The current government, led by President Jacob Zuma, appears to be moving South Africa's economic and development path towards a ‘walk together' scenario, Dinokeng Scenarios convenor Dr Vincent Maphai said on Tuesday.

The ‘walk together' scenario, which is seen as the most sustainable and positive of the three scenarios outlined by Dinokeng Scenarios, featured the State addressing critical social and economic challenges through the cooperation of civil and business society, as well as capacity building by the state to deal with these issues and increase accountability.

Maphai stated that the Zuma government had consistently promoted the concept of national unity and said that through Cabinet appointments, such as making opposition party leader Pieter Mulder a deputy Minister, and important positions, such as Tony Leon who is now Ambassador to Argentina, Zuma had given this concept effect.

Maphai noted that Zuma also took a leaf out of the book of former President Thabo Mbeki regarding the importance of service delivery. However, he has gone further in this by realising that delivery could not be done successfully without the required capacity. As such, Zuma has indicated to his elected ministers and premiers a set agenda, and has opened the forum to the public to deliver feedback on the progress of these ministers.

"But for me, the most important thing that he has done was to open a space for all South Africans to stop sitting on their seats to complain," said Maphai.

He said that the main threat to South Africa achieving the ‘walk together' scenario would be if the public depended on government to take action on its own, rather than playing a bigger role in the development of the State.

South Africa was currently in a ‘walk behind' scenario, which sees the government of the day taking an active, and more prominent role in the development of the State. Maphai noted that this scenario would cause the State to rely on its own devices to fund capacity projects, which would require heavy borrowings.

The State-directed investments would weaken private initiatives, and would create citizens who were totally dependent on the State. As such, this model was unsustainable, he added.

Despite its unsustainable nature, Maphai noted that the reasoning behind the ‘walk behind' scenario was very noble, as the government wished to deal with non-delivery, poverty, and other social issues impacting on the country.

The third scenario, called ‘walk apart', was indicative of the State post-1994, where society, which had played a major role in redressing the issue of apartheid, sat back and placed the responsibility on the shoulders of the State.

Since then, Maphai noted that delivery and capacity of State organs had decreased, and citizens had become less involved. Through the ‘walk apart' scenario, both State and citizens fail to address critical economic and social challenges.

By doing so, pockets of alternative control and delivery by unaccountable groups outside of the State would develop, and the country would decline. "If a government continues to be weak, pockets of regional warlords will emerge and chaos will arise. From chaos, strong people leaders will come out of this. People always forget that Adolf Hitler was elected. This ‘walk apart' scenario always produces its own Hitlers."