There are two crucial deadlines looming for President Cyril Ramaphosa and the government of national unity (GNU) in the next 20 days. They could spell trouble if they are not met.
Now, those of us who toil away in the private sector know that deadlines are something to be taken seriously. They creep up on you. If you don’t deliver on them you will lose money, reputation, trust and customers.
Nowhere else in the world does a news columnist have to explain the crucial need for meeting deadlines. In South Africa one has to, though, because we are at a stage in our politics and government where one can promise to deliver the moon in three years and Mars in five, and never strive to meet the deadline or to account for missing it. We take it as given that deadlines, even regarding matters critical to the livelihoods of our people, will whoosh by and there will be no consequences.
An example is Ramaphosa’s R350 a month Covid social relief of distress (SRD) grant for unemployed adults who do not receive a social grant or unemployment insurance. It was unveiled at the height of the pandemic in 2020 and Ramaphosa extended it by three months in 2021. Then he extended it again and again, and today, in 2024, we still have this “emergency” grant.
The problem is not the grant, but the fact that it is being extended year after year to hide successive ANC governments’ failure to provide a comprehensive form of income support for adults over 18 who bear the brunt of our crushing unemployment figures.
No timelines given, no deadlines set, and therefore no accountability when it does not happen
The idea for a basic income grant was floated in 1997. The ANC has since then pushed out the debate and the deadline to do it because it is too spineless to tell its constituency that either we cannot afford it or we have chosen not to do it. So, 27 years later, we are still kicking it to touch.
Ramaphosa said in February 2024, when he extended the SRD grant, which is distributed to 9-million people: “We have seen the benefits of this grant and will extend it and improve it as the next step towards income support for the unemployed.”
No timelines given, no deadlines set, and therefore no accountability when it does not happen. But I digress.
First deadline: on September 13 Ramaphosa signed the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill into law at a ceremony that the basic education minister, Siviwe Gwarube of the DA, pointedly did not attend. Ramaphosa, after behind-the-scenes negotiations with DA leader John Steenhuisen and Afrikaner interest groups, announced a delay in the implementation date for clauses 4 and 5 of the act by three months. These clauses pertain to languages used to teach in schools and to the powers of school governing bodies.
“This [delay] will give the parties time to deliberate on these issues and make proposals on how the different views may be accommodated,” Ramaphosa said. “Should the parties not be able to agree on an approach, we will proceed with the implementation of these parts of the bill.”
The deadline for these talks is mid-December. From what I understand, neither side is budging. This is shaping up to be a big challenge for the GNU, given the belligerent posture of those who believe this is an assault on Afrikaans. ANC leaders have their hackles up too, and are telling Ramaphosa that no amendment is necessary.
The second deadline is December 19, which marks three months after Ramaphosa asked Business Unity South Africa to provide him with what he called “specific proposals on the remaining issues of concern as a basis for further engagement” on the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act. This is despite the fact that numerous organisations and associations have given their input on NHI since 2007.
Again, from listening to government and ANC leaders, there is unlikely to be much progress on this issue. I suspect we are now headed for litigation that will last years.
There is a third angle to all this. Given that the “two sides” on every issue are talking, Ramaphosa can now easily do what he did with the SRD grant: extend the time frame for the “negotiations”, and extend again and again. Before you know it, we will be in 2029 and there will be no Bela Act or NHI Act finalised.
That’s how Ramaphosa tired out the National Party in the pre-1994 period.
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