Extract of speech by Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader, Athol Trollip MP, at the Kalfiefees in Hermanus, in the debate on President Jacob Zuma's first 100 days in office

Ladies and gentlemen,

The concept of the first 100 days in office of a new leader being a benchmark to establish success or failure has gained more and more public and mainstream media credence.

It is a helpful tool for identifying some broader patterns and trends but it is of little help in measuring particulars of leadership or governance.

It is of little help for the simple reason that it is entirely random, and it is an entirely inadequate period of time to measure one's impact. Real change takes much longer to become apparent.

The other problem with this kind of assessment is that it becomes personality based, as opposed to policy or principle based. For example, in the province I come from we had a new premier who held cabinet and management meetings at 4am in the morning. Everyone hailed this as the solution to all the ailments of the Eastern Cape. It wasn't, and the preliminary rave reviews proved to be prematurely optimistic.

So I propose that to get a proper assessment of what has actually transpired in the past 100 days of Mr Zuma's presidency, we need to consider and understand the policies, principles and practices of the ANC.

The ANC represents a racial nationalist ideology that pigeonholes people and communities and the interest of the State (which is code for the ANC) first, often at the expense of ordinary citizens. This is in stark contrast with the DA's vision of an Open, Opportunity Society for All.

Three core characteristics of this ideology illustrate clearly what I mean:

• The ANC nationalist ideology believes the state should play a central and determining role in the lives of citizens. To this extent, a nationalist government will boast a large national administration, a powerful and, often, bloated executive and a great deal of power will inevitably be vested in the Presidency. With power comes prestige and, inevitably, perks and privilege. Always the trend will be to increase the size or influence of these elements, never to decrease them. Federalism is frowned upon and the devolution of power shunned.
• The ANC nationalist ideology despises excellence, seeking always to reduce the bar to the lowest common denominator. Because the group is seen as the ultimate benchmark, those who rise above it or who aspire to excel are not celebrated or encouraged but seen as a threat. The drive under an ANC nationalist government is always towards enforcing uniformity and to seek out and dilute excellence, preferring instead the apparent safety of homogeneity and, with it, mediocrity.
• The ANC nationalist ideology believes that consensus is preferable to a contest of ideas. Political correctness becomes the litmus test against which the credentials of any debate are measured, and criticism is painted as illegitimate and ‘unpatriotic'.

There is obviously not enough time to exhaustively illustrate this issue. The ANC has of course developed some practices that are particularly peculiar in this regard. Cadre deployment for example is the direct result of the inability to properly separate party and state and lies at the centre of the poor service delivery that ANC voters are protesting about.

Each of the principles outlined above underlies much of the policy that has come to define Jacob Zuma's administration: a significantly increased Executive and Presidency, a move to undermine the power and influence of the provinces, the mooted idea of media tribunal, an administration that repeatedly refuses to endorse or adopt best practice, a drive to control information and debate (particularly by those aligned to the President), the use of transformation as a moral yardstick, and all in an environment in which the status of those in power is constantly reinforced by the abuse of public money to ensure the ‘appropriate' perks and privilege.

The real problem, however, are the principles and values that underpin that vision. Many of them are deeply problematic and all of them are fundamental. I believe, if we are to better understand the ANC, there needs to be a more concerted effort to analyse its first principles. For, when all is said and done, Jacob Zuma is a product of the ANC, in much the same way Thabo Mbeki was. Each of their particular personalities is of interest, but only on the margins, there are far more powerful and important trends and patterns that determine the ruling party's policy.

So let's have a further look at how these principles have influenced Zuma's administrative performance over the past 100 days.

Firstly, the Zuma presidency coincides with an international and national recession that requires frugal austerity by Government. The DA has compiled an expenditure monitor of wasteful expenditure by the executive office bearers of this government and it shows scant regard for the pecuniary realities. The purchase of excessively luxurious motor vehicles, and extravagant inauguration and state of the province addresses are but a few examples.

Despite the President saying upon his election that he owes no one any favours, the appointment of a bloated cabinet implies implicitly that he has yielded to a policy of costly appeasement. This is further borne out by his appointment of ANC/Zuma loyalists to the position of Police Commissioner and also the rumours that have surfaced that he plans to appoint former Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana as National Director of Public Prosecutions.

Furthermore, the whole matter of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) appointments and the subsequent appointment of judges as well as the impending appointment of Constitutional Court judges is a source of grave concern for the constitutional future of this country. In addition, the raft of impending legislation indicates that a Zuma presidency has an appetite for the centralisation of power that makes that of Mbeki appear positively anorexic.

It is also chillingly ironic that President Zuma and the Ministers of Basic Education and Higher Education are today addressing 1500 school principals about the state of education in the country, whilst there are over 4000 principal posts currently vacant across all nine provinces. Despite his best intentions, his prospect of success is compromised by the historical ineptness of 15 years of ANC mismanagement.

As I said during my debate on the State of the Nation address, I wish for the sake of the country, that Jacob Zuma's name would be added to the illustrious list of post recessionary leaders however, this is unlikely under the current trends.

Issued by the Democratic Alliance

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