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07 February 2023 | Story Dr Ina Gouws | Photo Supplied
Dr Ina Gouws
Dr Ina Gouws is a Senior Lecturer: Programme: Governance and Political Transformation in the Department of Political Studies and Governance, University of the Free State (UFS)

Opinion Article by Dr Ina Gouws, Senior Lecturer: Programme: Governance and Political Transformation, Department of Political Studies and Governance, University of the Free State.
The State of the Nation Address (Sona) of 2023 is upon us. What can South Africans look forward to in this address this year? According to the Presidency, the President will focus on the energy crisis and the rolling blackouts. He will hopefully also shed some light on the disaster legislation government intends to implement to address the energy crisis. Reports that the ANC wants Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to oversee the load-shedding state of disaster does not inspire confidence at the onset. What we should take serious note of is what the President will have to say about the plans to move Eskom to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy; a move widely criticised and frankly, feared. 

No new policies, focus on resolving policy implementation failures

Also, according to the Presidency, the outcomes of the Investing in Africa Mining Indaba taking place from 7 February 2023, will receive attention in the Sona. This event attracts more than 6 000 delegates comprising comprising investors, innovators, companies in the mining and natural resources sector etc. No doubt the President will paint a picture of substantial investments to look forward to which will lead to job creation, development, and growth; a promise made in every Sona of every year of his term without fail, for which there has been very little evidence. 

The Minister in the Presidency, Mondli Gungubele, also told the media that government will not look to introduce new policies but focus on resolving existing policy implementation failures since this is the final year of this government’s term. 

Other than these areas of focus, we can surely expect the usual stats and figures to indicate “progress” or evidence of a caring government; more people receiving social grants instead of no longer needing this assistance, and entirely unrealistic job creation numbers to name two. Collapsing municipalities and ongoing corruption will also probably get mentioned under the umbrella of service delivery with futile promises of eradicating corruption and appointing qualified cadres. This administration’s score card of the past four years justifies cynicism. 

From what I have heard among fellow South Africans and seen on social media, the interest in the Sona is at an all-time low because of the miseries mentioned. We are tired of politicians talking, promising, stating the obvious (a particular skill our President has polished) and blatantly underestimating our collective intelligence. We KNOW there is no concrete plan to address the energy crisis. We SEE incompetent ministers still have jobs. Promises for growth and job creation do not resonate at all because South Africans LIVE THE REALITY of unemployment and poverty. South Africans cannot be blamed when the idea of sitting through an address covering more of the same with no expectation of positive change is something we are not prepared to do.

Indifference towards Sona 2023

Does this indifference towards the Sona this year necessarily mean that the nation has lost interest in politics in general? Many would argue that this is indeed the case. I do not agree. The abject apathy that is taking hold of (especially young) South Africans concerning our country’s formal political processes is an issue widely researched and debated. Apathy is essentially having no feeling or connection to a situation or a complete lack of desire or interest to act or participate. Youth find the formal political processes frustrating, alienating, and less likely to yield desired results, consequently the evident apathy. More and more older South Africans are joining them in these attitudes and therefore have developed feelings of apathy of their own. However, apathy towards the formal political process and politicians (elections and electorates) does not mean that South Africans are not interested in politics in general. To be indifferent is to decide to show no interest and to not care or have any opinion about an issue, situation, or event. It differs from apathy because sufferings, experience and disappointment breeds apathy which is therefore not a decision, but a condition. Indifference towards the Sona 2023 is a decision South Africans make, but their interest, involvement and participation in civic organisations and representative processes remains vibrant. Therein lies our strength and in my opinion, the revitalisation of grassroots influence on South African politics. 

So, if you have better things to do on the evening of the 9 February 2023, go and do them. Spend the time with community members talking about what can be done where you live to help each other and hold your officials accountable. It might also be your group’s turn for a blackout, so spend the precious time with loved ones around a candle or that rechargeable LED light. Do not feel any guilt or that you are missing out. You are not apathetic, merely indifferent. An understandable choice.

News Archive

Mekondjo! National exhibition to reveal the courage, determination, repression and torture of PLAN
2014-05-21

 
Angelina Angula ex PLAN soldier injured during the 1978 Cassinga attack - photo by John Liebenberg.

A pioneering exhibition by John Liebenberg and Christo Doherty is about to open on the Bloemfontein Campus. ‘Mekondjo! born in the struggle for Namibia’ gives South Africans their first insight into the lives of the men and women who fought against the SADF in the bush of Northern Namibia and Angola from 1966 – 1989.

This public exhibition presents eleven portraits of People’s Liberation Army veterans in the process of speaking about and coming to terms with their very different experiences in the Namibian War of Liberation.

When the People’s Liberation Army (PLAN) returned to Namibia after the UN-supervised elections of 1989, it had been fighting against South African rule for 23 years. Formed in 1966 as the armed wing of the South West African Peoples’ Organisation, PLAN had developed from a handful of poorly armed guerrillas to a sophisticated mechanised force. These soldiers fought alongside Angolan, Russian and Cuban soldiers against the SADF and UNITA. Since SWAPO’s election victory, the new government has mythologised the heroism of the armed struggle. The stories of the individual PLAN fighters’ experiences are only now being articulated, though.

Their stories are of great courage and determination against often impossible odds; but also of repression, torture, and disastrous decisions by the PLAN leadership.

The exhibition will be on display from Thursday 22 May to Friday 23 May for the duration of the Silence after Violence conference. The conference is hosted by the UFS Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice and the Center for Holocaust Studies at the University of Vermont.

Date: Thursday 22 May and Friday 23 May 2014
Place: Centenary Complex, Reitz Hall, Bloemfontein Campus
Exhibition Introduction: Thursday 22 May, 14:00 – 15:30
Other viewing times: intermissions during the Silence after Violence programme

The public is welcome to attend.

* Spotlight photo: PLAN commissioner Nkrumah Mushelenga, Windhoek 2013 – photo by John Liebenberg

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