The collapse of local government is bad news for business in South Africa – with an increase in strikes and protests the inevitable result.
According to political analyst Ralph Mathekga, the road freight industry has felt the impact of protest action following the burning of trucks in the past few months. He said the industry had more to lose from strikes and protests than many other businesses in South Africa.
“Collapsed local governments are not good news for trucking,” he said. “It is a known fact that development corridors are the best way to hurt the South African government at its heart. The best way to stop South Africa is to stop its trucks.”
He said this could easily become a strategy for protesters – and unless the ANC managed to address the challenges it faced at local government level, increased protests and strikes along transport routes would increase.
“The ANC has to move back to a central position of control. If it does not move away from disruptive politics then more trucks are going to burn – guaranteed.” He said local governments across South Africa were under severe pressure, facing massive financial and corruption challenges. Coupled with issues such as land occupation, water shortages and service delivery, local governments were struggling to cope.
“At the same time the ANC is having to deal with increasingly radicalised opposition across the board and it is a serious problem,” he said. “The ANC has moved away from the centre of the political landscape in the country as the radical political demands and parties have increased. We therefore have to rebuild the centre political space because until we do the policy environment will remain volatile and sectors such as the roadfreight industry will be vulnerable.”
This was not an easy task for the ANC, said Mathekga, as it was still very divided.
“Cyril Ramaphosa has a mammoth task of managing the social expectations of the citizens of this country versus the internal limitations of the ANC. It would be naïve to think he could just step in and do as he wishes – including ridding the government and the ANC of all those that have been implicated in state capture.”
He said disentangling the state from capture and still winning an election in 2019 were big asks for one man.
“Also, should he take the ANC to a strong victory in 2019, he runs the risk of not being needed by the very forces he is trying to out,” said Mathekga. “A good mediocre path seems to make sense where he gets the ANC out of ICU, but not strong enough that they can continue without him.”
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It is a known fact that development corridors are the best way to hurt the South African government at its heart. – Ralph Mathekga
