An outstanding off-field happening at the 2022 Soccer World Cup in Qatar was the Japanese developmental state in action, symbolised by its fans cleaning stadiums of rubbish after their country’s matches.
The question among ANC members and leaders is how to establish a successful developmental state, along the lines of postWorld War 2 East Asian tiger economies. Japan shed the devastation of war, Singapore colonialism and South Korea that and civil war to become stunning economic successes.
Among humble reforms they introduced was to clean their yards, towns and countries — and keep them that way.
States such as Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea were, before the start of their economic transformations immediately after the war, as poor as African countries. They were also dirt-strewn, unhygienic and polluted.
These societies fostered a clean-up culture when they began to build what would become successful developmental states. They prioritised civic pride in a clean environment. Public cleaning became an act of active citizenship, a way to enforce individual responsibility and inculcate pride in their countries.
Cleaning, individually and collectively, also fostered singular and communal agency — the capacity of people to change their environment for the better, without depending on the state or someone else.
From nursery school, children are taught to clean up after themselves.
In Taiwan cleaning is part of the school curriculum. Children are taught the environmental, health and wasted public resources impacts of littering. They learn that cleanliness is not only good for the environment, but increases the health of communities and reduces public spending thereon so money can be use for other critical services.
These societies made littering a serious crime, punishable with stiff fines, community labour or prison.
They made it socially unacceptable. In Singapore, fines for doing so are upwards of R4,000 and go hand in hand with community service involving cleaning.
Spitting in public there can result in a fine of up to R14,000, as can urinating in public, and the laws are strictly enforced.
A December 2020 article in Taiwan’s Taipei Times reported that a man was fined $925.21 (about R15,500) for throwing cigarette butts from his car window. Another driver caught him on his dashcam and reported the man.
It is no surprise that Rwanda’s economic take-off was preceded by a campaign to make the country Africa’s cleanest. It dishes out harsh penalties for littering, disposing of sewage in a public space, abandoning materials or dumping waste
In Taiwan there is a reward of 15% of fines issued to perpetrators for those reporting the wrongdoing.
In Japan, the offence is punished with up to five years in jail or a fine of up to R1.5m. The country also has strict recycling laws. Seventy-seven percent of all plastics there are recycled.
It is no surprise that Rwanda’s economic take-off was preceded by a campaign to make the country Africa’s cleanest.
It dishes out harsh penalties for littering, which elicits fines of up to R1,600, as does disposing of sewage in a public space, abandoning materials or dumping waste.
Rwanda also introduced compulsory community cleaning every last Saturday of the month, for three hours. Every able-bodied person has to participate. There are roll calls. Anybody who flunks is fined up to R80.
These campaigns have helped Rwanda foster individual and collective responsibility, and a sense of agency, meaning individuals and communities believe they have the power to change their lives.
This results in communal solidarity, crucial for the country’s economic lift-off. It has also helped to restore individual and communal dignity after Rwanda’s traumatic past of ethnic cleansing.
Many black South Africans do not realise the environmental damage, public health perils to themselves and others, and wasted public resources of littering. Further, apartheid trauma, chronic poverty and unemployment have disfigured the individual agency, self-worth and personal dignity of many.
A great number of individuals and communities do not believe they have the power to change their circumstances.
At the same time, they do not feel responsible for their surrounding environment or how their actions negatively impact them and others. This can be seen during public protests, when protesters destroy state infrastructure such as libraries, roads and clinics.
If a developmental state is to be a reality, South Africa will have to introduce such measures and severely punish those who litter, spit and urinate in public. The importance of cleanliness will have to be introduced into school curricula.
A new culture in this regard will help to foster individual and collective responsibility, accountability and self-worth. It will go a long way in advancing the rule of law.
• William Gumede is associate professor, School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand, and author of 'Restless Nation' (Tafelberg)
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.