of apartheid.

More worrying, though, is the country's outlook for growth and employment. With world trade still weakened by the effects of the global financial crisis, South Africa can least afford rising costs in an important industry such as mining without assurances of a commensurate increase in productivity.

The recent disturbances are a manifestation of deeper problems that stand in the way to a better life for all. Public education is deficient, our hospitals are ill-equipped and understaffed, crime is out of control and the number of beggars on our street corners increases by the day. Protests against poverty and deprivation toppled the Nationalists; they could also crush the ANC.

The big question is who can lead the country out of its current muddle. Without any noticeable stars in the ranks of the incumbents, we will have to revert to those individuals who discarded their battle fatigues and freedom songs for tuxedos and vintage champagnes.

With any luck, daunting images of angry miners on the march will remind them of their own rebelliousness so many years ago and perhaps fire them into leaving the comforts of their weekend retreats for a sparsely furnished government office in Pretoria.

Tonight is the commencement of the Day of Atonement, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Even though one fasts for a mere 24 hours, it's a time of reflection and self-examination, and also a time when one experiences what so many people in this country encounter almost every day of their lives - burning hunger.