Former president Kgalema Motlanthe
- Former president Kgalema Motlanthe says land is a low-hanging fruit that can change the fortunes of many in SA.
- He says the government must revisit the idea of schools reopening and that when the government is wrong it must be told and it must listen.
- He also says leaders must understand that public opinion matters when it comes to integrity.
Former president Kgalema Motlanthe said addressing the long-standing land question was the fastest way to reset South Africa’s economy as it looked to a post-Covid-19 world.
He told News24 in an interview on Tuesday that land was a low-hanging fruit that would instantly change the fortunes of many in the country if it was addressed properly.
“Laws were used to create land hunger and we are in a position to pass laws which correct that. The Constitution enjoins us to do that,” said Motlanthe.
He added that it would ease some of the desperation across South Africa as people experienced heightened distress due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The conversation with the former statesman, who was in good spirits, came on the back of his foundation’s hosting of its first virtual inclusive dialogue on paths towards rebuilding the country. Many who participated also used the opportunity to wish Motlanthe for his 71st birthday, which he celebrated over the weekend.
In his discussion with News24, he also shared his thoughts on the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, school closures and officials who were accused of stealing Covid-19 public funds.
No shame
Commenting on the theft of Covid-19 funds and food parcels, the former president said it was a question of consequence management, adding that contempt for rules and norms was created when there were no consequences.
“These things get reported. People involved are identified but there are just no consequences,” he said.
A specialised investigative unit is probing claims of corruption involving the Covid-19 social relief fund and there has been a series of reports that officials attempted to steal food parcels or to use them for patronage purposes.
Motlanthe emphasised the importance of integrity and its link to public opinion, warning that officials should not say they just want to be convicted in a court of law because public opinion amounts to “naught”.
“That’s what needs to be understood. You can’t be in public office and questions are raised about your overall integrity and you remain in office,” he said.
The former president added:
From folklore and old traditions, that’s why our people say: ‘A o na di dihlong, unembeza?’ (Have you no shame?) Di hlong di kae (Where is the shame) if you are going to use a burial to syphon away money or the distribution of food parcels?
Schools
Motlanthe, who is known as someone who is outspoken, also weighed in on the decision to reopen schools amid the Covid-19 peak in the country: “The decision to open schools is clearly not working.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa said during an imbizo last week that the matter was under discussion and that the government would communicate its position soon.
Last week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned against reopening schools while the transmission of the virus in local communities was not under control. Teachers’ unions also called on schools to close, at least until the peak was over.
Covid-19 cases have increased sharply in South Africa, infecting more than 380 000 people to date. Ramaphosa himself said the storm had finally arrived.
“Government has no choice but to revise that decision, in my view… the teachers have said so, the parents have said so… they have to review and revise that decision,” said Motlanthe.
He referred to the praises the WHO sung when the country decided to go into lockdown in March, noting that there was no precedent when it happened and that the attempts to “flatten the curve” took place before a curve formed.
Disjointed responses
He pointed out Sweden did not take the same route and that, in hindsight, it was clear that country understood it would be in it for the long haul. But he added that the two couldn’t be compared.
Motlanthe said:
We, here, have a difficulty in that everything is acute, every problem is acute and pronounced. In the Western Cape, landless people without homes [are] now allegedly pulling down structures meant to help with Covid-19.
He said the country’s “individualistic” and “idiosyncratic” problems led to disjointed responses.
“So what government has been exposed to, is that in its state, it is ineffective. It lacks the kind of capability and capacity which would have made it easier or practical to respond,” the former president said.
“The public hospitals are shown to be totally inadequate,” he continued.
When asked to assess how Ramaphosa’s Cabinet had fared throughout the lockdown, Motlanthe said governments would always be as good as the people they led.
But he added that the government also had to be told when it was in the wrong and that it needed to listen when that was done.
He implored other pockets of society, such as civil society, academia, professionals and so-called elite, to contribute towards fighting the pandemic.
“We must all buckle down and do what can in our spaces,” he said.
