Domestic Dynamics Facing the Coalition Government: Understanding the Impact of Internal Politics – Prof William Gumede

Address by Prof William Gumede, Chair of Multi-Party Charter For South Africa (Formerly known as the Moonshot Pact), at the FW de Klerk Foundation’s Coalition Government Conference, 12 July 2024:

Well, thank you very much, Madame De Klerk, and thank you, Christo. Thank you to the Foundation for inviting me. I’m very excited to be here.

Possibly, now that I have engaged with every political leader in the country, I’ve spent some time individually with them, including Cyril Ramaphosa. (Believe it or not, I was actually his academic supervisor. At some point in his life he was registered for an MA degree.) And I mean, if our dynamic business leaders, civil society leaders and professionals could be running political parties and governments, we would have a totally different country.

For me, the gap between the state or rather, the political class and the gap between business and civil society (and generally the non-state leaders), is too wide possibly the widest of any in any emerging market from a quality point of view. Normally, for countries to grow, when we talk about developmental states and economic miracles, like Singapore and Poland after the end of communism etc., the leadership quality in non-state sectors and the state is very close. This gap is a very big problem: the quality of our political leadership in the country.

Secondly, also the quality of the state: If you compare the quality of the state and the private sector, again, the gap is one of the widest gaps anywhere in emerging markets. In serious countries that want to develop, the gap between the private sector and the state is usually narrower. E.g., If you look at the quality of the state owned company in Singapore, it would be the equivalent in terms of competitiveness to a private sector company. We do not have that. If you think about our post office: If you compare Postbank to Standard Bank the gap is massive. That already tells you something…continue reading this article HERE.

Pallo Jordan: {2004 (Acting Minister)} Pallo Jordan acted as Minister of Arts and Culture briefly in 2004. He is a respected academic and politician, known for his contributions to cultural policy and heritage preservation in South Africa.