Is apartheid to blame? Yes and no

Ariel view of the vast wealth divide between South Africa’s townships and wealthy communities, a product of apartheid’s legacy.

On Saturday ANC stalwart, Aziz Pahad, was laid to rest.  I had the privilege to work with Aziz in Parliament post-1994 and his passing is without doubt a big loss to the country. 

At his funeral some speakers – most significantly the President - expressed the view that Aziz would have spent his last days disappointed in how the country turned out. President Ramaphosa said, “We would not be honest if we did not acknowledge that many of them [ANC veterans] departed this life disappointed by what they witnessed. They have seen the liberation movement they dedicated their lives to being racked by factionalism and infighting. They have seen the democratic government eroded by corruption...”

I can’t speak on behalf of Aziz, but I know that I - and many who were part of the exciting transition in 1994 - share a deep sense of disappointment, sadness, and even bewilderment about the manner in which the dream derailed. 

While contemplating all of this, I thought about the future that erupted a few weeks ago, when a few top ANC officials – one again being the President – referred to the role Apartheid played in some of the problems we still experience today. The reactions were fast and vicious with commentators, opposition parties, and civil society organisations accusing the ANC of hiding their own failures behind Apartheid. 

There can be no doubt that the ANC must take the biggest share of responsibility for the many problems we face, such as the decline in service delivery, the ailing economy and general lack of progress. However, to be fair (yes, it is important to try and stay fair) President Ramaphosa and the ANC in general have done so ad nauseum. They have repeatedly (including at their recent election manifesto launch) blamed their own short comings and failures for many of the problems experienced today. 

Of course, as we near the election in 2024, they are unlikely to keep on emphasizing this narrative - no political party would – and it is therefore not surprising that the old blaming-it-on-Apartheid refrain resurfaced. 

The question is whether there or not there is any truth in this. 

In true Afrikaans fashion, I think the answer is “Ja-nee” (Yes-no). 

Let’s take housing for example. A month ago Minister Lindiwe Zulu, commenting on the devastating fire in Johannesburg that killed 73 people, blamed Apartheid for the lack of housing and for keeping people apart. 

I’m not a fan of Minister Zulu, but I think it is important to take a closer look at the point she made. When the ANC came to power in 1994,  there was a back-log of at least 1.5 million houses. Since then the ANC government has built about 3.4 million houses. Almost half of that was just playing catch up. The problem is that the need for housing keeps growing, and currently the waiting list stands at 2.3 million. Remember this only reflects those who ended up on the waiting list and would not, for example, include undocumented foreigners who were the main victims of the Johannesburg fire.  

Yes, if there was less corruption more houses could have been built, but if the 3.4 million houses that were built could have been used just to deal with the new demand only, the housing problem would have looked very differently. 

So yes, Minister Zulu was to some extent correct. The legacy of Apartheid is still present in the housing crisis. 

However, the fire in Johannesburg had little to do with this. It was the result of an awful combination of lack of planning and management of abandoned buildings by the City of Johannesburg and (lack of) enforcement of fire regulations.

That cannot be blamed on Apartheid and the responsibility lies squarely with the national government and local council. 

Later, Minister Nkadimeng blamed spatial planning of our cities and towns on Apartheid. This of course goes without saying. An aerial view of any town or city clearly shows the railway lines and roads that still delineate the different areas.  Of course, neighbourhoods are no longer reserved for certain racial groups, but given that race and economic status still largely overlaps in South Africa, the result remains the same. The vast majority of the poor who are mostly black, coloured and Indian still live on the furthest outskirts of cities and towns as they did under Apartheid.  

DA MP Jacques Smalle criticised Nkadimeng and insisted that the ANC should rather ask: “Are we doing what we should be doing?” He is right, but as the DA very well knows from Cape Town – one of the least integrated cities in South Africa - to change spatial layout is extremely difficult. 

So yes, spatial planning remains a legacy of Apartheid. However, this does not excuse the lack of reliable and safe public transport or service delivery in the poorer areas, which is as – if not more – problematic than spatial planning. 

Surprisingly, the President started the whole debate when he blamed Apartheid for the lack of qualified engineers and city managers. I think that the president made an error here. Yes, it is true that transformation in the sector took time, but according to South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE), significant progress has been made.

The problem is that with affirmative action (which was and remains important) and more problematically cadre deployment, many experienced engineers and managers left the sector, which meant that their posts could not be filled fast enough with the same level of experience. This resulted in the skills shortage experienced today. Of course, the need for affirmative action is because of Apartheid, but many newly qualified engineers, managers and potential civil servants also prefer to work in the private sector – not only because of financial reward but because the public sector has become tainted because of corruption. 

It is important to recognise in the words of Mvuso Msimang: “With our kind of history you can’t resolve all the imbalances and injustices that took place...” But I also fully agree with him when he went on to say: “ Nevertheless, when people fail to fulfil their functions, when they are derelict in their duties, I don’t want us to say it is Apartheid.”

The ANC is correct that the scars of Apartheid will remain painfully visible for many decades to come, but as we all know, many of apartheid’s wounds could have healed significantly by now if it had not been for the many acts of attrition and omission by the ANC government.