Is the ANC prepared for what will be a key period for the party?
It is hard to think that South Africa is already celebrating 20 years of democracy. It seems like just the other day that there were ridiculously long lines of people waiting to cast their votes in the country’s first democratic election, which ultimately changed the shape of the country.
We are once again faced with an election year, and it is an important one as there will be a lot of comparisons on the progress made by the country. Has the African National Congress (ANC) delivered the houses, jobs, equitable education and reliable services that it promised?
Disillusionment with the ruling party
While there was much excitement in 1994, this has slowly waned into disillusionment as the public sees that the ANC is struggling to deliver on the promises that they made all those years ago. A recent study undertaken by Ipsos suggests that about a third of South Africans are of the opinion that the country is going in the right direction. It should come as no surprise that the public are not impressed with governments’ performance in most of the policy areas.
TheIpsos Government Performance Barometermeasures public perceptions regarding government’s performance in handling key policy areas as well as the views on the performance of the President, Deputy President and national government. These polls are undertaken every six months.
Ipsos Director of Public Affairs Mari Harris says, "looking at the trend over the last three years, there has actually been a decline in public perception of how well the government is doing. According to Ipsos’ traffic light measurement, 15 out of the 25 policy areas were rated as red lights, where performance is 50% or below, in November 2011. A year later in 2012, 17 policy areas fell into this category, while in November 2013, most of the policy areas, 22 out of the 25 policy areas, fell into the red light category.”
The key question on public’s lips is whether the country is moving in the right direction. While South Africans have always been renowned for being positive about the country, especially post 1994, this is slowly turning in the other direction.
The Ipsos research shows that in the five years since the previous election, the proportion of South Africans who said that the country was moving in the right direction has steadily declined. At the same time, the proportion saying that the country was moving in the wrong direction increased. Currently, almost half of South Africans, 48%, feel that the country is moving in the wrong direction.
What are the specific areas of concern?
It is all very well saying government is not delivering on its promises, but if one does not highlight the specific areas of concern to government, how will they know what areas they need to improve on?
While the Ipsos study shows that there is a general feeling that government is performing admirably in the areas of reducing unemployment and controlling inflation, there is concern in the areas of controlling the cost of living, narrowing the income gap between race groups, managing the economy and encouraging international investment.
But performing admirably does not mean that the public is completely satisfied with government’s performance. "Unemployment is still a key area of concern for the country. After 20 years of democracy it not only needs urgent action, but a radical and workable plan, combined with the political will to change the circumstances of so many South Africans. Currently almost 31% of South Africans are unemployed and looking for work, while a further 6% are unemployed and not currently looking for work,” says Harris.
Trouble on the streets
One of the things that you cannot accuse South Africans of is remaining quiet while government continues with its seemingly poor performance. There have been a number of violent service delivery protests over the past few months where the public has turned to the streets over government’s perceived strategy of ignoring the promises made surrounding the delivery of basic services.
However, according to Ipsos, there is a general feeling that government is performing better in managing social issues than it is in managing the country’s economy. "While there is a general sense of improvement, six of the nine social issues saw a decline of 2% over the last year. In the whole study, only two policy issues, namely building houses and delivery of basic services such as water and electricity, achieved a 2% increase in the proportion who thought that these issues are handled very well or fairly well. But it is important to note that actual satisfaction levels are still very low,” says Harris.
Finding a workable solution
The unfortunate reality of South African politics is that politicians love to grab the spot light in the months running up to the election only to disappear into the shadows in the four years leading up to the next one. The reaction of the ANC to the public dissatisfaction will be interesting.
The public has finally become aware that the current state of South Africa is a far cry from the South Africa that was promised to them 20 years ago. And it is not like they are expecting miracles. They merely want government to fulfil the assurances given to them. There is no doubt that the ANC will win the election, but will it get the majority?
The irony is that there is a workable solution to many of the problems. Granted, it will take a lot of time and money to implement these solutions, but they are available.
The most pressing concern is to generate enough income to create jobs and to improve service delivery. This can only be done though increases in tax collection or an increase in foreign direct investment.
Decreasing company taxes will increase the interest in foreign direct investment and increasing the rate of value added tax may widen the net of tax income generation. But government also needs to achieve stability in key contributors to the economy, such as mining, where most of the foreign direct investment will be focused.
Editor's Thoughts:
Apart from the State of the Nation
address, the National Budget is a true indicator of the health of the country.
There are significant challenges which need to be resolved and Pravin Gordhan
needs to set aside appropriate funding to resolve these issues. But sometimes
you cannot simply throw money at a problem in the hope of solving it. Does
government have the capacity, or the will, to make key improvements in these
areas? Please comment below, interact with us on
Twitter at @fanews_online or email me your thoughts jonathan@fanews.co.za.
