Recent developments have shown SA has the capacity to be good or bad, all depends on the instinct we decide to nurture, says Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya.
Pretoria - A case is often made of South Africa being a state of two countries. Those who make this point almost always point to it being a country where one half is wealthy and the other desperately poor.
Unavoidably, the race aspects are often associated with the wealth-poverty divide.
There is another area where South Africa is two-faced.
South Africa can be super efficient when it chooses to, or dangerously lackadaisical at other times. Take for an example how the government dispatched a team to Nigeria after preacher TB Joshua’s church collapsed, killing scores of South Africans and many others from other countries.
Our government’s reaction was a study on how a state can be there for its people. South Africa dispatched a plane with highly skilled staff and capacity to meet the health needs of the injured.
It was the Batho Pele spirit in full swing. Ubuntu was not just a slogan but a philosophy in action.
When the pilgrims who survived the building collapse arrived home, they were received by teams of social workers to meet their psychological and emotional needs.
Unlike the “man of God” who either hoped nobody would notice that there had been casualties or blamed terrorists for the collapse, the government kept the nation updated.
It deployed senior cabinet minister Jeff Radebe to keep us abreast.
Families of the injured were accommodated at hotels close to the hospital where the casualties were being attended to and given the psycho-social support they needed.
Diplomatically, South Africa put Nigeria in its place without having to say a word. It was a project that made one proudly South African.
I am certain that citizens of other countries who lost their people in Lagos must have wished their governments were as responsive as our government.
It proved South Africa does not need to spend billions on hosting the World Cup or the Olympics to send a message to the world that it is a country of tremendous capacity and goodwill.
The flip side of this is South Africa has been in the embarrassing situation where large parts of Gauteng were without water for two weeks.
It is, however, good news that the water situation has been solved at last.
The utility responsible for delivering water to the households blamed the problem on Eskom who in turn blamed it on cable thieves.
Like at TB Joshua’s church, nobody took responsibility.
Heads of the governments of the cities affected were noticeably absent.
Rand Water sent their spokesperson instead of head of the organisation taking charge and facing the fire.
Minister of Water and Sanitation Nomvula Mokonyane arrived on the scene belatedly and only after that was water restored, two weeks earlier than Rand Water had nonchalantly told ratepayers they would be getting their water.
It is however not the end of the matter. Lessons must be learnt and processes put into place to correct the wrongs.
Rand Water, the city governments and national government must ensure that never again will a province as important to our economy as Gauteng, be without water for that long.
In the event of the unforeseen happening, they should communicate better.
They should take a leaf from how the national government handled the Nigeria disaster.
Rand Water matters because it provides water to 60 percent of South Africans.
If it fails to function effectively, more than half of South Africans, not just those who live in Gauteng, are affected.
It is important to note though that not all those who depend on the utility were affected by the dry taps.
Even if it were a Gauteng-specific problem, the province is South Africa’s economic heartbeat.
It is also Africa’s fourth largest economy which therefore means it has a psychological impact on those contemplating investing in the country.
It will thus be folly to regard a problem as a localised issue without any bearing to you if you depend on a different board for your water.
Predictably, those committed to seeing South Africa through one facet will think anyone who praises efforts by the government is being sycophantic.
On the other hand, those who believe that the state should never be criticised tend to believe every criticism is an act of treason.
Contrary to what those who think all that is wrong in South Africa must be blamed on cadre deployment believe, it is worth noting that both the excellent and the dismal in the two scenarios sketched here, were directed by deployed cadres.
The point is that South Africa has the capacity to be good or bad.
What it will ultimately be will depend on which of our instincts we choose to nurture.
It starts with each of us where we are.
* Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya is executive editor of the Pretoria News. Follow him on Twitter @fikelelom
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