South Africa: Time For Reform
South Africa is a nation in decline. Its government is wracked by corruption from the lowest echelons of the bureaucracy to the presidency. The national power provider, Eskom, can only provide intermittent power, leading to rolling black-outs. Infrastructure is deteriorating at best and unusable at worst. Gangs fight over control of gold mines and massive recent riots warranted the deployment of the army.
What led South Africa to this point? For most of the 20th century, the country was under white minority rule, in what was known as Apartheid. The ruling regime instituted strict racial policies, segregating those of African descent from the descendants of Boers and British colonists. Apartheid rule was brutally racist, with widespread evictions of people of African descent from their homes and the torture and mistreatment of political dissidents. The regime also fought to keep white rule in neighbouring Rhodesia, contributing troops and equipment to the Rhodesian Bush war. Apartheid led to widespread sanctions from across the Western world, putting pressure on the regime. The system of Apartheid eventually fell in the 1990s, with inspirational leaders such as Nelson Mandela leading the African National Congress (ANC) party. After the fall of Apartheid, the country seemed to be on the path to a new and bright future. However, the ANC failed to govern competently, and corruption took root. South Africa is currently ranked 72nd out of 180 in the Transparency International corruption rankings. This can be seen in the decay of basic infrastructure and services. Corruption is present in every echelon of governance: during the reign of the ANC, tens of billions of dollars are estimated to have disappeared from state coffers. Attempts at reform have stalled: when a new Eskom chief was installed with the purpose of cleaning up the national grid, he was poisoned. Inefficiency and lack of energy have broad consequences throughout the economy, with the current unemployment rate sitting at 32%. The situation has deteriorated to the point that in certain regions, private companies have taken over some of the obligations of the state.
So what is to be done? The current situation is economically unsustainable and politically unviable. South Africa must come to grips with its issues or continue its descent into decline. The South African opposition has recently come together to form a coalition for the election due to be held next year. If elected, they face a monumental task. Cleaning up corruption must be the first step. Corruption is the cancer at the heart of the South African economy and political system, and it is well entrenched. Unfortunately, this same entrenchment means that lukewarm and half-hearted reforms targeting specific sectors are doomed to fail.
Instead, a fundamental reorientation of the South African economy and government is necessary. One potential path forward is sweeping economic form, focused on privatisation and engagement with the private sector. Eskom would be a good place to start. A bill with similar objectives is currently under discussion in the South African parliament, with the “Energy Regulation Amendment Bill, first introduced last February, [that] would dismantle Eskom and open electricity generation and distribution to the private sector.” South Africa will be unable to prosper until the electricity supply is stable. The state-owned power utility is struggling and arguably unsaveable. Attempts to do so, as mentioned previously, have ended in executive poisoning. Getting Eskom’s assets out of the hands of corrupt government interests would enable private leadership to focus on rebuilding the grid. Additionally, working hand-in-hand with the multinational corporations present in South Africa to understand their needs and spur investment will be crucial. Unfortunately, this alone will not be sufficient to fix the economy. A great deal of the economic issues plaguing South Africa are a result of the efforts of organised crime to dismantle and steal from energy and transportation infrastructure. This is why privatisation must be accomplished alongside a massive reorientation of the government crime fighting apparatus. Privatisation will not help if privatised electrical substations are continuously dismantled and paid-off employees sabotage equipment. Cracking down on crime from top to bottom is essential if privatisation is to succeed. Current efforts are admirable but insufficient. A new agency for handling strictly economic crime may prove necessary. None of this can happen under ANC rule: it is too entrenched and too corrupt.
Rebuilding South Africa will not be an easy task. Despite its failings, the ANC still carries the legacy of liberation from Apartheid rule. Its inability to govern competently must be considered in historical context. Apartheid’s scars run deep, and the terrible inequality and prejudice that preceded the ANC’s governance must be remembered. Nonetheless, the time for reform is now. Only with effective leadership can the ship be righted, and Nelson Mandela’s dream of ‘a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world’ be achieved.
Image courtesy of Alexander Peris via Wikimedia, ©2023. Some rights reserved.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the wider St. Andrews Foreign Affairs Review team.
