While President Thabo Mbeki was ”refreshingly candid” about some issues in his State of the Nation address to Parliament on Friday, he disappointed on others, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said.
Mbeki should be congratulated for much of his candid frankness, but, sadly, most of the speech resembled a bureaucratic wish list of ideals and dreams that lacked a coherent vision, Leon said afterwards.
The African National Congress (ANC) has been at the helm of the government for the past 13 years, a long period in office in the democratic world. It was therefore surprising that so much of the president’s speech consisted of a ”to-do list”.
”I must confess to being disappointed about the way in which President Mbeki dealt with the crisis of crime. When the country is crying out for empathy and passionate commitment to fighting crime, he gives us bureaucratic lists of things to be done.
”While I believe crime received more space in the address because of direct public pressure, it remains to be seen whether the proposed steps and improvements announced will yield positive results,” Leon said.
Mbeki was refreshingly candid about many other aspects and shortcomings.
”As he was entitled to do, he took credit for some of the things going right, such as peace in the Great Lakes region, South Africa’s place in the United Nations Security Council and relatively high levels of economic growth.”
However, Mbeki’s correct identification of major problems in the capacity of the state’s delivery system was not matched by an acknowledgement that the ”transformation at all costs and in every instance” approach had been a major cause of the crisis, Leon said.
Independent Democrats (ID) leader Patricia de Lille was quite forthright.
”We expected him to show stronger and decisive leadership in dealing with two of the biggest threats facing our democracy — crime and corruption.”
Mbeki did not heed the ID’s call for a national crime summit, and the party will now start its own initiative to get such a summit off the ground. ”Clearly, the battle against crime cannot be left exclusively in the hands of government,” she said.
Real change
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa praised Mbeki’s address, saying it could lay the foundation for real change.
”President Mbeki has delivered an issue-driven speech during his State of the Nation address,” Holomisa said. ”It is possible that this speech can lay the foundation for real change that will in turn provide hope and turn around the low morale within essential departments, such as health, education and the South African Police Service.”
Mbeki’s emphasis on unity and partnership among all South Africans as they confront the challenges was welcome. Also, ”We are relieved that he did acknowledge crime in his speech,” Holomisa said.
What now remains is for the members of Mbeki’s Cabinet to spell out in detail in the coming weeks how they intend to give substance to the broad strokes painted in the president’s speech.
The most notable oversight in Mbeki’s speech was the complete absence of any reference to the arms deal. ”He said nothing about the latest revelations regarding the tens of millions of rands of bribes allegedly paid to senior government officials, which is being investigated in both Germany and Britain.
”If these allegations are baseless, he should have said so, but his silence just creates further doubt,” Holomisa said.
Crime crisis
Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder said it was disappointing that Mbeki treated crime in his speech as only another of South Africa’s many problems without once highlighting the seriousness of the current crime crisis.
”With reference to crime and poverty alleviation there weren’t any imaginative or new suggestions as to how these problems could be resolved. That which he had announced was a repetition of existing suggestions and policy which had been announced in the past. It unfortunately won’t resolve the crime problems,” he said.
The FF+ has for a long time been warning about the risks and dangers of polarisation between the different communities within South Africa — a complicated society with different societies that has to be managed with sensitivity.
”The FF+ therefore welcomes the president’s reference to problems of social cohesion in South Africa, stating that it has to be addressed. The acknowledgement of the president that the government alone can not fix it is meaningful. The FF+ will gladly participate in this debate as to how cultural diversity in South Africa can and must be accommodated to the advantage of everyone,” Mulder said.
He also said that from the State of the Nation address, ”it appears that the president is becoming increasingly concerned that ordinary economic growth will not be able to resolve South Africa’s problems of poverty. He therefore increasingly falls back on socialist welfare suggestions such as increased state and social grants.”
Basic income grant
The South African Communist Party (SACP) has lauded most aspects of Mbeki’s address, but expressed disappointment at others.
”We welcome the emphasis the president has put on poverty eradication as the central platform through which we can build a better South Africa and solve many other problems we face as a country, including crime, violence against women and the many persisting colonial features of our society,” the party said in a statement.
The SACP also noted with satisfaction the increasing reach of social grants to the poorest, as well as the government’s commitment to review the situation of poor children above the age of 14 years.
”We, however, wish to reiterate our stance that a more comprehensive approach to our social security system requires provision of a basic income grant. We hope that this matter will be revisited and thoroughly debated in the forthcoming ANC policy conference in particular.”
The party further welcomed what seemed to be elements of a coordinated and overarching anti-poverty strategy. ”However, our biggest disappointment with the … address is its failure to commit government to a thorough review of our economic policies. This is basically the most serious problem our country faces.”
Focus on education, skills
The Young Communist League of South Africa (YCL) has welcomed the focus on education, skills development and unemployment contained in Mbeki’s address. National secretary Buti Mabamela said the league welcomed Mbeki’s focus on these areas, but will watch for the practical implementation of promises.
Mbeki said the recapitalisation of further education and training (FET) colleges has created the possibility of significantly expanding the number of available artisans. While the YCL welcomed the focus on training artisans as part of skills development, it is concerned about FET institutions’ ability to train them.
In his speech, Mbeki promised to increase the number of young people engaged in the National Youth Service by at least 20 000, enrol 30 000 young volunteers in community-development initiatives and employ 5 000 young people as part of the Expanded Public Works Programme in the maintenance of government buildings.
Mabamela welcomed this commitment, but urged that the promise should be implemented, not just talked about. He further suggested that young people involved in youth service be given ”unconditional bursaries” to further their studies.
The one element of the speech the league was critical about was the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (Asgisa) programme. ”The mere introduction of Asgisa, in our view, is premised on the manifestation of the apartheid economic trajectory of benefiting the few and the marginalising the rest.
”We call for a developmental and service-oriented growth strategy, which focuses on the needs of the poor and the vulnerable,” Mabamela said.
Mixed response
The Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) had a mixed response to Mbeki’s address. The announcement of a proposed wage subsidy for low-wage income earners, possibly aimed at first-time entrants into the job market, was welcomed.
This would encourage the absorption of school-leavers into the labour market and reduce unemployment and poverty, Fedusa general secretary Dennis George said.
Also welcomed was the proposed fast-tracking of the implementation of the long-awaited social security system. However, there was concern that no concrete date had been given for the implementation, and Fedusa thus reserved its comment on the matter.
”While the president acknowledged that crime was a serious problem, none of the interventions that were proposed were new, and thus there is a serious concern that they will not have the required impact,” George said.
Fedusa strongly believes that merely allocating funding and resources into a flawed process system is not an effective strategy. ”Furthermore, Fedusa has called for government to hold a summit on crime as a matter of urgency,” he said. — Sapa