Five Christmas presents I want from Ramaphosa

We’re about to enter our first full year without lockdown restrictions since 2019. It’s nothing to scoff at. Only, we’re still faced with the issues of the last decade but no longer have any excuses. People keep saying its time for action but action is merely a part of the South African political lexicon; it isn’t much more than words.

So I’ve been thinking; if the most we can hope for is words, at least in the hope that we can hold some to account in the coming years, what words would I like to hear from President Cyril Ramaphosa?

1. Words of consolidation, not consolation

Ramaphosa has political capital now. He won by a greater margin than in 2017. I’d love to hear him say he’s going to cut out the people who stand in his way. Obviously, that will be wishful thinking because the party he leads is built on branded bricks labelled quid pro quo.

What is less wishful would be to hear him shut down the ridiculous rhetoric of “representation”. It’s that kind of rhetoric that claims that you need a ginger haired person on the committee otherwise gingers aren’t properly represented by that committee. I make it sound juvenile because the obvious conclusion is that people are only able to represent those who are their identical equals in all aspects.

Ramaphosa can shut that down by telling women, LGBTQIs and those who still insist on using Nokia phones what he’s doing for those communities. He must show how it is possible for representation to cater for communities without being in one of those communities.

2. Words that give a plan about our energy situation

Getting rid of Andre de Ruyter or not. I don’t have a dog in that fight but I detest how we’ve all become so attracted to the idea of Eskom being fixed by a single person. Give us the plan.

In desperation, I looked at the National Development Plan (NDP) and shook my head at the vast regression from the goals in the last decade rather than progress towards them. Nobody is going to believe you if you point to the NDP right now, so let’s have Cde President tell us what plan he’s actually following. None of that wishy-washy stuff… just three pages detailing the capacity, cost and growth over the coming years.

I don’t care who leads Eskom. I just need to know what I can expect from them. I also want a roadmap to ending load shedding which I, for the life of me, cannot believe we don’t have after all these years stuck with it.

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3. Words which speak to national financial responsibility

Seven-and-a-half-million people on the R350 grant. Lekker! I’m happy people who couldn’t can now afford a couple of potatoes, onions and maybe a litre of petrol. If, this is the way we want to keep people out of poverty, do I have news for you. R350 hardly puts a person at half the limit of the lowest poverty line. In other words, we’re paying R2.62 billion a month to keep 7.5 million people floating below the surface.

It doesn’t sound overly sustainable nor effective. At best, you’re creating a toxic relationship between the state and its people, where even if they wanted to, they can’t leave because they need you by your own doing – even if they don’t like you.

Can the president just tell us what needs to be done to make it so that we can live in a country where those 7.5 million people will be able to stand on their own two feet.

4. Words confirming our position on the National Development Plan

The NDP is a great thing to have and Ramaphosa was even the deputy commissioner on that 489-page monster of a document. It just seems to exist in stasis though. I’ve looked at the recommendations and can’t see how many of the recommendations have even ever been read, let alone considered.

Take a random page like 232. One of the recommendations admits that “many rural municipalities lack the financial and technical capacity to manage water services adequately” then goes on to recommend some “flexibility… as long as municipalities retain their role as the political authority responsible for service oversight”.

We can play this game of finding a joke on most random pages but I’d rather like to hear what our leader has to say on how I can expect this document to change my life or whether I need to lose hope on it. I mean, we’re coming up to seven years left before the 2030 goals should be reached and the most I can say about that thus far is ‘LOL’.

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5. Words of vision

The president is the leader of the majority party that will be contesting a national election in 2024. That leaves one full year to build a foundation, for, as it stands, it will be his contestation for re-election as the national president. 

Would 2023 not be a great time to set the tone for what another five years under Ramaphosa will look like? I think so. So it would be marvelous to hear what 2023 is supposed to look like instead of some bundu bashing ‘we’ll see when we get there’ strategy.

I swear I’ve been a good boy this year and if Santa Cupcake could drop a note containing all that info down my chimney, I’d be most delighted. I’d offer milk and cookies but if we’re honest about what should be on that note, I think Santa Cupcake will have a lot of work to do.