評論
打印
South Africa
南非
Light-bulb moment
開燈時刻
Cyril Ramaphosa has made a good start. But to beat corruption, he must relax state control of business
西里爾·拉馬福薩開了個好頭。但是要打擊腐敗，他必須放松國家對企業的控制
Eskom, South Africa’s state-owned electricity monopoly, is in crisis. So said Cyril Ramaphosa, the country’s president, in his annual “state of the nation” speech on February 7th. He was not exaggerating. Four days later cities were plunged into darkness as South Africa endured its biggest blackout ever. Some 40%of its total capacity was switchedoff, forcing mines and factories to close and all but the wealthiest to reach for candles. It was an undignified end to Mr Ramaphosa’s first year in office
南非國家電力公司Eskom正處于危機之中。國家主席西里爾·拉馬福薩在2月7日的年度“國家狀態”演講中表示。他沒有夸大其詞。四天后，南非遭遇了有史以來最嚴重的停電，城市陷入一片黑暗。大約40%的總產能被關閉，礦山和工廠迫使被關閉，除了富翁以外，所有人都去買蠟燭。拉馬福薩第一年任期就這樣不圓滿地結束了。
South Africans had grown used to power cuts under his predecessor, Jacob Zuma, whose cronies looted and mismanaged nearly everything the state controls. Mr Zuma hollowed out institutions, appointed crooks and liars to senior jobs and ensured that the watchdogs who are supposed to stop corruption were muzzled. Some state-owned firms, such as Eskom and South African Airways, were bled so dry that their debts threaten the stability of South African banks and even the country’s credit rating. South Africans expect better from Mr Ramaphosa. Will he live up to his promises?
在上任總統雅各布•祖瑪的領導下，南非人已經習慣了停電。祖瑪的親信幾乎掠奪和霸權所有國有機構。祖馬掏空了機構，任命騙子和說謊者擔任高級職位，并讓那些本應阻止腐敗的監管機構受到鉗制。一些國有企業，如Eskom和南非航空公司，由于血本無歸，其債務威脅到南非銀行的穩定，甚至該國的信用評級。而南非人對拉馬福薩期望更高。他會履行諾言嗎?
He has made a good start, cleaning out the boards of state-owned companies and appointing watchdogs with teeth and the inclination to use them. Shamila Batohi, a tough lawyer from the International Criminal Court in The Hague, recently started work as the country’s chief prosecutor. A judicial commission into allegations of “state capture” under Mr Zuma has heard riveting testimony about how firm sallegedly funnelled cash to politicians for state contracts. One minister’s daughter was said to have crashed so many freebie sports cars that she was offered driving lessons, too.
他已經開了個好頭，洗牌國有企業董事會，任命有能力、愿意效力的監管機構。來自海牙國際刑事法院的強硬律師薩米拉·巴托依最近開始擔任該國首席檢察官。祖馬領導下的一個調查“國家俘獲”指控的司法委員會聽取了很有信服力的證詞，內容堅定認為國家合同向政客們輸送現金。據說，一位部長的女兒撞壞了很多免費的跑車，以至于被迫上了駕駛課。
