If ANC does not see signs of a failing state, Zimbabwe is not far off

When Zimbabwean Rejoyce Moyo this week lamented how bad things have become in South Africa, I had to listen attentively.

A nursing sister by profession, Moyo told me of her advanced plans to relocate to the UK – which has seen a surge in Africans gaining work opportunities in the health sector. An economic migrant, Moyo is obviously emigrating for greener pastures: a far better salary and improved living conditions for herself – the same reasons she settled in SA in the ’90s, escaping the tyranny of Zanu-PF and a crashing economy.

What I found fascinating in her conversation, was her first-hand experience in a post-democratic epoch of her country – making a comparative analysis of SA under the ANC and Zimbabwe under a Zanu-PF rule. She told me of her high hopes when Robert Mugabe took over from Ian Smith – seen by many as an end of colonialism, segregation, underscoring a political power in black hands.

Said Moyo: “The Zanu-PF led government was soon firmly in the driving seat, steering the levers of state power very well, with the world acknowledging the country as a beacon of hope for Africa. There was a boom in the economy, with agriculture becoming a major contributor to Zimbabwe being recognised as the economic bread basket in southern Africa.”

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The bread basket later became a symbol of hopelessness – bare shelves; a skyrocketing inflation at 256%; pay strikes by civil servants; a weak currency; brutal suppression of activism; high levels of corruption – and a bleak future. As a result, a quarter of the Zimbabwean population fled to SA for “a better life” and better job prospects – and Moyo was among them.

Like Zimbabweans, black South Africans had high hopes after voting the ANC into power. An ultimate end to apartheid and Nelson Mandela emerging as the only unifier augured well for the nation and the world.

The Madiba dream later dissipated into thin air when rampant corruption, state capture, the hollowing out of state-owned enterprises, jobs for pals … set in under the ANC rule.

A stagnant economy, potholes; the collapse of infrastructure; soaring unemployment levels, a frightening crime rate; looting; load shedding; high inflation; rising fuel prices; an ineffective security force; lack of leadership – all became signs of a failing state.

Last year alone saw the impact of the Covid lockdown restrictions and the spate of civil disorder leading to a contraction of the economy, with the real gross domestic product in a state of slump by 1.5% and some economic gains recorded in the second quarter of 2020 eroded.

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Agriculture recorded its most significant drop in production since 2016 – contracting by 13.6%, with the trade industry having declined by 5.5%. While our dire current economic situation can be explained in world terms – global recession and the war in Ukraine – nothing can replace good, ethical governance to drive the Madiba dream.

The ANC’s betrayal of what Mandela sought to build should be seen as the selling out of SA to the highest bidder. And – if the bigwigs at the Union Building do not see these as signs of a failing state, Zimbabwe is not far off.