The silly season is upon us. New ministers, with springs under their shoes, seem eager to prove the adage that new brooms indeed sweep the cleanest.
The new minister of sport, arts and culture Gayton McKenzie arrived at his department with paper fire energy, promising to reveal those who were secretly supported by the department over the years. What he revealed was a list of individuals who responded to calls for assistance at a time when the country had a lockdown because of a global health pandemic — Covid-19. The backlash on social media was instant — where is the dignity, many asked, in shaming people for being in distress at a time when they could not work even if they wanted to?
Now, who doesn’t want to see the “select few” named and shamed? I am certain those unsure if they “did nothing wrong” were surely having mini strokes ahead of the announcement. Excitement was building up nicely in the country, along with fear from the so-called select few.
Ahead of the release of the names, McKenzie prepped the nation: “The time where only a select connected few benefit is over.” Later on, he said “if you did nothing wrong or didn’t benefit untowardly you have no reason to fear, I have given a clear instruction that the public be made aware of the people that got funding, today!”
Meanwhile what he released was a total of 1,089 beneficiaries paid R10,000 each while 2,323 individuals received R20,000 each. This is so little for people who lost opportunities to make a living not because of their own fault. Also, these are not the so-called “select few”!
But McKenzie believed his message was not clear. He dug in his heels: “We will not be deterred. This is not your money, it is not my money; this is public money and the public must know who got money from them. The department must show they were there for artists during the worst times and also expose those that misused the opportunity,” he proclaimed. But a climbdown could not be avoided. “There are good people on that list, well-meaning people. For the sake of transparency, let’s see the good work people did. It is not a shame list.”
But people who received Covid relief funds did not have to prove anything other than that they were in the sport and arts space. And if McKenzie is honest, it was meant to be a shame list, at least from how it was communicated, and it flopped. It was all unnecessary.
Elsewhere, the minister of public works and infrastructure Dean Macpherson was not to be outperformed by McKenzie: “I have advised my colleagues in cabinet that the department of public works and infrastructure will not procure any new houses or offices for the executive. No renovations or additions will be undertaken on any properties. This is being done to ensure we direct as much money as possible towards our goal to turn South Africa into a construction site by investing in infrastructure.”
He said this last Thursday, a day after being sworn in as a cabinet member in Cape Town. Like McKenzie, he made sure to throw in the words “those days are over”. Sweet sounds to our ears. At last a hero comes along.
Macpherson may well speak clearly about his party’s new GNU partners: the ANC messed up and now we are here to clean up after them — with them!
We know, however, that funds will, regardless of who oversees public works, continue to be spent to ensure that the houses are maintained and do not degenerate. MPs will not stay in leaky, rickety structures. It will not happen. The DA could not speak with a clear voice about those houses they used to tell us were for ANC cadres which they now must use. This is why they now talk about “no renovations” as if it excuses the two-facedness of taking residency in houses they caricatured before the elections.
To the extent that Macpherson wants to save the taxpayers from the ANC’s excesses, this we all must welcome.
What is clear, though, is that the new brooms are trying to not disappear in the noise of a new GNU. They want to be heard and seen. They want us to know they will be doing things right. This must be encouraged.
But, importantly, we must encourage them to not be people pleasers. The campaign season has come to an end. They must now lead with circumspection, resisting the silly showmanship, always considering the national interest above brownie points they seek to get for their respective parties. It is when ordinary people outside their respective parties see them work for the broader good of the country — but not in pursuit of political points — that many will be enamoured of their leadership.
What the country yearns for at this point are leaders who don’t put on a façade. South Africa is desirous of authentic — not popular — leadership. The challenges we face are many. We need leaders invested in finding solutions and not preoccupied with scoring cheap political points.
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