Addressing South Africa’s parliament this month, President Ramaphosa tried to describe the progress made by his party, the African National Congress, through the experience of a fictitious young black woman born 30 years ago, as the country moved from apartheid to democracy.
That woman, he told sceptical MPs, had lived a life her parents could only have dreamt about. She would have received a child support grant, free healthcare, lived in a house built by the state, with free water and electricity. College education was also free, and the government’s affirmative action policies ensured she landed a well-paying job, or even started her own business.
But what the president was saying, as the opposition was quick to point out, was a figment of his imagination.
