ANC government has done worse than the homeland and apartheid system – Prof Lesiba Teffo

Political analyst, Professor Lesiba Teffo, argues that the National Dialogue is unnecessary because everybody knows what South Africa’s problems are, yet nobody has dealt with them.

“Let us not beat about the bush. This dialogue is not necessary,” he said during an SABC discussion about the National Dialogue, which took place on the sidelines of the first National Convention over the weekend.

“They want security, jobs, and safety. They don’t want potholes. Do you need to sit under an Amaroela tree to get an answer for that,” he asked.

The Professor did not mince his words in his critical analysis, adding that the African National Congress (ANC) has put people in a worse position than before 1994.

“We have done far worse than homeland system. We have done far worse than the apartheid system. We must be honest that things are worse off today. We keep talking and talking, but nothing improves,” said the Professor.

“I wonder where Chris Hani is. I wonder where Mandela is. They are looking down on us about what we have done.”

He bemoaned the fact the people are mesmerised by concepts shared by politicians which he says sounds novel to those who are naive.

“There is nothing new that is being said that was not said 30 years ago. We keep repeating the same things,” he said.

“The government wants to spend R500 million to go to a community to listen to the things which they already know.”

He added that the ‘roundabout across the country’ is likely to be boycotted by the people because “people are much smarter now than in 1994.”

Teffo said the problem is not knowing what the problems are. Instead, it is implementing the solutions to these problems.

What South Africans want

Teffo said most of the things discussed at the National Convention are already contained in the National Development Plan 2030 which was unveiled in 2012.

The National Development Plan is a plan for the country to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality by 2030.

In 2023, the ten-year review of the National Development Plan found that the economy was failing to grow at the rate required for the objectives of plan to materialise.

The economy was also not structured to serve the interests of all South Africans, resulting in poverty and inequality remaining extremely high and persistent.

Teffo said that people across South Africa, from small villages to large cities, know what their problems are and what solutions they want.

• End cadre deployment. South Africans want people to be appointed on merit.

• Secure South Africa’s borders. There are too many foreigners in South Africa.

• End black economic empowerment (BEE) and affirmative action (AA). It was an intervening matter which should be done away with.

• End transformation. The original intension was good, but it has been so corrupted that everything is done in the name of transformation. The more we transform, the worse things become.

• They want a new electoral system where people can select their leaders, including the president.

Teffo argued that unless the democratic government listens to the people and implements these measures, it will face the same fate as the apartheid government did in 1994.