Writer: Molaodi was Sekake | Photographs: Supplied
Waiting for Godot is a 1952 play by Samuel Beckett. In the play, we are told of two men, namely Estragon and Vladimir, who meet somewhere to wait for someone named “Godot.” They are not sure if Godot will come. They are not even sure if they are in the right place. While waiting, they “pass time” by discussing and debating many things.
While they wait, a boy approaches them twice. The first time, he tells them that Godot is coming, but “not today, tomorrow.” They continue to wait. The second time, he returns to say that “Godot is not coming.” Although they consider suicide as one of their options, they ultimately decide neither to kill themselves nor to leave, fearing that Godot might arrive and that their waiting would then have meaning. Godot never arrives. The play ends with a paradox: the two characters decide to leave, but do not move.
The cries and concerns about the implications of neoliberal policies, especially in the everyday lives of the poor, tragically fall on deaf ears. This is evident in budget cuts in education, resulting in an underfunded National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and leaving many young people in the cold, as well as in increases in Value Added Tax (VAT), thereby worsening the already dire situation of poor communities.
It is not that those in office do not know these realities or hear these cries and concerns. For instance, Godongwane, in 1994, while still in NUMSA as its General Secretary, is said to have once stated that “…the ANC cannot expect the people to eat its colours of green, black and gold.” Where, then, is the problem? The truth is that the political class has, wittingly or unwittingly, signed a pact with the neoliberal devil. They are in a Faustian pact. Once one’s soul is under the control of someone or something else, one’s independence is completely surrendered. There is evidence all over the shore — from reputable scientific research bodies, locally and globally, as well as from the lived experiences of people — of the damage done by neoliberal policies to communities. But still there is no change of policy heart. We therefore cannot expect anything far-reaching from Godongwane and the National Treasury. To expect something radically different from Godongwane is like waiting for Godot.
The critique, or perhaps more aptly the criticism, of neoliberal economic policies faithfully implemented by the ANC government has been made by activists, scholars, unions and progressive organisations alike. There is nothing new that has to be said. However, since people forget, it is worth refreshing their minds. Let us therefore briefly explain neoliberalism. It is an economic doctrine that justifies the belief that the state should play a minimal role in the economy; instead, markets should assume centre stage.
As a result, it ushers in austerity policies that “force” government to reduce expenditure on social services such as education, the provision of water and electricity, and healthcare. It favours deregulation, resulting in the absence of government control over companies and, therefore, the violation of labour laws, as well as a lack of control over trade and capital flows. It privatises and thus shifts the ownership of national assets and resources to a tiny minority that controls the means of production. It reinforces individualism, whereby the individual, as the locus of the economy and society, takes priority over the collective. All this is done in the name of economic efficiency and competitiveness.
If we were in a school class, the ANC would have received 100 percent on every aspect of neoliberalism. “Oh no, we have social welfare programmes; surely that is something worth celebrating,” a sympathiser of such policies might say. But in the greater scheme of things, such measures in no way undermine the ideological logic of neoliberalism. Instead, they come off as bribery to the poor while the “fundamentals” of the economy are jealously guarded. This neoliberal script is performed quite magnificently by the National Treasury; the name of the stage play is the Budget Speech, and the main character at this point in our lives is Godongwane. Nothing new, ideologically speaking, would therefore come out of the Budget Speech.
While some people might have the luxury of time to generate philosophical speculations from the play about life, anxiety, despair, death, or related existentialist themes, we do not have that luxury, especially when policy choices have material implications for the day-to-day lives of people — from the price of bread to access, or lack thereof, to reproductive health services for poor Black women. Godongwane is our modern-day Godot; we cannot afford to wait anymore.
