The year 2019 was thoroughly Dickensian

In the process of writing this column, one constituted a WhatsApp group discussion of friends and acquaintances to solicit views on at least five highlights of 2019 and another five mustdos for our country over the next year. Only a handful offered less than five, most diligently provided the minimum number while others catalogued more.

Although none of them put it in these words, they would nonetheless concur with a characterisation that 2019 was, certainly for our country, thoroughly Dickensian. To place the claim in context, here is a famous and evocative opening passage from A Tale Of Two Cities, the 1859 novel by the eloquent wielder of words, Charles Dickens:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

And so, the group participants were in awe of moments of our collective wisdom as they were resolute in their condemnation of our blind spots in 2019.

Everyone concurred that the holding of the May 8 general elections was, broadly speaking, a victory for democracy.

The 2019 Rugby World Cup win, South Africa’s membership to the United Nations Security Council for the 2019-2020 non-permanent term, the forthcoming chairpersonship of the African Union and, bar one objection which decried the “objectification of women with these pageant things”, Zozibini Tunzi’s crowning as Miss Universe, had all placed our country on the world stage.

Understandably, for a nation still reeling from trauma occasioned by “a period of backstabbing … stagnation and wandering in the wild”, to borrow former Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki’s appraisal of his country’s experience post 1978, someone wrote: “The major highlight [of 2019] was the ‘unrobing’ of the looters in all the commissions, particularly [Judges Raymond] Zondo, [Robert] Nugent and the [Lex] Mpati commissions. These were important in dealing with a group that had become contemptuous of the general populace. Even though there are no charges preferred, the consequent ‘liberation’ of the law enforcement to do their work … has had a positive effect.”

While in concurrence with the foregoing, some participants lamented the fact that the prosecution authorities are yet to prefer charges against many wrongdoers, real and perceived. And whereas the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks), the Special Investigation Unit and the National Prosecuting Authority are “beginning to flex their muscles”, their efforts are targeted at “foot soldiers”.

In the same vein, another lamented the “impunity of the private sector”, the ease with which wrongdoers in this sector “escape prosecution” and “failure to ban consulting firms who perpetuated state capture”.

Eminent lows for the year included the perilous state of the economy, high unemployment, the near collapse of state-owned enterprises, “failure by government to review and find sound solutions to these ailing institutions” and high incidents of gender-based violence, in particular femicide.

Another was the country’s “inability to wrap our arms around social cohesion” – with spill-over effects in areas such as attacks on people from beyond our borders – as well as “failure to confront the issue of race and race relations in the country”. One example of the latter was “intra-party ructions in the DA and its failure to appreciate the interrelated nature of race on one hand and economic and social transformation in SA on the other”.

But then, Chto Delat – what, as the Russians would ask, is to be done? Participants were emphatic on the primacy of leadership in extricating us out of the negatives they catalogued.

“We are sailing up a creek without a paddle,” wrote one, “and I worry that we all don’t see that.” Someone lamented “the rise of celebrity politicians and public servants, at odds with pandemic poverty.” Another wrote: “The country’s leadership – here I am referring to leaders in society generally, government, business and labour – must provide meaning to social compacting in order to solve the problems the country faces.”

Crucially, “the most important thing”, wrote one, “is to resolve the problems of the people – remember the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola [MPLA] slogan?” What is required, he said, was to “define the issues that unite the country and isolate fringe groups with no interest of taking the country forward” and “societal mobilisation” was necessary towards this end.

The state of education featured as a crucial concern, with suggestions that it must be declared a crisis.

Another counselled that we must “free our society from ideological dogma”. A media practitioner thought that we required “brave discussions on our media landscape. There’s a dearth of thought leadership on the effect of juniorised newsrooms and how they are failing to properly frame issues in advancing us as a nation and our transformation agenda”.

There is also a sentiment – sentiment because it is not scientifically proven – that the country has too many plans while “little attention paid to issues of policy coordination and implementation”.

The land issue was cited as but one example: “There was the [former president Kgalema] Motlanthe Report which addressed [the land] issue in its recommendations, there is a presidential panel with its recommendations some of which were adopted by Cabinet recently, and there is a parliamentary committee on the same issue. There has to be certainty on where all these processes are leading to, not only for farmers but for all South Africans.”

Evidently, in their little corners, South Africans are thinking about their country and its future. The challenge: an organising hand which synthesises the discourse into a programme.

Mukoni Ratshitanga.

• Ratshitanga is a consultant, social and political commentator (mukoni@interlinked.co.za)

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