MPs must recall founding values

President Jacob Zuma faces increasing criticism with strategic allies calling for him to step down. The latest ally of the ANC calling to be dissociated with the current ruling party is the family of the late anti-apartheid activist and lawyer Dullah Omar, pictured.

According to reports, the family have written to the national executive of the ANC to have his name removed from the ANC Cape Town Metro Region in the Western Cape. The Omar family believe the crisis within the ruling party undermines the values, vision, mission and integrity the liberation struggle leaders and foot-soldiers like Dullah Omar stood for.

The ANC, the party of choice for many South Africans, is facing growing public anger over a series of government corruption scandals, record unemployment and a sluggish economy. Instead of making South Africa a more just, equal and democratic country, the ANC-led government has been hounded by corruption, malpractices, factionalism, greed, nepotism, lack of service delivery, state-capture issues and plundering of valuable resources.

In this regard, I join other conscious-driven calls made by citizens to members of parliament to make an informed choice and to vote wisely as ethical parliamentarians in the upcoming vote of no confidence. Members of parliament need to keep the founding values of the liberation struggle in mind when voting. Mohamed Saeed Pietermaritzburg