Under apartheid, the objective was clear: overthrow the oppressive regime. We had an enemy, an opponent that we could rail against and eventually overthrow. This enemy gave us direction and purpose, and with its death, South Africans who had fought for so long against so much could finally be at peace. But then the realisation began to dawn that while apartheid lay dead at our feet, the results of decades of oppression were still alive. Post-apartheid leaders no longer needed to make grand speeches and lead fervent youths on marches. Instead the real work of nation building needed to begin.

Perhaps our leaders were unprepared for what the reversal of apartheid would entail. Certainly the ANC has shown that it was not equal to the task. It was, and still is, a task that involves hard work, quiet commitment, decisive action, and very few grand speeches. Meetings and planning sessions and commissions and lekgotlas and discussion groups and imbizos and committees et al are not even the beginning of what is required in South Africa. We have plans and charters for almost every conceivable aspect of our socio-economic lives, but we have witnessed very few actions to back up those plans.

For a time, the government could perhaps be forgiven for its sluggish movement and tremulous voice. The problems that faced the post-apartheid state were enormous, and a well thought out plan was essential in tackling those problems. Evidence continues to mount, however, that somewhere along the way any sense of real purpose was lost. In a country that was world renowned for reconciliation, our political leaders decided to buy arms. With a pandemic sweeping through the nation, politicians decided that science was wrong and that crackpot theories also deserved a fair run. Having created a social welfare system that is often the only thing between the poor and starvation, our civil servants have busied themselves with stealing grants. In the widespread protests regarding poor quality government services that have continued for years, the political elite have seen only a ‘third force’. As our neighbour’s state has fallen into ruin, a policy of diplomacy has been followed that was so quiet that it amounted to less than a whisper.

We are leaderless and directionless. Our commander in chief is so out of touch with the region that his statements become sound bites for caricaturists: Crime what crime? AIDS what AIDS? Crisis what crisis?

The post-1994 euphoria has well and truly worn off, and South Africa finds itself in a position where the fundamentals have been ignored for far too long. The nation was told in a white paper in 1998 that the electricity supply would be insufficient by 2007. At the end of 2007 when the lights went out, nobody except the government was taken by surprise. We have known for more than a decade that our telecommunications regime is a huge impediment to growth, but still Telkom is effectively a monopoly. Public healthcare is in freefall, but our minister is concerned with the state of the well-functioning private sector. The list of fundamental errors and omissions goes on.

The ANC cannot trade on its ‘liberation’ status forever. Apartheid left our new democracy with a slew of problems, but the continued bungling of our politicians has failed to address most of them, and indeed has created many that were not there before. There has been no leadership in the AIDS crisis, unless we count misdirection as such. Corruption and graft are now endemic, and our re-racialised legislative environment only serves to deepen the problem. The energy crisis, predicted yet ignored for so long, is now showing its effects on our economy as growth slows and inflation soars. The list goes on, and our idle elite continue to abdicate all responsibility for their failures. Commended when they should be condemned, our politicians lurch from ill conceived plan to ill conceived action. South Africa and its people deserve better. Emerging from a dark history, this country requires selfless leaders whose discipline and commitment is unquestionable. Those leaders, it seems, have yet to show themselves.

-Marco MacFarlane