PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa last week delivered South Africa’s State of the Nation Address (Sona), and the proverbial dust has now settled.
This dust may have been kicked up by those who oppose him, his leadership style, his party, the ANC, and the way it is leading this country. Conversely, others were left unimpressed by what was delivered in the address, as it provided them with nothing to make their lives any better or provide genuine hope.
The doctor (by marriage) has given a diagnosis. He has pretty much confirmed what most knew and feared. He has also given his prescription. The challenge is that many do not like his diagnosis and call for another doctor. Others accept the diagnosis but do not like the prescription or know from experience that whatever they are sent to the pharmacy for will not heal them and their nation.
Naturally, a sick person would question why they are sick and have to be in hospital for this amount of time. They do not understand why they should be far from their loved ones, or worse, accept the losses suffered with every minute they spend in the hospital.
A sick person just wants their health restored rather than a lengthy healing process. Some are even sceptical that it will bring healing after close to three decades of pain and suffering. Some do appreciate that the conditions that surround them are indeed getting better in one way or another. They may have better linen, the hospital is at least clean, there is staff, although overworked and often under-compensated and, therefore, not motivated. But often-times, all these fall short of what is intended.
South Africa is really at a point where what it does will either send it to the mortuary or set it on a path towards a better future. The former is not necessarily an option but remains a possibility. It is not only about what we do, but also how we get to this ideal future.
President Cyril Ramaphosa signalled his intention to reignite the country’s economy through a comprehensive social compact, which he said labour, business and government would negotiate in the coming 100 days.
So within 100 days, the county now has to come up with not an average social compact that will solve the country’s debilitating poverty, fatal unemployment and embarrassing inequality. This despite the well-known challenges and limitations it faces to produce the greatest solution since the dawn of democracy.
The social compact needs to mend South African society, which has been ravaged by many years of infrastructural neglect, lacklustre basic and economic service delivery and maintenance, as well as the failure to support small, medium and micro-enterprises.
The solution will also have to deal with inept and corrupt leadership, public finance mismanagement, abuse of power/privilege and fortune, as well as the failure to nurture good talent, skill and behaviour in the public service. It also needs to bring about just corporate citizenship.
Representatives of various constituencies have long called for an Economic Codesa. It will not help to produce a resolution, which fails to address core issues that exacerbate inequality, poverty and unemployment.
Ramaphosa has appealed to the country to forge a solution that will not leave anyone behind. However, I argue that the country should not just work hard but also seek a smart solution, which contains policies that cannot be subverted by dishonest and corrupt politicians and officials, both in the private and public sectors.
South Africa can no longer afford to craft policies that will only work for those who are in power and their cronies. We cannot again build state-linked institutions that will, down the line, weigh heavily on the country’s public purse. The country cannot afford a solution that will see greedy politicians manipulating service delivery processes and flouting proper procurement policies to allow some service providers to pilfer huge sums of money even before the first brick is laid on the ground.
We are now in 2022. There is so much talent, wisdom, intelligence and commitment in all these areas troubled by these triple challenges. The country also does not lack the resources to arm the soldiers it has against these enemies. The challenge is that it does not deploy these resources in the best interest of the affected people. We now have to work smart to ensure a solution that is in the collective interest of the nation’s people. This will not be as difficult as it seems. We just have to look beyond the present because we are dealing with problems that go beyond here and now.
We do have the resources to come up with a smart solution for these enemies of our society. But what remains to be seen is whether we are willing to put aside our narrow and selfish interests to produce a smart solution.
In his 2019 Sona, Ramaphosa said that the country could build a smart city. "Has the time not arrived to build a new smart city founded on the technologies of the 4th industrial revolution?,“ he said. Whether the country is smart enough to realise this smart city remains to be seen.
However, the outbreak of this pandemic has not devastated this possibility. What it has shown us is that we were actually aiming low. Just one, two or three smart cities will never be enough. We need a smart economy that will result in a smart nation. Unfortunately, we do not have the luxury to debate the possibility of this. We must deliver it before it is too late.
Given Majola is a Business Report multimedia reporter.
BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE