Reconciliation Day: SA's reconciliation project 'at risk of failing altogether'

The state must take the lead in effecting societal reconciliation through transformation, the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation said on Wednesday.

“It must create the framework and provide the materials for civil society to be able to contribute meaningfully to weaving a compassionate and inclusive fabric of common cause for a united nation,” the foundation said in a statement to coincide with the Day of Reconciliation.

It also called on the state to “urgently” rediscover its integrity in the eyes of the people by demonstrating the will and capacity to address corruption, maladministration, inadequate service delivery and obscene levels of societal inequality.

 “If it doesn’t, SA’s long-term reconciliation project is at risk of failing altogether and, with it, the country’s global reputation as a beacon of hope in a world of division.

“The challenges are immense. A country defined by its history of colour-coded haves and have-nots, and patriarchy, has — negligently — made scant progress in levelling the playing field”.

The foundation charged that political interests had been placed on a pedestal above the interests of the people.

“Millions of South Africans live in squalor and abject poverty, just about all of them are black. There has been no freedom dividend for them in terms of the quality of their lives — rapid urbanisation has arguably made things harder.

“The state’s plans to effect land restitution and reform have proven impossibly slow to implement. The result is that the skewed pattern of land ownership inherited from the past remains virtually intact, with the majority of South Africans excluded and the state under increasing pressure to act.

“To an economy already on its knees at the beginning of the year, the coronavirus effectively delivered a coup de grâce. Then, to rub salt into these wounds, adding to the daily reminders of integrity failures provided by the Zondo Commission came revelations that funds set aside to defend South Africans from the pandemic had quickly been looted.”

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