The famous newspaper headline “Crisis? What crisis?” has become part of political folklore, writes Dennis Pather.
Did you know three little words helped bring down Jim Callaghan’s Labour government in Britain in 1979?
The country was in turmoil as thousands of tanker drivers, ambulance workers, health service staff, rubbish collectors and grave diggers went on strike over pay.
When Prime Minister Callaghan returned from a conference on some exotic West Indian island, he was asked by journalists how he planned to deal with the problem.
He nonchalantly replied: “I don’t think other people in the world share the view there is mounting chaos.”
That remark evoked the famous newspaper headline “Crisis? What crisis?” which has now become part of political folklore.
But why go so far when our own country is replete with examples of crisis denialists, most notably our urbane, pipe-smoking former president, Thabo Mbeki.
Who can forget the election shenanigans in Zimbabwe in 2008? After an emergency meeting with his counterpart, Robert Mugabe, in Harare, Mbeki looked straight-faced at journalists and flatly denied there was any crisis in Zimbabwe. Remember when he was asked about a suspicious shipload of Chinese arms in Durban harbour destined for Zimbabwe, and his response: “What weapons?” Who can also forget his now infamous denial of the Aids pandemic, and even his shocking “What is tik?” response to the growing drug crisis.
Today, of course, by denying there is any crisis, Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini is gambling with the lives of more than 17 million poor and needy South Africans expecting to be paid their grants and pensions on April 1.
She and her department knew years ago the SA Social Security Agency contract was illegal, but did nothing about it. As panic set in among pensioners, Dlamini stubbornly insisted she had the situation under control.
I, like 17 million others, would like to believe Dlamini, but her record of incompetence and disregard for accountability and procurement compliance tell another story.
Even if Dlamini and her department succeed in paying grants on April 1, the damage has been done.
She has lost the confidence of the people and comes across as an uncaring leader who understands little about the plight of the poor.