What turns major conferences and important events into talk shops is how words that hold much promise for people facing major challenges become meaningless and hollow because they have been repeated ad nauseam without concrete accompanying action.
When President Cyril Ramaphosa uses his major speech like the State of the Nation (Sona) to say, for example, every department has been directed to reduce red tape, victims of red tape justifiable must wonder what businessman Sipho Nkosi has been doing in the presidency.
When Nkosi was appointed in February 2022, Ramaphosa said: “If we are to make progress in cutting unnecessary bureaucratic delays for businesses, we need dedicated capacity with the means to make changes. The (red tape) team will also work with other departments and agencies to unblock specific obstacles to investment and business growth.”
And two-and-a-half years later, Ramaphosa is still telling departments to go figure out what constitutes red tape in their spheres and find ways of eliminating it. What happened to the “dedicated capacity with the means to make changes” he spoke about back then? Are we now to assume that the departments and agencies that Nkosi was to work with could not find each other, necessitating the call to departments to eliminate red tape themselves?
We seem to be going round in circles. What must we make of the words chosen by the president in this very important speech that is meant to set the tone for the seventh administration? Is it a case of another talk shop, another promise?
And then, not for the first time, Ramaphosa spoke about the importance of a social dialogue that will lead to a comprehensive social compact.
“As we have done at many important moments in our history, we will seek to forge a common vision and build a comprehensive social compact with a clear programme of action to realise our aspirations for the country. Through this National Dialogue, we are called to be agents of change, to be champions of inclusive growth, to be creators of opportunity,” he waxed lyrical.
In 2022, though, Ramaphosa said about the same topic: “To be effective, the social compact needs to include every South African and every part of society. No-one must be left behind.”
It's been two-and-a-half years of waiting for a dialogue.
In the past, the president has spoken of the need to be innovative and creative, sharing inspiring tales about speed trains, smart cities and of late, Tintswalo. On Thursday, in his opening of parliament address, he urged South Africans to behave like “weaver birds” described by National Geographic as “the artisans extraordinaire of the bird world”.
What is it about this moment that makes the determination to improve the institutional structures and funding models more believable now and not two years ago?
There are many things the president said that he had said before. His renewed focus on municipalities, for example, comes after government’s “back to basics” programme of municipalities that has come to almost nothing following years of implementation. The Auditor-General’s reports about municipalities makes the president’s words a sad joke. The obvious question is, what is it about what he is saying now about municipalities that will lead to a different outcome?
“We will ensure that the institutional structure and funding model for local government is fit for purpose and that municipalities are financially and operationally viable. This we will do because our municipalities have been raising this over and over again,” Ramaphosa said.
Again, what is it about this moment that makes the determination to improve the institutional structures and funding models more believable now and not two years ago? Is it because of the ANC’s new partners in the GNU, or the fact that the electoral defeat has humbled the ANC and improved its resolve to sort out municipalities? Or are these, again, just words?
But the president, in fairness, spoke well in a parliament without what had become normal — EFF-sponsored disruptions. Decorum seems to have returned to parliament just as electricity has to homes and firms. The words he used had the potential to galvanise the country to reignite a stagnant economy and to infuse hope in a people battered by myriad challenges.
“Let us stand with greater determination in these days of challenge to make South Africa what it needs to be,” he told the nation. “Despite all the challenges, despite our differences, despite all the headwinds, as South Africans we are called upon to remain firmly committed to pursue the path of co-operation, growth and inclusion,” said Ramaphosa.
The president's words held much promise. But history teaches us not to take him at his words. Until the words are accompanied by concrete action that will change people’s lived experiences, words, like what the president shared at Sona, remain hollow and meaningless.
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