RANJENI MUNUSAMY: Is SA politics a spectator sport that achieves nothing?
'Despite the perpetual failure of leadership, there remains undue reliance on politicians to come up with solutions to the country's problems'
EXTRACT
South Africans have been spectators of the New Dawn, waiting for President Cyril Ramaphosa to conjure up a miracle to rescue the country from the doldrums. Some people appear to be genuinely disappointed that he has not done so yet.
Following the ANC's decision to amend the constitution to allow for land expropriation without compensation, there are all manner of expectations. Some people think title deeds for land will be handed out like free chilli-sauce sachets with a takeaway meal, while others fear they will be driven out by land invasions.
There has been much rhetoric, but nobody in the ANC or the government has been able to articulate intelligibly how the new land redistribution policy will be implemented in real terms.
Valentine's Day turned out to be quite fateful this year. In a rambling late-night address, Jacob Zuma announced that he was resigning as president. It was a bizarre, clumsy end to a bewildering period. Since then, a dramatic series of events have unfolded, including the dislodging of the Gupta network, the suspension of the commissioner of the South African Revenue Service (Sars), Tom Moyane, and this week the removal of Shaun Abrahams as national director of public prosecutions.Tomorrow, the much-anticipated state capture commission of inquiry commences, which we hope will lay bare the full extent of the plunder by the Guptas and their political enablers. February 14 was also a dramatic day in Parkland, Florida, in the US. Nikolas Cruz, 19, walked into a high school with a semi-automatic rifle and fired indiscriminately at pupils and teachers. He killed 17 people and wounded 17. The killings sparked mass outrage but also had an unexpected outcome. Some of the teenagers who survive...
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