South Africa has a great future, and we have a lot to be optimistic about. Great futures don’t fall from heaven – it has to be fought for. This is according to Moeletsi Mbeki, Chairperson of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), who was a panel member in the recent 2022 Thought-Leader panel discussion, titled A look into the Future of South Africa, held at the University of the Free State (UFS).

The panel discussion was facilitated by Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, and brought together experts such as Pieter du Toit, Assistant Editor of In-depth news at News24, and Dr Mareve Biljohn, Head of the Department of Public Administration and Management at the UFS, who also shared insights on the social, political, economic, and business landscapes of South Africa and what it means for our future.

WATCH: A Look Into the Future of South Africa

Nothing can save the ANC

According to Mbeki, the political leadership challenges facing the ruling party leave one with little optimism about the future of the ANC. The people of South Africa had a lot of confidence in the ANC from 1994 until the last elections – people had hope; but this faded as evident in the last local government elections where ANC votes were dismal – from 69,9% to 45%. “The ANC is following the path of all liberation nationalist parties in Africa. We also forget that the National Party was a liberation party (against the British),” said Mbeki. “The ANC does not have much fire left, and nothing could save the ANC – how can you have a problem with electricity now if you had 15 years to solve the problem?” Political parties in South Africa need to learn about coalitions; the opposition parties are realising that they have to learn about coalitions, while being realistic that coalitions also collapse.

“There is the need for the rich to set up their own political parties instead of waiting for someone to save them – if one is unhappy about something, take political action,” said Mbeki. He added that the reality is that the rich control a lot of the resources and skills in the country.

Du Toit emphasised that we are in a much worse position than in 1994. “A government that had everything going for it for 30 years – in the last ten years, the ANC stole and looked after itself. The ANC has given up on itself and is not focused on sorting out the biggest crisis that we have, that is, unemployment, poverty, and electricity,” said Du Toit. There is also the reluctance to partner with the private sector. “If we don’t address our own economic issues in five years’ time, we will lament what could have been,” added Du Toit.

South Africa is not a failed state

Mbeki added that South Africa is not a failed state, but a failed government exists, and the crisis of Eskom is a good indication of this. “The government policies have failed, which makes it look like the country is failing,” added Mbeki. People are afraid of talking against the ANC, because they want contracts from the ANC. According to Mbeki, South Africa’s democracy is not mature. “Six hundred political parties are not a sign of a maturing democracy, but instead a sign of a new democracy – this is a good sign,” added Mbeki.

While Du Toit agreed that South Africa has a lot going for it, such as human capital, modernised society, and the role that South Africa plays in the world, he also emphasised that we must acknowledge that the country is in dire straits, facing issues of governance and leadership and crime as major concerns, among others. “What has the Minister of Police done in the past four years to curb crime? Also, the President recently spoke at a SADTU conference instead of addressing the electricity issues facing the country,” said Du Toit. Du Toit spoke about the need for determined and urgent leadership. “We must fight for our country, call out the leaders, and hold them accountable,” said Du Toit. According to him, if leaders do not follow the idea of civic-mindedness and duty, then we will be on a slow boat to nowhere. “We have enormous advantages and resources in the country, but we fear the squandering thereof, because the leadership does not have the interest of the citizens in mind.”

Good things are happening

“We should caution against looking at South Africa as a snapshot of where we are now. We must look at the country in the context of where we are now and what has been achieved,” said Du Toit. While we are not using the resources efficiently and infrastructure is starting to collapse, good things are also happening. “To see guys like Jacob Zuma, Brian Molefe, and Anoj Singh being prosecuted is promising in itself, as it illustrates strong leadership in national structures. We also have strong leadership in Eskom – people want André de Ruyter out because the taps are now closed for people to squander,” he said. Du Toit said we also have strong civic societies, churches, free press – a lot of positives, but we must be honest about what is wrong now.

Du Toit added that cadre deployment and political appointments in government are a feature globally. “The Zondo Commission found that the cadre deployment practised by the ANC has morphed into a practice where members of the ANC are deployed at all levels of the state, irrespective of skills, for the sole purpose of repurposing the state to extract from the state. Networks of extraction were formed to plunder institutions of billions,” said Du Toit.

Local government the problem child

According to Dr Biljohn, local government in South Africa has become our problem child. She said that there was a lot of good that happened; but we have hit a ceiling where municipalities have become dysfunctional. “The greatest challenges at the moment in terms of what government wants to do for citizens are that of service delivery and the functioning of local government. “It’s not about service delivery only, but also how this affects the lives of people – are we people-centred and aligned with the needs of the people?”

Dr Biljohn said we now have households that are reliant on grants as a primary source of income, and as such, they become part of the indigent population of municipalities. “The current situation does not allow one to be optimistic, but we need to be optimistic” she said.

Dr Biljohn also added that there was a need for ethical leadership and not a dysfunctional one. “Our responsibility as voters does not stop after the vote has been cast. We have a responsibility to hold officials accountable,” she added. The role of community members and society is to hold political leaders, administrative leaders, and municipalities accountable – to remind them what they are there for. “Citizens have a right to organise themselves and use the chapter nine institutions to take the municipalities to task and challenge democracy,” said Dr Biljohn.

According to Dr Biljohn, the labour component and skills of officials and municipalities also have an impact on service delivery – there is a need for skills at local government level.  “Even with good policies, a lack of skillsets will have dire consequences for competencies and ability to deliver.”

Mbeki elaborated on how South Africa has made progress and urged students to fight for their own future, with the hope that students will demonstrate against the bad guys in South Africa and the world. “Get away from the notion of saving anyone – fight for your own life,” said Mbeki.