Thank God for Banyana Banyana and the Springboks.
Without our national soccer and rugby teams, July could have been a bleak month indeed.
As South Africans, we need that bit of motivation to get us through these tough times.
Every win counts. Not just for us but for government too.
Nathi Mthethwa was quick to seize the opportunity to take credit for Banyana’s victory at Wafcon.
The Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture made sure he was at OR Tambo Airport to welcome coach Desiree Ellis and her “African Queens” home.
“We are delighted to see that the investment the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture and other key partners have made in women’s football is yielding positive results,” he crowed.
He also handed over a moerse cheque for R5.8 million to top up the team’s prize money, as well as announcing a R21 million investment into women’s football.
Well deserved, and well done to the minister for a worthwhile investment – and not blowing that money on his R22m flag vanity project.
But taking credit for the win?
Banyana didn’t come out tops BECAUSE of government. They won that trophy IN SPITE of government.
A truer reflection of the state of South African football is Bafana Bafana’s track record under SAFA and its long-reigning president Danny Jordaan.
This makes the ladies’ achievement all the more special.
Another reason to celebrate this month was the “end of load shedding”.
Hallelujah! What a relief.
But should we be congratulating Eskom for managing to keep the lights on?
Surely our standards haven’t dropped that low?
That’s like congratulating coach Jacques Nienaber for getting 15 Springbok players on the field in time for kickoff – never mind playing well and winning.
And that’s pretty much the case at all our state-owned enterprises.
None of them are performing, most of them such as Eskom, SAA, the SABC and Prasa have been run into the ground and are buried in debt.
If one were to give Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, a school report card, he would dop every subject without fail – or is that without a pass?
Look, we don’t really expect our SOEs to be raking in billions in profits, we just want to see progress.
We want to see an improvement in service delivery that makes our everyday lives a bit better.
We’re sick and tired of the blame games – blame it on state capture, blame it on the “dark years” under Zuma, blame it on Mbeki, blame it on Mandela, blame it on apartheid...
Lest we forget, Cyril Ramaphosa used to be “deputy-dark days” and had been appointed by Zuma to head up the “Eskom War Room” in 2014.
Back then, Ramaphosa had a plan to turn Eskom around, just like the 10-point plan to end load shedding he announced this week.
The measures include: a push for more households to install rooftop solar panels; surplus electricity to be bought from independent power producers; importing power from Botswana and Zambia; Treasury to manage Eskom’s R400bn debt; skilled engineers and former power station managers to be roped in to help manage power stations; and red tape to be cut to allow the private sector to contribute energy to the national grid.
South Africans will also be discouraged from illegal electricity connections – which ain’t gonna happen.
Although it comes a decade too late, most analysts are in favour of the plans.
But as we all know with this government, the problem does not lie in the planning, but in the execution.
Will Ramaphosa’s game plan be enough to save his job at the ANC national elective conference in December?
Or will we get a new coach to run this losing team?
taariq.halim@inl.co.za