South Africa has the potential to reset the National Development Plan (NDP), create a new cabinet and public services comprising only the most competent people for each office everywhere in the country.
This will come through either a coalition or a government of national unity. The FF+ makes its own suggestions but at times it forgets that the programme will have to be determined collectively.
In these circumstances, you cannot announce you want to keep the ANC-MK group out of power without openly stating that you are prepared to form a coalition with everybody else including EFF, ATM, PAC and so on.
The ANC-MK axis will get 40%-45% of the vote and the DA and its partners will get 40% if things go well for them. Humility is necessary and so is a willingness to accept some bitter truths.
There are statements made without evidence in their manifesto.
“Abolishing black economic empowerment and affirmative action policies, while shifting the focus to skills development and quality education. The Employment Equity Act should be abolished.”
Eskom was in the doldrums and a national disgrace in the early 1980s. In 1986 as part of its successful turnaround, it launched Affirmative Action and “Electricity for All” campaign in 1989 to electrify all of SA.
An equal opportunity committee was established in 1986 to “investigate and remove discrimination” (Eskom publication: “Five Years On”).
Eskom committed itself to the education and training of black entrants to the workforce and accepted the challenge of substantially increasing the number of black managers.
The idea of equal opportunity targeted black people because they were the ones getting less opportunities.
Eskom became more successful with BEE and affirmative action after 1986.
“Amid many unsolved issues of restructuring of the industry and the problems of distribution, the government set Eskom a range of goals: reduce the electricity price (by 15% between 1995 and 2000), electrify 1.75 million homes (by 2000), implement a far-reaching programme of affirmative action, and upgrade the skills of employees.
Further, Eskom also undertook to operate the business in a spirit of transparency and even to consult workers in decision making. Those were indeed the heady days of democracy.
Eskom showed the government that it was serious about transformation by delivering on those commitments. By the end of 1999, almost half of all managerial, supervisory and professional staff were black, coloured, or Indian.
In 1995 alone, the organisation created 500 small, medium, and micro enter-prises and in 1999, it spent a most R1-billion on black-empowered companies.
After such actions were taken, including BEE and affirmative action, Eskom won the international award for superior performance in 2001.
It becomes clear that BEE and affirmative action had nothing to do with poor economic performance.
The FF+ and all South Africans must accept that poor performance came from a very clear source – namely the collusion between the ANC elites with foreign investors, private sector businesses and consultants.
Chancellor House and Hitachi were ushered into Eskom by the former environmental minister Valli Moosa, a top leader of the UDF and the ANC and that
pattern has been repeated all over South Africa in virtually all state-owned companies, municipalities and state departments.
Many international companies have admitted to practising corruption in the country. The FF+ wrongfully argue we must invite foreign investors into this cesspool of business sector corruption that is linked to a mafia state.
All state expenditure and investment is guided by cost-benefit analysis which must have a return on investment and a projected multiplier effect on the GDP.
The introduction of systemic corruption has meant that most projects in SA, including state procurement, are largely non-value adding and are also value destroying.
The Medupi project was supposed to add 0.34% a year GDP growth but all of that has been diluted and the financial return has disappeared.
The FF+ needs to clarify such things for what they are and not blame economic failure on irrelevant factors such as BEE and affirmative action.
The emergence of the mafia state meant that many competent persons such as Themba Maseko, former government communication and information CEO, and former head of the National Prosecuting Authority Vusi Pikoli, and many others were expelled from their state jobs regardless of complexion.
Black professionals were butchered by state capture just like the economy and the state itself. All solutions from all political parties must table empirical evidence of the problem, and proven results of any proposed solution with credible national, continental and global benchmarks.
Logic and hard evidence must lead us to credible solutions.
No one has a monopoly on wisdom in the country and here on earth.
- Swana is a political commentator.
