Sona 2021 — a dream deferred yet again?

In Langston Hughes’ poem, Harlem, the opening line poses a simple yet profound question: “What happens to a dream deferred?” Hughes then arrives at a provocative conclusion: “Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?”

In sharp contrast, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2021 state of the nation address (Sona) last week expectedly began with a story of hope, resilience and inspiration. In a slight departure from his usual presentation style, powerful rhetorical and inspiring themes were a notable feature of the address. By highlighting SA’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout programme, boosting the unemployment rate, economic recovery and fighting corruption as the government’s key priorities, the president wove together the challenges and opportunities we face as a nation.

Pitfalls of the mass vaccination drive

Thus far, the government has led a commendable intervention strategy against the coronavirus. While there seems to be a concrete vision of how to implement the mass vaccination drive, the realisation is there is overwhelming evidence of how various challenges have compromised immunisation programmes in the country.

Adopting the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) strategies to champion the drive will be insufficient in the context of porous borders, overwhelmed primary healthcare workers and intense and significant epidemiological changes to the virus. The last challenge is not only akin to SA. Therefore, a better understanding of population mobility and more targeted and evidence-informed strategies will be crucial in mounting a sufficient mass vaccination drive.

Unemployment — a mixed bag of fortunes 

Long before Covid-19 ravaged the South African labour market, unemployment was one of SA’s key challenges. In a country where half of the youth are unemployed, it was expected that Sona 2021 would provide a glimmer of hope to subvert the poor socio-economic outcomes of unemployment. But the dream for many unemployed South Africans remains out of reach as short-term initiatives such as the extension of the special Covid-19 grant of R350 and the Presidential Employment Stimulus will not be able to cushion the ravages of long-term unemployment many citizens have to endure.

Despite the delays and implementation challenges of these employment relief packages, they will again face a breaking point when these interventions end. The Covid-19 pandemic has undoubtedly led to an unprecedented number of job losses. This situation will continue due to deindustrialisation, depressing investment and the complacency of South African institutions.

For example, the president mentioned several relief measures, including the Public Employment Programme, which created 3.2 million work opportunities. However, there remain serious doubts about planning around youth employment. The president stated that the government reached 1,000 businesses by International Youth Day in August, a far cry from the 15,000 start-ups planned to be supported by 2020.

Another complicating factor is that institutions such as the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), which has to play a leading role in assisting young citizens to become successful entrepreneurs, is highly politicised and embedded in the intra-political battles of the ruling party. That there is still no board for the NYDA is indicative of the challenges of fighting youth unemployment. Effective managerial accountability and control of financial resources will go a long way in assisting agencies such as the NYDA to meet their mandates.

Economic recovery and corruption

The president’s speech highlighted a myriad plans to restructure, rebuild and revive the economy. Comparatively, his fifth Sona had more detail about milestones reached and practical strategies to implement plans. Expectedly, he also lamented the impact of state capture and the Covid-19 pandemic.

South Africans are now looking to finance minister Tito Mboweni’s upcoming national Budget Review for details on how the government will fund the president’s priorities. However, attempts to grow an ailing economy are impeded by the continuing energy supply crisis, lack of scope to use digital technologies to shape economic opportunities and rampant corruption.

The measures against corruption mentioned in the state of the nation address are welcomed. The same cannot be said about the political commitment to deal with the challenge. But what difference will the launch of a National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council make if the government fails to act decisively on the auditor-general’s reports, which highlight an average of R50bn in irregular expenditure annually? Pronouncements by the president about fighting corruption have become a norm. There are pockets of success in this regard. Yet the scourge thereof and greed in government institutions continues unabated.

Global experience has shown that robust, transparent and accountable public institutions can be catalytic in securing and sustaining good governance. Without good governance, our youth will continue to stand on street corners looking for jobs, many will continue to go to bed on empty stomachs, our lights will remain off and we will continue to be imprisoned in our homes due to the high crime rate. Only time will tell what will happen to dreams deferred yet again.

Prof Sethulego Matebesi is a senior lecturer and academic head of the Department of Sociology at the University of the Free State (UFS).