Our new and squeaky-clean Madam Speaker who sat behind the then deputy president experienced an embarrassingly entertaining moment when the then deputy president, honourable Ramaphosa had a no holds promotion of Max Condoms on full display in the House.
Giggles ran throughout the house as Ramaphosa emphasized the benefits of Max for maximum pleasure and maximum protection that comes in attractive colours, no odour and no vrrrpha (noise)
On Friday the 14th at the sitting of parliament of the 7th Administration, Thoko Didiza was elected as Madam Speaker and will be in full glare of the nation to direct the affairs of the Legislature well beyond Max for maximum pleasure and maximum protection, the promotion of which she encountered on the 1st of September 2016.
The circumstances have changed dramatically and we are back to the government of national unity (GNU) that we experimented with at the dawn of democracy. We enter this strange period with maximums of negatives and challenges and in search for a new Max. Crime and gender-based violence is at its highest we ever experienced, so is unemployment and not only poverty but hunger pangs have deepened. Corruption is on steroids and economic growth has been in comatose for the past twelve years.
Youth aspirations and experiences are on a perpetual decline and dashed on a daily basis. The absolute number of the youth employed has dwindled from 2008 when their employment was then at the highest of 6.5 million to where it is today at 5.4 million against a youth population that is growing.
The number of youth unemployed then was 4.4 million against 7.4 million today. A hooping 1.1 million less youth are employed today.This is the only component of the population that is experiencing a shrinking number of those who are employed. All the other age groups of adults show a growing population of the employed.
The period of contestation for being elected to office was acrimonious, a far cry from a prospect of Max. No love was lost between the campaign of the African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance as they exchanged missives. Like preparatory face of entering an in-law relationship and on the day of the wedding, Basotho songs exchange vitriol.
Songs take the form of how dare you bring into our family this tortoise that you picked from the far-flung oceans where it was feeding off mud. Another song would scold the looks of the bride whose face has been charred by skin lightening cream. This likened the contestation. In the end we know both ANC-DA love birds were handed over Max. The challenge however that stands out like a hump on the camel is the diametrically opposed policy stances between the two parties.On paper, the National Development Plan is rehashed as the basis for an agreement.
The path towards achieving the objectives of eliminating the monumental challenges that brought us to where we are however as clear as the mud the bride defined as a tortoise was feeding on and have hardly been explored. The crystallisation of policy difference is yet to rear its head through a hard-nosed design thinking and system design that should undergird the value chain of inputs through to desired impact. That process will reveal the certainly diametrically opposed axis and Max may play a separating and protecting role to the matrimonial ventures. The Max of high seas will be stormy, rather than be pleasurable. As we know on the issue of Ukraine and Palestine the positions of the matrimonial birds are irreconcilable, so foreign policy will be a sticky point.
On economic policy too, whilst the ANC talks left and acts right towards DA, the current pressures of unemployment, education, health and crime are not going to be solved by the neo-liberal policies that the duo have affinity towards. The NHI for instance which has been signed into law is the true path towards health but it will not be supported by economic austerity measures that in practice both parties prefer. The maintenance programme that heralded the end of load shedding works against the death sentence of Eskom. Science and engineering led solutions for energy that have been reintroduced undermine the closure and the introduction of the urgency of the law that divides Eskom into three. So even the common position of privatisation that ANC and DA hold are going to be undermined by the reality and rationale for bringing about intergenerational value which is anchored in cultural economic geography, poverty and underdevelopment addressing science and engineering.
This leaves very limited room for consummating the marriage and the Max may just have the appropriate effect of a barren marriage – one of only maximum pleasure and maximum protection from bearing any children.
Welcome Madam Speaker and we can only wish you well in this very difficult task that lie ahead. You need the wisdom of the 18th Century Morena Mohlomi who opened the Leadership Academy at Ngolile and had the following as the credo “A responsible leader pursues peaceful and productive alliances, accommodates stakeholders and uses new instruments of power to create intergenerational value.”
Dr Pali Lehohla is a Professor of Practice at the University of Johannesburg, a Research Associate at Oxford University, a board member of the Institute for Economic Justice at Wits, and a distinguished Alumni of the University of Ghana. He is the former Statistician-General of South Africa.
Dr Pali Lehohla is a Professor of Practice at the University of Johannesburg, a Research Associate at Oxford University, a board member of the Institute for Economic Justice at Wits, and a distinguished Alumni of the University of Ghana. He is the former Statistician-General of South Africa.
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