The father says *Ngihleka ukuthi wena mawuya eskoleni awu kheri!* Lol...........
WILL
WE MEET SOCIAL COHESION AS A NATION?
It
is sad to learn that state resources are being used to fight ambitious
political battles by those in power. Today we have a sitting President who has
managed to gain power through selfish means, which makes one to wonder if he is
a President by default or not. If Vusi Pikoli, Menzi Simelani, Mkotedi Mpshe
are called at the spy tape saga, we might see justice done. After reading an
article on Vusi Pikoli's book I have tried to understand why the justice system
is failing many South Africans. Although I could sense some indictment on his
part accepting that he has also contributed in letting criminals off the hook,
one is puzzled as to why he has kept quiet for so long. This article has
inspired me to write on whether we will be able to have social cohesion in this
country.
In
this case one has noticed that the justice system is compromised at times by
those elected to lead the nation to the third stage of NDR (for achieving
economic emancipation). This objective will not be met if we still have
individuals in leadership continuing to use state apparatus for their own
selfish means. We now face a government that is unable to keep the confidence
of the electorate because people have lost faith and trust to those mandated to
transform our society and creating a better life for all.
If
we will keep having Jackie Selebe, Glenn Agliotti, Mike Schultz, Nigel McGurk,
Fazial Smith, Shabir Shaik and all those criminals who are out of jail while
other criminals are serving their terms in jail, are we not creating a George
Owel satire? If others will be above the law, and others will have to be
jailed, are we not creating apartheid policies again? If we have a President
that has 788 pending charges that he has to answer to but has been protected by
the ANC led government and has not been able to answer to these charges but has
increased lack of confidence to the society by the newly Nkandlagate,
Gupatagate cases and so on.
Will
the next generation not judge the current ANC led administration as part of
those who sold out the revolution to drug dealers and criminals who seem to be
enjoying the benefits that this administration has created for them? We now
have to accept that criminals enjoy more rights than the law officials who have
opted to take bribes from these criminals as they are enjoying more rights than
them. As society, we have accepted this conduct since it is done by those in
leadership position. The state of patriotism is fading as this current
administrations has failed the nation and keeps on doing so on each day as
portrayed on the service delivery protests that we witness daily.
Pikoli
writes, “I accept that the greatest criticism of my tenure is that I allowed
Kebble’s killers to go free, but what could possibly be worse than a national
police commissioner who is a criminal himself: guilty of corruption and
protecting criminals?". Did he (or his wife) not benefit from Kebble's
deals? This shows that as a nation we are still backward in that we employ
people by cadre deployment strategies instead of looking at the credentials and
competency of individuals to protect the dark cloud that is always hanging
above their heads.
If
Pikoli lost his job because there was some influence from above, he has a right
to write about these activities and educate us on these challenges that we face
as a nation. The newly appointed NDDP, Nxasana should call all his predecessors
as witnesses since they also contributed to the sitting President’s spy tapes
case for example. We must know the truth on this case sooner or later, and then
those responsible for the default will have to face the music. These are some
of the reasons why 5 Provinces have to be allocated to other political parties
so that politicians can account to the electorate. But who will we vote for if
all these parties are behaving like the ANC and have showed signs of greed and
corruption themselves.
We
would not be in this mess if the ANC was transparent and accountable to the
nation and looking at ways that could address the social ills that we face
instead of blaming Apartheid government. It has been 19 years now, we cannot
keep on looking back as if we are chickens, and the challenge above us is
whether we still need ANC to lead us in achieving the goals and objectives of
the NDR and Freedom Charter. As long as we still have those in leadership
positions not having an interest to serve but dictate, these objectives will
never be met.
In
the book "History of South Africa and ANC 20 years later", I have
argued that the ANC must be dissolved and just become a cultural movement that
all South Africans should aspire to. This conclusion was reached after looking
at ANC as a liberation organization and as a Political Party since its
inception in 1912 to current. The ANC has created an electoral system that does
not help the nation in building our Constitutional democracy as we have more
than 20 political parties contesting elections as if they are playing a lottery
game. The ANC has been the only beneficiary out of this system and will
continue to do so since most of the electorate is not educated in the political
dynamics of South Africa. People vote through their hearts instead of their
heads. We have not reached a state whereby it is unlawful not to take part in
the election process as it is the case in the developed democratic countries
such as Newzeland and Australia. In Sweden for example as I have illustrated in
the above mentioned book, it is politicians that account to the electorate and
not the electorate that reports to politicians in exchange of favours as in our
context.
We
only need less than 4 political parties as a nation where patriotism,
accountability, and implementation of service deliveries to those in need
become a practical reality. It will not be the ANC that will be able to deliver
these objectives as it is entangled and has become part of the problem in the
challenges face by the ordinary citizens. In that book, I make a comparison to
Germany, that after 1st World War it was a destroyed nation, but in 1939, less
than 20 years it managed to have developed as a Super Power in the global
politics. I have also used Abu Dhabi and Arab Emirates that have managed to
invest their resources to tourism and human resources and this has made them to
become the best performing nations in the developing countries in global
politics.
The
ANC has failed to maintain and use the infrastructure it inherited from the
Apartheid government system or strategies that worked in building what was
enjoyed by white citizens in the past. When looking at most sectors, such as Transnet,
Eskom, SAA, SABC, and others for example you will note that it took the ANC 17
years to maintain the old infrastructure and in some case there was no maintenance
at all for almost 15 years in the rail infrastructure for example. The economic
policies looked at how resources could be looted and transferred to the
previously disadvantaged blacks. This had a negative impact on the road
infrastructure in that for the first time we had to accept heavy duty vehicles
in our residential roads since most of the goods transported by rail were now
transported by truck companies owned by the newly established BEE companies.
We
had potholes in our roads since the TPA system of maintaining roads was
abolished, giving way to the established E-Toll system that benefits companies
from foreign countries with BEE companies fronting. My take is that, although
this system of BEE was aimed at promoting black companies into becoming well
establish companies that could compete with international companies. The system
has only failed as it has created dependency syndrome to those BEE companies
that only benefit a minor portion of shares in the pie. If you take E-Toll for
example, SANRAIL as a BEE partner to this deal has only accumulated debt from
foreign investors who will be benefiting from this system if the people of
Gauteng "not Malawi" will accept. SANRAIL will only serve as cash
handler agents for these foreign companies who will be getting a lion share of
the pie. My view is that if the ANC led government could have natured the TPA
system used by Apartheid system in road maintenance, it could have invested in
human resource and job security to ordinary citizens. The same goes to security
companies or cleaning BEE companies that have won a tender in a municipality
for example. The question is what happens when the BEE Company does not get the
tender and means that employees will lose their jobs until this company gets
another tender . The excuse of government not able to create job opportunities
only relies on the poor policies they have adopted since coming into power. The
current government will only boost on the achievements of the RDP policy that
has not been achieved as yet in the past 19 years. We still have poor people
living in informal settlements after 19 years RDP policy came to action. When
will we reach GEAR, let alone NDP? If there were political scientist employed
to look at this, the ANC might have recommended practical solutions to these
challenges and might have been able to assist in the crisis face by ANC today.
But one wonders as to why people are paid for these services but the ANC is
moving from a hot pan straight to fire after its policy conference.
You
have to look at the Education system for example, the standard of education was
regarded as the best, that is why we had Oliver Tambo, Mandela, Sisulu, Nokwe,
and all those you can think of that benefited and managed to challenge the
status quo. If the education system was bad, it could not have managed to make
them aware of all the unjust happening since 1912. That system although it
segregated people on the color of their skin, it has managed to invest on human
resource in the form of ensuring that anyone (all whites) after 18 years had to
go military conscription. Looking at the state of Hospitals, you now have a
backlog of long queues for the access of services because of poor management,
we now have hospitals led by people deployed but not accredited for these jobs.
Teachers are losing confidence because the current system does not add any
value to their skills, they are only paid peanuts and in some cases foreign
nationals are employed while some citizens are unemployed and that this
government refers to them as unemployable.
In
the Apartheid system for example, it was ensured that all those recruited on
this system invested on their development in that after 35 years, one was able
to start a new life with a good bank account (investment) and would either be a
graduate, farmer or artisan from a trade learnt while serving in the Army. It
was an investment that benefited those whites coming from poor backgrounds and
was a good move by government in investing education on the next generation,
something that the ANC government could have adopted. What used to happen was
that all those recruited into the army were encouraged to choose a field of
their interest in shaping a career for them from the age of 18, and would
become part of government programmes in that anyone interested in farming would
be equipped in farming and when he is 35 years old, he can take pension from
the army to start up his /her own farm with government support all the way.
This system should have been adopted by the ANC led government and would have
brought confidence to the majority of unemployed young people. It is so strange
that most of unemployed people are said to be lazy and that is why government
officials have opted for foreign nationals whom they regard to be very
efficient and are easily exploited by some of these employers who underpay
them. It saddens me to hear this crap nonsense from those tasked to transform
our society justifying an unlawful conduct while our dole is being used to
build a palace for our King President in Nkandla. It is strange that most of
poor people who are said to be lazy in that, all along during the oppression
years, government was looking for people to come and work but now it is people
who would go from door to door looking for work and that there is no work for
them. When these citizens did become lazy? Was it after ANC took power? Why
does it need people to pay in order to get employed by any government
department? Only those with power and money are able to access any government
serves such as your justice system, labor sector, housing, health and then
people are lazy, come on and act responsibly and do the right thing.
But
it decided to lower the standard of pass mark to 33%something that I cannot
understand or justify because our children will never be able to compete with
their peers on an international competition forums. With all this in mind, one
wonders as to why this is so, the apartheid system was criticized by most of
those opposed to it, but even some of those who benefited and have managed to
have had a good start on life. This system has ensured that all departments
were capacitated by this system; it fed health, education, construction,
sports, and all local government departments. It fed patriotic whites who would
do anything to protect their government from terrorists as they were
indoctrinated. I would remember this in that from 1986 to 1989 when I was at
high school, we were under a state of emergency and solders were deployed at
our schools to help in teaching of learners though we never accepted them. Some
of these soldiers were patriotic and could obey to the instructions of their
puppet muster. Will this be the case today? Most of the civil servants have
lost faith and confidence to the current led administration and would not even
vote ANC in the next year elections. When one compares the ANC government to
the ZANUPF led government, most of the civil servants have 80% confidence in
their government than in South Africa with only 19% who would give ANC a chance
in the ballot booths.
When
coming to power the Mandela administration called upon the youth to go back to
school and learn which I was also part of. If this call was answered to, why
now for the first time in the history of this country you have educated people
sitting at home and those not meeting the entry credentials at management
positions of this government? The reason we now see gate keepers not willing to
open gates for those people qualifying to do the job is because people are
afraid that these educated ones will end up taking their jobs.
We
are now faced with a situation of services not being able to be delivered to
communities because from the top we have unskilled people occupying seats they
should not be occupying and there is no system in the world that has incompetent
politicians being able to understand how policies are implemented. If you have
a governance system that is not consistent with the rules of the game, do you
blame the Minister who cries when asked critical questions by the opposition
and instead of responding to the question at hand? The system created by ANC is
becoming a pain in their buttocks because the ANC never complied to the same
rules it has been preaching to the nation and this has contributed to our
country failing to meet the international standard set out there. We cannot
blame Apartheid for not meeting the objective of social cohesion,
transformation and creating a better life for all. This task was given to the
ANC since 1994 and it has to account for this to the nation next year when all
the voting stations will be open in commemorating 20 years since our liberation
from white supremacy.
The
ANC for the past 19 years has blamed media for wrong things that they have
inflicted on themselves. It is the responsibility of each and every one to
check and balance if our Constitutional democracy has not been compromised by
the current led administration. Last year, I wrote that "The current ANC
led administration has failed the nation and needs to apologize" and have
not done so but instead has continued to bulldoze E-Tolls, Marikana, Guptagate,
Nkandlagate and now that we "must pay because we are not in some Malawian
National road or Rustenburg". We must accept that we are not Africans in Africa;
efforts that Thabo Mbeki has created for us seem to be going down the drain
because this current administration has continued to protect its President
because he is a victim of media or political conspiracy.
As
we keep on losing confidence to this ANC led administration, I would propose
that it will serve no use to have so many political parties contesting
elections if we want change in our political system. It has been more than five
months since I wrote "Advice to the
opposition parties of South Africa in preparations for 2014" article,
and this seem to have fallen into deaf ears, instead of the opposition uniting
as suggested, we now have two parties that have come into being, Agangsa and
EFF. This proves my point that as a nation, we have politicians who are not
interested in serving the nation but their personal ambitions and this will
ensure that the very same incompetent led ANC becomes re-elected again after
2014 NPE.
If
the opposition could have learnt from the lessons from Zimbabwe elections and
Tlokwe by-elections, by now they should have been discussing strategies on why
they need to encourage the electorate to vote ANC in 4 identified Provinces as
suggested in that article. This Patriotic movement needs to convince the
electorate as to why it has to vote for them and not ANC in the identified
Provinces so as we can have balance in power sharing, as this will be a way of
saving ANC from ANC. It is clear that the ANC is in a worse position as it
could ever be during the current administration as they have to always defend
scandals after scandals which has led to lose its credibility and reputation. They
should be discussing why the electorate needs to vote DA in the Western Cape
and why the opposition need to take the remaining 4 Provinces in defending our
Constitutional democracy. By ensuring that the balance of power is located to
all ordinary South Africans, we need to transform the Constitution, the
Electoral system in ensuring that competent and capable people are elected in
key positions. This can only happen when 5 Provinces are taken away from the
ANC so as we can see a fair transfer of resources to the people of South
Africa. The only way this objective can be achieved will only be through
complying with the rules of the game as stipulated in the Electoral Act 73 of
1997. The opposition should have learnt from MDC, in that the MDC expected to
have won the elections through the feeling that most Zimbabweans were sick and
tired of President Mugabe. It’s a fact that this was some hallucination from
MDC, they became infatuated by symposium and slept into a hysterical maniac
complex, and this will be so in South Africa if the (power sharing) opposition
does not unite in this country. The Electoral Act stipulates that all political
parties have to comply with the rules and regulations of the electoral process.
The opposition cannot expect to change any legislation while the ANC is the
majority party in Parliament. They can only do so when they have managed to
gain enough seats in the National Assembly and will be able to challenge all
those legislation that have been introduced to challenge our constitutional
democratic principles and ethics.
If
we would want to gain social cohesion, transformation, and patriotism, as
citizens we need to revive the spirit of Ubuntu by ensuring that we revive the
objectives of the Patriotic Front Movement since it is clear that our country
is being sold out by the current ANC led administration. The grass or play
field is green for this Movement to start operating in the South African
politics. If the political ambitions of all political leaders who are currently
MPs, would have realized that our dole is used to serve the interests of those
corrupt politicians who must be investigated and account for Marikana,
Nkandlagate, or Guptagate. I am perplexed and disappointed at the same time
that some of the political parties as it seems have only enjoyed to be MPs and
to get the benefits but do not care of the people who have been voting for them
in those seats. If Robert Sobukwe was leading the current PAC, if Bantu Biko was
leading AZAPO, they could have proposed this and would not have allowed their
personal ambitions to be above ordinary citizens who have elected them to lead
in transforming our society. This Patriotic Front Movement does not need the
endorsement of those opposition that seem to be beyond reproach, it does not
need any approval of DA, Agangsa, EFF but will need the approval of those
minority white parties who have also been victims of this political system that
has failed to transform our society for the better but have opted to use state
apparatus for their own selfish endeavors as we have seen in the Nkandlagate
case that is still pending investigations or reports from the current
administration. This Movement needs to revive the confidence of poor citizens
who are now disgruntled and have opted not to take part in any government
activities.
As a
nation we would need to find things that unite us in looking at how social
cohesion could be practical in our life time. We now have other blacks enjoying
more rights and benefits as in the Gupta case while the majority still fight
for the scrambles in townships. We are also witnessing other nationalities
being punished because they were born white and that their fathers were
apartheid agents. We have a majority of black South Africans who will never be
employed by the ANC government because their parents were in PAC, AZAPO or IFP.
In the meantime we have people employed to be Directors of government
departments but being unable to respond to their department’s programmes of
action.
To
add more to the confusion, we have Cabinet members who have lost confidence in
their President but are afraid to raise their opinions because they might get
fired and be left out there in the cold to join Vusi Pikoli and the like. Will
ANC accept the debate on vote of no confidence be ever discussed in Parliament?
The questions left to answer for you and me are who will be capable to take us
out from this mess? Will Nkosazana Zuma take the responsibility to call his ex
to come and account for all the charges he has to answer for in the court of
law? Will she risk moving from the comfort of her position as Chair of AU to
this hot seat? Will Ramaphosa be able to steer this ship out of the ice bag
with all the baggage of Marikana and being in business as a politician at the same
time in this dispensation? Does the ANC not realize that their mundus operandi
on this policy issue is the one dragging them down as it has become immoral for
politicians to claim that they are serving the interests of people while they
allocate business deals to their children, friends, comrades and those linked
to the elite class? Will the ANC risk Zuma again with all the cloud hanging
over his head in confronting the 2014 NPE from the 788 pending charges that the
NPA has to call him to respond to in the court of law? Will the ANC request
Mbeki to come and save it from all this mess as it did with Mahabane in the 1930s?
We have to seat and wait for the list process to complete. With all of these in
mind, the social cohesion will only be achieved only if both blacks and whites
unite in forming a Patriotic Front Movement for the sake of South Africa in
moving towards 2014. Will the Labour Party take the advantage of uniting
opposition parties in challenging ANC in next year’s elections? History will
judge all of us if we do not take any part in shaping a democratic South Africa
envisaged by Harry Gwala, Mandela, Nokwe, Tambo, Nzo, Sobukwe, Biko, Hani,
Gxowa, Blackburn, Ngoyi, and all those who died for the liberation of this
democracy we enjoy today.
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