South Africa

Tired of rising electricity and food prices, 25,000 members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) marched on Eskom’s Johannesburg offices today. The march sounds as if it was almost festive, with a holiday mood prevailing among the marchers. But beneath the surface there is real anger. I heard it when I spoke with South Africans over the last month, and the anger manifests itself all over the pages of the country’s newspapers, the pictures on its television screens, and in the words and actions of its people.

As usual, the political ramifications linger just beneath the surface. protests these days are all aimed directly or indirectly at a government that appears not only not to be able to provide basic services and to fill basic needs, but that, worse, appears not to care. This seeming lack of apathy largely explains much of the mobilization behind Jacob Zuma, who has yet to reveal how his government would differ from Thabo Mbeki’s on issues of delivery and poverty alleviation. One of the benefits of opposition to an unpopular leader is that one can be vague about solutions. In this sense, Jacob Zuma is a cipher capitalizing on the country’s discontented mood, meaning all things to all people.

There can be little doubt that the past year has been the most trying in Thabo Mbeki’s oft-tumultuous presidency. Tonight he gave his State of the Union address before parliament. He certainly had plenty of fodder from which to work: The electricity crisis, crime, poverty, the daunting prospect of hosting the 2010 World Cup, and simply a general sense of malaise.

Mbeki provided a positive spin, called for the nation to pull together to confront the issues facing South Africa, and praised his countrymen for their resilience in the face of recent difficulties, especially the power delivery nightmare.

The response to Mbeki’s optimism has been skepticism in many, but far from all, circles. Helen Zille,  leader of the Democratic Alliance, whose job it is to be critical, took her job seriously, criticizing the president for “business as usual.” The editors of The Mail & Guardian approached Mbeki’s address fatalistically as did other observers. One imagines that those critics were likely not placated by Mbeki’s address and that Mbeki’s supporters found much with which to be pleased. In other words, status quo ante is likely to prevail.

Let’s forget, if at all possible, the power outages, political debates, Robert Mugabe’s destabilizing jackassery, and all of the other mundane grimness that afflicts South African public life these days. For the world of sport provides two of the saddest stories of all. The first is the fact that Bafana Bafana appears set to bow out of the African Nations Cup with barely a peep barring some sort of freak miracle involving St. Jude smiling upon their boots (and frowning upon some others). It seems like a long way from the rarefied air South African football seemed to occupy in the period from 1996 to 1998 or so.  If the possibility of a flameout from the country’s footballers isn’t enough to arouse paroxysms of frustration (and drinking) then the impending retirement of Protea Shaun Pollack will push most fans of South Africa’s sporting scene over the edge.

The blackouts plaguing South Africa seem to be getting worse. The finger pointing is getting more intense as most everyone tries to apportion or shed blame. And now Business Report wonders if the recent woes in power delivery don’t augur poorly for South Africans when the country hosts the 2010 World Cup.

There seem to be several questions implicit in the Business Report article. One is about simple delivery of services. But forget about 2010. South Africans need power now. When I lived in Grahamstown, power outages were not unheard of, but they happened and could be endlessly frustrating. The idea of consistent, long, unpredictable outages roiling across the country should be almost unfathomable, and yet that is where South Africa is right now. Forget about 2010. South Africans need to know that they will have access to electricity in February 2008.

Another obvious concern is simply with South Africa’s ability to carry out the World Cup. I believe that the country will find a way to do so and to do so well. But the third question becomes: At what cost to South Africans? 20120 needs to be a way to showcase South Africa while at the same time improving infrastructure, contributing to the economy, and providing avenues for growth. If the government and planners have to rob peter to pay Paul, 2010 will no longer look quite so good.

Sorry for the silence the last few days. Life (in this case a trip to see friends in the Rocky Mountains) intervened as it so often does.

South Africa’s electricity shortages have become increasingly acute, and now her neighbors are scrambling, with mixed results, to fill the void left by Eskom’s decision to pull the plug on power delivery across South Africa’s borders As a result, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana have all reported power failures, as each of those countries relies heavily on the electricity they import from Eskom, which made its decision largely because it has had difficulty even keeping the lights on in South Africa.