Some thoughts to bring about a return of sanity in South Africa

 

 

 

It is clear to any thinking observer that Jacob Zuma has not only captured major parts of the State, but he has also captured the leaders of the ANC. Too many of the top people have hitched their wagons to the star of this corrupt man to expect them to make rational decisions in the interests of the country and its people. Their only interest lies in maintaining their power, and that depends on the ANC remaining the dominant Party in Parliament.

However, the top people in the ANC are not the majority of voters, and the key to unseating Zuma and his evil cohorts is to bring the real truth to the knowledge of the voters, something that Zuma and his gang have worked assiduously to prevent happening. They have captured the SABC, on which the majority of the rural population rely for news and views, and they have captured the popular Press. These media feed a carefully-planned diet of adulterated news to the public, avoiding any reporting of criticism of Zuma and his gang, while maintaining the fiction that sends them to cast their vote for the ANC, time after time, regardless of how the country is sinking into the well of national destitution. The average voter is not stupid, but has not been educated to understand precisely what the ANC is doing to his or her country. That is true even of the ANC backbenchers in Parliament. An hour spent listening to the inane comments spouted by these comments must convince even the most hardened socialist that they have zero understanding of the probable effects of the ANC policies and actions, as well as inactions, on the country and its voters. The point has been made that these backbenchers continue to support Zuma because failure to do so will place them on the unemployed list, and one of them have skills, training or professional qualifications to fall back on when that happens. Their only hope for receiving a continuation of their present good income is the maintenance of Jacob Zuma in power, regardless of what that will do to the country, regardless of the overwhelming evidence of what it has already done to the country.

What is needed is an intensification of the efforts to bring down the criminals running the country and the ANC. This may take two routes.

The first route is for the DA, as the Party likely to succeed the ANC, to announce that it will undertake a Truth and Reconciliation process, in which people who can show that they actively worked against corruption will be granted immunity for their participation in it. If a businessman or a civil servant provides evidence to a responsible body, such as the Police, the Public Protector or a political Party which took action on that information, showing evidence of a corrupt act, that person will be immune from prosecution under the incoming Government. That simple announcement will free those potential whistleblowers of the fears that cause them to work for a continuation of the current corrupt regime, and permit them to bring to the attention of the public the acts to which they have been party. The announcement, coupled with a statement of a firm intention to prosecute any act of corruption with the intention of ensuring long jail sentences for those who do not confess now, will go a long way towards loosening the ties of fear that bind those who might otherwise want to see South Africa prosper.

The second route is to find ways to ensure that the vast majority of potential voters know and understand what is actually happening to their country, so that they will be equipped with facts and understanding when they go to the polling stations. That could be achieved by distributing free or at very low cost radios that are fix-tuned to a radio station that provides accurate and complete information. This should be done with an intention not to provide information that is attuned only to the cause of the DA. The objective is to develop an intelligent and rounded voter base, people who understand that there are always plusses and minuses in any situation, and that careful thought must be applied to every claim made by a political Party. We do not need to reinforce the ‘yes-man’ situation that the ANC has cultivated. We need intelligent, informed voters, who can guide the Parties in their actions in Parliament. The cost of such a radio will be very low, but the benefit for the country will be massive.

Currently, South Africa is firmly on the way to becoming a replica of Zimbabwe, Zambia and all the other African basket-case countries, dominated by a group of self-seeking plunderers, with an ever-decreasing ability on the part of the public to stop the decline. Innovative and urgent action is needed to reverse the trend, and inspiring speeches in Parliament do not fill the need. The average person no longer trusts a politician to do what he says he will. He needs reasons to believe again.