Member of the House of Lords of the UK Lord Peter Hain believes South Africa is on its way to becoming a failed State and has warned that unless corrupt politicians and incompetent officials are removed, the downhill slide will continue.

Speaking during a PSG Konsult webinar, he noted that during his recent visit to South Africa he witnessed loadshedding, water cuts and inefficient service delivery.

He urged South Africans to stand up against corruption through a popular uprising but clarified that he was not suggesting an insurrection or lawless uprising.

He said all forms of corruption, no matter how small, should be exposed.

Hain revealed when people suggested there is nothing the public could do to push back against corruption, he advised them that they could refuse to pay bribes when asked by public officials.

He said businesses should also say no to paying bribes for government contracts.

“Unless you say no this will continue. If businesses say that we won’t pay the backhand then the corrupt politicians won’t get the money upon which they have been depending on,” he said and added that tough decisions needed to be taken. 

He noted that what distinguished South Africa from failed States like Zimbabwe was that there was an independent opposition, judiciary and media who investigated and faced enormous intimidation and threats.

COALITIONS AND ELECTIONS

While he would not give advice on who citizens should vote for, he said South Africa needed a credible opposition to keep the governing party in check.

“Unfortunately the African National Congress (ANC), which I am associated with historically for half a century in the anti-apartheid struggle, has betrayed the legacy of [Nelson] Mandela, [Oliver] Tambo, [Walter] Sisulu and [Ahmed] Kathrada. [The ANC] needs to be held to account and it needs to know that if it carries on with the corruption and cronyism… because of the incompetence of people [who are] doing jobs [they are] simply not qualified [for], whether it is in Eskom or [in the] water system or Transnet, or South African Airways, what they are doing is bankrupting the country and that can’t continue,” he expressed.

Hain noted that, given the current politics in the country, he would not rule out coalitions.

However, he is concerned that young voters are no longer eager to head to the polls.

He pointed out that Mandela and other anti-apartheid giants spent the best years of their lives to get the right to vote and he said if that right was not exercised, “you are betraying those values and the struggle which involved enormous sacrifice, hardship, death, torture, banishment and exile and all those things that we know about apartheid and history. To lose the vote and not to use the vote is a betrayal of that tradition.”

He added that by not exercising the democratic right to vote South Africans were depressing the voter turnout but not necessarily changing anything.

He asserted that the average citizen had some power and he encouraged South Africans to go and vote in their numbers in the upcoming election. 

Meanwhile, he noted that the millions being spent on commissions of inquiries was proof that South Africa was still functioning in a constitutional democracy.

He said while it was frustrating for most people that the law enforcement system was hollowed out, he commended those who were standing up to corruption.

Hain said whistleblowers were dying to do the right thing and urged support and protection for them, as well as a clean-up of the policing system.

“Keep pressing the politicians, the President included, to do much better,” he said.