SA clueless about politics

If the situation was not so sad it would be laughable. South Africans are so out of touch politically that it is no wonder our country was being run from a known shebeen in Saxonwold. All the while, we made the assumption that it was business as usual.

Be it that the country is being run from Saxonwold or from Stellenbosch, the truth is that the seat of political power is not in Pretoria. And as we stand in snaking queues to mark our X, we are all pawns in a game of political musical chairs.

Be it the way political analysts understand the dynamics, or the mudslinging and the interpretation of the day’s activities of parliament, there is much more to South African politics than meets the eye.

South Africans are guided by trends: the West sneezes and we are to first bless them and then wonder how we can also sneeze as they did. I say this taking into consideration how the people of Zimbabwe navigated their change of political leadership.

While we do not know of the conversations held in corridors, brown envelopes being pushed about, we do know that the people of Zimbabwe were first informed of the sociopolitical situation in their country. They were not waiting on Twitter and Facebook feeds to be in the know.

All of a sudden every black South African is shouting for land redistribution. While a worthy cause, do we actually know what we are jumping up and down for? Are we only demanding the land because Julius said so? How did we really lose the land, to whom did we lose it and where is this land that was lost to us?

Was it really lost or did we sell it for far less than its value because we did not realise its value?

Fees must fall – but if we are economically weak, how can we open doors of academic wealth? Fees must fall was lost in translation because we sought to popularise it as opposed to advancing it in the correct forums.

We need to stop being politically asleep. Because of Jacob Zuma’s blatancy, we know of phrases such as state capture – and we have come to understand the powers of the public protector – but we have ourselves to blame for our total ignorance on the political management of our country.