Politics

Thabo Mbeki paints grim picture of the state of South Africa

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This comes as the country grapples with unemployment, poverty, and inequality, which continue to rise, with the government failing to do enough to improve the lives of South Africans.

Former President Thabo Mbeki has painted a grim picture of the country.

This comes as the country grapples with unemployment, poverty, and inequality, which continue to rise, with the government failing to do enough to improve the lives of South Africans.

Mbeki was addressing the ANC’s Dullah Omar region in the Western Cape on Sunday during a two-day discussion, titled “Challenges facing the ANC and the National Democratic Revolution.”

Watch Thabo Mbeki speaking about the social compact

Social compact

While much of discussions were about the importance of the ANC renewing itself to ensure its survival, Mbeki also stressed on the situation in South Africa.

Mbeki said the social compact meant to address issues of unemployment and poverty in the country has been abandoned

“Practically, the social compact has been abundant. what that means, comrades is that there is no program to address these challenges of unemployment, poverty, it doesn’t exist.

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“The President was talking the other day about launching a second phase of a partnership between government and business. That second phase is addressing a fraction, maybe 5% of what was part of the social compact. You abandon the 95% and implement 5% it’s not going to solve our problems of unemployment or poverty and all of that,” Mbeki said.

Ramaphosa in 2022 during his state of the nation address (Sona) announced  a “new consensus” which he said would address unemployment, help grow the economy and fight poverty.

The plan, which he called a “social compact”, will be finalised within 100 days, he said.

A year later, at the 2023 Sona, Ramaphosa admitted that government and its social partners failed to deliver on its promise to establish a social compact.

“We were not able to conclude a social compact in the timeframe we had envisaged because a number of new circumstances emerged that made it difficult for social partners to forge a consensus.”

“The social partners have expressed their intention to conclude a social compact and have continued to work on a framework to enable joint action in key areas such as energy, transport and logistics, employment creation and skills development, investment and localisation, social protection, crime, and corruption.”

Renewal

Mbeki said the social compact matter was raised and supposed to be addressed.

“This matter was raised with regard to this renewal. Why does our national executive committee take a very, very strange position? National conferences, National Executive Committee, you must draw up a plan of action with time frames and dates and so on for a new one.

“That was December 2022, nothing has happened. Instead, the NEC sets up this other committee to oversee the implementation of a program that doesn’t exist.

“How do you explain that? I’m saying, how do you abandon the comprehensive social compact, that process and then say we’re going to implement 5% of the social compact, and it’s not going to solve the problems of unemployment and poverty,” Mbeki said.

New police system

Speaking about the police, Mbeki said the country is in a “real crisis.”

“The police  must be South African police service, not a police force and demilitarise the ranks Historically, the police here are enemies of the people. They are the ones who are shooting people in Soweto, locking up people in Langa wherever.”

Mbeki said South Africa needs a new police system.

“A democratic South Africa, needs a new police system, which is a friend of the people. So it’s a police service, not a police force. And it does not have generals, it has commissioners.”

GNU

Mbeki also reflected on the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU) which undertook to have a National Dialogue where all sectors of society will be able to raise their voice.

However, Mbeki said he doubts whether the ANC will still be able to influence discussions.

“Does ANC have the capacity to influence that discussion? There are many topics on the agenda, economy, culture, health, education, this and that and everything. Will the ANC have the capacity to influence that discussion? I am not at all sure.”

National convention

Before the May 29 elections, Mbeki, while on the campaign trail, said he made a suggestionto the ANC to convene a national convention after the elections to address the country’s problems.

“Fortunately comrade President Ramaphosa has accepted this, that after the elections, we must call a national convention to get all the nation together, everybody, political parties, civil society, trade unions, business, church people, religious, everybody, so together we must be able to say ‘how do we attend to all of the problems that has happened during the last thirty years’.

“It doesn’t matter who gets elected, the country must get together to say ‘what do we so to solve all of these problems’ and I think that’s what will take our country out of the problems that it has,” Mbeki said.

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