South African leaders blame white people instead of taking responsibility for their poor performance

Professor William Gumede said many black leaders say it is the fault of white people when their actions cause unemployment and poor services.

Gumede, an associate professor at the School of Governance at WITS, shared this information during an interview with The Common Sense.

He said that South Africa is dealing with a severe, interlocking set of emergencies rather than a single issue.

He emphasises that these crises are not accidental but are the direct result of deliberate policy failures.

He said that the ANC enabled systemic corruption and neglected human capital over the past 30 years.

He said that in many instances, there is total state failure and infrastructure collapse, which severely affects services to citizens.

Gumede said that the ANC, alongside populist breakaway parties like the EFF and MK, cynically reduce complex economic governance to identity politics.

When state infrastructure or the economy collapses, these politicians entirely refuse to take accountability.

Instead, they weaponise racial scapegoating by blaming white people or apartheid to distract from their own governance failures.

“It is heartbreaking that our leaders are cynical and opportunistic. They will never admit that they caused the lack of jobs or the collapse of the state,” he said.

“Instead, they say it is the fault of white people. They blame whites, claiming they are racist and the root cause of all your problems.”

He added that populist politicians, like those in the EFF and the MK Party, also refuse to take responsibility for the collapse of the state and private sector.

These politicians, who mostly came out of the ANC, sing from the same hymnbook by ‘blaming it all on apartheid’.

Black voters still vote based on the past

One of the problems South Africa faces is that voters make political choices based on the past or along racial lines.

“Unfortunately, too many black voters still vote based on the past. They vote based on the sentiment,” Gumede said.

“They say, ‘Well, my family voted for the African National Congress, so I’m going to vote for the African National Congress.’”

“They still view political parties like football clubs, such as AmaZulu or Kaizer Chiefs, supporting their party through thick and thin.”

Gumede explained that this means leaders get a free pass to continue enriching themselves, knowing they will be re-elected.

“This happens because a significant portion of the black voter base continues to vote for them based on history, rather than on performance,” he said.

He said all the failing ANC leaders need to do is claim that other opposition parties, like the DA, are racist, white parties.

“They tell voters, ‘If they get into power, they are going to bring apartheid back, so don’t vote for them,’” he explained.

He said it was critical to get voters to begin voting based on competency. “We cannot continue voting based on colour or the past,” he said.