SUSAN BOOYSEN|
SOUTH Africa is in the throes of an unprecedented, multifaceted socio-economic crisis requiring substantive, impactful policy interventions. Yet, having attended the governing African National Congress’s recent five-yearly national policy conference, which was supposed to show how the party intends to steer the country forward, I wonder if it actually appreciates the enormity of the problems facing the nation.
A phrase from Italian philosopher and poet Alighieri Dante’s 1320 poem Divine Comedy comes to mind: Abandon hope all ye who enter here.
The policy deliberations and proposals fell hopelessly short of addressing the country’s pressing problems – high unemployment, poor economy, high crime and massive corruption, violence against against women.
The subdued conference exposed a deficit of new policy thinking, and failed to provide solutions. It certainly did not live up to party leader and national president Cyril Ramaphosa’s declaration in his opening address that the conference would be defining moment for the ANC and the country.
What followed was not
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