The global pandemic of Covid-19 has highlighted the fractures in South Africa and the pronounced inequality, disparity and economic injustice that exists. These are not unknown realities or circumstances for South Africa but it seems that, for far too long, those who could do something have ignored the plight of the voiceless and the disempowered.

These issues have pervasively and systematically disempowered South Africans, and in fact led to the entrenched poverty, inequality and unemployment. Those circumstances were made worse by the stolen decade under the kleptocracy of Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, the capture of the Gupta shadow state and the leadership of the ANC.

South Africa did not simply lose 10 years of opportunity, growth and progress but rather it was stolen from South Africans in a vile and criminal way. In the wake of Covid-19 and its economic devastation, South Africans and residents of the republic are going hungry, are being violently attacked in their homes and are confronted with uncaring local functionaries who deem it appropriate to tear down makeshift structures in a bitter winter.

Those 10 years, coupled with the inability of South Africa’s democracy to meaningfully undo the structural realities, have meant thousands of micro, small and medium businesses have struggled under the forced shutdown of the economy.

The current uncertain times of Covid-19 have highlighted the systemic realities of injustice, but also acutely raised the inability of our governments and leaders to respond meaningfully to these challenges. This is true not only in South Africa, but across the globe, particularly in countries such as the US where there has been a noticeable turning point in how Americans engage with BlackLivesMatter and systemic racism that stubbornly continues to exist and even thrive. This is in the face of a profound moment in our collective future that speaks to the need for both movements and protests that continue to nudge the moral arc forward, but also importantly the need to elect individuals who are willing to do the work of serving the people.

We have had to navigate the past two months with great difficulty, many missteps by our government, failure by our law enforcement and defence staff to abide by both the law and spirit of the Constitution.

President Cyril Ramaphosa and his administration have not always managed to navigate the impact of Covid-19 carefully and meaningfully, and the transition to Alert Level 3 has similarly stumbled. Many South Africans and residents have been frustrated by the articulation of the regulations, the rationality of the mechanisms deployed by the Ramaphosa administration and the lack of direct engagement by Ramaphosa on many of the issues that the country is struggling with.

South Africa requires a government that is responsive, not simply to enforcement through the security cluster agenda, but rather implementation of regulations that are rooted in constitutionalism and rationality.  This is not the time for overreach and excess.

The death of Collins Khosa at the hands of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in April is but one example of the inability of the Ramaphosa administration to hold all arms of government together – particularly on the simple and basic tenet of upholding the law and the Constitution.

An internal SANDF investigation did not even bother to interview Khosa’s family members. Khosa was taken outside into his yard where SANDF soldiers allegedly poured beer over his head, slammed him against a cement wall, slapped, punched and kicked him – witness testimony provides the ordeal of this alleged overreach and criminality by soldiers that should be managed by the Ramaphosa administration. 

We have had to navigate the past two months with great difficulty, many missteps by our government, failure by our law enforcement and defence staff to abide by both the law and spirit of the Constitution. South Africa in these moments, and in the many weeks ahead, requires our government to respond ethically, compassionately and resolutely to the needs of its people.

South Africans have much to wonder about, particularly when food parcels are stolen by local councillors, forced removals and evictions continue or local authorities remove a tent in Observatory, Cape Town, that was set up to provide shelter for homeless residents. The response from a mayoral committee member, justifying removal of the tent, was that “homeless shelters are available, no need for breaking the law”. But, according to a Groundup report, they “could find out there were 25 spaces available in various shelters subject to the presentation of a Covid-19-negative result, and 10 spaces for men only available at the OWL Shelter in Lansdowne (seven kilometres from Observatory as the crow flies), subject to screening”.

Some would think that South Africa, and the world at large, requires a reckoning. The conversation ignited in America by the BlackLivesMatter movement has importantly raised the structural challenges facing people of colour, not simply in places like America but also at home in South Africa.

South Africa’s “peaceful” transition to democracy was not enabled by the prosecution of war criminals or the restructuring required at an economic level, but rather on the basis of negotiation, deal-making and compromise. The collapse of South Africa’s capability and capacity was an intentional design under the shadow state of the kleptocratic Zuma administration, and it continues to haunt ordinary South Africans and residents as we navigate the uncertain times of Covid-19 and the economic fallout.

Far too many of us have been comfortable and, in fact, pleased to see so-called “improvement districts” utilising private money and public-sector rates revenue to create shadow security structures – structures that have forced poverty and the “unsightly” out of sight.

A reckoning does not simply arrive through protests or electing the right people to represent us. A reckoning can only be achieved by our collective demands for a better world – a world that is just, fair and equitable. For too long, South Africans have allowed a dangerous narrative to exist and take root – in fact, we have even elected some of that dangerous rhetoric to filter from our party-political environment.

Our discourse has been weaponised to ensure the rise of people who are misogynists, bigots, xenophobes and racists. The narrative is that to be poor is an unsightly and self-inflicted reality, instead of confronting the truth that systemic racism and structural economic realities have continued to perpetuate power and money in the hands of a few.

Far too many of us have been comfortable and, in fact, pleased to see so-called “improvement districts” utilising private money and public-sector rates revenue to create shadow security structures – structures that have forced poverty and the “unsightly” out of sight.

This system has pushed poor people out of communities across South Africa. It has allowed gentrification to continue without any meaningful attempt to address apartheid social planning, structure or design. It has enabled private security structures (funded by ratepayers in many instances) to destroy the belongings of homeless residents and to abuse and attack the poor.

The reckoning South Africa requires extends far beyond the recent Constitutional Court judgment that paves the way for individuals to run for office at a provincial and national level.

We have watched xenophobic rhetoric and policy filter through the City of Johannesburg under former mayor Herman Mashaba, and did not do enough to protect migrants and refugees living in South Africa’s economic hub.

We also watched the onslaught against Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo by Zuma supporters in 2005. We continue to stand by as gender-based violence targets womxn across South Africa and Ramaphosa, in his Wednesday evening address, reflected on this horror when he said “over the past few weeks, no fewer than 21 women and children have been murdered. Their killers thought they could silence them. But we will not forget them and we will speak for them where they cannot.”

A reckoning requires at first our collective efforts and energies to pull down the structures and systems that perpetuate systemic racism, violence and inequality. It requires our efforts to hold our current crop of elected leaders accountable – at local level and all the way through to public servants serving in the Ramaphosa administration.

The reckoning South Africa requires extends far beyond the recent Constitutional Court judgment that paves the way for individuals to run for office at a provincial and national level. We will require to cast our votes for candidates who embrace this need for a reckoning, candidates who understand what service is and how to serve. We must only support candidates that will want to enable South Africans and empower its people.

But it will not be enough for us to elect a better crop of leaders in service or to coordinate our protests and movements for change and reform. We will need to look at ourselves, our communities and the compact by which we choose to live. Rather we should all ask ourselves how much are we willing to stomach for our own self-interest? Are we willing to sacrifice fairness and justice for the trappings that violent and aggressive “improvement districts” offer?

We require a reckoning of our existing social compact that has been unable to unravel the system that perpetuates poverty, inequality, systemic violence and unemployment. We need to speak for those who cannot speak. We must act for those who have been silenced and removed. DM