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15 February 2021 | Story Prof Sethulego Matebesi | Photo Sonia Small
Dr Sethulego Matebesi
Prof Sethulego Matebesi is a senior lecturer and Academic Head of the Department of Sociology at the University of the Free State.

 

Opinion article by Prof Sethulego Matebesi, Senior Lecturer and Academic Head of the Department of Sociology in the Faculty of The Humanities, University of the Free State. 

In Langston Hughes’ poem, Harlem, the opening line poses a simple yet profound question: ‘What happens to a dream deferred?’ Hughes then arrives at a provocative conclusion: ‘Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?’

In sharp contrast, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2021 State of the Nation address expectedly began by sharing a story of hope, resilience, and inspiration. In a slight departure from his usual presentation style, powerful rhetorical and inspiring themes were a notable feature of the President’s address. By highlighting South Africa’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout programme, boosting the unemployment rate, economic recovery, and fighting corruption as the government’s key priorities, the President wove together the challenges and opportunities we face as a nation.

Pitfalls of the mass vaccination drive

Thus far, the South African government has led a commendable intervention strategy against the coronavirus. While there seems to be a concrete vision of how to implement the mass vaccination drive, the realisation is there is overwhelming evidence of how various challenges have compromised immunisation programmes in the country. Adopting the current Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) strategies to champion the COVID-19 mass vaccination drive will be insufficient in the context of porous borders, overwhelmed primary healthcare workers, and intense and significant epidemiological changes of the virus. The last challenge is not only akin to SA. Therefore, it is imperative that a better understanding of population mobility and more targeted and evidence-informed strategies will be crucial in mounting a sufficient mass vaccination drive.

Unemployment – a mixed bag of fortunes 

Long before COVID-19 ravaged the South African labour market, unemployment has been one of the country’s key challenges. In a country where half of the youth are unemployed, it was expected that SONA 2021 would provide a glimmer hope to subvert the poor socio-economic outcomes of unemployment. But the dream for many unemployed South Africans remains out of reach as short-term initiatives such as the extension of the Special COVID-19 Grant of R350 and the Presidential Employment Stimulus will not be able to cushion the ravages of long-term unemployment many South Africans have to endure. Despite the delays and teething implementation challenges of these employment relief packages, they will again face a breaking point when these interventions end.

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly led to an unprecedented number of job losses. This situation will continue due to deindustrialisation, depressing investment and the complacency of South African institutions. For example, the President mentioned several relief measures, including the Public Employment Programme, which created 3.2 million work opportunities. However, there remain serious doubts about planning around youth employment.

The President stated that the government reached 1,000 businesses by International Youth Day in August 2020, is a far cry from the 15,000 start-ups planned to be supported by 2020. Another complicating factor is that institutions like the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), which has to play a leading role in assisting young citizens to become successful entrepreneurs, is highly politicised and embedded in the intra-political battles of the ruling party. The fact that there is still no board for the NYDA is indicative of the challenges of fighting youth unemployment. Effective managerial accountability and control of financial resources will go a long way in assisting agencies such as the NYDA in meeting their mandates.

Economic recovery and corruption

The President’s speech highlighted a myriad of plans to restructure, rebuild and revive the South African economy. Comparatively, the President's fifth SONA had more detail about milestones reached and practical strategies to implement plans. Expectedly, he also lamented the impact of state capture and the COVID-19 pandemic.

South Africans are now looking to finance minister, Tito Mboweni’s upcoming national Budget Review for details on how the government will fund the President's priorities. However, attempts to grow an ailing economy are impeded by the continuing energy supply crisis, the lack of scope to utilise digital technologies to shape economic opportunities, and rampant corruption.

The measures against corruption mentioned in the State of the Nation are welcomed. The same cannot be said about the political commitment to deal with the challenge. But what difference will the launch of a National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council make if the government fails to act decisively on the Auditor-General’s reports which highlight an average of R50billion in irregular expenditure annually? Pronouncements by the President about fighting corruption have become a norm. There are pockets of success in this regard. Yet the scourge of corruption and greed in government institutions continues unabatedly.

Global experience has shown that robust, transparent and accountable public institutions can be catalytic in securing and sustaining good governance. Without good governance, our youth will continue to stand on street corners looking for jobs, many will continue to go to bed on empty stomachs, our lights will remain off, and we will continue to be imprisoned in our homes due to the high crime rate in the country. 
Only time will tell what will happen to dreams deferred yet again.

News Archive

Centre to enhance excellence in agriculture
2008-05-09

 

At the launch of the Centre for Excellence were, from the left, front: Ms Lesego Sejosengoe, Manager: Indigenous Food, Mangaung-University Community Partnership Project (MUCPP), Ms Kefuoe Mohapeloa, Deputy Director: national Department of Agriculture; back: Mr Garfield Whitebooi, Assistant Director: national Department of Agriculture, Dr Wimpie Nell, Director: Centre for Agricultural Management at the UFS, and Mr Petso Mokhatla, from the Centre for Agricultural Management and co-ordinator of the Excellence Model.
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

UFS centre to enhance excellence in agriculture

The national Department of Agriculture (DoA) appointed the Centre for Agricultural Management within the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of the Free State (UFS) as the centre of excellence to roll out the excellence model for small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME’s) for farmers in the Free State.

The centre was launched this week on the university’s Main Campus in Bloemfontein.

The excellence model, which is used worldwide, was adapted by the Department of Trade and Industry as an SMME Excellence Model. The DoA then adapted it for agricultural purposes.

“The excellence model aims to assist farmers in identifying gaps in business skills. These gaps will be addressed by means of short courses. It will help to close the gap between the 1st and 4th economy,” said Dr Wimpie Nell, Director of the Centre for Agricultural Management at the UFS.

The UFS – as co-ordinator of the SMME Excellence Model – the DoA, the private sector, municipalities, small enterprise development agencies, and non-governmental organisations will be working together to enhance excellence in agricultural businesses in the Free State.

The benefit of the model is that it changes the mindset of emerging farmers to see agriculture as a business and not as a way of living. Dr Nell said: “We also want to create a culture of competitiveness and sustainability amongst emerging farmers.”

“The Free State is the second province where the model has been implemented. Another four provinces will follow later this year. Altogether 23 officers from the DoA, NGO’s and private sector have already been trained as facilitators by the Centre of Excellence at the UFS,” said Dr Nell.

The facilitator training takes place during four contact sessions, which includes farm visits where facilitators get the opportunity to practically apply what they have learnt. On completion of the training facilitators use the excellence model to evaluate farming businesses and identify which skills (such as financial skills, entrepreneurship, etc.) the farmers need.

The co-ordinator from the Centre of Excellence, Mr Petso Mokhatla, will monitor the facilitators by visiting these farmers to establish the effectiveness of the implementation of the model. Facilitators must also report back to the centre on the progress of the farmers. This is an ongoing process where evaluation will be followed up by training and re-evaluation to ensure that successful establishment of emerging farmers has been achieved.

According to Ms Kefuoe Mohapeloa, Deputy Director from the national Department of Agriculture, one of the aims of government is to redistribute five million hectare of land (480 settled people per month) to previously disadvantaged individuals before 2010. The department also wants to increase black entrepreneurship in rural areas by 10% this year, increase food security by utilising scarce resources by 10%, and increase exports by black farmers by 10%.

“To fulfill these objectives it is very important for emerging farmers to get equipped with the necessary business skills. The UFS was a suitable candidate for this partnership because of its presence in the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA). With the Jobs for Growth programme, ASGISA is an important extension to the Centre of Excellence and plays a major role in the implementation of the model to improve value-chain management,” said Ms Mohapeloa.

Twenty facilitators will receive training in June and another 20 in October this year. “The more facilitators we can train, the more farmers will benefit from the model,” said Dr Nell.

Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za  
8 May 2008

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