Ramaphosa’s ‘new dawn’: Who’s living in a fool’s paradise?

Five years on, there must be many South Africans feeling as though they have been left behind, making the ANC’s “Leave No-one Behind” slogan seem little more than cynical PR from President Cyril Ramaphosa.

It seems like yesterday that most of us were optimistic about the “new dawn” promised by the man who had, seemingly, started to excise the cancer of state capture.

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How many of us still feel that way? Not many, other than well-fed ANC apparatchiks, we’d wager…

There has been little progress in locking up those behind state capture, despite the expenditure of more than R1 billion on the Zondo commission.

Corruption involving ANC cadres appears to be continuing, despite the fact that Ramaphosa and his supporters have tried to blame all that on his predecessor, Jacob Zuma.

Crime goes on unabated, the cost of living is soaring, as is unemployment. Our state infrastructure is crumbling, our water supply can no longer be trusted.

And, then, of course there is the elephant in the darkened room… Eskom. Yet, despite this, the Presidency’s assessment yesterday of the last five years was that “we have come long way in five years.”

Naturally, it’s recognised “significant progress” in various areas and then tossed in that old ANC chestnut, “challenges”.

UPDATE: EFF cuts it fine as court judgment on Sona is reserved for Thursday

“There is still much work to be done to rebuild our economy, reduce poverty and ensure that all South Africans experience an ever-improving quality of life.”

Great observation, Sherlock… The clock is ticking to the end of three decades of ANC rule and, sometimes, transformation seems only negative.

The ANC might do well to heed this quote from US president Abraham Lincoln: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”