MANDY WIENER | Ramaphosa meets the moment on water and crime, but lived experiences will be the measure

Moments before President Cyril Ramaphosa’s black SUV pulled up to deliver him to the red carpet outside the Cape Town City Hall, the military band struck up a familiar tune.

The irony was profound as Tyla’s ‘Water’ announced the President’s arrival for the State of the Nation address, considering so many South African’s were without any water.

Ramaphosa’s SONA was already overshadowed by the growing water crisis in Johannesburg and comments made by the Gauteng Premier. The President would have been tone deaf had he failed to address the issue as a priority.

Panyaza ‘I had to bathe at a hotel’ Lesufi was in Cape Town to attend the SONA and not in Gauteng. Just hours before SONA, the Presidency confirmed that the Ministers of Water and Sanitation and of Cooperative Governance had been dispatched to Gauteng to communicate with residents and to deal with the issues.

Ramaphosa identified water and crime as his two main focus areas in the first half of his speech.

He had no choice but to acknowledge what had caused the taps to run dry: poor planning and inadequate maintenance of water systems by many municipalities. “There is no silver bullet to address this challenge, which has its roots in systemic failures and many years of neglecting infrastructure,” said Ramaphosa.

“We have all seen the pain that our people have been expressing through demonstrations in various parts of Gauteng. These protests have been fueled by frustrations over inadequate and unreliable access to basic services such as water.”

The President announced a National Water Crisis Committee that he would personally chair that would bring together all existing efforts into a single coordinating body.

Similarly, on crime, Ramaphosa met the mood of a country full of fear and outraged by the level of violent crime and shocking revelations from the Madlanga Commission.

“The cost of crime is measured in lives lost and futures cut short. It is felt also in the sense of fear that permeates our society and in the reluctance of businesses to invest,” Ramaphosa said. He spoke of children caught in the crossfire of gang wars, people being chased from their homes by illegal miners and women being murdered by their partners in their own homes.

Ramaphosa announced a deployment of the SANDF to assist the police in fighting gang violence. Crucially, the State Security Agency will also re-vet the senior management of the SAPS and metro police departments, and this will include lifestyle audits.

The President seemed to appreciate the tone of the country on these two issues of water and crime. But being empathetic and acknowledging failures is one thing. Executing on plans in an effective, urgent manner is another. Ramaphosa has effectively diagnosed the problems, but remedying them is what really matters.

In a local government election year, the President had to finely balance the acknowledgements of failures and crises with a celebration of wins. He did spend a good twenty minutes on the better story the country has to tell.

The President spoke of an economy gathering pace, an improved credit rating, lower inflation, stabilisation of national debt, a strengthened rand, a JSE performing exceptionally well and broader economic recovery. He lauded the end of load shedding, progress in improving the performance of ports and freight rail lines, the removal from the FATF grey list, and SARS once again being a world-class tax authority.

But he ran the risk of sounding tone deaf by listing the successes without acknowledging the glaring failures. Ramaphosa ended by saying, “We must fix local government. We must fight crime and corruption and restore trust in the criminal justice system. We must create jobs and livelihoods for every South African.”

That is ultimately what it comes down to. The lived realities and experiences of citizens will determine whether the grand plans and political interventions are truly successful.

Ramaphosa may have met the moment in saying the right things that people want to hear, but only action and delivery will make the difference.