EDITORIAL: Proof of the Sona pudding will be in the eating

State of the nation addresses (Sonas) have tended to be largely a laundry list of things on the government’s to-do list for the year. But they are arguably more important for the tone they set, for the government and for SA. t

On that measure, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address on Thursday was a success. In just a few delicate sentences he said what needed to be said about SA in the unpredictable and disturbing world new US President Donald Trump has created.

Without once mentioning Trump, Ramaphosa reiterated the core values that underlie SA’s constitution, but are increasingly at risk globally.

“We stand for nonracialism and democracy, for tolerance and compassion,” he said. “We will not be bullied.”

As it turned out, Trump unleashed a torrent of bullying at SA in an executive order hardly 24 hours after the Sona. That made it all the more important that Ramaphosa had articulated a clear values-based approach, rather than a tit-for-tat one.

It will make it all the more important too that the government delivers on all Ramaphosa’s promises to boost growth and jobs, and in particular to create the “capable and competent state” the president rightly said was needed.

So much of SA’s growth malaise reflects the regulatory morass resulting from a state machinery that is too often neither capable nor competent, that this should arguably have been top of his list.

While it was good that he touched on the issue, and that the new medium-term development programme makes it a priority, the speech didn’t go nearly far enough. Promising a “professional public service” isn’t worth much unless he also promises an accountable and efficient public service, in which officials have to perform or else.

Giving the Public Service Commission a greater role in appointments, and introducing a graduate recruitment drive, may be worthy but are hardly a solution to the problem.

One of the hallmarks of a speech that was solid but far from special was a focus on finance. It promised an infrastructure investment drive to drive growth and devoted a fair amount of time to all the financial innovations and pots of money that might be required. But it told us little of how government at all levels is going to get its act together to produce viable projects in a form that can attract the finance.

Plans to develop “innovative ways of funding infrastructure” are laudable. And it no doubt sounds impressive when multiple billions are bandied around. But it’s not clear that finance is the main constraint. Rather, as often as not it is exactly that ailing public service that’s the problem, along with the government’s unwillingness to face the tough trade-offs required to bring in the private finance it says it wants.

Ramaphosa zeroed in on municipalities and the need to maintain and invest in municipal infrastructure. That was important, and welcome. Whether ring-fencing municipal utility services in water and electricity is what’s required to do the trick is a question. Certainly, the government will have to fast-track the new funding model it promises, and sort out regulatory frameworks to avoid making the municipalities’ parlous state even worse by taking away their electricity or water revenues.

We will need more clarity on this, and on various other new structures he announced as part of a “second wave of reform” — such as a new, dedicated state-owned enterprise reform unit. There were a couple of other new ones on the list, such as a new department of science & technology innovation fund for venture capital to support start-ups coming out of higher education — something that already exists in the private sector. The government can’t keep proliferating new entities unless they represent genuine solutions to genuine problems.

Importantly though, Ramaphosa did double down on the government’s commitment to the reform process led by Operation Vulindlela. And he is extending its remit, not just to tackling municipal dysfunction but also to making it a priority to put new digital public infrastructure in place to bring connectivity to millions of South Africans — including the new digital ID system SA should have had long ago.

Importantly too, the Sona took a reasonably sensible line on National Health Insurance (NHI), reflecting welcome compromises reached within the government of national unity. Ramaphosa committed to “preparatory work” on the NHI rather than to implementing it. And crucially, he emphasised that the most important priority was to strengthen the existing health system, as well as to implement a proper electronic system of health records in the public sector — again something SA should have had long ago.

The test of the speech will be in what government achieves in the year ahead. Getting to even 2% growth, never mind the 3% Ramaphosa seeks, would be a fabulous start.