South Africans end another difficult year which entailed difficult socio-economic circumstances, increased unemployment, and poverty amid infighting within the ruling ANC. There are multiple facets, reasons and perspectives that have contributed to the continuation of such political discord and uncertainty in South Africa.
The recent alleged malfeasance of President Cyril Ramaphosa has only entrenched the lack of public trust that South Africans have in leading politicians.
The president’s apparent chicanery has added to the existing number of politicians that have been, and are in the process of being, charged for a variety of fraudulent acts, including corruption, theft, payroll fraud, embezzlement, forgery, tax fraud, asset misappropriation and money laundering.
South Africans have become accustomed to this political climate whereby fraudulent and/or unethical behaviour have become normative practices in our democracy. Amid this, the value and need for public trust is sidelined.
Organisations such as the UN reiterate that public trust is important to an economically and socially progressive society.
Public trust among us has the capacity to enhance solidarity between leaders and society and can strengthen transparency, accountability, and general governance. Public trust that is evident is societies is also attractive to foreign investors.
Historically, a public trust doctrine founded in Roman law acknowledges that the public has a right to many natural resources, such as running water, the sea and fresh air. The state is to manage and sustain these resources so that people can benefit. Potable water, the sea and the air quality has already been compromised in South Africa.
Definitions of public trust include the contention that selected individuals in society are privileged to have practice rights and titles and the public are allowed to have expectations of these leaders “that they will hold the interests of society above their own”.
Other explanations highlight that certain natural and cultural resources are managed for public benefit. These resources should be available to the public for multiple reasons, including enjoyment and fulfilment.
Within the current political climate, the importance of sustaining public trust has been conveniently ignored. Politicians have undoubtedly placed their personal interests before the interests of our democracy and its people.
Local municipalities and governments are failing us in delivering the necessary resources required for decent living.
Post the pandemic, the July 2021 riots and the floods, the city’s irrigation system and running water supplies have all been damaged, and some areas in and around the city still lack access to running water in their homes.
This scenario is an example of how the needs of citizens are not important enough for it to become a matter of urgency. Of recent, the Esikhileni Municipality officials admitted to being unaware that the surrounding area has water intermittently until present.
How does the public entrust their leaders to support them appropriately, when these experiences are not aligned with the Bill of Rights. Section 27 of this document clearly stipulates that every citizen has a right to sufficient food and water. This is only one incident of many which illustrates the lack of accountability and service to South Africans.
As citizens, we can only speculate that the reasons for inadequate, or failed, services and we continue to trust our leadership in the hope that as time passes the future get brighter. A variety of outcome-based measures and progress assessments are integral to building trust between communities and leaders, but this is yet to be established in South Africa. In addition, many politicians and leaders tend to ignore the fact that public trust has to be earned.
Activists and scholars have all indicated that some politicians have always placed their personal needs before those of ordinary South Africans throughout both the apartheid and post-apartheid eras; which undermines the validity of belonging to democratic South Africa.
The value of being in a democratic South Africa also lies in each South African having a voice so that we can collectively redefine what public trust is and develop a structure that is as inclusive as possible through public participatory approaches.
As a nation, we should be able to build public trust with our leaders over a period of time, through their commitment to the public, their transparent approach when managing and spending public funds and their capacity to deliver the necessary services and resources to South Africans.
The fact that public trust has been globally enshrined within constitutions and doctrines highlights what a valued aspect it is of a healthy and democratic society.
As citizens, many of us have been forced to ignore the importance of public trust in a democracy, and some of us choose not to even address this concern. Others have indicated that their trust in our leaders has been short-lived and or intermittent, until investigative journalism and our judiciary alerts us of current incidences of fraudulent behaviour of community and political leaders.
We need to analyse if we have normalised corruption within our leadership, have we also normalised the fact that we are no longer the primary focus and concern for our leaders. Until investigative journalism and an active citizenry intrudes, there is no accountability, responsibility and need for South African politicians to consider the trust that public has awarded them with?
Our leaders are in the driving seats to manage and sustain trust between fellow South Africans and themselves, and the overall declining public trust at present should serve as a motivation for political parties to meet their objectives.
Instead, we have been accepting patterns of corrupt behaviour and as a result, our inability to trust our leadership has been conveniently and quietly put aside.
As we begin a new year, let’s collectively indicate to our leaders what the benchmarks should be so that public trust can be enabled and in some instances restored in 2023.
Dr Sheetal Bhoola has a PhD and two Master’s degrees in the social sciences. She is a lecturer, researcher and a freelance writer. Bhoola has been the recipient of awards and academic scholarships throughout her career. Visit www.sheetalbhoola.com