There is a rising sense of despair and disquiet in our beautiful land.
This is nothing new, of course. Many of us have been feeling this way since December 2007.
Today, though, it is across the nation.
Even the most optimistic among us are feeling nervous.
The townships are burning, as they did in the 1980s.
Young people have lost faith in our leaders, in our institutions, and perhaps even in our entire democracy project.
The elderly shake their heads in shame and wonder what the struggle was all about.
“Is this what Oliver Tambo struggled for? Is this what Steve Biko died for?” are the refrains one hears often in conversations with those who stood up against apartheid.
As we celebrate Women’s Day, many ask how it is that eight young women can be assaulted and raped as happened in Krugersdorp last week (not one “man” in that group said “no, gents, stop”?), how tens of people can be killed in Khayelitsha with little or no action from police, how those who have stolen billions of taxpayers’ money are still walking and tweeting with impunity.
We know what has gone wrong in SA.
We know why the people of Kagiso and Thembisa are rioting.
We know why we are in such a deep rut as a country.
The people of Kagiso are rioting because they no longer have faith in the police and the government.
They have complained for decades about corruption in the police, and nothing has happened.
They are taking the law into their own hands because their leaders have abandoned them.
The only way to solve their problems is through direct action, cutting out the institutions of law and order.
The ANC, the party in charge, has abandoned them.
Why, for example, did Cyril Ramaphosa appoint Bheki Cele to the ministry of safety and security?
In four years in the position there has been zero improvement in the rape, murder, robbery or other crime categories in the country.
Ramaphosa abandoned the people of SA by putting a man who supports him internally within the ANC in a position he is patently unsuitable for.
Cele oversees a police service whose members lock up their stations at 5pm in fear of criminals.
They are not cops — they are pencil pushers.
These are men and women who just want to certify identity documents and who think giving you a case number is solving a crime.
The only thing Cele seems good at is turning up at crime scenes.
Where is the deep, strategic work on crafting a capable police service?
So, we know what the problem is. It is the ANC.
Are we offering the people of Kagiso solutions to the problems they face?
The challenge that the political opposition — and leaders in SA across the spectrum — face today is to urgently engage with the fact that our people need new leadership, new ideas, and new solutions.
The people of Kagiso would not resort to violence if they believed that someone else other than the ANC would solve the problems of zama zamas, police incompetence and corruption, violence and women abuse that exist in their community today.
That community is taking the law into its own hands because it is not being led by the ANC — and it is not being led by an alternative to the ANC.
Right now, the ANC has vacated the leadership space in Kagiso, Thembisa and elsewhere.
Where it is present it stokes the fires of xenophobia merely to seem to be connected to the people.
Like all dying organisations, it offers no solutions.
It is becoming a populist entity, promising state banks and lands it has failed to provide in nearly 30 years in power.
With just under two years to go to the next election, my fear is that national election day will dawn with an opposition that is still divided, and which still offers no real alternative to the ANC.
The nit-picking and power plays that went on for eight months before a coalition was agreed on by seven parties in Nelson Mandela Bay last week need to be done away with.
A solutions-based, practical, coalition agreement needs to be worked on now by the likes of John Steenhuisen, Herman Mashaba, and others — and sold to the electorate before, rather than after the election.
If such a practical solution is not negotiated now, and presented to the electorate swiftly, the election will see as low a voter turnout as we saw in November 2021.
Between now and the 2024 election we will see many more riots, protests, and an accelerated deterioration of the country.
Our people are angry and are descending into hopelessness.
They need a practical, broad, political movement of serious reformists to show them that change can happen, and that they can lead them to such a future.
New leadership, ideas, solutions needed to fix SA’s problems
Columnist
Image: VELI NHLAPO
There is a rising sense of despair and disquiet in our beautiful land.
This is nothing new, of course. Many of us have been feeling this way since December 2007.
Today, though, it is across the nation.
Even the most optimistic among us are feeling nervous.
The townships are burning, as they did in the 1980s.
Young people have lost faith in our leaders, in our institutions, and perhaps even in our entire democracy project.
The elderly shake their heads in shame and wonder what the struggle was all about.
“Is this what Oliver Tambo struggled for? Is this what Steve Biko died for?” are the refrains one hears often in conversations with those who stood up against apartheid.
As we celebrate Women’s Day, many ask how it is that eight young women can be assaulted and raped as happened in Krugersdorp last week (not one “man” in that group said “no, gents, stop”?), how tens of people can be killed in Khayelitsha with little or no action from police, how those who have stolen billions of taxpayers’ money are still walking and tweeting with impunity.
We know what has gone wrong in SA.
We know why the people of Kagiso and Thembisa are rioting.
We know why we are in such a deep rut as a country.
The people of Kagiso are rioting because they no longer have faith in the police and the government.
They have complained for decades about corruption in the police, and nothing has happened.
They are taking the law into their own hands because their leaders have abandoned them.
The only way to solve their problems is through direct action, cutting out the institutions of law and order.
The ANC, the party in charge, has abandoned them.
Why, for example, did Cyril Ramaphosa appoint Bheki Cele to the ministry of safety and security?
In four years in the position there has been zero improvement in the rape, murder, robbery or other crime categories in the country.
Ramaphosa abandoned the people of SA by putting a man who supports him internally within the ANC in a position he is patently unsuitable for.
Cele oversees a police service whose members lock up their stations at 5pm in fear of criminals.
They are not cops — they are pencil pushers.
These are men and women who just want to certify identity documents and who think giving you a case number is solving a crime.
The only thing Cele seems good at is turning up at crime scenes.
Where is the deep, strategic work on crafting a capable police service?
So, we know what the problem is. It is the ANC.
Are we offering the people of Kagiso solutions to the problems they face?
The challenge that the political opposition — and leaders in SA across the spectrum — face today is to urgently engage with the fact that our people need new leadership, new ideas, and new solutions.
The people of Kagiso would not resort to violence if they believed that someone else other than the ANC would solve the problems of zama zamas, police incompetence and corruption, violence and women abuse that exist in their community today.
That community is taking the law into its own hands because it is not being led by the ANC — and it is not being led by an alternative to the ANC.
Right now, the ANC has vacated the leadership space in Kagiso, Thembisa and elsewhere.
Where it is present it stokes the fires of xenophobia merely to seem to be connected to the people.
Like all dying organisations, it offers no solutions.
It is becoming a populist entity, promising state banks and lands it has failed to provide in nearly 30 years in power.
With just under two years to go to the next election, my fear is that national election day will dawn with an opposition that is still divided, and which still offers no real alternative to the ANC.
The nit-picking and power plays that went on for eight months before a coalition was agreed on by seven parties in Nelson Mandela Bay last week need to be done away with.
A solutions-based, practical, coalition agreement needs to be worked on now by the likes of John Steenhuisen, Herman Mashaba, and others — and sold to the electorate before, rather than after the election.
If such a practical solution is not negotiated now, and presented to the electorate swiftly, the election will see as low a voter turnout as we saw in November 2021.
Between now and the 2024 election we will see many more riots, protests, and an accelerated deterioration of the country.
Our people are angry and are descending into hopelessness.
They need a practical, broad, political movement of serious reformists to show them that change can happen, and that they can lead them to such a future.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Latest Videos
Most Read
Opinion
Opinion
Opinion
Opinion
Opinion