“South Africa needs a genuine reset, and I fear it will take us eons to recover as a country if we don’t do it by 2024.” That is the view of Advocate Mojanku Gumbi – a former advisor and key strategist to former President Thabo Mbeki.
Advocate Gumbi has just taken on a new role as Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary General on Racism in the Workplace.
Speaking exclusively with SABC News in New York in February, she floated the idea of returning to the period in 1994 which ushered in a Government of National Unity – a type of social compact she insists cannot be led by the African National Congress (ANC).
She came to New York on UN business – her new role in helping address persistent racism within the UN system.
Advocate Gumbi in conversation with US correspondent Sherwin Bryce Pease:
Gumbi talked about South Africa and her assessment of the work done towards constructing the foundations of a democratic, non-racial, human rights-centric post-apartheid society.
“The reason why we let poverty still persist is because we may have not gotten it right in 1994. And I think that the country is in such trouble right now that we need a genuine reset, and we need to go back and see what it is that we did not pay attention to in 1994. So, we almost need it. If we don’t do it, if we don’t do it in 2024, next year, I fear that it may take us eons to recover.”
A reference to next year’s general election that could see the ANC majority whittled down to below 50% for the first time since the new dispensation.
“A genuine reset for me means we need to bring the country back to almost where we were when we formed the government of national unity. We do. But I can tell you, I do not think the ANC has earned the right to lead that government of national unity. No. 1994 they did. I don’t think right now they really have acquitted themselves well to lead that government of national unity.”
“But the country is in such deep trouble that we are going to have to go back and bring everybody around this compact. You know, you hear many leaders in South Africa talk about the social compact, but I, I really genuinely believe that there is no way that you can have a social compact led by the ANC and let it be acceptable to the majority of the people. I don’t believe it. And if the ANC any of this is responsible and loves the country, they will recognise it.”
If not the ANC, then who or what?
“There are very capable South Africans who must rise now and come to the rescue of their country. I honestly don’t think a kind of GNU – you know, people talk about coalition governments and coalition governments don’t work in South Africa, they say, but you can’t I think you can have an unplanned coalition in South Africa. You have to sit down before the elections and agree around a particular programme of action.”
“And then, so that by the time the results are announced, you already have a plan and you have a broad coalition that has agreed. You can’t wait for the results first, people are saying the ANC is going to go below 50%, 40%. And then only after the elections do you wake up to say do we talk to the EFF or DA or COPE. We genuinely need to be honest about the state in which other countries are. So, we need to say that our country is in such deep trouble.”
And on Eskom, load shedding and the SOEs monumental debt burden. She said, “There’s something special that’s going to have to be done. And if you do it, let’s say we decide on the wealth tax. It’s going to be that demand for the wealth tax has to be led by someone that the people trust. And I think honestly, with the best of intentions, President Ramaphosa has not been able to pull his government together to make sure that there is the trust of the people that they will spend money appropriately.”
Straight talk from a former government insider.
As the rainbow nation searches for its lost pot of gold, more often than not… with the lights off.
