Faith: South Africa’s miracle lies in its hope

South Africans are generally a hopeful nation despite the negativity that bombards them every day.

They showed this by embracing the Springboks’ stressful but successful defence of the Rugby World Cup, even when electricity blackouts were at their worst.

When the celebrations ended and the programmed darkness returned, the country’s collective spirit of looking to the future with hope returned.

And it is this hope that is based on nothing but the belief that what carried the country through the bloody and scary days of the ’90s will see it through what looks to be a very uncertain and shaky 2024.

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No political analyst can tell with any degree of certainty what this year’s general election will deliver.

Although there is a general expectation that the ANC will take a massive hit at the polls, no one can say for sure if this means a guaranteed change from the ANC’s 30 years in power.

Or even more alarmingly, a chaotic coalition government that might leave the national government as hamstrung as the City of Joburg municipality. This has seen big parties hand over the leadership of Africa’s most sophisticated economy to unknown and untested coalition partners.

The reality is that when the industrial sector starts up again soon, regular load shedding will return.

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No miracle happened in December that says the Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, will not be explaining away multiple failures of generating units two weeks from now.

The only miracle that can happen is a carefully laid-out plan, financially resourced and logistically supported by a sound engineering process to root out the endemic rot at Eskom, to remove SA’s most debilitating economic hurdle.

And this is where the country’s resilient hope comes in handy – to look forward to possible change and work towards this, even when the outcome of the polls is not clear to anyone.

SA can choose to look at the emergence of what seems to be an ethnically based and disgruntled splinter group from the ruling party in the form of the uMkhonto weSizwe party with alarm, or decide that like what seemed to be insurmountable pre-’94, our spirit and resilience will see us through any turbulence and political instability without lasting damage.

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The cult personality that is former president Jacob Zuma and KwaZulu-Natal’s lack of a clear traditional leading figure after the passing of Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, and the courts’ decision to set aside King Misuzulu’s presidential endorsement as king means KZN is ripe for opportunists, but this will come with instability.

The gathering of momentum towards a set election date might actually provide the cushion that is required to focus people towards solutions rather than the chaos of the July 2021 riots.

Although economic hardships and pessimism mean that there will always be a ready band of young, unemployed people who can be easily swayed to loot and cause chaos at a moment’s notice, the public’s appetite for prolonged violence and instability is not there anymore.

This is because the violence of the ’90s took quite a toll on the people.

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An astute opposition leader can wisely position themselves not as a messiah, but as someone who channels the hope that not even the worst of the past 30 years seems to have eroded. A hope that is uniquely South African.

If this individual can tune into that, they can easily channel that hope into a political force to be reckoned with. One that can deliver SA’s second miracle in 2024.