Ndumiso Mokako
The quality of public debate in South Africa has degenerated over time, with public commentators and analysts presenting their emotions as facts without considering contrary evidence in front of them, and often their views are a complete opposite of the truth.
This misuse of the media, especially digital and print media, to present views that lack a nuanced appreciation of how the world works must be addressed as a matter of urgency as it could undermine the purpose of a public discourse, which should be a platform to produce the best synthesis with the sole aim of taking our country forward.
The superficiality and death of originality in public discourse I am referring to above was recently displayed by Mr Themba Godi, leader of the African People’s Convention, in the Sunday World article of the March 9, titled, “Premier Ndlovu criticised for sidelining MECs”.
In the context of the article, Mr Godi was supposed to comment on the premier’s intention to establish a project management unit situated in the premier’s office, but commented out of misappropriated anger on the political and administrative capabilities of the leadership of the province, while exposing his lack of insight on the importance of planning and executing capital projects with precision.
It is important to underscore that it is not unusual for any head of an executive to put some executive priorities under their purview. In 2019, President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Dr Sputla Ramokgopa to head Infrastructure South Africa, to allow the Presidency to monitor progress and address backlogs in infrastructure projects.
In the hotly contested 2025 budget speech, the finance minister announced that the Presidency has established a committee to keep a hawk’s eye on government expenditure to identify wastages and inefficiencies.
Bastardising the actions of the premier, which are consistent with government practices and even labelling it akin to sidelining the MECs or demonstrating lack of confidence in certain departments, is a very unfortunate occurrence.
According to the Medium-Term Development Plan of Mpumalanga, the government can only build a better life for all if the economy grows between 3% and 5% annually for the next four years and infrastructure is identified to play a pivotal role in achieving this macroeconomic indicator. This is largely influenced by empirical data from the World Bank, which reveals that infrastructure investment can have a multiplier effect on the economy of any country and is useful in fighting poverty, unemployment, inequality, and increasing productivity.
A case in point is Mexico, where improvements in the quality of roads created access for locals to the market to be producers and consumers, and this grew the economy to about 6%, and the story of Peru is similar.
As a Pan Africanist, I am confident that Mr Godi will appreciate facts which emerge out of Africa’s own experience like in Senegal, where an expansion in broadband infrastructure improved the household’s quality of life and it resulted in a 10% poverty decrease in that country.
The empirical evidence above demonstrates that the Mpumalanga provincial government cannot leave the important task of planning and monitoring the implementation of capital projects to chance. The dire need to improve our country’s capabilities of implementing infrastructure projects is properly articulated in South Africa’s National Infrastructure Plan, which argues for the development of a world-class machinery to plan, procure and execute infrastructure projects in South Africa as this has an impact in the returns on investment in infrastructure.
This machinery is important to avoid the unwarranted delays we experienced in the construction of Medupi and Kusile power stations, where costs exponentially overran, and the project was not completed in the planned time, undermining the objectives of the government to invest in infrastructure and reap positive economic spin-offs.
The project management unit being established in the premier’s office is part of the world class infrastructure delivery machinery envisaged in the National Infrastructure Plan, and if used effectively as expressed in the nuanced view of leader of the DA, Mr Grobler in the article, it will have a profound impact on the delivery of infrastructure in the country.
The country does require an honest conversation on the capacity of the state to deliver infrastructure projects, but we shouldn’t make the colossal
error Mr Godi is committing to pruning the leaves while leaving the roots of rot intact.
- Mokako is chairperson of the Mpumalanga ANC economic transformation subcommittee. (He writes in his personal capacity).
