A VIEW OF THE WEEK: No SADC, Ramaphosa and the ANC is what has ‘befallen us as a country’

11 months ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa told thousands of ANC councillors to learn from their DA counterparts and emulate them. The backpeddling that followed was like watching the Tour de France on rewind.

Nearly a year later, and with just weeks till the local government elections, he seems to have caught the foot-in-mouth disease again.

For months, South Africa has been gripped by anti-illegal immigrant marches that were halted this week. These and the death of foreign nationals during the tensions have caused a large exodus from the country and diplomatic storms.

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But all outrage manufactured for votes seems to disappear when politicians are together, and so it was at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Summit that concluded this week, with President Cyril Ramaphosa only sheepishly addressing the issue of migration by claiming the entire region “regrets what has befallen the country.

The country had gone from the host of the ball to the fool that is pitted at the party.

These comments, made days after he told this same summit that South Africans are “deeply ashamed” at the anti-illegal immigrant sentiment and attacks in the country, again missed the mark.

Instead of sitting in discussions in a luxury boardroom, Ramaphosa would have been better placed next door, in the read the room”.

Who is to blame?

Openly admitting that we are in shambles is as far as you get from the hardline promised by international relations that migration is an issue on which SA should not be standing in an empty room talking to itself. It needs a continental discussion, and most definitely a regional one.

Most of the migration tensions have come because the leaders, present at the summit, have failed their people.

Their tyranny, neglect, and selfishness have left many of their countries in ICU. And yet we are being made to be the country sick and in need of saving. The one that everyone looks at, through the hypocritical glass, and says “oh, how the great have fallen”.

What has befallen us?

And while the messengers were poor ones, perhaps they were right. Governance in the country has for decades been on its knees, and the prosperity promised to all has only been delivered to a handful of politically connected.

We have failed to properly police our streets and largely abandoned our borders, because law enforcement officials don’t ask questions, only for cool drink money.

What has befallen us is this plague of corruption, bred from a lack of accountability and consequences.

What has befallen us is a population where millions fight for the tiny scraps the wealthy pass along, and where foreigners are exploited by businesses because they are cheaper labour.

What has befallen us is failing service delivery and a debt crisis that would, in any other situation, see Africa’s richest city have its lights switched off.

What has befallen us is politicians fighting among themselves, instead of fighting together for their residents and the future of the country.

What has befallen us is an admission that the ANC-led administrations have failed, and no amount of prayers and blessings from the church or SADC leaders can change that.