Lorato Tshenkeng
Pretoria - During his inauguration on Africa Day in 2019, President Cyril Ramaphosa, closing his address, said, “Having taken the oath of office, I am saying yes, South Africa, Thuma Mina.
“And I pledge here today that I will serve you, I will work with you, side by side, to build the South Africa that we all want and deserve.” These words were a seal, committing the president to put South Africa first – not his governing party, the ANC.
After many years of impunity and the hollowing out of state institutions, this was a necessary commitment to: run a clean government that survives on accountability; prioritise consequence management so as to root out corruption; accept the responsibility of rebuilding trust and confidence in the state through decisive, progressive and corrective action; be an example of servant leadership and affirm equality before the law.
Most importantly, it was a commitment to raise South Africa’s competitive edge so as to improve the country’s attractiveness to local and international investors, and maintain a conducive environment for skilled professionals to choose.
This commitment was meant to be affirmed by results. Unfortunately, the evidence shows a disappointing regression.
According to the latest World Competitiveness Yearbook by the Swiss-based Institute of Management Development, South Africa’s competitiveness dropped six places from 2019 to 2021. In 2021, we were ranked 62 out of 64 countries, from 56 in 2019.
The drop is attributed to unemployment, rising public debt levels amid a shrinking fiscal space, lack of decisive plans to revive the struggling economy, ongoing electricity supply problems and rolling blackouts, as well as slow vaccination rates to fast-track the post Covid-19 recovery.
Of course, the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan announced by the government in October 2020 was intended to mitigate the deepening national crisis.
Critically, to ensure successful implementation of this plan, Ramaphosa’s government identified a number of enablers – including resource mobilisation and the fight against corruption – which highlighted the need for eradicating the culture of weak accountability and improving public transparency.
Just over half way through his tenure, Ramaphosa finds himself in a corner which presents him an opportunity to demonstrate how he and his executive actually value accountability.
His response to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts’ (Scopa) probe into the allegations of misappropriation of public funds by the ANC, which surfaced in a leaked audio recording – will reveal Ramaphosa, either as an honest leader who values clean governance and accountability, or one who just pays lip service both.
It is reasonable to expect him to make a full disclosure, but South Africans should not hold their breaths as the president is clearly heard in the audio recording saying, he “would rather fall on (his) sword than account”.
Furthermore, Ramaphosa’s lack of decisiveness when it comes to his leadership is another way the sixth administration is entrenching the culture of weak accountability.
For instance, his apparent failure to rein in misbehaving ministers who clearly defy and undermine him, and how he is widely viewed as weak by South Africans because he prefers pandering to theatrics largely led by enemies he knows, and can’t deal with.
Unfortunately, when Ramaphosa fails in accountability, we can only expect his administration to take its cue from his leadership style, and that is a terrible thing for our country.
This kind of leadership thwarts any hope of South Africa returning to global competitiveness.
Like any aberrant thing in life, lack of accountability has very serious implications. Our country is gradually sinking into a dark pit thanks to the gloomy economic outlook, endemic corruption, deepening inequality, millions suffering from chronic hunger, and unprecedented youth unemployment levels that are a ticking time bomb.
We need a president who not only promises to work with us, side by side, in building the South Africa that we all want and deserve, but who puts the country and its citizens first, by setting a good example when he responds to Scopa.
If Ramaphosa fails to be transparent and truthful it would be a clear commitment to hold South Africa back, and sadly, a commitment to deliberately embolden impunity.
Even when the president and his ANC continue to fail the accountability test, South Africans must never stop believing. We have it in us to change things for the better. Some of our efforts to improve governance should include our determination to be active citizens who demand accountability from leaders in the government, business and civil society.
We must also identify and support institutions such as Accountability Now, which is on a mission to amend the Constitution to establish a dedicated anti-corruption integrity commission.
Improving good governance can only do the country good, especially improving our global competitiveness and attractiveness to investors as a good place to do business, which would, in turn, boost economic growth and create jobs.
Pretoria News