SA's Achilles heel: mediocre commentators
Max du Preez evidently expects more than what he gives. In the introduction to the book, Brain Porn: The Best of Daily Maverick, du Preez writes: "I want someone to give me the broader picture, and I want intelligent, well-reasoned opinions about the state of my world. When I'm done, I want to feel prepared to see beyond the inevitable smoke and mirrors of my day...". Even more so, he continues by demanding that: "...reporters have a memory that extends further than the previous decade..."
Hardly had I completed reading these words in his introduction, which resonated with me, when I turned to du Preez's piece, Service delivery's ANC's Achilles heel. A piece that neither gives the broader picture, is intelligent, well-reasoned nor thinking beyond the previous decade.
Unless one truly understands the gravity of apartheid and the over three hundred years of colonialism that preceded it, one cannot really expect everything to be solved within 20 years of democracy. This may sound like rhetoric but articles such as Du Preez's expose a common ignorance that expected Madiba magic to have simply solved South Africa's challenges within two decades. Had the title of the article been "service delivery's SA's Achilles heel" it would possibly have given a broader picture, been a bit more well-reasoned and thinking beyond the last two decades.
How does Du Preez, for example, explain service delivery protests in the City of Cape Town, Grabouw, Hessequa, Swartland, after nearly a decade of DA run-municipalities; these in the main being non-violent and therefore go unreported? Or does he suffer the smoke and mirrors of an "ungovernability campaign"?
The ANC would be the first to agree that there remains serious challenges faced by our country. We have specifically identified the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality as threatening our stability. Corruption, maladministration and inefficiency need to be tackled. Yet all of this sounds like rhetoric again if we do not believe that the ANC, in partnership with others, wishes to and has addressed these challenges.