Friday, 17 March.
Hardly three months into the year 2023 of our Lord and The Rainbow Nation stands at the cusp of some profound events. Not to rub it in, as is the job description of any writer and journalist worth his salt, but that is simply the nature of the beast; to report on the happenings, no matter how bitter those are to swallow all in the lingering hope of lending a hand towards the fostering of an informed, engaged society. Also (hopefully) to serve as a paragon that indeed Big Brother is watching except this time, he is actually one of the good guys, an idealist with progressive, prosperous intentions for his fellow countrymen….
Around the time that President Cyril Ramaphosa was painstakingly maneuvering around restructuring his Cabinet, elsewhere in a province that is sometimes offhandedly accused of slugging at a snail’s pace, a certain DR Zamani Saul was readying himself to present his State of the Province Address. This, he opened on a reminder of leaders to whom the country’s democracy is owed such as Chief Albert Luthuli, Charlotte Maxeke and Nelson Mandela, from whom the Nelson Mandela decade of peace (2019-2028) derives its name.
Entitled “Building a Provincial Roadmap for Decisive Action through resilience, hard work and progress,” it was premised on five key areas:
- energy security: climate change and a just transition
- fighting poverty, unemployment and inequality, infrastructure
- fighting crime and corruption
- skills development, and
- localisation and investment
The Digital Era
Noting the devastating impact of Covid-19 and how it “rushed all of us into a new digital era which required new systems,” he expressed how the province “did not ‘let a crisis go to waste.'” In this regard he mentioned how three years ago the province had embarked on a provincial broadband strategy so as to “enhance the provision of government services including e-health, e-education and e-government.” On top of the 5 connectivity sites built by MTN, the company hopes to build 25 more and to modernise 48 others this year. “Vodacom and MTN will invest about R410 Million this financial year in our province. These investments will ensure connectivity for all. The SA Connect Project will implement 1599 sites for Phase Two over the next three years in clinics and schools in this province. This initiative lays the ground for much complex domains of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) such as artificial intelligence.”
The Premier also announced the development of a digital Thusong Service Centre model App that would bring government services directly to people’s cellphones. All public and special needs schools would be provided with routers for administration as well as tablets to Grade 12 learners. Digital technologies would also be intensified in the health care sector.
Unemployment
“12 000 jobs were gained between the third and fourth quarter of 2022” said the Premier. This brings the number of employed people in the province to 336 000 whilst unemployment has dropped from 116 000nto 95 000. He noted that “these are the lowest unemployment figures in the province in 14 years and directly correlates to the more than 25% increase in our GDP from R96 Billion in 2019 to R124 Billion in 2022.” This, he said, means we have the lowest official unemployment rate in the country, amongst the youth, and are also the province where unemployment is lower among males than females. He also announced that in partnership with MLAB South Africa, youths would be enrolled in various skills programmes.
Infrastructure
Dubbing “investment infrastructure as the backbone of a thriving economy,” the Premier said that, “our infrastructure priorities focus on building schools, health facilities, roads, housing, energy, water and sanitation.” Plans are afoot for the establishment of a Green Hydrogen National Programme which will not only establish energy security and foreign direct investment but four of the nine identified projects are in the Northern Cape. Phase One construction is due to commence in the beginning of the financial year at the Upington Industrial Park. More than 120 jobs and the fixing of 23 000 square meters of potholes were achieved through Operation Vala Zonke, he continued. In this arear more than 50 small contractors were targeted for an incubation programme and the first intake of the Northern Cape Construction Company completed their training.
In a bid to develop small towns the province has rolled out the Township and Rural Economy Grant “and have concluded various social compacts in the area of skills development, SMME support and Corporate Social Investment. Vedanta mine pledged a R21 billion rand investment in the Northern Cape.” R14,9 million has been set aside for deserving students in 2024/2025 with 3 866 benefitting from NSFAS and other bursaries.
The province has developed an energy renewal strategy whose “objective is to assist the SMMEs in entering into power purchase agreements with the government and private sector to acquire loan funding from banks to procure the PV [solar] systems.” Mentioning various natural disasters that have caused havoc in the province over the last decade, he thanked Gift of the Givers for having variously aided with “food and bottled water, the drilling of 238 boreholes, and contributing to food security by providing fodder.”
Education
74,2% of those who wrote all subjects in the 2022 National Senior Certificate examination passed. Through student support and teacher development, the overarching goal is attain a 80% pass. Central “to this is the urgent need to strengthen our intake capacity for Early Childhood Development as about 75% of our children in the province do not have access to ECD.
Health
“In the past nine months no Covid-19-related deaths has been reported,” said the Premier. “The province has maintained its level 4 vaccination success rate…increased medication availability to stabilize at an average of 85% across all of our facilities.” 1 531 wheelchairs have been distributed. Sadly, “the Northern Cape is amongst the highest proportion of households that experience hunger.” To this end, the Premier “continues to work together with different stakeholders ,government, non-governmental organisations and civil society to address food insecurity.”
The Premier spoke out strongly against the scourge of Gender-based violence, pursuing improved audit outcomes in government departments and municipalities, the Local Government Anti-Corruption forum and ended on an inspiring story about the opera singer Pretty Yende.
President Ramaphosa’s Cabinet Reshuffle
Often derided amongst the chattering classes as an incompetent and inept lot who belong in old-age homes than at the levers of power, no matter how one looked at it, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet reshuffle was never going to sit well with anybody except maybe those MPs who were spared the red cards.
By some accounts, The Buffalo didn’t quite dish out nearly enough of those. If the naysayers are to be believed, not enough of the dead wood were shown the dugout despite the own goals in energy, state-owned enterprises and the latest crime statistics. In our own Colesberg, the post office is on the verge of shutting its doors, leaving many residents pondering the future of their mail, not to mention the rates correspondence with the municipality. Certain areas around eMpolweni are relying on water trucks to get through the day. And of course there is the omniscent feature that is loadshedding biting the entire nation in the proverbial.
To the latter gripe, the President introduced a minister in the Presidency for electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, which felt a little like calling on the twelfth man when a full squad has already been fielded.
The fact that there are two players in the form of Pravin Gordhan in public enterprises and his hardline colleague Gwede Mantashe in minerals and energy tasked with whipping Eskom into shape so we can have the lights back on “until Jesus comes back,” has been attributed largely to Ramaphosa’s peacekeeping efforts between the latter two.
Apparently there isn’t much on which they are able to see eye to eye.
To the one, the commercialisation of the power utility has the logic of gravity. To the other, even the sheer thought of doing away with coal is enough to elicit a tongue lashing in a notorious gruff voice. Exactly how “Sputla” – as the new minister is known in party circles – will play his game without stepping on the toes of these two heavyweights when Mantashe has already reduced him to a “project manager” will be the stuff of future commentary.
Anyway, there was a fog of similar reconfiguring faux pas and startling substitutions that had pundits collecting their dropped mandibles from the floor.
Wtf? The more forthright residents of the metaverse would’ve been posting on all but seemingly two of these.
The booting of the Minister of Condolences and Congratulations – a title conferred on Minister Nathi Mthethwa who seemed largely MIA – except when paying condolences at funerals – in his portfolio in sports, arts and culture was a matter seemingly long overdue in the arts community.
Tweeps were also gleaming on the axing of the writer of that controversial opinion piece aimed at the judiciary early last year, tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu. Daughter to Walter and Albertina Sisulu, Struggle royalty or not, the Buffalo still served her the demotion papers to the back benches.
Although this was to be expected, Ramaphosa clearly did not want to be seen as the barbaric Conan who crushes his enemies…and hears the lamentation of their women. He retained his opponent from the 2017 Nasrec elective conference, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, although he exiled her to, according to Professor Mcebisi Ndletyana, “the Siberia of the government” to the peripheral ministry of children, women and people with disabilities. According to the Prof, this where individuals are sent to be forgotten.” Paul Mashatile would’ve been glad having finally being sworn in as deputy president following David “DD” Mabuza’s resignation.
Our homegirl, former Northern Cape premier and Transport Minister Dipuo Peters made a surprise comeback as Deputy Minister of Small Business Development amongst a slew of other deputies.
“I have,” Ramaphosa said, “instructed both new and existing members of the Cabinet to act with speed and urgency to address the challenges the challenges that our country faces.”
“I expect them to fulfil their tasks with rigour and dedication, to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to corruption wherever it exists, and to place the interests of the people of South Africa foremost in the work that they do.
“This is the standard that I will hold them to, and I have full confidence that they will meet it. We must waste no time and spare no effort in restoring the promise of South Africa.”
The Red Tsunami Set to Sweep through Mzansi
It was easy to shrug off the Economic Freedom Fighters’ call for a shutdown back in January as another one of its leader’s Julius Malema’s fearmongering and attention-seeking stunts. Yeah sure, many would’ve thought, loadshedding bothers us all and that Ramaphosa fella, well he’s been quite a letdown…but to protest, no thanks. But looking at the news, the Red Berets seem to have unnerved everybody – from the lowly street vendor to the country’s First Citizen. Not only are they grabbing headlines, they are the talk of the town, literally.
Here at home business owners are wondering whether they should open for trade come 20 May; News24 reported that law enforcement were removing hundreds of tyres in Cape Town; the Defence ministry has put the army on stand-by; not one who likes to issue out statements, the President himself has come out against the planned shutdown; it has been compared to Benito Mussolini’s march on Rome. Hostile words have been said, with Malema seemingly making veiled threats against the business community.
That the leader of SA Federation of Trade Unions, Zwelinzima Vavi, is the most notable figure to have aligned himself with Malema’s shutdown has seemingly done little to allay the concerns permeating throughout civil society. Though a measured, articulate man often portraying genuine empathy to the cause of the working class and impoverished, Vavi’s “comrade in arms” is entirely a different kettle of fish. For Malema, it would seem, belligerent rhetoric lies at the heart of his political strategy. Experience has shown him that that sort of language garners massive attention, both from the media and public and he has had many practice runs in mobilising his “Fighters” to know that a shutdown of this magnitude would likely catapult his presence to greater heights.
When H&M released that doomed advertisement of a black child in a t-shirt with the words, “coolest monkey in the jungle,” the EFF trashed at least one of the company’s stores. Following the murder of 21-year old farm manager Brendin Horner and the subsequent racial tensions in the Free State town of Senekal, it was the EFF who made a huge show of force. When Clicks flighted that controversial advertisement around black hair, Malema simply tweeted that his ground forces should ATTACK and in no time several Clicks stores were raided. The “k**l the boer” incident, Brackenfell High School – Malema knows which buttons to push.
At the time of writing we are just shy of 48 hours until the shutdown gets underway. There are concerns that the episode might lead to scenes reminiscent of the July 2021 Unrest marred by rampant looting, severe loss of life and a police service that was caught flatfooted. Unlike back then, this time around the boys in blue have been sufficiently warned and however the shutdown plays itself out, one only hopes that ordinary South Africans will not be subjected to any form of intimidation and violence. And should that happen, one is crossing fingers that we can count on those who have been tasked to protect and serve to be more than equal to the task.
Another perceptive, timely and entertaining piece from Phakamisa Mayaba.