The SPIRIT that defines us

The SPIRIT that defines us

I wouldn’t have Cyril Ramaphosa’s job for all the tea in China. Sometimes I imagine he’d rather not have it either. Fancy being the head of the motley crew he leads. Some cabinet ministers are serial under-performers who couldn’t run a spaza shop, contributing towards the view that the government hasn’t covered itself in glory. And that was before the pandemic.

Now in a life and death struggle we have to take direction from many people who do not enjoy public confidence. We have no choice but to obey their often bizarre edicts in a time of crisis.

Excuse me, this is not meant to be a plug and apologies if it comes across as shameless self-promotion, but I published a book a week before this magazine went to print, entitled War Party – about how the ANC’s political killings are breaking South Africa. It explores the party’s cadre deployment and how it has inextricably entwined the ruling party and the state; how ANC battles have created a monster of competing patronage networks; often resulting in murder.

I wouldn’t mention it but for the fact that the book shows that some of the ANC’s harshest critics are in the ANC. Some of the most heartening responses to the book show how people cherish our democracy and are prepared to hold those in power to account. They want an honest government and a vibrant civil society and a strong and independent media.

They want scrutiny of public accounts, they want a government to serve, not create an army of fat cats preoccupied with self-service. Now is the time, more than ever, when we have to demand this. We always have the right, nay the duty, to ask how every taxpayer’s cent is spent and about the wisdom of decisions made.

gregarde@gmail.com

At a time when people are dying of Covid-19 and poverty, every decent person who calls South Africa home wants to make a positive contribution, to help Cyril Ramaphosa’s best efforts to lead us through this crisis. I pray he’s up to this challenge and creates the space for this. It is heartbreaking to see how so many good people are trying so hard to keep businesses afloat, battling to save lives and livelihoods. Which is why Antonia Deabreu and Marcelle Roberts grace the cover of this edition.

They are cheerful, industrious and tenacious. Hospitality is the face of the tourism industry, one that KZN is so deeply invested in and for all the right reasons. The sector is reeling, but we have moved from bug-eyed terror at the pandemic to roundthe-clock engagement on how to survive the onslaught. There are other important sectors of the KZN economy also hit by the pandemic, but if one sector shows heart right now it is hospitality. I would have liked to have dedicated the entire magazine to these stories of hope and other, similarly deserving tales. They represent the spirit that will help us survive.