South Africa is likely to face a general election in 2014, and therefore it is incumbent on the voters of South Africa to begin to take stock now, and reflect on where we have been, where we are and where are we going to, in order to formulate an informed political choice.
The elections are less than 14 months away. In that time, the ANC will have to elect their president, and the political landscape will be a far different place to what it is now. The politically astute ANC will ensure this.
Garnering support for the party of your choice should be of interest to you because your choice and the choices of the electorate will decide the future of this country, and your daily conveniences.
If we look back to 1994, this country experienced a massive change, because parties and people on the various political spectra agreed that non-violence was something that we would embrace. At that time we were fortunate to have leaders who were able to exercise good leadership. Leaders and leadership are not always mutually inclusive.
Since then we have seen a deterioration in infrastructure, medical services, education, foreign relations, an influx of illegal immigrants, a depreciation of our currency, support for the elderly and infirm is almost non-existent, the poor are getting poorer without considered support, international investors are fleeing and not investing without some help from their friends in the ANC who are also helping themselves (ala Wallmart and Nkandla), lack of service and service delivery, corruption in the policing of our country, manipulation of the judiciary, tender fraud by government departments, unqualified audits by most government departments, unemployment has increased, moral decadence has increased, and this country is spiralling into decadence, etc, etc.
The next election will be interesting. It will depend on whether the ANC is able to regain its moral fibre and intellectual capacity, versus parties that seem to have no answer to this dilemma. The DA who are electioneering on a equal opportunity society are the biggest challenge to the ANC.
On the ground there is just you and me, observing all the comings and goings of this drama.
However, it occurred to me that I might make a difference. I figured that I am a bit tired of this unnecessary deterioration of everything around me. I think that most will, hopefully, reach a point where they say, “No more”.
So I began to look around and decided what political party I wish to support and contacted them. This in itself is not an easy process, but they contacted me back and we began chatting and I told them that I wanted to help, and before I knew it, there was me handing out pamphlets and wearing my party's T-shirt and doing something constructive for the cause I believe in. It felt really good.
That is activism. Doing something constructive to avoid an abyss and the abyss is real. Just look at Zimbabwe. Avoiding the abyss is a lot easier than trying to claw your way out of it.
African politics has historically followed a certain pattern. South Africa, thankfully, broke the mould in 1994, but has been slipping back into that generalisation. The only way to get it back on its feet is, if free people start exercising their democratic right to protest, and to create sufficient momentum to cross the finish line and restore their freedom.
Since becoming involved with a political party I have noticed how my friends just moan about things that they could change, but won't because they are politically apathetic. They think that politics and religion are not something discussed in social circles. This is the REAL legacy of apartheid.
Apathy and democracy are anathema. You're either in the pot boiling or staying cool. Staying cool leads to icing up and immobilisation. Boiling in the pot is where you wanna be, baby.
So, our future is in our hands. What will your response be? Will you fiddle while your country burns?
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