EDINBURGH — Headlines about industrial-scale corruption and global money-laundering by Jacob Zuma’s family and friends mask the grave reality of life in a dysfunctional state. As The Economist notes, eight out of 10 children nearing the end of their primary school years cannot read or understand a simple sentence. No-one trusts the police, either. This influential business and finance magazine largely blames Zuma for these “lost years”. It urges its South African readers to support President Cyril Ramaphosa at the polling stations next month. This is in acknowledgement that Ramaphosa is not your typical 21st century ANC leader; he doesn’t have his hands in the proverbial cooky jar and seems intent on working in the national interest rather than self-interest. Ramaphosa has already demonstrated his commitment to rebuilding South Africa, with commissions of inquiry into state capture and graft starting to weed out graft-tainted comrades. – Jackie Cameron
By Thulasizwe Sithole
To stop the rot in South Africa, back Cyril Ramaphosa, says influential magazine The Economist. It summarises the ruling party as follows: “Good man, bad party.”
“The liberal opposition cannot win an election on May 8th. So it is up to the president to clean up his own party’s mess,” its editors comment.
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The Economist picks up on the ANC slogan that promises “a better life for all”.
“The contrast with the old apartheid regime, which promised a good life only for whites, has never needed spelling out. As the party that helped liberate black South Africans from votelessness and segregation, the ANC has ruled uninterrupted since apartheid ended in 1994, always winning national elections by wide margins,” it continues.
“The trouble is, when one party has nearly all the power, the kind of people who seek power in order to abuse it and grow rich flock to join that party,” points out The Economist.
“Corruption, always a problem, became so widespread under Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s atrocious president from 2009 to 2018, that a more accurate ANC slogan during his rule would have been ‘a better life for the president and his cronies”.
As a special report describes, “in those nine lost years Mr Zuma’s chums systematically plundered the state. Honest watchdogs were sacked”.
The result: “Investors fled, economic growth stalled, public debt soared and unemployment (even by a narrow definition) rose from 23% to 27%. Eskom, the bloated, looted national electricity firm, can no longer reliably keep the lights on or factories humming. Corruption has crippled public services.”
Worse than corruption, many South Africans are frightened of their own police, and nearly 80% of nine- and ten-year-olds cannot read or understand a simple sentence, adds The Economist.
