"We learn from history, that we do not learn from
history". Over and over again, as the public we will be mesmerized with
the new leader or new party that will promise to take away the sufferings and
grievances we have with the current party and/or leadership. The ANC policy
conference is coming up and we all wait with anticipation for Mangaung after
that. There is no doubt that as South Africans, there is a raised voice of "this
is not good enough". I am clear about what we don’t want, but what is it
that we actually want?It is all well and good to have Tokyo Sexwale and Kgalema Matlanthe's names thrown around liberally as opposition to Jacob Zuma for party leadership. The divide within the ANC is being highlighted as if it is something new (well at least that is the perception I get when reading the press). Debate and questioning what is, is healthy and will always be a part of the ANC, so don’t get lost in the hysteria of “the party will implode”. Even if the party did fall apart, what is the alternative that you are looking for?
The government has not delivered as most of us would have liked them to. Education is a mess as we sit in June and textbooks are still not delivered ( our school year starts in January), crime remains a big issue in the country (this includes White Collar crime so don't only think of violent crime), leadership continuity is in disarray as we are now on Police Commissioner number three in how many years? We are not creating jobs as we sit with a population where more than half of those between 18 and 25 are unemployed. When we disagree on a plan to create jobs we stone each other (COSATU and the DA really took things to another level). When people are empowered, it seems to be the limited few, and if not that hard working limited few, it is a tenderpreneur.
These are the things we are against, but what do we actually stand
for and what does anyone offering an alternative stand for? I have yet to see a
concrete attempt on even the smallest of scales that involves the poor being
uplifted in this country. Everybody talks about how they will do it, but why
are they not demonstrating it through the small communities that suffer abject
poverty on a mass scale? This is what we need to see more of instead of seeing
more of this kicking the ANC and government and looking to discredit them for
lack of delivery.
The ANC for all its wrong doings, is responsible for many of us
experiencing the freedom we live in today. That buys loyalty you cannot just
turn off at the flick of a switch. It is almost as if we owe them for life, so
that is a serious commitment, albeit an obligation. A party that comes with a
new promised land is what people will buy into, not a party that slams the
liberator. People are very happy to criticise and knock their own, but they get
unreasonable and irrational when seeing an outsider attack their own.
We need a leadership that stands for something, not someone who
has an agenda that stands against the ANC. That may come out from an opposition
party, or it may be a new leadership from within the ANC. It is not about being
against something, it must be an attraction factor because of what that party
stands for and believes in. People need to start believing in standing for
something, rather than what politicians like to play us on which is having us standing
against something. “A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything” ~
Malcolm X
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