As Khoisan praise singer Ria Reen ushered in President Cyril Ramaphosa at the state of the nation address (Sona), her role carried profound relevance.
Just as praise singers honour the past while inspiring the future, beneath the hopeful cadence of Ramaphosa’s Sona lies a complex reality that demands honest scrutiny.
Are the promises of economic growth and job creation, energy security and infrastructure development, social equity and service delivery, crime reduction and safety, corruption and governance reform, and climate change and environmental sustainability truly resonating in all corners of SA, or do they risk becoming mere echoes among disillusioned citizens?
Ramaphosa said encouraging developments have been recorded over the past year, including significant improvements in energy supply.
He further highlighted economic recovery and infrastructure gains. The speech emphasised “impressive strides” in growth investments and job opportunities.
Most significantly, his assertion that the government is actively creating “a stronger economy and fixing the foundations that were broken” relates to SA achieving four consecutive quarters of GDP growth, two budget surpluses, the first in years, and inflation at its lowest in 20 years.
In addition, strides have been made in combating illegal migration and strengthening border security; more than 2.5-million employment opportunities were created via the presidential employment stimulus, mainly for youth and women, alongside progress in ending loadshedding after three years of crisis response.
South Africans have welcomed Ramaphosa’s plan to deploy the SA Defence Force to combat illegal mining in Gauteng and gang violence in the Western Cape because these issues pose severe threats to public safety, displace communities, damage infrastructure, undermine the economy and fuel organised crime that terrorises residents. However, the ongoing inadequate water supply crisis, exacerbated by years of municipal mismanagement, warrants further discussion.
Despite being endowed with significant water resources, SA’s water crisis stems from persistent governance failures in the water sector, exacerbated by rapid population increase, poorly maintained infrastructure and inadequate investment in upgrades.
In an ideal democracy, action against political leaders for the water crisis would involve swift parliamentary enquiries and SA Human Rights Commission-led probes for those proven to have interfered in water board appointments, diverted ring-fenced funds or ignored Blue Drop warnings, ensuring personal criminal liability under the National Water Act.
To understand how SA reached this water crisis, it is worth recalling how public institutions, including the judiciary, have been systematically weakened over the years through cadre deployment, corruption and political interference.
And history has taught us that when power protects power, justice becomes optional. When justice becomes optional, the political violation of the general duty of care (the legal and ethical obligation of state actors to act reasonably, avoid harm and uphold the public interest) becomes normalised, inflicting broad detrimental effects on society.
A bitter irony is that rather than decisive political action to address SA’s water crisis, massive financial pledges are being made.
Despite the ever-widening gap between massive public funding and actual implementation of water-related projects, pledging R156bn in public financing for the next three years stubbornly defies the general duty of care.
Of course, state-led intervention in water infrastructure is aligned with the ideals of a developmental state. However, institutional capture, akin to the Madlanga commission findings on justice system infiltration, shields politicians from accountability.
Until politicians bear the weight of their breached duty, Ramaphosa’s address remains a hollow echo of constitutional betrayal.
Only by holding politicians accountable for breaching the general duty of care – from parched taps to unchecked crime – can Sona herald a democracy where promises are as reliable as water should be.
- Prof Matebesi is academic head of the department of sociology at the University of the Free State
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.