With 2017 underway, I must say I am grateful that the year is not starting with the kind of Penny Sparrow drama that ushered in 2016. But with the ANC going to an elective conference, we are in for drama this year.
Especially now that it looks very likely that the conference will be preceded by the reinstatement of the 783 criminal charges against President Jacob Zuma.
And this means that South Africa will join Brazil, as the second Brics country, to have had a sitting president facing charges of criminal misconduct.
But Zuma is a different kettle of fish to former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff – who was impeached in September.
Zuma has a well-established patronage network, and this means the process of getting rid of him might paralyse state institutions completely and even further widen the cracks within his party.
Adding to Zuma’s woes for 2017 is the issue of a judicial commission of inquiry into state capture that former public protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela has ordered him to establish. The costs will add to the R300-million already spent on commissions of inquiry conducted under the Zuma administration.
Hopefully this one will be more credible than some of the others.
But there’s one more inquiry I would like to see conducted this year. Not one about the abuse of state power or the use of institutional resources for personal pecuniary gain, but one simply to find out how South Africa has managed to sink so low – and so fast.
Our country is now almost unrecognisable from the one that was celebrated the world over for moral leadership and displays of heroism.
In fact, I remember travelling in Guangzhou City, China, a few years ago and I discovered the best way to describe to others where I came from, was to say: I was “from Mandela’s country”.
That’s all it took to establish a rapport with complete strangers.
That we have taken a tumble from the lofty position we once enjoyed should be obvious even to the staunchest supporters of the ruling party.
Greatness was within our grasp but somehow we chose a path of shameless accumulation and disregard of the values that made us who we were.
I imagine that two outcomes would be part of the findings of my proposed inquiry.
The first is that populist politicians are good at getting elected into office but terrible at running it.
Secondly, that yesterday’s heroes can easily become today’s villains.
But lest we forget, amandla ngawethu – the power belongs to us. The ANC itself trumpeted this mantra recently at Orlando Stadium.
Last weekend’s event marking the 105th birthday of the ANC was a colourful affair, complete with theatrical performances from a party that sadly refuses to transition from its revolutionary past into the modern political organisation.
On Sunday, Zuma read from the national executive committee’s January 8 statement and spoke out against things like corruption, factionalism and various forms of discrimination. He reaffirmed the importance of respecting – and upholding – the country’s constitution. He also made references to ANC stalwart, the late Oliver Reginald Tambo, who would have turned 100 years this year.
This reflective posture is similar to the way in which the ANC responded after its poor showing in the recent local governance elections.
The problem I have with that reaction is its lack of rehabilitative consequence.
Germany’s first post-war chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, was correct when he said “history is the sum total of things that could have been avoided”.
Something South Africans could have avoided was giving untrammelled power into a few untested hands.
While it is tempting to say that our democratic project has been hijacked, the sad reality is that it is us who have given the political elite the keys to licentious behaviour.
The Save South Africa campaign led by businessman Sipho Pityana, will hopefully awaken all of us from the slumber we slipped into after 1994. The fact is, if anything is going to change, it will be up to all of us.
May you have a great 2017!
Time to wake up from deep sleep we slipped into after 1994
Especially now that it looks very likely that the conference will be preceded by the reinstatement of the 783 criminal charges against President Jacob Zuma.
And this means that South Africa will join Brazil, as the second Brics country, to have had a sitting president facing charges of criminal misconduct.
But Zuma is a different kettle of fish to former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff – who was impeached in September.
Zuma has a well-established patronage network, and this means the process of getting rid of him might paralyse state institutions completely and even further widen the cracks within his party.
Adding to Zuma’s woes for 2017 is the issue of a judicial commission of inquiry into state capture that former public protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela has ordered him to establish. The costs will add to the R300-million already spent on commissions of inquiry conducted under the Zuma administration.
Hopefully this one will be more credible than some of the others.
But there’s one more inquiry I would like to see conducted this year. Not one about the abuse of state power or the use of institutional resources for personal pecuniary gain, but one simply to find out how South Africa has managed to sink so low – and so fast.
Our country is now almost unrecognisable from the one that was celebrated the world over for moral leadership and displays of heroism.
In fact, I remember travelling in Guangzhou City, China, a few years ago and I discovered the best way to describe to others where I came from, was to say: I was “from Mandela’s country”.
That’s all it took to establish a rapport with complete strangers.
That we have taken a tumble from the lofty position we once enjoyed should be obvious even to the staunchest supporters of the ruling party.
Greatness was within our grasp but somehow we chose a path of shameless accumulation and disregard of the values that made us who we were.
I imagine that two outcomes would be part of the findings of my proposed inquiry.
The first is that populist politicians are good at getting elected into office but terrible at running it.
Secondly, that yesterday’s heroes can easily become today’s villains.
But lest we forget, amandla ngawethu – the power belongs to us. The ANC itself trumpeted this mantra recently at Orlando Stadium.
Last weekend’s event marking the 105th birthday of the ANC was a colourful affair, complete with theatrical performances from a party that sadly refuses to transition from its revolutionary past into the modern political organisation.
On Sunday, Zuma read from the national executive committee’s January 8 statement and spoke out against things like corruption, factionalism and various forms of discrimination. He reaffirmed the importance of respecting – and upholding – the country’s constitution. He also made references to ANC stalwart, the late Oliver Reginald Tambo, who would have turned 100 years this year.
This reflective posture is similar to the way in which the ANC responded after its poor showing in the recent local governance elections.
The problem I have with that reaction is its lack of rehabilitative consequence.
Germany’s first post-war chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, was correct when he said “history is the sum total of things that could have been avoided”.
Something South Africans could have avoided was giving untrammelled power into a few untested hands.
While it is tempting to say that our democratic project has been hijacked, the sad reality is that it is us who have given the political elite the keys to licentious behaviour.
The Save South Africa campaign led by businessman Sipho Pityana, will hopefully awaken all of us from the slumber we slipped into after 1994. The fact is, if anything is going to change, it will be up to all of us.
May you have a great 2017!
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