Johannesburg - The Nelson Mandela Foundation has begun commemoration events to mark the 10th year since the death of the father of South African democracy, Nelson Mandela.
The foundation held a panel discussion at its headquarters in Johannesburg on Tuesday reflecting on what the meaning of Madiba’s death is 10 years later.
The discussion saw an opening speech by former president and ANC veteran Kgalema Motlanthe, and several academics and civil society leaders who all shared their views on the direction South Africa was taking.
Motlanthe shared his vision of efficient public services which would remain strong and efferent even when the political heads of different departments change. He said this was necessary to measure the impact of service delivery.
“At a government level, the president of the executive serve as the face of the state for one five-year term at a time. Whereas governments come and go, the state, which is the administration, must be permanent and stable. Therefore building a capable state is a catalytic imperative.”
He said there was a great need for institutional memory in governance. He noted that there had been setbacks since 1994, and pointed to several factors that were holding the country back.
“Those who were disposed of the land are still landless. What campaign can we mount to remedy this? Democracy is an ideal that we have to fight for every day to ready ourselves for action and participate at every level in an organised fashion,” he said.
Most of the panellists agreed that South Africa was an unequal country with the majority of people living in poverty and squalor. Looking at 1994 as the realisation of a South African dream, panellists expressed their views on what happened to the Rainbow Nation project that was meant to empower the majority of black people.
“We do not have a problem with money – there is enough money in this country. We do not necessarily have a problem with laws and policies, we have lots of those and many of them are world-class. We also don’t have a problem with talent, there are a million bright and capable people in this country. What we have is a problem of politics where our political culture is incapable of yielding productive and developmental results,” University of Pretoria’s Sithembele Mbete said.
There were sentiments during the discussion that a large number of South Africans had not realised the true meaning of freedom. Terms such as liberal democracy and emancipation were used to describe the socio-political situation in South Africa.
Wits law professor Tshepo Madlingozi said the inequality in South Africa was so visible and toxic that it would one day lead to unrest. He said it was important to connect the events around the world to the socio-political situation in South Africa.
“For the majority of people, there has been an absence of justice since 1994. When we say we need to save South Africa, who are we doing it for? When we say we need to reclaim democracy, who are we doing it for? We are concerned about this moment because, for the first time, the middle class is feeling the pinch with the state collapsing or not collapsing, the energy crisis and crime,” he said.
Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi said South Africa was still suffering from colonialism’s influence, which could be visibly seen in the slow pace of economic and cultural transformation.
The Star