Those who spoke out against our corrupt rulers brought back hope

AS WE come to the close of the year, it is very tempting to wish the myriad unnecessary embarrassments which we faced as a country could be left behind in 2016.

Unfortunately, all the causes of these embarrassments are still firmly in place going into 2017.

The ANC is still in power, still divided and the “Zuma albatross” is still at the helm. Those who were captured are still captured.

The Guptas are still obscenely rich, politically connected and wielding disproportionate and “illegitimate” power.

The unemployment rate is still unacceptably high. The murder rate is one of the highest in the world.

Our public education system is largely a joke, with 20% pass marks and all.

The causes of #FeesMustFall are still intact and the “attached” arsonists are still at large.

The SABC is still in tatters, thanks to Hlaudi Motsoeneng and friends. The ANCYL is still a bunch of clueless howlers. The list is endless, really.

It is against the background of this dead-weight atmosphere and massive emotional fatigue that reports of Motsoeneng’s use of state security agents “to find dirt on his enemies” came to the fore.

The extent of Motsoeneng’s abuse of power, “illegitimate” power at the SABC, should come as no surprise.

It is conceivable that as time goes on, more skeletons will tumble out of the closet.

I am sure Bathabile Dlamini would agree. On that matter, it is she who let us know that each member of the ruling cabal within the ANC has at least one skeleton in their closet.

At the same time, we have had the pleasure of seeing a great number of people finally stand up to express their dismay at the rot within the ruling party and the woeful inadequacy of its leadership.

Who can forget the impassioned plea of Sipho Pityana at Makhenkesi Stofile’s funeral?

Who can forget the groundswell of dissatisfaction among the ANC stalwarts as they made their stand boldly and publicly for the president to step down?

Who can forget the Umkhonto weSizwe veterans who decided to reclaim their name from those long captured?

Who can forget the parliamentary ad hoc committee probe into affairs of the SABC?

Who can forget the last-ditch efforts of (former public protector) Thuli Madonsela to bring the State of Capture Report to the public?

Who can forget the steely determination of (Finance Minister) Pravin Gordhan to stand firm in the face of unbelievable intimidation?

All of these personalities and many more took a decision to stand their ground against an unrelenting effort to erode everything that makes our nation great, and thus brought back hope.

Maybe, just maybe, we still have a future.

“A president of a democratic South Africa telling the church to stay out of politics? You would be forgiven for thinking that you had climbed into a time machine and gone back 30 years into the past, when apartheid presidents said the same thing.

“Mr President, we will ignore your call, made from the palaces of power where you and your fellow leaders live in comfort.

“We will lament and ask God, ‘Where are you, God, when your people are marginalised and excluded?’” ( http://www.news24.com/ SouthAfrica/News/sa-in-politicalstate20161225).

These are words credited to Archbishop Thabo Makgoba in a very fitting Christmas sermon in St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town.

This was in response to one of Jacob Zuma’s unhinged utterances. The response was loud and clear.

The church will not be pushed out of any area of South African life.

The area of policy, maybe a better reference than politics, is not the reserve of politicians.

It is a matter for all South Africans who are affected by government policy.

This is especially so for those who remain servants of our society, who hold the respectable mandate of leadership in one way or another.

Thank you, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, for reminding those in power that we will stand and not keep quiet.