Why is it that so soon after the African National Congress (ANC) won a new electoral mandate, some of South Africa’s townships have descended into chaos with widespread rioting? Ask the protesters and they will say that after 15 years in power, the ANC has still failed to deliver on its promises to improve their lives.
The gap between the rich and the poor has widened. The replacement housing program for the millions trapped in the townships has been a scandal. The government will point to the fact that three million new homes have been built.
However, not only has the quality of these new houses often been extremely poor, with some contractors skimping on materials to maximize their profits but also the allocation of the buildings has been dominated by corruption and nepotism. Nor have basic services been supplied to many areas of the shantytowns. Those that do have power have discovered they are frequently the first to be cut off as South Africa’s power utility Eskom struggles to manage increasing demand after a woefully inadequate investment program in new generation capacity.
Yet it was only weeks ago that ANC leader Jacob Zuma won an overwhelming victory in a generally fair election, when many in the townships again voted for the ANC. Part of the problem seems to be that with South Africa in the grip of the worst recession for 17 years, the economic opportunities for township inhabitants have shrunk markedly. This became evident in the deplorable ethnic violence when poor South Africans turned brutally on Zimbabwean refugees in their midst.
Given the government’s lack of financial flexibility in the current downturn, there would seem little it can do economically to boost the prospects of the country’s poorest. There is, however, one highly important step that Zuma could take right now to change the lot of the most disadvantaged and by extension the promise for all South Africans. He needs to set about making good on his promises to clean up on corruption. He himself has escaped charges of peculation, which he always denied vigorously. But he and his government have to recognize that a combination of corruption and sheer incompetence are driving South Africa toward disaster. This along with Nigeria is a country that should be the economic powerhouse for the whole continent. But in the view of many local economists, South Africa is frittering away its chances and descending into the same incoherent venality that has blighted Nigeria.
It could be argued that the ANC has been too long in power. Because it has not been challenged effectively in Parliament by a powerful opposition, it has not been held properly to account for a string of failures, of which the transformation of the townships has only been one of the more obvious examples.
The leaders of the Rainbow Nation need to wake up to the fact that their renewed electoral mandate is a last chance to get things right and if they do not act soon, anger and violence will grow, simply adding to their challenges.
