Moving forward... - Thought Leader

So, one would hope that after years of struggle, the oldest liberation movement in Africa would have learnt from all the others gone before it. Well, it did not! Why would a liberation movement have such difficulty to move to the next stage ie political party? Why indeed? When I talked to a friend about this, I was duly informed that I am an idealist. In essence, this is not how Africa works and how things get done. For me to think that we could as a nation move onto the next level was unrealistic and democratic in a non-African way. What kind of rubbish is this? I refuse to accept this rubbish, we are supposed to learn and adapt for the better. It is either democratic or it is not. It is either legal or it is not. You are wrong or right, corrupt or not. Why is this such a difficult concept to grasp?

I’m sitting here listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Lenny, this song has always pulled me out of the pit coupled with Koos Kombuis’s Lisa se Klavier. If I were to throw in Rage Against the Machine’s Bulls on Parade coupled with Rammstein’s Ich Will then we are off to the races. I am, however, always compelled to take five with Dollar Brand’s Mannenberg and feel my country has hope.

Not on this day though, having observed our elected officials in “action”, I am definitely compelled, with all due respect to “Hani” from my previous post, your gonads may be telling you something that you are not heeding. We are definitely on the way to being a country ruled by the oldest liberation movement having difficulty transitioning to a political party and committing ten-fold the mistakes that other African countries made. At this pace, we are guaranteed to be the “top” banana republic. Some of the proof is self-evident, one would be hard-pressed to think that it is not intentional to direct the country towards the Zimbabwe path. Like in Zimbabwe, with Zanu, it seems the ruling party and its branches are hell-bent on ensuring that only it should be in play. The Western Cape with its challenges under the DA is an example.

Why can our politically-connected hacks not grasp the concept of accountability and job performance? Is this all about ego at the expense of the nation? So our politicians do it again. Why is this not a surprise? The minister of defence railed time and time again refusing to release a report? She must have known its content. Drama, drama and more drama. People appointed to positions of authority do not want to perform. Why is it now that in our own country we are doing exactly the same rather than learning from the grave mistakes made by those before us? The ruling party pledges to do the right “thing” and find its moral ground. I have a bridge to sell you too. Actions speak louder, and discipline to stay on the straight and narrow, even louder. In the same week, head of the “political school” is praised for what he should have done in the first place. Good grief! The nation now finds itself at the mercy of political hacks, the connected few, hyenas and utmost gorging at the trough at the expense of the nation’s taxpayers.

What do you say when even the DGs cannot meet the deadlines and job requirements? How can I say otherwise as we are already emulating Zimbabwe in all aspects? In a country where the majority is living below the poverty line, the hacks get pay raises. What an insult! We do not perform, we do not deliver, we are not accountable to you as a populace and we do as we will. Suffer all the poor and masses without a bag of ACE mealie meal on the table. Ministers and I “deserve” a pay raise for non-performance. Your children may not ever learn to read or write. You have mud “schools” where there is not a chance of learning, but the minister of education gets a raise. Never mind the unaccounted for R33 billion from the department. The children of my ministers and extended families attend private schools. You may not have clean bedding at the local clinic, we have private clinics to go to. You may not have clean water. So what? It is interesting that none of the non-performing ministers have refused the pay raise or donated it to worthy NGOs.

In a nutshell, screw you! We got here because the most expedient path was taken by those in higher office at the expense of the populace. We are now at a juncture where our moral fibre is constantly assaulted. The sad truth is that the lack of guidance, ill-discipline, lawlessness and total disregard for the rules of the land are breeding and will continue to breed a ruthless and lawless society. We see this on a daily basis, if it is not one thing it is the other. Feeding at the trough is starting earlier nowadays as everyone doubles down with both hands to grab as much as they can.

With this in mind, how and when does law abiding get re-introduced? How will it be enforced? Which of those in the “leadership” will have the gumption to even try and call for it? Of those that are in a position of authority that have tried, what measures of success are there today? Slide on to the state of anarchy and ungovernability. Can we get matters under control and stop the slide, ala Zimbabwe then and now. Not surprising, the same behaviour and intolerance, now spills over to forums like these as if to state “if it is not a discussion directed by us, for us, furthering our interests, we will ensure it cannot happen constructively”. The arguments are the same; it has only been 16 years so I suppose we should let it keep going and not strive for better. Corruption and self-enrichment was there before 1994, so I guess, therefore we should accept it. Not everyone in the ruling party is corrupt, maybe true, but the core is rotten, so stop the cancerous spread as it continues to negatively affect the whole nation. Shut up! Oh well, I guess with that argument all is OK on the path to oligarchy and lack of democratic behaviour acceptance as evidenced by “friend” visiting my homestead.

PS: On a positive note, X Cepting suggested that I start on NGO regarding my lower primary school in this blog. As I have to keep my job an NGO would not work but my lower primary school now has four computers — they are kept in a private residence to avoid them “walking away”.