Mantashe blames passive society that depends on the State for service delivery

THE relationship between government and society in South Africa is flawed and has led to the creation of a passive society where the public “sits in the sun” and waits for the government to deliver services.

The ANC national chairperson, Gwede Mantashe, has blasted this dynamic and stated that this is a mistake in governance by the ANC that needs to be addressed.

Political analysts said Mantashe’s views are partly correct, but the party was largely to blame for that situation. Mantashe was speaking to a news channel yesterday morning, where he defended the party's track record in service delivery. He said a lot has been achieved by the ANC since the dawn of democracy, adding that these achievements are often underplayed while negativity about the government is given prominence.

“Can I tell you, the difference between China and South Africa? I want to use China because it went through the cultural revolution which almost destroyed the country. The difference is that Chinese people put their skin in the fire.

“In South Africa, we have developed a situation of delivery, which means you sit back, you sit in the sun, and you expect the state to deliver, and people are not involved. I am certain that if our people were to get involved, we would be a better country. Let's work on that; it's a mistake we have created as the ANC where we have created a passive society instead of ensuring there is an active society that participates.

“I am happy that we have changed the outlook of the country, but I am not happy that many of our people don’t take advantage of the ANC government. I am not happy about that; instead, they sit back and expect the government to deliver,” the chairperson said.

Making an example, he said he recently engaged with a young woman who spoke of the opportunities in education that the ANC government has provided, from no-fee schools to university education, but was complaining that the ANC has not helped her to find a job. “So I said to her, the ANC has provided you with a fishing rod; now you expect the ANC to catch the fish for you. That is the angle that is missing in the debate,” Mantashe stated.

Mantashe added, in his community, he ran a community farming project and eventually had to give it up because the young people had refused to be part of the project.

“I would prefer a society that is doing things for themselves. We must have a society that is not passive, that is not dependent on the government or the ANC for solutions,” he said.

Mantashe said, “I am over 70 years old; the government has never looked for a job for me. Today, because there is a progressive government, people expect the government to give them jobs; they do not look for jobs, and that must change. People must begin to appreciate that you queue up for jobs. I am going back to the point that let's move out of a passive society to become an active society.”

Political analyst Thabani Khumalo said Mantashe’s views were partly correct: “When they came to power, they made all these promises of delivery and seem to believe that they could deliver without the other stakeholders, including the public themselves. They made big promises that have fallen short because of the shortage of resources, ineptitude, and corruption among other challenges.”

Professor Musa Xulu said, “ Mantashe is, to some extent, correct about the spectator politics of many South Africans when it comes to the issues of service delivery. The concept of service delivery has been constructed in the minds and utterances to mean exactly that citizens don't have to do anything because once elected, politicians and political parties will deliver 'truck loads' of services. Political parties have not been helpful in clarifying 'service delivery' in their quest to be elected. There is a gap in terms of civic education.

“Successful nations have governments that provide infrastructure (water, mobility, electricity, hygiene, refuse removal, etc.) while citizens capitalise on the infrastructure to create wealth and grow the economy through various types of their own initiatives.

“This government has been able, within the limited resources at its disposal, to deliver basic services on a wall-to-wall basis. However, citizens should also play their role to promote the sustainability of these services by creating economic opportunities that will turn them into resourceful contributors to the municipal and government tax base,” he said.