Instead of Siyabonga rallies to thank people for voting for the ruling party, the ANC cadres have to take a lead and wage national and provincial rallies aimed at addressing service delivery protesters and preparing the people for the current economic crisis. Â Educating people about the current state of affairs in the world economy could help strengthen patriotism and understanding on the part of the populace, argues Dr Zoleka Ndayi.

Somewhere I had criticised President Jacob Zuma’s inaugural speech for omitting reference to the current global economic crisis and its impact on the country’s development agenda. The central argument was that Zuma should have used the platform to warn South Africans not to expect too much too soon as the tide of global economic meltdown seems to be working against the country’s socio-economic agenda.

It is still not too late, instead of the Siyabonga rallies to thank South Africans for voting the ANC, the President could use this opportunity to conscientise people about the current global economic meltdown and how it affects the election promises of the African National Congress (ANC) and therefore service delivery and job creation opportunities.

For the first time since democratic transition, South Africa last month experienced a spate of service delivery protests by the poor in eight of the nine provinces of the country and indications are that these are going to intensify with time. These protests were compounded by workers’ strikes for better salaries.

As the President seems to be banking on restructuring of the public service institutions and urges people to give the government a chance, the country is engulfed by as series of workers’s strikes in both the private and public sectors. Just as the municipal strike got settled, teachers were threatening to take to the streets to demand salary increases and housing allowances.

Prior to last April elections, the ANC cadres from all walks of life went all out to galvanize support for the movement - jogging the memory of South Africans about the history of the ANC, the struggle for economic and political emancipation from the white minority rule as well as the gains achieved by the ruling party since democratic transition.

In counteracting the campaign efforts by the opposition parties, the ANC cadres reminded South Africans that the breakaway party, Congress of the People (COPE) was responsible for poor service delivery in the past 15 years, since some of its leadership was in government at the time. The Democratic Alliance (DA) was portrayed as a party that seeks to reverse the gains achieved by majority rule in the country. With fervour, the ANC succeeded in working on the sentiment of the people regarding the past and the majority of South Africans threw their weight behind the liberation movement in anticipation of better service delivery and job opportunities.

Unfortunately, President Zuma had to take power at a time when the country and the global economy generally, are undergoing a severe meltdown. In these hard times of global economic crisis and high expectations from the government by the promised poor and jobless, one would expect the ANC cadres and the South African President to take to the streets to explain the current state of affairs in the global economy and how it affects the election promises including service delivery and job creation.

It is not convincing to ask people to be patient and explain the delay in service delivery in terms of the restructuring of the public institutions only, neither is it the responsibility of the President alone to explain to the poor and the jobless, the impact of the global economic meltdown on South African economy.

The enthusiasm demonstrated by the ANC cadres that characterized pre-election campaign should prevail and take course towards conscientising people about nationalism in these trying times of economic crisis as it did provoke the sentiment during elections. Educating people about the current state of affairs in the world economy could help strengthen patriotism and understanding on part of the populace. It would seem then that this is not the responsibility of the ruling party and the President only, but all those who have South Africa’s interest at heart.

Having said that, instead of Siyabonga rallies, the ANC cadres have to take a lead and wage national and provincial rallies aimed at addressing protesters and preparing the people for the current economic crisis.

As for the opposition parties, both the COPE and the DA are failing the ANC and therefore, South African population generally. These parties are supposed to keep the ANC in checks, by putting pressure on the party to clearly address the issues of service delivery and job creation within the context of the current economic meltdown.

At the same time, the cadres of both the DA and COPE could use this opportunity to appeal to the South African populace by capitalising on the weaknesses of the ANC, such as the latter’s failure to curb the surge of workers’ strikes and the service delivery protests currently engulfing the country. Such response by the opposition should be seen within the context of maintaining democratic culture and love for the country, and not necessarily party competition.Â

Nevertheless, Zuma needs to wage national and provincial rallies to address the surge of country-wide protests and strikes instead of Siyabonga rallies. With his populist approach to politics, the President can manage to calm down the anger of the poor and the workers by simply telling it as is - that besides the delay in service delivery due to the process of restructuring the public service institutions, the most fundamental challenge to the election promises at the moment, is the current global economic meltdown which has seen job losses in labour-intensive sectors of the economy since last year, amongst other negativities.

People cannot be expected to be patient while they do not understand the basis of the problem. In this case, only understanding can breed patience.

(Dr Zoleka Ndayi is a lecturer in International Relations at University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg)Â Â