Sustained and systemic failures of governance have seen South Africa’s potential undermined to the detriment of its people, according to former opposition leader Tony Leon.
Writing in the Sunday Times, Leon said that problems in electricity supply and sanitation services had been ongoing for years with little sign of any capacity to address them; in recent days the African National Congress had resorted to claims of sabotage to explain them away.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, however, had managed to weather the fallout from the situation relatively well. In part, Leon wrote, this reflected the country’s gratitude for his perceived role in removing former President Jacob Zuma.
(The IRR’s polling has shown that the President remains fairly popular among voters, and is therefore arguably the ANC’s biggest electoral asset.)
‘But his credit line,’ Leon commented, ‘on the back of enduring power cuts and a tide of local misery, might prove [in the local government election] to have been used up.’
The results of the election would be an indication of this.
[Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/governmentza/51203055875]