Johannesburg - From calling on every South African to fight corruption, urging travellers not to “bad-mouth” the country to defending the poetry in the National Development Plan (NDP), Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered a spirited case for the government on Wednesday – without giving many details.
“The poetry in the NDP is so well crafted,” Ramaphosa told DA MP and finance spokesman David Maynier, who had cited Public Works Deputy Minister Jeremy Cronin’s criticism of the poetry as “cringeworthy” in a document that was little more than a vision. “The deputy minister is a poet himself,” added the deputy president, who suggested Maynier would find reading Cronin’s poems an eye-opener.
All members of the executive were committed to implementing the NDP, Maynier was told: “We will not disown our deputy minister. We rather disown you… Where you are seeing contradictions, it is as a result of your double vision”.
The SACP, of which Cronin is a deputy general secretary, has raised reservations about sections of the NDP, and at its July special congress suggested “radicalising” the plan.
On Wednesday, Ramaphosa emphasised that the government would not “abandon” the NDP; it was already being implemented with clear targets and anticipated outcomes. “2020 is the year we set up for ourselves to have an economy (growing) at 5 percent.
“This is not the time to abandon the NDP, not at all,” said the deputy president, adding that he was confident South Africa would reach the economic growth rate the plan says is necessary to tackle unemployment, inequality and poverty by 2030.
These comments come as economic growth slowed to 1.3 percent in the first quarter of 2015, triggering concerns of protracted economic troubles.
Ramaphosa, who as deputy chairman of the National Planning Commission was key to the NDP, was in the National Assembly to field questions. On at least two occasions he was fingered by opposition parties for not answering the question, but Speaker Baleka Mbete moved proceedings forward.
Following the previous day’s parliamentary discussion on fighting corruption, it was no surprise that Ramaphosa was asked about the government’s track-record in a series of follow-up questions.
“All of us have to deal with this ill… to rid our country of corruption,” said Ramaphosa, citing various anti-corruption laws and institutions like the “most outstanding” central procurement office the ANC government had put in place. “This is a ruling party that is not paying lip service to the issue of dealing with corruption, it is getting down to business.”
The deputy president told MPs that graft had “underpinned” the apartheid system – “it was hidden under the edifice of apartheid” – but in today’s democratic South Africa, it was highlighted because of prevailing transparency. It was important to remember the country was not alone in fighting corruption, he added.
Meanwhile, the government was “doing its job” to tackle challenges – skills shortages, systemic unemployment, meagre domestic savings, energy constraints and the like – amid a tough international economic environment.
“One thing you can’t fault government on is courage to deal with challenges like labour, energy constraints…We are stabilising Eskom and we told you so,” said Ramaphosa. “We are dealing with our challenges like any other country in the world. Where we have weaknesses, we are dealing with them…”
The government was committed to addressing these challenges to accelerate economic growth as envisaged in the NDP. The commitment was for a mixed economy in line with the NDP, but the government was doing its bit where it could while looking out for partnerships with the private sector.
“The government is investing big bucks in the economy,” said Ramaphosa.
The Star