Nelson Mandela’s spirit will be hovering over the opening of the parliament ceremony on Thursday on what would have been his 106th birthday. Not only will the speech be delivered by the man he personally identified as his potential successor, but President Cyril Ramaphosa is at the helm of a government of national unity (GNU), echoing the cabinet led by Mandela.
On July 18, internationally marked as Nelson Mandela Day, many will proclaim how they individually, or their party, best embody the legacy of Madiba.
Judging by the lack of leaks, the first cabinet lekgotla of the GNU went off well. It seems no-one threatened to walk out of the talks, no-one made outrageous demands, and everyone seemed to have united around working in the interests of the country — the kind of unison Madiba would have liked to see.
However, we do not need to get into the kind of deep philosophical debates scientist Carl Sagan contributed to when he argued that “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence”. The proof can be found in the early utterances of the various cabinet ministers and their behaviour.
For example, in delivering her budget vote to the National Assembly Siviwe Gwarube, leading light of the DA and now basic education minister, provided evidence that she is committed to being a minister of all South Africans — very much in the way Mandela became the president of all South Africans.
Her commitment to constructively building on past efforts to address the education crisis is commendable. She emphasised that her ministry will be guided by the Action Plan to 2024: Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2030, which she said “gives expression to the constitution, to the National Development Plan as well as to the continental and international conventions” to ensure “access, redress, equity, efficiency, inclusivity and quality education of opportunities widely available to all its citizens”.
Not as young as Gwarube but also among the younger generation in cabinet, is our new foreign affairs minister, 40-year-old Ronald Lamola. His recent utterances have been Madiba-esque — telling the SA Institute of International Affairs that “SA, with its unique policy of active nonalignment, is not reactive but proactive in its pursuit of peace”, which means “leading a unifying agenda through dialogue to achieve peace for developing countries that do not wish to take sides in great power rivalry”.
His commitment to the AU’s Agenda 2063 and linking that to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will see him working more closely with his colleague and ANC comrade Parks Tau, now trade, industry & competition minister. The AfCFTA promises to eliminate trade barriers and boost intra-African trade, advance trade in value-added production, and contribute to establishing regional value chains.
We can only hope the entire GNU relishes each passing day as a milestone to be celebrated and a commitment to improve the lives of all South Africans, and that none is tempted to walk out after just a year, as FW De Klerk did from Mandela’s GNU.
Ramaphosa will have to continue addressing the fundamental challenges facing SA — crime and corruption, poverty and hunger, debt, inequality and unemployment — while building national unity. Therefore, inclusive economic growth, a strengthened social net and an ethical, capable and responsive state will have to serve as the framework around which the rest of his opening of parliament speech is draped.
Most cabinet members, and most of the manifestos of the political parties included in the GNU, have indicated there are few differences among them, because the problems and solutions are clear. Differences arise in how these challenges are tackled, and this is where Ramaphosa will need to wield his “presidential prerogative stick” over slack ministers to ensure they deliver on the mandate the electorate has given.
As he rises to address parliament and the nation on July 18, Ramaphosa should recall Madiba’s words: “An organisation can only carry out its mandate if there is discipline, and where there is no discipline there can be no real progress.”
• Abba Omar is director of operations at the Mapungubwe Institute.
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