World
South Africa’s future depends on an ‘unholy alliance’ solving its real-world problems before time runs out
From Constantia Nek, a pass across the spine of rugged mountain that runs all the way to the Cape of Good Hope, day trippers are afforded a stunning view across centuries-old vineyards all the way to Cape Town’s city centre.
A quick jaunt down the other side past Michelin-star restaurants and gated housing estates leads to Hout Bay, a thriving fishing port on the city’s Atlantic coast.
There, butted up against architect-designed trophy houses, sits Imizamu Yethu, an 18-hectare “informal settlement” of mostly corrugated iron shacks that is home to almost 35,000 residents.
The contrast couldn’t be more incongruous. But it is a stark illustration of the unachieved ambitions and dashed hopes that accompanied the end of apartheid 30 years ago and stands as a monument to the failure of the African National Congress (ANC) to deliver meaningful change after three decades of uninterrupted rule.
It’s not an isolated case.
Right across the country, townships have sprung up and existing ones have expanded as African workers have flooded into urban and regional centres, graphically hammering home the message that while forced racial segregation may have ended, wealth still is largely delineated along racial lines.
The rich, most of whom are white, live very, very well. The rest struggle to eat regularly.
A fortnight ago, the ANC’s iron grip on power was smashed, an idea once considered unthinkable. For decades, it was considered that democracy played out through the party framework rather than through the electoral process.
But the country’s crumbling infrastructure, endless revelations of corruption at the highest levels and an inability to deliver basic services saw the ANC garner just 42 per cent of the national vote.
After a fortnight of post-poll haggling, the ANC late last week announced a coalition with the Democratic Alliance (DA), which it has long accused of pandering to the interests of white South Africans, and two minor parties.
Under the deal, Cyril Ramaphosa will remain as president with the DA nominating the deputy.
In reality, the ANC had little choice. Financial markets were rattled by the prospect of the alternative; an alliance with the two major left-wing parties which advocate the resumption of mines and land without compensation.
The DA, supported by white and mixed-race South Africans, has long controlled the Western Cape province that includes Cape Town and has a far better track record on service delivery than its rivals in other provinces.
For many voters, it was the outcome for which they were hoping; a coalition government held to greater accountability.
Economy on the slide
There aren’t too many statistics that put South Africa in a competitive global position.
But crime is one. Cape Town slots in at 10th place when it comes to murders, with Mexican cities occupying seven of the top nine.
Then there’s unemployment. At 40 per cent, and with a social security net that offers minimal support, many South Africans have little option but to resort to crime simply to put food on the table.
Most suburban houses now hide behind high walls with barbed wire and electric fencing, festooned with placards denoting which armed response company has been contracted for protection.
While many would point to these developments as a sign of a deteriorating society, in reality, there has been little change in the past 30 years.
The main point of difference is that crime is now more visible. During the apartheid era, Africans were prohibited from moving beyond designated areas, controlled by a violent regime determined to brutally suppress any form of opposition.
More heartening was that the recent elections were unhindered by any major incidents, apart from long lines at polling stations, and campaigning largely was peaceful. Even the results largely were accepted until last week when former president Jacob Zuma claimed the elections were rigged.
Uncertainty over the results, however, temporarily dented international confidence in the currency which has been on the slide for decades.
On my first visit almost 40 years ago, I was stunned to discover the rand had slumped from parity with the Aussie and was delivering two rand to the dollar. Last week, it was yielding just shy of 13 rand.
Former finance minister and once senior ANC official Trevor Manuel, now the chair of investment group Old Mutual, argues global investors have dumped about 1 trillion rand worth of South African shares in the past decade.
“This money is being redirected to competing markets that appear to be on a more sound governance and regulatory footing,” he wrote in this year’s annual report.
A vocal critic of the government in recent years, Manuel has frequently lashed out about rising corruption that has seen vast amounts of taxpayer funds squandered.
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When friends fall out
Former president Jacob Zuma loomed large over the most recent polls.
The octogenarian, who regularly has pleaded ill health during the many court proceedings against him, assumed a leading role in the relatively new MK Party.
Having been previously jailed for contempt, his status as a future politician is under a cloud. And he continues to fight multiple corruption allegations including taking bribes from French group Thales in 2000 over a defence contract.
Even his surprise elevation to lead the MK Party has been subject to legal action from the former leader who claims Zuma’s daughter penned his “resignation letter”.
Despite that, the MK Party did surprisingly well, garnering 14.6 per cent of the vote, and it has joined forces with the Economic Freedom Fighters as the official opposition with almost 30 per cent of seats in the National Assembly.
As breakaways from the ANC, they are largely responsible for the collapse in support for the party that has dominated South African politics for the past 30 years. But both are now wedded to a policy of forced resumption of assets, including mines and farms.
Adding to the disquiet, Zuma’s party last week launched proceedings in the country’s highest court, alleging vote rigging, a claim the court quickly dismissed.
Over the weekend, the former president lashed out against the ANC liaison with the DA, labelling it a “white-led”, “unholy alliance”.
Zuma and Ramaphosa are archenemies. The former president managed to strike a blow against Ramaphosa four years ago after it was revealed that two thieves had broken into his farmhouse and stolen $US580,000 ($870,000) in cash that had been stuffed into a sofa.
Exactly why the money was there has never been explained but Ramaphosa came close to losing his position over the scandal.
New battles, old territory
On Sunday, Zuma raised the spectre of the age-old fight against white colonialism and apartheid in his attack on the ANC and his successor Ramaphosa.
The new Patriotic Front would operate both within and outside parliament, his spokesman said, reading from a prepared statement, where he placed his nemesis alongside the apartheid-era Afrikaner leaders.
It may be a clever domestic political ploy but threats to seize property will do little to instil confidence in the country’s ability to compete globally. Further deterioration of the currency will only exacerbate the extreme cost-of-living pressures facing South African households and businesses.
It also ignores history. The DA’s forebears once were labelled left wing for their efforts to overthrow apartheid.
Ultimately, however, dissatisfaction and unrest within the electorate have been fuelled by the abject failure to provide even basic services, much of which occurred during Zuma’s decade-long presidency.
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Delivery of new housing, education and jobs fell well short of promises. And the country’s crumbling infrastructure has seen crippling power shortages during the past year as aging, coal-fired generators have been shut but not replaced.
Oddly, the “load shedding”, which was really blackouts, stopped shortly before the election was announced.
For a country with so much promise and natural bounty, so culturally rich and diverse, time is running short to find solutions to real-world problems.
If they are not found, South Africa may well become another textbook case on what happens when inequality is allowed to fester.
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