Selling false hope

WHEN times become very tough and hopelessness becomes pervasive, people look for succour from miracle pedlars. In South Africa, some charismatic church leaders have been holding out tantalising promises, and people are taking them at their word.

Leaders are offering political salvation through xenophobic appeals, blatantly offering pie in the sky.

Reason stands no chance when the promise of political gifts is irresistible. Food parcels and free blankets are enough to sway political outcomes.

Voters will support those who promise heaven without having to traverse hell. Voters wanting instant gratification will drink up rhetoric as eagerly as those who have been without water for a few days in the desert.

Cope has suffered because it will not spew racial hatred or make false promises. It is advancing what President Mandela and President Mbeki advocated: reconciliation, nation building, forging national identity, growing and transforming the economy, and skilling the people of our country.

That is clearly not attractive enough.

False prophecies, false promises and false policies will, like all false things, collapse and plunge the country into war and chaos.

If a country as sophisticated as the US can be persuaded by what is false and populist, we have a challenge ahead to keep truth on its pedestal.

Leaders, unfortunately, are chosen by a fragment of the population with their own selfish agenda. I believe Mandela, in spite of being the world icon he was, would have struggled to be elected in the toxic political climate of today. The grabbers want it all.