Joe Biden was heckled by Republicans during the US president’s State of the Union address this week. But that reception was warm compared with the one faced by his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa during his State of the Nation speech last night.
Ramaphosa faced a record number of interjections from the floor, as he declared a state of disaster amid rolling power cuts and a looming recession. With an election due in May 2024, this speech was Ramaphosa’s chance to set out why his ruling African National Congress (ANC), in power since the late Nelson Mandela was elected in 1994, deserves another five-year term. Things did not go well.
Julius Malema of the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), which has called for Zimbabwe-style land seizures, raised endless points of order and caused the speaker to halt the president’s speech while decorum was restored. After being denied a constitutional right to interject by the speaker, Malema’s MPs sang, chanted and danced. The president sat down.
Cape Town is one of the murder capitals of the world
Not that it mattered. In the country’s biggest city, Johannesburg, a power cut left many viewers unable to watch. South Africans are used to the lights going off. Since August last year, the state power monopoly, Eskom, has implemented what’s known here as ‘load shedding’, turning off the grid four times a day for an average of two hours each, due to lack of capacity. Such measures are costing South Africa’s economy tens of millions of pounds a month in lost production.
South Africa’s troubles don’t stop there. In a country infamous for crime (Cape Town is one of the murder capitals of the world) and with endless reports of corruption, fake tenders, billions lost from the treasury and levels of black unemployment higher than under white rule during apartheid, it was never going to be easy for Ramaphosa to win the day.
He was at least honest as he went through a roll-call of problems. He conceded that, under his predecessor, Jacob Zuma – now on trial for corruption – billions were lost to the treasury. Ramaphosa also admitted that the lack of jobs, especially for the young, is at crisis level – with youth unemployment above 50 per cent.
Ramaphosa used these factors to justify his declaration of a state of disaster, a constitutional provision that allows the cabinet to rule by decree instead of going through parliament and the usual review of bills.
The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) and some trade unions immediately announced a court challenge to the plan. The last time these emergency rules were used was for Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020, and inquiries continue over contracts for sprays, masks and protective gear that went to those connected with ministers or the ANC. Prices were overblown and goods went undelivered.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said his party would not ‘allow the ANC to abuse the electricity disaster it created to loot and further abuse the people of South Africa.’ This time, the president said, the Auditor General would monitor all spending. There would also be a new minister for electricity appointed to oversee the process.
On crime, Ramaphosa said that more police were being recruited but civic groups accuse the police of taking bribes and even working in tandem with criminals.
And on jobs, there were the same promises we’ve heard for years, of new programs to help millions who are out of work. Yet in spite of these, the unemployment rate has only got worse.
Climate change had to make an entry, of course; Ramaphosa pledged to reduce South Africa’s carbon output with a massive conversion to solar. Theft of panels, along with copper cables for regular transmission is already epidemic, with few arrests. Ramaphosa’s announcement is unlikely to help matters.
There is always a high level of foreign interest in the state of the nation address, and ambassadors are allowed in the visitors’ gallery. The British High Commissioner to Pretoria, Antony Phillipson, told The Spectator there was a ‘strength and depth’ in the bond with South Africa and that Ramaphosa had been a guest at Downing Street in November.
‘We have major trading links,’ he said, ‘and with our shared goals and challenges, South Africa and its plans for the future matter hugely to the UK.’
But for many South Africans, the focus right now is on issues much closer to home. Drop in to a soccer game – there are thousands every weekend in cities and villages – or visit a beer-hall in rambling townships where most of the urban black population live, and talk is about hunger, unemployment and a sense of hopelessness.
Polls show support for the ANC may be as low as 40 per cent. But there’s not been a corresponding rise for the opposition, suggesting voters might abstain or find other ways of being heard. This could include riots and violence in a country used to mayhem. Demonstrations are already a daily event in the cities.
This febrile atmosphere means there is a chance Ramaphosa could be ousted by factions within the ANC before next May’s poll. If he survives until then, he will have one final shot at a state of the nation speech that sets out a compelling reason to vote for him. But last night’s speech was missing that justification.
A cabinet reshuffle is imminent. But almost three decades after the advent of democracy – and with rising inflation and public anger over the stuff of daily life – it seems unlikely that new faces will be able mend the country before the public give their verdict at the ballot box.
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