Editorial: We’re waiting, Mr Prez

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Procrastination, said English poet Edward Young centuries ago, is the thief of time. Had he been alive today, it may have been something he would have shouted into President Cyril Ramaphosa’s selective hearing ears. 

South Africans know well the procrastination that ails the governing party and most of the departments, given that we have had to suffer because of it for decades. Our lives are waiting games, and we have been rendered poorer for it. 

“Applying my mind” — a favourite quip of Ramaphosa and his predecessor Jacob Zuma to justify the extraordinary amount of time it takes to get simple things done — is not the intellectual pause it is spun as. It was, and is, an excuse for failure to prioritise the country over the party. Indifference, if you will. 

We are waiting for the president to sign off on the new SABC board. 

We are waiting for municipalities such as Ditsobotla in North West to function.  

We are waiting for Markus Jooste to pay his dues. 

We are waiting for Eskom to be fixed or throw the country into a total blackout. 

We are waiting for a cabinet reshuffle. 

We are waiting for the implementation of the recommendations of the Zondo commission’s state capture report. 

We are waiting for thousands of learners to be placed in schools. 

We are waiting for neighbourhoods where we can walk safely at dusk.  

It seems three things in life are certain in our ANC-controlled country: death, taxes and that South Africans will continue waiting — and rolling our eyes at the promises made by inept politicians and officials. These vacuous vows will become all the more frequent and ludicrous the closer we get to the general elections in 2024. 

More than a month ago, Ramaphosa received a list of names to fill the board of the SABC. Financial instability, political meddling and weaponising the public broadcaster have brought it to its knees. As the situation worsens, the recommendations are gathering dust on the president’s desk as he plays dice with ANC factions.  

As for Eskom, Ramaphosa, during numerous speaking engagements and door-stopping from journalists, has been unwilling to answer questions about his support of the entity’s soon-to-be former chief executive, Andre de Ruyer. 

De Ruyter was appointed with much aplomb and given a slap on the back by Ramaphosa, only to be denied political support for the mammoth task of fixing Eskom when it was most needed. He was harassed, threatened, defamed and literally poisoned out of the job. 

While Ramaphosa and the governing party gamble with our futures, we have to contend with municipalities such as Ditsobotla, where a mayor was appointed and resigned hours later in protest over political games. The ANC wanted to appoint a municipal manager without anyone being privy to the candidate’s qualifications. 

Ditsobotla is a failed municipality — one of dozens under the control of the ANC — that will not function again until the party’s thieves and looters are voted out. 

Our metros are also in a state of spiralling decay. eThekwini, which has a gloriously warm ocean, should be the tourism destination of choice for national and international holiday makers. But years of neglecting infrastructure, political wrangling in its waste department and brazen looting has rendered Durban a stinking, filthy mess. 

A description that applies perfectly to the state of the ANC.