Jingle bells, jingle bells, it’s Christmas again. And what fun it is to ride blindly into the future on a one-horse open sleigh (built according to the ever-reliable closed-tender system) called the ANC. Ho ho ho.
To the relief of most of us, Christmas comes around only once a year. But the self-anointed Santa Claus of South Africa, the ANC government, tries to be Father Christmas every day. This results in high expectations and crushing disappointment all round.
It should put its trust in its civil servants and the people. Fewer cadres, more professionalism.
For this year’s Christmas present to the people of South Africa, the ANC has largely regifted the same old faces that emerged from the party’s last conference in 2017. Left at the foot of every Christmas tree in the country is the gift of retreaded leadership with a quick-drying splash of integrity.
Like the elves of old, and labouring and partying late into the night (thanks to a special deal with Eskom to keep the lights on), the comrades are going to try again.
While the rest of us shrug off the annual ritual of Christmas after a few days of enforced bonhomie, for 365 days a year the ANC behaves like Father Christmas, “delivering” to the people its peculiar brand of chaos and forgotten vows. This takes the forms of ever-longer power cuts, water-shedding, broken roads and promises, misdirected and wasteful spending, and a disintegration of public services.
The ANC has only itself to blame for this less than joyous state of affairs.
In presenting itself as a government in a red gown, a white flowing beard and a bag of goodies over the shoulder, the party has perpetuated the myth that the people need do nothing more for themselves than sit passively and await the goodies that are their due for faithfully returning the party to power.
When service delivery is lacking, the people are schooled to believe they do indeed have a role, but that comes only afterwards. It takes the form of the right to protest, which is affirmed in our constitution. Invariably this leads to more destruction of public and private property, and promises from local councillors to do better. Which they don’t.
The disarming of civil society has been a consistent theme of ANC rule. It began with the dissolution of the United Democratic Front and the disappearance of dozens of community-based organisations that formerly concerned themselves with the daily needs and interests of the people. No need for them any more was the thinking: the ANC will take care of everything.
The ANC government's biggest failure has been its inability to tap the raw energy of the people. Every initiative of the people, once touched by the dead hand of government, withers under the weight of corruption, political interference and theft.
Except it didn’t. But it went to great lengths to take care of its own, and in spite of billions being blown because of politically inspired interference in the business of government, not a single politician of substance has felt the loving folds of an orange suit enveloping them. The ANC conference that wrapped up in Joburg on Tuesday heard that nearly 100 ranking ANC members were named in the Zondo commission report on state capture.
They can expect nothing by way of recrimination. This should be surprising (but isn’t) given the way politicians, and let’s face it we’re not talking rocket scientists here, have infiltrated the public service to reorient the benefits of public spending away from the people and towards themselves.
Don’t take my word for it. No less an authority than the Public Service Commission (PSC) this week highlighted the doleful influence of meddling politicians on service delivery.
A new PSC report says: “Corruption has become endemic across three spheres of the South African government and has permeated across all spheres of government. It undermines democracy and public trust in government and negatively impacts state services and thus community and social development.
“One of the key issues is the issuing of unlawful instructions by executive authorities and some senior managers with influential positions in government.”
This analysis was supported, albeit from a distance, by KwaZulu-Natal chair of the South African Local Government Association Thami Ntuli, who said last month that cadre deployment is the “poison” that is stifling service delivery in local government.
“We can’t succeed in serving our people if we have people who are holding political positions and work for local governments at the same time. Cadre deployment has destroyed municipalities at all levels. We are expecting resistance in our quest to have qualified people with the right experience, but we will overcome eventually.’’
Blame whomever you like for this, but don’t blame cadre deployment and an ANC that doesn’t know when to leave matters to the experts in the civil service. The Zondo commission had no doubt cadre deployment was at the root of state capture and the DA has taken the government to court to have it ruled that it is unconstitutional, unlawful and against the spirit of open competition and merit.
Not so for Cyril Ramaphosa.
According to his papers in reply to the DA, the president is at great pains to argue that Zondo said deployment “can” lead to state capture, not that it necessarily and by definition does.
But here’s the funny thing about the state of dependency the ANC has fostered in all of society. When the government is out of the picture, the people are more than capable of doing things for themselves, and with great ingenuity. Be it houses, roads, anti-crime initiatives, providing illegal electricity or just helping themselves to millions in stolen and looted goods during the 2021 riots, the people have proved they can do it.
The ANC government’s biggest failure has been its inability to tap the raw energy of the people. Every initiative of the people, once touched by the dead hand of government, withers under the weight of corruption, political interference and theft.
The ANC should do itself and the country a favour. Drop the Father Christmas pose and harness the vitality and imagination of the people. Less hugging big business and more support for the informal sector. Fewer gifts, more opportunity.
Let’s have Christmas just once a year.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.