President Cyril Ramaphosa needs no reminder that the country’s ongoing challenges of racism, poverty, poor governance, slow land reform and corruption, among others, require more than a “national dialogue” to resolve.
President Cyril Ramaphosa needs no reminder that the country’s ongoing challenges of racism, poverty, poor governance, slow land reform and corruption, among others, require more than a “national dialogue” to resolve.
He is well aware of where the problems and the solutions lie and that another indaba will be nothing short of wasting taxpayers’ money. Still, he proposed the idea of a national dialogue in his Day of Reconciliation address, as part of a solution to South Africa’s pressing issues.
“We can no longer live in a country where some people live in privilege and others face great hardship. Our country is still divided by poverty and unemployment. We will hold a national dialogue next year to enable a conversation among citizens on shaping our country’s future,” Ramaphosa said.
Unless the president has been living under a rock, he knows these are issues the country has been grappling with for years, some of them engineered by his comrades in the ANC.
In fact, by proposing another dialogue, Ramaphosa is kicking the can down the road, ignoring the failures of the government he presides over.
Take, for example, corruption. The president himself has failed to live up to his promise to not appoint individuals implicated in allegations of state capture to his Cabinet. How can we expect the person who overlooks corruption allegations against members of the executive to lead a national dialogue on the issue? The same president has not fully accounted for the undeclared foreign currency concealed in furniture at his Phala Phala farm and has pulled every trick in the book to avoid scrutiny, even when a panel led by a respected retired chief justice found that he has a case to answer.
South Africans cannot be expected to have confidence in a process led by individuals with a cloud hanging over their head.
Action, not a national dialogue, is what South Africa requires, Mr President. Another indaba will not put food on the tables of millions of citizens who go to bed hungry. It will not assist a graduate to find a job.
We are long past the talking stage, Mr President. Stop buying time to finish your disastrous term.
Cape Times
Related Topics: