S'THEMBISO MSOMI | The growing credibility gap between President Ramaphosa’s vision and SA’s political reality

President Cyril Ramaphosa is gaining a reputation, surely an unwanted one, of announcing lofty ideas and plans that never get implemented.

Remember how, in the face of a growing unemployment crisis and general economic stagnation, the president used his 2022 state of the nation address to announce government’s intentions to forge a comprehensive social compact?

Like the rest of the world, we were still emerging from the unprecedented period of national lockdowns and social distancing that had been imposed on us by the Covid-19 pandemic. The experience had devasted our economy, leaving millions more without jobs.

But the experience had also taught us the value of working together. Millions of lives had been saved, while scores of businesses were rescued from going under due to a series of initiatives that came about as a result of government, organised business, the labour movement and civil society at large working together in a collective effort to ride out the storm.

Initiatives such as the Solidarity Fund were held up as examples of how various sectors of society can work together to achieve common goals and tackle such problems as femicide and climate change. SA seemed ripe for a new social compact as the pandemic appeared to have given all sectors a sense of urgency on the need for a reset.

It was within that context that the president, in 2002, stood before parliament to tell the world that a comprehensive social compact would be entered into by various sectors within months.

And then there was a long silence, with neither government nor its social partners explaining the cause of the delay. There were murmurings here and there about big business not being too crazy about an initiative that would force them to commit to some grand economic plan they would probably end up paying for. But no official communication.

By Ramaphosa’s next address in 2023, the idea had died its natural death — with the president conceding that “a number of new circumstances” had emerged and “made it difficult for social partners to forge a consensus”.

The president then seemed to change his approach, preferring to focus on sector-specific joint initiatives such as the energy action plan which saw the state working closely with sections of business as a response to the country’s power crisis.

Then, in July last year — after a general election that had left SA with a hung parliament and forced the ANC to seek partners from across the floor in the National Assembly to be able to form a government — Ramaphosa publicly endorsed the idea of a national dialogue called for by various prominent personalities and foundations.

“I call on all South Africans, united in our diversity, to come together in the national dialogue to define a vision for our country for the next 30 years,” the president said in one of his speeches.

“The national dialogue must be a place where everyone has a voice. It must be a place to find solutions that make a real difference in people’s lives.”

Given the changed political environment — with the country entering the age of coalition governments and an end to one-party dominance — the idea of an inclusive indaba where the way forward was going to be discussed and agreed to not only sounded desirable, it appeared necessary.

On Reconciliation Day last year, the president announced that “all the necessary structures and processes of the dialogue will be in place early in the new year”. He further stated that he planned to appoint an advisory panel of eminent people “to provide guidance and advice” and said a steering committee to co-ordinate the process would also be established.

We are in April now and little has been said about when the national dialogue will take place. Media reports suggest the foundations of former presidents and struggle stalwarts, who campaigned vigorously for the idea, are as much in the dark as the rest of us.

Some of the foundations always held the view that the initiative, to be truly inclusive and credible, should not be driven by government. But the presidency and the ANC clearly feel otherwise and have always insisted that the government take the lead. According to at least one report, the 12 foundations — which include the Thabo Mbeki, Steve Biko and FW de Klerk foundations — have written to the president pleading with him to announce the date of the dialogue. They have yet to get a response.

Could it be that the national dialogue has gone the way of the social compact as much of government’s attention shifts to hosting a successful G20 summit — a gathering of some of the world’s most powerful leaders — later this year?

One hopes not. SA is in real and urgent need of a reset — not just because of the stubborn economic and social problems we continue to encounter 31 years since we became a democracy, but also because the world about us is changing rapidly and we need to redefine our role in it.

Had the national dialogue happened before the last election and the formation of the government of national unity, who knows, maybe the current instability caused by the lack of a common vision among GNU partners would not be happening right now.