South Africa at 30: Lessons from the past and a call for leadership

SOUTH Africa at 30 reminds me of the discussion I held with the late Dr Vuyo Mahlati in 2018. Among other achievements, Mahlati was the president of the African Farmers’ Association of SA, a member of South Africa’s National Planning Commission and chaired the Presidential Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture. The discussion was about Msinga, a village in KwaZulu-Natal. The story of South Africa at 30 is captured in Genesis 41:53-57 where Pharaoh had two dreams.

- PALI LEHOHLA

In one dream, seven fattened cows emerged from the Nile, only to be replaced by seven lean ones. The second dream featured seven full, plump heads of wheat followed by seven, withered and shriveled ones. Pharaoh asked Joseph to interpret these dreams. Joseph told Pharaoh: “Your Majesty, seven years of abundance and hunger will follow seven years of plenty.” Learning this, Pharaoh asked Joseph with collecting and storing the abundance to prepare for the lean years.

South Africa at 30 is confronted by three very scenarios. Pharaoh dreams in 2005, mainly through a good run under the Memories of the Future Scenario, we paused for a road to contemplate what South Africa would be like in 2025. Under the Future We Choose Scenarios, South Africa was seen as a country bargaining across three grim options as a beauty contest of the ugly. And alas, we settled for the worst-case scenario, Muvhango.

With these scenarios outlined in 2007, as we transitioned into the fourth administration, the new Pharaoh lacked a Joseph to prepare South Africa for the lean years. Worse still, under the Indlulamithi Scenarios, we have not only slipped into a worst-case scenario but one, nudged into the Nature Nation Scenario, marked today by the worst annual growth rate in 2024. At 30, at best, some nuggets of wisdom needed for this preparation abounded in the pre-1994 period.