In SA, political leaders taking full responsibility is taboo

Call it “a technical glitch” or offer whatever spin to absolve Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu and her Communications and Digital Technologies counterpart Mondli Gungubele from taking full responsibility.

If it could not have been prevented by those who get paid to serve the public, there was no plausible excuse for what has led to thousands of frail South Africans not receiving their social grants this month.

Against the background of high levels of poverty and unemployment, the payment of the state grant has become a sensitive matter for millions who solely depend on it for survival, with immediate families and grandchildren seeing it as the only form of alleviating poverty.

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Disturbing scenes of pensioners – some accompanied by their grandchildren – spending their last penny in taxi fares to travel and queue at the Post Office under a scorching sun to be told their monies are not available is enough to reduce you to tears.

Perhaps not for Zulu and Gungubele, assured of the trappings of public office: massive salaries, staff, bodyguards, state homes and many other perks – enough to cushion them from the reality of poverty.

Are we not reminded of the famous phrase by French queen Marie-Antoinette during the French Revolution: “Let them eat cake”?

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Being insensitive to the realities of life for the unfortunate has, in the case of Zulu and Gungubele, led to all kinds of explanations – far too sophisticated to be understood by a gogo maRadebe or a mkhulu Jolinkomo.

Addressing parliament, Zulu admitted that technical failures at the SA Social Security Agency “threatened the lives of social grant beneficiaries”. Stating the obvious, she said social grants were “the only form of income, upon which beneficiaries’ livelihood is founded”.

She then said “technical glitches” began when the SA Post Office and its subsidiary, Postbank, adopted a new payment system in October 2022.

“Prior to the implementation of the switch, grant beneficiaries experienced neither withdrawal failures nor funds deductions.”

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These glitches, she said, were beyond her department’s control – acknowledging that the non-payment of grants was not just affecting livelihoods but eroding public trust. If the glitches surfaced in 2022, could she not have immediately adopted a hands-on approach – rolling up her sleeves to find efficient professionals to deliver on the public mandate?

Gungubele’s explanation was not far off: “The system challenges led to transactions of beneficiaries resulting in a transaction incomplete error because all the systems communication time outs. Transaction incomplete errors are common payment system errors within the space due to automated reversal functionality.

“Regrettably, this resulted in some social grant beneficiaries not receiving their social grant payments on time.

“We’d like to reassure our social grant beneficiaries, the public and all stakeholders that the system challenges are – as a matter of fact – resolved on the morning of the 6th of September.”

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Unlike in other democracies like the UK, where former prime minister Boris Johnson had to step down after breaking Covid regulations by holding a party at 10 Downing Street – we have yet to see a minister or president step down for failure to discharge duties efficiently.

Here, in South Africa, political leaders taking full responsibility is taboo. Waiting for a Cabinet reshuffle has become the norm. For now, you can get away with “a technical glitch” explanation while the masses suffer.

After all, the French queen showed us the way.