The pessimism and negativity of some of my fellow South Africans are killing me. Who wakes up every morning only experiencing hopelessness and despair?
Everywhere you look, white South Africans, and increasingly middle-class blacks, only see and experience these negatives. Whites will tell you it was far better under apartheid, and blacks confidently attribute their respective career successes to no one else but themselves, through hard work and determination.
If this is true, then we must equally accept that we cannot hold the current white generation with their inherited wealth accountable for the past injustices. In other words, let’s ignore the past and only base our and their successes on meritocratic endeavours.
What is taking place these days is not unexpected for those of us who learn and study history.
In 1978, in Ottawa, a young Thabo Mbeki delivered a speech, “The Historical Injustice” to a select seminar of which Canadian parliamentarians were in attendance. In this speech, he dissected our understanding of the colonial and apartheid problem. A clear and concise Marxist analysis, I might add. We already had in our possession a vision document, the Freedom Charter, in order to move away from such a racist settler-colonial and apartheid state. We strived to attain a non-racial, non-sexist, prosperous and democratic state instead.
But how did we get it done? We agreed on a two-stage solution. The first stage must be the liberation of our black majority with universal suffrage guaranteed. The ANC would be the arbiter of this stage. Stage two must be the economic emancipation of our people, and it was decided the best way to achieve this stage is a path to socialism. The arbiter of this stage was to be the SACP.
The democratic breakthrough came in 1990, not because of FW de Klerk’s opening of Parliament speech, but because of our hard-fought anti-apartheid struggle inside and outside of our beloved country. The strategy of the four pillars ultimately delivered our freedom in 1994. Mass mobilisation (workers, youth, students and civil society); international isolation (boycotts, divestments and exclusion from cultural and sporting codes); underground activities (political reading groups, intelligence gathering and infiltration); and armed struggle (sabotage, cross-border conflicts and other military operations).
There is disbelief from my white compatriots when I remind them that the black majority in this country inherited a bankrupt country in 1990. Debt was to the tune of about $23-billion. We did not have the money to pay public servants, or to hold a general election where millions of people were going to vote for the first time. We had to take a $800-million loan to pay everyone and to facilitate our first democratic elections.
Then, we took an unpopular decision because of our finances: to tighten our belts and enforce a sort of self-imposed structural adjustment programme. It came to be known as Gear. It worked, and for at least eight years we experienced unprecedented growth levels, employment was up and socio-economic indicators were all looking rather good.
State capture under Jacob Zuma, rent-seeking and corruption damaged this progress.
However, in 2017 the Institute of Race Relations conducted a study (The Silver Lining) about the state of our nation, and all socioeconomic and other indicators looked very good.
There’s still some distance to go in attempting to put in place the socio-economic foundations that speak to a better life for all.
But can we blame the ANC solely for this current outcome?
Of course not, but they are and have been in the driver’s seat, and as such, must take their fair share of blame. How they will endeavour to win back the trust, hearts and minds of ordinary South Africans will require serious strategic thinking and sacrifices.
It’s not only about who the next ANC leader will be but what we as a collective leadership in our country will do.
We have seen the successes when the private and public sectors work hand in hand, whether on logistics and transport or energy production and distribution. More social contracts should be entered into in the various sectors of our economy. We must automate, digitise and embrace artificial intelligence in its entirety.
The state of our nation does lie in peril, but only blaming the ANC is disingenuous. We need to think collectively, for the sake of our children.
• Dr Van Heerden is senior research
fellow at the Centre for African Diplomacy and Leadership at UJ
- The author criticizes the pervasive pessimism among South Africans, noting that both white and middle-class black citizens often focus on negative aspects, with whites idealizing apartheid and blacks attributing success solely to individual effort.
- South Africa's transition involved a two-stage plan: political liberation led by the ANC and economic emancipation through socialism guided by the SACP, culminating in democratic freedom in 1994 after decades of struggle.
- The new government inherited a bankrupt country with massive debt and limited resources, necessitating austerity measures like the Gear program, which initially spurred economic growth and improved social indicators.
- Corruption and state capture under Jacob Zuma undermined progress, but studies like the 2017 Institute of Race Relations report show positive socio-economic trends, indicating that challenges remain but progress has been made.
- The author calls for collective leadership beyond blaming the ANC alone, emphasizing cooperation between public and private sectors, embracing technology and social contracts to secure a better future for all South Africans.
