Mixed report cards, one year on

This past Sunday marked one year since Jacob Zuma assumed the position as president of the country. All and sundry issued evaluations: with one or two exceptions, most were negative; and with most focusing so much on personality that they missed the fact that South Africa is still very much a country in transition. What lies behind is probably far less important than what lies ahead in terms of the further management of this transition.

This month also marks the centenary since the creation of South Africa as a modern unitary state in 1910 after the National Convention of 1909, which saw the birth of the Union of South Africa from two independent republics and two British colonies. Looking back over those 100 years can render some perspectives and lessons on what occurs today.

Similar to South Africa post-1994, the Union of South Africa still carried the scars of a bitter liberation struggle. While a successful country was built over the years, despite great diversity even among those who gained the power to govern, its greatest fault line was the exclusion of the majority of the population.

More than 20 years after the establishment of the Union, the scars of the then liberation struggle confronted the government of the day with the reality and danger of armed resistance in the form of the Ossewabrandwag when it decided to enter World War 2 on the side of Britain.

Eventually, that threat was dealt with successfully.

Then, under the slogan “South Africa first”, anti-imperial forces – led by the then National Party – took political control in 1948 in the wake of the war and built a successful state on the back of the economic boom years that followed.

But, those years initially saw a dip in the quality of state administration, as top positions often went to sympathisers rather than those best qualified for the job. Using the establishment of state enterprises with as much a social as an economic mission, was very much the order of the day.

In the end, it was rather the economic front of the second liberation struggle – with its sanctions and international isolation – rather than the armed struggle which delivered the final liberation of 1994. Again, the country was blessed with the fact that pragmatism won the day over factionalism.

The South Africa of today still clearly carries the legacies of the second liberation struggle. It is the symptoms of this legacy which lie behind most of the negative commentary that has come the way of the Zuma administration over the last few days. These include:

Cronyism and political affiliation playing the most important role in the appointment of key staff in top civil administration positions. That efforts are afoot to deal with this problem is illustrated among others by the adoption of a Municipal Systems Amendment Bill reported on elsewhere in this Bulletin;

The struggle has given South Africa a governing alliance that has brought stakeholders such as the trade unions under the umbrella of Cosatu into the government of the day while they should, in a democracy, be one of the counter balances to government in a system of checks and balances. Tensions in the national household stemming from this unhealthy relationship is clear to see, and it is only a matter of time before it normalises;

It was to be expected that the rising cadre of captains of industry in the newly liberated South Africa would come with struggle credentials and old relationships, friendship and loyalties from those times. It would have been too much, in the process, to not have expected a blurring of lines between state, government and business. There are some signs that this problem is receiving attention from the Zuma administration, but much work still lies ahead; and

Apparent loose cannons are clearly still caught up in struggle ideology and rhetoric, such as ANC Youth League (ANCYL) leader Julius Malema when he justifies his provocative statements by referring to those made by past, struggle-day ANCYL leaders. He obviously does not understand that being in the government has brought completely different responsibilities to ANC leadership at all levels. It remains to be seen if the present senior leadership under Zuma will be able to deal successfully with this situation.

In the end, Zuma will be judged by history on how well he has managed this difficult phase of South Africa’s transition to a fully normalised society.

For now, there is hope to be found in the reaction of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) to Zuma’s first year in Tuynhuis: “President Jacob Zuma's administration has some notable successes to its credit after one year in office, despite big challenges still ahead.”

After listing a number of positives on mainly the economic front, the BUSA statement concludes: "BUSA believes that, given President Zuma's commitment to partnership with the private sector, this provides the platform from which to seek solutions to the outstanding challenges.

"We must build further on the constructive relationship that exists between business and government, as well as mobilising the enhanced role of social dialogue in Nedlac [National Economic Development and Labour Council], which has also been emphasised by President Zuma."

Economic pragmatism may just do it again for South Africa.