Two raging rivers came together over the past two weeks. One being the run-up to and election of the seven most senior party officials at the 55th ANC national conference, and the other the resignation of Eskom CEO amidst the increase in load shedding to stage 6.

“Rivers” because each of these scenarios and the situations that mark their progress have an impact on what societal actors do next, and the shared psyche of a nation.

“Raging” because the fiascos and victories, the dramas and discourse, the push and pull of each of these storylines at every turn pulls a society along, leaving its citizens anxious or not.

It adds to the spectacle at the swirling confluence of the two raging rivers that it reaches a climax in the week between Reconciliation Day and Christmas, two days that signal hope to many.

Continuing with the metaphor, one may well name it a vortex when a nation must deal with the combined impact of anxiously awaiting the outcome of a ruling party conference, and a disheartening reminder of an energy crisis that load-shedding offers citizens – frothing cauldrons that threaten despair.

Maelstroms are however not the only peculiarities at play when rivers converge. The under- and surface currents that mark the flow of rivers also persist through maelstroms – in social terms, maelstroms of societal upheaval represent a historical moment where the known and hidden struggles of a nation come together.

On the surface of political and other struggles, the demand for societal leadership that promises justice and real solutions are the foremost priorities – this is the surface current of the two rivers.

The undercurrent emerges when one notices the historical position of these events between two days of hope.

Reconciliation day as a marker for what a society declares it wants to be, namely a nation of togetherness in the face of a traumatic past, and Christmas, even if most significant of Christian faith communities, also a marker of hope for renewal.

Signals of hopefulness are present in how public commentators cautiously praise the re-election of President Cyril Ramaphosa, as much as to the promise of anti-corruption campaigns and interventions to resolve Eskom’s woes.

It is as if South Africans remain hopeful irrespective of the scale of the mounting challenges our society faces. While often criticised as a character trait of South African society that limits our resolve to deal with challenges, hope is also the trait that carries us through.

This is the undercurrent that survives the vortexes, the cauldrons, and the maelstroms when rivers of societal struggle combine: a national disposition to hope.

In sociological terms, a “disposition” refers to deeply held traits, understandings of the world, and perspectives on life with which individuals and groups go about their daily lives – beliefs and perspectives that come to the fore under certain circumstances and then drive how people behave.

Dispositions are however part of the social undercurrent. They are not always actively sought and performed, but emerge when societal events present a series of conditions that have citizens act from an intuitive sense of self, others and the reality they find themselves in.

When social processes combine to present a particular historical moment of intense concern, such as was the case over the past week of an elective conference the dimmed lights of blackouts, such conditions exist – the maelstroms South Africans must survive.

The significance of the current convergence of rivers is however that the undercurrent of hope emerges as the surface current of the river of our future.

* Rudi Buys is the executive dean at the non-profit higher education institution, Cornerstone Institute, and editor of the African Journal of Non-Profit Higher Education.

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.

Cape Argus

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