SA’s flaws: Fix, work around and tolerate
There is a lot to be pessimistic about in South Africa today: Pervasive government corruption and incompetence, toxic policies, crime, crumbling infrastructure, transport woes, anemic economic growth, growing constraints on water and electricity provision, unemployment, the familiar list goes on.
However, the latest Census data – despite its flaws – shows how South Africans of all stripes have adapted to the problems that beset us. This information, along with more mundane but positive stories, tells the tale of how some of the country’s problems can indeed be fixed (by various role-players in their own unique way). Moreover, some could be adapted to while some long-term flaws must simply be tolerated in the present and perhaps forever. These are often not exclusive options, for they largely overlap with, and complement, each other.
The Census has re-emphasised that while people have continued to purchase electrical wares, they have switched to gas with gusto. They have accepted the reality that electricity supply – whether free or not – in the country is likely to be unreliable in the foreseeable future. We as citizens or even the private sector really have no answers for the mess at Eskom – not short-term ones anyway. Instead of wishing for the years of anomie and corruption to somehow be reversed under ANC rule, we have accepted the new normal and wisely prepared for the worst. In contrast to official pronouncements about Eskom getting its act together, recently declining loadshedding should be attributed to a rapidly increasing number of users installing solar systems to meet their electricity needs.
Municipal mismanagement and financial inadequacies obtain in most municipalities in the country and due to the ANC’s dominance in rural areas, this is unlikely to change anytime soon. This is why communities, with or without the help of their officialdom, have taken to fixing potholes, sprucing up their public spaces, clearing our litter, patrolling streets, and providing potable water.
The difference that the business sector in Kroonstad in the Free State and Tidy Towns on the lower South Coast have made in their respective regions are but two stellar examples of such civic duty. Plucky individuals and organisations are holding their officials to account with great success. The popularity of estate living and the concomitant autarky and safety it brings have grown in leaps and bounds, although this is understandably not an option for everyone due to affordability issues.
However, some towns, areas and municipalities (especially in the rural areas, but include large swathes of metros) are truly beyond repair with little or no hope of ever being restored to their former glory (presuming that they had some in the past). These places are seeing an exodus of ratepaying residents and large and small businesses alike, a small or non-existent likelihood of political change, as well as endemic decay and anarchy on all fronts. They are what the constitutional jurist Professor Koos Malan calls “no man’s lands” where neither the government nor any suitable replacement can exercise authority and turn the tide.
The Western Cape is no such place. In general, it is well-governed, clean, breathtakingly beautiful, business-friendly and is, as the Census showed, experiencing a strong influx of people from all walks of life. But this does not exempt it from imperfections and even larger challenges. For instance, homelessness, poverty and begging are quite dire and visible in some places and perhaps unsurprisingly, often exist alongside incredible wealth and prosperity.
The no man’s lands cannot be insulated from the rest of South Africa and the said homelessness cannot be wished away. These are complex problems with multiple causes and can at best be managed and tolerated.
Each person needs to decide for themselves what their threshold is in tolerating this, but it stands to reason that South Africa is not the only country struggling with these scourges. Even First World countries such as Canada and the US and many of their cities struggle with growing drug-use, homelessness and violent crime. This is inextricably tied to the stifling and insidious woke agenda of those in power.
In closing, certain situations will compel us to tolerate or completely abandon certain difficulties. The no man’s lands are not places you would want to live or raise a family in the long run or even in the present. Poverty and homelessness will in all likelihood plague the whole of South Africa for eternity. Even with a better and stable government (which even now seems extremely unlikely on both counts), there are no silver bullets when it comes to Eskom, Transnet and service-delivery in general.
But we do have a myriad options and incentives to soften these blows, such as the private sector getting involved in solving the cargo rail crisis. We have no choice but to fix what we can; adapt to, abandon or tolerate that which cannot be fixed; and develop the prudence to decide what option to exercise.
Dr Brink is an entrepreneur, business consultant and political analyst based in Paarl.
