ANTHONY BUTLER: Politicians tell lies, water is a bit wet and other truths

John Steenhuisen’s damning evidence will unsettle only the few who still say Ramaphosa saintly and the ANC godly

First published in Business Day

19 APRIL 2024

DA leader John Steenhuisen astonished Western Cape residents this week when he revealed that some politicians tell lies.

So troubled is the leader of the official opposition about his discovery that he has decided to file a complaint with the public protector about the abuse of public resources in the service of such dishonesty.

The target of his ire is the ANC and its leader, President Cyril Ramaphosa. Steenhuisen describes the ANC as “the most dishonest manipulators our democracy has ever seen”, saying that for 30 years they have “scammed South Africans with promises they never intended to keep”.

To be fair to the DA leader, he presents a pretty strong case. The ANC promises us free education, but “Blade Nzimande’s cadres in the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) have looted all the money”. The governing party stopped load-shedding in the run-up to the election, but everyone knows it will come back far worse afterwards. Ramaphosa promises to fight corruption, but he “chaired the ANC cadre deployment committee when state capture happened”.

Worst of all, Steenhuisen says the ANC is planning to appoint EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu as finance minister. “If we allow the ANC to pull off this latest manipulation, you will end up with the same person who helped loot VBS Mutual Bank as your finance minister … Your property will be expropriated without compensation, your pension will be looted, your savings will evaporate and inflation will plunge you into starvation.”

However well substantiated, Steenhuisen’s position is unpersuasive in certain respects. First, the ANC has evidently tried to accomplish quite a lot, if the 2022 census results presented to us by Stats SA are to be believed. We now have near-universal access to basic education, for instance. About 80% of households have piped water, and 90% electricity, up from 58% in 2011. And almost 90% of households are in formal dwellings, up from 65% in 1996.

These are indications of the ANC’s intention to make good on its promises. The problem is that it isn’t so good at follow through. Children may attend school, but they don’t learn much. Water often doesn’t come out of all the new taps provided, electricity keeps going off (up until a few weeks ago), and the houses it builds are often in the wrong places.

The line between optimism and false promises is hard to draw, even for the DA. Will the DA really “end load-shedding and water-shedding, halve the rate of violent crime [and] crush corruption”, as Steenhuisen promises? Will it really “lift 6-million people out of poverty … triple the number of grade 4 learners who can read for meaning, and ensure quality healthcare for all, regardless of economic status”?

Citizens may question the promised complaint to the public protector. It is true that Kholeka Gcaleka previously worked as a legal adviser to former home affairs and finance minister Malusi Gigaba, when the minister was fighting malfeasance through an innovative public-private partnership with the Gupta family. While this undoubtedly makes Gcaleka an expert in matters of lying and dishonesty, the DA has said repeatedly that she is unfit to hold office. This throws the sincerity of the referral into question.

Finally, Steenhuisen’s damning evidence will unsettle only the small number of South Africans who continue to believe Ramaphosa is a saintly man and the ANC a godly institution. We know from opinion survey research that this now constitutes a small, shrinking part of the electorate.

However, citizens mostly do not believe any opposition party will do a better job than the ANC. This is why instead of switching their votes to alternative parties, they have been exiting the electoral process altogether.

It is here that the DA’s real challenge lies.

• Butler teaches public policy at the University of Cape Town.