The high price of failures

In his State of the Nation Address, President “Pollyanna” Ramaphosa was effusive that the ANC’s “imaginative” economic reforms had “created a new sense of optimism and confidence”.

- William Saunderson-Meyer

Eight months later, the trajectory is downhill.

Last week brought a double hit on jobs. Non-agricultural employment fell by 80 000 in the second quarter and by 229 000 year-on-year. Official unemployment rose by 0.3% to 33.2%. Business liquidations for the year have passed the 1 000 mark.

We're a country in free-fall, especially in our relationship with the US: punitive trade tariffs; asylum grants to South Africans; and an end to health aid. Meanwhile, our Washington embassy is rudderless after the ANC-deployed ambassador was declared persona non grata and the president's special envoy has been frozen out amid controversy over the multinational he chairs.

Such failures have predictable consequences: when the state can't deliver, society does.

The "parallel state" dynamics we see in health, security and education now extend into parallel diplomacy. As official channels atrophy, citizens, organised business and community groups have moved to fill the gap left by Pretoria's failure.