President Cyril Ramaphosa’s first major outing as the head of his new government of national unity (GNU) was always going to be as important for the way it framed the GNU itself as for the policy priorities it promised.
It did not disappoint on that front. The president’s clear messaging in his opening of parliament address on the parties’ willingness to work together and why cross-party co-operation mattered for SA was welcome. He opened with a reminder that the electorate had “sent a clear message that without unity,
co-operation and partnership, our efforts to end poverty, unemployment and inequality will not succeed”.
He closed his address with the upside, “Co-operation Nation” scenario painted in 2023’s Indlulamithi scenarios, the one in which political parties, the state, private sector and civil society come together to leverage the strengths of each — and to grow the economy.
As parliament opens and the new government settles down to the real challenge of bringing about the changes it has promised, it is important for the president to underline the upside potential of the GNU, overriding any disgruntled voices presenting it as an unpleasant necessity for the former majority party. It was also important that he underline that this was not just a recycled ANC opening of parliament address but one supported by all.
It is clearly not going to be so simple: the ANC government itself has been a broad and often conflict-filled church; now that we have an official broad church the underlying divides over how to run government and where to focus will surely start emerging. Ramaphosa’s challenge will be to hold it all together and enable it to work in a way that leverages those strengths.
But the tone and emphasis of his address was at least a start. It was more coherent than these speeches often are, staying with three strategic priorities the GNU has set itself for the next five years, even if each came with its own long and sometimes random to-do list.
Crucially, priority number one is economic growth. That may seem obvious but growth is too often not top of the ANC’s list, which usually starts with the “triple challenges” of unemployment, poverty and inequality, as if it were possible to tackle any of those sustainably without growing the economy.
This time the message was clear: the GNU would “pursue every action that contributes to sustainable, rapid economic and remove every obstacle that stands in the way of growth”, the president said. He spelt out the fact that when SA’s economy grows it creates jobs — and that, as he put it, the best way to deal with poverty is for people to have jobs.
He identified some welcome areas of focus to achieve it, most notably municipalities. The past several years have shown how local government lets South Africans down even when national government gets things right. That has become a major constraint on investment, as well as on service delivery. As the president put it, growth happens at a local level, where people live and work.
As cities in particular can be centres of growth and opportunity, the address promised longer-term reforms to the institutional and funding structure of local government, and to their staffing, but also promised much-needed immediate measures to stabilise governance and service delivery.
Operation Vulindlela’s remit is being expanded to include local government reforms, which is promising if challenging. And while there is a danger in diluting its successes by spreading it too thin, it is a positive that Vulindlela has been tasked with doing something about spatial planning and housing, as well as about harnessing digital public infrastructure.
The president struck the right tone on the importance of visa reforms to attract skills and tourism; and on the government’s commitment to stabilising the public debt. But the “construction site” infrastructure build promise has been used more than once before; this time it needs to be delivered. Likewise the promise to support small businesses and eliminate red tape.
The president’s promise of universal access to early-childhood development was welcome, and he struck an appropriately careful note on social grants. But, disturbingly, he doubled down on the National Health Insurance, even if he tempered this with promises to consult.
Ramaphosa’s notion that SA should have a sovereign wealth fund, built from the new state-owned holding company for our loss-making state-owned enterprises, is just bizarre. His promise to tackle “administered prices” was welcome, though it was a pity he zeroed in on fuel rather than committing the public sector to take a hard look at all the prices it sets, from rates and electricity to tariffs and transport costs.
A more efficient and less corrupt government could do much to deliver on another of the president’s strategic priorities — lowering the high cost of living.
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