An infighting GNU appears to be working

It must suck to be the DA in Oudtshoorn right now. Who would have thought that the ANC and VF+ would find common ground? GNU, GPU, GLU – wherever you look, the unity doesn’t appear to be spreading uniformly. Yet, somehow, things are looking up.

For the first time in years, we have more electricity than we need. The Electoral Commission has received a clean audit. A new Public Procurement Act is now in force to ensure public money is properly directed. The stock market is thriving, and the economy is poised for the biggest growth we’ve seen in years.

Despite its kinks, South Africa is looking pretty good right now. One might be tempted to credit this to the new GNU, cabinet ministers, or any number of political changes, but a critical question remains: what have they actually done?

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The bulk of the political energy in the last month seems to have been spent on fighting alliance partners and moaning about each other. Visible leadership has been minimal, with most of it characterised by grandstanding.

So, if not the political leaders, what’s the cause of this improvement in South Africa? Obviously, it’s the leaders…not getting in the way.

With everyone trying to score a win to have a reason to initiate a vote of no confidence, political leaders have to be on their best behavior. Business as usual in the South African sense can’t continue because, where once corruption might have gone unchecked, it now has consequences.

Two years ago, you’d hear about a provincial director of public prosecutions being caught for bribery and bet that nothing would come of it. Today, such a dude actually got axed!

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With nobody having the political impunity to stick their necks out knowing that nothing could happen to them, supporting bad actors in the political sphere is the business equivalent of holding toxic assets.

Toxic assets were alright in the days when holding them didn’t cost anything and the stock market was just going up based on silly speculation but once that bubble burst, nobody wants anything to do with them.

The once-popular Ace couldn’t even fill half a main stadium in the province he ruled for a decade.

With no relevant figures wanting to be associated with those who put the country up as collateral for their own gain, the nation can continue doing what it’s really good at: letting its people excel and supporting them in that.

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With steady electricity, industry can thrive. With policy certainty, trade can develop. Without worrying about which cadre benefits from which deal, national priorities can be addressed. Deals can actually happen again, and it seems the stock market is noticing.

This shows that we don’t need a bloated, top-heavy government filled with muppets stumbling over each other for personal gain. We need leaders who allow us to get on with things, ask how they can support, and foster growth through opportunity and education.

One can make a lot of noise about the number of houses, schools, and hospitals built, or claim victories through empty capital injections that decay and rot. Hopefully, on this trajectory, we’ll look back on these past years as the new old South Africa – the one where our ugly past was used as way of making policy so porous that anything goes regardless of the outcome.

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In this new era, it’s exciting to see that we can actually judge leadership by their realised outcomes. Wait a minute! Maybe there’s something to be said for that outcomes-based education after all…