SA risks being an ‘illegitimate state’

SOUTH Africa faced the threat of becoming an illegitimate state because those in power had lost their moral authority.

This was said by leading academic Professor Kwandiwe Kondlo, delivering the memorial lecture on struggle stalwart Walter Sisulu at the Walter Sisulu University Nelson Mandela Drive campus.

Kondlo said the government had managed to plunge the country into a period of political precariousness.

Describing the signs, he said: “This refers to social suffering, lack of work and the prospect of a jobless future, a fractured citizenship, excessive human vulnerability and the unequal burden of poverty.”

He said rather than being a vehicle to service the ordinary people of the country, the ruling party had failed to hold any representatives accountable and this is what threatened the legitimacy of the state.

“The overall legitimacy of the state does not depend on holding elections or the number of members in a party or the democratic processes but is dependant on the ethical fibre of the leadership,” he said.

Kondlo is a research professor in business management at the University of Johannesburg and author of many books including The State of the Nation – South Africa 2008 (coauthored with Dr Peter Kagwanja) and The Zuma Administration – Critical Challenges (2010, co-authored with Hebert Maserumule).

The lecture was titled Living in truth – the legacy of great Walter Sisulu.

In attendance were socialite Shaka Sisulu, the university’s chancellor Sheila Sisulu, WSU council members, senior managers and students.

Kondlo said Sisulu had lived in truth as a leader and that his story had not been carefully told despite the many lessons it held.

“The consuming love of one’s people, about seeing and knowing your fellow South African, epitomises the story of Walter and therefore his legacy has lessons for everyone,” he said.

He said the lecture on Walter Sisulu should have been a national event where even political leaders were in attendance just to listen.