Citizens’ voices must be heard
The political direction the South of Africa has taken is slowly leading us to a state where citizens’ voices no longer matter. Politicians more and more hear only their own voices. The chaos that erupted in Tshwane when the governing party announced Thoko Didiza as its preferred mayoral candidate has exposed many of us who cherish peace, prosperity and justice to inherent weaknesses in our body politic.
There are some l essons to be learned from that self-created chaos, mainly instigated by internal factional battles in the governing party. Political parties, including the Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo), must do everything in their power to avoid such chaos.
It highlights the urgent need to review our electoral system, so that ordinary citizens have the power to appoint and recall elected public representatives in municipal councils, provincial legislatures and the National Assembly. Citizens must be allowed to elect their own public representatives, including mayors, premiers and the president, directly.
Many of our citizens remain powerless, yet they are expected to vote every five years and endorse the very flawed electoral system that renders them powerless.
The other important issue is the current demarcation process, which also disempowers citizens. People in affected areas should be allowed to exercise their choice in a referendum.
It is sad that 55-million of us had no say when the National Assembly debated the impeachment motion after the damning Constitutional Court judgment against President Jacob Zuma in the Nkandla case.
All of us were at the mercy of the 233 MPs who voted against the impeachment and the 143 MPs who voted in support of the motion.
We, as citizens, had no say in the matter.
All 55-million of us are dictated to by the governing party’s top six and its 100-member national executive committee. And are they aware that they wield more power than all of us combined? What type of democracy is this that favours the minority?
The so-called public hearings have lost meaning; they are merely being used for compliance purposes. Many of our people are no longer interested in them because they are often used to rubber-stamp the decisions of the governing party.
It is therefore important for us to seriously consider and demand the introduction of a referendum in all matters we collectively agree are of national importance.
This would help us to avoid any future violent and destructive episodes such as we saw in Malamulele and Vuwani.
As for the thugs and criminals who are hijacking our citizens’ genuine demands, they must all be exposed, charged, arrested and sentenced to long-term imprisonment, with no bail or parole option. —