Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (Mistra) executive director Joel Netshitenzhe on Thursday noted that poor alignment in terms of technocratic logic, political savviness and emotional intelligence were laid bare for all to see in the recently instated Government of National Unity (GNU).

Netshitenzhe was speaking during a panel discussion on the South African State 30 years into democracy, building on Mistra’s previous research examining the complex challenges, successes and failures of the South African State.

The webinar is a precursor to Mistra’s upcoming book on the South African State, which will provide a comprehensive and timely evaluation of the South African State, with recommendations for course correction.

“In my view nothing illustrates the absence of effective integration and the gap between strategic planning and resources allocation, than the events which took place last week,” he said.

For the first time in the country’s history, the yearly Budget was postponed owing to disagreements among parties in the GNU.

Meanwhile, he noted that things seemed to have taken a turn for the worst with the new US administration, which he said in many respects suggested not only “crude selfish interest but also the promotion of white supremacist ideology”.

“South Africa may feel especially targeted but many more victims across the world are feeling the flailing hand of US right wing populism, including State employees in the US itself, the global business community, centrist parties in Europe and the people of Palestine,” he said.

“Some have even suggested that MAGA in the South African context has in fact become Make Apartheid Great Again!”

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump accused South Africa of "confiscating land" and "treating certain classes of people very bad".

This after President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law the controversial Expropriation Bill, which was met with criticism.

Netshitenzhe said that how the South African State navigated this global environment was a matter of Statecraft, diplomacy and economic strategy. 

“…at one level, the State and private sector have to develop appropriate responses, at another level it is necessary to build a wide array of alliances across the world, including civil society,” he said.

MISTRA MANUSCRIPT

Netshitenzhe noted that interestingly one of the earlier chapters in Mistra’s upcoming book deals with the issues which are currently in contention, particularly how the State acquires and spends resources.

"Questions are also posed about embedded autonomy and the meanings and forms of State capture.

"The diffusion of power among various agencies of the State is also a matter of great interest, from the spatial context across the spheres in the form of subsidiarity and possibly asymmetry,” he highlighted.

The book also focuses on the role of the judiciary, the aspirations of traditional leadership and the broader understanding of security beyond the role of the State as the legitimate bearer of arms.

“Given the degradation of State capacity of the past decade, there is also a need to look closely at the State delivery machinery, beyond the necessary focus on ethics and punishing lawbreakers.

“If people-centred and people-driven development is to find concrete expression, the state of civil society cannot be divorced from the state of the State. This also relates to the global context within which South Africa has to operate,” he explained.

He pointed out that the State must take into account changes in global production chains and trade, and growing nationalism across the world, trends he said had been developing over time.