Thinking about upcoming party leadership elections, presidential elections, ward and provincial elections, committee elections and, for that matter, any other elections — be they to the congregation’s koeksister committee, to the security complex’s trustee committee or to the local youth body — leaves me cold. How is it that so much emphasis is placed on selecting leaders and supposed decision makers who eventually have very little power to implement what they choose and change circumstances in order to improve life for the masses? A downright waste of time, in my opinion.
However beautiful and pure the concept of democracy may seem, its practical result is a culture of no accountability; where the individual becomes so much part of the collective in his efforts to make his voice and opinion known in a politically, racially and sexually correct manner, in order not to offend anyone else, that the opinion is caged and hooked somewhere on to the tangled bureaucratic web of citizen sentiment, never to be seen or heard of again. Now, I know that if my actions bear no consequence, there is no point in acting, at which point I will pretty much throw in the towel and say: “Que sera, sera.”
The entire world seems to be trapped in committees, meetings, conventions, accords, agreements and multiple other events supposed to enable the sharing of ideas, opinions and knowledge to make the common man’s plight heard and drive action. How immobilising must these events be to real leaders who can take decisions, take action and change the world for the better. How comfortable must this be for those individuals who have come to power in spite of themselves and don’t quite know what to make of it or have the ability to contribute anything worthwhile to the debate.
Are our world’s leaders really leaders? Can they make the tough choices? Can they take decisive action? Will they ever even be allowed to do so within the systems and frameworks of policy? If not, then they are just more voices speaking into the void to combine with the rest of the opinionated noise. It seems democracy breeds complacency by its mere design. Will it matter who is president? Will there be a new party line? What will the outcome be of many high-profile December meetings, conventions, elections and other democratic gatherings? Will we even notice the difference?
If not, then sorry, Mr President, your position has simply become redundant, as has those of most highly regulated corporate, political and social “leaders” on this planet. Perhaps we should find a new model, one that will serve the future and not try to remedy the past.
Author
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