We have descended into the political abyss with the loss of a fundamental cornerstone of public conduct by our public representatives – respect.
Our Constitution is lauded for its imbued calls to respect each other. The Preamble to the Constitution states: “We, the people of South Africa, recognise the injustices of our past; honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land; respect those who have worked to build and develop our country; and believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity.”
The Annual State of the Nation Address died a horrible death on Thursday, February 9, 2023. It is no more. From the abuse of the sacred moment by former President Jacob Zuma, who laughed his way through many State of the Nation Address (Sona) speeches, to the kindness-infused autopilot dictatorship of Cyril Ramaphosa, the disrespect for the hallowed assembly is now embedded in its DNA.
Two presidents have now repeatedly shown the middle finger to the people.
What is disappointing about the billionaire Ramaphosa is his attempts to feign solidarity with the suffering of the people yet at the same time do absolutely nothing – or near to nothing – to address solvable issues.
When he opened Sona 2023 with “we gather here at a time of crisis”, I could not reconcile his words in my mind. A party that has been governing for 29 years, and a president who told us in February 2018 that he “believe (s) that our country has entered a period of change” and that “great opportunities for renewal and revitalisation, and progress” await us, now informs us that we are in crisis.
Nothing that he has promised in successive Sona speeches has created a better South Africa. All that we see is a dangerous centralisation of power. We have parts of the Intelligence ministry, Women and now Electricity all situated within the Presidency.
This should concern us. While this is seen as being done for “greater efficiency”, I see a frog in boiling water.
The president also announced during Sona that a State of Disaster was being declared, which is a very serious matter.
The casualness with which Ramaphosa announced it revealed a president who, in weakness, is centralising all control around himself. It reminded me of PW Botha announcing the State of Emergency in July 1985.
The South African president shows all the signs of being a man under seize, captured by forces and interests that undermine his presidential role. He appears to be using the public platform to placate his enemies, thereby strangling his leadership of the country.
This paralysing seize he is under has turned this once admired and sought-after individual into a smiling unaccountable dictator who increasingly leads by either decree or is paralysed by inertia.
By surrounding himself with a class of leadership that oversaw South Africa unravel to the brink of chaos in 2018 and on to crisis in 2023, he appears unable to construct any pathway out of this inherited and manufactured mess.
His Sona speeches are a rinse-and-repeat exercise. Many may think the EFF’s bullying behaviour is the main culprit in the demise of respect at Sona. It is not.
The erosion of respect began with Zuma and is being perpetuated by Ramaphosa who, through smiling speeches, is boiling us alive with his annual promises of progress, corralling us with his crisis communiques.
In 1994 we established a Republic based on fundamental human rights within a constitutional democracy. Those rights are under severe threat. Our public representatives’ collective actions are discordant with the call that we should respect each other.
Tell us the truth. Fire incompetent people. Uphold the Constitution. That is what the South African people want.
Corruption, destroying infrastructure, and continuing in office despite multiple failures are all arrogant signs of showing disrespect to the South African people.
* Lorenzo Davids.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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