FOR THE VALUES OF DEMOCRACY
FOR THE VALUES OF DEMOCRACY
To make you at ease, especially those who have been questioning why have I been critical on the current administration, I am not interested in becoming a politician, I only studied and majored in Political Science and Legal Studies in my studies, I will always be watching what politicians do based on the development of the African mind. I did not start to be critical on this administration alone, I have been monitoring the development of our constitutional democracy for the past ten years. Most of this is reflected on my work experience as shown below.
Most of those who know my work will remember why I co-founded an NPO, called Project Findafiinda and decided to assist communities on Human Rights Desk, Housing, Health and Arts, Sports issues. With my background on Legal Studies in my studies thus I started in helping ordinary members of the below mentioned communities on these aspects.
My passion for Human Rights was developed when as an activist I started helping our communities from an early age as I was not happy with the Apartheid system. I have been doing this on a voluntary basis thus I recruited young people on advancing their skill capacities since we realized this gap on these young people we recruited. I then negotiated with CIDA City Campus, Black Sash, South Rand Hospital, Wits and local Estate Agencies on those who became passionate on the social ills that we faced as societies.
Most of those who have benefited from this initiative were from (Kwatsaduza, Khathorus, Malvern, Rossettenville, Turffontien, Soweto and areas around Johannesburg) who can attest to this. My passion on Community development comes from my tutelage since my mother had, still has that passion of seeing people on a positive way.
She was trained as a Nurse and has been assisting people thru out her life, I must then adopted this passion from her. In the community that we come from, she also served a social worker. This passion must have come from my father as well, but I only get stories of him as I never knew him very well as he passed away while I was young. I am only passionate on ensuring that people get the services they deserve, thus I will complain if I do not see any progress regarding the state of the development of our constitutional democracy. I am someone who takes back to shop a pint of milk if its not fresh. My responsibility will always look at how I can assist in helping those not fortunate enough to understand the dynamics of politics.
People will also remember my critics on the previous administration when the then President did not accept the proposal that the Youth needed a desk at his office. Though I have managed to respect and supported his views on the build up of our nation, I still respect his selfless leadership style when he was deployed as President of the country. But this does not mean that I never complained on the quality of RDP houses built for ordinary citizens. I was also critical on why the good policies could not be implemented and I was also critic on the BEE strategies that aimed at developing a selected few at the expense of the majority of poor people.
This is seen when we look at how his home at Dutwa was never renovated and upgraded as we have seen on the Nkandla development. I saluted him on that, he had genuine passion to develop South Africa, it was SA first instead of looking on his own development. I was not happy with his state of being aloof, but justified his actions on that at some stage we needed someone who is firm on taking the country forward. I acknowledged the role he played on NEPAD putting the African Agenda as a priority in the UN. This is the kind of legacy that I would wanted to have been part of.
But this always has some bias in that some were favored while others we at his mercy. I never supported any rally organized by the Friends of Zuma at the time as I saw this as creating divisions and cabals within the rank and file of the movement. In one of the comments I made in the media was the scenario related to us by Baba Msimang in our 60 anniversary of the youth in Bantu Kraal, Selby. It is also recorded in the book about the 'History of SA and ANC 20 years later'.
My allegiance before Polokwane were based on restoring the status quo and supported the idea of two centers of power. In my book, I have tried to explain this into details as we needed both the manager and the leader at the same time. The challenge was that the veterans could not intervene as it was done in the Durban Conference where both Hani and Mbeki had to withdraw their contest for position. The challenge that we face today on leadership has been a challenge for years in that others died because of this challenge that keeps coming back.
As a monitor of events in some cases one cannot sit in some fence, you have to support a faction. This has created divisions within the ANC and was also confirmed in the Mangaung Conference. We now have leaders who do not approve of the current status within the Alliance partners, but what happens if they oppose a controlling faction. They are either sidelined or are revealed from key positions and democratic centralism is used as the yardstick.
People have to follow orders and keep their opinions to themselves. Does this principle helps in the shape up of our democracy? If opinions opposing the majority are sidelined, what about those opposing outside structures? Will we be able to hold political parties accountable since most of these decisions are led by a majority view within party structures. Its only when things do not work out that you will find people claiming that they have been opposed to a particular view.
This is so when we look at the current agenda on the table, 'the vote of no confidence on J Zuma's Presidency' scheduled for discussion in Parliament. The fear within party members is that, there are those who will vote with the opposition and those who will be voting against it might lose the vote.
Those who won, will have to deal with those who supported the President on this risky exercise. Should those who will vote against this motion win, in return, those who voted for the motion will be dealt with. If the ANC was not divided on this, they could have accepted this debate to take place long ago, in November 2012 before the Mangaung Conference, sadly for those, it was not the case.
Does those who continue to be critical of this administration be justified in that a lot of things have been delayed. Look at the appointment of the head of the NPA, it took more than 8 months before someone was appointed. On his table after appointment, the head of NPA had to come on board and scrutinize as to why Mpshe decided to allow the spy tapes not to be used by ensuring that President Zuma was elected. Was there conspiracy against the President as is the case with Mr Vavi? Only time will tell, we are waiting patiently for the outcome of this.
Is it going to take a year before a ruling is taken on this? Will this not damage the image and credibility of the ANC in moving toward 2014 NPE? With so many outstanding cases piling on at this desk, is the Constitutional Court not willing to remedying these challenges that we all now face on the desk of the custodian of our Constitution? When will the Judiciary interfere in ensuring that the rule of law is practiced by both houses, if the image of the President is used to delay judicial matters?
With all this baggage towards these elections, will it be possible for ANC entering them? If we had skilled personnel advising the President, the ANC would not be allowing this to continue as they would have recommended long ago to give the President a special leave to deal with all these challenges, but then, these challenges are ANC's challenges. Are these challenges have any negative impact on the Constitution of South Africa?
It was so strange seeing Jackson Mthembu saying the ANC will have to intervene in COSATU matters. Will they be able to assist COSATU with its challenges while they have a list of challenges to handle at their desk? As someone who has been monitoring the situation when it started in 2009, my only concerns are on those who are acting as if they are helping the President during this time but will be part of 'Etu Brutas again' when the situation explodes.
How will the ANC help COSATU if they are part of the problem in COSATU's challenges? I do not know if I am the only one looking at this on a bird's eye view. Will the ANC led delegates speak on behalf of Sdumo Dlamini or Zwelinzima Vavi on this mess engagement? It is a mess in that, COSATU's business is now the business of government and businessmen within the ANC who are having an interest in managing the business as usual in dealing with this COSATU business. It will not be resolved by ANC led administration, especially when Dlamini is the NEC member of the ANC and President of COSATU.
This reminds me of what I was addressing in one article I wrote in the past, when I questioned why do we have a President of SACP allowed to serve in the ANC leadership together with his Secretary? Who is doing the work of SACP? Where are we in terms of NDR? These are the challenges we are now facing in our politics today. This does not mean that I want to be part of this conundrum, I am happy where I am, but I will raise the challenges that we face as society since our children will be seeking answers as to what happen, ten years from now.
Is it the legacy I would want to protect? It is some stressful situation especially for those only employed as civil servants by this administration. Or even those receiving kick backs from this administration. Their concern is mostly on the debts and investments they now find themselves entangled with. My advise to them, is keep cool, and take things slowly, the only chance you have will be during the elections. It is the same advise that those invited to attend meetings, go and attend and accept those T-shirts and food parcels. Who the people will be voting for, is not yet clear but if the opposition parties can speak with one voice, most people might vote for them. It will be the first time people will be taking their vote out of ANC since 1994.
posted by Zolisa Memani @ 3:54 AM
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