The Soapbox | Where South Africans Speak Out

BY LUNGELO MAGUBANE

Robert Frost wrote of two roads that diverged into the woods and how his opting for the one less taken made all the difference. As President Zuma applies the finishing touches to his State of the Nation speech, one hopes that he will use this opportunity to take the people of South Africa into his confidence and deliver something which accurately details the state of our nation without needless rhetoric and sugar-coating. It is not too late to change course and steer his government towards the light.

Even a cursory reading of documents such as the ANC’s 2009 Election Manifesto and its 8 January 2010 statement makes it clear that much has been done since 1994. In fact, a brief glance at any street in South Africa will attest to the fact that we have come far from where we once were; yet, juxtaposed against that, is the harsh reality that on that very same street you will find evidence of just how vast a distance still remains to be travelled. It is to the road ahead that we must focus, despite how tempting it may be to dwell on past achievements or failures.

Since his inauguration, Zuma’s performance can, at best, be described as symbolic. He has, among other things, flown on the national carrier, held mass meetings with police officers and school principals, stepped onto the scene of service delivery protests and ambushed a truant mayor, and he has set up a presidential call-centre –going so far as to take a call in person. His cabinet is rather large and some of the departments now sport new names – most notably the Ministry of Police in what he argues was an attempt to toughen the attack on crime. Most recently he has imposed night shift duty on Members of Parliament by deciding to deliver the State of the Nation address in the evening. But has all of this made a tangible or discernible difference in the way that services are delivered to South Africans? For let us not forget that amidst all the obfuscation, the core task of the State is to serve “the people”.

However, all is not lost – just as it never was in the darkest hours of despair during the negotiations towards the 1994 democratic election. The ruling party has correctly identified the pressing challenges that currently hinder our country, namely job creation, education, health, rural development and crime. What they have not done successfully is to defeat these challenges or at least present coherent strategies of how they intend to do so.

Whilst I do not personally presume to have all of the answers, there have been certain glaring errors made by the ruling party and their obstinate refusal to concede where they have erred or accept constructive criticism suggests that the interests of their voters (and other South Africans) are not always foremost in their minds.

The president may easily deliver a flaccid speech which promises everything but offers nothing, and take comfort in knowing that he has failed those who depend upon him the most by not giving the desirable leadership to ensure that civil servants raise their game.

Alternatively, he may break from convention and come out with his guns blazing in a manner that is unprecedented – after all, what is the point of having the power of being president if one doesn’t use it occasionally? Whichever route he elects to take, he cannot complain of having not known what is at stake.

Lungelo Magubane is a fourth year student in the Faculty of Law at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Durban.