South Africans will celebrate twenty-one years of democracy on 27 April 2015. We all know that 21 is a huge and very significant milestone in the life of any maturing adult. At 21, one’s parents usually hand over the key to all of life’s freedoms, in the hope that one is responsible with these newly-bestowed liberties.
I still recall that day on 27 April back in 1994 when I voted as an adult for the first time. When I stood patiently in that line, I knew my decision was one influenced by a confluence of factors, notably that this was my country’s first-ever democratic vote; and that a mammoth responsibility rested on my shoulders to ensure the right administration was installed. But my ballot in that seminal moment was about the face of the new South Africa, the smiling face of that political colossus – Nelson Mandela.
As much as I voted for a change in the ruling class, my responsibility was to put in place a government capable of steering this damaged nation to reconciliation with its dark past; and to give all future generations that golden chance of living in a better country with every possible opportunity – freedoms which my generation and generations before me were not privy to. Those freedoms were small but symbolic: something as simple as the freedom to walk freely on our beaches without peering eyes dissecting your every move; the freedom to sit and eat in a restaurant without the former wealthier racial class constantly glancing at you accusingly; and the freedom to just move without inhibition or any kind of trepidation of a ‘what if’.
What has changed? Has anything changed?
Let us examine the facts.
When the African National Congress (ANC) government came into power after the country’s all-race election in 1994, many
promises were made. Key to the new ANC administration’s arsenal was the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) which set itself enormous socio-economic targets as a form of redress to normalise society. All was going well until the reality of a new and changed globalised world set in. Enter the all-important Growth, Employment and Redistribution (Gear) policy and the ANC government found itself in a conundrum. If it did not adopt the Western-styled policy framework, South Africa would lag behind other developing nations, post the symbolic dismantling of the Communist bloc in late 1989/ 1990.
Closer to home, acceding to the blueprint would mean upsetting key alliance partner, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and negating major pro-poor labour victories scored thus far. What followed was a bloodbath of job losses, mainly in the manufacturing and textile industries. South African products just could not compete with cheaper Chinese imports. The result:
lower-end, unskilled jobs haemorrhaged in the hundreds of thousands, factories closed shop; and the country’s unemployment rate soared.
Today, South Africa’s jobless rate remains one of the highest in the world – at 25.1% (official) and 35.3% (expanded). More worrying, in recent weeks Stats SA issued a report drilling home the stark reality that the country’s obstinate failure to generate jobs has affected mainly the younger demographic. (Labour market dynamics in South Africa-2014 report)
According to the press statement, the youth (15 – 24) unemployment rate jumped a massive 14,3 percentage points between 1994 and 2014. The statement noted also that young people experienced higher unemployment rates and lower labour absorption trajectories relative to their older counterparts. Between 2008 and 2014 alone, the unemployment rate for younger people (15 – 24) soared from 45.6% to 51.3%. The country is just not creating enough jobs to absorb the hordes of youngsters once they finish school or their tertiary education.
While the ANC government’s social welfare programme is arresting the poverty element of some sixteen million South Africans (at a staggering cost of R120-billion per annum), it is the youth that is falling between the cracks. Only recently has government made any serious attempt to tackle this ticking time bomb with the introduction of the Youth Employment Tax Incentive scheme, encouraging employers to hire younger workers. Young people need opportunities; they also need their shot in the workplace in an effort to become wealth accumulators and asset holders. And if the youth are not afforded this basic right, how are the future leaders of our nation supposed to have any hope – if any? Research has repeatedly confirmed that race is still a huge issue in South African society. Race is the ultimate fault line in all our relations; and how we as White, Black, Indian and Coloured ‘crash’ into each other (reference to the 2005 Oscar-winning film). This is why I am revelling in the debate created around the statues. It took a small group of University of Cape Town (UCT) students to stir the hornet’s nest; a discourse that should have surfaced a long time ago. And the fact that several other colonial statues followed the fate of Cecil John Rhodes is proof enough that South Africans still hurt when confronted by towering reminders of a bruised racial past – whether it be in central business areas, places of learning or ceremonial squares. This is why I gladly welcome the whole statues debate and the fact that it was ignited by young, fertile minds. Although the idea may have germinated at the elite UCT; its real resonance was felt afar as the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and other like-minded progressive tertiary institutions.
The political world is replete with examples of young people driving social change – from communist China to the volatile Tunisia back in 2011 (where the Arab Spring sprouted). If you zoom into the hundreds of service delivery protests closer to home, you will see that young, unemployed and disillusioned youth dot the frontlines. There is an unease, a lot of pent-up anger, resentment; and years of frustration towards the ruling political class. While it is all good and well to trumpet the successes of the past twenty-one years – that approximately four million houses were built and that just over 91% of households now have piped water – South Africans (especially the young) want speedier change and fast. Young people are seeking a functional, responsive state, one able to take care of its own while simultaneously creating the right economic environment to spur growth so that opportunities can be created.
There is absolutely no denying that since 1994, the governing ANC has done a wonderful job pulling a battered nation out of the doldrums. Remarkable progress in a number of spheres has been made. More still needs to be done. However, as long as the economy fails to create jobs and absorb the millions of unemployed, South Africa’s social ills such as crime, poverty and inequality will continue to hold the rest of this country to ransom.
The South Africa of 2015 pales in comparison to the hopeful, promising and eternally-optimistic State of 1994. We were once idealists! Granted, back then, we had Nelson Mandela amongst us. That great leader is no longer here physically. Is this perhaps why we are witnessing the kind of problems we see splashed in the media every second day? Stories of cruel racist incidents are an almost daily occurrence. Thanks to social media we get to view these vile acts within the confines of our air-conditioned offices. Was Mandela the unifying force, that personification of reconciliation; and that embodiment of tolerance? Today, his people are suffocating under some yoke or the other. If it is not the rampant crime rate that injects a constant state of paranoia into daily life, South Africans are constantly bombarded with new curveballs—the latest being the deplorable anti-immigrant violence that has made this once-proud nation the skunk of the international world.
As we celebrate 21 years of freedom on 27 April 2015, let us all reflect on what democracy truly means. What is it to be South African, what is the South African identity and how would (Nelson) Mandela react seeing the State of our Nation! We have travelled a very arduous journey since 1994. Still, there are many big, bold and courageous steps to be taken to deliver this beautiful nation to the promised utopia we all voted for 21 years ago. It is achievable in our lifetime!
RONESH DHAWRAJ is a Specialist Researcher: Politics, Elections and Service Delivery with the SABC News Research and Policy Analysis Unit. He is presently engaged in his Ph D studies focussing on the ANC, DA and EFF’s 2014 election campaign; and how social media was leveraged to increase vote-share.
– By Ronesh Dhawraj
