Why is South Africa so dull, so poor, at growing its economy and creating jobs?
Why is it that, quarter after quarter for a decade now, the release of the unemployment figures plunge one into a major depression?
Last month it was the unemployment figures.
This month it is women empowerment and the nonstop deluge of stories of women abuse across the country.
No-one asks: why haven’t we seen real change in the status of women in general and why haven’t we seen a dramatic drop in the number of violent, murderous, attacks on women? Why do things remain the same?
Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that we like a big speech, a nice function with a huge marquee and loads of tenders for chairs covered in white cotton, but no real policy change when it comes to these and other issues.
We moan about the lack of jobs – listen to every politician in parliament, including those of the governing party – but say nothing about making the hard decisions that need to be made to turn the tide around.
Eskom is broke. Yet its workers demand exorbitant salary increases.
When the case is made that there is just no money, they do not just go on strike, some sabotage the electricity grid.
We know what Eskom needs now – belt-tightening by executives and workers, stopping the corruption that runs rampant in that entity, collecting debt from those who do not pay, and focusing on providing an excellent and reliable service.
The government is broke. It has been getting deeper and deeper into debt for the past 10 years.
Government debt has ballooned from below 30% of gross domestic product to 50% in 10 years.
What do government workers do? They demand – and get – above-inflation salary raises. Change is not easy. Negative cultures breed quickly and calcify.
In the civil service, clockwatching, instead of the ethos of BathoPele (“People First” – remember that slogan?), now seems to dominate.
In business it’s worse. Corruption runs rampant. Everyone wants a cut.
It is a time of greed, of me, me, me.
Deals are carved up for the benefit of those who have a hotline to power.
Big money is offered to those who are prepared to discard principle.
This is the negative culture that breeds and grows and multiplies and one day you wake up and realise that you can’t stop it anymore.
But why? Why can’t it stop? To my mind we have reached a point in SA where we need to stop lying to ourselves and start thinking deep and hard about, firstly, doing things differently and, secondly, actually implementing the things that work but won’t make us many friends.
Think about corruption.
We know it’s a drain on the economy – money that should be going to services for the poor is diverted to corrupt politicians’ pockets.
If we are serious about fighting corruption surely we should be doing far more than is currently being done to put prominent people in jail? We lack the political will. It’s easy to just let it be business as usual.
Why isn’t someone having a frank and tough talk to trade unions about tightening their belts?
We lack the political will. Why aren’t we stripping much of the bureaucracy out of starting business here so more young people can start enterprises and employ people? We lack the political will. Political will is when you look at the swiftness with which the new Ethiopian leader is implementing reforms.
Political will is when you hear SA businesspeople return from Rwanda and say, wistfully: “If we could do what they do to attract business . . . Or clean their streets.”
The point is that you have to start something and finish it, resolutely.
You can’t grow spineless midway.
Former president Jacob Zuma once vowed to confront the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union over absenteeism of teachers in schools.
Within a year he had stopped talking about the issue.
The list of failures of this sort in our politics is endless. We talk, we don’t do.
We lack the political will to implement tough, necessary but unpopular policies.
So. Next time some loudmouthed politician says they stand against violence on women, dare them to introduce a parliamentary bill to send women batterers to life in prison (it might not be the solution, but it would help).
That won’t happen, though. They will make a speech and not be held to account for it.
We need to see some political will in action. Please.