The unfulfilled promise: How greed and ineptitude undermined SA’s liberation

‘Certainly if anyone does not provide for those who are his own, and especially for those who are members of his household, he has disowned the faith and is worse than a person without faith” (1 Timothy 5:8)

For the majority of South Africans, the above, at best, is aspirational. Despite the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act 53 of 2003, Liquid Fuels Charter of 2003, Mining Charter of 2018, Codes of Good Practice, etc, 32 years into democracy, poverty still has a Black, feminine and rural face.

All cashiers, petrol attendants and waitrons are still Black. When the rest of the world is seized with 21st century challenges, South Africa, despite its enormous potential, is not even meeting basic needs like clean running water, freedom from hunger nor safety and security (the collapse of the South African Police Service and resultant hijacked buildings represent a crude breakdown of the rule of law).

This is precipitated mainly by greed, State Capture and ineptitude that manifests as economic stagnation (annual growth rate of 1.1%) over the past 15 years, widespread corruption, policy instability, the deliberate collapse of state-owned enterprises/companies and a government debt burden of more than R5-trillion. Even though South Africa has reclaimed the biggest economy in Africa status, our current $400-billion GDP is the same as it was in 2011 but the population has grown to 65 million.

It starts right from the beginning, when we were so eager to attain our political liberation that we did not think deeply and profoundly about how we were going to use this office to fundamentally transform the economic system – pretty much like a dog chasing a car – to facilitate the participation of the majority of our people in order for them to simply reach their (not even fullest) potential and reclaim their self-worth and self-respect. Because there is no nobility in being poor.

As a result, we are the only African country that became free and did not both substantially increase our educational levels and exponentially increase the ownership of the economy by the indigenous people by at least double digits. Now we are known as the only African country to be free from colonialism and after only 30 years, voluntarily handed back power to the colonialists, oppressors and racists.

And yet history is replete with examples that privilege will only ever concede what it must to retain its pursuit of accumulation – it is incapable of any other manner of future. White people will never voluntarily dismantle the system that privileges them. Assata Shakur reminds us that “nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them”. Success must always uplift others.

Apartheid was a brutal, vile and savage law that was violently enforced. Our most spectacular failure has been squandering the absolute two-thirds majority and not using it to, among other things, dismantle the system that was designed to impoverish Black people (Great Britain had three reasons for choosing to hand over South Africa to white male Afrikaners, instead of to the Black elite who were well educated and were much better farmers: so the country would be a crucible of cheap labour, forever; so Great Britain would have the first right of refusal to the country’s raw gold and forever determine the price of diamonds, hence the creation of the London Sales Organisation). There is also the failure to restore the land back to its original owners who were violently and forcibly removed, and not reversing the impoverishing spatial apartheid planning that ensured that Black people lived at least 40km from their places of work, hence towns that are still named Vergenoeg. By failing to improve the education level of Black people, we have condemned our people to a life of poverty. Everyone has a choice, unless they are a victim, poor and have nowhere to go.

A reflection on pivotal moments in the struggle of Black people is quite instructive and the conclusion can only be that despite a great start on 27 April 1994 and huge country potential, most Black people have gone backwards.

The African National Congress was formed on 8 January 1912 in Bloemfontein as the South African Native National Congress to unite Black (Africans, Coloureds and Indians) people, chiefs and organisations against discriminatory laws and to fight for political, land and civil rights. It was established primarily to challenge the exclusion of Black people from political power following the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910. Later, the Freedom Charter came into being in response to the unjust sociopolitical and economic status that persisted. It aimed to usher in a new course for South Africa by calling for security, and an end to geographical, political, economic and educational segregation. Adopted in 1955, it served as a foundational blueprint for a democratic, nonracial South Africa, uniting diverse anti-apartheid movements against white minority rule. It articulated popular demands for equality, land redistribution and economic justice, aiming to replace the apartheid regime with a government representing all people.

These events, among others, culminated in our political but not economic liberation and birthed the Constitution of South Africa (1996) as the supreme law of the land, serving as the cornerstone of the country’s democracy by replacing (342 years of colonialism, 98 years of separate development and 48 years of institutional) apartheid’s parliamentary sovereignty with constitutional supremacy. The Constitution is premised on the three pillars of constitutional democracy, social justice and fundamental human rights, ensuring accountability and guiding society towards equality, dignity and unity.

South Africa has an implementation paralysis, not a shortage of policies. From the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR), Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA), New Growth Path (NGP), National Development Plan (NDP) 2030 and the more recent Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, all sought to address the economic facet of the national process.

In Chapter 12 (“Building Safer Communities”) the NDP – a strategic document meant to guide policymaking and budget allocation over 20 years – frames safety as a fundamental human right and a prerequisite for social and economic development, aiming for a South Africa where people “feel safe and have no fear of crime” in all aspects of their lives. The NDP offers a long-term perspective. Its goal is to eliminate poverty and to reduce inequality by 2030. The document tackles many of the issues that were identified in the National Planning Commission’s Diagnostic Report published in 2011. It identified nine challenges – too few jobs, poor education quality, inadequate infrastructure, a resource-intensive growth path, spatial challenges, an ailing public health system, poor performance of public service, corruption and deep divisions within society – and proposed specific policies to address these. It defines a desired destination and identifies the role different sectors of society need to play in reaching that goal.

As a long-term strategic plan the NDP serves four broad objectives or providing overarching goals for what we want to achieve by 2030; building consensus on the key obstacles to us achieving these goals and what needs to be done to overcome those obstacles; providing a shared long-term strategic framework within which more detailed planning can take place in order to advance the long-term goals set out in the NDP; and creating a basis for making choices about how best to use limited resources. The plan aims to ensure that all South Africans attain a decent standard of living through the elimination of poverty and reduction of inequality. The core elements of a decent standard of living identified in the plan are housing, water, electricity and sanitation; safe and reliable public transport; quality education and skills development; safety and security; quality healthcare; social protection; employment; recreation and leisure; clean environment and adequate nutrition.

Released in 2013, the NDP was approved and adopted by the government and received strong endorsement from the broader society. It was not the first post-apartheid policy document that attempted to tackle South Africa’s high levels of poverty and inequality. The RDP (1993), GEAR (1996) and AsgiSA (2006) were all designed to accelerate economic growth and reduce poverty.

The optimism generated by the ANC’s early successes must now, after 32 years of democracy, be tempered by its conspicuous failures. Over the past 15 years in particular, the material welfare of South Africans has declined across large parts of the income distribution and the most damage was done to the poorest. Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen, in 1999, defined development as the existence of three linked freedoms: political freedom, freedom of opportunity and economic protection from abject poverty. When Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was inaugurated as the first democratically elected president of the Republic of South Africa on 10 May 1994, his and many South Africans’ “political freedom” had been realised, but not the “economic protection from abject poverty”.

As of April 2026, a number of national police commissioners have faced criminal charges, the most recent being General Fannie Masemola who was suspended following charges of corruption and violating the Public Finance Management Act. Historically, this position has faced numerous scandal-related charges, including cases against former commissioner Jackie Selebi and former acting commissioner Khomotso Phahlane. Now democratic South Africa has its 10th national police commissioner, General Puleng Dimpane.

The chronology is: Masemola (31 March 2022 to 23 April 2026), General Khehla John Sitole (22 November 2017 to 31 March 2022), Lieutenant General Lesetja Mothiba (1 June 2017 to 22 November 2017), Lieutenant General Khomotso Phahlane (15 October 2015 to 1 June 2017), General Riah Phiyega (12 June 2012 to 30 October 2015), Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi (24 October 2011 to 12 June 2012), General Bheki Cele (2 August 2009 to 24 October 2011), General Jackie Selebi (1 January 2000 to 12 January 2008) and General George Fivaz (29 January 1995 to 31 December 1999).

This is only the symptom of a festering sore, marking a continuation of an institutional crisis precipitated by State Capture, greed, impunity, leadership failures at the very top and lack of oversight and accountability. As far back as 2012, the NDP identified “serial crises of top leadership in the police”. The national police service is on autopilot, with the national minister, national commissioner and deputy national commissioner all on suspension and another deputy national commissioner, Tebello Mosikili, the subject of an Independent Police Investigative Directorate investigation.

There is no doubt what the 180,000-strong SAPS with it huge budget needs is reform and rebuilding if we are serious about eliminating deep-rooted corruption, organised crime, witnesses being murdered, bribes, disappearing dockets, etc. The bare minimum is a professional service that rewards competence over party loyalty and factionalism, with independent oversight and absolute transparency where ethical dissent is celebrated.

We have all, collectively, not succeeded in eradicating the long-lasting legacy of apartheid. There is a need to establish the empirical and institutional baseline of where we currently are at with our transformative interventions, especially Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE), provide an authoritative account of the compliance record and enforcement landscape, and a review of the research evidence on ownership diversification and structural outcomes in order to make a dispassionate assessment of what the framework must now do differently. Only facts will allow us to objectively interrogate the degree to which BBBEE has achieved broad-based redistribution of productive ownership, examine the concentration of empowerment gains, the conditions enabling elite capture and fronting, and the relationship between ownership transformation and productive investment, so as to better inform as to what institutional redesign is required for fundamental structural economic change.

What will logically follow is to examine the role of development finance institutions in giving effect to the ownership and enterprise development objectives of BBBEE, assess performance trends and portfolio impact, interrogate whether existing financing instruments adequately support the transformation of the means of production, and consider how impact financing can mobilise broad-based ownership at scale.

Imagine if we ALL genuinely focused on the principle of common purpose and greater good. What needs to be done is for all of us to assume a shared and collective ownership of the country’s future trajectory with a much more inclusive approach; extend trust in which we show up as a united front; be explicit about how the problems of the country are going to be addressed; put service delivery and citizens front and centre of actionable programmes; thoroughly discuss and debate Cabinet decisions that must usher in a fundamental change in both direction and pace; root out and defeat State Capture, inappropriate cadre deployment and ubiquitous “irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure”; implement an economic strategy that must prioritise households and small businesses; pursue foreign policy based on the country’s best interest not beholden to ideology; give regulatory certainty and policy stability as well as localisation and beneficiation that must precede global investment initiatives, focused on agriculture and manufacturing which are urgently needed; reduce our cost of capital; increase our global competitiveness, investments (FDI >3%) and growth and implement a frictionless African Continental Free Trade Area. Operation Vulindlela 2.0 is urgent, critical and necessary as a prerequisite for growth.

All social partners must now play a new and different role, especially because this outcome has demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that democracy, capitalism and peace that do not benefit the majority are themselves now at risk. Business must behave as a trusted adviser, a partner of choice that is doing everything in its power to ensure a capable state – business that is more objective, agile, independent, open, accessible, less arrogant, more accountable and responsive and not just demanding improved access and not just serving only business interests. It is urgent to ensure that all directors-general are appointed and confirmed to ensure more constructive engagement on, among others, a seventh administration that is committed to transformation; ethical leadership; good governance; service delivery and law and order, safety and security; climate change, decarbonisation, greener steel and the Just Energy Transition.

In the final analysis, we must build our own businesses and hire our own children. It is madness to continue to make babies and then send them to a different neighbourhood where they go down on their knees and ask someone else for a job. In building a business, one builds ownership, a system and a brand, is paid for value created and earns a profit, a business in which growth depends on customers and offers independence. Getting a job, on the other hand, one builds skills, works under rules and supervision, earns a fixed salary, and growth depends on promotion and offers stability. We must build our own businesses in order to create family wealth for our progeny.

I am absolutely obsessed with education in the full understanding that academic certification and being educated will never make one rich. It was never meant to do that. Being educated simply makes one employable. If you want to be rich, you must start a business. You need to take risks. With big risks come big rewards or sometimes mega pains. Former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta accentuates the point that, if you really love your children, get a business, not a job, because when you die your children cannot inherit your job, but they can inherit your business. In fact, if you die on the job, your boss will replace you before your burial. If your family lives in the company house they will kick them out before they can say anything. So when you get off work, don’t watch television. Go home and think of a business idea. DM