JUSTICE MALALA | As progress is made at the national level, local government is still a law unto itself

South Africa is splitting into two.

There is a national coalition government that is beginning to gel, to cohere into one entity pulling in one direction, and which is beginning to give hope and confidence — through deeds and not just words — to many citizens, commentators and analysts. It is by no means perfect, but it provides us with a picture of what is possible with collaboration, mutual respect and clearly identified goals.

Then there is the provincial and local government sphere, a place where chaos, greed, incompetence and corruption is now flourishing and entrenching itself. In our local governments, naked theft of state resources is the norm and lack of accountability for civil servants and their criminal and political handlers is entrenched.

These two spheres of government, what our national politicians tell us is where citizens come face to face with governance, is a horror story: the arrogance and ignorance of provincial politicians is laid bare, incompetence is rewarded, and chaos is celebrated. This is the sphere of government that will break us.

I travelled to Cape Town for finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s budget speech last week and I — and many of those who listened — saw a piece of that first South Africa that is beginning to give citizens a bit of hope.

The budget that was presented to the nation was a product of intense collaboration over the past 12 months. It was a product of a team — the minister, his deputies, political parties and civil servants — who had to acknowledge that the ANC was no longer solely in charge. It had nine partners in the GNU. So did the Democratic Alliance.

The fruits of their collaboration were there for all to see. Immediately after the delivery of the budget speech, the praises poured in.

Standard Bank chief economist Goolam Ballim gave the document a 7.5 out of 10 rating. Many others gave it more than a six. Yes, the hard work must happen to show us that it is meaningful change that Godongwana was forecasting, but the signs of progress are clearly there.

We also knew what kinds of tough decisions had been taken by Godongwana and the coalition partners to get to that budget. Last year’s dramatic events when the budget presentation was postponed forced the ANC to deal with the fact that it was no longer solely in charge. It taught the DA and some of the opposition parties that they could not blackmail the ANC into kowtowing to them at every point. It has made for a fresh, clean atmosphere in the GNU.

On Friday we saw electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa pledging to intervene to save smelters that were about to shut down, thus saving thousands of jobs. This was the result of intense consultation between government, business and trade unions.

In the budget we saw Godongwana go against his comrade at the health ministry and endorse medical health tax credits. Before that we saw Ramokgopa and Ramaphosa concede to ensure that a new body would oversee electricity transmission.

Why? They are consulting, collaborating, taking tough decisions in the interests of all. They mess up a lot on all kinds of things, and that won’t stop, but listen to me when I say this: what the budget last week presents is a moment, a brief but tantalising possibility, to do the things that Thabo Mbeki, Trevor Manuel, Pravin Gordhan and others achieved in the 2000s: grow the economy by upwards of five percent.

Then look at the other South Africa — the local and provincial spheres. Gauteng province is an absolute and utter mess, a government run by a premier with an acute case of foot-in-mouth disease who cannot seem to get services running.

Why is Gauteng a mess? It is run by a party that is accountable to no one. When the MEC for health said recently that desperate patients sleep on cold hospital floors because they want to, the Gauteng cabinet probably clapped for her. Apart from the optics, the fact is that Gauteng — as the alleged economic hub of South Africa — is a disgrace to the country. No water, sewage running in the streets in Emfuleni, corrupt cops, dirt and grime in Joburg, and crime that makes your head spin.

In Johannesburg the ANC has just created a deputy mayor’s position. Why does Joburg need a deputy mayor? The mayor has so many task teams, bomb squads, technical teams, presidential teams and advisers helping him that it is quite amazing that someone had the bright idea to create such a position. Oh, I know: the ANC needed to find a money-spinning position for its new Joburg regional chairperson, Loyiso Masuku, and voila!

I don’t even want to start talking about Ekurhuleni, or the corrupt North West, Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga municipalities.

South Africa is beginning to take one step forward at national level. Yet, sadly, our provincial and local government leaders are going to make sure our progress is frustrated unless we fire them all later this year.