While the country grapples with stage 6 load-shedding, Dr Mathews Phosa pulled no punches during his speech at a graduation ceremony – speaking out against government, calling the ANC a ‘state of disaster’ and saying that corruption and electricity and water shortages are symptoms of a ‘concerning lack of leadership’.

This has cascaded down to ‘lazy and ineffective management’ of crucial service delivery programmes, he added.

Phosa, an ANC veteran and the first appointed premier of Mpumalanga, was a guest speaker at the Stadio 2023 Autumn Graduation Series held yesterday in Centurion, Gauteng.

He accused the governing party of lying to the people of South Africa and said that politicians in powerful positions are being shielded from scrutiny, transparency and accountability in Parliament by the number of seats held by the governing party.

“This state of disaster is not the ANC that I joined, nor the liberation government I was part of. This is not what I fought for and comrades and friends of mine died for.”

He quoted Russian philosopher Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who said: “We know they are lying. They know they are lying. They know that we know they are lying. We know that they know that we know they are lying. And they still continue to lie.

“We are told that providing electricity is not the duty of government… We witness that a chief judge finds a president probably acted unconstitutionally, but then the governing party uses their numbers in Parliament to shield him… We are told that being greylisted is not a serious issue… We are told that government is serious about fighting corruption… We are told that it is OK to elect deeply tainted leaders into leadership positions,” Phosa said.

He asked why the public sector is attacked rather than allowed to take over things they are better equipped for, such as the provision and management of electricity. Instead, he said, South Africa has three ministers tasked with providing electricity.

He scrutinised politicians for the ‘spectacle of luxury vehicles pushing normal drivers off the road while hungry and jobless pedestrians watch’ and said, ‘democracy must fulfil the promise of government of the people by the people’.

“Politicians have the responsibility to serve the people and not themselves and their families. They have to be accountable to those who elected them or else…” Phosa warned, saying South Africa is at a dangerous crossroads.

“More and more proud and innovative South Africans, such as yourself, are defining their own future, without help from government. We are, through necessity, becoming our own masters.

“We are leaderless, and we have not created a better life for all as we promised. We have not illustrated that South Africa belongs to all who live in it.

“Hopefully, in next year’s election, we will vote for change and a new government will look to partner with those of us… to make South Africa the country that Madiba and other visionaries dreamt of.”

• Dr Phosa fought at the front line of the struggle against apartheid. He became the regional commander of Umkhonto we Sizwe in Mozambique after establishing the first black-owned law practice in Mbombela, Mpumalanga, and being forced into exile in 1985.

He was one of the first four ANC members who returned to South Africa in 1990 and played a key role in negotiations to end apartheid and usher in the democratic era in 1994.

After he was appointed Mpumalanga premier, he became a National Executive Committee member of the ANC in 1999 and was elected Treasurer General from 2007 until 2012. (Source: mcli.co.za)